001Welcome hot dogs to the December Community Schools of Frankfurt Town Hall. The superintendent town hall typically focuses on programs that and people who are moving the academic, behavioral, staff, student retention, athletic, and facilities needle. This month, I'd like to change the format of town hall in order to provide a public service announcement about our community schools of Frankfurt pre kindergarten programs that will take effect next school year. Why are we talking about this already this school year? We want to give parents time to plan and give us at Community Schools of Frankfurt time to plan for prek programming next year as we will begin charging parents for prek starting in the 202627 school year. There was no one better to talk about prek than assistant superintendent Mr. Eric Farley. Uh Mr. Farley, welcome back to
002town hall. You were on town hall earlier this year talking about a different topic. So, welcome back. Thank you. >> I'd like for our viewers, uh, Mr. Farley, can you give our viewers some information on the history of preK here in the Community Schools of Frankfurt? >> Sure. I I came back to Frankfurt about 12 years ago, and at that time, we had two developmental pre-K programs here. Uh, one housed at Blue Ridge, one housed at Sunrest. That program uh only uh service students who had special education services >> and those students were there two to three days a week for half day. Um, being at the time that I was the director of exceptional needs, I immediately wanted to move those kids to five days a week. Uh, because a big believer in early
003childhood programming and and really giving kids that long runway we talk about to support them along the way. Um, we were able to take a closer look at what's called Medicaid reimbursement dollars, which are services we provide kids that we can uh apply for to get reimbursement for. um we began billing for those services and as that money continued to bank in our system, we elected to look at a community prek program which only serviced four-year-olds that did not have a special education uh um services provided to them. So we began doing that. We also contacted the United Way at the time as well as some state grants and our center township trustee through that funding Medicaid reimbursement funding as well as the grants and services in our community. we were able to offer two
004additional community prek programs for free of charge to our community. Um, as we began to continue to do that, we h added two additional community prek programs. So, uh, all in all, we now have six programs, four of those which are our community prek programs and two of which are developmental prek programs housed at Blue Ridge and Sunrest. So, why are we now having to uh look at next year charging parents if we've had that kind of funding and community uh partnerships? So, why all of a sudden, I'm sure people are wondering why all of a sudden we going to have to pay. >> Sure. Well, I mentioned the grants and support from other agencies in our community. Unfortunately, those dollars have have run out and those grants have sunseted, so to speak. Um, additionally,
005our Medicaid reimbursement dollars, while we still do bill for those services, are unable to maintain the rate needed in order to support staff uh and continue to fund the program for free. >> Okay. Well, what will be the cost next school year and what will be the procedures for parents to make uh payments? >> Sure. So, the the cost we really looked at this is a nonfor-profit program. Obviously, this is really solely to support the staff uh that services the kids and teaches our our kids in those programs. So, um when you factor in those costs, we're looking at $25 per day per student. Uh the school day is a full day program like it is currently. It's 180 days just like any other K12 student here at the community schools of Frankfurt. So, uh
006that roughly comes out to about $4,500 a year. >> And in the past, we've started preschool about a week later. Will we be starting preschool still a week later or will it start the same day all the other kids start? >> No, sir. Day one like everybody else. >> Day one. Okay, great. >> Well, uh, viewers would like to also add before we go to a commercial break that at our December 16th board meeting, uh, I recommended the board to approve uh, a payment structure for prek. And so we'll have that posted in many different places. So, at this time, I'd like to take a commercial break. Uh, now for Eric Farley's Frankfurt fun facts. Enjoy. Welcome back to another episode of Farley's Fun Facts. This month, I'd like to discuss a staff member we
007have here at Frankfurt High School. His name is Albert Hendris. He's our new basketball coach for the Frankfurt Hot Dogs. Albert was a 1979 graduate of Frankfurt High School and also participated in basketball. Albert was a ferocious point guard for the basketball team and was a member of the 1978 regional championship team that went to semi-state. Albert participated in not only basketball, but also baseball while here at Frankfurt High School. We always love to see Frankfurt graduates come back to support our students and our community. Best of luck to Coach Hendricks and the Frankfurt Hot Dog basketball team this year. Have a great day, hot dogs. >> Welcome back, hot dogs. I hope you enjoyed that Farley Frankfurt fun fact. Uh, I have with me today Mr. Eric Farley, assistant superintendent for preK through 12th
008grade. He has provided us with valuable information about why we will need to start charging parents next year if parents want their child to attend preK in community schools of Frankfurt. Mr. Farley, you've mentioned developmental prek. Will will parents have to pay if their child is in a pre a developmental prek program next year? >> No. Developmental prek is our obligation as a school district to provide special education services and that is not something we would charge for. >> Okay. Thank you. >> How many students will we need per classroom to open up a prek classroom uh in a building? >> Sure. So, I mentioned that the funding is there to support staff and currently we have a one full-time licensed teacher per classroom as well as a pair professional. Uh, in order to do
009that, we need to take a look at about 22 students when we talk about $25 per day per student. So, currently, that's how many students are in our community pre-K classrooms, and that's what we want to continue to provide. >> Okay. Um, when do we need to make a decision about how many sections or classrooms we will have next year depending on our enrollment? Well, the important thing about us getting the message out now is that we'll need to make that decision by next April 2026 in order to be able to plan accordingly for for staffing and for the number of classrooms as well as the location where it'll be housed. Okay. >> Um, what do we need parents to do right now between now and and really kindergarten roundup that'll take place on March
01018th? Because when we say kindergarten roundup, we not only need kindergarteners signed up, but we need pre-k kids signed up, right? So, what do parents need to do between now and then to let the uh Sunrest and Blue Ridge know that they want their child enrollled knowing it's going to be a paid program? >> Yeah, they need to call Blige or Sunrest depending on where they're where they're located. If they're not sure uh which school their child is zone to, just call one of the schools and they'll let them know or they're feel free to look at our website or call our office. >> Okay. They can call you too then. >> They can call me too. Sure. A and when will parents then be informed about uh prek program once they're uh enrolled in
011that and if they've made it into a classroom? >> So, we'll start making calls in April and be talking about uh just payment structure, payment schedules, how they can make their payments uh and things of that nature. >> Okay. Well, thank you Mr. Farley for sharing the history of the community schools of Frankfurt prek program. It's been a it's been a wonderful program. the the structure of it will not change how valuable it is for kids to get in before kindergarten. Unfortunately, the state does not give us any funding for it. So, we can't offer that continue to offer it for free and not having the Medicaid money to pay for that anymore. So, after hearing about our uh prek programming, if you have a child who is uh going to turn four on or
012before August 1st, 2026, please reach out to Sunrest Elementary or Blue Ridge Primary to enroll your child in the 2026 2027 community prek program. At the Community Schools of Frankfurt, we work hard to be a positive impact for our parents, staff, students, and the community. This is why we want to bring this message to the hot dog community this month to give all stakeholders time to plan for a parent paid community prek program for the 2026 2027 school year. Signing off from the hot dog town hall at Frankfurt High School. Have a wonderful day and enjoy roaming with Roa. Hello, my name is Elijah, but I go by Eli. And I'm going to be doing a reverse roaming with Roa where instead of Dr. Roa asking questions, it's the students asking him questions. >> Enjoy
013this segment. We are going to have our first person to come up and ask a question to Dr. Roa. What is your question for Dr. Roa? >> Hi Dr. Roa. >> Hi. How are you? >> I'm good. How are you? >> I'm doing great. >> So my question is, what is the biggest complaint you've had and what was it about? The biggest complaint that I've had, I'd say probably one of the biggest complaints I've had would be I think I I get them throughout the year is when we have some issues where uh uh parents and a a principal um do not [snorts] see eye to eye when it comes to maybe a discipline that happened with a student in the school. And so they'll they'll call me or they'll call Mr. Farley and we'll
014all try to work that out together. But I I would say that that's the theme. Uh the other the other theme would be uh whether I uh call a delay or a closing or I don't call a delay or a closing on one of those snow days type days. That would be the other uh complaint that I get. So good question. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Uh state your name and ask your question for Dr. R. >> Hi, I'm Jackson. >> Hi Jackson. And I wanted to know, have you ever made a decision about the school that seemed really small at the time and then just backfired? >> Have I ever made a decision about the uh as superintendent or when I was as superintendent about the school and then it backfired? Uh I
015would say the um um a lot a lot of decisions that I make, we try to kind of talk through with those with multiple people before going live with those. But um I think when we were uh trying to go forward with looking at a balanced calendar for the whole school district and um it it it ne it didn't necessarily backfire, but we tried to go through with it uh pretty quickly and we had to kind of back off of it. And um while it would have been nice to go forward, it was a kind of decision that was made uh in not the normal timeline to kind of vet all of the different uh groups that need to go through for those. So yeah, that would be the one that I think has backfired
016on me since I've been here is trying to get a a balanced calendar put in place for the school district and it just didn't work out too well. Good question. >> What's your question for Dr. Roa? >> Hi. Uh I'm Ethan Gart. Hi Ethan. And uh I just want to know how that decision gets made for uh a 2-hour delay or a weather closing. >> Yes. Well, that's a that's a good question. There's not an exact science to it. Uh Ethan, uh there are different types of delays closings to consider. The one that worries me the most is that when it's not wintry season, the fog creeps in and gets in pretty quickly. So, if we've got less than a half a mile uh of visibility, then a delay is typically called on that. We
017have snow coming in tonight. So, the very first snow of the season came in and it and I usually make those calls. I work with a county superintendent. So, all three of our county superintendents plus Carol and Deli were all on a text message early in the morning. usually starts about 5:00 a.m. and we're all talking about how uh what everybody is going to do. We're able to get on and see INDOT, the trucks, take pictures of the roads to see what road conditions are like. So, with snow and ice, we're able to kind of get um hear from uh INDOT and see how the roads are that that we all talk about how our roads are. We're in town, so it's a different situation in town than it is in the county. the very
018first snow that came in at 5:00 a.m. there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground. So, we none of the schools in the county delayed or closed that day, but by the time 8:00 rolled in there, there was quite a bit of snow. So, that was um that was a call that had to be made early. Had it been snowing like that at 5:00 a.m., we would have had an easy delay that day. We're we've got snow coming in tonight and it could be anywhere from 1 to 5 in that starts snowing later. I we we all like to make a call in the evening. So we give you guys an opportunity to know give parents an opportunity to know so that they can make arrangements for the next day. So it just depends
019on when the snow comes down. We try not to make a decision until it actually hits because sometimes it can be predicted and not hit. We don't want to close school. I do not like two-hour delays because we don't kids can't get breakfast on two-hour delays. So I don't like making those, but I know that there are times that we have to do that. Uh, so that's the the Now the cold, it usually needs to be doubledigit um windchill in order to so I'm talking 15 to 20 below before we make a call on a delay or a closing. A lot of times with windchill it might be 15 below at 8:00 and it still is at 10. So it really doesn't do help with making a delay on that day. So usually on windchill
020for the most part it's either you go or you don't. and and that windchill. I use the National Weather Service to be able to I have a chart to show uh the actual temperature and the windchill and how long kids can be out before frostbite. And so we we've got about a timeline of about 30 minutes. So there's a lot of factors that go into it and it's not an exact science and kind of the last there there's sometimes you get burned on it but it's always trying to make a decision for kids safety. So, thank you for your question. >> Hi, my name is Ariel Cruz and >> Hi Ariel. >> Um, as somebody in the education department, you are promised to give us when we graduate an interview. What made you set up
021that organization into play? Well, at I Center Grove was doing something at the end of the year where they had all of their their graduates, they would give them some guarantees and kind of make a big deal about it because we get excited when kids want to want to go into education, especially public education. So, we kind of thought about what what what could we do here? Usually in education, you'll hear any teacher say that what we do is usually we beg for it, we borrow it, or we steal it. So, but we always give credit for it. So, I got that idea from Center Grove. They gave me the uh idea for it. A and so we thought, what could be our guarantees here? And our guarantees here is that we we want to
022bring hot dogs back into Frankfurt and uh people who want to be here and work here and love the town and love the kids here. And so, you know, we wanted to at least guarantee an interview. I can't guarantee a job because maybe nothing's open, but I can at least guarantee an interview. And so that's where that guarantee came from. Okay, good question. >> I'm Mr. Taylor. >> Hi, Mr. Taylor. >> Nice to meet you, Dr. Roa. >> Yes. >> Uh, this is a surprise question. Uh, but there's actually there's a lot of construction. The school is constantly growing. We're constantly building and new building new things. So, uh, just as a chance, is there anything that is coming that people might not know about that you'd like to brag about that we're going to
023do? And maybe and I don't know is there any breaking news here on Roman with Roa that you'd like to be like people don't know this but I am willing to share this today and I don't I don't know if there is but just throw it out there. >> Right. Thank you very much. Well I don't know that I have any breaking news today. I think what we're excited about is that we've got um we've been working with our uh financial advisor. They're the ones who come and tell us how much bond capacity we have to be able to spend on big projects. As you know, we've got the $25 million middle school project going on right now. Uh they just held another concert there the other night and just heard some beautiful singing and
024and music going on there. We're going to get a new weight room here for the high school. That'll actually start in March, the board meeting next week. The board will I'll ask the board to approve the design for it. So, we'll have a a new wait room and a new room where uh they'll be able to go watch film. So, that's pretty exciting. I think we're looking at improving our all of our athletic facilities outside. So, that's something that I I can't get in too much detail about it because I still need to work with the board and get approval for that because even though we have the money available, the board makes the ultimate decision whether or not we can move on it. Uh so, we we want to improve all of our athletic
025facilities. We want to make sure that all of our buildings are looking great. We've we re-roofed uh Blue Ridge Green Meadows last summer. We'll finish it up this summer. Uh we've got a brand new middle school. Of course, the high school was renovated back in 201819. A and uh Sunrest will get some some uh faceelift over time. So, we've got a lot of projects that will be taking place between now and 2031 that uh are really going to make all of our facilities look wonderful. >> All right. Thank you. >> Hello, Dr. Roto. I'm Mr. Ragsdale. >> Mr. Ragsdale, welcome. >> I enjoyed making these roaming with Roto videos with you and I just wondered what prompted you to want to do them because there's been a lot of superintendents in the past and never
026got engaged like this. What prompted you to want to do this with the >> uh Well, I originally wanted to do this because I wanted our whole community to see what a uh sometimes Frankfurt gets a bad rap. Like people think that stuff happens here uh that doesn't happen. And I wanted to be able to interview high school kids in the hallway uh unprompted so that people can see what a great group of kids we have here and and what a calm and peaceful place and orderly uh high school that we have. And so I thought what a better way to do that than to come to Frankfurt High School is where that's where we started this and and to ask kids questions and just be fun. Uh, and also I was an educator for
027about 20 years before getting the superintendent role, which I'm still an educator, but I'm not around kids every day. And so that gives me another opportunity to be around be around kids and talk to kids. So, thank you for your question. >> Hi, I'm Maggie. >> Hi, Maggie. >> And I would like to know, what's the experience like getting to interview high schoolers? >> The experience to interview high schoolers? Well, it's kind of interesting. I was just saying now that people know that I come and do this uh once a month. Uh two girls were talking before I came down here and one took off and I think she thought that I was going to ask her a question, but then I went by another group of guys on the corner and they're like, "Hey,
028can we get an interview today? Can we talk?" So, I it's exciting. It's nice to be able to do that. I I'm was an elementary principal for 18 years. I knew every kid's name in the school. They all knew me. Now, when I walk into buildings, that doesn't happen. So I don't have that daily relationship with kids and so it's neat to come to the different schools now because of doing this and have an opportunity to be a familiar face and not just a stranger danger in the building. >> I am uh Xander Ford. >> Hi Xander. >> Uh nice to meet you. >> Yes. Nice to meet you. >> My question is uh you know it's it's a world a nationwide thing of teachers in their budgets. a big controversial thing. Um them being,
029you know, paid, >> most people agree, not what they're working for, >> right? >> They're not making >> how much they think they should and how much I I agree >> they're not making as much as they should. How do you feel about that? And do you have any plans to remedy this? >> Right. >> Anyway, >> well, uh thank you for that question. I appreciate it. uh our our state legislature a and governor well first of all our state budget uh K12 education is uh 50% of the budget and there were a lot of pro programs across the state that got cut this year we were K12 schools were given 2% increase. So that 2% increase there are a couple things that happened. We want to give our teachers as much as we can.
030we but we we only can get what we get in and that 2% is multiplied times the number of kids in the district. We lost 120 kids this year. So, and that's not people graduating actually 120 people who were here in May and didn't come back in August. So, if you multiply 120 kids times $7,600, which is about what you get per kid, that's a lot lot of money that we lost, that could be going towards teacher pay. Yeah. >> So, how do we remedy that? Well, Mr. Taylor asked a question about facilities. We've got to we've got to be the the best at everything so that we we keep kids and we attract kids here. We've got to have great facilities. So, places that you just enjoy going to be be there from from
031our our academics to our athletics to our arts. We've got to I mean, we've got to have top-notch facilities. We also have to show on state tests that we're outperforming other people. uh people that uh when we're a district with high poverty and in high poverty districts, people often make the excuse that uh we can't we can't meet the the requirements, but we can we can exceed it. So, we've we've got to be able to have our athletics, our arts, and our academics far exceeding everybody else in great facilities because we lost 120 kids. >> Yeah. >> And that 2% increase that we got only went to paying for textbooks for for all of you. You get free textbooks. So that's a great thing, but that 2% couldn't even be used for salary increases. So
032we're on one respect, we can control who comes to school here and attract and retain. We can't we we don't have any control over what percentage increase that we get from our our [snorts] governor and our state legislature. That's where that's why we're we're in a democracy and it's important for kids to understand as well as adults. It's important to talk to your state legislature and our senate, right? Mark Ginda is our local representative and our state senator is Brian Buchanan. And it's important even as as kids to say, "Hey, we we we feel like it's important that teachers get very good good pay raises." So, it's important to be a voice for that. That's why we we live in a a beautiful nation where we we can we can say that, right? For the
033people, by the people. Good question. Do you do you have a question? >> I do have a question. Uh what improvements would you like to see here at FHS? At >> uh at FHS, it kind of piggybacks on Mr. Taylor's question. I I would like to see all of our facilities, our athletic facilities renovated. Uh that's from our football, track, baseball, softball. Uh so I'd like to see all of that renovated. Even our gym and Case Arena, we need to replace our bleachers. So, I would like to see all of that renovated and um I think that's the big piece that didn't get touched during the big renovation that took place in 2019. So, thou in 2019 the the whole academic part of the building got renovated. So, I want to make sure I say
034that cuz oh gosh, you're just for sports. No, in 2019 this whole inside of the building got renovated and uh the academic part, the arts part. So, I'd like to see the athletic part get uh so it matches the rest of the building here and uh looks top-notch for all of you guys. >> Sounds like good plans for this school. >> All right. Thank you, Eli. >> Well, that was Doc uh Roman with Roa. Thanks for Dr. Roa having me do this with him and we'll see you next time. >> And we had a great time, Eli. So, thank you for the idea. It was your idea when you came up to me. So, thank you for the idea to come in and uh have students ask me questions instead of me asking all the
035questions. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Hope you enjoyed it.