001Thank you, Mr. Vasser. Uh we'll move to item 2.01. Uh this is uh to suspend the regular meeting and open the public hearing second preliminary determination hearing. May I have a motion? So moved. So moved second >> Basin and second by Mr. Vasser. Uh any questions or comments on this motion? All right, we'll move to a vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Nays? Vote carries 5-0 to suspend the regular meeting and open the public hearing. Move to item 2.02 statement of purpose of hearing and educational need for projects. Mr. Reese. Thank you, Mr. President, members of the board. Uh tonight is the second hearing. Uh last month you held the first hearing regarding this project. Uh tonight is the required second hearing for that project. Uh once this uh hearing is uh
002towards the end, we will then bring the resolutions to you uh for a vote. Uh the need for the projects uh is due to make sure we provide you the greatest amount of flexibility to manage uh Senate Enrolled Act 1 as we move forward uh through the next 5 to 6 years and potentially uh even even even 10 years. Uh so with that, that's the need for the projects as we're proposing. Thank you, Mr. Reese. We'll move to 2.03 overview of project to meet the education needs, costs, and timing. Mr. Reese. Mr. President, uh the the project uh to meet the educational needs, costs, and timing. Uh the current uh what we're asking for is authorization to issue up to 150 million. As I mentioned, those are going to be issued uh over the course
003of the next 5 to 10 years depending on what the needs are of the corporation at the time. Due to the restrictions uh in that were included in Senate Enrolled Act 1, uh we want to make sure we provide you that greatest amount of flexibility so you can meet the needs of the school corporation. The timing will be such based upon your approval at a future date. Thank you, Mr. Reese. And the financial impact of the proposed project under 2.04, please. Is there The information that we uh passed out last last month when we had the same hearing, uh you'll notice that uh we have uh the financial impact. Uh we're not anticipating uh maybe a small increase in the actual levy to cover uh the cost of these issuances. Um however, uh the important
004part is in 2029, the last piece of the uh 2021 projects, that bond issuance will be paid off in 2029. We look forward to potentially replacing some if not all of that uh levy uh at that time with what projects will be necessary at that point. Thank you, Mr. Reese. We'll move on to item 2.05 patrons' comments on public hearing item tonight. We do not have every anyone registered to comment on these particular issues. We'll move to item 2.06 approval of resolutions number 870 project resolution number 871 preliminary determination 872 preliminary bond resolution number 873 and 10 to reimburse. And again, back to you, Mr. Reese. Thank you, Mr. President, members of the board. Tonight we bring before you the four resolutions required to take the next step in this uh bond authorization. Resolution 870
005is a project resolution. This is required for all projects that are over a million dollars. Resolution 871 is the preliminary determination. This is where you determine uh the need to issue uh the bonds or enter into a lease agreement to provide the funding mechanism for them. Resolution 872 is the preliminary bond resolution. This is simply uh states the procedures by which we would have to go about if we want to legally issue bonds for the school corporation. The resolution 873 is a resolution that allows the school corporation to get reimbursed uh from bond proceeds for any expenditures we might have prior to the issuance of those bonds. I believe you can go back 60 or 90 days from the date of the issuance to be reimbursed. This resolution allows us to get reimbursed from those
006bond proceeds uh as necessary. With that, we recommend uh approving resolutions 870, 871, 872, and 873 and waving the reading of the resolutions. Thank you, Mr. Reese. Board members, you've heard the recommendation of the administration for approval of resolution number 870, resolution number 871, resolution number 872, and resolution number 873 and to waive the formal reading of those resolutions. May I have a motion? Uh I move to approve the resolutions and waive We have a motion by Ms. Basin. Do we have a second? I second. And second by Mr. Angel. Uh board members, the motion's on the floor. Are there any questions or comments? Uh comment. Uh we just had a really good executive session talking about some of this and Mr. Reese provided excellent explanations. Um could you take maybe just a moment to
007explain to the public briefly that we're not approving right, we're just approving the possibility of these things happening in the future because of the uncertainty of SEA 1. That's correct. The implications of SEA 1 will take effect over the really up until 2031. Uh even within this last legislative session, uh the major impact was in 2028 due to the income tax provisions at the county level. Now, uh with the change, they pushed those back to 2029. So now we see 2029 as being the big year. Not really knowing what the legislature's going legislature's going to do over the next 5 to 6 years as they work on Senate Enrolled Act 1. This simply provides you the greatest amount of flexibility so we can manage the school corporation and maintain what we have. Thank you, Mr.
008Reese. Are there any other questions or comments? There being no further question or comment, we'll move to to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays. And the vote carries 5-0. Uh 2.07, may I have a motion to close the public hearing and resume the regular meeting? So moved. So moved by Mr. Vasser. Second. Second by Mr. Angel. Are there any questions or comments? Okay. We'll move to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays. Vote carries 5-0. Close the public hearing and we'll resume the regular uh late meeting at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reese. Uh item 3.01, patrons registered to comment on educational issues tonight. We do have an individual. Uh Diana? If you could come forward to the podium, please. Diana is it Harbison?
009Yes. Okay. Thank you for being here, Diana. Diana, we do have rules. Uh you're allowed to make a comment. You can't comment on uh personnel items, but you do have 3 minutes to make your statements. Ms. Basin will keep your time and at the uh 30-second mark she'll give you a 30-second warning so you can wrap up, okay? If you could please state your name and your address and then you can begin. We'll start your 3 minutes. Sure. My name is Diana Harbison. My address 2162 Estelle Lane here in Crown Point. Thank you. As I just mentioned, I'm Diana Harbison. Um I'm the mother of a child at Lake Street. I'm here to ask what the corporation does to help schools identify struggling learners and to improve student academic performance. There are at least five
010student assessments I can count. NWEA, I-Ready, classroom grades, Insight, and RTI monitoring if the student is getting that support. That generates an overwhelming amount of data. For a class of 19 students, that's over 70 reports with multiple graphs. Does the corporation review that data? Do they help schools identify struggling learners? Who ensures schools are moving students from struggling to progressing? Who ensures schools are taking action based on data, particularly that of RTI data? RTI measures student progress frequently, sometimes every 2 weeks, generating more data. Who reviews that information to make sure schools are moving students in and out of RTI or putting other interventions into place? All of this data should be used to establish clear decision points, communication with parents, and defined actions. The corporation has demonstrated it can move quickly when systems are
011prioritized and data's put to use. For example, Crown Point implemented a process for tracking and reporting student absences within a year of Indiana legislation passing. Measuring learning and ensuring students who are struggling are identified and supported should be treated as an equally actionable priority. This cannot be solely the teacher's responsibility. Teachers are overwhelmed, they're under-resourced, and often undervalued, but that's a discussion for another meeting. As a parent, I assure you that parent advocacy is not the answer. I have been raising concerns for 3 years and I have been dismissed and deflected. The corporation has extensive data that can be viewed in a myriad of different ways. As a parent, I perceive charts only when requested, often without a key, context, or explanation. Even with that limited information, it doesn't take long to identify who's thriving
012and who is not. It's difficult to see how the school corporation has prioritized learning. In fact, I've received more communication and more frequently about my child's medically excused absences than I have about her academic progress. That confirms that the system is more focused on whether students are in the building rather than whether they are learning while they are there. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Harbison. We appreciate your comments. Although we can't have a dialogue and a conversation, sometimes people you're welcome to stay around at the end of the meeting and have conversations with the board members and administrators, okay? Thank you. Moving on to item 4.01, uh the consent agenda. 4.01, the uh February 23rd, 2026 regular business meeting public hearing minutes. 4.02, personnel agenda. 4.03, voucher register check numbers 179697 through
013180087 and vouchers number 311027 to 311802. Dr. Terrell. Thank you. This evening I'd ask for your approval to the consent item agenda the consent agenda items as Mr. Smith mentioned. Thank you, Dr. Terrell. Uh Board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration to approve the regular business meeting and public hearing minutes of February 3rd 23rd, excuse me, 2026, the personnel agenda, and voucher register check numbers that I previously cited. May I have a motion? So moved. So moved by Ms. Basin. Second. Second by Mr. Angel. Motions on the floor. Are there any questions or comments? With there being no questions or comments, we'll move to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays. Nay. And the vote carries 4-1 with Mr. Vasser dissenting. Mr. Smith, can we move forward? Can I
014make a comment real quick? Yes, you may. Um I know we had a Crown Point uh school system had an amazing group of educators that seemed to all come in about 25 25 years ago I think is the uh the bucket and Barb Merrill's retirement was on the personnel agenda. And she's one of that, you know, core five, core 10, whatever you want to call it. I mean, I think Mr. Key was in this bucket and his wife Annie's in this bucket. There's uh I just feel like that was an amazing group of hires on that bucket and you see now that they're starting to get ready for retirement, moving into retirement. Uh I I I know Barb well enough um and uh but I've heard, you know, through former students and other teachers that
015teach with her that um she did things she did things her way and sometimes that might take a minute to to uh to be understood, but then the people who have always talked about her had nothing but the best things to say and enjoyed her beehive and I know she'd be very proud to call it her her beehive. So, um I'm sure you see the has not in, but uh I want to take a second just recognize Ms. Marilyn and thank her for all the time on in the corporation. Uh that's well said, Ms. Warren. Um we do appreciate her services and I'm sure there'll be more comments during the uh board statements of appreciation as well. So. Uh we'll move on to item 5.01, textbook and resource purchase. Uh I think we're going to
016Dr. Kachina. Thank you, Mr. President and board members. Uh for your approval tonight is um the elementary mathematics uh resource update that I brought to you previously for your approval for that adoption. Um this is for the newest edition of Bridges Mathematics, which is our our current um math curriculum for grades K through 5. This is an update to the newest edition, so minor changes, but um it it involves kind of some transition kits to update our classrooms with new manipulatives and teacher manuals and other resources uh as well as um some small changes to uh the student books and things like that. So, uh the recommendation from the administration is to approve the purchase of Bridges Mathematics transition kits and student books beginning for use next school year in 2026-2027. Thank you, Dr. Kachina.
017Uh board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration uh for the purchase of Bridges Mathematics transition kits and student books for use beginning at 2026-2027. May I have a motion? So moved. So moved by Mr. Angel. Second. Second by Ms. Basin. Uh are there any questions or comments? Uh Dr. Kachina, how how long ago did we change to Bridges, do you recall? Um I believe it was 2018. It was right around 17 or 18, Mr. I couldn't remember exactly. Have you seen a difference in student outcomes with that? Yeah, I think our our success in elementary math is is really strong. Uh anywhere in the ILEARN tested grades, anywhere from 10th or 11th in the state to 15th or 20th in the state in those grades. So. >> Yeah. And I I realize it's
018not the it's not it's the teachers. It's not the textbook. Absolutely. But thanks for that answer. Yep. Any other questions or comments? All right. We'll move for uh towards a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Uh nays. The vote carries 5-0. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Kachina. Uh move on to action item 5.02, textbook and resource I'm sorry, resource purchase. Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Mr. President and board members. I'm here tonight regarding the textbook and curricular resource purchase of Pearson Sullivan Algebra and Trigonometry and MyMathLab. This was approved as a recommendation by the board last month. Now we are requesting the purchase. These resources together will help students connect algebra and trigonometry concepts, deepen conceptual understanding, and prepare them for advanced function analysis required in calculus and subsequent math courses. These curricular
019materials would be used in our dual credit precalculus course in alignment with our partner of Purdue Northwest. So, it is the recommendation of the administration to purchase Pierce Pearson Sullivan Algebra and Trigonometry and MyMathLab Mathematics for the use for use beginning in 2026-2027 at a price of $67,000 Sorry, $67,087.49. Thank you, Mrs. Ramirez. Uh board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration to purchase Pearson Sullivan Algebra and Trigonometry and MyMathLab Mathematics for use beginning in 2026-2027 at the price of $67,087.49. May I have a motion? So moved by Ms. Bazan. Seconded by Mr. Angel. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Mrs. Ramirez, thanks for uh pointing out that this is an attempt to with this textbook to connect Algebra and Trig, which are obviously two different areas of math. So, has that been
020going on for a while, the connections between Algebra and Trig at at the pre-cal level? That is typically what we do see, but we feel that this text will heighten the alignment between the two, as well as prepare our students for then AP Calculus or whatever their next course of study would be, whether that is statistical analysis or another dual credit offering of ours. Thank you. And board members, just want to point out this is a purchase for 6 years. That was all. Just want to make that clear. Are there any questions or com- other questions or comments? All right, let's move to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays? The vote carries 5-0. Move on to action item 5.03, textbook and resource adoption, secondary, Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Mr. President
021and board members. I am here tonight to request the recommendation um for the adoption of the following text or curricular resource for AP Pre-calculus. This is from the publisher Cengage, and the material is Pre-calculus for AP by Stewart, Watson, and Panman. This curricular resource will help support the teaching and learning in Advanced Placement Pre-calculus. This is a new course for us to be offering in the 2026-2027 school year that you guys have previously approved as a new course um addition to Crown Point High School's AP course offerings. So, it is the administration's recommendation that the school board approve this curricular resource for adoption for use beginning in 2026-2027. Thank you, Mrs. Ramirez. Board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration to approve this curricular resource for adoption for use beginning in 2026-2027. Uh may
022I have a motion? So moved. So moved by Mr. Vasser. Seconded by Ms. Bazan. Are there any questions or comments? Since this is a new course for next year, uh do you have any preliminary enrollment for that course? Yeah, we are working on finalizing those numbers. We anticipate that there will be two teachers teaching the uh course next year, and we have them scheduled through the grant funding to attend AP training, so that they are prepared to teach the course. >> So, at least two different At least two sections, yes. Wow. Yeah. That's a good start. Great start. Any other questions or comments? There being no further question or comment, we'll move to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays? Vote carries 5-0. Thank you, Mrs. Ramirez. Move on to action
023item 5.04, apply for and receive the 2026 and 2027 Community Foundation Grant, Mr. Gianfermi. Uh thank you, Mr. President and board members. Uh as you know, annually we have an opportunity to work with the Crown Point Community Foundation to apply for grant funding for our students. Uh for this 2026-2027 grant cycle, uh the corporation is seeking funding to implement four initiatives, and let me review those, and I know the dollar amounts are in your packet, so I will kind of indicate how much would go to each of these areas. So, for College Board Advanced Placement Exams, offset the AP exam registration costs to our students that are need, there'd be $4,500. Our One District, One Book district-wide literacy initiative, we have all the elementary students read the same book throughout the during the year, $10,000
024to help that initiative. High School Sensory Room, provides structured sensory supports for our exceptional education students, $5,000. And then our preschool flexible seating curricular supports, it enhances early learning environments with mental appropriate seating, uh $4,000. That's the recommendation of the administration to approve and apply for and receive funds from the 2026-2027 Crown Point Community Foundation Grant in the amount of $23,500. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mr. Gianfermi. Board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration for uh approval to apply for and receive funds from the 20 2026-2027 Community Foundation Grant in the amount of $23,500 allocated as Mr. Gianfermi set forth. May I have a motion? So moved. So moved by Mr. Angel and seconded by Mr. Vasser. Are there any questions or comments? All right, there being no
025further questions or comments, we'll move to a vote. Uh all in favor signify by saying I. I. Nay. And the vote carries 5-0. Just quickly want to thank the Community Foundation not only for this particular grant, but for so many years of support for our school corporation, and they truly are have just been consistent year after year after year. So, thank you to the foundation for helping us uh in this way. All right, uh we'll move on to item 5.05, 2026 Crown Point Community School Corporation Summer School Program. Back to you, Mr. Gianfermi. In your board package, you have an outline of the proposed 2026 Crown Point School Corporation Summer School programming. It will it's the exact same programming that we offered in 2025, which would consist of uh high school credit courses in social
026studies and health, credit recovery for high school students who need to make up some core course credits, grade two and three learning support student literacy, grade six basic skill course, and a special education extended school year. Um all these courses meet the requirements for state reimbursement. Normally, we kind of give you what we have received in the past. Uh the state is changing how they will be reimbursing us for summer school. It will be per pupil rate, which they have not shared with us quite yet. Um the administration recommends approval for the 2026 Crown Point School Corporation Summer School programming. Thank you, Mr. Gianfermi. Board members, you heard the recommendation of the administration for approval of 2026 Crown Point Community School Corporation Summer School Program. May I have a motion? So moved by Ms. Bazan.
027Seconded by Mr. Angel. Are there any questions or comments? Uh Mr. Gianfermi, I'm sorry that you the state once again failed in getting this information to all of us, to you in particular, uh what the reim- reimbursement schedule is going to be, but um it looks to me like this is going back to the super old schedule of summer school, where it where it's credit recovery, right? Correct. None of it's like elective courses anymore. Am I if I'm seeing your chart right? Uh you are. Okay. And then is do you do you know, and I know the money hasn't come out yet, but um will there be a a minimum number of pupil enrollment for those subjects for that class to be a go? There would be. I I don't want to anticipate we wouldn't
028get enough for those. The government econ and health courses usually run a couple hundred students as they're taking those courses off of their schedules, so they can open them up for more advanced courses. Um credit recovery, there's always kids that need that. Um so, yeah, I I we don't anticipate having the numbers for sure, but we would definitely if somebody if there was 10 kids, we would run the course. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Move forward to a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nay. Vote carries 5-0. Thank you, Mr. Gianfermi. Move on to action item I'm sorry, moving on to item 6.01, policy conversions, first reading, Mr. Kewa. Thank you, Mr. President and board members. I bring to you this evening six different NEOLA policies that we would like
029to convert to ISBA language. Um I've given you the updated draft and the old draft for your review tonight, and those are in the areas of prepayment of invoices and claims, reporting child abuse, fixed assets, material loss and theft, collection and forgiveness of debt, and board member compensation. These are all essential policies uh per ISBA recommendation, and tonight again is just for information purposes. Please review these policies, and we'll be bringing them back to next month's meeting uh for approval. So, bring the questions back next month, then? Yeah, after you after you review it. Okay. If I mean, if you have I guess if you have some now, absolutely. Sure. It Go ahead, Mr. President. Corporate Yeah, I was going to ask a question. So, it's um on the board compensation, it was in there
030I could look it right up. This is no order no order in particular, Mr. Kewa, but uh board compensation of basic compensation of $2,000 per year, which we're all for, I believe. No nobody's against the you know, the state says we could take 10% as a salary of what the beginning teacher salary is at Crown Point. We've all spoken against that, but I can't speak for other boards down the road that they may say, "Yeah, we want that." So, is it is it better? Does it make more sense to add into that policy "Board member shall receive an amount approved by the board not to exceed 10% of the lowest teacher salary"? Because I can't speak of the for the future people at all. But, is it better something to consider something like that? Yeah,
031I mean I I I basically what we what we are going to say here per ISBA recommendation is we follow the law. And at the at the very top, you'll see that draft that we cannot um compensate the board and that compensation cannot exceed the limitations established by Indiana laws. A really brief way of summing it up So, the format as you see the dotted line. So, the old policy is below, the new policy is up top. And typically ISBA is incredibly brief in comparison to old the old policy. But, they've been written by their attorneys. Yeah, I mean this is and so I think it's important that we keep that in mind as well. So, for example, in 4 years from now, if that board decides to all you're going to do is just
032re- re-issue this policy? Or just because it's fall within the standards of state, it would apply and we don't need to do it. The old policy is actually the one that dictated the 2000. The new policy that's replacing it actually does not define anything, so it's it's more I think open-ended than the current policy. open-ended January meeting would determine what structure they want to get paid at that point. That is correct. The policy is going to ensure that we follow the law. Okay. All right. That is correct. Good. I think we got that cleared. Any other questions? >> I I did have one one more, sorry. Uh going back and I apologize. This is about child abuse. Something that's really dear to my heart. And in the the new ISBA code, I believe, that any
033Yeah, second paragraph. Any school employee who has a reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect shall immediately make a oral or written report to the Department of Child Services or to law enforcement. After the report has been made, the school employee shall notify the school building principal of that report that was made. Which is all good, but I think maybe that should be switched around that child abu- child abuse should be reported immediately. I totally agree with that, 100%. Too many cases, and I'm not talking about Crown Point, but there's too many cases that don't go reported. But, would it make more sense for a teacher, say Michelle, she's a teacher out here, that she is suspects child abuse and she wants to report to make her principal
034know about this before the report's made, so the principal's not blindsided? Um actually, they want you to do the the reverse. It it's to make an immediate report to the authorities. You are not to put a step in between because that could potentially lead to a delay in the report and then cause it not to be immediate. So, that that expectation for every mandatory reporter is to go directly to the authorities. Um and it's written that way for that reason. If your principal's not in the building and they're not going to be back till tomorrow, well then I'll just I'll wait till tomorrow to make the report. You cannot let that happen. So, this is really just written to follow the law to make sure that that report is done ASAP. And Indiana law currently
035is you don't have to be a teacher or any professional employee, any citizen That's correct. >> must report child abuse or it's a criminal offense. So, that's interesting that they want to word it that way. Long as it's reported immediately. >> That's the most important, right away. Thank you for all those answers. Sure. Moving on to item 7.01, Superintendent's Discussion Groups. Mr. Warne, anything Thank you. Mr. Angel, anything from Winfield? Nope. Mr. Vasser, anything from Crown Point? >> Uh yes, the new project going up uh moving from the south going north, 109th north to 101st, just east of 65. There's a new warehouse project that is going to be built. Over 1 million square feet. So, very similar to the new building that's being built off of I-65 and Route 2 in Lowell, the the
036new John Deere uh facility. It's a huge facility that's being built uh in the in TIF district as well. They're purchasing uh taxable bonds, just reporting to all of buddy everybody here. The developer is going to purchase those in the amount of $9,915,000 with a 25-year maturity. Just to we're just freshly talking about things like this uh in a previous meeting, so just making you all aware of that. Here we go again, something like that. Any particular direction on what type of building this is going to be, what it's going to be used for? Uh the the owner of the building and the tenant has not been made public yet. So, I believe it'll be dry it would be a it's not going to be refrigerated. I know that, but that's all I know. Don't
037know who's going I don't think it's Amazon. Just want to make sure my NIPSCO bill doesn't go up higher. If we can help that. >> think NIPSCO is moving in. All right, sorry. Uh item 7.02, Director of Elementary Education, Dr. Kachina. Thank you, Mr. President and members of the board. Just a couple recognitions tonight. Uh first off, I want to say thank you to Mrs. Terry Mucha. Uh Terry has filled in for us and helped us with a couple temporary administrator roles this year. Uh she started the year at Taft Middle School and then she has been uh filling in as assistant principal at Jerry Ross Elementary School since September. Um but this is her last week uh at Jerry Ross with us. Um but when I am over at Jerry Ross visiting or or
038um you know, having the opportunity to talk with staff members or teachers at Jerry Ross, uh on more than one occasion, um staff members have uh reached out to me or come up to talk to me and just said how much they've appreciated Terry uh and all her work this year, praising her for her leadership, her uh kindness, dependability, and just overall positivity. And uh it takes a special person to step in to an administrator role temporarily, but uh Mrs. Mucha has definitely made a big impact um at Jerry Ross this year. So, very grateful uh for all of her work uh for us this school year. Uh finally, uh Mr. Warne kind of kicked us off on this earlier, but I want to uh recognize and congratulate Mrs. Barb Merrill. Uh she has been
039serving as the principal at Solon Robinson Elementary School for 25 years. That is a uh an incredible run. Um she uh affectionately calls it the beehive. She always calls it the beehive. Um Barb is not only you know, served as principal there for that long, but she's a really important part of our elementary leadership team. Um I've really enjoyed working with her over the years, learned a lot from her. Um she has built uh an exceptional team at Solon. Um she's always focused on um making decisions about students and what's right for students. Um and has high expectations and and um you know, really strong relationships with her students and staff. So, uh she has certainly impacted thousands and thousands of of students and families in Crown Point. And um just very very grateful for
040her and her service. Uh and I'm really happy for her and her family as she takes this next step uh into retirement and starts this new chapter. Thank you, Dr. Kachina. Uh move on to item 7.03, Director of Secondary Education, Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you, Mr. President and board members. I would like to echo Dr. Kachina. While um Mrs. Mucha was over at Taft at the beginning of the school year, she did a great job of helping the Taft administrative team um transition into the start of the school year, she was a positive influence in terms of involvement with the staff. The students gravitated towards her immediately. Within the first 2 weeks, she kind of had a crew of kids that were um reaching out to her as a trusted adult. And so, it just really
041shows the expertise that she brought, the care that she always continues to model, and the fact that she continued to do this at the elementary level um at Jerry Ross is just a great benefit to our district for our leaders, our staff, and our families and students. I'd also like to thank tonight Lynn Alkire and the administrative team as well as the custodial team over at Crown Point High School on Friday, the 20th, they hosted their career day in which they had over 45 different businesses, community vendors, they had military branches represented where then our junior and senior students were able to go down to the field house and they were able to meet with different um business owners, military representatives to learn a little bit more about potential careers or of course employment and
042enlistment after um high school. So, that's big undertaking from all of the setup to the teardown to making sure that they have businesses and community contacts that are coming in to meet with our students. So, I'm very appreciative for that. Earlier in the week last week, um I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce. They hosted Chamber Town which is at the Dean and Barbara White um facility out in Merrillville and our eighth grade students were able to explore careers um last week. So, that was really a great week for our um community here within Crown Point. Continuing on just with gratitude, I won't be able to name all of the wonderful things that are happening both at the middle and the high school level, but I do want to give a special shout
043out to Mary Bachnak who is one of our business teachers at the high school. She was um recently awarded the Business Professionals of America, also called BPA, Advisor of the Year. And this is really a great um testimony to the fact that she has been so dedicated to BPA for so many years. The kids do phenomenal work and are highly praised and recognized for all of the efforts they put in, but her leadership has been unwavering and she is so committed to um all things business and to supporting students through BPA. So, a special shout out to her. Also want to thank at the middle school level Mark Kroll over at Colonel Wheeler, Ryan Snyder, and Darren Claus. They are leading up a construction club and this was started in partnership with Indiana Construction Roundtable
044Foundation. The idea being they are giving students opportunities to gain exposure to um a potential trade of interest in the future and um these leaders who led the clubs really made um an impression on the students and shared their talent and passion. And so, it's really a great thing for them to have started this year. I know that Mr. Gene Ferme is going to talk about um some of the other things, so I don't want to step on anybody's toes, but there are lots of things that happen at both the state and the world level. Um so, we will talk about those, I think, in just a few minutes. Thank you, Mrs. Ramirez. Well done. Moving on to 7.04, Director of Exceptional Education, Mrs. Paskus. Good evening, President Smith, members of the board. Um first
045off, back on March 11th, the EE Department presented to our ambassadors and I want to thank Stephanie Penley and Meredith Taylor, two of our speech language pathologists, who uh presented on speech and language impairments and how we work with students in our schools on those. Um they included some hands-on uh communication devices uh and I think it was valuable for our participants. Uh next month, April 22nd at Crown Point High School from 5:30 to 7:30, we'll have our annual transition and resource fair. So, that is focused on vendors and exhibitors who have a product that may be interesting to our students and their families, especially post high school. So, they can gather some information there. Also, this month is uh known as Disability Awareness Month. And as you know, we don't just recognize our students
046with disabilities one month out of the year. We're a year-round focused on this culture of um acceptance, respect, high expectations for all of our students, including those with disabilities. Um but I did want to highlight a few activities. So, [clears throat] Lynn, um and if you happen to be in that building, you can stop and see this display. Each student in the school created a flower that represented themselves, fun facts, positive affirmations. Um and now there's a huge wall that looks like a garden of everyone's flowers. Um Eisenhower had a special t-shirt that staff and students ordered. They're wearing those on the same days uh one day a week and also have some um buddy classes where they're participating in activities about disability awareness. And MacArthur uh highlighted a bulletin board that featured different methods
047of communication, including American Sign Language. They said it's really neat to see kids come by the bulletin board. They're trying to sign their own names using the posters on that bulletin board. Um they also have a disability awareness assembly this Friday. So, good to enjoy that. Thank you, Mrs. Paskus. Item 7.06, Chief Human Resource Officer, Mr. Kewa. Oh. 7.0 He was anxious to say something. >> here. I thought Mrs. Ramirez covered all of it. So, we're just going to >> She would have, but she was kind enough to leave me >> 7.05, Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Gene Ferme. Thank you, Mr. Um so, I'd like to recognize a couple students from our speech and debate team at the high school. They competed in a district speech tournament in LaPorte earlier this month. Uh the top two
048students in each event qualified for a national tournament in Richmond, Virginia in June. So, congratulations to Karam Urbini who placed first in international extemporaneous speaking and Shawn Morris who also qualified for the nationals in the same category. All right, you want to know what that is? That's you have 30 minutes of preparation to deliver a 7-minute speech analyzing foreign policy, regional conflicts, and global economic issues. So, young men, and good luck in the nationals. Uh have another state title to celebrate from Crown Point High School. Our congratulations to our Crown Point High School Vex Robotics team 1233J, also known as the Janitors, that's our team name, for being awarded tournament champions in the 2026 Indiana Robotics State Championship. This is the one where there are over 60 teams. It's a huge competition downstate. Uh Mr.
049Marsnik has indicated it's the first time we took the top spot there. So, of course they've qualified for world a world championship as well to be held in St. Louis, Missouri, April 21st through the 30th. So, good luck to them on that. And um I just be amiss. I just want to wish coach coach Lon and the boys basketball team good luck as they compete for that state championship down uh Gamebridge this Saturday. They've been a pleasure to watch over the years and I just hope they can finish it off. So, good luck to that whole group. Thank you, Mr. Gene Ferme. 7.06, Chief Human Resource Officer, Mr. Kewa. Thank you, Mr. President board members. I'm just echoing uh comments made earlier about Barb Merrill. I wish her uh the very best. It's been a
050pleasure uh working with her over many, many years here in Crown Point and I hope that she publishes a book to share what with what she calls uh the ingredients for her secret sauce over there at the beehive. So, uh Mrs. Merrill, I hope uh we get to read about that someday, maybe in a in a publication. Next, uh I've known uh Terry Mucha or Much for over 30 years uh going back to when she was at Highland and my wife taught at Highland. And I must say her bright personality has been consistent ever since I've I've met her. We are so fortunate to have a utility player like that come in as a sub and not just fulfill or cover. It It's It's have an impact. We were We were receiving comments from staff
051members about uh how much she impacted them in in her short time uh in both locations. So, Mucha, can't cannot thank you enough uh for filling in for us. And as I spoke to her uh this morning, I was happy to hear. She says, "Yeah, okay. We'll We'll see you, you know, when until you call me again." So, hopefully uh you know, she's still on deck for us. Uh that's great. I also want to uh add some thanks for the Crown Point High School students. Mrs. Ramirez uh spoke of the Chamber Town that our middle school students uh attended at the Dean and Barbara White Center there in Merrillville. We sent 20 student volunteers from Crown Point High School. Marty and the folks at Transportation set up a special bus, not just to get the
052middle school students over there, but the 20 volunteer students from Crown Point High School over there. Uh our 20 volunteers uh were actually um there were there were 100 volunteers needed to pull this event off. High School students were sent 20 out of the 100. That's pretty impressive. So, thank you to all those high school students that went over there. And Diana Bowman from the guidance office who chaperoned the uh those kids as they went and assisted. So, that's all I've got for you this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kewa. 7.07, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Reese. Thank you, Mr. President, members of the board. On March 10th, we received notification from State Board of Accounts. Uh nine of our buildings, the extracurricular accounts at nine of our buildings were audited over the course of
053the last 30 to 45 days. Uh this does not include the high school. They were included part of the corporation audit that was held at the end of 2025. I'm happy to report that uh in all seven elementaries and both middle schools, uh there were found no issues of non-compliance throughout the corporation. I'd like to thank those uh nine treasurers for the work that they've done in those buildings and producing solid uh financial reports uh that could be used by the state following all the state statutes and policies. So, I want to recommend recommend them for a job well done. It's always great news. Thank you, Mr. Reese. Uh 7.08, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Terrell. First, just wanted to remind board members of the ISBA spring regional meeting that is April 7th. If you're planning
054on going, if you can let Diana know that tonight so she can get everybody registered. Um state basketball championship was mentioned and Mark uh brought up. I I want to thank uh our fans especially that continue to support our kids and drove the 90 minutes to get to Elkhart. Great turnout by our fans. Um really want to recognize our student section though. After the game, uh if you were there the morning session, the opponent that we had, their fan student fans were chanting some things that were absolutely inappropriate. Um our administrators do a great job of working with our kids and making sure that we're going to be good sportsmen, uh show good sportsmanship at the games. At the end of the game though, when our administrators went down at the championship uh Saturday night
055game, two of the Elkhart security officers came to our administrators and said, "I just We just want to let you know that your kids have been a delight to be with tonight. They with They represented themselves, their parents, their families, our school district, our community." Um just thank you to all of our our students and what they do there. As we go down to the state basketball championship game though on Saturday, there are so many things that go into this. Um we just think, "Well, we won, we're going." The amount of donations and things that are already coming in from different groups to help our team as they get there, as they stay overnight, that all the different things that are happening there. I just want to thank our community. Um championship game tickets are
056will be available if they're not already. Uh we encourage people to make that trip down for something that we hope will be repeated, but you never know. Um both teams are first time ever in their corporations have been there. So, kind of a really cool thing. Want to thank those that are retiring. Each year we have significant people who retire. Obviously, this year there's it just feels like there's a a bigger group and I think there's a lot of reasons that play into that, but thank you to all of those. Um remind the board we have the Latte ceremony coming up Wednesday evening, which is typically the beginning of the end, the sprint to the the finish line. Um and it's it's before spring break this year. So, it kind of gives you an idea
057how the calendar rolls. And then want to wish everybody a an enjoyable and safe spring break. And uh I know everyone is looking forward to that. Some of our our teachers especially. Uh I know students always do, but it's it'll be a good reprieve, a good break to come back and be focused in for those final few weeks as we head into summer. Thank you, Dr. Terrell. Move on to other business of the board. Uh anybody have anything tonight? Uh we have somebody attending Wednesday's? Uh I'm attending on >> Oh, okay. Just want to make sure. Okay. I don't know if anybody else is joining me. We're good. Anybody else got anything? No. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, sorry about that. I didn't miss that. All right, Mr. Wasser, legislative update. If you could fill us
058in. Basically, on the update that I provided for everyone here, this is the These are the new education laws. When all was said and done, this is what's coming out. And that will our school corporation and all public school corporations will be under. Uh Senate Bill 1, that's the bill the bill commonly known as the bill the bill cell phone ban. For students are prohibited from using cell phones, smart watches, and other personal wireless devices for the entire school day. Grades K through 12. Must be powered off and stored in a inaccessible place. Obviously, that's going to be a task because our our kids especially at high school level are used to using their phones throughout the day, if I'm not mistaken. So, this this will be difficult to get across. My recommendation personally is
059to get this information out from the principals to the parents as soon as possible. Don't wait until August to do that. House Bill 1408, social media parent permission. This uh is going to require that if your your child is under 16 years of age, you have to give them permission to be able to get on their phone and get into these sites. Hopefully, the cell phone ban in schools will help us take care of that. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera down here. Everybody can read these things. Number six on here, A to F school accountability. This is This is going back to grading schools A through F. Put out by the legislature. Uh the focus is a little different here as you you may read that it's on academic mastery, career and post-secondary readiness,
060communication and collaboration, work ethics, civics, and financial digital literacy. But it will include standardized tests. That's That part's not going to go away. So, that's that's a change. Those are the big six changes in education laws in the state of Indiana that came out of this last legislative assembly. Thank you, Mr. Wasser. Appreciate Appreciate your work. Are there any questions on that or comments? I I do want to say thank you so much. I appreciate the updates throughout and it is so tedious and ever-changing, you know, from the time that that you research to when you bring it to us. I realize there's at times been changes. So, thank you for keeping us up to date on that. You're welcome. Anybody else? All right, we'll move on to uh item nine, board statements of appreciation
061and recognition. Mr. Waring, we'll start with you tonight. Uh thank you. Uh many of it's already been addressed. I when we uh quickly mentioned all of our success in academics and ECAs, I I think it's a good time to as we wish these teams um good luck going to the state championships and whatnot, the coaches that put in the time um often they don't sign up to coach for compensation, but if you considered what they do for their compensation, it's truly amazing. And that is the job description, that's what they sign up for to give it their best to reach their highest highest potential. But uh um I just think about Coach Swan and his coaching staff uh heading out this weekend and all the work they put in. I want uh want to recognize
062that. And just a um quick funny story. So, my for for me, fortunately, my daughter wanted to go to the game. It was her birthday weekend. So, traditionally, she gets a stuffed animal. A little bit old for it now. Gets a stuffed animal for her birthday. And uh it was kind of cute that she decided to name this. It's always a big, "What are we going to name this thing?" And uh this weekend it was a Dikembe Swan Elkhart is the stuffed animal's name. So, that'll be one to remember for 20 years. Uh Dikembe Swan Elkhart. So, that's all. Thank you, Mr. Waring. Mr. Angel. Uh and sentiments like people have mentioned already. Congratulations to all those retirees. Uh Barb Melo being, you know, principal or principal of a elementary, I've, you know, got to
063meet with her many a times just over my time here. And congratulations to her. I literally don't know how uh just raising four kids, all elementary principals do it day in, day out for the 180 school days every year. And uh do it with love, laughter, smiles, and you name everything else. So, kudos to all of those in that in the education field that do it on a daily basis. So, uh with that, congratulations Coach Swan. Um I had I went to do the radio show before the regional game with uh the Dog Pound radio show. They invite me once a year usually before March Madness. So, Mr. Glock, Mr. Barber. And I got a chance to go wish uh Coach Swan and the boys good luck. And unbeknownst to me, I just wished good
064luck, stopped by there afterwards, and had somewhere else to be. And Coach Swan mentioned uh "Would you like to say a few words to the team?" And I literally hadn't done that in like 15, 20 years. And as you guys know, I always speak from the heart, never really have those kind of things prepared. But I was in a little qualm because I, you know, things have changed. So, I got done with it and thought I did an okay job, but was pretty paranoid. So, knowing that Daniel Swan was on the team, I reached out to her and she got back to me a little later. And um most of you know me as being a little outgoing and never afraid to say what I'm going to say. And uh her son's words via text
065were, "He was very professional." Now, that was probably the least response I expected from a 15- or 16-year-old uh kid on the basketball team that was excited to go play in regionals. So, I I think I'm going to live with that. Like I'm going to remember that forever because I did not expect those words. Uh but it's just great. I mean, I followed this team since I got on the board 22 years ago, 23 years ago. And uh it's exciting to see uh just that we're in this position. Um the kids watched great demeanor uh that day at practice where I got to watch and interact with them for a few minutes. And then after games and so forth. And I know what anytime people they can be criticized for behavior and actions, but uh
066they're representing CP. And I mentioned that in part of my thing that when you walk out there you wear that jersey that says CP and they've done it with just pride and I mean we had one close game in sectionals and now since that we've shown our dominance and hopefully can continue for one more game. So to coach Swan who's become a friend of mine just being there and being a big fan of basketball. Uh best of luck to you and your coaching staff. Uh well deserved on base of how much time and work they put in. Um I know how much film he studies of the opposing team and how he knows all their sets, all their inbound plays, all that and that takes dedication and devotion to say hey I'm going to make
067sure these boys are prepared as well as possible. So congratulations to those. I know Mr. Vasser is probably going to touch base with our state. Dan seems that one something so I'll let him finish that off. But uh good luck boys and to coaches and uh I I hope you can bring the ring home. Thank you. Awesome job. Well, I wasn't going to talk about state dance so I'll just pass it over to Miss Basin if she would if she'd like to. Um but I am proud of that fact. Thank you for that. Um Barb Merrill's put in I I Barb's tremendous. I've known Barb for at least as you have long as you have already. Long long time. I met her through my dad. Um they both enjoyed company with each other and uh
068professionalism of each other. So Barb I just wish her the very best in all that she does. Whatever if she's writing a book that's great. Whatever Barb's doing um I'm all for it. Also Terry Mucha I've known equally as long for a long long time and I like to say thanks for Terry for for the time and the difference she made in our staff and our students this last couple of stints for her. And it's been my good fortune uh to know both of these ladies. So um thank you Barb and thank you Terry for what you've done. Appreciate it. Thank you Mr. Vasser. Miss Basin. All right. No one will be surprised I have a list. Uh I did want to start by thanking our families and patrons who do attend um not only
069in person which is not usually many but also online. I do have a number of people who say oh we watched it later and so I'm very appreciative of uh Mr. Brian Gill who is our behind the scenes makes everything happen so that our mics are on, you can hear us and everything is broadcast. That way if you can't be here at this time you can still catch it um you know remotely or you can watch it back later. So thank you to those who come and attend. We do appreciate that. Um for Barb Merrill congrats 25 years is amazing and if you've met Barb her energy and passion um for being with children, being with her staff, motivating um everyone in her building is palpable from the minute you walk in. I've um I've
070never met someone who is so outwardly passionate 25 years later about every aspect even through construction um you know Solon had was one of our last buildings I think to be finished and um for her to kind of lead her team through that and um and help maintain their positive attitudes through um you know what can be a a tough situation at times um was wonderful. She truly I think has loved the majority of her minutes. Can't speak for every one of them but um she will definitely be missed and we appreciate her service. Um our Wheeler dance team uh they did win at state so congratulations to them. Um boys basketball won their uh their semi-state last weekend and set school history for boys basketball to be going to state. I will throw out
071another fun fact that we have just researched. No DAC conference team has won state. So there's a lot riding for these boys. But I do want to touch on um something that was said on this I can't remember if it was Mr. Warney or Mr. Angel about um the players who are representing our school. So after the semi-state game the Crown Point boys and the Northridge boys gathered together at center court and um took a moment to um pray or or take a moment of silence and appreciate that the game is about coming together and more than just about basketball winning and losing and I think that that speaks volumes about the character of the kids that we are educating every day um the kids that we are raising in our homes and for them
072to come together that way I think was very um meaningful, impactful for both teams players um to appreciate kind of the next step of the journey. So kudos to the coaches for putting time in with those players and and really creating uh students and athletes that we can be very proud of. So that game is at 7:15 on Saturday, March 28th in Indianapolis. Um 8:15 if you're down there Eastern time. Um and then I will wrap it up with happy almost spring break. I hope everyone has a very restful um enjoyable whether it's relaxing or adventurous spring break and comes back refreshed for our fourth quarter. Thank you Miss Basin. Um well, it's a great time to be a Bulldog, isn't it? I mean unbelievable. State champions everywhere and we get uh the blessings of
073that and you know so frequently that I feel like sometimes we just kind of say it in passing and move on. We don't really appreciate how big of an honor it is. And you look at something like as simple as a robotics team and I remember the robotics when I first came on the board and they're moving these things around the room, you know, and learning how to do this stuff and developing this this program and and now we're state champions and I just think that speaks volumes about always wanting to uh try to achieve our very best and I think that works its way from the very top all the way down and you know, I I think all of us I think I can speak on behalf of all of us to say
074that we always have one eye on our legacy, on what we're trying to do if we care. You know, we do that very well and I think Barb Merrill is the epitome of that. And I think she needs to know that she's leaving a great legacy for our school corporation and for those individuals to follow behind her and it never feels like it's always feels like a disservice when you say thank you. Thank you for 25 years and you get two minutes, right? And you're like really I got 25 years in I get two minutes of thank yous but truly you're leaving you know, when you talk about that you're leaving a legacy and the impact that's felt by families and students and she's she's synonymous uh with with Solon Robinson. She's always been a
075rock, a pillar uh consistent a leader, you know, all these things that we want from our leaders in our schools. So thank you Barb. Thank you for everything you've done over there and all the years of service and uh you'll be sorely missed so um and so uh with the state basketball team and the dance team and we again we have all these state championships, you know, I I just I don't know what we can do but I feel like we we got to do something different cuz we have so many and it's just uh but the most promising thing is just to hear about the character of the students, the student section and the athletes and the players. That that is honestly the thing that means the most. As as a board member and
076as a parent in the community and we talk about community and success. So uh that that's phenomenal to hear that. So well done to the students. Well done to the parents. Uh walk with class. Represent Crown Point well. Um I know Mr. Angel's working on his legacy to be the best sports fan in the history of Crown Point. So that was great that you got that opportunity to speak to the high school team. That's much earned. You've been at it for a long time yourself. So I want to want to honor you tonight as well. So I know you're passionate about it and it's it comes through. It's awesome. So All right. And professional. And professional. That's right. Both. All those things. Not usually a very descriptive word of me but yeah I'll take it
077in that regard. All right. I think that's all I have tonight. So um if we can look for a motion to adjourn. So moved. So moved by Mr. Angel and second by Miss Basin. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Nays. Vote carries 5-0.