September 29 Public Work Session

001They're [Music] very different. Oh my god. You can pass. I didn't know there was [Music] We're going to go ahead Stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Hi everybody. Can you hear me? Okay. In the back, you left the front row open, please. All right. Thanks for joining us this evening. I am the board's executive secretary, so I will be facilitating the work session tonight. My role is to help guide the discussion, keep us on schedule, and ensure the agenda moves forward smoothly so that our time together is productive. Tonight's goal is for the board and the superintendent to engage in open discussion around the topics

002from the advertised agenda. It's important to note that no official decisions or votes will take place this evening and this session is meant to explore options as the first step in a process that will include further community input and formal board action will be at a later date. The board and superintendent also welcome public comment following discussion of the agenda topics. Comments should remain respectful, focused, and centered on long-term success of the district. While public input is valuable and carefully considered, this portion is intended not for open dialogue or debate. If you wish to comment, please be sure you sign in up here because I'll be collecting that shortly. Before we go into our background information from the superintendent and business manager, the board has received a list of questions from a community member they

003would like to um address. These will be read read aloud uh by Amanda Lock, our president, and answered by the superintendent and business manager. Go ahead. >> I'm just going to start at the top of these questions and work through them. Can you all hear me? Uh, question number one, have we taken into consideration the idea that was brought up by Jackie Canafel about going back to getting our SRO from the county? This seemed like a great idea with major cost savings. >> So, we have we've talked to Sheriff Weber about it and it just it used to be financially a viable option, but now um it is not and they do not have the manpower as well to staff the position. Um he also brought up that he wouldn't be able to do this

004for each school district. And for you board members that are up here, he did send a memo um that outline some of it. Uh so like in 2017 2018, the cost for school corporation for an SRO was about $31,914. In 2021, that jumped to $76,100. And then he goes on to explain that with today's uh current cost to place a full-time deputy in a school along with hiring a replacement deputy for patrol duties to take calls within the county would be greater due to the increase in salary pension vehicle maintenance and the cost of providing vehicles. So we did explore that it just we are providing it cheaper at this point. Um, the next question, have we received any more info on getting the $1.4 million anticipated rebate with the solar panel project that we

005enrolled in? Central Noble is currently working with Baker Tilly to submit the proper documentation for the residential clean energy credit. Unfortunately, due to changes at the federal level, rebate amounts are less than originally anticipated. For phase one solar, Central Noble is anticipating receiving between 300 to 400,000 back in rebate credit. Central Noble um an official rebate amount should be known by November 15, 2025 for phase 1 solar project. The phase 2 solar project is not yet board approved and has been scaled back largely since day one of this conversation two years ago. Phase two now only includes a consideration for additional solar on Central Noble Elementary's route instead of including a project with additional panels on the junior senior high as well. If Central Noble continues with the current proposed phase 2 solar project, an

006additional 700,000 in rebate credit is anticipated. Uh the next question, how much is it costing the school corporation to continue to pay their portion of insurance for the next two years for an employee that was made to retire? She was not replaced, but others receive stipens raisins for the additional workload that they will encounter the loss of this staff member. How much is this costing us? And how has this saved us any money? The staff member that is being referred to was given the option to take another p position within the corporation for the same rate of pay or take an early retirement option. The staff member chose the early retirement option. This option included a severance package where the corporation is paying its portion of a single insurance plan until the individual turns 65.

007This is less than a two-year commitment from the corporation. This employee was making a base salary of $31,274.80 with an additional corporation benefits totaling uh $16,72416 for a total compensation package of $47,998.96. The corporation will now pay $9,562.32 for its portion of a single insurance plan for this individual until they turn 65 and has given a $2,000 stipen to the staff member who absorbed all the ECA treasurer duty duties. This totals $11,562.32. The difference between the total compensation for this former employee and what we are paying now is a a corporation savings of $36,4368. The maintenance person who has now retired was working a 40-hour work week. You took this 40hour a week position and turned it into a 50hour position. job share with two different individuals at 25 hours per week. With the additional

00810 hours of pay and the school paying for COBRA for the employees wife for the next two years, how can this be cost savings? How much is the monthly COBRA premium for this individual? Also, no one remembers seeing a job posting for this position. Was the job posted internally or externally? Also, are there are the job share individuals receiving any benefits since they are working over 24 hours a week or are they just receiving their hourly wage? So, the two individuals who were hired for the grounds and maintenance position were hired up to 25 hours per week depending on the needs of the corporation during that time. If the needs are low, then the hours will be lessened. So, the former position ended with a base salary of $56,939.76. The worst possible salary scenario with

009the two part-time positions and a maximum of 50 hours per week would be 52,000 per year. Even at the worst case scenario, the corporation would still save $4,939.76 cents in salary alone. With the payroll data from 8:25, the position was paid out for a total of 25 hours as only one employee had worked during the time frame for that pay period. The payroll data from 910 shows the position was paid out for a total of 44.5 hours for one week and 43 hours for the next week. So far, the position is not paid at the maximum of 50 hours per week, and we do not foresee or anticipate that there will be many weeks that do in fact meet those maximum hours. It will ultimately create a greater salary savings for the position than what

010was quoted above. The two part-time positions do not qualify for benefits, which greatly saves the corporation money. The former employee is still responsible for a single coverage health plan payment with the corporation covering the remaining COBRA monthly balance for his spouse. This retirement agreement is in effect until the spouse turns 65, which is a period of less than two years. Prior to this, the corporation paid $15,372.72 a year for an employee plus spouse healthc care coverage alone. With the current agreement, the corporation responsible the corporation is responsible for $6,374.88 a year for single healthcare coverage plan. The healthcare savings for this position alone equals $8,997.84 a year. Since a since it is a classified position, the corporation did not have to post the position as we had two highly qualified people willing to work it.

011One of the individuals was often called upon by maintenance staff to do contracted work at a contracted rate uh that couldn't be done inhouse. With that individual now on staff, there is another savings to the corporation. >> Maybe I missed that. How much are you guys paying then a month for for her Cobra? We don't have it broken down by month, but we have that the yearly cost will be 6,374.88. Next question. We hired a teacher from West Noble that has 30 years of experience. How much did this cost our district? Could we not have hired a newer teacher for about half of the expense? I realize the experience would not be there but all we have heard about is cost savings and I'm not sure how this was a cost savings decision. Right. So

012those of you who' be directly involved in hiring decisions right now um or if you're not if you're not aware of the current challenges that schools across the state and the nation are facing in attracting quality candidates. The reality is that applications for teaching positions are no longer plentiful like they once were. Finding strong candidates for any position is increasingly difficult. In fact, we had no other applicants for this position at the senior high and only one additional application for the language arts position at the junior high. We did reach out to Shrine and talk to their education department about recent graduates. They gave us three names. Of the three, only one returned our calls. They had already taken a job. Our goal is to hire the best person available to meet the needs of

013our students and to do everything we can to make that happen. In this case, with Mr. How's pending retirement, we're not only filling a teaching role, but also working to sustain the strength of our theater program, an area we deeply value as part of our school community in a program that continues to draw students to Centronova. The teacher we hired cost a corporation 70,000, which is on par with our other teachers of that amount of experience. She brings not only years of experience, but collaborative relationship that was already established with our theater program and a commitment to Centra Noble that has been a long time in the making. All these combined to provide immediate stability and expertise for students as well as our fine arts department. While it's true that the newer teacher may have

014never may have been hired at a lower salary, there's no guarantee that a less experienced candidate would have been prepared to take on the responsibilities of this unique position, even if they applied, which they did not. This was not simply about cost savings. It was about balancing fi fiscal responsibility with the quality of education and opportunities we provide. I'm sure most would recognize how important it is that we hire the best people possible. This hire represents an investment in both stability and quality. We're confident that it reflects a thoughtful investment in our students and our programs. How many experienced teachers do we have that fall under the $45,000 threshold for new incoming teachers? Yet, we still give out raises, stipens, bonuses, etc. to administrators for the extra work they have been given. Where are the

015raises, stipens, bonuses, etc. for the teachers that have 26 plus kids in their classrooms and the extra work that they and other teachers have been given this school year? There does not seem to be any additional money for those individuals, but we always find it for administrators. >> We currently have 21 teachers who fall under the $45,000 threshold for new or incoming teachers. On the administrator side, it's important to note that administrators are only ever given the same raises that teachers get per their contracts. The only difference is that this year, the high school administrators were given temporary stipens because they're taking on a second full-time job on top of their daily responsibilities, covering all the athletic director duties after that position was eliminated. As of Tuesday, Mr. Mannon has worked 80 extra hours, Mrs.

016Hoover 62 extra hours, Mrs. Vice has worked 35 extra hours, and the fall season isn't over yet. The athletic director's total compensation package was about $109,000. Instead of replacing that position, we're paying out 20,000 in stipens split among the three administrators to cover those duties for strictly the administrators. That means the district is actually saving a substantial amount of money. Um, these stipens are not just extra pay. They're tied directly to doing a completely separate job outside of their contracted hours. For teachers carrying heavier classroom loads, several who have 26 or more students were provided a full-time aids to help with the workload. No teacher has been assigned a completely separate job on top of their teaching duties. And it wouldn't make sense to cut the salary for teachers who happen to have 18 or

017fewer students, just as we would want to ignore the fact that other supports are provided where class sizes are larger. In short, we do have 21 teachers under 45,000 and continue to work toward lifting that floor. At the same time, the administrator stipens are not bonuses, but savings driven adjustments to cover a full additional job that would otherwise cost the district much more. >> Central has been leasing a bus garage for years, and this lease ended in January. What were the plans for a bus garage since the admins school board knew this was coming up? And how many years have we been leasing this garage? And how much has it cost the district? It was mentioned that we were wanting to use the solar panel rebate money for this, but do we have plans in

018the school district have plans if the school district does not receive the rebate? The bus garage lease was a rolling lease that renewed automatically each January. Our partnership with Leatherman's has been long-standing, but we respect that they are now wanting to expand their own business, which has caused us to need to look for our own bus garage. Central Noble has looked at two other options within the district boundaries, but neither were big enough and provided the space that we need for our bus garage, and one was even going to cost us more than what the corporation was currently paying for rent. Central Noble is currently pursuing a bond that will allow us to build our own bus garage if approved. This would take the cost of the lease away and then we will own and

019operate our own business, our own bus garage, which gives us stability for our future. As a general reminder, bond funds can only be used for projects that are capital in nature and cannot be spent on salaries or everyday expenses. The daycare, a great idea and we got a grant for it. We we all know it is hard to find good quality child care in this area. The issue is why do we have a daycare at the elementary if we do not have the capacity to house our own children that we are supposed to be educating. We had to move the fifth graders to the junior senior high due to lack of classroom space at the elementary. The daycare had two rooms and then three rooms. Where is it going to stop since we are now

020opening it to the public next year? Should our own students not have priority? the ones that we are getting paid to educate at Central Noble. This grade was moved in anticipation of a possible consolidation to one campus. If a decision is made for all Central Noble students to be on the Albian campus, then the YMCA preschool and Central Noble Early Learning Center daycare rooms will need to be moved to a different location. decisions are not set in stone here, but if the space is needed for Central Noble Elementary at Central Noble Elementary for Central Noble students, then they will absolutely get priority for those classrooms. Unfortunately, a standalone daycare building is not in the cards for us at this time as one of our major grants did not go through. CN leadership is working on

021finding a permanent place for the CNLC to be housed for the good of our staff and our community. The decision to start a daycare came about um as CN was losing staff who couldn't find suitable daycare for their own children. This decision decision has actually helped us retain several staff members over the last few years due to offering highquality, easily accessible child care. >> Did we spend money on an ice cream machine and golf cart? So, as far as athletics goes, you'll see things updated and or purchased as those needs don't go away. The ice cream machine was donated as well as the golf cart. Our old golf cart was broken beyond repair and is needed and used in many different ways. The ice cream machine will be used in events to generate more money

022for extracurricular activities, which in turn will which will excuse me, which will in turn be used on students in those activities. The athletic department has its own ECA fund which it maintains and spends out of. It's not corporation money. The athletic department is working very hard to continue to get donations and sponsorships to continue to cut costs. >> I think that concludes that portion. >> All right. At this time, uh, Robin Morgan and Kim Barb Gardner will provide background information to help frame discussions. They will cover current enrollment and future projections, building capacities, costs, and conditions, as well as financial impacts. Board members, you are encouraged during this time to take notes and prepare prepare questions for the topics of discussion section that will come next. >> Okay. So, covering enrollment, currently uh we set

023at about 1, 108 students, um give or take a few. We're still trying to decide figure out between West Noble and Sher Busco whose student is who. Um but we're right about there. our projected from our um demographic study that we did um we were supposed to have somewhere around 1,53 students. One of the things that the uh those projections can't do is um predict how many out of district students move in um from surrounding areas uh to come to school at Central Noble. So, we've had quite a few come in based on the projections of the demographic study. um which would put us at the more aggressive C uh C series projections which had us at about 1,114. So if we were to continue on that path um we would stay around there within

02410 kids for the next two or three years um before ultimately if it stays with the C series projection um and the 2829 school year would be about 1,155 students. I'm going to talk a little bit about building capacities, costs, and conditions. So, with enrollment at our current levels, the Albian campus would be able to house all Central Noble students. With the move move of fifth grade to the junior senior high school, K through four could easily fit into the classroom space at the elementary with three teachers per grade level, a room for specials, three specialed classrooms, and two open classrooms, giving the ability to flex two grades to four teachers if needed. Combining CN students to one campus would require moving our Central Noble Early Learning Center rooms and the YMCA preschool rooms to

025a different location. We have gathered some utility information and other monthly bill information for the 2024 school year for the primary. Central Noble spent $11,73248 in utilities for that building. We do know that several of those expenses have increased in 2025, but we wanted a full year of data to look over for any calculations that you do hear about for in terms of savings for this evening. Central Primary is in pretty good condition for its age. We do know that there are some bigger projects coming up for that building. Um the geothermal system is nearing the end of its useful life and will need to be replaced in some capacity. When the original uh system was put in, it costs over $1 million. Um so the CN team is re-evaluating the system to see what

026the best plan is for the future depending on the usage of the building. Central Noble Primary will also need a portion of its roof to be replaced within the next several years. Um, this also depends on the usage of the building. If we are not the roof, not so much, but the geothermal, we might be able to get a little bit extra time out of it depending on um, again usage of the building. These projects though, as they are capital in nature, could be paid for with a future bond depending on the needs of the entire district at that time. Now, we'll go into some financial impacts. Um, Central Noble has been facing the financial impacts of a period of declining enrollment for several years. Um, this year our enrollment is looking positive, which is

027really good for us. Um, but now Central Noble is also facing the financial impact on its operation operations budget from Senate Bill One. It is anticipated that Central Noble will see a loss of $266,000 950 $266 $950 I can't say that right almost $300,000 in 2026 $270,80 in 2027 and $324,580 in 2028 for its operations budget. We hope that the ideas brought forth this evening will help central noble leadership come up with a solid plan to get us through a period of financial hardship. >> I think one thing to add to that total in 2028 is that we receive about $200,000 in lit money that u because of Senate Bill one will also be going away. So that'll push us closer to the $500,000 range >> in the 28 29 school year. I'm sorry. >>

028300 >> 266,950 >> 300 >> 270,300 and those numbers um are still fluctuating. Those will fluctuate some based on the net assessed value and pending any changes that could be going through the legislators. >> So we're looking at about a million dollar loss over the next three years. Yeah. Unless there are some changes to >> Senator. Do you know how old the geothermal is? You said it's towards the end of his life. 2011 is what it was put in. Still veteran teachers at the primary if they remember the exact year it was put in. >> I think they I think it was 2011 and they had kind of anticipated a 15-year useful life. So >> we got an estimate for repairs on that. >> We don't yet. All right, we now move on to our

029agenda items. Um, this is open discussion between the superintendent, business manager, and the board. And they may call on administrators or other staff to provide input as needed. Again, we will be discussing the consideration of consolidating kindergarten and first grade from the Wolf Lake campus to Albian campus. the future of the Wolf Wolf Lake campus should a consolidation be approved and then research and survey of a non-traditional four-day school week. We will start off with brief presentations first from Heather Lemon who's going to go over microchooling and then followed by Gabe Stuff on 4day school week. Heather, if you could come up to the microphone, really heavy. Can you hear me? >> Oh, now it's on. >> It says it can't be turned off. That is a false. >> Today I'm going to talk to

030you about the opportunity um to add a micro school to Central Mobile and a way to set us apart from other private and public schools and at you. Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. Taylor Caldwell. This quote reminds me why I became a teacher. School was something I just did to get to the next step. I learned how to play the game and I did fine I didn't find school particularly enjoyable rather something I had to do to get to college in my years as a teacher. Um however I've sought not to teach rather to be taught and to seek the joy in learning. And I propose to you tonight that we offer that for students at Central as well. There are some barriers to enjoying school for some students. And I'd

031like to share with you a solution to some of those barriers. First, let's look at the issues and concerns which don't seem as heavy after we just went through all those questions. First, a one-sizefits-all approach doesn't actually fit all. I've talked with several such mobile parents recently about the option of doing school differently, and each of these parents shared such enthusiasm and eagerness to help make this a reality for their young adult. I would be happy to help you get in touch with some of these parents if you'd like. Their interest and excitement absolutely blew me away. Next, uh community student partnerships could be strengthened. Let's get our amazing students in connection with our leaders, our business owners, and our community members. Um improve attendance. The desire to be at school is certainly a factor

032for some and we are experiencing financial challenges including declining enrollment, a failed referendum and funding cuts to name a few and student apathy is at an all-time high in my teaching career. There is a need for something different for some learners. Situational facts are details about a circumstance that makes a behavior occur. So what makes these issues and concerns occur? The situational effects that I've identified through observation include lack of engagement with learning, lack of desire to come to school, school doesn't connect to the real world for some of our learners, larger class size environment feels unsafe for some, and teaching to the middle when not all are in the middle. This model will allow the teacher to individualize for each learner. So looking at these situational facts, what are the goals of the micro

033school model? One goal is to restore the joy of learning. For some of you, maybe that sounds cheesy, but to me to enjoy doing uh school would have been made all the difference. uh to bring a desire to be at school and to be learning and interacting with knowledge, the opportunity to learn in a way that better suits the individual and to set Noble apart from other schools in our area while also attracting more learners. Let's look at the benefits of implementing a micro school at Central Noble and how these benefits meet the eight for mentioned goals. A micro school creates a smaller learning community and I would be proposing to you tonight a school within a school model. Um, students are part of a smaller cohort with dedicated teachers. This adds options for families

034but does not replace what's working for others. Options means our students and families have choices right here at Central. They don't need to go elsewhere to find these or similar offerings. Options means school is more accessible to our students. Options mean CentO decides what FOSAI the micro school or micro schools will have. For example, there could be an A focus micro school or performing arts focused micro school. Research shows that parents want something different for their students. Parents want options and so do our students. In the next two slides, I list five benefits that I've also connected to our district's strategic plans, district values, and area areas of focus. I could have done this with all the benefits, but I thought you might find that a little redundant. Community is built into the very threads

035of this model. This includes community among peers, but also connecting to the greater Noble County community. This hits district values one, two, and three and focus areas two, three, and four. Our students benefit by getting into the greater Noble County community where they will build their skills, knowledge, character, and connections. This will prepare them in big ways for whatever comes after high school. This is covered by district values one, two, three, and four, and focus areas 2, three, and four. Those students who need a smaller setting will benefit in the way of stronger relationships with peers, teachers, and families. This improves the culture of our school. District values one, two, and three and focus areas 2, three, and four. Our district benefits by providing options for our students and families rather than providing a one-sizefits-all

036education. This sets us apart from other schools in the area. District value one, focus areas three and four. We would be providing a high quality option that would be free to our students and families. District values 2, three, and four and focus areas 2, three, and four. In just two slides, five bullet points, I've shown you how this micro school model hits all four district values and all focus areas except for area one, which is communication and has a focus on administrative duties like um building a having a website update and those sorts of things. Other benefits include increased enrollment and retention by attracting families and seek who are seeking a more individualized learning for their students and offering an option in order to retain families who are also interested in a more personalized approach.

037In a 2024 survey by the National School Choice Foundation showed that 72% of parents are considering a different school for at least one child. This illustrates a growing trend in alternatives to con conventional schooling. We would be a part of the school choice movement that has already begun. Another benefit area includes academic growth and this may be one of the more compelling results that I've come across in my research so far. When micro schools reported their academic growth, it was found that 81% report between 1 to two years of academic gains in one school year. That's two years of growth in just one school year. We moved through the issues into the benefits to our district. And now I'd like to share with you a highle overview of what this model would look like. First,

038it would have an open methodology. would be meeting the needs of our students with no particular philosophy at the center. Rather, all philosophies and methods are available as needed. That could include problem based learning, STEM and STEAM, Monasuri, Waldorf, etc. or any combination of these philosophies depending on what our learners need. We have a floor but no ceiling. There's room to grow and develop in ways only limited by our own creativity. Next, the micro school would have a flexible schedule. So, I created sort of a um a mocked up schedule for you. This would be um I created this as a as considered at the junior senior high as a school within a school mile. Um students would arrive and attend Cougar U as usual and then they would go into a community launch time

039that's led by students. So this can include discussions on current events or books or ideas whatever is pertinent to the students at that time. It's a time for them to have uh a community discussion. So they grow um as as a group of peers as a cohort and they are um enriching each other with their discussion. Next there's a goal setting time with a teammate. Um having an accountability partner is key here. They meet daily to discuss if the goals were met the previous day and then also to formulate goals for the current day. They hold each other accountable. After that, the morning work cycle begins. The morning work cycle reserved for core skills. So they'll be getting like reading, math, writing, social studies, some might need science. Um and they have choices in how

040these skills are attained. So they could go out and take a class in the traditional classroom. Um they could be taking classes on a learning platform. They could be getting classes in small groups or as an individual from the teacher in the micro school. And then the afternoon work cycle would be reserved for passion work and apprenticeships. And I think this is this is where the magic happens in my mind. Um this is a time when students dive deep into something that they are passionate about. They show mastery of the skills through this work as well. The passion project would be very individualized and based on each student's interest. This can include researching, designing, marketing, and selling a product. They could be solving a problem that's important to them or their community. They could be

041innovating and inventing. They could be working with uh business leaders, owners, local artists, professionals, diving deep into agricultural or environ environmental topics, doing a construction project, etc. All led by the students with their teachers guiding from the side. students and teachers. Students would accomplish this by conferencing with the teacher throughout the entirety of the project. So, the project could last from one semester to four years. Uh if it's going to be a four-year project, it's going to have innovations and offshoots over time. It's going to develop and grow throughout those four years. Um and teachers will guide that again through conferencing and students students take it from there. they would be make they would be reaching out to the industry leaders, the people in the community themselves and setting up times where they could talk

042to them, do research with them, go and work alongside them. Um, students would create a presentation of learning demonstration demonstrating their mastery through their work. This is typically open to the public and I think that this is very exciting for Central Mobile to have the public come in and see what our um, amazing students are capable of in this setting. Um they could also they would also be um responsible for doing and setting up apprenticeships. Apprenticeships could enhance the passion projects. They could go alongside with those creating real life experiences around their passion project. So if you're interested in something um in nature, maybe you get in touch with the naturalists at Shaina Lakes and you get to do an apprenticeship there. It's not a shadow. You're doing their work. You're you're being fully immersed

043into that. or apprenticeships could be something completely separate and something the learner is interested in um knowing more about or experiencing more about. They may discover that it's something that they really love or they may discover they thought they would love it and they didn't. And both are useful and important. If I sound excited about this work, it's because I am. I've witnessed individualized student-led learning and action as a teacher at not only a monastery school but also an inner city uh charter school, a uh PBL public school and parochial schools. What um is brilliant about the micro school model that I bring to you tonight at Central Noble is that we would not be beholden to just one philosophy. We'd be open to any and all methodologies that best serve our students. In discussing

044this with parents at Centro Noble, I was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive responses that I heard. Parents shared things like tuition, transportation, and not feeling welcome in a p private school community were barriers to being able to provide a non-conventional learning environment for their children. When you start talking to families, I think you're going to be surprised, too, at how many are longing for something different for their children. And maybe some of you are, too. So who would attend? The population would be made up of students who are seeking an option other than the traditional school model offered. The population would include similar demographics as the whole school population. Meaning that we're not targeting a particular group. Rather, this is something that is available to all. The implementation plan I propose to you is that

045we pilot the micro school option for grades 9 through 12 initially with the option to add grade levels and even special fosai schools along the way if it's deemed successful. We would gather data on direction and effectiveness of the model each semester for four years. Data will drive adjustments. Measures of success would be determined in a number of ways that could include but not limited to attendance records, engagement data, student goal setting and growth, both personal growth and academic growth, parent and student feedback, exhibitions of learning and portfolios and progress towards graduation and location will be important to this approach and we have options. So, I know cost is very important and the current situation of our district gives us pause and that's a good thing. So, let's look at some options to discover the

046genius in adding a micro school option at CN. Partnering with Indiana Micros Collaborative would result in a zero cost to Central. If this is intriguing, we can discuss that further. Grant funding is also an option. As I prepared to speak with you today, I met with Jenna Au, director of the Deco Foundation, where I inquired about how this model might fit into their vision and values and ways to make this a zerocost option. In our conversation, we discovered this fits beautifully into their mission to provide students with skills they can use to gain economic freedom post high school. Um, on to revenue. This option could retain current families, attract outofd district students to central noble and attract in district students who have left central noble back to central noble. Um and location. This is a

047school within a school model, so there's no overhead cost that a separate building would would have. Finally, I have some concluding remarks for you tonight. Our students and families want choices, high quality choices in their education. If we don't offer a choice like the one I proposed to you, think someone else will. Let's be the school that gives them what they did or didn't even know they were missing. As I stated earlier, we can do this at zero cost. This model could attract students to Central. We would be embarking on a journey that has much room for growth while truly seeking what's good for our students. I've been in this field for 20 years and I've worked in just about every possible education setting you can imagine. I've seen this model work with beautiful results.

048Results that will blow you away. Results that I never saw coming. But when learning is individualized, amazing outcomes are allowed to shine through. One last thing, as the referendum failed, I remember thinking that I had a decision to make. I could choose to leave and work for a district that wasn't struggling in the way we currently are, or I could stay and make it better. I chose to stay with the hope of working with all stakeholders to make it better because even though the situation is dire here, and probably because it's dire, change must happen. I believe that all schools should be considering this, but at Centron Noble, we're forced to. Status quo is human nature and we don't have the luxury of continuing as we have. We have to make changes. This quote from

049JP Morgan struck me as a statement of where we are right now. The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are. As a board, I would like to commend you already for taking that first step. The fact that you're truly listening to ideas is bold and courageous and necessary and it's clear that you see that necessity. So, thank you. If you're not feeling fully convinced, let's talk some more. I left a lot out to make this fit into a reasonable timeline. So, let's discuss questions you have, gaps, hesitations, and ideas that you may have regarding this proposal. >> How does this align to the new diploma tracks? Yeah. So, there are ways that we can use a like a transcript um program where we click off the

050mastery the that um exhibition of learning I was talking about with their passion project is art there's artifacts throughout that that you can um check off those skills for students >> that would be for any of the diploma tracks the yeah I don't even know what they're called there's employment enlistment and enrollment. Yeah. >> So it checks all the boxes for all >> Yeah. I don't see how I mean there I it's it's getting all those skills. We w we wouldn't be leaving it out. I They may even have more than >> It's called It's called Mastery Connect Transcript. >> You said Mastery Connect transcript. >> Yep. >> Mastery Connect transcript would be a reliable option. >> Have to have dual credit options tied. with them being able to take a class in the regular

051classroom or and we could still have those dual credit options for the enrollment. >> How does this differ than giving students the options like we have currently with impact where they can go and do things that they're passionate about? >> Um I don't think in impact they're creating uh presentations of learning or doing research or actually working with industry leaders. you know, this would be uh this would be a more real life connection. They're doing welding, but are they welding for a business while they're learning welding? Like there's a difference there. They could still do impact if they wanted to do impact. We we could work with the the model is so flexible that, you know, we could flip their morning and afternoon schedules for some students who maybe find impact something they want to

052do, but I think that they probably could fit that into their passion project each year, too. And that would be their afternoon work with a with a company that's welding or you know think of a hundred ideas. >> Are we saying this is not necessarily college preparatory but more vocational? Is that what you're saying there? >> Not necessarily. It would it like uh Mr. Scheler said it could be uh enrollment enlistment or employment. It we're we're including all students in this whatever their interests are. Um, no one is, it's not just for vocational or just for enrollment. Um, it's for everyone. >> How does GPA and stuff relate with kids and the other? I mean, how does that work like class rank and things like that? Is there is that something attainable or not? >>

053Yeah, I think that goes along with what Mr. Piper was saying that, you know, you would do that mastery transcript and there's probably points attached that he probably can speak more to that than than I can. I haven't used the mastery transcript, but um I use something similar. Yeah, I think it sounds exciting myself, but I just don't know what you know uh you know Sean and Doc Y and you know what kind of reception do we have from current administrators? I guess what do you what do you think Sean? >> Heather and I have met Heather and I sat down and talked at length. I mean it's a great option for our students. Um my reservation would be whether it attracts students from other schools. I think for our students here um some of

054them that we try to provide alternative learning options for we have students and we talked specifically about students um about students that this would meet the model. I don't know if this is going to be something that brings students from other schools to our school and I think that's important um because you know let let's say I mean Heather would be obviously great at teaching in this model but if we put Heather in the micro school then I have to have an algebra one teacher in the traditional classroom and if we're not getting students from somewhere else then I'm hiring another staff member um you know and we years ago we went to Athens Georgia to look at their alternative learning center and this was very much like their model. They had um an English

055and math teacher in their alternative education center who taught you know English and social studies and math and science and then students were connected in different ways. So it's a great model. I just I would want to see who that attracted outside of our school district. I don't think anybody else is doing this in our area except for private schools that are charging thousands and thousands of dollars for kids to come there. Um, and some of the conversations that I've had with parents, there was a family who is currently at Central Noble and toured a local private school um, and wanted their children to go there, but even on scholarship, they weren't able to afford it. But the model is very similar to what I'm presenting to you today. Um, and they were they were

056very excited about the possibility of their student coming. So in in terms of um attracting other students, nobody else is really doing this. So if you want that sort of private school, small cohort sort of feel for your students um for many reasons. Uh working in private schools myself, you know, a lot of parents feel like it's a safer environment for their kids or it's smaller so they get more more individual attention. All of those things are still there. So, I feel like we could pull kids from uh private schools even, not just public schools, because we're doing what they're doing for free. >> How many staff members does it take to we know? >> So, I guess that depend Oh, wait. >> Jared have something? >> Hang on, Jared. I'm gonna turn you up

057a little bit. >> Go ahead, Jar. Do >> we have access to like how many kids that are in our district are homeschooled? That's the other target crowd that Mr. Do we have how many kids are homeschooled? >> We have access to how many kids go and I think we have how many are home school? >> We don't know who but I think we have decent gauge on the numbers. >> Is that is it 20 or is it 200? >> Off hand I don't know. I'd have to get with Matt Neer and have him run that. There's a do the data exchange so he can run it and tell us. That's a good point and I think I didn't mention that too that the not only out of district students coming but also I would

058consider homeschool kids out of district. They're choosing not to come to Central Noble. So um yeah, I think this would be a big if I put myself into a homeschooling parents shoes. This would be really enticing. >> If if we put you in that position or say someone like you, how many students could one person handle? So I think that the ratio is a 1 to15 ratio. Um and I guess depending on how much uh interest we have right away depends on how many teachers uh you would need but again in talking with Jenna it sounds like we could Yep. we could apply for grants and she even talked about um how if the need increases that maybe the grants increase too. So um just because of the nature of what this is and how

059well it aligns with their own vision and values, >> how how would we uh stupid question probably but how how do we gauge success here like after two years if we start a program like that? So, um I listed a few ways. Um and these are just like I'm spitballing. Um looking at uh attendance records, engagement data, looking at student goal setting and growth. So, we would look at students uh growth both personally but also academically. Um and then also parent and student feedback. We'd hear we'd put out um surveys and hear their feedback. Um also exhibitions of learning in their portfolios. That's their uh that's their showing us the mastery. That's the um passion projects and capstone projects. Um and then also their progress towards graduation. Are they still progressing? Uh all fresh or

060anybody who's in biology takes the biology end of course assessment on iLearn. That's another way to gauge are these kids in line with the traditional model students as well. >> As far as staff though, so if if we need two teachers to teach in a micro school, we take those from our current staff. Then we would have to hire two new teachers to fill those >> which is part of the granting process. That would be what we would ask the grant for. >> So there's really there's no overlap there where they could do both. >> I don't see how that's possible. Okay. I'm trying to think of how could I tell you we should start this in January and still be the algebra teacher. Um, but I'm not sure that I could like clone myself

061and do that. So, I think that yeah, we would have to have them be separate. >> Cost cost could also be offset by attracting new students. Correct. >> Yes, the cost could be offset by the students that that are attracted. >> Yeah. They brought in eight new students possibly offset the cost of of that teacher. >> Yeah. So Jared has done the math and said eight new students would offset the cost of those teachers. >> That would be for salary alone, but then you'd have benefits. It probably be more like 10 or 11 per teacher. >> And is there consumables that will go along with your courses? I'm sure there's you got to buy stuff, right? And it's not not just labor, but you've got material costs in some of these things, I assume. >>

062Not that I Not that I have thought of yet. Um the the learning platforms you could use free learning platforms. I've connected with the school that I sent you the videos of the for the forest school and they've shared their learning platforms with me and so something we can look into. Um they have uh learning platforms on there that are completely free. >> What size of a school was the forest schools? Like how many students >> in the high school part? I don't know. I'm sorry. I should look that up for you. >> If we started this, let's say next school year, would you cap enrollment at 20? So, you could do with one staff since you there's so many unknowns, right? You don't want to hire six teachers and have five kids, you know?

063>> Well, I don't think six I don't think we would need that. I I would be happy with one teacher and two teachers. So, I don't know. I guess that's that's something that we need to think about. uh 15 to 30 would be my suggestion just to keep it small and have two teachers um and 30 students. >> I just want to make sure I'm following correctly. This at that point would be more like a pathway because I know we have currently we have pathways. So is this micro school option a a pathway for parents and students or >> if you could look at it that way that pathway would have to connect to the employment enrollment or enlistment ultimately. So yeah I mean you know if you're looking at kids who go to impact

064at the vocational pathway kids who go to workbased learning kids who go to micros I think one of Heather's points though that's important is kids will come in and out of this environment. So, you know, an AP calculus student, they're probably still going to take AP calculus in the traditional classroom. AP biology, they're probably still going to take that in traditional classroom. So, it wouldn't be they're not going to take every single one of their classes in that setting. If there's something they need to go out, Spanish three, Spanish four, dual credit, they're going to go out and take those. >> I can't I can't teach them. So, I mean, it's a it's managing an alternative, you know, learning pathway, but those students are still connected because they're going to take classes within our building

065as well. >> That helps replicate an egg. >> I was just trying to envision how we were going to transition 1,18 students, you know what I mean, into how did that transition? But the way you said 15 to 30 students led me to believe it was more of like a a pathway. I think you think of it as its own school. >> Okay. >> That connects to the larger school. >> An option. >> Does anybody else have any further questions for how do the how do the students get selected to board that? Like what's the selection process like? Because you may have tons of applicants. How do you select who is should that? >> If it's going to be a pilot, we have to keep the demographics the same. So, that has to be one

066area of the selection process. And I think if there was a ton of students, there would have to be an application and interview because um while this might sound good to you like you're going to be great at it, um not not everybody is successful in this environment. Um, I've had lots of experience when I've interviewed incoming students at a private school and I've shared with their parents the hesitations I have and they still choose to to enroll them and then a month later the student is just painfully withdrawing, you know. So, we wouldn't want them to fail in that way. We'd want them to be successful in the environment. So, if there's a lot of people and even if there's not, I think there still has to be an interview like a face tof

067face let's talk and get to know each other a little bit. Um, and and an application process and if we're going to pilot it, we do have to keep those demographics similar or it's unfair one way or the other. >> Sean, how many kids do you think in our current uh freshman through junior classes might be interested in this? You know, when we met, we just talked about specific kids that came to mind, >> right? >> Probably in house, maybe 12 to 15 right now that we names around like, oh, this kid might really thrive in this, this kid might not really thrive. So, but I mean, there could be more kids that were presented with the option were interested in it. Those are just kids that, you know, were like, "Hey, they're really struggling

068with this. This might be a really good concept." But you you think enough that we would fill one CL like one teacher if the ratios one to 15 we could probably fill one >> we were I was just uh talking about freshman and sophomores really with Sean and Ashley and then after speaking with some some more parents that just that opened my mind to even more students who might be interested. So, >> how early in their career have they started? >> How what >> how young junior high? >> Oh, no. This could go all the way to the elementary levels. Yeah, I that's what I mean. We don't have we have a floor, but we don't have a ceiling. If this is something that um really it start it and we see, oh my goodness,

069parents really do want an option for kids. Along the way, we can add them at different levels. Um and and there may be a little training involved. I'd be happy to help with that. um just you need the right person in that environment because uh it it is relinquishing your power, right? You're not the sage on the stage, you're the guide on the side. Um so it does take a a a specific personality of a teacher to be able to handle that. And we have them in our district already. So um but attracting them from to maybe fill that too. I don't know. There's there's so many possibilities that it's not it's I'm saying the junior senior high and presenting that to you because I have a secondary one and two monastery credential and that's

070what I'm familiar with and I I know that that will work. I feel very confident about that. Um and I know that there are kids here that need that and and do want that. Um so that's why I'm presenting it at that level to you. But I also know and have seen it work in lower levels too. >> We would start at the senior high level though. >> Yeah. from the lower grade 910 because we not that we would eliminate a senior but it'd be hard to gather data from a senior who we've already gotten three years through to bring in say oh they graduated that was a goal so >> and this model works with other models I know you're going to hear about the four day school week this goes this isn't like

071oh if you do micro school you can't do four day school week they go together there's they're not mutually exclusive so and it works with other models if there are other ideas too. It's It's just um it's very flexible and that's why I think that there's a genius in this that maybe other schools haven't considered or tapped into yet that we would be kind of on that leading edge. I think we would also need to gauge, you know, employers in the area um community that we would need um assistance from, not financially, but like placement, you know, for the the projects and things to make sure that if we did go this route that we have employers and places that are willing. >> They're willing. I'm telling you, they're willing. They I've already talked to

072some of them and they would love to have our students in their businesses learning with them, teaching them too. Like it's not just like the kids would be doing all the learning. The business owners, the local artists, the the professionals, they're going to learn too. Um, and it's and they're going to benefit as well by having someone there to to teach that trade and to, you know, maybe the students are networking, but so are the employers networking with with future students, with future um employees. >> And I I don't know who your connections are in the company, and I think that's great. I work in human resources and I'm here to tell you that I like the idea, but me selling it to the people that actually have to slow down in their day to

073impact another person, sometimes that's hard to get them on board because I would take all the kids, right? But actually putting that in place um when it comes into actual the work is >> if you sorry if you go to the forest school there's lots more videos than I showed you but one of them is on apprenticeships and one of the students talks about um working in like a graphic design company and they're they just gave him a job and sort of said figure it out we need to do color block I don't know what color block means he did all the color blocking and uh from start to finish he did that and that was his job and uh he doesn't say, "Oh, they took a lot of time to help me figure this

074out." They said, "This is your job. Figure this out." So, I mean, you know, there's various levels of what um employers are comfortable with and and having the students join them. So, it could be as simple as, you know, figure it out to I want to show you every piece of this and then I'm going to give this whole project to you or I don't know. I guess it depends on the the individuals, too. And I know Laura Scott will be presenting on the new tracks. Ty mentioned them. And you know, a lot of people probably aren't aware, but there's no longer going to be a 440 diploma, an academic honors diploma. The entire state has gone to three tracks, enrollment, enlistment, um, and employment. And with every one of those tracks, all students are

075going to re be required to put in um real real world work hours even for the um enrollment plus seal which would closely equate to the academic honors diploma. Now every student has to have 75 hours in a workplace. take it further to the employment plus seal. Those students have to have 650 hours. And so we're going to be tasked with tracking all that for every student. So the micro school students doing it may be more familiar by the time we get 500 other students through it and track that. But that's coming I mean you know that's coming across the and we've already talked about that. You know, I'm looking at Ryan thinking, "Gee, Ryan, I wonder how many QSI is going to be able to take because we're gonna have a lot of students

076looking for those hours and they have to be documented hours in a workplace. >> Any other questions? >> I wonder. >> Absolutely. >> Is Eagle Tech and Public City considered a micro school?" >> They're considered a high-tech high, but it's very similar. Um, also, uh, Garrett did this. they had like the academy which uh dissolved because it became kind of a negative interaction between the traditional model and the the um academy model um which is something that we need to discuss how to avoid that but I think the school within the school model helps Eagle Tech at um Columbia City I've talked to them too um they used to have a separate campus but when they built their new school they have the same campus and they were doing something very similar they were busing

077their students so they could take classes class at the high school if they wanted if they chose that. Um, now the kids just go out, they take their classes, they come back to Eagle Techch and they take their business math together or I think it's business science that they've paired together. Um, and you know they take their classes in the micro school. They also have like exhibitions of learning like I'm talking about here. So it is something similar but that's a PBL model. And so that's what I'm saying open methodologies we wouldn't be just a PDL model. We could if that works for for a particular project or a student sure let's do that but if Monasuri or Waldorf works for another one then let's do that or a combination of all of them then

078it leaves it open and we don't have to say we're a high-tech high we're a micro school and we're doing what's best for kids. >> Great. Thank you Heather. We'll move on with Gabe about four day school weeks. [Music] So, my name is Gabe St. Yeah. have to mute that. >> We're passing Jared down. We got to mute him. Sorry. [Music] Is that better? >> I wasn't going to say this, but you know, going after Heather, she's such a hard act to follow. Such an incredible asset to our school here. Uh, but my name is Gabe Stuck. I'm a junior high social studies teacher. And the reason I'm I'm here really is because after the referendum failed, um Mr. Morgan, he sent out an email to all staff members saying that the school's looking for

079innovative solutions to help save the school money. And at the time, I really didn't know how I could help or what I could do. Uh but I knew I wanted to help in some way. And my background before becoming a teacher is I have a background in law and also in business. just thought there has to maybe be some solutions. So I started researching uh various solutions and one that I I came across that I think presents a lot of good opportunities is a 4-day school week. So that is the proposal I want to present today. I just want to thank the board member and Mr. Morgan for providing this opportunity. [Music] So uh today with the 4day school week what we're going to explore is uh basically analyzing the financial benefits. We're also going

080to look at student outcomes. We're assess implementation and some challenges that we might face. So things we'll examine today or tonight is a 4-day school week proposal that could save anywhere from 100,000 to 175,000 annually while improving teacher retention by 10 to 15% and possibly increase student enrollment by also 5 to 10%. So some financial challenges I'm sure everyone's familiar with that SNO has been facing in recent times. So, Sonova operates on a $15.5 million annual budget and with the significant financial pressures with referendum failing in 2025. Um, you know, we've been looking at making some possible changes. So, the district serves 1,13 students across school and Noble County, Indiana. We've been faced with declined enrollment and this also compounds with budget challenges. The 4-day school week proposal emerges as a strategic response to maintain

081educational quality while reducing cost. So here are some projected financial benefits. So the annual projected savings would be 100,000 to 175,000 a year with a 0.5 to 2.5% of total budget. On average, the 4-day school week model, it particularly benefits rural schools. And rural schools typically see an average of at least 2% savings. Um utility savings, 50,000 to 100,000 from reduced billing operations. And then of course transportation savings, uh 50,000 to 75,000 from eliminating Monday routes. The same with the utility savings, being able to, you know, have the electric off in the buildings. uh maybe have to have the ED heater or air conditioning ran or on the lower temperature would would benefit us. Um one thing I will step in there also with the utility savings it could be a little bit greater just

082because of our solar that we now have on the high school and if we end up with the second phase on the elementary that is slated if we go move forward with it to take over 90% of that building's utilities cost overall. So we have one day where everything's reduced to not as much and there probably be more savings. One more thing I will add is if you do the numbers uh with our budget and a 2% savings, it's actually greater savings than are projected up there, but I just want to be really conservative with those projections. But we I I personally foresee that we could even exceed those numbers up there, the 100,000. So, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering, how does this impact student outcomes and academic outcomes? So, one thing

083that was really interesting as I began to look at some of the the research behind the 4-day school week model is it shows that there is nationwide there's no uh negative impacts on student academics. Uh in fact, actually rural districts typically see a positive academic effect. Um now the key to having that positive academic effect is to make sure that the instructional hours or minutes are preserved which this proposal today does that but a 2020 MR and Anderson study that was um followed up in 2022 they they they confirmed that you maintain all academic achievement goals um on a 4-day model if hours are preserved. Uh so with the proposal today it would be 145day model um at 7.75 hours. So, I don't I don't know exactly what the hours would look like, but just

084to give an example, if we went from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 every day with the students that would um actually exceed uh the minimum requirement, we'd have 67,425 hours. And correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Morgan, 64,800, I believe, is the minimum. So, we'd be over a little under 3,000 um minutes that we' be exceeding the state requirements. I think when we did it and the calculation was about seven days worth, we'd be actually over um if you calculated out the same time as 180day calendar. So which currently our uh schedule is 3 or 8:25 to 3:17. Uh so really there's not a significant adjustment in time. 25 minutes in the morning and about a half hour in the afternoon. >> Yeah. And u with this model, one thing that it would allow for the

085teachers students to do is would it provide the opportunity for deeper learning. Um I'm not sure how the class structure would look, but having longer days would provide the teacher opportunity to reinforce some of those learning that took place previously in class. So, uh studies show that actually improves focus for students and creates higher engagements in that kind of setting. So, one thing that really shocked me looking at some of the kind of wellness benefits that could be received from this proposal was that there's a 39 decrease uh report of being bullied by their students when you have a 4-day work week schedule or I'm sorry, school schedule. Uh it also improves attendance rates in real context. Uh, one reason my proposal is to have um the school day run from Tuesday to Friday. I

086know um we would uh excuse me if we if we would want to have an appointment scheduled for let's say Friday the day are off. I know I run into mind often times is is not available on a Friday. So just having the Mondays off is a good opportunity if a student needs to schedule appointment or if a staff member needs to schedule appointment. it allows them to not have to miss a day where students would be in session. So this inherently will reduce the the absences for the students and staff members. Um also have an additional day of course you come back better refreshed and uh having an additional day you know you're able to spend more time with your family and whether you're a farmer or you like to hunt provides opportunity to

087do that with your family members that extra day. So looking at teacher retention and morale improvements. So future retention improvements, you saw 10 to 15% across peer districts. You had reduced absenteeism as we just mentioned 10 to 15% less absentism. Um and again this allows for the appointments in that day. You have enhanced work life balance and supports rural lifestyle needs. And I strongly believe this will also be a very strong recruitment tool uh not only for potential uh teacher applicants but also for students you know um with adding that extra flexibility and scheduling and with the way central noble is uniquely situated you know with west and east noble lake and cherabusco um offering something that is a little non-traditional in schedule might appeal to a lot of those families and those students and

088also teachers in the area. So the legal compliance framework uh you know Indiana allows for uh for schools to submit a waiver and India code 2030 20-30-2-3 requires 180 student instructional days typically under a 4-day plan we'd have 145 days and in order to do that to meet this requirement we would extend the daily hours. So the state minimum currently for the hours is 67,425. I'm sorry that'd be our hour 67,425 which would exceed the minimum. And one school that has already done this in Indiana is Ben Elementary and I believe their hours is the same as what our proposal is also. So the house enrolled act 10003 provides flexibility waiver pathway for innovation. So that would be if if this ended up progressing further uh and and it was voted on to at a

089later date to go like yeah we're going to try this. We would have to do a flexibility waiver send it to the state. So we would have to wait on their approval. So they could be even after we send the waiver they say no back to starting over. So it's not a for sure thing at any point. >> Just going off what Mr. Morg just mentioned. I I could be mistaken this, but I believe I read you have a 28 day period if you they want extra documentation or something additionally provided to resubmit that. And I I know a big concern that a lot of parents might have is a child care challenges. So, Noble County has only 120 existing child care slots. Also, distance barriers. Many providers are 10 to 15 miles from Mobile.

090Those geographic challenges compound rural child care shortage. uh central Noble's daycare expansion and strategic partnerships would definitely be essential in order to make this implementation successful. So just some benchmarking of success stories here in Indiana and Lafayette Indiana bin elementary they have a pilot of 430 students and what they saw when they imple implemented the 4-day school week was a 15% more student intra district transfers and then 5% increase in enrollment. Uh Ben's inaugural Indiana pilot saw I learn ELA scores go up 3% with 43% of them being proficient and math 2.4% 4% with 41 being precision proficient excuse me with 95% of student family retention uh in an NWA 2025 survey showed that when you have u daycare and and having options in place for the parents typically you get about 84% of parents

091that support it I think uh not too surprisingly 95% of the kids supported you know which being a being a teacher when they saw the the board agenda go out there was a lot of questions to today. So, they they would be excited for that opportunity. Um, estimated again 100 175,000 potential savings for our district. And one thing that's really interesting as we look at the research is across the board there is a consistent pattern. So when you when you go from a fiveday school week and you switch to hours and you go to four, what you will see is typically financial savings plus improved staffing and more stable academics are in a lot of cases the rule sayings improved academics. So how does it compare to out of state uh schools that have already

092gone to this model? Uh, one thing that's really interesting is even though there's only one school in Indiana currently, it's not uncommon in other states, uh, especially some out west. I know Texas has quite a few schools that do this also. Um, oddly enough, when there was students asking me about this today, one student said he came from a Texas school and they had a 4-day model. I asked him, you know, how how he liked it and how his grades were. He said that his grades were better on the 4-day model and he liked it better. Uh, but average fiscal savings of 0.42 4 2.5% and you can even have up to 5% maximum. Again, this all comes from reducing utilities and transportation stable again stable improved student outcomes when hours are preserved and recruitment

093boost 10 to 20% in similar schools. And one thing about them just looking at from the last slide there test scores and things I think they mirror you know our student body pretty well also. So I believe this model provides a lot of opportunities uh for our school here and you look at financial of course the 100,000 175,000 saved uh academic stable to improved test scores increase in staff uh retention uh is innovative one thing that the state of Indiana looks for when you have to apply for the waivers they want an innovative approach so having perhaps extended block time or project based uh learning will health rule needs and it also boosted engagement 15% for bookings 2022 also will help fit this innovative requirement uh with the community this this fits you know Albian

094Indiana central home schools it fits with the rule of life you know those that like to hunt do 4 or farming help with their family have an extra day will provide them the opportunity and again typically when there is child care support in place or some kind of opportunity for the kids to be involved in a program on Mondays. Uh typically 60 to 70% of parents are um in support of this. And you know one way to look at this also because our hours are maintained it's not going to be less school necessarily for the kids. It's just on Mondays it could provide opportunity for additional learning. Maybe you know a student's struggling with math or English or whatever subject it might be that Monday they might be able to go to um some community

095support and get extra tutoring services and get extra support with their academics that a five-day week wouldn't traditionally provide. [Music] So the so this does support central noble's mission through nutrient environment high expectations and having our community ties and for the future of the strategic plan of certain schools. So child care solutions I know there's a lot of options opportunities for child care. Uh one possible uh proposal could be to have the descent onsite slots of academic enrichment for the students. Research shows that this can improve academic performance with studies indicating gains of one to two grade levels in subjects like math and reading when support is consistent. It also boosts confidence and motivation as students receive tailored feedback to progress which can reduce dropout rates especially in rural districts like central noble where resources

096might be limited. Additionally, it enhances problem solving skills and prepares students for standardized tests aligning with the goals like maintaining island benchmarks. There's also partnerships uh that currently has and more that could be explored. So, of course, a YMCA partnership uh church collaborations and our existing daycare that we that we have and also coordinating with others like Trinity Daycare ministry and other current providers. So, just to kind of address some of the concerns that might be raised with with the changes, change is never easy. Um, but academic concerns are mitigated by preserving instructional hours and rule success data. Juvenile crime risk are minimal in rural context and would be addressed through structured Monday program programming. Parent support again typically 60 to 70% approval when childcare solutions are in place. Community engagement is essential for addressing

097the remaining 30 40% of concerns. And I think one important aspect is just being very proactive with communication just like tonight. Um and having a good strategy in place that will build trust and acceptance within the community. So, one thing to note about uh implementing this process and applying for the state waiver is Crawford County, they they applied for this waiver in 2025. And one thing that they did not do is they did not uh go to a uniform schedule. So, they wanted I don't know if it was the elementary to have a traditional school week and the high school to have a 4 day week or if it was opposite, but it wasn't uniform. And this actually violated India's uniformity requirement for school calendars. So if this uh decision would be something that would

098want to be explored and implemented, it would have to be across all grade levels to to satisfy um Indiana code. Uh the state approval denied for inconsistent implementation. CNCSC must adapt unified Tuesday Friday schedule across all grade levels. Eagle compliance requires districtwide consistency, not grade level variations. So, what I'm proposing tonight would be a three-year pilot program framework. So, starting off tonight with the board discussions and then in the winter of 2025 2026, submit a HA 103 flexibility waiver application. Spring 2026, uh, seek state board of education approval. Summer 2026, finalized calendar and logistics for August 2026 start. And then having a three-year pilot, you know, this would give us the opportunity to to look at the data and evaluate, you know, whether this is a a decision that we would want to continue with

099or we want to go back to the traditional fiveday school. Uh just a little bit more about the state waiver requirements. Uh one thing that the state will be looking as far as benchmarking if we would decide to do this this option you want to maintain or improve student academic performance such as I learn benchmarks have established childcare partnerships including safeguards for all students for that Monday address specific community needs cost savings teacher retention provide equivalent instructional time through extended daily hours or minutes and demonstrate innovation with data driven rational rationale and a monitoring plan. So my overall strategic recommendation uh for tonight would be to survey the stakeholders, the teachers, the parents and students and anyone that might be impacted by this change. You know, you got to look at the workload, transportation, extra

100extracurricular impacts and see what the input of everybody is. Establish a comprehensive child care partnerships before implementation. I think a lot of the hesitation that could arise from this is just the uncertainty of where their child will go on a on a Monday. Um I guess my personal push back would be is that you know that I understand that concern and that is you know legitimate concern but there was a bad weather day and there's a cancellation you know the parents would have something in place and you know the summer breaks with the 10 weeks that were off the parents find a solution or holidays. So, I think I think a big piece of this is just making sure that we give parents and families adequate time to prepare and have a plan in place

101that they're comfortable with. Um, and again, I I propose a Tuesday through Friday schedule just because I think it's it would allow uh staff members and students to not to miss as many days of school with doctor appointments, especially uh apply for HA 10003 flexibility wer application. And then I know one thing that's been addressed tonight is the new state requirements for the teachers to have a minimum salary of 45,000. Hopefully some of these savings could be reinvested to help meet that requirement with teacher compensation. Uh implement rigorous three-year evaluation with annual state reporting maintaining continuous communication throughout pilot period. So, I'll just conclude with saying, you know, I know at times changes can be challenging and especially small rules rules change isn't always easy, but with the current financial restraints that that we're facing

102and with all the positive outcomes that that can result from this, I think it would be something that would be interesting to explore. >> Thank you. Anybody have any questions? So, I think I'll just add a few things to that. one uh just to address I don't we've heard it going around that that Centronobyl is closing. We're not closing like we are far from that. That is started somewhere. I don't know where. Do we have to look at some different options? Yes. But you're going to see other schools that are going to be in the same boat in coming years. Uh know this isn't just a small school problem. Right now Northwest Allen is going through they're a huge school and they're going through a referendum as well for the some of the same reasons.

103So, uh, a lot of what Senate Bill One has done to not only schools, but community government, to cities, to counties, uh, the implications of that are going to start taking effect, and it's not just a small school issue. It's going to be everywhere. So, for one, we're trying to get ahead of some of that. U, but, you know, we we're going to talk about a little bit later after this about the primary building and what options there are for that, too. Uh, I know there's two ways for schools to bring in money. Referendums or up your enrollment. U, we tried the referendum route. Now we're looking at options to up our enrollment. Um, because you can transfer some money from your education fund if your enrollment goes up and we have that to your

104operations to help cover some of the losses that are going to happen. Um, we know they're going to happen because Senate Bill one. Uh, the one thing we can't do is is to do nothing. If we do nothing, we'll be in a lot bigger trouble. So, these are why some of these ideas were being presented and we'll do some further discussion. But I guess to the board if they have questions about what Mr. Stuck just presented. If we apply for this waiver, do we have to state that it's a three-year pilot? If if we try it for the first year, it's a total bust. Is is there a >> It would not have to be for like three years. So if you if it would be hey this isn't working you could go back to

105one thing I'll add that it wasn't included in the slides but uh with the workbased learning that the high school students do for graduation that Monday could also be used for students to get into the community and fulfill those requirements. So that was also something that I didn't include in the slides, but I think that's also a good opportunity there for our students here, especially if they need 650 hours. Working that Monday will or whatever day it is would help dramatically in >> and you said no sporting events on that day as well. >> Oh, I I would get the sporting like actual events off, but extracurriculars. Um, lots of the schools they have extracurriculars still from like 3 to six o'clock. The air comes on at 3:30, it goes off at 5:30. So, there's

106a two-hour window where because there's still things that kind of have to happen. >> So, there would be a short time where yes, there would be some of that, but it would be all extracurriculars, whether that's theater, FFA, band, whatever that would be. questions. Um, I really like the presentation. My one question I have is are students and staff only going the four days and if staff is not working five days, how is their compensation affected? >> So what by doing that if in the presentation where you said they're actually going the same amount if not more hours so the hourly rate is what would be affected. So they're essentially working the same amount. It's just in a shorter days. Does that make sense? So teachers only working seven hours five days a week and

107not working longer four days a week. Same with our IAS or >> but you can't make up for Monday in four days working an extra 45 minutes. >> We'd have to look at there would be some adjustments we'd have to look at. All we came up with was utilities and transportation as far as dollar savings, >> right? Because we haven't looked completely because we're waiting >> for some approvals to move forward with some of the stuff. >> What what we're putting in for the waiver, the waiver part of it is just taking us off at days. We still have to So you either have an option you go on days or you do hours. So we're just asking the state, would you not allow us to do days and switch us to an hour plan?

108Yeah. and said that's that's all we're asking the the the state for four days. >> Well, I'm just thinking that there would be savings in wages as well for less hours work. >> Well, but they wouldn't be working less. They would be working actually more than what we're currently working by about 3,000 hour to see what was that gave. Was that what it was? 3,000. Uh, so that was the the minimum requirement hours was 64,800. The proposal is 67,2425 hours. Not sure how it would compare to what we're currently doing with the dates. We would have to look at the next meeting, come back with those numbers. >> We'll move on. >> Have a question back. Yep. Um, so you said for IA support staff they work longer hours like they would have a Monday

109off. Correct. Would that affect our benefits that we get based on? [Music] >> Y. >> So how does that work with school closings for the weather? Does that So typically they will then move to like in March all the Mondays in March would be makeup days. So those if we those first like four or five days would go to those Mondays in March. >> Yes. >> 345 to make up those hours. >> Did you have a question? >> Me? No. I was just saying her, but I am I mean I'm concerned as a parent of young children like where I'm going to find child care and then maybe not it maybe it's not every week. Maybe it's if we're going on a Monday then I I don't know my daycare I have to be there

110and I pay for when I'm there. So to find somebody and I know a lot of people are in the same boat trying to find where my kids going to go. I mean mine's eight but I'm still not going to let her stay at home all day. So but yes, but I'm saying like I'm I'm in this though because I'm a teacher, but other people that aren't teachers are going to be scrambling trying to find because I know that our Trinity and our BLC isn't going to just take in all these kids. I don't and I don't know what these other community partnerships are. >> So I say on Venton on Venton Elementary's website they said through surveys they've identified like 300 kids who were parents that said they would need daycare and I think

111if I remember correctly they said like 22 actually took advantage of it. So they offered it and only 22 took it. Yes, they offer only 22 tickets. >> Hey, Robbie, what was what did you say about the 22 >> on Venton at Venton Elementary? Um, the elementary that is in Indiana that is doing it, they had through surveys like 300 kids identified. I'd have to go look at the exact number. Um, but I want to say 22 students took advantage of that. Our families took advantage for 22 students. >> Just to clarify that 67,000 that's in minutes, not hours. Yes. Oh, yes. Sorry. >> Good question. >> Just bring in your sleeping bag. >> You're going to make Jeff retire early. >> I actually I have one. Um I don't feel that this is a

112concern or not, but with the extension of the school day, how early are sporting events for students? Would they be missing part of the school day or anything like that? >> No, they would adjust. They would have to adjust times. Currently our buses like for middle school events really can't leave much before 4:30 anyways. So >> most junior high events are 5:30 or 6 o'clock start time and most varsity events are 7 o'clock start time 6:30 or 7. >> I don't know if it's an option too. You know if we can plan for it you know I don't know if you have friends that you know could help out on those days as well. I just know the only way I survived as a parent going to college was friends. Hey, I I got to

113do this. Can you keep the kids? And then, you know, she'd give her kids to me when when we did that. So, I I don't know if everybody has that option or relationship, but um I hope that if if that is something that is considered, you know, community members can come together for each other too and and not rule that out as an option. Could you open um so the extension of the CNA here, could you open that additionally for one day staffed by maybe students that are getting you know trying to get their hours to complete their track staff by students? >> There are I think there I think there are definitely options. We haven't dug that far into it but definitely there are options for that. Yes. Um, okay. So, out of some

114of the conversation that we've had up to this point, um, there's been comments about Central um, staff itself was losing child care for their own um, children. And I know we've talked about the issue of child care being concerned. Um the statistics from the county is 60 to 70% of parents have both working parents or they're still working at home. So I want that on everyone's radar as they make a decision. And I know myself I work in a facility that's 20 miles outside here and I know of two families that working in that facility that would be impacted that make them my job partner to get people to work um in the event. So I I want to make sure that the businesses of the county area are also managing or looking at their

115impact and what this for their employees as well. Um but honestly you know the childare I I appreciate everyone coming to the solutions that's a big thing. It's a business and we have to make sure that we're making good decisions that support their kids as well as our community. Um, but as we do that, I'm wondering if we can consider with these types of kids and hearing from some other courses and enrolling the kids into something along those lines that maybe leverage on those Mondays that could help support um because I historically I have taken advantage of the YMCA which has been very unreliable with staffing and I could see that as becoming a potential issue as well moving forward getting people staff something like that. It's not going to change a safe course for

116our kids to maybe take advantage of that. >> All right. Thanks. Got one more one more back. >> Is it possible to do like a hybrid version of it where it's not four days every week or it's kind of back and forth for child care whether I'll let Mr. Morgan, but with the waiver I believe it has to be uniform. >> I think it has to be uniformed with the waiver. I don't know that for a fact, but I think their big thing is they look at uniformity as it goes through. So, >> okay. So up next would be if we looking at options um and we decide we're going to stay the way we are 5 days not going to change anything then what to do with the primary building we know we have

117to we have to do something um to be able to save I think Kim has some um rough estimates on what it would be if we moved the last two grade levels over But we run into this. We have to do something with the primary building. Uh we we have some options where we could move all of our daycare and our YMCA out there. Um the daycare would be self- sustaining and actually bring in a little bit of money if we open to the public. Um the whole entire building would not be used. So, it would be lend itself to if we wanted to um have some CTE programming or uh that brings in some money or co-op programs um that can save us some money. Um there's just some different ideas, but I think

118Kim has um some things. One of like we talked about earlier is that we can't stay the way it is and not do anything because we have these looming cost expenses coming up. So, we're going to have to do something. Um, what that is, I'm not sure. Um, we are in this awkward stage of we're almost too small to keep it open, but we get a couple housing divisions, which I think there is one coming down the pipe maybe. Um, like 24 houses or so. Um, if something else will come in, but that's three to five years, but we have to focus on the now the next three years. Um, so we have to make some some decisions on where we're going to start moving towards. So Tim, if you want to give some of

119that. >> I don't have a ton of data here because we do have a lot up in the air. So I'm hoping if you guys have some things tonight that you say, "Yep, we want to explore this more," then we dig into that a little bit more. But with the savings that we kind of talked or with the utility spending that we talked about with the primary again that was 101,73248. Um if we would do something like um a 4 day week we could probably anticipate um I think they said up to about a 25% just kind of utilities um savings over there. uh if we would want to potentially move the daycare and YMCA programs out there and then not use part of the building, we could see potentially a 50% utility savings from

120what we're seeing now. Um so those just those alone, I guess a 50% savings alone would be about $50,868624. Um, with moving everyone to the elementary, again, kind of how we what we stated earlier, we do have enough space at this time with enrollment as is. Um, but like Robbie just said, we're kind of in this weird limbo if we get too many more kiddos. We're right on that cusp of still needing the space of the primary. Um, so it's hard like in my position, it's hard for me to say, you know, we vacate the building and then two years down the road we get this housing and we have all these kiddos that that we need to educate. Um, and doing a referendum for a brand new building construction at this point would be

121very costly. >> I think you're even to add on to Albian, I mean, you're probably looking at 40 to$50 million just just to add on. So, um, the one thing if we would move over, we're going to have to find some other uses that doesn't cost the corporation as much that provides some cost savings. Um, because, you know, like 40 $50 million referendum just is that would be astronomical. Um, it's not feasible. But at the same time, we can't just close it down because if we do, we'd have to prove it out for sale. um and any other educational I guess entity that would want to come in. So whether it was a charter school, private school, um whatever that would be could purchase it for a dollar. So they would have time to do

122that. Now if no one tried to purchase it, then you after I think 60 or 90 days, you could then offer it for sale. But again, I don't know that we sell it because if we do get some housing to come in and we need it, we need to have that option. So, >> and we do I mean we would definitely we would have some shuttle um pay that we or shuttle transportation savings that we would have right off the bat. There could be some um positions that could be combined moving over to the building, but we would still have the same amount of kids that we have now. So, the anticipated savings from combining wouldn't necessarily be a lot from the payroll aspect of things. um just because we are still educating the same

123amount of students. >> So I talked with I've recently this summer talked with um a gentleman in our community who kind of goes in and finds cost savings within corporations. And the one thing that he said to me that stuck out was you can't cut your way to a savings. We've kind of cut as much as we can. So now we've got to look at different ways to raise funds. Like I said with schools, it's referendums up in your enrollment or shuttling around to moving some things to not use as much of our operations. So um we got a giant task on our hands. >> You said utility cost for that annual 100 to 115,000. >> Yeah. And we could say potentially 50% of that >> if we go to >> and that's still utilizing

124>> earning >> and say 25% if we go to the 4 day week. >> Yep. >> So that would go down to 75 or 80. >> So I think if we went to a 4 day week knowing that on average you get a 5 to 10% uh increase in your enrollment. Um, I think typically that's at higher at the junior senior high level than the elementary, but it would provide us five to 10%. You're looking at 55 to 110 kids possibly uh at about $7,000 a piece. You're looking at close to 700,000 or more. Well, >> yeah, that's at the top end or 300 almost 400,000 at the low end. So that could be generated um if we did if you if we decided to go the 4-day model um which could then possibly keep

125the primary open for at least a year till we saw what the enrollment did. If enrollment stayed stagnant, we'd have to then look at it a year from now like move everyone over if it if we did get 55 to 100 students depending where those go. Like that's the problem there. It's not we can't say, "Okay, they're all going to be at the junior high." It it's going to be spread out. So, we'd have to look at uh grade levels and and probably cap some of those that are lower grades because we couldn't take on 150 kids at a grade level. It' be great, but we just don't even with both have the room for that. From what I'm hearing, it's not feasible to go to a 4 day week and close down like because

126you don't have to put the child care. We need the child care, especially if we close go to 4 day week and we need that building the space here for the students. If we go if we bring them over here, if we go to a 4 day week, we still have to have the daycare. Well, we would still probably want to keep the primary as is just because of enrollment like looking at if we get an influx of enrollment, >> right? which by keeping it open, if we wouldn't get an enrollment or we do stay five days and don't move people over and try to get some cost savings and that's really going to eat into any new monies that we would get that would then ultimately go on to like salaries and anything like

127that. It just wouldn't be anything. We have some this year because of the cuts that we've already made, but that would essentially be absorbed by the losses from >> But either way, if we keep building, we're going to have to do geothermal roofing >> at some point. >> Is that right? At like what is some point? Three to five years, one to two years. We're starting next week. What are we looking >> I can't tell you the roofing? We can give a more accurate, but the geothermal is I mean it could last 10 more years it could go out in six months like >> we just know that what what they were originally told so none of us were here when it was originally put in but they were told that it was like a

12815 to 18 year kind of lifespan on it and we're starting to reach that we do have some issues with it periodically that do get fixed but for how long that can go on I don't know >> what what is the estimated cost for for that? Do we have we even looked at that? >> We haven't looked in gotten that far yet, but to put it in it was over a million years. >> Yeah. 15 to 18 years ago. So, it's definitely gone up just like everything else. I can say I'll tell you it's not going to be cheaper than >> and we >> we kind of Robbie and I had a talk today that you know maybe geothermal maybe it's not replaced with geothermal >> right popular stoves and everybody cuts firewood >> got

129it in dollars 15 years ago you can't >> and and but again if we got rid of the geothermal and replaced it there's more cost associated with that those wells. >> I think there's 45 wells >> and they all have the glycol in them. So then you have to have that removed and that's not cheap either. >> Those walls have cost. >> So those are all things I guess that we need to start thinking about looking at for for our next public meeting. You guys have any other questions or discussion on that? >> Is it is it a fair assessment to say that probably the decision on Wolf Lake might hinge on the 4 day week? >> Is it either or or do you vote for? That's my question. Is it either or a 4

130day week or Wolf Lake or is >> I think we want to do one at a time. um to see >> well one of them saving us anywhere from 100 to 175 grand. I'm hearing 50 to 75 grand more get twice the savings. >> Well do a week. What's the soonest possible time we can actually >> uh apply and see what happens. So if if eventually after the next work session and you wanted to do it um and Mr. St. correct me if I'm wrong, we would apply start like in Decemberish they would review it in the spring so we know in the spring whether that passed or not. Um if it didn't then you have a like 28 day window to fix anything that they had questions about to see again. And if we

131did that, Robbie, we would have some kind of uh uh help. I guess that's the other thing. So, if we go to a 4 day week, then that fifth day, we've got babysitting issues for tons of people. That's where we would have to, if we started going that way, we'd have to start looking at partnerships with with our own daycare, with YMCA, with uh high school students, like however we can try to help offset some of that >> and we get a better feel after a survey that will be sent out to feel how many Yes. possible that would affect. >> We can have a survey go out later this week to staff and parents. um that would just get some data collection that we could bring back um at the next public work session

132>> in the micro school that would not be at Wolf Lake because because of issues with like uh college courses and stuff. Um I mean they would they would >> I mean given the choice we house it in our building so direct access to regular education classrooms we can't make decision authoriz so that if you would want us to move forward to do a survey we can get that survey completely together and get it out sometime this later this week, early next week. And then we'll have to we could have those survey results at the next >> starting based on what the community feels like on uh all these issues. >> Yes, sir. >> Could I just ask Beth if you could do a micro school four days a week? >> She already said you

133could. >> Yep. You were playing with your camera while you said >> your picture. >> This isn't his good side. >> That's so so it is feasible to That's >> Heather. Sorry. >> Okay. >> I think there are some things we'd have to think about like impact that would be a fiveday rethink. There would still if kids chose to be an impact, they would have to know that they would still that morning or workbased learning which lots of them be already on the workbased >> learning part of it. >> But the the impact would not be an issue because >> days off if somebody cancels, somebody doesn't, we still have to go anyhow to impact >> unless it's seasonal. >> Unless it's Yeah. [Music] That's next on the agenda. >> Good. >> I think so.

134>> Ready? >> Let's do it. >> Thanks for hanging in there. A little longer than we've expected here. Uh but we'll go to public comment. As a reminder, comments remain respectful focused and centered on long-term success of the district. And while your input is valuable and carefully considered, this portion is not intended intended for open dialogue or debate. Comments uh per board policy are limited to three minutes with a maximum of 20 minutes overall unless our board would choose to extend that time frame. We currently have 12 people signed up. It would be 36 minutes. Would you guys like to extend that so that everyone can speak? Yeah, I think that would be fair. >> All right, you'll be called on in the order that you signed in and then if you go over yours

135three minutes, I will cut you off. >> Sorry. >> I have to. All right. First, we'll have Rachel Guster. And if you guys could go to the microphone, unless you feel like you can project your voice, that's fine. My name is Rachel Kuster. Is that her? Okay. Um and this is Jacqueline Simon. She's my daughter. Um and she's a student here. And I want to say that um this morning, I think was it this morning or? Yeah, this morning she went to school uh balling and begging not to go. Uh she does that several mornings a week or a month probably. um and begs us not to go because she feels that she can't. Um she has a panic disorder and is terrified of the school building and of the school environment. Uh when I

136told her about the um the meeting I had with Mrs. lemon and the micro school idea. I saw hope and uh joy about the possibility of school and learning in her eyes for the first time since she's been in school. Um she said I told her not to get her hopes up and she said they're already up. Um, and that she that she desperately she didn't say desperately, but she I saw that she desperately hopes that this idea will be tried and implemented. Um, my uh companion and I feel the same. Uh, that is an idea that I feel like will work for Jacqueline in a way that traditional schooling has not um for various reasons. healthwise and um with situations with other kids at the school. Um and I just wanted to come tonight

137and support Miss Flynn and and support the idea and support the board in being open to that idea. I really appreciate your willingness to hear that idea. Um and I I wanted to say we have we have looked into homeschooling. We have looked into private schooling. We have looked into any other option. We don't want to have her sitting in front of a She goes to school half days now. We don't want to have her sitting in front of a computer all day long, which is what a lot of us schooling options have turned out to be. Um, and we can't afford private schooling. This is what we want and need for our daughter's education. I am convinced. Please, please, please be open to this idea. [Music] Um, as my mom said, I am Jacqueline

138Simon and I am really hopeful for this idea. Um, as my mom stated, I have panic disorder and it is extremely hard for me to go to school on a day-to-day basis and it's even hard for me to stay half day. And I just hope that you guys will really listen to what Mrs. Lemon has to say and hear her. [Applause] >> Right next we have Mary Ziggler. Uh Vicky Json. >> Hi, my name is Vicky Jalison. Um I'm a graduate of Centron Noble. We've had four students go through the center. for our four children through the center mobile school system. Um I played a lot of roles in the community and I want to share some of the ideas that I've had from those. Um as a parent, one of my greatest fears was

139having children who did not want to go to school. I loved school. I think it was more the social aspect than the ac academic. Um but we worked my husband and I worked very hard to help our children enjoy school and we think they got a good education at Noble. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Um, we have three grandchildren that will all come to Central Noble. Um, I have had hundreds of children in this community go through my home um for daycare. Many of them um I'm the last adult they see when they go out to school in the morning and the first one that they um like family that they return at the end of the day. And I think it's very important that I take part in that. One of my greatest

140accomplishments is when I'm remembered for graduation parties because that's been years after they're no longer in my home. But I feel that that um gives me a part of their education as they went along. And I heard Gabe um speak tonight and I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about, but when he brought up proactive communication as a parent, classroom teachers, communication was vital. That was the make it or break it for me as a parent what we got back from them and that goes to ad building administration central office and I want to talk a little bit about where that goes now. I know it's a very big disappointment to all of you in the school system that the referendum was voted against. But I'm here to tell you I am on

141this I am on the Albian school excuse me the Albian town council. I take that very seriously. Um, the town of Albian, I don't believe, has one person in our community that does not want a good education for our students. This is a very tight-knit community, but pro-communication, proactive communication can make or break it, lots of things. And I truly believe that's what hurt the referendum. I'm not to I'm not to criticize what was done and not done, but I just think that was a vital piece of why it was voted down. And a lot of people don't aren't educated, especially a lot of people made that vote that don't even have students in the school. I no longer have students in the school and I have grandchildren, but I don't always feel like I

142know what's going on either. Um, as a town council member, um, I'm asking you when you make major changes within the school corporation, please be proactively communicating with the community partners that you have and that is the town. A year ago, we had some bus changes in or the closing of Cougar Court that came to us after the decision was made and it made it much more challenging for us to be good partners. This year we had that with the loss of a bus route. I'm just asking that you please proactively communicate with all of those that you're partnered with that students, parents, the community. And I'm also um one other comment that I want to make. Um as a town council member, housing is very important in our community, but housing is not going

143to make or break this. We have farmers that don't want to give up their land. And where would we be if we didn't have farmers? you know, we can't go out and just pay any amount of money. We are very limited on how we can even try to get land or work with builders. We are doing a lot. It takes a lot of time. Um but but that is not the key answer to the challenges that we face not only as a community but as a school system. So, um I thank all of you. I know what it's like to have these positions that are usually not appreciated. Um, people have no idea the amount of time that you put into these things. I'm standing here. There's other council members. I see at least three,

144four of us total. I might be the fifth one. Um, we care about our community or we wouldn't be doing the same jobs that you're doing. But I ask that you work with everyone from parents all the way to the entire community proactively with good communication. Um, next is Jody Jordan. I'm not going to take a lot of time. This is a accumulation of many, many people as you can see. Um, first off, I just want to clarify a few things. I want to be able to put a few things together and send it to you so that you have it in front of you. Um, the one thing that we talked about if we close Wolf Lake is that we'd have room for three teachers per grade level, three sped rooms, two open rooms

145for specials. Right now, if you would do that, we were going to have over about 30 kids per classroom. I don't know if you're aware of um how many kids we have per class right now, but that it would be increasing those numbers. And as an educator, and I love my kids. I love what I do. It just can be a lot. It can be a lot. When you start getting those numbers up and up and up, it increases. And if our enrollment goes up, which I'm hoping does, I I would see us having close to 30 kids per class. And I think that's a concern if we close the primary school is one of our biggest concerns. And um I would like to bring to you a possible nature um micro school that we

146could do through Wolf Lake at Wolf Lake Primary. And we want to know several of us have one other one other question here. Somebody wrote um they want to know if it's are we able to fund raise at this point if we would come up with some things and brought it to you for some major fundraising. We've had lots of people approach us and um wanted to know if that would be possible or even write grants to help offset some funding. I mean, we could we could take fundraising and we can absolutely write grants. Um, those things are always options. I will say some of our some of our grant funding right now is challenging. Um, so if there are grants out there that can be applied for, absolutely send them our way. um and

147fundraising that that can be tricky because if you're needing, you know, a h 100,000 up to 300,000 to help fix our operating budget, that is hard to fund raise. >> Um so while the answer is yes, we can do those things, it's challenging to do those things. >> I just know that this has been brought to us and brought to us and so I guess I got nominated. for for clarifications. Are you offering to fund raise or expecting these people to do more fund? >> Um, no. Well, no. I No. >> Um, it would be a community type of thing, >> but you're not asking more out of these folks. >> You folks, >> not us. The administrators you get, you're offering to help with that or whoever is in your list. not you particular,

148but >> yeah, I've got all kinds of stuff like suggestions and ways that we can fund raise and maybe even consider other ways and like I said, I will take this up very nicely because I don't I would you don't want to see my chicken scratches and other people giving me things. So it would be all put together to you with some ideas that us as the educators here in our corporation and community members have brought to myself and to other people thinking that they they want to help. They want to do more and I think this is something that we could do and together we can do. >> Type it up and send it to us. >> Please type it up, send it to us. >> Okay. Absolutely. Thanks. All right. Next is Corey

149Ston. Good evening board members. Um, if you don't know me, my name is Corey Ston. I served as try to slow down. I served as a special education prior professional here at Sentinel for three years. I'm also the wife of Pastor Ben, who happens to be the district's only active substitute bus driver and who actively leads our church to serve and support this school district. We've had two children graduate from Central Noble, including my oldest who had a 504 plan. and we currently have two students still attending the district who are in our high ability program. I share this with you so you understand my heart for this district not just comes from the outside looking in, but from my deep connectedness as a parent, former staff member, I'm part of a family that still

150serves here. I understand the financial pressure that the district is in and I can see how a 4-day work week in a school week might look like a solution on paper, but I worry deeply about the students who will pay the greatest price if we move in this direction. Many of the children I worked with came from lowincome homes. School was not just about academics. It's not just about numbers. It was where they received stability, meals, structure, love, and a sense of belonging. And my favorite thing was hallways. For them, removing one day of school each week just isn't about taking away class time. It isn't about saving money. It's taking away support, consistency, sa, and safety. There are very those are the very students who need us most to show up five days a

151week. I also need to speak on behalf of the staff who I still love who serves these children every day. One of the reasons I personally left this district was due to low compensation I received as a pair professional. Pair professionals are among the least compensated employees. And if their hours are cut further, how many more good ones will we lose? They are the people who walk alongside our most atrisisk students and they deserve stability as well. I urge you to consider the long-term costs, not just the short-term savings. Saving money on the budget cannot come at the expense of our students academic growth, social development, and basic needs or at the expense of the very staff who support them. I truly thank you for your time and please know that I pray for every

152one of you by name because these are difficult choices that you have to make. [Applause] >> Thank you. >> Um next is Jonathan Sieber. >> Okay. Um Anna Glowinsky. Ashley Ladic. >> A lot of um some of my questions were answered which I am very grateful for. Um but this is my first school board meeting. Um but I've attended board meetings for my hospital multiple times as well as IRB meetings. So, I know what is discussed here is high stakes, very emotionally charged, um really hard decisions and I respect the work that you all are doing as well as the speakers that brought um solutions to the table um because they're not easy decisions to make and we've got to make moves and I understand that. Um my child isn't in this district. um I

153choose to bring her here because not only um is this a legacy for us um but it's because I believe in this community and I believe in this school and I believe in the people in this room. I just want my feedback to just be heard. Um, my thoughts are coming from a desire for transparency from this team and this group. Um, and that we are looking at the input from those most impacted. There's no such thing as too much communication. If I know nothing from being in healthcare, there's no such thing as too much communication. And I think that's something that we can work on as a as a whole. I'm asking this group to leverage the talent of this community and the strengths of the teachers, administration, and board members in this space.

154And I think with that, we can come up with a viable solution that will provide the least amount of impact, negative impact on the community and keep our kids in this school because this really is the best place to be. Thank you. Next would be Scott Hy. >> Uh Scott Ziggler. >> Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity to be here. I'm a 1986 graduate of Central Mobile Cougar and uh appreciate everything that that the board does. Um, I'm an engineer by trade, lambs of air technically, but still in the engineering field. And one thing that that a couple things that engineering has taught me is one, I never like uh the word no. There's there's always a solution uh to problems. Scott can maybe attest to that, too. I mean, there's as engineers, we we

155pride ourselves in the fact that we can solve problems. And I mean, for goodness sakes, we put a man on the moon, right, with slide rules. We can certainly solve uh a 4 day work week or you know micro schools or whatever and understand that there may be you know issues with that but I think we can solve those. Um I'm also an old township trustee and I think it's imperative that we do everything we possibly can to keep Wolf Lake open. I think closing Wolf Lake is going to have a very negative impact on the community certainly on Wolf Lake and I think could be a nail in the coffin the school district. I think with Northern Heights only a couple miles away from Noble Township, we could easily see, you know, students from

156the southern part of Noble Township moving over to that school. So, I think we need to be very, very creative in trying to attract students. Your two proposals here tonight, I think, excellent. Uh, the 4 day week and the micro school. I support the micro school 100%. We homeschool our oldest four kids. I think, you know, there's a lot of advantage to small school situations that have uh that are very attractive to parents. And I think um both of these proposals not only save money, but they bring revenue in. And I think you need both of those to survive. So I I would very strongly encourage you to pursue both of these with open minds. Find out what those problems are, the issues that parents might have with daycare. Uh shoot try to involve the

157community. Maybe churches can get involved. People volunteers, whatever. There's got to be a solution to finding daycare for these people one day a week if if the four day is as advantageous as as what it appears. And I all the research I think is supports that as well too. Micro schools, I'll do whatever I can help Heather on that. I think a great great idea from a business standpoint. I think anything we can do to get our kids more educated and more prepared to go into the workforce is going to be great from employment. I work a lot of manufacturers in in Lake Grant County. There's they're hunger hungry for people to come out of these schools that can be plugged right into their operations. they're willing to work with schools uh all across the

158board. So, I think there's a lot of community support out there for this. So, I just encourage you I think as business leaders are more than willing to to be supportive of of solutions for this. We want to see something mobile open and uh do everything and keep both open as well too. So, thank you. >> Great. And our last person will be Chris Magnus. Last but certainly not least. >> Hello, Chris Madison, town council woman. Okay, I'll make this so brief. Bonding. I don't know if school bonding is like municipal bonding, but the the you know the the lawyer fees and all that is so unbelievably high. I don't know if it's like that municipally if if it's like that for the school, but it is extremely um expensive from the municipal side in

159the fees for doing that for bonding, but I don't know how it is for you guys. But you said, Robbie, about you guys did get some lit money and you're you're going to lose that in 28 just like we are. How much was that again? >> Just under 200,000. >> 200. >> Well, we're we're in that vote too with you. >> So, there is some legislation that they're looking at going back and fixing that, but I don't know. And that's good. >> Well, Carol Carol Felby, our clerk treasurer, says that we can petition the county annually for that, but you have to adopt every year during your budget process. Correct. >> Right. If the county adopts a rate, we have to do it annually and we have to petition them annually. >> So, I don't

160I'm not sure. We'll look into it. We know that that was part of it, but I don't know that that's an option for schools. >> But if you don't adopt it and you don't petition them, your amount's always going to be zero. >> What I'm saying, I don't think they let schools do that. Did you let city government? >> Well, actually, it says here on this thing that I just looked up, >> it says nonmunicipal units under 3500. Um, uh, population, you would be a non-municipal unit. Can petition the county for the dollars? We we'll look into it. I I don't believe it's for schools, but we could be wrong. We'll look into >> Well, it says non-municipal unit. So, says you could do it annually if the county adopts a lit rate. So, a

161first they have to adopt it, right? I'm encouraging you to do it. Okay. So, we're going to do that. Also, are you going to entertain another referendum or are you going to give up? I don't know how much the last one cost you, but you know, I think if people I think if a if you would have been informed correctly the first time, I think you might have been misled a little bit from the county's point on what you could and could not do, what the cost was and things like that. and that I think if the public would have been more informed, I think you might have had better results. Okay, that's just my own opinion. So, I'm encouraging you not to give up. And I think that's it. And no applause necessary. [Applause]

162All right, that concludes the public comment. Thanks for your participation. This went a little bit longer than we had expected, but I think it was productive. Um, next steps will be our business office going through things. Robbie, do you want to give a quick summary or Kim look at some of the numbers that they had asked for. We'll look at the survey to go out to staff and parents um with that and then probably we'll talk more with Miss Lynn a little bit further in depth. We'll come back and talk about those results and that stuff and November 3rd >> November 3rd be >> Not October 6th. >> I had all the things in my calendar. That one was wrong. >> You have a question? >> Yeah. Will this survey um have questions on it

163that will be pertinent to people who aren't staff or don't have children? Because I know when the town recently did one like on our building on Orange Street, um people who maybe don't reside in Albian, but they own a business in Albian, um like myself, I wouldn't have the opportunity to do that survey, but I don't know what kind of questions you're going to ask. So, I would encourage you if those questions are broad enough for people other than staff and parents, include the entire community. It's if it's out there and they opt not to do it, that's their choice. But so I don't know what kind of questions you're going to ask, but if it's things that >> other schools that have moved to it, what questions that they've asked of their parents community

164that you >> know more than one >> it takes a village and I know there are a lot of grandparents in this community that really want to be an active part of their grandchildren's education. We need to allow them to do that when they can. not be able to get it out and get it back. >> Right. Right. Here's an option. The town used that. >> She's assigning you work. How she did that? >> That's fine. You tell me the website too. If it's going to be on the website when it's on there, let me know. >> Thank you for wanting to help. >> Even after um I think that wraps everything up. We appreciate everybody being here this evening. Um as a reminder, no decisions were made tonight. This is just open discussion. A

165lot of work to be done and we'll come back again November 3rd here. If there's no other discussion from the board, Andy, you can go ahead and close this up. >> Meeting adjourned. 7:27P. Thank you. You just control deer.