001I don't think so. I think it was I think I was I think I was transposed wrong. Yeah, that's one thing I can agree with you on. That's really it is. >> Okay, we'll play it by ear. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Can you see the flag there? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Ready? 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. >> [snorts] >> Providing today's students opportunities to become tomorrow's leaders. We do have a couple of public comments. So, I do want to remind those that wish to share that we do need to keep them limited to 3 minutes. Lori [snorts] Spray? >> 2 minutes is about right. Can you hear me
002okay? >> Yep. >> Well, I'm here because I want to share something both meaningful and personal. After much reflection, I've decided that it's time for me to retire from my teaching position at Central Noble. Okay. It's been a tremendous privilege to spend my entire career, over three decades, at Central Noble. I've had the opportunity to work alongside truly amazing colleagues, some who are here tonight. People who care deeply about students, who give their time, their energy, and their hearts to this work every single day. The friendships and professional relationships I've had during these years are among the most valuable parts of my career. Most importantly, I've had the honor to work with students in this community. Teaching local students, many from families I've known for years, sometimes even generations, has been incredibly rewarding. And I
003see two such students here tonight, high school students. Watching young people grow, learn, and find their place in the world is a gift that few professions provide. I'll always be grateful for the trust that families place in teachers to be part of that journey. I also want to thank the present and former school boards for the professional support over the years. I appreciate the time and care that you invest in this district and in the future West Noble. Before I close, I do want to address something briefly and clearly. >> [clears throat] >> There have been some comments circulating in the community suggesting that my decision to retire is connected to negative remarks or critical statements. I want to be very clear that what has been said is simply incorrect. I would like to set
004the record straight. I first retired in June of 2024. Last August, Mr. Weaver contacted me about coming back to cover my old position, seventh grade language arts, for the present school year. Neither of us intended for my position to last beyond this year. I'd also like to clarify that we have a current, capable, and highly qualified media specialist at Central Mobile Junior Senior High School. This is Brandy Lay, who was hired at the start of the school year, and luckily for us, she intends to continue her career with Central Mobile in the coming years. It is true that this is a position I was interested in, but now I'm looking forward to retirement and the next chapter in my life, including a grand baby here soon. I'm allowed to change my mind without it being
005to be controversial. As we all know, gossip often grows when people talk in lines and listen a little. I believe it's always better to focus on facts, on respect, and on the positive work being done for our students. I leave this position, for the second time, with pride and confidence in the people who will continue to work at Central Mobile. Our school is full of talented educators, administrators, dedicated staff members, and supportive families. Thank [clears throat] you for allowing me the privilege of serving this community. It has truly been an honor, and I'll always be grateful to have been a small part of this experience. >> THANK YOU, LORI. >> [applause] >> LORI, I'D LIKE TO SAY MY KIDS DON'T TALK about school all the time, okay? They They don't say anything negative, but the
006one thing they've always said is positive things about you and their experiences in your classroom. So, thank you for all your years, and thank you for everything you've done for my family. >> And I never seen anyone sad when they retire to spend time with grand babies. >> [laughter] >> Uh next we have Vicki Gellison. >> Hi, I'm just speaking off the cuff tonight. Um basically, how does this work, please? Um last year I made a phone call to Mr. Taylor at the primary about potentially not having work, whether you they were going to be hosting a grandparents day. And um we've got the invitation and I want to thank him very much. I don't know if people inside the building know how incredible that is for grandparents to come in. Once the kids have
007taken ownership to the classrooms, they need to be in school for a little while. Um I think it's very very important. I've seen hundreds of kids come through my home and I love to hear kids share what they're doing and I think it's very important that they know other people besides their parents who make them go to school every day are interested in what they're doing. So, thank you very much for scheduling that. I had told them last year, "Make it simple. We don't need snacks. Just let us into that building with our grandchildren." So, thank you very much for doing that again. Um the other point I want to make is maybe you're going to cover this later in the agenda, but since I don't have the opportunity at that time, um you have
008one here, discussion to hold public work sessions and I'll find out later what you mean by that, but um I'm just asking that as we continue to find the answers to the challenges that we have as a corporation, um that you listen with your hearts and listen wholeheartedly to what people have to say. Um I know we have building issues, we need to do some condensing, all those kind of things and there's no easy answers. There's not an answer that's going to make everyone happy, but I want you to listen to people, listen to the community, listen to parents, listen to the students. And one of my biggest fears, no matter what we do, is how we mix up ages. You know, we we brought the second grade over there. And speaking to Mrs. Sprague's
009um rumor, you know in how the rumor mill and the gossip goes, I heard talk about maybe doing something different to put another um maybe fourth grade or something. I I don't know and I only believe a little bit of what I hear, but um I just think kids have to grow up very quickly and too fast sometimes and when we mix them with older kids sometimes that you know it can be a good thing but it can also be a negative thing. So I I hope that you take the input that people have and listen diligently to what they have to say and I will say I've been attending these meetings and if you're ordering the weather like we have tonight it's not keeping me away but it almost did. But I am appreciating
010the the conversations and the openness that I've seen in the last few weeks and so I appreciate that very very much. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Tonight we have a special presentation C&E Elementary Kayla Bonanno. >> I practiced it. >> Before Kayla starts I want to give her a huge shout out. She is doing kind of time [clears throat] and a half at C&E while while I'm sitting up here and I just want to thank her for that. She's along with Trevor and staff there doing all they can to keep things afloat. So thanks Kayla I appreciate it very much. >> No worries. So today for those of you who don't know me my name is Kayla Bonanno I'm the elementary school counselor. We're actually going to talk about new leadership our reading
011program and some STEM innovations that we've been working on all year long at C&E. So obviously Mr. Tipton a long standing person in our community for Central Noble has taken over for Doc and I'm going to tell you just update you it has been a very smooth transition. We've tried very hard to make this transition just for our building and it has stuck. We've done very well with our teachers and our staff moving forward. Trevor has been great. There's really not a moment we've had any big hiccups that we haven't been able to smooth through. So it's been great having him and we're we're lucky to have him here. The next thing we want to talk about obviously I read scores. This is a huge thing for us. Uh we finished just last week, but
012I do want to remind you that testing we are going to be testing again. This is just preliminary. So currently there are 79 students in third grade from the spring of '25 when they were in second grade, summer of '25, and spring of '26. So far we have a 77% passing rate for those students. Um the last score right there, spring of '26, that does include some of my fourth graders that have received a GCE, so those are some of the passing that actually had passing this year. Pretty happy about that. Um we will be testing the week of May 12th. Uh during that time, in between now and that May 12th, thanks to Mrs. Howard and her wonderful grant writing skills, we will be continuing with a tutoring program that we installed last year
013that really showed a huge increase in the number of passing rate we were able to do for our third graders. Uh they will also be receiving new title services. We restructured our title title services. We got rid of the ones that passed, uh kept the ones that still needed to be in, and added some more so that we can get them a little more progress before May. Uh the ones that will be taking it in the summer, obviously or they will be attending our summer school with the Boys & Girls Club, and we'll be testing them in June of 2026. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> For our second graders this year, preliminary, we have 47% passing and 23% on track. Now on the screen you can see that we are right on par with the
014state. Actually, we're a little ahead of them with the on track kids. So we're we're pretty excited about that, and there's a bubble in there in the 20% at risk for our kids. There's a huge bubble right there that are very close to on track. So they will be doing title services as well and IReady tutoring to get them over those little bumps for ready for next year. So we're looking forward to uh our percentage rates increasing with passing. Uh over at the elementary, we have a huge number of century students. That includes autism, um our emotional disability room. We have been steadily increasing with small grants throughout the year our sensory needs. We have spinning, we have kettle bells for weight pools, we have blankets, we have combs. We work well with our co-op
015sensory and OT services that have given us some ideas and we're slowly continuing to increase those things that we have for our students. In October, we were Prodigy Math Champions for the state of Indiana, which was a huge deal for us. So, that entered us into a national competition to possibly get a tech grant for our school and we'll find out here at the end of the year. Our kids love Prodigy and once they finish extra math, they're able to do it and they this is one thing they fight fight over to continue doing. Um one thing we've done to increase throughout this year, we do Friday rubber duck riddles. And if you've seen our Facebook page, we try to pass them out. Mrs. Alderman was actually our first rubber duck riddle uh winner for
016the year. I actually also hide ducks throughout the school and the teachers have to go find them with their students and then they play rock, paper, scissors competitions throughout the day to see who gets the most and they get a prize. Mrs. Alderman got a gift card and something else. So, um they really love their rubber duck riddles. And then we have Cougar Cub Shout Outs that we started this year. That is our early uh so August to October kids. I haven't taken a picture of the other students yet for the year. Those are all kids that either are noticed doing something great, holding the door, kindness shout outs, just all the things that they're doing for each other and for our staff and our community and things like that. So, they really love to
017have that as well. Um what we also started this year, I got a Girls Who Code Club grant and we started that. We do it I do it during lunch It's girls, but I also have the boys come in as well. And we learn coding, we get online, we learn all of those sorts of things, we build robots. This is actually a little coding kits. There's a few books that the girls have been reading and they really enjoy that. On the on that same path of science, the loveliness is not helping put this together. So, for the first week of each month in library, they participate in hands-on science lessons and demonstrating all the types of variety of science branches. So, we've done surface tension, static electricity, the digitarium is coming up. Bring me the
018stuff in the back. Yeah, she's just setting it up. You're more than welcome to come visit us and check that out. It's always one of my favorites. Um directions and magnetic pools, moon phases, oxidation. I can't tell you how much these kids love this science in library. March Madness is going on right now. Some of the kids are very upset about which books are reading or winning and some are really happy. So, we're going to see who wins the end. Um and then monarchs, we always have monarchs at the beginning of the year and the kids love to let them >> [clears throat] >> loose. Uh we have our book fair, which is always a great thing. I know the primary's book fair is coming up. Game time when Miss Amber does some games, they
019love them. They get wild out there. Recess, we have loved our new swing sets this year. The kids usually fight over them. Uh so, we have to have a lot of lines and a lot of patience. Um and then she added to some more things we've been doing. We have loved having second grade in our school, Mrs. Gamble and Mr. Stump. They are wonderful additions and we love having them at the elementary. And this is just the last one. We have been doing great this year. I There really is no stopping point of what we've been doing together this year and pushing through all the challenges we've had. We've had a really good year this season. So. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> By the way, if you if you guys care, the
020rubber duck riddles are worse than my bad dad jokes. >> [laughter] >> We may have to have a vote on that. >> [clears throat] >> We'll move on to consent items. Approval um Here we go. [clears throat] Sorry. My wife is on the phone. Approval of minutes from the February 16th regular session board meeting. Approval of the February 10th and February 25th payroll and claims from February 17th through March 16th. Personnel, acceptance of resignation of Megan Fennell, SLPA, Scott Reese, junior high track coach. Recommendation to hire spring athletics supervisors, Linford Yoder, Bentley Boots, Samantha Broomhall. Spring coaches, Chad Dieter, varsity baseball assistant coach. Jake Quackenbush, JV baseball head coach. Jeremy Dieter, varsity JV baseball assistant coach. Landon Champion, varsity JV baseball assistant coach. Riley Paris, varsity girls track assistant coach. Fall coaches, Samantha Broomhall, varsity
021volleyball head coach. Ashley Laddig, JV volleyball head coach, varsity assistant coach. >> [clears throat] >> Kendall Peas, varsity volleyball assistant coach, freshman head coach. May I have a motion? >> I'll move. >> Second? >> I'll second. >> All in favor? I. >> I. >> Opposed? Passes 5-0. Um action items. Aliyah. >> Ma'am. >> Yes. I didn't see you sneaking. >> [laughter] >> So so you have in front of you a recommendation to raise the extracurricular bus pay. And I do want to just share basically Aliyah can talk about why, but I do want to share that most of were in a position to do this because we have not taken as many field trips and because we have more SPV routes. Our SPV trips for extracurriculars. Aliyah, you want to talk about the need for
022this and give your why you need to do this. >> Yes, sir. For those of you who I have not had the pleasure to formally meet, my name is Aliyah Zobers. I am the new transportation director. Um through my my short tenure here thus far, what I have noticed is that we are at a critical shortage for bus drivers. As I reached into our neighboring districts and then even outward, I contacted 18 districts. They're all at a shortage. So then I looked even more outward. I contacted the state of Florida all the way down from Georgia, Tennessee, and it is a national bus driver shortage. So it's not just a Central Noble issue. However, through our three neighboring districts, our extracurricular pay rate is astronomically lower than theirs. So there has been an issue with
023retaining experienced drivers, recruiting new drivers at a fair rate, and just being able to simply maintain our I guess competitiveness for our pay and fairness of our pay. Now, we have not had to cancel any sports trips. However, we have had to cancel field trips this school year. What I can promise you is that I will be diligent and if there we were able to take a mini bus, we will take mini buses. We will save costs whenever we can. We will plan routes for the most effective and shortest route for cost and fuel shortages. However, I do recommend raising the extracurricular hourly pay rate to from what it currently is at. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Can you can you just tell me what the rate is? >> The current rate is $13.50
024and I am proposing that and recommending that we raise it to $17 an hour. >> Which is which is still the lowest of the area school districts by $0.50. >> Correct. >> So you're totally for that? >> Do you We have had a budget shortage in that specific area for the last 2 years as we have not had as many drivers picking up ECA trips. We've sent out more activity buses. So we do have it within our budget to make this budget to raise this ECA pay rate. >> Jason, I would just tell you that we wouldn't bring it forward if we didn't think we could afford it at this point. >> Thank [clears throat and snorts] you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Recommendation to approve extracurricular trip pay rate increase. May I have
025a motion? I'll make a motion. >> Second? >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Passes 5-0. >> You should just take a deep breath. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Recommendation to approve a resolution authorizing the negotiation, execution, and delivery of a government lease purchase agreement. Kim Berry. >> I'd like Kim to start. >> Okay. This is >> for a lease for new Daktronics scoreboards. Um, requested from our athletics department. Um, just kind of the financial facts starting off uh, in 2022 the corporation did pay just under 59,000 for uh, varsity scoreboards that have lasted about 3.5 seasons. Um, one is completely non-functioning and the other two have issues as well. Um, if you take that 59,000 divided by the 3.5 seasons, that comes out to about 16,857 um, dollars per season
026that what we would have paid for those. Um, for the for our athletics program, they are requesting especially I don't know if any of you have attended anything in our main gym recently, but our main gym scoreboard is the one that's completely un-functioning at this point. Um, they are requesting this uh, six-year lease for these Daktronics scoreboards. Daktronics is one of the best names in the game for scoreboards. Um, these would come with a five-year parts warranty, so we would be guaranteed to get more out of these scoreboards than what we have our current scoreboards. It would be a six-year lease and just on the financial side of things, it would be uh, half annual payment from the corp athletics budget, their specific athletics budget, and then half from the ECA side of things, that
027athletics ECA budget. If we can, if we're able to, we can pay off the lease at the three-year mark without penalty and that would save in some interest. So, the worst-case scenario, um, well, and they should last us about 10 to 15 years. So, even if we say 10, that's our worst-case scenario, um, we would see about 9,035 dollars per season with those ones. Just the financials for you guys. >> What's the total cost with the interest? >> The total cost is $90,354. That's if we were if we couldn't pay it off early. >> Right for all of the six years. >> Yes. >> Alan, what are we Go ahead, Don. I'm sorry. >> So, we are getting I'm just reading here one scoreboard for the gym, jumbo screen or a video board, and then
028a soccer scoreboard. >> Yeah. >> And that's all figured. So, that's all in the 79 >> Correct. >> Did we look to see if we could get like a comparable rate from like Nevco or Fair-Play or anything like that, or did we just pick Daktronics? Cuz that's awful expensive. >> Yeah, I spoke with Nevco I spoke with Nevco as well. They're all pretty much in the same in the same price range for what we're what we're looking for. I didn't look I didn't not look at Fair-Play, but our scoreboard was I mean, we had issues with them, obviously, but I did talk to them as well. I talked to them a lot before I even talked to the Daktronics people cuz we had things solved with them, but um they're just as expensive. Nevco, I
029think, was within maybe the beginning like $5,000 lower, maybe, but they're not as reputable as Daktronics. We Daktronics what we have for our sign the sign up for our thing that Mr. Rose bought when he was principal here is still building, so um they last a long time. They say 10 to 15, but I think it's really more 15 to 20. I mean, they're going to buy your warranty of keep I mean, you'll see you'll see the longevity of it. >> Is there a reason we went with a video board? >> Cuz I'm just looking at some prices here. [snorts] I priced a little bit of these out. We're paying $50,000 of $79,000 for a video board. Is there a reason we need a video board as opposed to just getting two scoreboards on the
030side? >> Yeah, so the little scoreboard underneath will go away, and the video board actually acts as the scoreboard itself. Um and with the with the ability to sell the advertisements, um, much like we did this year with the video board that we currently have. Um, we sold advertising space on it and that'll help offset a lot of that cost. I already have um I already have I already have two companies for sure that are larger amount donations for for at least for this spring and and and the fall for sure that will offset a lot of that cost, so >> What's What's that number? What's the larger number for you? >> Uh, around five for one of them and then the other one is probably three or three or four, so 8,000 would more
031than cover our monthly cost for the for the payment for the year one at least. >> So, is that Would that be Would that be recurring though? Cuz you're going to have to pay 7,500 bucks each year. >> Yeah. >> Is that I mean, do you have that in your budget for athletics? >> Yeah. Um, when we when we took over the athletics budget this year, it was it was pretty bare bones and right now we're up um And again, as I said it now, we have about 40,000 dollars in our account, so um, we've done a good job of done gathering sponsorships and good revenue concessions and ticket sales and auctions and clothing sales and we're really boosting the budget, so I'm not concerned about not being able to cover everything in the ordering.
032>> Does Does Does that staff boards live there? >> Yep. >> So, the one side that has the big scoreboard >> side will be fixed like it is now, like it'll look similar to that one cuz it's digital, so you can control you know, we're playing Woodland and [snorts] say Woodland and play So, but the but the video board actually has will have the stat components on it, have the stats, you can have live video that goes with it. It's scoreboards that you see that have the side panels and these numbers down, all that's incorporated into the into the video board and then also just runs off an iPad. You don't have to shuffle, you know, controllers back and forth everywhere. It's all seamless. >> Um Are those going to be shot clock compliant? >>
033Like shot >> clock quiet? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So they are already >> Yeah, if we put a shot clock up, yeah, they could be, yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah, everything Daktronics makes is >> is all compliant with all that. You just >> 10 to 15, 10 to 15, 10 to 12 years, 10 to 15. I assume at some point they'll probably be shot clocks. >> Yeah. >> I'd assume sooner rather than later. >> Yeah. >> Makes it more dribble. So dribble in the clock out with 3 minutes left. >> Yeah. >> Yes, it is. And I've actually done something I'm looking into as well as well as the life of the old backboard. The backboard is a >> condition >> Well, this comes down to doing things right the first time, right? >> Yeah.
034>> And we avoided this years ago and done it right the first time, we wouldn't be in this boat now. Like there's a lot to be said for spending the money where it needs to be spent. >> Right. >> All done. Done good good things. >> So we We had junior high basketball tournament that we hosted for first round but that little tiny scoreboard versus the big one didn't work. And so we I know the components to replace both those. I replaced we I I think the components replacing the small one at least once every year. So I know they they've done both of them for that. So >> Did we get anything from Varsity Sports that it only lasted 3 and 1/2 years, 3 years? >> Well, there was no warranty on those as
035far as >> Okay. >> No, so we didn't we we Yeah, I don't know if we I don't know if we debate the department if it's in a certain Thanksgiving break or not the little scoreboard. I don't know but >> [clears throat] >> No. No. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thanks. >> Sure did you? >> No, I was just going to say sadly these are the kinds of things that as we look at budgetary restraints and you you still have to do the business part of our jobs in school and you know, we're in a position now where we can't like we would be hard-pressed to host varsity basketball games, varsity volleyball games right now given the equipment we have. We we could maybe go cheaper but we'd have to do something.
036So the question is what do you do. Okay, thank you. >> Recommend recommendation to approve a resolution authorizing the negotiation, execution, and delivery of a government lease purchase agreement. May I have a motion? >> I'll move. >> Second? >> I'll second. >> All in favor? I. >> I. >> Opposed? Passes 5-0. >> [clears throat] >> Recommendation to approve out of state or overnight field trips for all of these are FFA. Lakeland College Livestock Invite March 20th through 21st in Mattoon, Illinois. Western Illinois Livestock Judging Contest March 26th through 28th in Macomb, Illinois. Joliet Livestock Judging Invite April 4th in Joliet, Illinois. Lincoln Land ICC Livestock Judging Invite April 11th 8th through 11th in Illinois. Last chance contest April 24th through 25th in Columbus, Indiana. State Contest May 1st through 2nd at Purdue University. State Convention
037June 15th through 18th in Fishers, Indiana. May I have a motion? >> Make a motion. >> Second. >> [snorts] >> All in favor? I. >> I. >> Opposed? Passes 5-0. We can move [snorts] on to superintendent comments, Barry. >> Mr. Faber, do you have anything? >> Lots of things. First, Vicki, thank you for giving me an idea earlier about Grandparents Day because it was going to be very easy to dismiss it because it does take a lot of work and a lot of time to put together a nice Grandparents Day, but after Vicki approached me and said, you know, it doesn't have to be fancy. We just want to come visit the school, and that's basically what we did and what we're going to be doing Wednesday night this weekend 4:30 opening up to the
038grandparents and their grandchildren to come back and visit the school and visit the book fair. So, we're glad that it's filling the need for our grandparents and we always want to welcome them into our building. [clears throat] Like I said, book fair is going on this weekend open up today. I didn't hear any bad things about things getting stolen or fake $100 bills or anything like that. So, it was a good day at the book fair. Um teacher observations are winding down and we only have four left to go here. So, hopefully get through those this week and probably the most important detail this year is our kindergarten round up was held last Thursday night. We welcomed 60 families and their students to kindergarten the class of 2039. Bless his heart he came for just
039a minute and it looked like a really good group. We're excited to see them and 60's about where we normally are for round up time. So, I feel good about that. We will gain some more between now and August and I'm going to just wait and see. But, I was excited and I want to thank Beth and our kindergarten staff Kristen just for all those work they put into making that such a good night for everybody. >> [clears throat] >> I also want to say that was a nice night. I was able to spend a little bit of time there. It was good to see incoming kindergarteners and they seem to be excited about it. And so it was good to see that many people and I agree. C&E we probably don't need to talk
040to anybody. Shawn and your team high school junior high. >> Yeah, just a couple things. Um we're heading into the fourth quarter. I always wonder how we got here. I say that every school year, but it goes so fast. We've got a lot done already. We finished our I learn benchmark testing last week. Um all of our juniors took the SAT test. Um Laura Mrs. Scott has already completed the majority of the scheduling for next year. He's created the master schedule and has already meeting with individual students. Um Mr. Mannon and Mrs. Vice coordinate a March Madness Um here at the junior senior high where our Cooper youth compete there for three free throw contest and then we also do an attendance competition by grade level. So the grade levels with the highest attendance during
041those weeks also compete for prizes. So and referral tracking. So we do not just free throws but attendance and referral tracking. So that's good and then this has been so far other than planning for the spring the best two weeks in athletics I've had was we had no events. >> [laughter] >> But we're heading into the spring season where we'll schedule it and reschedule it and schedule it again due to weather. So the one event that we will need a ton of help with is on May 1st and that is our C&N invite track. Then I will also have a fundraiser for Jenny Broom, one of our staff members who is going through cancer treatment right now. [clears throat] So don't be surprised if we reach out to people for help. Doesn't matter if you
042want to rake a long jump pit or No, that's long jump. Or sell pork burgers. We're going to need lots of help there. So Friday, May 1st, if you have nothing on your calendar, you can let us know. >> Anything else for you team? Good deal. That's what we like. Transportation, Leah, do you have anything else? And business, Kim? >> Um just a couple projects updates. [clears throat] Um we will have a crane on site tomorrow moving our old chiller and placing our new chiller. Um this week pending weather, we should have our solar project starting on the C&E roof. And then our bus garage, we were hoping to break ground still sometime in March. It looks like that's getting pushed back to April as we have some permits um we don't have approved quite
043yet. Uh we did have a successful sale of our bond refunding on March 5th. Final numbers are not yet known. We won't actually have the bank transaction happen until sometime in April. As soon as I do know those final numbers, I will update you all with those. >> And Jamie, anything to add, Jamie? >> Um just a couple small things. Still working through various amendments. Um our first um amendment request for Visco grant was approved. Um so we'll be able to extend the Gaggle program um even after those funds are expended. Um so that's a win for us. Um I know that that has been of a great benefit. Um still working through other ones and I foresee them going going great. Um once I know um I was awarded a scholarship through IASBO to
044attend the annual meeting. That was kind of cool. I was one out of 25 through the state. And I know Kim won't to her own horn, but she was also chosen to participate in the Leadership Academy, which is a huge thing, too. >> And do you do you guys know what the Gaggle program is? Do you guys remember that? >> I was going to ask. Could you just briefly say what that is? I know what it is, but for >> Um >> Folks that are new. >> It basically monitors our >> Yeah, it monitors our student devices through Google and alerts sends alerts to administration to kind of get ahead of threats, attempts, um anything negative. >> What's the program called? >> And we have found it to be fairly helpful in getting ahead of
045some things. I think we've been fairly warned, I would say. Uh I'd like to at this point give you a brief financial update. I think Kim Streight did that up for you. So, I'm going to I'm going to go over some things with you that I think are important for us as a school district and the community to recognize. I want to start with what happened before I was in charge. Things that were done previously. So, if you look at what we did. So, if we go back to last spring. And I want to be clear, these are round numbers. I didn't want to get caught up in the weeds. Kim can give you the literally the exact numbers. But these were reductions that were made going into the 6 20 7 school year. Is
046that correct? 20 25 26 school year. Sorry. Yeah, that's where the 26 now we are. In admin reductions, there was $89,000. That would be the reductions plus the subtraction of that of the additional stipends that we're paying people to do those jobs. Okay? So, that's not the that's that's the total amount. Teachers, we had $114,000 between teachers that left who we didn't replace and teachers who retired and came back at less than full full full full uh full days. We saved $24,000 in transportation by eliminating a shuttle and by consolidating a route. We had $58,000 in retirements and again, those are not the total retirements, not the total savings. That's the savings minus the people we added back in to do those jobs. So, that is a total of $285,000 that was saved going into
047the school year. Go ahead. Sorry, I shouldn't say saved. That's those are those are cost avoidances. Um So, what happens next? So, I asked Kim to work with the DLGF, the Department of Local Government Finance. And I said, "What if we don't do anything? What if we just stay the course? Our expenses stay the same and our enrollment stays the same." And basically, what happens is when we would prepare the 2028 budget, we would go into deficit financing in the DLGF, Department of Local Government Finance, which is way in the weeds, which nobody really cares about, but that's who approves our budgets. Um we couldn't do that because of deficit spending. Now, we are preparing the '27 budget right now. So, that means that in a year from now, basically 15 to I suppose on
048the outside 18 months, we have to have a plan for how we're going to not go into deficit spending. Okay? So, there's some things that we've done since then, since I not since I took over, but this year. So, reductions in place. So, we have uh $2,500 in in insurance savings from uh some employees that were um they changed switched positions, uh and their insurance uh benefits have been reduced. Uh we have administrative changes, uh $79,000 in that. And I'm I'm telling you that that is that is in no in no form, way, shape, or form can I see us replacing the position that I left. We can do some things to to uh get some coverage, but I don't foresee us hiring another elementary principal. So, however that shakes out, I don't foresee us
049doing that. I think that's a savings that can be absorbed. Uh superintendent com- compensation, uh I'm not going to tell you this uh for me, but I'm going to tell you this, the school corporation pays none of my retirement and none of my insurance. Um and that's just basically where I am in my career. It has nothing to do with that. If I was 20 years younger, you would assuredly be paying it, but you're not now because I'm retired. So, there's a $45,000 savings there. Um Um, we have a $20,000 savings in utility that's anticipated. Uh Uh Again, that's that is a best guess estimate from the savings generated from the solar panels which won't be in effect the whole year this year that you know, we may not get them online until the fall,
050but we should save some money. So, if you look at that, those numbers add up to $147,000. So, now you go to the other side. So, the impact of Senate Bill 1 which you all heard about many times, in 2026, it cost us $266,000. And in 2027, that's that's going to cost us $270,000. That'll be income that we don't get, which which gives us a $536,000 decrease in funding. So, if you do your math and you look at what we saved, sorry, what we cost avoided, $285,000 in 2026, $147,000 in 2027, that's $432,000 in cost avoidances. And then if you do the math even further, you compare the cuts that Senate Bill 1 forces to make minus the cuts we've already endured and we're still $104,000. Uh we we'd still be over $104,000. Now, I
051I want to be clear on that. There's one more set of information that I want you to hear me say. So, we have added these added concerns, uh added factors. Senate Bill 1, I gave you the first two years. The third year, it's $330,000. So, that's a significant loss. We also have a local income tax which I am trying to get the correct information on this. It is $200,000. It will go away. The question is whether it goes away in 2028 or 2029. I came across some legislation that came and I were trying to find it this afternoon um that that that says it it stays on the record on the rolls till 2029. But we have no guarantee of that state. >> [clears throat] >> That is a county thing and it's split among
052the county. Um, and I know very little about it. You know, you know all this. I don't want to lie to you, but I know that it goes away either 2020 or 2029. So I think that the key thing for us is literally that's the position we're in and we have to talk about next steps. And I I don't I'm not smart enough to be able to sit up here and tell you what I think those next steps should be. Um, but what I can tell you is um, we have to continue to look at ways to be leaner and more efficient. I think uh, Ken, correct me if I'm wrong. I I think we could I think we could figure out a way to get through 2027 at $104,000. I I think we could
053figure that out. I think we could take money out of rainy day. I think we could borrow more money from the education fund. I think we could uh, reduce spending. Uh, but that's really not the issue. The issue is next year. The issue is we we have to keep doing that because the next year we're looking at $300,000. Where do those cuts would come from? And the sooner we do those things, the more ahead of the game we can get. So that leads to then those next discussions. So do you have any questions about what's presented today, what I presented in terms of of finances? >> [clears throat] >> So if for some reason that would uh, leave us in 2028, we're going to lose just over a half a million dollars. And we don't
054know about 2029 state yet because the end of the three years is is 2028. >> Correct. And and I I was hoping I would tell you that I I knew that I shouldn't say I was hoping. I had a feeling that nothing would happen during this legislative session. It didn't. Which is not abnormal. They usually don't don't do money. Um, but I was I I'm hoping that enough government agencies, cuz this is not just a central mobile issue. This is cities, towns, uh schools all over the place. Uh the operation side of the coin is getting real real tight. Um and so if they don't You know, the other thing is in in 2 years if they have a new budget comes and they address some of that issue, maybe that but I'm not willing
055to say it has not shown much um taste for uh increasing spending on schools. That's been kind of a downhill trend for the last at least three budgets. >> Have you heard anything in 2029 that they would take more money? >> No. No. No. I've not heard that. I I know I can tell you that I'm in a superintendents' call on Friday mornings and I know that I There's probably 60 or 70 superintendents in that call and I know this is an ongoing conversation every week. People are trying to figure out what to do. There's [clears throat] a school not in our area but not too far away, certainly north of Indy, [clears throat] which is dealing with transportation. They can't fund it. You have other questions for me on that? >> We need to
056keep in mind that local income tax is not just us, that's anybody in our county, right? >> It's uh I was at West Noble today and I was meeting with him. I I think it costs him Please don't quote me on this cuz I don't know. He he threw out a number. It's it's depending on size. I think his number was like 300,000. So he's going to They're going to lose money. I don't know how much uh East Noble loses but it is county wide. >> [clears throat] >> Any other questions? >> So leading from that, goes to one next step. Um there's there's something that I guess Again, I don't necessarily know that I even want to approach this subject but I know we're going to run out of time very quick. Um you
057know, we tried a referendum. It was not successful. If we want to even think about doing a referendum, we have some deadlines that we have to meet. Um and I want to do some additional investigation on those deadlines and whether those are things that we can actually even get to with this late start. Uh Jim, would you remind me maybe we don't um would you remind me generically how much we spent on the referendum last time? Jim, I don't need exact numbers, but can you give us >> Yeah, total was roughly $89,000. >> [clears throat] >> So again, I I am we we certainly could not invest that kind of money in it. Not not saying we financially. If we feel like we can do that, I shouldn't say that. We can't. Uh but that
058would just drain us even further. Um but I would like to have the board's blessing to either look into that or take that off the table at some point in the near future. We don't have to decide that tonight. >> Some Some of the legwork is done though. >> Correct. Absolutely. >> So it wouldn't be $89,000 to do it again. We don't have to hire them, do we? >> We do not. >> And so that consulting company alone was [clears throat] $40,000. The rest would have been legal fees, um you know, what we paid the day of the election, things like that. >> We We most assuredly would have legal fees again. We have >> Yes. >> We have you know, some some signage costs. No, it would not be anywhere near that. And I
059I in good conscience, I couldn't even recommend that we even pursue it if that's what we're going to pay. >> [clears throat] >> But I I guess I want I just would like some direction as to if the board wants me to pursue that, I'm going to start sitting in on some referendum meetings that the state is hosting to figure out what it is we need to do. One thing that I will say is that same Zoom call that I'm in, that the there are about uh I've heard with between 50 and 70 school districts so far have said they're going to file for an August, I mean, file by August 1 for November referendum. Which is that is a huge number of 70 would be about a third of the districts in the state.
060>> The only way to increase funding and operational education funding is the referendum. >> Pretty much or or increase enrollment a bunch. That's the other thing, you know, our enrollment didn't fall last year nearly as much. I mean, it was up seven, I believe. I think plus seven kids, which sounds great, but you know, that's just one teacher, maybe. >> I would say go ahead and look into it. And might as well get the ball rolling, then we can decide if we want to do it, but we might as well get the ball rolling on that just in case if we do. Since August 1st is the deadline to get that on the ballot for November. Cuz if for some reason we would not do it this November, then we have to wait 2 years
061for the next general election before we could do it again. >> Is there Is there a Is there a legal time we have to wait for a failed referendum to start doing one? >> I think it's like 2% like the district. >> Yeah, we have to get 2% of 2% of the voters in the district to say they would want to do it. And we have to do that We have to do that before August 1, and I know there's some other legal legal things, but I don't know what those are cuz I haven't investigated it. >> I would at least start trying to get those those numbers to see if it's even a viable option. >> Okay. >> We've done a lot. Like just as a public public as being like we've done we
062just keep cutting, keep cutting, keep cutting, and like the people that suffer from this are like the wages of people that are doing the job with our kids every single day. And that's the frustrating thing. >> And the kids 20 years from now are going to suffer, too. >> Yeah, so like the community needs to understand like this is the only way we can increase funding for the people that like spend more time with your kids than you do as a parent. Like that's just the truth. Like they spend more time with your kids than you do. I see my kid an hour a night sometime when I come back home from practice. So investing in those people in the school is a very important thing. And we understand as a board, and we knew
063this going into it, that largely most first-time referendums are an education of our public. And we endured a lot of things to understand what it is, but like this is the this is where like the fork in the road is. Right? Like things are still going to have to be cut, things are still going to be discussed as to those things. But like the community has to make the decision one way or the other, and everyone has a right to vote one way or the other. But it needs to happen in a way that can help support the people that are doing the job. Like they're not paid enough. We can't get the people we need to or we're going to scratch for coaches, teachers, for specialty areas, like like there is certain things that
064need to happen, certain people that maybe not need to be teachers, but we get them anyhow because we can't find other talent. >> And just piggyback piggyback on what Jerry is saying, if we're hiring people that spend more time with our kids than we do, I don't know that we want the lowest paid people do that. I think we need to figure out a way to pay our kids the people that influence our children. But we need to make that the best people we can. >> Yeah, that's that's the bottom line. And there are people in this room that have done it for years and years and years and well below what they should be paid. The administrators, teachers, custodial staff, bus drivers, like people deserve to be paid what they're paid. And it's [clears
065throat] sad that there's still some of those paid people as me. >> So I will I'll leave this on the agenda and I will uh come back in a month with more information uh unless uh the next item that leads us to uh does the board desire a work session [clears throat] a a uh public meeting where it's the only agenda item um and and and do we want to talk about other uh cost savings options at that point? Uh you know that there's no secret out there about the the possibility of consolidating buildings. I I don't think that's the elementary. I don't think that's been a secret to anybody. If it has been, I don't know that they've been uh too involved. Um I don't necessarily want to have that discussion tonight. I don't
066I don't feel like that's the right venue, but I do feel like at some point we have to at least talk about that. Um uh and I I don't know whether the board desires a a work session to do that or they just want a public meeting to do that in in you know, a week. I do think we have to give 72 hours notice. >> That's if you would want to do something next Monday for example. >> do something Monday, you have that decision made by Thursday. Um no, Wednesday cuz we have to publish it Thursday, right? Thursday Friday morning. Um if you want to wait until the April board meeting, we can, uh but just remember then that everything that we do gets backed up a month and if we decide we're going
067to do anything that requires staff movement, um that puts teachers in a huge bind and and you know, last year we were only moving moved uh three elementary to the high school and we moved uh two to the from the primary to the elementary and that just about caused consternation and it probably [clears throat] no question and I'm not sure it was actually great for the teachers. Um and so if we want to do that, I would prefer that we go faster rather than slower. But I'm I'm up to discussion. >> All right, sure can talk about it in public. so I think my thoughts would be uh start talking about like hard decisions have to be made and referendum still needs to happen even with some of those hard decisions that need to be
068made. Like it's not one or necessarily one or the other. Cuts need to be made. We need more income. Either one of those probably doesn't solve any of our issues that we're going to have through 2029. So, the earlier in the morning we can talk about these things and try to be open and honest about what it is and isn't. Try to get it ahead of it. We need to start now. >> Jamie, can I ask which would be most beneficial to uh the community to be able to share a public meeting or the work session? >> Bearing in mind that a public work session no decisions can be made. There can be no motions. >> I feel like we got a lot of positive feedback from those work sessions, so I would like to
069uh maybe try and get something like that on the schedule if we're able to. >> Robert said, "Let's give it a little bit more time." >> Fair enough. [clears throat] >> What could we do it the 13th of April? That gives us a little bit of time here cuz I think Barry, at that time you could have some more information maybe about the referendum that we could also talk about there a little bit too just to see even if the community's interested. Cuz they're going to be the essential the ones voting on the referendum. You know, maybe that would help us make a decision on that and we we could, but that means that 13th that means you'd have to wait a whole 'nother at least 72 hours after that to make any decisions while
070that that we have a board meeting on the 20th. So, we could do something on the 20th then. >> You're only leaving a month for things >> you're I mean you're going to ask school on May May 1st or whatever that is. I personally personally I would I would almost if you want to do that, I would almost rather push with I would almost rather put me in the bind to try to get the information on the referendum quicker and and let the community and the teachers I I don't I don't want to do what the teachers want in the classroom. I don't feel good about that. And so if if it's up to me, I would rather I would rather come to you guys in a week and say, "This is what we have.
071This is what I know." Let the public speak on the referendum. They they all may come and say, "No, this is a bad idea. Like we don't want to do this." If they all come and say, "No, we have to do this." then I think that's then I think that's another conversation. I guess I would rather if we can, I would I would like to have that public session before spring break. Maybe not next Monday, but certainly before spring break and then we can >> And I think it matters how long you guys want if you want to make decisions at that April board meeting as well or if you wanted to do that separately. So like if you guys wanted to meet next Monday, as long as we post by this Thursday, we're good.
072And then if you wanted to meet the following Monday to get in before spring break, it would be posting next Thursday. So that gives you guys weeks' time as well. >> And the first one would be literally a work session. So we could gather public input. >> Correct. >> You could listen. You could You could have conversation. You just can't make You just can't do any business, right? >> Correct. >> That's what I'm saying. >> I think that's fair enough. I think that's enough time for >> Well, here's here's the bottom line is it's not going to be enough time for anybody no matter what we do. So, you know what I'm saying? I I'd rather be I'd rather have it be me that's taking the heat than the staff. >> I I don't want
073to be the commodity, but I'm out of I'm out of the country next week, so I won't be able to to attend. I think it should happen. I just hope it will be there. >> Sorry, you can read the You can read the minutes. >> I I will absolutely will and watch the recording if you get it recorded. That's the way I'll watch it, but >> We're going to have to discuss your time off after this. >> [laughter] >> Okay. I I know I forgot to put in HR. I don't I I already was I don't know if Some information I think we need though to make decisions on education and how much money we want to save if we close the whole week. >> Yeah. >> I think we we need a dollar amount.
074>> I I I didn't can have that for you. >> I do have a request for like a public meeting like I don't I don't like this dynamic. I don't I don't feel like we're over anybody else. Like could we set it up like in a Socratic way like where it's like round table and we have discussions and like everyone has equal opportunity to speak and talk. This is this formal Should I just mean I don't like sitting above you guys. It like sucks the soul out of me in a conversation like that. I would rather have it be on the same footing and like a real conversation where we can sit on the floor kumbaya. I don't care about that. I don't I don't want to do that. And where someone stands there and
075talks like we can maybe have like as long as we have like some proceedings and I can help give you some things like set up like a Socratic discussion and like some rules like like things like >> Are you talking for a public work session or all meetings? >> Like a no like a public work session or >> Okay. I'll verify with ISBA what our requirements and rules are cuz I don't know if we can >> I'm just asking. Like there are like like can we do like like like like one like uh non-negotiable like like three before me like if I speak three other people need to speak before I get to speak again. It's like a talking stick kind of thing but like >> I'm a huge fan of the public >> Yeah
076like we know most of the people that come to these things and like this feels too formal and this is a this is like a thing that our community we've got to figure out cuz our our kids are going to go here. God willing my grandkids will go here. Like those kinds of things we want to happen and establish and like the decisions we make in the next few months are going to significantly impact how that happens and play out for the rest of the >> So if we get if we get legal approval to do that I don't have any problem setting up round table you know rotation around to different board members to have different board questions posed at each round table to where we have a discussion. >> That's how I kind
077of want everybody on the same table. >> And everyone has to you want to hear everything. >> Yeah let's just talk it out. Let's figure it out. >> Microphones are like huge. >> I mean we can pass around. It's a request and then then you guys can all think I'm crazy and that's fine but that's I will actually be interested here if we get any feedback from people online whether the microphones will pick up because I I do the city stuff online and there are times that it's hard and difficult to hear. So, any any other So, I will So, do you I need to ask a question clarifying Do you want So, you want a work session on a week from Monday? Is that what I'm hearing? A week from tonight. So, what I'm
078hearing or do you want two weeks from tonight? We have two weeks till spring break. I don't know what I'm hearing. Okay, it doesn't have to be the 23rd. Yeah, yeah, it could be something that week. Something that week by after Wednesday. Right? Wednesday or after, yeah. So, how about how about a week? >> [snorts] >> Are you back for the 30th? I would be back on the 30th, yes, we can. So, how does that work? 30th, that's fine. That's [clears throat] up to you guys or we could do like next Thursday. If we could If we could do the 30th for Jason to be here. Okay. That'd be over spring break. That's your guys' spring break. That's fine. Ours starts the 3rd. Oh, you're good. Okay. Yeah, that's good for me. That's fine. Okay.
079Can I ask how you're going to get this information out to the people? What do you mean? For the public work session? We will post it in the paper and on social media. Yeah. It'll be on the on the website. It'll be posted on social media. Is there any way you can send notes home to the to the children? Or I mean, parents parents that don't have a job where they use their email address don't check them. We'll send it out on school messenger. We'll do that too. That'll work. What time on the 30th? We'll do 5:30. >> as normal. >> 5:00 p.m. >> What is that okay? Sorry, assumptions. >> At this location. It's always public meeting. We have sorry getting it out there like we put it on social we put it on
080yeah we do what we can do. We can't afford mailers we can't send all those things out. So. >> People do still read the newspaper. >> Yeah, it's posted in the paper. >> Put on that mailer. >> [laughter] >> What do you Not many but some do. >> It's just public meeting. It's public meeting. It's public meeting. >> Um, did you want to go ahead and schedule an additional special session following that then or were you going to wait until the April meeting? >> I think we wait till that night because this is is that that's not considered action for us to schedule. >> Correct. >> So we can schedule it that night if we feel like we have enough information. >> Okay. >> Is that are you guys in agreement with that or >>
081Yes. >> I mean I suppose the other option is scheduling games in between. We can do that too. >> That's more difficult to schedule than that. >> Okay. >> Sorry Jim. >> No, thank you. I I do appreciate the board's willingness to at least have these discussions and hear me out and know that the none of this is going to be none of this is easy. >> But it's going to have to be a team effort to figure out how to save that money dollars if you can't meet. I don't feel it's fair to anybody. >> No. No. >> Anything else? >> No, I think it's about enough for me. Thanks. >> [laughter] >> Our meetings got longer with Barry. >> I know. >> Meeting is adjourned at 6:02.