001[clears throat] >> Will you all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> Providing today's students opportunities to become tomorrow's leaders. Um we do have two signed up for public comments. We do try to keep those limited to 3 minutes. Uh Jody Jordan? No? You're just in attendance? Oh. Um Angie Hook Gamble? Okay. My name is Angela Hook Gamble and I have taught school here for 36 years. And it has been a blessing. I have loved my calling in life, but I just wanted to let the board know that they need to make a decision. I mean, I only had 2
002days along with seven other teachers to move their classrooms. And I know different teachers and I spent hours in the summer preparing our classrooms cuz I went from Wolf Creek to Albion. And I'm one of these people that will do whatever you tell me to do with a smile on my face, but I just don't know if you realize the amount of work that is required to move a classroom. And I know I have a lot of stuff that Mr. Lap Mom Lading told me in one of my evaluations. He said, "Angie, I have to tell you something bad about you. is you got too much stuff." And that's been probably 20 years ago. So I know I have a lot of stuff, but it still takes a lot of time and effort. And I
003gave up a vacation in July to spend time in my classroom even though it was Florida in the middle of July with my husband, but anyways, I just wanted to let the board know you need to make some decisions because it takes a lot of time to move a classroom. Thank you. >> [cough and clears throat] [snorts] >> We have a special presentation from the junior or Central Noble Junior Senior High. So um tonight we have some of our staff members and students talking with you. Um you know, we could tell you the things that are happening here, but to hear from our staff and students, I think it's going to be much more impactful. Uh one of the things I wrote about this week in my newsletter was how our small school continues to
004make a big impact and I think you're really going to hear that from our students who are all kind of going in different paths, but we've, you know, supported that and helped to make it possible. And then from a couple of our teachers you'll hear from our fifth grade team um who last year was in a similar position and probably had some um questions and angst about moving, but when you can look at them at the end of this year and say that we're sitting on is the blue furniture, um I think it's been it's been pretty successful. And then we're also going to hear from Amy Drabble this tonight. Um Amy is a CM grad who's spent a lot of her career in a different school um and then joined us this year. And
005so I just asked her to share um kind of what that has been like changing this late in her career and what her experience has been. So we'll start with the fifth grade team and then Amy and then um we have several individual students that are going to talk about their >> [clears throat] >> You're going to applaud me? Okay. I'm going to go first. I'm Deb Seaver. I'm teaching Deb, can you go to the mic? I'm sorry. You have I thought I could just use my teacher voice. >> You you can, but the people online can't hear you. Oh, okay. I'll start over. Um I'm Deb Seaver. I've been teach- I'm in my 22nd year of teaching all at Central Noble. Um I've been very lucky to be here as well to be here.
006Um in my career I have moved classrooms or grade levels seven times. Uh six of those were physical moves from one classroom to another and it is never fun. It's never easy. Um however, last year in May the move that I told I was going to be making wasn't really difficult to take when I found unexpectedly that I would be moving from an elementary setting to a junior high setting. And I'm going to be honest with you, it was uh it was difficult. Um we didn't have much time, but uh because it was the end of the school year. But we made the move and the three of us together decided we were going to do the best we could to make it the best school for our students. Um we've had wonderful support from
007our administrators. They're supportive, flexible. They let us try things. Um and change is never easy. It's it's it's hard, but we've done the best we could to make it a good situation. I can honestly say now you know, it's almost a year later that I feel like we're doing the best we've ever done with the kids. It it was hard going from an elementary setting to junior high. We're still making adjustments. It's not perfect. We're still learning. We're we're looking at changing things for next year. Um but we just wanted the community to know that we put the kids first and what we think is best for them and we keep learning and growing in the whole process. Um just to add to that, like she said, it's kind of when you take a teaching
008position, it's kind of understood that you might move classrooms. Like that's just the that's just the nature of your job. However, it was very difficult finding out that we had to move then hey, you have this much time and this is when you have to be out by. It was really rough. However, like she said, um moving over here was amazing. Like Sean actually offered me all the very supportive they have prior time. And like she said, we're still learning. There's some things that we're going to change definitely next year. We're going to have those meetings and such, but overall, it was it was rough. Like like they said like Mrs. Hook Gamble said, knowing earlier is way better because it is a big it's a lot especially if you have taught for a really
009long time. You will have stuff. And even for those teachers like I didn't have a lot of stuff. It's a lot. Um but like I said, our move wasn't perfect to be here. We love you guys. Um and it was it's great that we're here, but it was stressful because it was so short notice. It wasn't fun. I'll follow that up with um like my colleagues have said, it was stressful at the beginning because it just kind of happened on us. But after the change and after we got accustomed to it, it has been a good change for us. Um the staff members are amazing. Sean actually offered me everything to help us. And whenever we needed something changed, they listened to us and said, "Okay, hey, what can we do to make this just
010easier, to make it better not only for us as teachers, but also for the kids?" Because we didn't know what it looked like. We didn't know what to do or how it was going to change. But they ended up being good. And like they both said, we're still changing stuff for next year to make it better or improved for everyone. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, I'm Amy Drabble. Like Sean said, I graduated in 1990. Um and then I spent 28 years teaching across the county over at West Noble. Um Sean would call me every few years and say, "Hey, we have some openings." And I just could not let go of the theater program that I had grown over there. That was the only thing holding me back. And this past summer it was
011brought to the community here by Mr. Howell. And I can't tell you just the positive Sorry, I didn't have the positive energy you feel in this building. The staff we