001You got to come always. [clears throat] >> [snorts] >> I just want you. >> Okay. Good evening. If we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] >> I aliance 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. providing [clears throat] today's students opportunities to become tomorrow's leaders. Um, public comments we do have, but those are for the hearing. So, at this time, we will hold a public hearing to discuss the proposed superintendent contract for Dr. Barry Youngs. The meeting is now open for public objections to and support for the contract. Prior to speaking, [snorts] please state your name, address, and affiliation if any. We do try to limit these to 3 minutes. We
002are opening the meeting at 501. And we'll start with our first speaker, Ben Son. >> Good [clears throat] evening. My name is Ben Ston. Address is 545 West 200 South Elbian. Uh my comments tonight are most closely tied to the installation of the new superintendent in his pending contract. [snorts] Uh I serve as the senior pastor of Burough Church, which is just south of Elbian. For those who are not familiar with me, uh my family and I moved here from Northern Michigan about six years ago, and since then I've served in every CN building as a parent, volunteer, substitute teacher, coach, and most recently a substitute bus driver. I share that to say that my family is invested here and my words tonight are meant to encourage the new superintendent, the board, and the staff.
003When we moved here, we were told that this is a good community, but outsiders have a hard time getting accepted. And I understood that sentiment because I grew up in a community very similar to LBN in the central noble district. Community had 2500 people, population. I graduated with a class of 60 students. In those community, everyone knows everyone and the school sits at the center of the town's identity. Growing up there and raising our two oldest kids there until we moved down here allowed me to witness different seasons a small community walks through. Some are healthy, some are painful. One of the most difficult seasons to watch is when a community becomes marked by hopelessness. In that district uh that we came from, hopelessness took root when a trusted staff member in nearly 30 years
004was arrested and convicted of criminal sexual conduct against a minor. Trust was shattered. fear grew. At the lowest point, right before we moved here, in a span of nine months, three middle school students saw no hope for moving forward and took their own lives. You can imagine in a community this size, that being the headlines. I [clears throat] share that because in the time here, I've seen traces of that hopelessness on the faces of students in our hallways, on our ball fields and courts, the faces of the boys that I work with in the elementary building. Hopelessness doesn't appear all at once. It grows quietly when people don't feel seen, supported, or safe. And so I want to encourage you guys, whatever the road ahead brings, strive to be people who instill hope. We need
005it in our families. We need it amongst the staff. We need it in our classrooms. It needs to be in the decisions that you make as leaders. And instilling hope requires a few things. First, as you've already experienced, there will be hard but necessary decisions. If you know the decision is right, make it with courage, not fear of public reaction. Second, when an injustice occurs, deal with it clearly and directly. When wrongdoing goes unressed or blame is shifted, complaining grows. Complaining turns into bitterness and bitterness eventually becomes hopelessness. Finally, hope is not a feeling. It's a choice. You can choose hope every single day. Even in seasons of uncertainty, you can choose hope and you can help others to choose it as well. Now, there are some in my Christian community who question mine and
006my wife's decision to have our kids in public school and be involved with the public school. You see, I believe that Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, left the comforts of heaven to bring hope to the hopeless and he calls his followers to do the same. That's why my family is here. That's why we serve and that's why I'm speaking tonight. And so my commitment to you as a member of this community and someone with a voice and a platform, however great or small that is, I'm committed to partnering with this district, this staff, and this town to instill hope. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ben. >> Uh, next up we have Kelly Lungquist. >> Hello, I'm Kelly Lungquist. 1522 South 90 West Elen here and this is also about the superintendent's um contract. Um
007I know that finding a superintendent is not an easy task. I mean we even even having issues [clears throat] finding teachers now to educate our children. But with that being said, I would like to know why we would not at least put out a job posting for the superintendent position by not doing this. How do we know what qualified candidates are out there willing to work hard and turn our corporation in the right direction that is very much needed? East Noble just filled their superintendent position last week and they had eight applicants. Eight Westview just today posted they had 12 applicants. So that's 12 for Westview, eight for East Node. Why would we not want to see what range of candidates we might attract that would be willing to come join our central noble team?
008I have nothing against Dr. Y, but for the go community schools post from December 2021, it states that Dr. Y was going to transition to the administration center where he will provide oversight for the day-to-day operations of one building and grounds, two custodial maintenance staff, three school nutrition services, and four technology. Those four groups of individuals is who he was in charge of. He was an assistant superintendent of operations for Goan Community Schools for one semester as half a year, six months. He was not their superintendent. He was not their associate superintendent, but their assistant superintendent of operations. I have no problem with him being the interim superintendent as we need someone to fill that vacancy for the time being. I totally get it. But why not look for qualified candidates while he is filling
009the interim position? No one knows who we might be able to get. In the meantime, we can evaluate how Dr. White does in the position and maybe he is the best candidate, but we don't know that. No one knows that the superintendent has such a challenging and multifaceted position that we need to do our due diligence and seek out the individual that will turn our school region around. How can we do that? put out the job posting to see what candidates apply. So, use a search team to reach qualified candidates. At least in doing this, it shows that we want the best for our school system and we are putting in the efforts to find that one right individual. This also applies to the elementary principal position. We need to put the job postings out
010there. Communication is the key. Thank you. >> Thank you. This concludes uh the public hearing on the proposed contract for Dr. Barry Youngs at 50:08 p.m. The meeting will now move to regular business. Consent items. Approval of minutes from the November 17th regular session board meeting. Approval of the November 10th and 25th payroll and claims from November 18th through December 15th. Personnel recommendation to resend approval of Rodney Paris, school resource officer. Acceptance of resignation of Brooke Beam O'Neal, Junior Senior High Perah. Recommendation to hire Trevor Typton as CE acting principal. Lynford Yoder, Laura Scott, and Jeremy Swank as winter athletic supervisors. Aaliyah Zobist, transportation director. May I have a motion? >> Second. [snorts] >> All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Passes 5-0. Recommendation to hire Dr. Barry Younghans as superintendent of schools. May
011I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> All second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Passes 5-0. Action items? None at this time. Superintendent comments. Barry. >> Uh, well, let's first let's have Sean. Uh, Sean, do you have anything you want to share today? >> Nope. We're doing good. Last week before Christmas break, we celebrate our students every day. celebrate our style. Um, wrapping up all of our things for our first semester, especially the class that ended the semester. I'm a junior senior. I still have finals on Thursday and Friday. We're the Grinches of the Corporation, I'm sure, but kids are doing great. Our staff's doing great. Had a great first semester. >> And Brad, um, busy busy at the primary. We've completed our winter NWA testing. A few
012kids need to wrap up uh, finishing that up. We also completed dyslexia screening here and at the elementary building and those letters went out to uh K12 parents last week to notify if there was any issues or you know things on the horizon for them. Uh leading into December we had our free Thanksgiving dinner that was not a central noble primary thing. It was just hosted by the primary. It was a central Noble community activity. Uh we had a free Thanksgiving dinner in carry out in the first hour. I think we did a 100 takeout meals. It was super busy. Uh we estimated about 300 total meals. We kind of lost count at some point. It got pretty pretty busy. Um we delivered to Noble House and to County Dispatch just to kind of lend
013a little something special for them. These are great ways to strengthen such noble community. Kind of goes back to the days of the old chili suppers that we used to hope. We hope to continue these events. Uh we love for the school board to be a part of those in the future. and uh anybody else that wants to be involved. >> Thank you. Uh I also like to say that we were busy at CE. We are holding down the fort for this last week. Uh trying to get through it. Also uh grinching it up like Sean building. We're having five days of Christmas, not 12 like uh the like the primary. Uh but we are doing our best to get through there and uh get our kids tested and get the things done that we
014need to have done uh to try to get that done. So uh in terms of me being here, uh Ben, I'd like to thank you for your comments and Kelly as well. I do hear what you're saying and I appreciate that. Uh but as that is important, I want you to know that uh I am extremely excited to be here and I'm extremely excited to do a good job for this district. I brought some uh fans today. Uh Mrs. Young Hans is a educator for 30 plus years. Uh Miss Young Hans, Katie, uh is my middle daughter and she's in about what, year eight now? Wow, I'm getting old. And then Jennifer is uh currently serving as an EL instructor in Goan as well. Um, I have a son who has uh an educator who
015is an educator who is married to a medical doctor in the military and I have another daughter who is a stay-at-home mom of four who is an English teacher by training before she decided to uh stay at home. So, education is kind of family business. Um, we kind of get it. So, um, that being said, I want you to hear me say that, um, I won't be all of things to all people, but I will certainly do my best to do what is expected, um, and to do more than that. Um, and, uh, I'm overjoyed for this opportunity. Um, I think that I have some skills uh that will help uh and some ideas about how to uh heal some of maybe bring some hope uh to the community and and to the school. Um,
016I think if you know me at all, you know that I'm pretty upbeat kind of guy, pretty positive, and uh usually I don't get too bummed about things. So, I'm hoping that that uh carries over into uh the day-to-day operations of the school district at the school. >> Thank you, Barry. Uh meeting is adjourned at 5:13.