11/17/2025 School Board Meeting

001vision and core values, please. >> Yes, thank you, Mr. Center. Our vision at BCSSE is that we are the choice to learn, work, and play. Our mission is to develop expert learners by partnering with our community to invest in people. And then our core beliefs are that we all can rise to the challenges of high expectations, that learning is most effective when we have choice, flexibility, and see relevance. That we thrive when our physical, social, and psychological needs are met. that our community and school district district are stronger when we partner with one another, that we flourish because of the diversity and variability in our community, and that our democracy and democratic institutions are strengthened by civic-minded citizens. >> Thank you, Dr. Phillips. We're happy to start this evening with some recognitions and celebrations. Uh

002Dr. Phillips and Mr. Lewis, you kick us off. >> Thank you. Columbus North boys cross country. Come on up. Mr. Clark, Mr. Lewis, whoever's kicking us off. Was able to go to Terode a couple weeks ago and see these guys put on one of the more impressive runs in the history of the state of Indiana boys cross country. It was outstanding. >> Hello. Good evening. My name is Brian Lewis. I'm the athletic director for Columbus North High School. I I won't say much tonight because coach Slutter has a lot to say about the guys that he's coached pretty much all year and they've done a really good job of staying focusing week by week. Um I had a chance to to go to the state meet and it's a little a little nerve-wracking when you've

003gone undefeated and when you get there you're like okay just one more one more. These guys went out did a fantastic job and um congratulations to you guys. >> Thank you for hosting us again tonight. This is outstanding. This is um one of the I'm going to brag for just a minute. This is one of the best Indiana high school cross country teams in state history. Um we scored 58 points at the state meet, which is one of the lowest scores in the past 25 years, and we won by 70 points. Um so we had over half the score that second place had. Um we had four all state runners, so you have to be in the top 25. So we had Jace Works at eighth place, uh Denton Slutter in 13th place, uh Justin

004Recker's in 17th place, and Joseph Day in 22nd place, and then Graham Pumprey was 33rd place overall. So So very close to having five there. And then Sam Steinmets and Logan Vans rounded out our seven. And Logan as our seventh man, actually, so five runners score for your team. Logan as our seventh man was better than every other team's fifth man except for one team. So, we would have placed every one of our seven on their scoring squad. So, we had an amazing day um and had an amazing performance. And then uh yesterday uh we followed that up with um qualifying for Nike National Cross Country Meet, which is the most exclusive cross country meet in the in the state or in the in the country. Uh five teams go to Teraho or five states.

005I'm getting nervous now. Five states go to the Midwest regional, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. And uh we won by 58 points, which is an amazing gap. And so these guys are headed to Portland, Oregon to compete in uh the national meet with only 22 teams invited from across the country. So they have an outstanding uh record this year. We went undefeated. Um most of these guys are also academic all state, first team or honorable mention. And so we're just we just had an unbelievable year. and I could probably talk for three or four more minutes about their performance, but u um it's just been a pleasure to coach them and our coaching staff is uh tonight. Coach Weinheimer couldn't be here. He's been at a wedding this weekend for a family member, but

006Coach Burton, who is a Columbus North alum and is a teacher at Northside, and Coach Writzman, who's a teacher at Columbus North, has been on our staff for two years, um we have one of the best staffs in the entire state, and that shows on a night like tonight. So, again, thank you for hosting us. Thank you for having us. and um we're so excited to bring this trophy home to uh the school board and to Dr. Phillips. So, thank you guys. >> Congratulations. [applause] Big shout out and thank you to all the uh [clears throat] cross country parents in the audience. >> School corporation appreciates you. >> All right. Thank you very much and congratulations and again good luck in a couple weeks to the entire team families. On this next slide here shows

007all of our uh fall academic allstate selections. And if I my count was correct, there are just right at 60 students from our three high schools across all of the fall sports. Um just tremendous tremendous accomplishments on the part on the part of our students u some of you here this evening and uh some of the staff members here in the audience that helped these students be successful as well. See a lot of east folks back there. U just congratulations and and please keep up the hard work. >> And next we have uh Mr. Miller, Mr. David Miller from Columbus East High School to introduce an and I guess from one Hall of Fame member to another. >> I'm David Miller. I'm the director of athletics at Columbus East High School. Uh thank you to

008the school board and Dr. Phillips for recognizing Coach Cooper on his amazing uh accomplishment into the um Hall of Fame. Uh tonight we were fortunate to hear from three young men who embody exactly what Coach Cooper stands for. Each of them represents a different part of his impact, but together they uh paint a clear picture of the kind of coach and person that he is. First, you'll hear from Talon Jessup. Talon represents the work, ethic, and resilience that coach Cooper instills in all of his student athletes. He's a young man who's learned how to push through challenges, stay grounded, and hold himself and others to a high standard. Next will be Caleb Cooper. Caleb brings a a unique perspective, not only as knowing Coach Cooper as a coach, but as a father. His experiences reflect

009the consistency of Coach Cooper's leadership with the same expectations and accountability. Finally, you'll hear from Kaden Rooks. Kaden um represents the championship mindset that the standard for East wrestling. His accomplishments speak for themselves, but even more impressive is the discipline and character he's developed under Coach Cooper's guidance. Coach Cooper's legacy is measured not just in titles, but in the young men that he's that leave the program better prepared for life. First up, Talon Jessup. All right. Hi. Uh, my name is Talon Jessup. Uh, I'm one of Coach Cooper's captains and a state placer for him. Um, I met Coach Cooper when I was five or six years old wrestling in the the youth club. Uh, I thought he was cool guy, pretty cool beard. Uh, um, uh, he was the coach of one of my

010idols, which is, uh, he was Kade Rook's coach. Uh I knew from that moment that uh he needed to be in my corner and from that point on uh he was. No matter where I was, whether it was a local tournament or I was traveling across the country to compete, Coach Coupe was always in my ear or on the phone guiding me down the right path. I spent countless hours and nights at the Cooper's house and they were truly uh second family. Uh one of my standout memories with Coach Coupe happened recently. uh stayed at his house, woke up, my shoulder was dislocated, and it was it's kind of wild. We're like right away, Coach Coupe was awake. He's there to help. Um he not only drove me to the hospital, but he stayed there

011with me for well over four hours. Uh and he was not willing to leave. I was extremely thankful for that. Uh this is one of the many instances that I have with Coach Coupe. Uh not just being a coach, but the most loyal and unrelenting mentor that I have ever had or I've ever heard of. Uh, in coach's words, he'll always be there to help me bury the body. Uh, and I'll give it I'll give it off to, uh, Kev Coop. >> Good evening. I'm Kev Cooper, Coach Coup's oldest son. I'm a senior East and wrestler for his team. Uh, want to start by saying there's no one more deserving of this award than my dad, right? So, like, but honestly, I expected nothing less from him. Like, I'm pretty sure no one did actually.

012Like when the news came out, I'm pretty sure nobody was surprised. Not even he, not even I was surprised. But wrestling is a sport that demands toughness, discipline, and heart. My dad didn't just teach those things. He lived them. Whether you were a first year kid learning how to tie your shoes or a state level competitor preparing for the biggest match of your life. He poured the same energy, same patience, and same expectation into every one of his wrestlers. He believes that the effort matters more than the talent, the character matters more than the wins, and that the mat was just a tool for shaping better people. And he's proven that year after year. There are wrestlers who still come back to visit him long after they've graduated. Some with family, some with careers, and

013they all say the same thing. Coach changed my life. But it's not because he taught them like how to wrestle good, how to be a champion, and all that. It's because he taught them how to handle adversity, how to push past limits, and how to get back up in life, slaying them harder than any opponent could. I've had the privilege of seeing that from two perspectives. As his wrestler and as his son. And as I've seen him stay late after practice, helps him a master move even when he was tired. I've seen him celebrate the small wins that no one else noticed. I've seen him care more. I've seen him care about every athlete like their ozone kid. To me, he's always been the hardest worker in the room. Even if it wasn't his match,

014even if it wasn't his spotlight. Through the countless hours my dad has put in the sport of wrestling, nobody's more deserving of this award than my dad, Coach Cooper. >> I don't know if our goal was to get up here and tuck your guys' ears off, but apparently that's what we're going to do right here. Um, good evening. My name is Kaden Rooks. I'm a proud East alum, a two-time wrestling state champion, then now a guidance counselor at Columbus East. Um, and I can say without a doubt that so much of the man I am today has come from Coach Chris Cooper. Um, on October 16th, Coach Cooper was inducted into the Indiana Coaches Hall of Fame. Uh, I've experienced the the unique opportunity of being one of Coach Cooper's wrestlers and then now one

015of his assistant coaches. Um, though there are some differences between then and now, some aspects that remain the same are his unwavering care for his student athletes, as you guys have heard from a lot of us, um, his, um, for his staff and his athletes. um the team culture that he has built and his drive to be successful. He's all intertwined to create what we know today as coach as Columbus East wrestling. Time and time again, Coach Cooper shows what that he would do anything for any member of the program. He defines what a servant leadership looks like to a te. There are infinite examples that I could provide for you. Um like how coach Cooper himself takes care of the laundry, cleans the mats, make sure everything is in order so the wrestlers only

016have to worry about a handful of item each day. Two of those being show up to practice and show up to class. I can remember the only time in high school when I can recall being late. Each uh each time someone's late when you're uh at practice, you have to run sprints for that. So, instead of watching us run sprints, Coach Cooper joined in and ran the sprints with us to show it that um he could do whatever that he'll do whatever for his guys. Moments like these clearly stick with his wrestlers throughout their lives. The Columbus East team culture is built around accountability, self-discipline, and getting better every day. These values are not only put in place to make each student athlete a better wrestler, but to make them a great young man who

017can be successful once their time at East is done. Coach Cooper's goal is to have student athletes get as close to their fullest potential as possible. Whether that's giving them a chance to a freshman student who is struggling with his classes and needs con a constant in his life or not letting the senior students slip up after they've gone through so much adversity. A great case of this is a student athlete um who had one of the best reformation stories I've ever heard of. He started off freshman year not in a great place and was in a lot of trouble with school due to his poor actions. However, Coach Cooper did not give up on this student and eventually started to align his own morals with that of the team culture. His senior year, he

018was someone we really considered to be one of our team captains um and that we could really rely on. This was just one example um but there's no there's plenty more just like that. Um finally, Coach Cooper's drive to be successful is almost unmatched. He spends countless hours doing the little things that have the biggest impacts. This includes watching countless hours of film, coming up with individual plans for our guys to work on, making sure that our guys' grades are in check. The list goes on and on. The amount of time and effort that Coach Cooper puts in this program directly translates into the success that we've had on the mat. So, I'm going to share some of his successes with you right now. Um, Coach Cooper has had over 300 dual wins, eight conference

019titles, 12 sectional titles, eight regional titles. The team has been a nighttime IHSWCA team state qualifier. This includes a first place, a runner up, and two third place finishes. He's coached uh the team to a third, fifth, and seventh place finish in the IHSAA individual boy state championship. He has 43 state qualifiers and 30 placers. He's had 19 semi-state finalists or 19 semi-finalists, sorry, eight state finalists, five ch five state champions. He's coached the first and only state champions in school history. He was also the 2018 IHSWCA coach of the year. Um, the team has also won the award for having the best GPA uh of any team in the state two times. It's very easy to see why coach Cooper is in a is in the Hall of Fame. We have been told that

020our team is the gold standard in athletics. This did not happen overnight. It comes from coach Cooper putting in the time and effort consistently throughout his coaching career to build a team, the wrestlers, and the community that are all part of this program. Thank you. Uh, thanks guys. I started coaching in 2001. Uh, I didn't really want to. I really only did it because the guy needed help. Was my former coach, Coach Martin. Uh, he was kind of in a bind. I was like, I'll help you out and literally fell in love. Just just been doing it ever since. My first state qualifier sitting at the end of end of the table right there. So, uh, you know, I'm glad to have made an impact on the community and the people around me. Uh, more

021important than anything, my family. Uh, probably 300 plus days a year we train or compete and we do it all over the country. So, we we're traveling a lot. My wife has been uh she's been the reason that I'm able to do this. So, thank you. [applause] before they all leave because they probably have lots of homework to do tonight. Their coaches, administrators here are going to make sure they get it done as well as their parents sitting over here. But um just let's please join me again. What two unbelievable examples of commitment to excellence day in day out, year after year. Congratulations to all of you. [applause] >> Now stay healthy and win again. [laughter] The rest of the meeting may be exciting, probably not as exciting as the first part. So if if

022you were here for the celebrations, you you are excused. Um, in addition to schoolboard meetings, school board members participate in committees um where they represent the board and at board meetings we get a chance to hear about the activities of those committees. Uh, Mr. Glick, have you had any meetings to report on this evening? >> Yeah. Uh, so the wellness council met last week. Um, one of the main topics of discussion as everybody knows the government shutdown was also big topic. So with the passing and everything and the funding, USDA funding is good through the year. So next time if there is a shutdown or anything where they need a continuing resolution, uh the funding is good all the way through the fiscal year. So uh school lunches and USADA funding should not be affected.

023Uh big point of other other point that we were talking about is CR is looking for a possible grant that will be initiative for mental health and substance abuse. Um, basically kind of creating banners and posters around uh around schools and then possibly doing interviews with students on their own perspectives of either why they choose not to partake in substance issues or why they decided to stop their substance abuse. uh something that's trying to like basically have that pure uh analysis. So maybe can help further the issues of substance abuse and mental health issues that we see growing exponentially throughout uh our high schools. Um, the other thing with the wellness council, we actually had a couple of the students with us and kind of hearing their perspectives on the potential upcoming vape sensors that

024we're going to have, vape detectors. And it's kind of interesting to hear their perspective of they may not necessarily entirely like them because people are going to find workarounds and people are not going to find the help for substance abuse that they may need to to find. Um, so it was kind of interesting to hear one of those topics be brought up instead of um trying to just stop it all together. Which that being said, me on my soap box, kids, if you're listening, don't do drugs. Don't start vaping. Vapes are bad. You don't know what's in them. And that's something that we're seeing more and more is just because you're vaping and you think it's safe, we don't know what it is. Um, other than that, we were supposed to have a district and

025facilities uh meeting, but it got postponed due to just a light schedule. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Glick. Mr. Nan, >> um, I have two committees to report. The IU Columbus Advisory Board met on November 12th. Um, and I actually gave everyone a handout to go along with that. Um, couple things to highlight. Um, The division of education I thought is particularly important to us because we feed students into the system but we also hopefully get students out of the end of the pipeline there. So three things on here you can read all the details later but three things I want to highlight. One is um the a new program actually all three of these are new programs registered apprenticeship teach in teaching which six of our current um teacher assistants and other

026pair professionals are involved in right now and it's the the program that um while they're working they can work towards teacher certification. So we benefit in many ways from that program. Um, another new program for them is secondary education. So, students can now get a um a license in any secondary education subject. I think that's true. Um, part of it would be online and part of it would be in person. Um, but they offer um the the content work plus the education courses to get um certified for secondary education. And the [clears throat] third one, that's a new program. We've heard a lot about the science of reading um in our in our schools. They now offer a um master's program, master of science in education in the science of reading. So we may have

027teachers that want to become even more expert and they can take advantage of that. Um the other thing I want to report in terms of um ISBA, my my role as the legislative liaison ISBA had a regional meeting on November 6 that four of our board members um were able to attend. Um they talked about four legislative priorities that I'm going to run through as quickly as I can. Um, number one was deregulation. Um, and they gave some specific ideas, but ways that that the state can actually help local school corporations um by giving um us more control and flexibility in several different areas. Um, number two was tiff matters um tax increment financing. Um and a couple things there that they are interested in hopefully the legislature making legislature making some movement on putting

028some constraints on the tax money taken from schools for tiff districts and also making um the schoolboard member which in our case Mr. major the schoolboard representative um to actually make them a voting member on the TIFF um the committee and under various education matters um clarification they're they're asking the legislature for clarification on the new legislation on general obligation bonds which might impact us in the future. Um and the fourth priority was to was around prek to restore the funding and actually increase the income eligibility along with the lack of the cut in funding this year. The to be eligible for assistance for on my way prek the current limit is 140% of poverty level and they are seeking that um to be raised to 400%. Um I also although most of us were

029there but um I gave a sheet out of our handout from that meeting of upcoming ISBA seminars most of which are online to remind us to sign up. >> Thank you Mr. N and Mr. Major. >> Yeah Dale had mentioned a minute ago the redevelopment. So I'm going to actually start with health trust because it's easy. There was no health trust meeting so no change there. redevelopment. We did have uh some discussion this earlier today. That meeting was at four o'clock in city hall. They did talk about uh there was a BS uh BCSC uh discussion there. I'm not going to speak to that, but uh there was uh some realignment, reassessment of some spaces in a couple of different parking garages where Toyota will be uh a division of Toyota is going to take

030ownership of those. Uh Cummins will reduce their parking. Um they talked about their spending plan which if I understood it correctly should be around 37 million and I think most of that if not all of that is TIFF dollars. Um and then they talked about the Wellsboro airport master plan and they're they're in the early phases of that to try and figure out what can be done in Wellsboro near the uh old airport um to redevelop that area and make it usable. So that's that's what we talked about. Very good. Thank you, Miss Razer. Miss Lloyd, >> evening. Um, the foundation actually has an upcoming meeting this Thursday. We'll be working on a year-end solicitation for the community, but most importantly, the Harlem Wizards game is Sunday. So, we are really, really trying to get

031the word out. If you haven't bought tickets, I encourage you to do so. Um, I go every year with my kiddos. It's a great time. Our very own Dr. Phillips is playing. Um, so the tickets are still available on Facebook and the foundation website. So, I think it's a great fun time. So, please consider um attending. Uh Council for Youth Development, I do have a really exciting announcement. I'm going to read it so I don't butcher it. Um but the council is announcing the launch of a new leadership program designed to empower the next generation of youth leaders to create and lead their own initiatives and community service projects outside of senior projects. I think that's incredibly exciting. Um, it's one of the first teenled councils in Bartholomew County that will unite members from multiple

032local youth leadership groups around a shared mission. They've actually come up with their very own name. It's Echo and it stands for empowering the community with hope and opportunity. Um, we have our first executive board. Um, and these students include Asher Stdum, Bruna Carrera, Paige Fininky, Diego Fernandez Gimenez, Keegan Eastston, and Eleanor Dixon. So, I'm excited to to work with them and see what they're going to do for our community. So, congrats to them. >> Very good. Thank you, Miss Lloyd. Uh, Dr. Phillips U will lead us now. We the board has several strategic focus areas and we like to get updates on those from time to time. So Dr. Phillips, you have one on high school graduation rates. Is that right? >> We do. Um first I just want to clarify Dr. Phillips is

033coaching in the Harlem Wizards game. >> I think that's a copout. Is that a copout? >> That's okay. I was going to ask if we could convene the health trust to make sure that our insurance is good. >> It would it would need to be good. But I've been watching Coach Signetti, so I've got some coaching. >> You're ready then. You're >> I' got the scowl down. I'm just gonna scowl the whole time. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Ster. Um, starting a few board meetings ago, we put in front of each of the board members a binder that has a report on our seven strategic focus areas with a commitment that anytime we update one of those, we'll share that update with the public uh at the board meeting. So this evening, uh, you'll

034see our high school graduation rate update. Um, not based on actual data that's been released by the Department of Education. We expect that to be around the first of the year, um, late December, early January. But the projections for 26, 27, and 28. Uh, these updated projections are based on, um, really Mr. Edwards and my quarterly meetings with the cohort teams. We meet with every team and walk through all of the data from their cohort. And at the conclusion of this last round of meetings, Mr. Edwards was finally willing to update these projections with more with higher numbers. U based on those conversations, the the amazing work those cohort teams are doing student by individual student um developing relationships and helping those students be successful. U we see the real possibility that we could get

035close to 96% in the next uh three years uh in our graduation rate. Um and then that really that 2028 number is just the the range of possibilities with a freshman class between now and their graduation rate. It's it's just really too great to know. So, but we feel really good about that 95% number over the next couple years. [cough] Happy to answer any questions about this uh projection update for you. Any questions, Mr. N? >> I don't think I have a question, but I just want to say um that I appreciate the work that went into this from Mr. Edwards and from the cohort teams. Um I it's I understand that we often have to wait for the official numbers to come from the state, but it's good for us to see what the

036cohort teams are working on um down the pike, so to speak. And and I especially appreciate. So, we look at that and think, "Oh, there's a dip in the freshman class." And I fully understand there's a wider range there, but I to me the one of the cool parts of this is as we see this over the next four years, we can actually visually see the work that the cohort teams and the teachers and and the support staff are doing to make that 93% as high as the other one. So, thank you very much. >> Yeah. The other thing with the 93 for for 2028, that's the first year for the new diploma scheme. So, it's going to be interesting to see as they'll be the staple there. So, see how that progresses and kind

037of give us a baseline moving forward. >> Well, and I think it's important to note this is the first time we've seen a good projection like this that's been presented early rather than late. So, I appreciate this because I think I've asked a couple times in the to have updates. I'm glad we're starting to do this now and show it because this is an excellent trend and it helps just prove that the things we're doing are right. >> When do the 2025 numbers become official? >> It will. >> Will that gray turn to red? It will be um probably hopefully by the first meeting in January >> our January 4th board meeting I believe. >> Okay. >> But your guess is as good as mine. >> And is that because they count December graduations as

038well as >> they go all the way through the end of August. Is that right, Charles? >> And then there's a whole reconciliation process that every district in the state has to go through. It's pretty complex. That's That's correct. >> No, one of ours. >> Okay. So, they uh they keep it open until the end of September. Uh and then Yes, that's right. there is a pretty lengthy reconciliation process where schools can um essentially challenge and say, "Hey, listen, this kid did graduate or here's the documentation." Um, and that takes a while. And so after that happens, then they release the data. But that's that's why it takes so long. >> Very good. Thank you. Any other questions about this data? >> Thanks again, Dr. Phillips. Uh, next We'll move on to uh school corporation

039finances and we've got the quarter three financial report. Mr. Bringer, quarter three is July, August, September, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. You're making me think already. This is kind of hard. Um, looking first at our revenues like we always do. Um, in the education fund, our revenues are up about 1.5%. um which has us on target for the full year and um a lot of that increase is due to a larger ADM count in the first half of the year compared to the first half of 2024 within the operations fund. Uh our revenues are down just under 1% and the big piece there is the property tax caps that we've had hit us this year compared to last year and we discussed those caps during the budget process. And then operating referendum is up

0405.4% and in that area the largest increase is in property tax revenue. Looking at education fund expenditures we're up about 4.66%. Um that is in the salaries in benefits up 6.5%. The reason the benefits are a little bit higher than the salaries is turf went up compared to last year. So that increase is affected. In supplies, we're up about 6.6%. That is in general supply purchases as well as in tech supplies under $10,000. And then our transfers to operations are down 6.8. That was budgeted that way. We did budget to um transfer less money between the funds. Overall expenditures are up 4.1% in the education fund. operations fund expenditures and salaries, those are up a little over 10%. Again, as we've discussed the first two quarters of this year, a big part of that is

041due to full staffing, and we'll see a reduction in some of our other expenditures as we reduced our um temporary uh employees that we used. Benefits are up 5.8% and our other expenditures are down about 9.6%. Some of that is in the capital expenditures that we have not made that were budgeted, but we will probably make before the end of the year or we will be encumbering that money into next year. Overall down just under 1% in expenditures in the operations fund. the referendum fund expenditures. Uh teacher salaries are up 3.7% uh directly related to 20 more teachers uh that we were able to bring into the referendum uh portion of the budget. Support staff salaries are up 4.1%. Benefits up 6.2%. Again, that's going to tie into the turf increase. Uh when I say

042turf, I apologize. Teacher retirement fund. uh the increase we showed there uh sa uh safety and security that is up 66% again we did add the SSO the school safety officers in the second half of the year and those expenditures are shown and then STEM labs are up 15% and those are the new staff members brought on um receiving higher pay overall um referendum expenses are up 8.5% and that uh mainly due to the retention that we'd hoped we would see with the referendum funds as well as the SSOs. Uh quarter three operating and rainy day fund cash balances versus reserves. And this is the one we added at the last meeting um as a result of the fund cash balance plan that you put into place. Our goal with um operating funds which is

043education operations and the referendum fund is to have a a reserve level between 13.5 and 19% and then in our rainy day fund between four and 6%. Over the last four years we've been reducing those reserve levels in the operating funds. um that shot up again in 21 uh 22 and 23 as a result of the COVID funds that we had on hand and then we've been eating that down so that we don't carry such a large reserve right now for the third quarter of this year we're sitting at about 14.9%. This last slide was at the request of Dr. Phillips to give you an example or a projection of where we're going to be at the end of the year. Our cash balances in the three operating funds at the beginning of the year

044had about 25.6 million in reserves. We uh budgeted revenues of 143.6 million. We are projecting about 142.7 million. The reason we are going to receive less than we had budgeted is almost directly tied to those property tax caps. um our expenditure budget and Mr. Major that does show 98 million in the education fund. That's because I did include the transfer to operations there. So the expenditure budget is at 147 million. We're expected to expend 147. Our forecast cash balances then total I'm sorry 21.3. I didn't put my glasses on. Um included in some of those expenditures as well as in our cash balance is encumbered money. Those are monies that we had budgeted in the prior year did not get expended in those years but are directly tied to contracts that we have and we

045want to use those monies for those projects. And we have about 4.8 million there that is in our reserve. when you reduce those amounts, we have a um cash balance about 16.5 million projected for the end of the year. And I know that was really quick, but I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have. Any board members questions? I was going to ask just to make sure I understand on the last slide there um the 21 million forecast cash balance for the end of the year 21,382,000 that is made up of the encumbered funds 4.8 and the cash balance that's left over correct 16.6. Okay. Other questions? Thank you for the quarter three update, Mr. >> Thank you. And anytime any of you have questions, just let me know. Thank you. >> Just

046to make sure for the public, information like this is available on our website or is it better to get this from IDOE? >> Um, both. This would be part of the board meeting notes that'll be available to the public and then on the DLGF website there's a lot of this same information is available and then the DOE through the form nine reports that we provide. >> Perfect. Thank you Mr. Dr. Stalbomb is going to present classified administrator salary increases for 25 26 27. >> Yes. Thank you for your consideration tonight. We are recommending the classified and administrator salary increases as follows. Classified staff, including those on classified special special contracts, will receive a 1.5% increase beginning July 1, 2026, and then a 2.5% increase beginning July 1, 2027. Administrators will receive an $850 increase, which

047is an average percentage increase of 0.7% retroactive to July 1, 2025 and then a 2.5% increase beginning July 1, 2026. These recommendations are in alignment with past practice following the ratification of the teachers collective bargaining agreement. Dr. Boseman and I are happy to answer any questions you may have. This is an action item for the board later in the meeting. Questions here. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Stal. ADM stands for >> average daily membership. Good evening. This is your annual fall ADM report. I'll explain this chart that you're looking at. You're familiar with it. It's the same chart that we use each year. We update um school enrollment. This is an October 1 count date that we use. It determines funding for the school year um by school and by grade level. And then

048comparatively October 25 compared to October 24 on the right hand side. And then on the bottom you see cohort comparisons. So last year's kindergarteners compared to this year's first graders is how how you read that that information. U nothing that you don't already know already, but our average daily membership count this year is down 225 students. Our budget reflects that. We as we've discussed many times, this trend is similar to other lectiz districts. Um, I'll explain a little bit more of that and some speculation we have, but you'll notice a um a smaller kindergarten class of 117 students compared to the outgoing seniors of last year, which is a a significant factor, of course. Um, we also had 40, this was a a little bit unrealized until recently, but we had we had 40 students

049that graduated at at the end of their junior year, 29 at East High School and 11 at North High School. Um so that's a that's a trend that we think we'll need to um accommodate for in the future. And then um I'll speak a little bit more here in a couple slides um about the changing landscape of of virtual education and the impact on our ADM at least our assumed impact um on that. This next slide uh again we update this as we go. This is our current ADM numbers compared to the two most recent demographic studies both in 2016 and 2021. We have asked for an updated um demographic study from that 21 based on the most recent ADM data and we've received that preliminarily. We have a few questions and some clarifications we're

050working through with doc Dr. Budvig and we'll share that uh once we have that. that that um that blue line is our current ADM and you see that that decrease there noted uh by the 225 students. This last slide um is new and I'll I'll I won't read it to you but I'll speak to a few things here and then um Mr. Edwards may be best to answer specific questions about virtual education at least at the secondary level. Um we we have had a virtual academy in BCSSE since 2017 as you as you well know. You also know that we have very high standards and accountability within our virtual programming. Um and we are also comfortable in saying that is not the case in other places across the state. Um is our assumption. So when

051we have students that that choose to go to virtual education for whatever reason at BCSC, there's a process that they follow with their cohorts and supports that are given and expectations and accountability with that. Um sometimes those students stay with us in CVP and sometimes they do not. So the data that you see on the right hand side um this is from a spring report a spring transfer report that comes from the state. Um we get this every single year. The numbers change obviously and there are a few there are a few things that jump out to us as we start to look at these things. So some of the some of the school districts listed on the top have um had online programs for a while or they are newly formed online online programming.

052Um, and the number you represent, I'll just choose Clarksville because they're at the top of the list there. In 2025, again, this is spring of 2025, we had uh 45 students with BCSSE legal settlement, which means they live in our boundary, attend school um in Clarksville. So, I'm I don't know this for certain, of course, but I would make an assumption that we do not have 45 students driving an hour down I 65 to attend inerson classes um in Clarksville. and you can look down the list and and draw your own assumptions there. So that's an increase of 117 students since 21 to 25. Um and again this is something that is a trend that we have our eye on other districts are affected similarly. Um so if you combine going back to the original

053slide, if you combine the the smaller um class, outgoing seniors, incoming kindergarten at 117 students, the early grads of 40 that graduated at junior year, the impact on um you can you can quickly add up and see potentially where that 225 student delta um comes from. So um one one other item of concern um Dr. Phillips and Mr. Edwards and and the team meet with our cohort groups meet weekly and um you know their purpose and um Dr. Phillips and Mr. Edwards meet with them quarterly and go through updates on really student by student progress that you're aware of that process um but there are stories of individual students. I'll share one with you just for perspective but um this individual student attended North High School in nth grade earned 10 credits. Again, you need

05440 to graduate as our target, of course. Um, attended North High School semester 1. Uh, his or her sophomore year, earned five credits on target, unenrolled, uh, did not attend our CVP pathway, but attended another online academy in the second semester of 10th grade, earned zero credits, came back to North in person first semester in 11th grade, and um, is on track to earn seven credits, but is credit deficient at that point. So, our cohorts are now playing a little bit of catch-up in some of those situations. Um, I have a list of several that I will not read to you, but that's that's one. They're all they're all similar stories. So, um, happy to answer questions you have about the fall ADM um, report. And again, if you have more specific questions about um,

055some CVP virtual requirements that we have um, here, uh, Mr. Edwards is happy to jump up and answer those questions as well. Thank you, Dr. Boseman. Just to make sure I understand the story you related to us, this student went to a virtual academy, not ours, but another one somewhere else online for an academic year and did not make any progress, no credits. >> The the example I gave was one semester, but that's accurate. Yeah. So, left North High School um with [clears throat] 15 credits and came back with 15 credits. >> What What do we know about the 117 or the I guess the 45 that are enrolled in Clarksville now or 21? Are there things that we can glean characteristics of these people and their experiences students? So this is just raw data

056that we have. Um usually the the local data that we have on the the um student by student is gathered by our administrative assistants at the building level. So if a student moves out, you know, he or she will ask where are you going and that sort of thing. So we'll get some of that narrative from folks as they go. Um unless the cohort in the secondary example have specific examples that they've reached out to the families and they know where they're going and why they're going there. Um this is the only data we have from from the state um on the transfer. Um and and I'll also mention that this we do not get data on on those to go to homeschool. Um so that's that's another um wonder or I wish that we

057would have on some of that home school data as well because we do have some of those. >> I'm sure other board members have questions. Mr. Non. Um, so I think you're saying one reason some of these virtual transfers um leave BCSE is because of the additional accountability that that we are requiring with the virtual pathways that these others might not be requiring. Um, so can you give us a little more detail about what kinds of accountability and and how we put those into place? why we're requiring more students. >> I have fielded far more secondary education questions than I should up here. So, I'll I'll pause while Mr. Edwards comes up. >> I'll just start by saying you're doing a fantastic job. Um, so really when uh we have students go to CVP, there

058there are a couple things. And so when when you're talking about the accountability aspect, uh a full-time CVP student has five classes. Uh, and we expect students to be online and active for 30 minutes a day for each of those classes. So that's two and a half hours a day that we expect students to to be active. And we really get that 30 minutes by looking at what would happen in a 44 minute class period. Um, so about 30 minutes of would be instruct. And so that's the expectation for our uh our our virtual students. So when it when it says attendance um for the virtual the way we track attendance is by the amount of time they spend online with those courses. >> That is correct. >> Our cohort teams have also moved to

059uh start developing their own agreements. So, as they've seen, you know, as you can imagine, having a teenager go go go home and stay away from school every day for weeks or months only works successfully for a small percentage of the student population are successful in that kind of setting. Um, and so our cohort teams have worked really hard to say to families, if you are interested in going to virtual education, you have that option, but you're going to come in and meet with us once a quarter. and we're going to check up on you. You have to meet these attendance requirements and these grade requirements. And if they're not meeting those, then we say you're coming back because you were more successful in person than you're than you were online. And u again like

060Dr. Dr. Boseman said, "I can't speak to the quality or standards of other um of other virtual programs, but what we have is some families look at that agreement and some students and they say, "Well, no, I'll just I'll just go enroll in another online program." And then like was shared, we've anecdotally from cohorts at both schools, every cohort, they can tell a story about students that then come back to us after having enrolled in that and the parent realizing, oh, you're not doing the work you told me you were doing and I got the first report card and you you didn't pass any of your classes, then they come back to us in person. So, we have had conversations and shared this information with our legislators to help uh you know, help address the

061the system statewide because this is a this is an issue that number one is obviously not good for kids um and it's not good for our district as we lose our students and then have to catch them up when they come back and it's not good for the community. So, when it when it's a trifecta of all one problem that's bad for all three of those things, we like to raise that with our legislators and bring some attention to it. I don't want to veer us too far off the path, so stop me if I get too far, but I know we've talked about families and how transient they can be, and that's oftentimes reflected in this report. I know especially now a lot of families in our district and everywhere are facing significant barriers

062with housing and food insufficiency and and a lot of times that transient is due to moving to meet basic needs, right? So, I also acknowledge our counselors cannot be case managers. That's not their job. But what is the referral process if a family does have those barriers and it does come out? Like you said, sometimes they call and say, you know, why are you leaving? What's going on? What's the next step? If if a counselor or a a vice principal would encounter that conversation. So just for clarification, you're asking what the next step would be in a a referral process to like a CVP in order to >> Well, not necessarily CVP, just, you know, we're moving to Franklin to live with six other families because we can't make ends meet. I mean, what what

063is the what is the comeback of BCSC counselors at that point? Where are you sending them? Are are we trying to intervene? Are we linking them to United Way or >> So I I would imagine that yes, we have a list of local agencies that can help in those situations. Um I will say that uh our cohort spend a significant amount of time with students. >> So usually they know where they are in that hierarchy of places that can help. Okay. >> Um and so they know if they've been to the United Way, they know um you know what that family has been through and what those circumstances are. Um, and so yes, we do our best to link folks with local services that would help them stay local and help them get the things

064that they would need. >> Thank you. >> And the other significant step in that [clears throat] process that I didn't realize until just a couple of years ago was the case. So when a student in that scenario transfers to another district, um if that district doesn't reach out within a few days for records, we are contacting that district and we're calling the family cell phone numbers, however we can try to get a hold of them. If if a significant number of days goes past without that student enrolling and we can't get a hold of any of the family members, then there's a national clearing house that we can report that to and then other people start looking for that child to find out where that that student is. And our folks are pretty relentless because

065not only do they want to find out where their child is, but they need to enroll in another district before they're removed from our graduation rate. And so they don't give up and stop calling until they know that child is enrolled, settled in a place and then that establishes a relationship between the receiving school and the sending school as well to call and talk about any circumstances that they might need to know about. Mrs. Lloyd, I'll also add to Charles comment that we our counselors are very well verssed in McKinto laws and um families that are homeless and doubled up as homeless according to the law. So we we have several families, many families that number grows throughout the year that we provide transportation between schools and out of the district as well if they

066if they qualify um in a situation as you as you described. So >> I think our counselors go way above and beyond um just can't imagine having to feel those conversations in addition to their daily conversations, but I'm thankful that they do. Thank you. So I I realize this is about attendance, not graduation, but it obviously is impacting graduation and graduation rates is is one of our priorities. Um so two questions. Our students that go to the Columbus Virtual Pathways um full-time, does their graduation rate go back to one of the one of our high schools? And is that also the case, let's say for Clarksville or other places, if they're taking students that are not earning credits, does that is that impacting their graduation rates down the road? >> Yes. So, the students who

067are at CVP are north students, they're east students, they're uh central students, north side, like they're our students. And so, uh, whatever their home school would be, then yes, that student's grades, all of that goes back to, say, East or North or, um, CSA New Techch at the high school level. So, yes. And then when a student transfers out to go to, say, a Clarksville uh, or any of those other districts that are listed up there, then they enroll officially in that district, and then that district does take on that student's attendance and graduation rate. But with with that student and with that student living in our district though, as soon as they come back to us, they're back then on our graduation rate and attendance rates. >> My my only thing was uh I

068hit Dr. Phillips with about six ADM questions the other day. I appreciate your answer and getting that information back. The one that actually came up sitting here looking at the numbers on the first slide, approximately how many of the kindergarters do we lose going into first grade to parochial area schools? Because I'm assuming we didn't lose all uh to St. Bees, St. Pete's and White Creek. But just out of curiosity, of that 42 going from kindergarten to first grade, like the percentage that we use lose every year. Um, so I I do not have the specific information that you're looking at or that you're asking for relative to parochials, but um, so that's if I'm looking at your question the right way, Mr. Click, you're this is kind last year's kindergarten. This year's first grade.

069Is that what you're asking? >> Okay. Sorry. >> Yeah, that'd be Sorry. It it takes it takes a minute to get your eyes focused on which way to go on. So, so you're comparing last year's kindergarten at 799 to this year's kind first grade at 796. So, it's a decrease of of three. But, >> so by that graphic, three and potentially none of them went to parochial schools. >> Yeah. So, but to answer your question about parochials or I we don't have that that data um [clears throat] quite yet. Similarly, we have the raw numbers that say this how are this is how many students that live in your district that attend St. B St. Peters Columbus Christian but none of the grade level data or individual student information. I think my biggest concern is

070on the next slide and so this goes back to two years ago when we made the decision to build another elementary school. There was a decline from the 2022 23 to 2020 2032 2033 of approximately 500 students. We're almost halfway there now and we're only two two and a half years into that cycle. So 25% of the way there. We're 40 to 50% of the way in the decline. You can see that in a blue line now dipped well below the green line. My concern is will that ever come back up? because I go back to my continued disagreement with the need for another elementary school. I know there's other reasons other than uh enrollment, but enrollment is what pays the bills. And when you do get another school, you have to have additional buses,

071bus drivers, cooks, janitors, teachers, all these things that are hard to get today. And funding is just getting more difficult. Um, so I'll just leave it out there that I think this concerns me with uh continuing to build a school that if this goes this trend for too long, we're going to have less enrollment than what we would have even expected. >> I want to go back to the last slide for a second. Looking at the names of some of the places in the enrolled corporation column, it seems like I've seen some of those in the news. Are there is the state investigating some of these virtual schools uh providing virtual education that that isn't working for the students? >> Uh Mr. Senator, I think you're probably referencing Union. um that district has um garnished

072a lot of attention legislatively this past session um which resulted in legislative action to to close that district. Um but that that is the that's probably the one that you recognize that district has had um thousands of students enroll over the course of the past several years in their online. It's a very small school district uh boundary wise. So that's that's probably the one that I'm not I'm less familiar than the others on there, but that's probably the one that you're >> referencing from memory. >> Other other questions about the ADM report. When has this been filed officially with the state now? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh last cabinet report if we're ready. Dr. Stalbone. >> Yes. Good evening and thank you for dedicating time to go over the legislative changes to what

073is named the teacher appreciation grant. The presentation I have for you this evening is very detailed as there is a substantial shift between what once was the process to distribute the tag dollars and what is now the process to distribute the tag dollars. My goal for this presentation is to be informative. However, I will not be as detailed with my narrative and thus I'll stick with my notes. Before I begin, I want to thank the Columbus Educators Association for their collaboration and partnership through this process. We spent countless hours together over the last month coming up with a tag process that is transparent, explicit, and comprehensive for teachers. And so uh we will begin with going over the core changes from the past tag which was in effect from 2017 to 2024 to the criteria

074for the new tag of 2025. The old tag was characterized by providing grants to teachers and the effective and highly effective categories of our performance evaluation system. Those grant dollars derived from the IDOE after school corporations submitted an annual board policy detailing our tag distribution process. No teacher names were provided to the IDOE underneath that old tag process that you see. The 2025 tag process makes substantial changes. There is no annual board policy to approve. Instead, school corporations must submit submit a list of no more than 20% of teachers who have demonstrated significant impact on student achievement through three identified tiers of the teacher appreciation grant. And I will provide BCSC specific context for each criteria on those subsequent slides. So we'll break this down. Whereas before, as I stated, teachers were provided TAG dollars

075by earning an effective or highly effective performance rating on our evaluation system, now teachers are to meet specific criteria under each tiered stipened amount. As you can see on the screen, there are three stipen tiers for each tag or for tag. Each typen steer tier provides a different dollar amount. There is an asterisk next to the tier one recognition stipened as that is the tier that BCSC will identify teachers for during our tag process for 2025 2026. This tag process uses data from 2024 2025 for teachers to demonstrate how they made significant impact on student outcomes using national, state, or local assessment measures. In the last form of TAG, all teachers who received a highly effective or effective evaluation rating received some form of TAG dollars. In this new form of TAG, no more than

07620% of teachers in the corporation can receive TAG at each tier's identified amount. Again, that's determined through the legislative decision making. The IDOE provided each corporation's total allocation of TAG dollars most recently and adjustments were made to the 20% as based on that IDE allocation. So with that adjustment, less than 20% of BCSC teachers will receive those TAG dollars. As BCSC engages in a process to identify teachers for the tier one tax stipen, we will also work to proportionately identify individuals receiving the dollars throughout our buildings and programs. Whereas pre2025 school corporations submitted our tag policy for the grant distribution, we are now required to submit a list of teachers to receive those tag dollars along with how they satisfy those tiers through submitting the assess assessment measure utilized to demonstrate significant impact on student

077outcomes. The IDOE has defined significantly impacting student outcomes by exceeding one year's growth in one year's time. So with these changes again very fortunate to work with CA to come up with our BCSSE tag process to morning. Tomorrow morning teachers will receive an email which details the new tag process. Within that email, there will be a form available for teachers to submit. That form asks teachers those questions on assessment, instruction, and data. So, it asks them to identify for us which assessment measure are you using, national, state, or local? How does it align to our Indiana academic standards? and then provide us a synopsis on how you are demonstrating significant student outcomes with these data that you are submitting. So this form is going to be available for teachers between November 18th and December 18th.

078Again, our goal was to create a transparent, comprehensive, explicit process. Along with the form tomorrow, they will also be receiving the checklist rubric that we will be using to identify teachers who are eligible for these grant dollars. So, they'll get the form. They'll get the rubric that we will use to grade the form and then they will also receive an FAQ document. Again, CA, we we got together and we said, what are those questions that we know teachers are going to have? Let's go ahead and create an FAQ document. So that FAQ document will also go out. We will gather those submissions throughout December 18th and then a tag team will come together and that tag team will be comprised of teachers and BCSSE administrators. We will grade those submissions with that rubric that teachers

079will receive tomorrow. And then we will identify teachers proportionately per building and per uh program as well in order to submit that list of teachers to the IDE for the tag distribution of dollars. We will use a lottery system if needed because we know that we are going to have to be very dynamic when we work together as a tag team to provide that proportionality for that identification. Ultimately and above all, we know that each and every teacher creates a lasting impact on students that cannot always be submitted through a form or via an assessment. We celebrate that every day. We celebrated that this evening. And so we truly value each individual's commitment to the students at BCSSC and again are very appreciative to work with our teachers association to develop this process. >> I'm

080happy to answer questions. >> Sad sad. >> I'm staring at you, but you're just the messenger. So >> I'm happy to answer questions as the >> messenger have questions. I think this is one of the most challenging things that's come across at least in my first year. I think this is really really frustrating. Um, you have too many incredible teachers for just 20%. Um, one thing that came to mind, you mentioned the the fall versus spring. So, I think a lot of teachers and and staff employees in general have come to rely on this money probably this time of year around the holidays. What does that impact look like and and are you trying to manage that in any way? >> Great question. So the going back to probably 2012 I think maybe is the

081first time that um the state submitt or uh they had teacher uh it wasn't called appreciation grants achievement grants I'm sorry was the first time and at that time in this district the superintendent Dr. Quick said that if this is rewarding staff members for student achievement, then we're going to reward all of our staff members. And so the dollars, while most teachers received money from the teacher achievement grants and from teacher appreciation grants in the old format, um we also as a district for now that 12 years or so have um provided a stipen of $100 to a part-time classified staff member who's permanent and $200 to a full-time permanent staff member. Um, and we have been able to find funds to do that for the last several years. In the with the current situation,

082the 400 plus thousand dollars that we used to get that covered almost all the teacher stipens for the teacher appreciation grants was covered by those teacher appreciation grant dollars. Um, and then all we had to do was come up with um about a hundred $200,000 to make sure that everyone else received a stipend each year. Um, unfortunately with the $1.8 8 million decrease in state tuition, property tax cap losses, Senate enrolled act one impact, and then mostly the change in teacher appreciation grants where we would have to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide teacher appreciation grants to the other 600 700 teachers who don't qualify under this new tag. we will not be able to continue those annual stipens that have gone out every year around November or December going forward borrowing some

083change in circumstance financially. Hate to hate to share that and I hate that um we have to end that practice but it's the responsible thing to do knowing that that was going to be the case. We tried to push as much as we could to the annual increase for both teachers and classified staff. >> Will that be part of the communication that goes out that that won't be happening? tomorrow morning. >> Another thing popped into my head and you sort of hit on it with your last slide. So, this presentation is really helpful. Thank you. Are there I know that you're looking at um certain criteria, but are there any measurements that'll be considered that are non test scores >> because impact's not always in >> that's not what this grant was written for. And

084so it does require you to submit what quantitative data did you utilize to demonstrate student outcome impact. And we have to identify that on the submission we provide to the state. Whereas before we did not provide them teacher names, we provided them the policy that you all adopted. Now we have to provide a list of teacher name. What is the assessment measure you utilizing and how do you know that they demonstrated that significant impact on student achievement? >> Teachers have to submit for themselves. >> Yes. >> The only will be considered. >> Mr. N. >> Um, several thoughts. First of all, some things that I really appreciated and valued in what we have been doing. Um, one is that that we acknowledge that all of our employees are important for student achievement. And the other

085is that it acknowledged that our teacher evaluation system actually did evaluate teachers and so the teachers who got the grant were any was it included any teacher who was effective or highly effective. Um this new program is layered on top of that. I fully appreciate that that you are you and the CEA representatives are stepping up to what I think is a terribly challenging situation. How to make this work. I mean our other option is to say we're not going to give any money to any of our teachers and that's not a good option. Um I a couple questions. So, first of all, I just really really appreciate the work that you have done and that CA has done to try to make the best of this um legislation. Um, what one clarification I I

086think what you're saying is the state says you can award up to 20%. But they're not giving us enough money to even come close to that. >> That's correct. >> Um, even at just tier one, they're not giving us enough enough money to come close to 20% of our teachers at tier one. Um that's bad on them. But um the my my next question is so you have a group this tag committee or you're going to have a tag committee that is going to get together and look at possibly a hundred or more applications. Do we have any way that there that we are compensating those teachers for that time? >> That's a good question. No. Uh what we have is we've asked or I've asked CEA to provide me with some representatives that would

087want to sit on this tag team. As you know the CA we work together quite collaboratively on different projects committees and thus they've essentially volunteered their time to do this through a committee type team. I don't want to call it a committee because as we know once the short session happens this spring this could ultimately change. This is something we know people are focused on at all levels and changing because one as you stated the the math didn't math at the end of the day for anyone. It wasn't just for BCSSE. All corporations received an allocation of dollars that would not allow them to provide this grant for 20% of their staff. and then they know that some of the language has created this negative affective space that we're feeling right now. So I say

088that because I don't have dollars set aside for that right now and those teachers have indicated that they would like to be involved in this process as much as possible. So >> um so I I have another question but what you just said brought to mind. So last summer I spent um a couple days as the legislative liaison um working with ISBA on legislative priorities and the very first thing that came up from every person in that group was this legislation. But it was decided to set it aside for a year because it is a new program and and it was going to get rolled out this year and it may show up as as some kind of ISBI ISBA priority next year. I don't know. But my other question is so this is um

089based on a year's growth that they show in some whether national, state or local kinds of assessments. Um and I know I think this is true for for a new um teacher of our new school grading system that they're rolling out. They're really emphasizing a growth model. um which brings to mind um are some of our special needs students. So a year's growth is a different thing for different students. So will special ed teachers have a reasonable shot for all of the hard work they do to to qualify for these? >> It's a good question. So, we actually have been working with the DOE on this for for quite some time to get to the point we're at because originally they had stated that special education teachers who do not have a roster are not

090eligible. After working with them quite a bit on helping them understand that our special education teachers do have significant impact on students as teachers of record, they are allowing them to be eligible and thus our special education teachers can submit data in association with the growth that they had with a small group of students, one student. It doesn't need to be an entire roster that you submit. It could be I demonstrated a significant impact on growth with this small group of students as demonstrated by their mastery goals on their IEPs as an example. >> Thank you. >> The the biggest thing for me out of all this is you talk about showing growth. How are we going to show growth? Is that through like I learn, I read. So, we've got standard tests and and

091I think you guys have shared some of those. I actually shared some stuff with Dale. I put I took the previous iLearn information and put it on charts for myself and I gave it to Dale previously. So, we're going to use that type of data. That's awesome because we we've not I don't think used that seen that shared that in a way that actually drives action. And you know, I think it is no no matter what happens in here, it's probably not going to be good enough for the teachers that are working their butts off every day. Um, but in the end, if we're given a task from the state to use this money most effectively, then we have to really start taking a look at those scores and giving the state house a reason

092to change it to something that allows us to to grow the program by showing that we're improving scores so well across the corporation that they can't just stop at 20% or they can't just stop at a dollar amount. And I think that's where I would challenge all the rest of us up here to if you haven't already done it, send a letter to the state house and tell them they need to do better. If you've not done that, do it. You know, because we can sit in here and we can have all the tears shed and we can complain all we want, but it ain't going to do anything to change what happens in Indianapolis. >> I think Mike, is the DOE submitting us Are they giving us the rubric for assessments or is it

093something that we're coming up with ourselves as a as a corporation? >> The DOE gave us each tier and how you qualify for each tier as a corporation and as a partnership with CA. We said we really want to give some more guidance to teachers so that they know this is this is what the expectation is. So, we created the checklist rubric together just to create that very explicit, transparent process and the DOE has stated this is how you qualify and they've defined a few things for us like this is what we mean when we say significant student outcomes. >> Yeah, I asked that because of prior conversations we've had regarding other metrics and data that go to the state and DOE uh where we come up with our own uh quantifiable data uh and

094it we're creating our own metric information to send up there as instead of them giving us what they really want. And so that's kind of where I see the problem is sometimes it's from DOE and it's come from legislators that are creating a uh bottleneck here that everybody's just making their own rules and rules don't matter, points don't matter. Just submit information, we'll figure out and throw darts at a dart board. So, state and DOE. Got it. >> I can give you the list of all 150 email addresses if you want to. >> Any other question? >> One thing that I want to add here. I do not want to speak for CA leadership as one of their officers is here this evening, but I just want to be clear that the CA and ISTA

095made it very clear from the get-go that they were opposed to this new system and did not want to to have to be part of choosing who wins and who loses, but worked alongside said if we have to do this, then we want to work alongside you and be part of the process. So I I don't I just didn't want to give the impression that CA leadership was supportive of this. They have been collaborative and worked with us throughout but but just like the rest of us wish that there was a better system in place. >> Clarification. >> I imagine there will be lots of identifiers in the narrative that teachers submit. But is there any anonymity in this process? Are you are you blacking out names? >> Yes. So a part of the guidance

096is not to submit student names and then we will create an anonymous process where I receive all the forms and actually uh a member of Barta is going to help in taking out the names and putting in numbers instead. And so the entire process will be anonymous even the tag team will be anonymous. They they don't want to be identified. And then uh as BCSC we do not intend on publishing a list of teachers who receive tag. We cannot control what happens once we provide that list to the state level. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? >> Thank you, Dr. Stalbone. That concludes the cabinet reports for this evening. Every board meeting, we allow the opportunity for the public to make comments before the board makes its business decisions. Uh we did not have anybody

097sign up for the comments this time. for reference for future meetings. Uh when you enter our meeting space, there's a blue sheet, infamous blue sheet that we keep by the door and anyone who wants to speak at one of our meetings is free to sign up on the blue sheet. Again, we did not have anyone take advantage of that this time. So, we'll move on to item number six, request for approval. Old business. >> Thank you, Mr. Stinner. Uh tonight a request approval for item 6A, old business, minutes of the school board meeting of October 20th, the special school board meeting on October 29th, and the executive session also of October 29th, 2025. >> Board members, we've heard the recommendation from the superintendent. Is there a motion? >> I move that we approve item six,

098the minutes from the last three meetings as shown on the board. >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Non. Second by Mr. Major. Uh, any discussion or questions on this issue. All in favor, please say I. >> Any opposed? Same sign. >> Motion carries. Uh, agenda item number seven, Dr. Phillips, we'd like to take uh we have a board member who's married to someone who will be impacted by the classified and administrative salary increases. So, uh after you make this presentation, I think that we may get a motion from a board member that includes items A through H other than G. That make sense? >> It does. Yes. Any other board members have concerns or want to uh exempt themselves from voting on any particular issue because of a potential conflict? >> Thank you. I will just

099proactively request approval in that. >> So tonight I request item approval of items 7 A through D. These are the regular approval items of supplemental contracts, field trips, and professional leaves that are overnight or out of state. Uh, school fundraisers and the November docket and claims of 1.2 million. The October 2025 pre-erruns of 7.7 million and the uh two payrolls between October 17th and October 20, sorry, October 31st of just over 7.6 million. In addition, item 7E, uh, to receive permission to receive bids for the renovation of Taylor'sville Elementary School, which you had a presentation on last time, as well as bids for roof replacement at Clifty Creek and Rock Creek. Those are part of the Envision 2030 projects, but um, we would like to do those roofs outside of the the renovation projects before

100they get started uh, to get them done this year. And then also item 7H, the final final policy package for a reorganization of the uh 27 policies that we reviewed during the last meeting as well as the work session, I believe all the way back in September. So that is requesting approval again of items 7 A through F and H. >> Thank you, Dr. Phillips. Is there a motion from the board? I move that we approve items 7 A through F and item H as shown in the agenda. >> Second. >> Thank you. Motion by Mr. Non, second by Mr. Major. Questions, discussion. Hearing none, we can move on to the vote. All those in favor of the motion to approve, please say I. >> Yes. I. >> Any oppose? same sign. That motion is

101carried. Dr. Phillips, item 7G, please. >> Thank you, Mr. Tenner. I request approval item 7G, the classified and administrative salary increases as presented earlier this evening by Dr. Stala. >> Thank you. Recommendation from the superintendent. Is there a motion from the board? I move that we approve item 7G. Um, classified administrative salary increases. >> Second. >> Uh, I'll let >> she can have it. >> Okay. I was going to say I'll let Mrs. Chrisman decide that. She can. >> That's fine. >> Find it on the tape. Motion is to approve item 7G. Any discussion or questions? And uh Mr. Glick, I'm not sure I made it clear. You'll be abstaining from this vote. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we can move on to the vote. All in favor,

102please say I. >> Yes. >> I. >> Any oppose? Same sign. >> Motion carries. Item number eight, Dr. Stalone. >> Yes. Thank you. The human resources recommendations consist of one resignation, three appointments, and four leaves of absence. There are no additional human resources recommendations. I request that you please approve items 8, A, and B as presented. >> We've heard the recommendation from Dr. Stalbone. Is there a motion from the board? >> I move that we approve items 8 alpha and bravo at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. Glick. Is there a second? Second, >> Mr. Major. Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Stalbomb? Any discussion? Move on to the vote. All in favor, please say I. Yes. Any oppose? Same sign. >> That motion carries. Those items are approved. We have a chance now for

103board input and review. Miss Lloyd, I'll start with you. Any input or review after the meeting this evening? >> Just a lot of congratulations. So, congratulations to Columbus North and Coach Cooper. Quite a career and wishing North um good luck in Portland. Also wanted to thank Dr. or not thank but congratulate Dr. Leech who was named the 2025A Walter Bart's Distinguished World Language Administrator. Boy, that's a mouthful. Um that's quite an honor. So, congratulations to her. Um, congratulations to North New Tech Central and North Side for being named Purple Star Schools by the IDOE for their significant commitment to service members. Um, also shout out to our schools who welcome veterans on Veterans Day. Um, I think that's just such a wonderful opportunity for learning and acknowledgement for those who have served. Um, and good

104luck to our elementary school students at Spellb tonight. I'm so I almost didn't come so I could have been there. It's one of my favorite things to watch. which I'm always so impressed. So, shout out to them. Also, uh thanks to our teachers who probably had to have extra patience today. Did you guys know it was the 67th day of school? 67. So, shout out to them. Um I know some schools embraced it. So, um thinking of all of our teachers today on the 67th day. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Miss Lloyd. Mr. Major. >> Yeah. So, I think everybody in here is going to congratulate the North Boys state championship. So, great great job there. Um, thank you, Mr. Edwards, for bringing up the fall academic all state. I think that uh to me

105for all athletics, if you're an academic all state, it kind of exemplifies the best of everything. So, congratulations to the 60 uh individual winners there. That's really a high number. That's awesome to see that our high schools are putting out great athletes, but also more importantly, academic success there. Um, I think uh I want to highlight some volunteer opportunities for uh some robotics uh different competitions. So, December 13th at Parkside Elementary, January 2nd and 3rd at Columbus North High School. There's potentially going to be one on January 17th. Uh location is pending. And then February 19th and 20th back at uh Columbus North High School, there is a way you can sign up. Mrs. Haynes can help with that. I can get the email uh to you. I can get you the uh website as

106well if needed. And I think the uh last thing I want to just highlight, I know he's not here now, but hopefully he'll see it or hear about it. that I think I am the only person that was in the room that was first in Coach Cooper's house when he was talking about uh doing um some different things with wrestling uh in 2003 to 2006. I was part of that uh that coaching crew. And so, uh, between Chris Cooper, Rashad Trap, Heath Fiser, Roger Glick, and the late Gary Walker, uh, and myself, we were Chris's, uh, initial coaching team. And so by the time I had hung my wrestling shoes up in 2006 after my daughter was born, um I was a JV head coach at that time and I was putting in probably close

107to 6 to 700 hours a year uh all volunteer to help coach and I know Chris was doing more than that. So when these kids talk about the amount of work that he puts in, you got to think about the amount of work that a football coach, a basketball coach, softball coach, baseball, these coaches do a heck of a lot to uh uh leave a positive impression on our youth. And so Chris was the one that we spoke about tonight. Um but hopefully we'll speak about more in the future. And so thank all those coaches uh both paid and volunteer for all their efforts. >> Thank you Mr. Major. Mr. Non um couple things. Um oh congratulations to the to the students that we celebrated here tonight. Um and I have to share. So, I

108first met um Chris Cooper when I was teaching a math ed course at IU Bloomington and he was um decided that he wanted to go into teaching. Um so, I have to say not to take away anything from his wonderful job he does coaching and and as assistant athletic director, but he is also a terrific AB and BC calculus teacher. Um a couple weeks ago, Mr. Mr. Glick and I got the chance to tour CSA Newekch and I just want to say that I so I taught at both of the other high schools but I am so thrilled that we have a third high school in town and and how unique each of our high schools is to meet different needs for different students. Um we actually most of the tour we had a student

109tour guide and he was just phenomenal um in his um expertise and and um just he had no problem speaking about many many aspects of the school. Um and it it was just a a great visit and it's I just again appreciate that we have three schools that meet the needs of three high schools that meet the needs of students. Um Something else I wanted to mention, um, something that I learned at our last ISBA regional meeting that was, um, something to celebrate and a surprise to me. Um, Indiana is number one in the nation for, um, the number of students who graduate or the percent of students who graduate with um, college credits. Those might come from dual credits or AP courses where they do well enough on the exam or um online courses

110that they're taking through universities while they're still in in high school, which prompted me to wonder how well we do. Um, when I started teaching math a few years ago, um, if someone told me that someday I would be teaching high school students multivariable calculus and differential equations, I would think they were from another planet. But we do that in our schools now. So, um, so I asked Mr. Edwards and he is working on this because this is not an easy thing to gather because there are so many different situations where kids are earning these credits. But I'm curious how we compare to how the state does. We we are working very hard in celebrating high school graduation, which I am fully behind. But I also think it's good for us to see the students

111that we have that go way beyond that and and get a chance to celebrate them. So sometime down the road, we're going to hear some percents on that. >> Thank you, Mr. N. And Mr. Glick. >> Well, Mr. Major took my uh volunteer list. Uh, I will add to that though, uh, the Columbus North High School Student Assembly is currently looking for volunteer drivers for the canned drive, uh, canned food drive that they have for Christmas. Um, that being said, with holidays around, there are canned donations and canned food donations at almost all, if not all schools throughout. So, if you can give back, um especially this time of need through Thanksgiving and uh Christmas coming up. Um congratulations to Columbus North. Uh good luck on December 6th in Portland. I guess we're going to

112have another field trip to approve next uh next meeting since that wasn't on this this list. But uh it's kind of crazy to look at Coach Cooper and the progress he's made in 24 years. Um he his initial first year was 2003. um as the actual head coach and so as he announced earlier I was one of his first state qualifiers. Um he learned as he went and so wrestling for him and then coming back to coach for him about 15 years later to see the evolution that he uh created just through dedication, hard work and just blood, sweat and tears uh suffered by many of us. um through hard practices and everything. It's kind of crazy to change your coaching style because of the influence that he has and the things that he's learned.

113Um and so I I use that concept at Central with Coach Fischer as Mr. Major also announced earlier too. So it's kind of cool to see the evolution of sport of where we are um and just how uh as Dr. Phillips earlier, we're always watching coaches as he's learning from coach Sig Signelli. He's he's the new hotness right now, if you will. So, um, but it's nice to see where we're going. And as you talk to about Coach Cooper and teaching calculus, uh, I spoke with his son Caleb. We spoke earlier the other day at wrestling practice and he said, "Yeah, I'm taking dad's class. He says it's easy, but uh, calculus is actually really hard." So, It's it's kind of cool to see that not only is he a coach, he's a father, he's

114now teaching his son in the same class as well. So, he's every every variable there. It's great. >> Impressive. Thank you, Mr. Click. Uh, any closing comments? Dr. Phillips. >> Um, just two. We're only in school next week, Monday and Tuesday. Please enjoy the Thanksgiving break, everyone. Be safe. Safe travels. And speaking of traditions of excellence, I got another message from Mrs. Summers over the weekend that Central's spell team state grand champions again. Every student perfect scores. Every single word spelled correctly. So, some some more traditions of excellence. >> Every student perfect scores. >> She says I win. Google me. [laughter] We'll be back on December 15th. >> We will be back here in this room on Monday, December 15th. That's the next board meeting. >> Um, with no further business to come before the

115board this evening, we'll adjourn our meeting. Thank you everyone.