001allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We do have a quorum tonight, so we can do any business that needs to be taken care of. Is there any additions to this agenda that we need to add? No. No, good. Can I get approval of the agenda as it is presented? I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. This is Chris. Maybe. Made a motion, heard a second. All in favor of approving the agenda, say aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries. Uh do we have any visitors to speak? No. No. Okay, pretty good. Okay, routine matters, B1. We have minutes of the executive session of March 13th, 2026, and the minutes of the
002regular board meeting of March 16th, 2026. Can I get a motion for those, please? I'll make a motion to pass the minutes of the executive session of March 13th, 2026, and the minutes of the regular board meeting of March 16th, 2026. I'll second. Motion and second. All in favor for the meetings minutes, say aye. Aye. All opposed. I just want to make note that um those dates were accurate. If that's incorrect, I'll make changes when I send it out, but at least they voted on the correct date. >> Yes, correct. Yes. Okay. I will make that Okay. Yeah, change to that. B2, vouchers and financial reports. Can I get a motion to accept those? I'll make a motion to approve the vouchers and financial reports. >> I'll second. Go ahead. I'll second. We have a
003motion and a second. Any discussion? Tracy, is there anything? >> I didn't have anything to point out unless somebody had any questions regarding the annual. Does anybody have any questions or concerns that we need to address? No. All in favor of accepting vouchers and financial reports, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries. Communications, donations, C1. We have a bunch of donations to BTA, and a couple of um chunky ones again to Super High Mileage. Totally over $5,000. Well, that's fine. That was BC. It's amazing. And Prairie Crossing, we have a donation to the backpack program and books. And nothing brought up this month. Very good. Thank you for those donations. That's amazing. Fundraisers, we have the Spain trip, athletics with girls soccer, two different fundraisers going on concurrently. But >> [clears throat] >>
004C3, curriculum update, Mrs. Fisher. That's awesome. Thank you. I know um Mr. Krupka and Mr. Boyer here to talk about um some updates from their school, but um I think they may need to mention any data meetings. My part will tell you um some of the some of the origin of or the sources of the data that they're using, right? So, uh we'll start with assessments. Um we are close to being finished. The calendar is closed May 8th, but the I-Learn um testing is up and running currently. The school test coordinators at Audubon, Abby Spitznagel, at Prairie Crossing, Amanda Whaley, and at BC, Cassie Dalton, they are the compliance task force. They get online to make sure all of the accommodations for testing are correct. And then when those tests come pushed out, then then
005the students have what they need. They set the calendars and really help with um communicating with teachers about staying in being compliant. So, we're getting that testing complete. We also have the bio ECA coming up, the I-Am testing, and Stephanie Watt put together the calendar and pushed it out last night for the AP testing. So, all of those AP classes have their own little individual days those first couple weeks in May. Well, it's the season of testing. Um [clears throat] although now it seems like there's many seasons of testing. The NWEA um those scores and results from our year of work will come available um the 1st of June, where we'll be able to look at the beginning of year, middle of year, end of year. And then the I-Learn results will be available in-house
006in July, just tentative scores, um but those won't be finalized until September because they are actually um making some adjustments, and so due to those adjustments that they're making at the state, they won't be available in a finalized form for parents and for us to um communicate until September. The multilingual, the WIDA testing scores will become available April 27th, and after that time, uh Kim Fitch and I will work to um with the EL coordinators to make sure that if we do have a student that is close to proficiency, that they can exit the program. Um so, we'll be working on that, and then also making adjustments based on those scores and results. The library updates, we're working on book ordering and processing, subscription renewal, and just promotion of literacy with books in hands over
007screens. Um for pro- professional development, March 31st, seven elementary teachers visited Earharts Elementary for an observation, and then um we did have our on >> [snorts] >> April 6th, we had our CKLA reading program coach. She spent the two-hour delay with um direct instruction with all teachers K to 5, and then she spent an hour at Audubon in individual classrooms and 3 hours at Prairie Crossing. And April 17th, we had uh three teachers visit Jeff High School and Tishomingo Junior High, and that was um another observation. You can see we have some upcoming PD coming with um an AI curriculum committee at BC, uh visit to Ladoga Elementary to consult with the principal there. Um Abby's initiated a preschool information sharing session, trying to do a little more outreach with um the preschools that help
008our students before they become our students, and more communicate open communication with them. And uh we are going to have our this year's final SIOP training at Prairie Crossing. In June, there is a Reveal Math virtual training, and that will be recorded for teachers that aren't able to attend on that day. And our final Conscious Discipline coach visits, uh Tammy McMahon from Logansport is coming, and she'll spend a day at Audubon, at Prairie Crossing, and BC. And then finally, we have a summer visit from Dr. Lori Desautels. So, we're finishing strong with reinforcing a lot of those um new skills and strategies we've put into place. In the fall, we are already planning some more SIOP training, and we're looking at our Benton teacher collaboration days and how those two-hour delay days will be scheduled.
009Regarding curriculum, now is the time of year when we make sure that we will have ordered and coming and in place what we need for the start of next year. And I just want to finish with a reminder that um we're everything we're doing is intentional, and that we're continuing our goals of enhancing student achievement and growth through all those things that are bumping up effective instruction, using those high-quality curriculum materials, and also building our school families and engagement because we know with accountability, attendance um is going to be a big part of that, and so >> [snorts] >> we want to keep up those practices of get them here, keep them curious, keep them coming back so that we have that boost in attendance and engagement for learning. Very good. [snorts] Do you have
010any questions? I was just going to ask on the um the professional development observations, are they is that like CKLA CKLA observations that they're just trying or other things? Those two observations for this year were funded through the um behavior grant, so we actually were visiting classrooms that because at um at LSC, they've actually had Conscious Discipline, this is their sixth year. So, we had teachers saying, "Okay, great. I've learned a lot. I've talked with people, but let me see it in action." And so, um these were classroom teachers that were using the Conscious Discipline. Okay. Okay. Thank you for keeping everything organized. >> you. Just two parts. All right. So, I've invited Amanda Whaley to be with us tonight. She's our dean of students at Prairie Crossing. She's done an outstanding job. Just so
011happy with everything that she's been doing. And I wanted her to first be recognized and I know she didn't really want me to do this necessarily, but for accepting an award on behalf of Audubon Elementary at the state for 100% proficiency. But really 95% of you guys got 100%. 100% proficiency in reading. And and that's that's a great honor. I know I said congratulations to her and she said, "Well, it wasn't just me." And I said, "I know, but you played a larger role." And so, congratulations to her. Something that also she's going to present a short presentation on our MTSS meeting. Something we're really proud of this year. She plays a major role on that that team along with Chris Burgett and myself. >> [clears throat] >> And she's going to share a little
012bit about what those meetings are and how they've affected our students, teachers, and just our school in general. Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right. So, data meetings don't sound very exciting, but we found them to be really valuable this year. Not just with looking at data, but just our teachers are working together. I reached out to some teachers and got before we even start talking about it, what they think is beneficial. And so, we had some good quotes. Grace Deno, our first grade teacher, said the monthly meetings are very valuable. We use the data to celebrate progress, identify needs, and find ways to support every student academically and behaviorally. The consistency of meeting empowers us to be proactive and intentional with our data. And I have enjoyed collaborating each month and love seeing the
013positive impact. And then we jump down to our sixth grade hallway and Angie Norman talked about how she liked being able to have a meeting of the minds. We talk about the data and everyone is able to voice their thoughts and a quick decision is made in the best interest of the student. That decision is put into play immediately and everyone knows at the same time. And then Chris Burgett, who is huge in our meetings and just getting them started this year. She was great help. Having regularly scheduled data meetings has provided a valuable time where admin, Title One, RTI, and grade level teachers have been able to discuss academic, behavioral, and attendance progress and concerns together. And it has helped us improve our support of students in all tiers and has ensured that all
014students in need of support receive it. Um, so we'll move on. So, what basics are our data meetings? Our grade level team meetings. So, all of our teachers from So, if it's a first grade meeting, we have our first grade teachers. We have Mrs. Burgett. And we have Rita Deckard for all of our K-2 three meetings for Title. And then Mr. K and myself join in. And we started the year Well, I'm not going to jump there yet. And then we have department team meetings once a month. That is our admin, special programs, Miss Barr joins us, our speech therapy department joins, our nurse joins. Miss Thurston. Thurston, yeah. Counselor, school-based social or social worker, Miss Zimbo joins us. And we all sit in there and kind of bring everything we've got at data meetings
015with our grade level teams and to discuss those things that are coming up frequently or we need some more talk on it with our team. So, it's been really good. But we just we review our student data. We look at NWEA. We look at Amplify. We look at our state assessments. We look at classroom assessments. And we start thinking about interventions. So, we're just using data to think about what we're going to do in the classroom. Go to the next one. So, this to me was like the most surprising thing that's came out of our data meetings this year. And teacher efficacy is one of the greatest impacts on student learning. So, John Hattie's a researcher. And if you can read that quote on the left, it's really good. But it talks about teacher efficacy
016as the greatest predictor of student achievement. So, when your teachers are working together and they're seeing the impact of the instruction, that's bigger than home environment, parental involvement, which I would think is one of the biggest things. So, when our teachers are working together and we have a common goal, that's huge. Um and that's what these data meetings are helping us do. So, you want to go to the next one, please? And we've just noticed and I'll we'll go into more of what we see, but we've just noticed more collaboration with our teachers. These meetings happen every month, even if we have to reschedule it for a weather delay or whatever, we push it back to the next week. It is an entire day of meetings for Chris and Jake and I to sit through.
017It's a lot, but it's worth it. They're they're really open to change. They're asking questions. They're asking for help. So, go to the next one. Here's the biggest thing. Our conversations with our teams have really grown. So, you wanted to jump in on this side, I'll let you. Yeah, I mean when we first started these meetings, um teachers would come in and you could tell they were a little bit at ease. They're like, "Okay, what are we going to talk about? How are we going to handle things? How's this How's this going to work?" And they're so relaxed when they come to the meetings now. They're just very honest with us. They're very honest with each other. And and we can really get down to what needs to happen with our kids. When you go
018to these meetings and somebody's not being honest, it's it's hard to get to the nitty-gritty of what we need to change. And these meetings have been wonderful just to open everybody up and and the teachers are really feeling good about what's coming out of those meetings. And so, they're specific. Like we'll we'll look at data and readjust groups as we're sitting there. I mean, it's it's quick. It's like, "Oh, we've got this group of students really big in growth. We want to move them here to work on a different skill or to someone else who might be moving them to a different group." It just, you know, these these two students are working really well together. So, we just can make all those changes right there on the spot and start things like the next
019day or sometimes we'll start in the next week. But we're having a lot of conversations and we're getting to have some more challenging conversations so we can like ask like, "Oh, what about this?" You know, and start to bring in some things to look at look at it differently. So, go to the next one. That's most of it. We just want to continue building them for next year. We think they're huge. And just to keep strengthening So, they're once a month like an hour or they're they're uh During their prep prep time. So, our teachers don't have to miss any instruction time. So, it's just 40 minutes that we sit down together and look at everything and talk about Well, they've gotten to They're really efficient now. We've gotten to the point where we're really
020we run through things really quickly. Sometimes the teachers are done even before 40 minutes are up just because they've become that efficient with looking at the data. It's been really good to move Like Amanda said, move our kids to to what they do need. So, they're moving them from one group to another to get the instruction they If they're growing here, if they've got the skills, then we move them up to the tier. And so, it's They've been really good. They've been I think they're enjoyable for us. A long day of meetings, but it's a lot of fun to sit in and and listen to teachers collaborate with each other and with us. And our teachers come prepared. I mean, they have their own data binders now and our spreadsheets and they come with exactly
021what they're ready to talk about. So, it's kind of going both ways, letting everybody Yeah. talk about things. That's all I have. I have a quick question on this. >> Yes. Are you guys finding that like the data that's coming from the state test is reflecting student performance like in the classroom assessments and in the Or is it like Just so we kind of have an idea. So, the checkpoints don't give us good data yet because our curriculums are aligned to the checkpoints. We would have to realign our curriculum. Which Reveal Math has done it for us this year. So, we could start looking at that. But CKLA does not and it would be a big endeavor to do it. And so, they're first year. So, we're not going to go there yet. So, the
022checkpoints don't give us any data. So, I learn has it. I read has. And we could look at that list and we knew exactly those students that didn't pass. Yeah. Like we're close or this is what we've been working on. And we knew that they were struggling. Like we've been bringing them up. And so, we use the Dibels data. We're looking at every time. That's Amplify to see how they're progressing. And to see if we're maybe needing more interventions. We've had students from there go to evaluation after we've continued to provide interventions for a couple years and they're not making the progress, then we can look at next steps like thinking of evaluation or if we're missing something. So, we're hoping we'll see it in the next year. But it's also I'm hoping a year
023or two of growth. Now, the checkpoints, that was That was across the state. Schools were not happy with the predictor value of that. So, we weren't alone in that. So, it's time So, then you look for something else that's a better predictor of this guy. So, NWEA is our best one. And we've had, you know, like I I know one of the sixth grade teachers We don't have NWEA as middle of the year required. But we had one of our sixth grade that was really working on math interventions and wanted it. And we talked about the growth with students and their middle of the year scores went up in that class. And we had been targeting interventions to that class because they were kind of split and then low and So I don't I tried
024to pull data right now but I don't have enough across the board from NWEA. Hopefully at the end of the year we will. But she's good with data. >> [laughter] >> So I'm just so happy that our kids just they're not they're not stagnating. They're not sitting there. We're we're looking at them and we're moving them and we're and we're giving them the strategies that they need. So so it's a good it's a good team. Yeah. I I think the format sounds good like you're not and as a teacher you're not alone. You're on a team and you have added support to do the things that make sense for the students so I think that's really cool that you guys are doing that. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. The intentionality is is huge
025and it didn't happen overnight because we know that Edie's been in this position for 2 years and and now you're starting to see we're starting to see what happens when we are intentional and purposeful and then when we can pass it down to the schools and you can get the teachers to talk about it because data can be overwhelming but if they know that you're using it for a purpose so we're making progress and and Edie thank you for your hard work and then Jake and Amanda for carrying it out. Yeah and I think the alignment helps too though everybody's using the same tools the same you know methodology and that way you're not your data is reflecting the same result. It's not you're not looking at this data this method this data and this
026method and you can't compare so that's important as well so appreciate all of it. Yeah. Yeah all the pre-work that Edie has done to get it to the >> Yeah. Down the I just felt like before this kid would get shuffled through. You know they would just kind of keep just enough to get them to the next to the next and now you're catching that. Hard to hard to quantify what they needed. Definitely catching catching that so you know giving them what they need so >> I think it started day meetings at both schools last year a little bit just not as regularly so it's just that really trying to I mean it's hard but our organization because it's hard to take a day out. Like we're able to pop in and out if we
027need to for something but You know you guys do you find in your observations or or just casual daily life at school that the teachers relate to each other differently that they're talking about different things because you know the data meetings it doesn't end there. It just starts. So do you find that? Absolutely. That's the largest thing from the beginning of the year till now just the trust you know because we're not going to bring them in and and just be like highlighting all of your negative. We're we're coming in with a plan of we see some of these things that need work done and and this is where we're going to start. So we are coming up with a plan as a team and not making it about one person and highlighting good things
028that everyone's doing like oh look at this like look at this growth here. What is what are they doing in their classroom that maybe we can try in another classroom or with another school. I don't I think the teachers feel like it's it's not a waste of time. It's we're being intentional about what we're doing and there's a plan every time they go in there and they know that we're going to they and we are going to talk about meaningful things that make a difference not just well Well in the smaller schools I think they're you know you have to think about how to manufacture that team because if you only have one teacher teaching at a grade level that's tough too. Um so Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Very good. Okay C5 >>
029guys there's no judgement if you did want to take off. >> [laughter] >> Okay review of ACH fraud monitoring controls. So this is basically just like a checklist of the different controls that we have in place for our ACH files where we pay our vendors in the ACH files and also Preston's you know the payroll direct deposits you know to the bank through the files. So the bank actually this is a form from the bank they want us to start reviewing that that we are following these and we currently have these in place but we haven't really put them in writing. So these are the in writing the things that we follow for these files and so we're going to review it with the school board once a year just to see if we needed
030to make any changes to that. So that's what these are. So this is just kind of a slight change from what it's been in the past as far as It's just in writing. >> [clears throat] >> official official review where we have the minutes that we did. It's the same process that we've been following it's just not been in writing and so we're putting it in writing so that everybody knows. They're getting tricky out there. I know they are. I mean but we've we've put a lot of different layers in place. The bank has helped us with that so but yeah. Kristen gets emails all the time like people trying to change employees you know like spam emails so she doesn't change anything obviously through that. Now that we have frontline it's all through there
031when they change their bank accounts so so It's always I can't I can't take your call you got to reply because I'm in a meeting and they send me emails and they say but like yeah I got to go. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> Okay item C6 2027 budget calendar. Again that's just some dates for you guys to keep in mind for um when we'll be advertising the budget uh and then the work session that we'll have on August 17th before our board meeting. Are these dates going to be pretty well set or do we I mean can we kind of put these in our calendars and rely on them? >> Yeah I mean they're they follow the um the meeting dates actually follow the actual board calendar. So if there was something but I
032think you guys already took into consideration that um fall meeting that you go to right on the Yeah that changed October 2nd. Okay so as long as that's not October 12th because if it's October 12th then we're going to change it to 6th. I think it's before that. The 5th and 6th I think. So then yeah because I know one one year that there was a problem and we'd already advertised our budget so it was like no we got to have that meeting. So >> [clears throat] >> Okay item C7 educator development initiatives. Yes this is just I would like to bring a document it's a MOU to the board in May from Indiana Wesleyan University. And so it's no secret that there's a staff shortage for teachers across the nation and in Indiana. So
033a lot of schools higher education are putting together some agreements to help us help communities uh pave the pathway for transition to teaching. And so Indiana Wesleyan met with our administrator several months ago to talk about this. >> [snorts] >> And so here's what the MOU would do. It would provide discounted rates for anybody that we think. So if we have a paraprofessional who we want to send back to school or they would want to go back to school they would have uh we would have our person Melissa who I know from IWU they would have some discounted rates. Now what is open and we do not have to declare is some schools pay for. Some schools uh offer it and reimburse and some schools just wait to see if there's a real shortage or
034not. We don't have to commit to any of that as a board it can be case by case. But my thought is is that if we did have somebody who is interested that we would already have a program to direct them to. And so that's what the memorandum of understanding would be if we signed it next month. It doesn't mean we have to pay for it. That would be something that we probably need to address down the road but it's just having a place for us to send our people to if they wanted to. Uh Southmont uses it right now. I didn't know we currently have IU are we partnered with someone or not partnered? >> We probably used IU we may Western Governors is another organization that we get a lot of teachers from
035and they could still use that. This is just something that we would be able to say oh you want to do that we have IU here's the form and there's a discounted rate and then they they have relationship with us that we could work with. And there's transition to teaching that would be somebody who has a bachelor's degree or this might be somebody who doesn't have any college experience. They have three or four different programs. So what I'd like to do is send that to you guys here in the next several weeks through board notes so you can get a chance to look at it and then bring it for approval at the May meeting. But no we are not committing to whether we are paying for for this or not. We I don't think
036we need to do that right now. Okay. Any questions on that? So it's just that first establish a partnership. Yes yes mhm. Very good. >> C8 project update. So, we we're making some progress. We're We are pretty much on schedule. That The weather somehow has played a little bit of a factor, but for the most part we're on schedule. And the idea is to be done by August 1st with all of the projects. And so, I just have a a few pictures here that um I sent um that I wanted to share. But, we're we're making good progress, but right now we're to the point where once school is out and there are no students in the building, they can really really get some work done. And um Chris and Scott have been attending the
037meetings and our principals as well. So, if you guys want to add anything else, you can, but we're >> No, I think they're coordinating and doing a very nice job and Yeah. I think the meetings have been very beneficial because when they see problems, they discuss it and they address it versus That's the pool. going through it. And I think that's been a big problem with past projects. And Tech Talk being the project manager, that's their job that they're looking out for us. The pool um Yeah, they've been working on that and it's covered really well, so they didn't have to drain the pool. And they got a double door in there so they could get them in there easier. >> there. Yeah. Um the cafeteria at Otterbein, the dining space hasn't started yet. >>
038Okay. But, they did take the bleachers out and they did take the divider wall out so that they can get in there and and get to work on the gym floor as soon as school's out. That brick matched really well. I'm like you can't even tell it's an addition whatsoever. Yeah. >> So, yeah, I would say we're we're pretty pleased with things. >> know who had to come up with that pattern, but that's kind of crazy pattern. It's like four light bricks to dark bricks. Yeah. And that's looking nice, too. Yes, it is looking nice. Yeah. And so far the the budget, we're within budget and we'll we'll have some um extra money to to for the netting that goes along the side of this so it doesn't it get damaged by baseballs. Baseballs, yeah.
039Yeah, so. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Any old business to discuss? E new business. E1 consider staff report and other personnel items. Can I get a motion? I'll make a motion uh consider staff report and other personnel items. I'll second. There's a motion and a second. Is there are any questions or anything to add to the staff report before we vote? Okay, all in favor of considering the normal staff report and other items, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. E2 consider approval of the following field trip requests. Prairie Crossing Elementary 6th grade students to Camp Tecumseh um September 8th, 2026 through September 10th, 2026. >> [snorts] >> Can I get a motion for that, please? I'll make a motion to approve the field trip request for Prairie to go to Camp Tecumseh.
040I'll second. Motion and a second. All Is there any question or discussion on that? All in favor of accepting that, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. E3 consider approval of a 10-hour work days, 40-hour work week starting May 28th, 2026 through July 31st, 2026. I'll make a motion to consider approval of the 10-hour work days, 40 hours per week starting on May 28th, 2026 through July 31st, 2026. I'll second. Motion and a second. Any questions? Discussion? It's pretty standard for the summer, right? >> Yeah. They've been doing this several years and it seems to work out pretty well. >> It was when Ross was here we started it. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> That's how long ago. That's been a while. I mean, I would like to have Fridays off if I
041was doing that same job. I think it's great. Uh All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. E4 consider approval to award the 2026 bus bid to Midwest Transit, IC/Combs. I'll make a motion to approve the award to the 2026 bus bid to Midwest Transit, IC Combs. I'll second. Motion and a second. Uh any questions on that? >> [clears throat] >> We did have a breakdown of all three companies. >> [clears throat] >> All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. Oh, any opposed? Sorry. >> [laughter] >> E5 consider approval of new job descriptions. Can I get a motion for that, please? I'll make a motion to consider approval of new job descriptions. I'll second. Motion and a second. Any questions or clarification on any of those? Okay. All
042in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Yep, comments, public comments. We do have anybody? No. Nobody for non-agenda items? Guess not. And any random comments from anyone? I