001America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you all right it's 6 o' call order Board of school Trustees of Brown County um is there any modifications to the agenda there are no modifications to the agenda going to recognize visitors and comments from the audience yeah I'm excited tonight to be able to introduce um Mr shoman and Mr steel and I know um Mrs Roberts is here in support as well um there has been a lot of work that has gone in to talk about high school redesign and a potential schedule um for the high school next year and um also like how that would potentially Impact Middle School in the future as well so I'm really really proud of this team and um I I
002can honestly say in three and a half years uh to see the collaboration between sixth through 12th grade um has been just amazing and this is just another step towards that so I'm GNA turn it over to Mr shoman and um get excited okay well thank you I appreciate that and Mr steel I was a little panicked when you weren't here here thought it was like the new guy initiation so I'll just apologize before I start because I am a former uh music teacher and when you give a music teacher a music stand and a microphone like get comfortable Mrs Tracy said keep it brief so I will okay but first of all I wanted to just if you would just set the stage at the work that we've done this year and really it
003began several years ago uh in the state 2017 18 with looking at the way we're doing High School uh and then last year here more specifically to Brown County Schools the high school as you know did a lot of work in looking at schedules and so what I want to do is talk a little bit about the work that was done uh both at the state level and the high school level a little bit about where we're at now and then where we want to go okay so if if I could just indulge you in a minute I would just like to set the stage a little bit hope everything works here okay Mr steal said I can't have a presentation unless I have a video so the idea that we have a certain amount
004of ability intelligence and talent that idea holds us back because when we don't succeed we think oh I guess I don't have the ability the talent the intelligence to be successful at this and that fixed mindset always comes out When You're vulnerable when you're out of your comfort zone when you have criticism or setbacks or when someone else is really successful much more than you are so what are you going to do about that I want to start with this this idea about this fixed mindset right like in a way in a lot of ways in education we we do things the way we've just done them for 100 years because that's what we've done uh and so what I'm going to ask us to do as a community uh and I've asked our staff
005to do this is to really have a growth mindset when we're looking at this and it it puts us in the position of being vulnerable and it it says that it is okay that we know that what we're doing was good for a while but maybe we need to make some adjustments moving forward and that we don't always have to have every single answer right now that it is a community of people who deeply care for kids it is okay to walk through this as a process and I would just encourage us to look at at at what we're going to propose this evening that kind of mindset okay and if we don't have a growth mindset we turn into this right uh and and I like to reference this often U we all know
006what happened block they were everywhere right uh people were renting movies and DVDs and they saw this whole world of streaming coming and did nothing about it uh they were not adaptable I think it's fair to say that that the company managers Blockbuster didn't operate with a a growth mindset and so uh they no longer exist right and and I think in education and we don't want to turn into a blockbuster all right so the state the state decided that we should revisit how we're doing High School a long time ago and came up with some um uh key things that they were thinking about um fewer Indiana students were enrolling uh and what was like traditional college and kids after talking with industry weren't graduating with the skills that that companies needed them to
007have uh so they could have this you know um academic Mastery but no skills that went along with that and so you know they were finding out that new employees were were very knowledgeable but didn't know how to apply those skills from that uh real world situation um a little bit about kids who were looking at in listing we're finding out that they were disqualified based on a lot of things including their physical state like they couldn't they couldn't do that and and of course student apathy is getting more and more noticeable right like that connection to what they're doing in the Monday after high school um seem to be more disconnect and and Steve I would just say you know this is framework around the high school so you'll see like students aathy is
008high leading to high rates of chronic absenteeism in grades 9 through 12 it is across the board this is not a 9 through 12 issue if you ask Elementary folks it's an elementary thing if you ask Middle School anybody across the state everyone is fighting this and so we're kind of focus you know you'll see 9 through 12 today as we focus on this but know that this is not just a high school issue and so why do we need to look at high school this is some some data that the state put together several years ago and it's been presented in state board uh at meetings quite frequently um but but check out this here Indiana ranks number one Nationwide in terms of students com completing at least one college course in high school
009so that's important um six Dural skills this is important right if you look at our graduate profile it's over there on the wall and we we've identified those things as being important at Ground County High School and so the whole idea of high school redesign is more uh as is adequately preparing kids for the Monday after high school with not just academic Mastery but the skills that go along with that and so we they said it's just not working and so the state as you know adopted um a new high school diploma requirement uh this year and so we're going to get into those a little bit but here is the reality of our economy you see this ratio of 1 to 2 to 7 so in the current job market for every master's degree
010job there are go along with it two Bachelor level degree jobs and that go along with that are seven uh jobs that are correlated to something that needs a credential of value some kind of post-secondary training and so look at the numbers where where is the heaviest area of need it is those seven that ratio is not changing right so it really tells us as Educators we can't just focus on academic Mastery we we have to do the stuff that goes along with that and most jobs now require some form of training Beyond high school and so what we're asking you to do is think differently about the word College college just doesn't mean a fouryear university anymore well that is very important and we have a certain group of kids here who are forear
011University bound and they are being well prepared what about the other 80% right it is our goal to get them equally as prepared for what they choose to do so this college redefine from at least my perspective and I think several others in this room college is anything after high school any kind of preparation After High School whether it be a training program an apprenticeship anything after high school we are going to lump into this world of college okay and so we want kids is to understand what it takes for them to do what they want to do in life understand the education that goes along with what their their goals are and their hopes and their dreams and that experiences do matter especially in this the current state of our economy right the more
012prepared we can help kids be the better off they will be when they move Beyond us I think you've heard it over and over it's one of the reasons why I wanted to be at Brown County High School is because we don't do things status quo here uh I have seen for years high schools under preparing kids and all this other stuff and what was one of the great things about Brown County High School is we focus on that right it's not one or the other it's both and here and that is unique in education and credentials of value you'll see later on that the new diploma does create space for kids to walk across our graduation stage as they look at the week after high school and and create space for them to achieve
013credentials of value in the area that they want to pursue vocationally Beyond this and so the new diploma incorporates that Mr Ste there anything you want to say here just this point about the level of Education we have the work that we are doing with uh students learning their RC and their working beable and spending time in that platform even at a kindergarten up through the middle school kids are learning more details about careers now than they ever have right so my own two kids are coming home talking about careers that they learned about and it's not just exposing them to careers which is important but at the middle school kids are starting to learn like this is what I'm going to have to do for these certain jobs whether that's what I want to
014do or not they have the knowledge of knowing what to expect after high school so again focusing on high school but this is already starting to trickle down through the middle school and even into the elementes which is really cool to see and and I will just I will acknowledge right now the work that our elementary administrators do in leading this work in their buildings and and then Gavin f up at the middle school level this is I think our our elementary schools do a really good job of this right H if there is an area of growth I to be quite honest it's probably at the high school level right we are already doing great things kind of in pockets and you you know e manufacturing they're doing great things right biomed Mr fall
015they're doing great things and but there is a connection for what's happening in those spaces to what's happening in our core classrooms as well uh and and for the sake of our students right isn't it work that we we continue that work for that Foundation is laid in the elementary years so the high school diploma is kind of broken down into three sections and if you've heard this before I apologize but I'm assuming you've had conversations about this but there are three sections so there there's the credit piece kids have to get so many credits to graduate you've heard that you've heard that for years right the that Carnegie unit they've got to get 40 credits in order to graduate okay and there is uh the the competencies that they need demonstrated in and then
016employability skills so those three buckets if you will are required now to have a student graduate and so and the it's kind of changed over the years uh several different forms the core 40 has kind of always been consistent and so in the new high school diploma the core 40 goes away but but it's uh it's agenda of preparing kids for kind of university is still there along with some other things so we're going to talk a little bit about these three areas for high school this is a side by side comparison of the old core 40 and you probably can't see that well I I have some hand for you and I don't know if you all got them um did you all get a copy of this if not I can cast them
017down yes and so that so just just to make sure we're clear the legislators said the high school diploma must be redesigned they gave a timetable it was December of last year that the rule had to be approved by it was approved uh and so this this is it right the decision has been made and by leaders in our state and so the future Indiana high school diploma that's the the right side on your handout that is our new diploma beginning with our current eighth graders okay our current eighth graders so high school kids now returning operate underneath the the previous formula there is some space for them to jump over this new diploma if if they're ready to do that um and that's kind of a case by case situation we're still waiting on
018some guidance from the do how that might work but if you would look the diploma it it looks kind of the same there's a lot of flexibility and I won't go through every single one of these categories but there is uh they wanted to create more flexibility for our high school students so we could personalize their educational experience and so there this whole conversation about flexibility and less requirements ended up in a diploma that now has two more requirements on it credit wise which is kind of funny but if you look down here in the 12 credits of electives is really where the personalization and individualization is built into this diploma I think it's important as we take kids through their High School experience that we treat them as the Unique Individuals that they are
019right like don't they deserve that they are who they are with their own strengths interests and values and this new diploma model allows us to better serve kids in the in the context of who they are and where they want to be and what they want to do so there are some uh there are some there ability in terms of credit so let's just take math for example so the traditional math pathway was algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 if you are in core 40 that's what you had to take I don't know that every student needs to have Algebra 2 in order to be successful again and the state agree and so they said well certainly for maybe your kids that are College Bound that might be important to have right so that's still
020there but the state's asked us to come up with some other options for kids to fulfill that math requirement so maybe it's a bus or math related to financial management the states required Us in this new diploma to offer computer science and so I'm happy that Cinnamon's here tonight for computer science uh but that so there'll be a semester of computer science required for all students in the new diploma financial literacy is another piece that's required for all students we have asked that question forever right they can have all the academic Mastery that that they can have and then they get to college or they move out of their parents' home or they go to trade school and they they can't manage their checkbook so the state said hey that's important now it's funny because
021they said you don't have to teach economics anymore just financial literacy at Brown County High School through talking with our teams here we think teaching economics is important still and so we're going to try to put those two together so kids get both in so financial literacy becomes part of economics anyways right but there's a way for us to kind of structure how that credit Works to give kids both credits on top of just the general diploma for lack of a better term the base diploma there are these things called seals and that would be uh kind of the basic diploma and then most of the seals the the honor seal and honor seal plus require a certain level of work-based learning in order to earn those seals so the state ass set is it
022is important that you equip kids with these competencies as they look at life After High School but in order to really drive it home we're going to create a diploma requirement for these seals where it's actually embedded in that requirement so 75 hours is the minimum number of hours at Brown County high school after collaborating with our staff we think that it's Our obligation to equip students with a seal as a minimum okay and that's huge so let equate that back to what you probably are familiar with the general diploma and the core 40 diploma both lead to a high school diploma right core 40 is that College Bound and prepared there that would kind of be translated to our seals now we believe that every student here is capable of earning the seal so
023that's that's what we are going to set as the minimum standard okay I think that speaks a lot to the wisdom of our teachers and our staff as they our kids on an individual basis we know they are capable but more importantly than being capable they are deserving of that opportunity and so we are going to create a schedule that allows kids to achieve those seals okay so three parts of the diploma the first part they must earn the right number of credits 42 credits under the new diploma beginning with our current eighth graders so the diploma is kind of the foundation you will see them there's the honor seal and the honor seal plus I put our Eagle there because that's what our kids deserve to be the seal okay I think as we
024look at postsecondary success I I told you that this idea of college is changing here are some ways that it changes right of course College is still there University but technical school twoe schools apprenticeships service to our country we're entering the workforce directly every student by earning a seal will be prepared to be successful in one of those areas so which diploma is best for me we'll walk with our eighth graders and their parents through this process uh later on in February and we will talk to them about their strengths their interests and their values and and help them figure out kind of what path they want to go down are they looking at enrollment employment or enlistment as their destination when they leave the high school and then we will craft an educational experience
025for them that is in line with their strengths and their interests and their values the enrollment honor seal plus talked just a little bit about this uh this would be for folks who had questions about the core for the academic honors diploma it's still there right and through the seal so it's more rigorous and it it it would encapsulate more courses and dual credit offerings so kids can walk away maybe at a minimum with the Indiana college cor instead of 30 transferable college credits we already have many of those offered here of course we're partners with IU we also partner with ivtech and so there is a world that exists where many many of our kids can walk away with the first year of college and then some already under their Bel test have chose
026to the employment honor SE plus talks about combining rigor in in the coursework that is there for every other student but also Al it connects to the relevance of their their their experience outside of our building uh in in terms of their work experience while they're here this prepares students to go on to like an associates degree um or pursue a credential of high value students uh in this world gain skills that are helpful to them um as they they go out into the world in terms of employment um and I think that that gets back to our conversation you've heard me say several times these competencies the skills that go along with this academic knowledge the second box the second bucket that kids need to attain while they're in high school uh they need
027to demonstrate employability skills so it it was one thing for us to hear from industry and I think Indiana did a really good job at programing with industry but it's now embedded into the into the high school diploma they can be in one of three areas Project based service based or work base um for us after talking with our students and stakeholders there is a heavy focus on this work-based learning experience right it's a direct connection on what they're doing when they leave this place there are opportunities in project and surf based learning but we've built a schedule uh that we want to show you tonight that is really focused on a student's ability to get out into the world in an area that they find relevant to start giving them that Real World experience
028and sometimes even be paid for it how cool is that so this is that box to the employability skills you will notice that the second Point here talking about communication responsibility working with others that is in direct alignment with our graduate profile and I also think it's in in alignment with these competencies and so it's really nice to see a diploma that's bringing the work that's been done in this District together this district is an innovator there's no doubt about it uh and now we see that the proof is in the putting when in the pudding when that Indiana says here's now the diploma requirements that precisely line up with what we've been led to value in this community when kids complete these experiences they do have to write about them and that's that's part
029of the requirement they do have to process that our hope in as we as we build out our 912 program is that kids are able to talk about this experience before they leave us and we want them to own their educational journey and and connect the dots and so we want to create space for them to do that we're going to do it in a class so we're going to support them as they develop that plan but but we almost want them to defend their educational journey and walking across the stage is not the destination for us we care deeply about what happens to our students after that then I think you've probably heard it for a long time that Monday after high school right so the third bucket that Kids U need to kind
030of be assessed in is this this postsecondary Readiness uh and that's you can check that box several different ways with some standardized testing um but I think we're the state is still looking to broaden what that is um right now the the kind of the testing rubric at the high school level is the SAT we know that not every student is College Bound and so I'm not quite sure why we use that test to measure the whole other 80% but there are some other options there um earning the Indiana college core would be an option and the amount of dual credit courses that kids take so that's still super important apprenticeships would fulfill that requirement as well so lots of options there but if you'll notice everything that the state has said that we can
031use to measure that all is looking at Time After High School okay any questions so far it's a lot I know where's theed yes um Fox career Readiness um we won't go over this I talk a little bit about that if you want to know more about that we can do that um let's jump into the schedule so last year just bring you up to speed my understanding I'm new here obviously I've not been here and but when I met with leadership team they talked about this schedule had been done last year so I asked them to kind of bring me up to speed and fill me up and they have done a tremendous job my understanding is that last year it was quite a thorough process it took a year there were many meetings
032and Community input saw it and there were several different iterations of proposed High School right and we kind of identified as a team like why were there why was there always one more iteration of the schedule and it was that we were trying to capture everybody's wish list right we know with as many students as we have here that it's not possible in any situation to capture everyone's full wish list right but I but I think that speaks a lot about our community is that that was the goal uh to do that and so um their Vision was to really pour in to kids at an individual level right that's what this is here summarized really briefly to treat kids um as individuals and help them explore their strengths their interests and their values if
033you looked at our school data it wasn't lining up with that goal right uh and so there were kids maybe that are are disengaged from their own learning experience right like they don't get the why behind it they're struggling to connect the dots why am I in this class or why am I taking this how is this relevant to me towards The Day After High School how does this align with who I am as a person and so the team last year really dove into that uh and and identified that maybe a seven period day or an 8 period day accounting SRT is not what's best for kids and if you look at industry um industries that are successful are also ones that are willing to step outside of the box and be Innovative and
034creative with the way that they deliver their service to the community and their stakeholders so we thought that we could do that at the high school level um and so I just wanted to acknowledge the work that happened last year because there was a ton of it and as gav and I talk talk about a a high school schedule we really kind of focused on some of these big ideas that were driving this work number one the collaboration that we have as a small school district and the opportunities to collaborate K12 is what sets us I think apart from districts around us um we are sandwiched between several large districts and I don't know that they have the ability to be as personalized as we have here I don't know that in those larger districts
035they have the ability to sit with leaders in other grade levels and talk about what we want high school kids to leave us with uh I value our elementary school principes take on what that looks like they they led a very substantial part of those kids formative years right and so now at Brown County High School they in our school district they have a seat I know that doesn't happen in mg districts right and here we have that ability and we think that we can focus on our values of building small school relationships for doing something different we we think that the key to our success as a school district is the time outside of school kids being involved and connected to something other than their classroom and so creating space for them to do
036that to be part of our music programs and our athletic programs and our clubs that is important but we all know that kids that do that are the kids that generally do several things and then we slam all this work at them and say you've got to do now 5 hours of homework after getting home from you know a game that you traveled four hours in a bus for there and back like it at what point are we providing a disservice for kids by not doing something different and so we've really worked collaboratively to create a schedule I think that it's going to allow kids to have a little bit more say in what they do and a little bit more time in the day to do it so they can participate in this High
037School experience Kevin did you want to say anything about this just that as as we talk through it right that we came to the realization that maybe the middle school schedule doesn't look exactly the same as the high school schedule because there's things that we do want to accomplish at the middle school that are that's different than what you are accomplishing at the middle school right so as you were talking about kind of structuring your day you know one of the things that I think is is really amazing that we uh have support in doing at the middle school is that every seventh grader does take computer science class eighth graders are able to take computer science right the the state's mandating that High School takes a year of it our kids are already getting
038a SE or a semester of it our kids are already getting that at the middle school level and even younger than that in the work that they're doing um in pltw in their science courses right our kids are already taking Finance at the middle school and Entrepreneurship at the middle school so you know as as Mr Shum and I were talking through like what this schedule might look like you know we said well what does it look like if our schedules are different and how do we get creative and making that work between the two of us as we share staff and so that's what we've done is said all right here's we still want students at the middle school level to experience all of these opportunities to give them an idea of what they
039may want to do when they go to high school um try to flood them with every possible option and so the high school schedule is shaping up to look different than what we would run that we will run at the middle school and then it's on us to figure out how we work together with our shared staff and so this is this is kind of the evolution of all that work last year and our conversations this year around what's best for kids and I and I can't say it enough the the only thing that led every conversation was what's best for kids we as adults will figure out the nuts and bolts we will figure out how to get out of their way so they can have the best experience possible and so u i
040I don't know that it really has name other than I you could call it like a hybrid block schedule and because of this Wednesday so let me walk you through what our what our day will look like next year so you will see at the very top there's Monday and Thursday then Wednesdays in in the middle and Tuesday and Friday on the end so kids would be blocked in eight classes so their their periods 1 2 3 and four will be 87 minutes and they will take that class on Monday and Thursday their periods 5 six seven and 8 they will take on Tuesday and Friday for 87 minutes four classes a day on Wednesday they will see every teacher once okay and there's a reason for that and we talked about those work-based learning
041hours as we talk to Industry and I'm glad that that Megan's here part of that work based learning experience is being out in the workforce well we are kind of stuck here geographically right like in order for our kids to get somewhere that's relevant to what they want to do they may have to drive not everything is on Main Street downtown right so in order for our seniors and some of our Juniors to get off campus for that Real World Experience we've created a schedule where on Wednesdays they don't have to be in this building if they are doing that real world work-based learning experience so let's say I want to go into the medical profession I've been connected with a physician in Columbus who's allowed me to Shadow on those days I can go
042work an eight hour shift with that physici now I will tell you I think that that 8 hour shift is a closer resemblance of what it will be like in the workforce rather than going for an hour right and that's our goal to give kids real world experiences if we have a student who is looking at some kind of you know job in Machining or manufacturing and the best place for them is a company uh near Greenwood in this schedule they would be able to go and experience that Hands-On right if we don't offer this they are locked in Nashville and and I don't think that's what's best for kids this model is run in in schools uh in our in our area and in our state with a lot of success their data attendance
043connection graduation rates very high because kids are engaged in their own learning you will see that up there first period Mondays and Thursdays is a course called Eagle seminar I want to just spend just a minute talk to you about Eagle seminar Eagle seminar is a course that that came out of this idea that we really want to connect the exploration of kids strength interest and values to to every bit of work that we do in this building and so that is a four-year Journey that our students would experience with a team of teachers our ideas that the the group of teachers would be able to loop with them so they can really pour into the relationships with kids and get to know them at at at a deeply personal level that is the work
044where we help kids explore their rasc their strength interest and their values it is a place where we connect that exploration to what they're doing in the classroom uh it is a place where we build this the capacity of the student section at our games to be honest with you it is a place where they build community with one another uh we can't just do school here high school is so much more than academic Mastery we have to meet kids where they're at and and my observations in just one semester is that many of our kids the bell rings at 3:00 and they go this gives them a reason to stay connected and it gives our teachers an opportunity to build those relationships I think when we pour intentionally into that there in the eagle
045seminar we are going to see the climate and the culture of this building to a 180 and I've talked to people who graduated from here 20 years ago right and you remember when there was no room in the student section somewhere right you remember uh when they people were doing cool crazy things right uh Mrs Roberts and I worked really hard this year to build relationships with kids and our staff are asking for the time to do the same thing and so we think it's important the cool thing is is that we can code that class to meet diploma requirements so freshman would will code it as as PCC preparing for college and careers that's a high school requirement now so we can code it there maybe senior year we coded as a Communications course
046that was one of the requirements as they prepare to defend their education for us talk to us about their Journey before they leave we can give them credit for that experience so I think it's a pretty powerful opportunity that we have here will only Juniors and seniors be allowed to leave on Wednesday yeah so that work based learning is really tied in academic in their academic progress so the Junior and Senior year we have a few um we have a few sophomores that have internships but I don't know how far away those internships are and it is very small number of sophomores that have that so I hate to always say a very hard line um like we want to find the F but primarily mostly it's Juniors and seniors would also add to that
047just because it it is8 hours of the day doesn't mean that experience has to be for eight hours right like it's it's really up to the um the partner the industry partner and the the school district to be able to make something work for them um so I just didn't want you to think they're they're going out for a full eight hours maybe but maybe not with the schedule that was kind of talked about a year ago I remember seeing something similar was that implemented implemented in this year's schedule yeah so this schedule is is really the result of all those schedules uh and then I came in with a fresh set of eyes and and I just noticed some things in some of the old schedules like there was not equity for example in
048instructional minutes between the the courses that was important to me right like we needed to find Equity so we weren't mathematically valuing another class more than another right so that was important our team was able to make that work and Eagle seminar in in that eagle seminar is an opportunity for kids to explore their passion areas as well and that was something that was discussed last year and we think it's important uh for kids to take ownership of their learning experience right is to help them explore their areas of passion and this schedule allows for that not quite to the extreme that some of the schedules in the past in the past had had but this would be like every other week for one day a week for half that period 45 minutes to an
049hour every other week would be a Time for Kids all kids in not building to explore their passion areas I think that's important right like we have that's our job is to help them explore who they are and so there's an opportunity for them to do that in this while maintaining the Integrity of the instruction how about the ones that are going to go over to Columbus the schedule allows for it yep they'd still be able to go and C4 kids still Absol be able to do that okay yep the hope is that we recruit we build up programming that keeps more in more of year that we're not sending this right if we I think unfair to say like we have amazing opportunities with C4 and there are going to be things that we
050will probably never be able to offer here but the more we can offer here and keep those kids here is beneficial to us right like our partnership is great there certainly things that they will offer that we won't be able to but hopefully in the coming years we can bring some programming that allows more and more kids to stay and and that that's our team has talked about that and Mr Tracy has been really open to those conversations like looking for ways to to meet our kids where they're at whether that's expanding programs or creating new programs and I'll go back to how we started right it it takes a growth mindset no matter what we right whether it's looking the future in academics uh preparing kids for the money after high school or any
051other conversation that that centers around kid is is easy for us to get stuck kind of in this narrow mindset but I think in order for us to to serve kids well it takes the adults to get out of the comfort zone and and think outside of the box I'm proud that our staff kind of landed on this together um in full transparency we will have early adopters here that will get on with this really quickly there are other staff members that will struggle with this right like it's like let's just address it now when you go from 45 minutes to teaching 87 minutes one of the issues that will come up is how do I plan for that and so this semester we're going to build out options for teachers to come to to
052receive some training and and how do you make that shift we're going to support our teachers through this journey um you talk about a child maybe that struggles with emotional regulation during a class period they're still going to have that same struggle whether it's 45 class or 87 class but it's our job to come alongside them and help equip them as they transition in okay I'm super excited Gavin I thank you for being my partner and it has been really refreshing to have such a collaborative approach all our administrators and our leadership team and Debbie's been a great a great thought partner as well and I appreciate that it really does take a village and I'm grateful for the village that is here Brown County Schools one other thing I'd like to share so we
053presented this to a superintendent High School Superintendent andas gr last th last Tuesday Tuesday Yeah Tuesday um and one of you know one of the really neat things that kind of TS at your heartstrings is so Mr trowman was talking about evil seminar and kind of empowering student work in this area and so students start talking and then they're like you know would there ever be a world where we could use this time to build relationships with middle school kids so that they have a better uh feeling about coming to the high school as freshman is there a world where maybe some of that eagle seminar time we're down with them during their whatever their first period class is partnering with them just getting to know them working with whatever they're working on so that
054when they come to the high school they have familiar faces and it was like yes I think that's a great idea I think we did hear a lot of affirmation from lot right like kids I I spend it's one of my two favorite days of every month and it's when I get to be with the student ambassadors and then when I get to be with the adult ambassadors right about so much oury schools and I spent a lot of time with those kids and um a lot of time on high school redesign and the way we like just dream big like what if school look different you know and they want school to look different like seven periods 45 minutes every day like you talked about and then extracurricular and a job or home and
055whatever that looks like for every individual kid is doing an immense disservice to their mental health and they will be the ones that say that to us um I think it's time that we listen to them and um it's okay the school looks different I am incredibly excited about this schedule um I support it I am proud of it um I think it is going to open the door to do some pretty incredible things for our kids middle school and High School um so whatever that's worth so how does this intersect with the middle school schedule because I know you've got some staff and students who cross over yeah so it's all about plan like planning our periods to mesh up with their block periods and so that's what I was talking about earlier right
056now it become that's on us to figure out the Lis because we want to continue to provide opportunities for the students at the middle school and we can't you know like we can't teach everything at the middle school without the help of the high school and so the collaborative work that Steve and I have done and laid out the you know well what if they come down fifth and sixth then that'll be the double block of this time and then it'll allow it to work out so working with Steve on trying to figure out the logistics of that and and we have started that we have worked with guidance uh both middle school and high school we have had time together to collaborate and I appreciate that so middle school guidance counselors have have been
057over the high school and so we've started to craft schedules for our shared teachers that it does work for them um it's not it's not at the cost of any quality of programming at all or added personel or added personnel and would it be seventh and 8th grade schedule matching up sixth grade will still be its own well no oh because sorry because sixth grade flows back into the seventh and eighth grade schedule for electives so they yes they run their block schedule but they still come back into our schedule six period for our electives um and so that is when we also do Bay inquir so they come down six so just that little piece of sixth grade yes so we have sixth grade said they schedule 19 so thinking about a timeline moving
058forward right we would um obviously like full support of the board to be able to make a change like this because it is a big change um so we would like to bring it to the board um at February 18th meeting to approve and allow the school district to to make this change and um start educating our parents and we we have a robust plan of of communicating with all of our stakeholders right like my biggest fear right that that we don't do our due diligence there and I know with the minds that are have been involved with this we will do a good job and and so we want our kids definitely to be prepared and you know we're talking curriculum already for next year like the nuts and bolts are in motion and
059have been for several months I can tell you again just being from this area this kind of work you should know as a board doesn't happen in every school district and it is a shame uh it is absolutely 100% the reason why I wanted to be here and I proud kids first thanks for the opportunity does it look like we got any discussion items get a motion to approve the minutes of January 21st 2025 I approve minutes yes Vicky yes yes yes for Action needed items I'll have the recommendation to approve the second reading of the following theola policies in volume 36 number one as listed I moveed to approve the recommendation to approve the second reading second any discussion yeah we are not adopting these policies usually with the second read we go ahead
060and adopt um the set of policies and put them into practice but there is um one set that is just incomplete and I just need some guidance and support for from Neola U before we can take it back for a second reading and adoption so um we to February 18 to finalize these policies any more discussion a vote dou Yes Carol yes Amy yes jice yes I have the recommendation to approve a donation in the amount of $170 from the Community Foundation through a grant from Brown County Board of realators for spica Elementary for winter wear for the students can I get a motion to accept so MO any discussion thank you V Doug yes Carol yes Vicky yes Amy yes Janice yes I have the recommendation to approve a donation in the amount of
061$170 from the Community Foundation through a grant Brown County Board of realators for Vamp and Elementary for winter for the students can I get a motion to accept I should do second second any discussion thank you vote dou Yes Carol yes Vicki yes Amy yes jise yes I have the recommendation to approve the maternity leave of Caitlyn Carter effective approximately April 8th 2025 through May 30th 2025 can I get a motion to accept approve second any discussion anything as well yes Carol yes Vicky yes yes for the consent agenda items personel will start with the separation of BR County Middle School girls head track coach cinged May 10 through the transfer of Brown County High School boys head soccer coach loan F to Brown County High School boys assistant soccer coach effective February 4 2025
062can I get a motion to accept so Mo second I'll second any discussion vote Yes Carol yes yes Amy yes Jimmy yes um for the superintendent update tonight um again I just want to express thank you to Mr shoman and Mr steel and that came together uh to work on high school redesign in that schedule um it is a lot of work uh but it's clear that it aligns with our our vision for the district so really really excited about that opportunity so thank you um I also want to welcome cinnamon is here um she will be our new computer science teacher at the middle school and the high school so we are very excited that you are here and then really the only other thing I'd like to update um the board and the
063public tonight is about the upcoming potential Bond projects um there's a few it's a lot right I think about this presentation we had earlier I'm not going to spend 45 minutes on this although I could spend hours on it so I'm just going to give a brief overview and then uh because this is an update from me I I would welcome that have questions to please ask um if I don't know them I will figure them out um and and get them to everybody so it is it's pretty big and it's pretty important to BR schools moving forward um we have an opportunity through our debt service fund okay so uh Public School Finance 101 we have an education fund it's where we pay our teachers it's the money comes in through student enrollment um
064we have an operation fund where that is used to operate the rest of the district so when you think about electricity or you think about um supplies um trash bags buses anything to operate the district it comes out of that that money comes from property tax um we have a referendum fund because last year we passed a referendum and that fund is legally only allowed to be used for what we campaigned or what we proposed in that spending plan and our referendum was for Wes and benefits for staff and the career Resource Center you cannot spend it on anything else that is it um and then we have a rainy day fund which we do not touch unless we absolutely have to touch that fund okay we also have a Debt Service fund and um
065when we take out General obligation bonds or lease bonds um it comes under that Debt Service which is part of our total School tax rate so historically Brown County School has had a a school tax rate of 57 cents historically um we passed a referendum last year and it was a 10-cent referendum so naturally one would think that okay if our school tax rates 57 cents and we just passed this 10cent referendum that our new school tax rate will be 67 cents however that's not the case when school districts take out bonds or these loans to do certain projects right we have X amount of years to pay those off when those are paid off we have debt that rolls off okay which lowers your tax rate because it's only coming from your debt service
066I cannot use Debt Service to pay any teachers I cannot use Debt Service uh to pay the electric bill right I can't move money from Debt Service to go into our referendum or into our rainy day fund it is solely for those projects or those loans that we take out so I told you that even with the referendum our school tax rate does not go to 67 cents we have debt that is rolling off in 2025 that lowers our tax rate to 52 cents I think it's 51 something okay we are able to take out an additional U lease Bond where we have two proposed projects for the board to consider that will our tax rate neutral at 57 cents okay the two projects that we have are completely separate one of them is capital
067projects uh around the whole District okay um and I'll walk through what what those projects specifically are in that price range and then we also have a proposed project for the Athletic Facility upgrades okay so we have two proposed projects that will be under one lease Bond okay it cannot cross over at all they're two separate projects now there's also just to complicated a little bit right um there is something called a petition remonstrance and obviously a referendum if a a school district based on a percentage of their AV can take out a bond or a loan up to a certain threshold where it does not force you to go to a petition remonstrance or a referendum a petition remonstrance is um where there's an opportunity for the community to have a percentage of opposition
068within 30 days I don't remember what the percentage is but if a certain percentage of opposition comes within 30 days that forces the schools district to take their project to a referendum and put it on the ballot so there's this threshold right Brown County Schools based upon the AV or assessed valuation in the county is I I think right up to the line $6.6 million if we wanted to do a 6.6 million dollar project we can do it without a petition remonstrance which ultimately without a referendum right all it takes is a board to approve the resolutions to move forward with the project let's say that um Brown County Schools wanted to do a $19 million project across the whole District right that's obviously above the 6.6 threshold that forces the district to go to
069a petition remonstrance which means once you file it you have 30 days or the community has 30 days to oppose the project if they get the percentage to oppose it that forces the school district nope you have to take it to a referendum and put them on ballot if nobody opposes it or you don't get to that percentage guess what after 30 days school gets School District gets to raise the school tax and do a $19 million project make sense okay we don't have a $19 million project I'm not proposing a$1 19 million project um very fiscally responsible we do have a priority list across our district and uh both of these projects fit in to keep our tax rate neutral at 57 cents spread out over your payments and um allows us to be
070able to to do the we need to do we wouldn't be able to do out of our operations fund if we didn't have this Bond okay so now I'm going to talk about the projects um it's one lease right one lease two separate projects the very first priority is uh when we worked around the district obvious was the hbac at van I don't think anybody will question that that's the priority um when we initially started to explore these projects um we thought that this one project was only going to be vanan and we were going to call it vanan project um but then when we realized that we could do two separate ones and still keep that tax rate neutral we decided that open the door pretty wide for us to be able to take
071care of some Capital project around the entire district and then still be able to do an investment in our athle Athletic Facility upgrades so the first priority being bu and Elementary HVAC upgrades um it it replaces all the handling units um I think you think about the few oil burner um all of the things that come with an HVAC system would be replaced and brand new at HVAC that piece of the project this piece of the project is anywhere from 2.5 to$ 2.9 Million moving down the district with capital projects um in 2021 the district took out a bond for the high school hbac across the whole building because of the limits on the bond or the scope of the project when they built it out the science Wing here at the high school and
072then the main gym ox gy and weight room did not get HVAC upgrades so all this P side of the high school has been done that side has not been done I don't have a science teacher in here but 57 degre some days 87 they know they did not get their their wing done um so the high school science lab HVAC budget is anywhere from 750 to 900,000 and then the gyms in the weight room is anywhere from 1.5 to 1.9 which takes the capital projects scope anywhere from 4.7 to 5.7 that's a million dollar range right there's a million doll range for a reason they get into bamban it's ancient and something comes up right there has to be some built-in contingency to be able to deal with the unknowns okay that is one
073project 5.7 I we could go up to the threshold of 6.6 I don't need 6.6 to be able to do those projects are there few other projects around each of the buildings that we could do absolutely but if we can put this in our bond project that keeps the tax rate neutral then that frees up money my operations budget to be able to look at bathrooms at the high school to be able to um look at lighting at van in the uh bus lot to be able to look at the front doors here um to be able to look of at the middle school that we weren't able to finish with the last B that we did right it just opens up some space to be able to do that so this is one project
074the other project is the athletic uh facility upgrades and we will start with the football field Turf Improvement so right now we have grass um and we are looking to replace the graph field with Turf um to be able to paint on our soccer boundaries so we can also have soccer on the football field um I it also opens the door to be able to have um marching band competitions it opens the door uh I think for some excitement around cheerleading I think it's an opportunity for us to do community events like I I think the possibilities are endless in in how we want to use that um it it will be absolutely incredible as you some of you know there is a portion of the football field that is in a flood plane um
075the engineers and The Architects that are working on the scope of these projects they know that they have the plans um they have done the assessments to be able to figure out what we need to do ter of that flood plane they came back with three options one option was to move the entire football field out of the flood plane which means moving everything back um strongly discouraged that because of the amount of money it would take to just move everything and everything being new so we took that off the table the other option was to be able to raise the football field x amount of feet which is a possibility and it's not out the window as of yet but it will cost at least a million dollars on top of the turf project
076to raise it so we thought that's an added million dollarss right it's just an added million dollar um and then the third option that the engineers came back with was um to keep the field where it's at we don't have to raise it but we use the highest technology possible with the absorption and everything that goes into the turf um to be able to have the maximum absorption and if we were to have a flood like we had in 2019 18 whenever it was um will there be an expense to fix it absolutely um will there be an expense to fix it if we don't enter absolutely right so we have to take that into consideration that Turf scope right there is anywhere from 1.9 to 2.2 remember we have that range because we have
077the unknowns in addition to the scope on this project project we have the football field lighting upgrade so we which is the range is 300 to 375 um we basically get to keep the poles um they're just switching out to the LEDs and then um in addition to that we would do a replacement or an upgrade to our scoreboard again to be able to add LED um different lighting thing cool things that you can do um with technology and then to obviously be able to have something for soccer or right not just for it to say football um and then also we have an opportunity when we do that we think about the track so we have a track replacement option just we have a track resurfacing option obviously resurfacing is less than replacing it
078um so we can take a look at that if we're approved for the projects of what what is really recommended for us to do we don't want to get in there and say yep we're just making executive decision to replace it if they get in there and they're like you don't really have to replace it but we don't want to make that decision until somebody comes in and actually looks at it um so replacing the track completely is anywhere from um 950 to 1.2 and then the last scope of this athletic project is the football and track new restroom concession locker room so you know about our the campus right there there's only restroom it is clear over by the school and that's the only restroom that we have available outside so we would like
079to be able to add um an additional restroom um have a locker room so we can grow continue to grow the program and half space and then move our concessions there um and then think about the space where our current concession is maybe for officials or or something else um but that that restroom locker room is needed right there it would be right um in between the home and the visitor and then so that piece is anywhere from 1.8 to two so if you think a total budget for the Athletic Facility upgrades is anywhere from 5.2 to 6 million so let me come back two projects is under one lease right one building Corporation lease being able to do these two projects sprad out over the debt payments over 10 years allows us to keep
080that at that tax neutral of 57 um I guess a few more things to highlight on um we also did price out baseball turfing the baseball fields and the uh softball fields um I have proposed that we put those that project on hold or um maybe put it back in the list of priorities down the road if we were to add those one of those projects it takes us over that 6.6 um I don't believe we should go to a petition remonstrance um I I think we have debt rolling off in 20128 that opens the door for us to to to look at some more projects um I just don't think we need to go down that road um I think uh coming back like some questions that I've receiv is is about cost of
081Maintenance so our current grass fields we have the football field which if you haven't experienced the football field I think one football game uh coach Bell took me out to the 50 yard line and it's like oh I had no idea right no idea how bad of shape our football field is in um it needs some major work we also have the soccer field that's out at Eagle Park that um is is very just status quo like there's nothing special about playing soccer on our field out there um it needs some work when we think about irrigation and um painting and um the True Green or the the maintenance of the lawn right to keep up it's going to cost the district anywhere from 20 to $24,000 depending on what kind of year and weather
082that we have and that's annually um we look Turf right um and can move our soccer games over there I mean we're not going to Turf our two practice fields um but it does it does change some things right an annual maintenance of a turf field is anywhere on average from 3,000 to $5,000 a year it's closer to the $3,000 a year in the first8 to 10 years right and when you get to that 10e Mark that's where you start thinking about okay where where are we at and it's dependent upon again uh weather and everything that happens on the field right but that 10e Mark you start looking about okay um when do we talk about replacement what does replacement look like um replacement of a turfield is that going to cost us the
083$3 million again to like we did when we put it in um and no the answer came back that it is typically at 50% that it costs of what you paid to put it in in the first place um I think I think it's important to know that um bonds right when we sell bonds to have the money to do these projects let's say that the board approves the resolutions to move forward with these two projects um let's take the field in the flood plane and we get down the road and I don't know somebody from the state I comes in and says you can't do this because of the flood plane aren't stuck with taking out money that we won't use or we can't use because now we can't do this project right we
084just don't sell those bonds and it lowers our principal amount right that's really important for people to know in the worst case scenario right we don't want that to happen but at the end of the day if that happens we're okay we just don't sell those bonds the other piece that I've heard is that um we just spent all all of this uh time and effort to pass a referendum and that referendum was for our teachers and our staff members and our career resource center and now we're going to take money from Brown County Schools or from that referendum to pay for this Turf project we're not legally allowed to do that first and foremost right we we cannot do it you cannot do it with the referendum you can't do it with your debt
085service right so there is absolutely nothing that would uh allow us to do that if even if we wanted to so that is just education to the community or our families or staff or whoever um to know those different processes and where they come from um presented at Ambassadors last Friday with the adults and um went through this whole overview and I'm sure I missed a few things um I don't know but at the end of the conversation someone reminded me reminded everybody in the room that yeah we do we lose kids to athletics they're going to bigger Schools they're going to schools with Turf they're going to schools with field houses um but you know what we have 1463 kids right here that are worth it and they're worth this project they're worth the
086agback project um and um I think it just really it put it all back into perspective for me um we can invest in it and and see where it goes or we can sit back and and hope hope kids stay or hope kids get excited or hope this um I am strongly encouraging the board to to think about um the primary so um I will I know that was a lot I open it up the board has any questions does anybody in the audience have questions um again I will try my absolute best um to answer them and if I can't I won't be shy to tell you I don't know but I'll figure out what is the timeline on these like I know I know the timeline for when we go through our process
087and get the money but then when do you think would be completing these projects um yeah that's a really good question I think that um of course with the H at vanen again that's first and foremost priority so they will move forward with those steps I would imagine this would be a summer project um and the athletic uh the turf field I mean all of the conversations we've had is kind of dependent on when we move forward so if the timeline is for us next board meeting February 18th Performance Services will come and present this final scope of both projects and then the March 3D board meeting the board would approve the resolutions once the board approves the resolutions that allows the school district to move forward when we know that answer then we can
088work with uh Performance Services on they start the bid process right they'll start the bid process on both projects and they'll work on it simultaneously we would hope for the turf right that if we could um we would probably strategically schedule or reschedule some of our home games so we have fewer home games so they could start earlier if if we could get in um maybe if we could at least have October um half of September most forunate but if they can get in there where where we're not having home games then we would hope to have track season in Spring of 2026 this fall 2025 if we were this fall 2025 we will start our football season and our soccer season on regular on what we have now um if we have approval we
089will probably reschedule some of our home games to see how much of September can we give to contractors to start working all projects everything as listed performance service bids it all out um and then they present those bids um to us so um they do that work for us so it's not like I can say I want you to use this company right they they will bid it out and um they will recommend based on quality and cost I remember when they did the HVAC here that it they told us that it would take a lot of planning for them to be ready to do the H I assume then that's probably not this summer but next summer would be van I'm not sure I I don't know that answer they might when they come
090present have a better sense of that um yeah it it just depends on what they can do ahead of time um I think Vann is so unknown because they don't know what they're going L um they're still burning furnace and it's still got tank yeah that's thank you that's that's a good question very good what else or does anybody it's a lot safer the other thing I want to add to is the safety for the tur Fields it's a lot safer if you go out there now and you look at ankles knees all that fun stuff it's it's a mind field you don't even want to walk on it let alone play on it so for what it's worth um I went to school over in Columbus we turfed our fields and it dramatically helped
091everything so from a safety aspect you get that bonus as well I can add to the fact that um many of these companies that we've talked to about the fields love the fact that we look at multiple programs utilizing not just football soccer that the more wear and tear they can get on it actually is better for its overall life expect which helps the longevity of of it so that is one one thing to keep in mind and you know the repairs are going to be annual for for whatever things you have but the more that it's getting used the more that it helps it what they tell us we had a student that unfortunately I was the only one the football program then but we had a student that went out last two years
092ago with B injury because of our field our practice field wasn't our game field we had one that was went out this year for an ankle who still dealing with an ankle injury on our football field it's we need to start thinking about the safety of our kids and honestly we've got kids kindergarten all the way up I don't know of all the kids that are gotten hurt on that field or those fields but I know it's more than those two um the other thing that I'm looking at is I mean Mr BR and I have had multiple discussions because I was the youth director at a point in time and it was we had to schedule our home games for the Youth to correspond with the high school to St CLA we couldn't host
093the tournament because the field was in poor shape we actually had had rather link disagreement because we had an Edinburgh game that completely destroyed our home field I what two hour discussion very heated but it was you don't want to discourage the kids around here just because we can't invest the money in there yeah I think it's like it's tough because when you hear two like 5 point something project and a $6 million project like you hear $12 million right and and how is Brown County Schools not paying for 12 million dollar that's why the tax rate is is so crucial if we let that all that debt fall off that we've ever done we keep it the 51 or 52 cents that we have we would not be able to do these because we
094could not fund any of these projects this debt service and and using these bonds to keep a t a tax neutral of 57 cents allot that's what's allowing us to do these projects honestly um it's not like we're taking $12 million from Brown County Schools $28 million budget that we have it it just isn't and it's the only funding vehicle we have for large projects we don't really have other than being able to borrow money for these kinds of Lo yeah I I think somebody also had asked about where did these priorities come from like did we just pull them out and say I want to do this and and no like we go back to to Dr hammock I think in 2018 um had the facility study done across the entire district from that
095study it was determined they did helmsburg they did spica and then uh the high school was that next hbac project um the middle school back on the 2018 they still had on that priority list for secure front interest and for HVAC it just didn't hit the priorities of the other buildings up to that point um that's why when we did the Middle School right that Rose to the top to be able to do that um that's why rising to the top we also a year and a half ago looked at it like um an investment study as you could say and thought about well HVAC is one thing right that we have to do we feel really comfortable with the uh debt that's coming off in future years like okay where are we at at
096actually doing some investment um around the district that's not do electricity um and yeah the athletic facilities has has risen to the top I mean and it's not just Turf right like we've got a lot of different things we would love to be able to do um just believe that this here and this now is the best thing for Brown County Schools um a lot of people talk about a Fieldhouse um I would love to have a Fieldhouse they told Mark on day one right I want this I want this I want this and that was included in that um I just I think there's a vision with strategy and intention um that pushes that just a little bit further down the road um we think about a connector we've talked a lot about a
097connector between the Middle School and the high school um yeah it'd be awesome I think it'd be really great we need it for a lot of different reasons um but we don't need it right now we don't need it right now um so for what it whatever it's worth as the superintendent yeah I I look at those priorities and then I present them to the board and um and that's what I am recommending that we move forward with um again Performance Services will be here to to present on the scope what I just presented on um at February 18th and then um I would recommend moving those resolutions to the March meeting for board approval anybody else um kids are worth it but but also when we to proactively upgrade this athletic uh fields or
098manties definitely that could be the reason that we maybe just bring more families back to County if we keep five that we're going to go because they get excited about it or if we bring five back because it's like oh I can play or I get to march on the field or I get to cheer field or whatever it may be gosh that's better than hope and 10 just didn't stay away right like why would why wouldn't we invest in it I think something too that I I thought a lot about I'm not from here you know here in 2014 but one of the things that I was really encouraged about and coming back for is like the information that it's not just for our kids so like my husband works from home and he
099does a lot of um workout and stuff and a lot of that happens in Columbus just because there are groups and there people there but a lot of people also use our track because it's free because it's open because it's available and it's nice to have that like and I've I've started going there more often myself just because so I think it really like that part of it is for our schools but also ties in the rest of the community that might not have kids in the school too so I think it is really important to see that it's not just for school corporation it's also for community the scoreboard would have to be approved by the town have asked they consider it a sign um I don't think we'd have any problem getting something
100approved but that is a step we'll have to go through well and I was going to say actually we hold one of our largest community events um in that facility which is the 4th of July and um the lack of bathrooms is a real deterrent for folks it's a long long hilly bumpy way to get to the bathroom from just about anywhere um so I I me I think it's not exactly the field but it is just you know it's our facility and we want it to look nice and we want it to be prepared not just for students and staff but for the community to use well I I just leave it with if anybody here has people friends family in the community that have questions and you don't know how to answer them
101um please tell them to call me or come to the next the February 18th meeting um one of the two so be happy any anytime always to talk and and help people understand and that's that's all I have legislative update all right um I am the legislative liaison for the board and it's you know we're right in the middle of it right now any of you are following what's going on in Indianapolis um what is today February 3rd so we are one4 of the way through the legislative session um and today in fact there was a hearing on one of the bills that we've been carefully watching it is um Senate Bill 287 which is whether or not Schoolboard races are going to be partisan or not um this has come up for the last
102three years and has been um not passed but um it is still being studied and and there was a hearing about it today in um the senate committee on elections and apparently they did not they passed other bills but they didn't pass that one so they were trying to hopefully take some more I don't know exactly what else happened today um but if you feel strongly about that um we have a lot of um I mean we are nonpartisan we don't run on a ticket and we think that's really important for schools we don't think that schools are a partisan issue we think that school board members I'll speak for myself but also for the School Board Association um who opposes partisan elections for school board that we don't think it should be a political
103issue um it should be something that is nonpartisan and that citizens should be able to run for school board without having a party affiliation or feeling indebted to um anyone for once they get here so if you feel strongly about that um contacting the senate elections committee um or Senator cook uh about your feelings about that Senate Bill 287 um there are a number of um property tax bills you probably heard about um some of them are over my head I have to admit um because there's a lot going on with them um but we've got to keep our eye on that because obviously whatever the property tax re form is um can affect how much money is available for schools um so uh I don't know where those are right now they've had a
104lot of hearings on them um but if that is something for um people to be aware of is that those bills really do matter to how much money we have available for our maintenance of our our general maintenance of our buildings um and our other operations budgets um another bill to watch is that um House Bill 1498 is asking that we go back to an a to F grading um system for schools um and it passed through the committee 11 to zero so we are likely to go back to um a to F rating of schools um so you know if you have an opinion about that I encourage you to talk to um representative Paul so those are um those are a couple of them I will say generally as far as the budget
105the governor proposed an annual 2% increase in state tuition support formula generally for schools um for each of the next two years of the budget however inflation is 2 and a half to 3% um and and I don't I mean the the word that I've heard is that it you know they don't think the governor what the governor said is what's going to happen so um we really never know what that looks like until they get the State numbers of like how much tax came in like around I don't know April 15th and they have to be done by April 30th so honestly all the discussion that happens up to that point it doesn't really matter much because once they get those numbers then they will come up with a budget at the very end
106the last budget session this is um just interesting and important that um they sent out the numbers um for every school district and then superintendent um noticed the discrepancies and the errors in it and within 24 hours enough superintendent contacted legislators and got it changed um so that tells you the power of of doing that yeah advocacy is really important so if you're interested in those things you want to talk to me about it I'm trying to follow those things I'm going to go up to the state house a couple different times here in February um and try to talk to legislators and and you know try to Advocate on behalf of small rural schools because that's that's who we are and and sometimes we get lost in these debates you might have heard that
107there were issues about um you know that could close IPS schools um that doesn't affect us by the way that's that's not about us it is about uh IP s and Gary School specifically and um but they talk a lot about those things and then they don't talk about the issues that we're facing and so we want to just always make sure that we're not very many but we can also make sure that our our legislators are listening to us so that's my update thank you can I get a motion toour the meeting so second second all in favor I I I