001e e welcome everyone for coming out in this heat tonight for the regular Board of school trustees meeting held today 6 pm on August 26th with that if I could ask everyone to stand please for the Pledge of Allegiance in a moment of silence Mr Smith will lead us in the pledge Al flag of the United States of America to the for it stands one nation God indivisible andice thank you may be SE item two Tonight is their Board of school trustees resolution of accommodations we have five this evening first one being the Crown Point High School Vex robotics for winning the tournament champion and excellence awards at the regional competition advancing to the state championship 2.02 the CM Point High School first robotics team for winning the engineering inspiration award at the regional competition
002and advancing to the state championship 2.03 CM Point High School excaliber yearbook for receiving the first place Rowena Harvey award for academics in division three at the Indiana High School press Association state competition 2.04 the cro Point High School inklings for receiving the 2022 2023 who your state award the highest award in the state from the Indiana High School press Association in the state competition and 2.05 the crown Pine High School Crown Town crowntown Media news website for receiving the 2022 2023 whoer Star Award the highest recognition in the state from being a high school press Association and the state competition I may I have a motion to approve the accommodation Awards Mo uh motion by Mr Smith second by Miss Basin question or discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I
003I motion carries 4 Z I will now present those Awards individually uh Mr Vasser will present the first one the Vex robotics for winning the tournament champion in excellent Sports Mr Vasser come on in okay welcome what a nice group this is our Crownpoint High School robotics team for uh finished first for winning the engineering inspiration award at the regional competition in that Bing well that's not gonna hire Mr Vex robotics for winning the tournament champion and excellent Awards Regional competition and advancing to the state competition first let me introduce um our coaches Matt LeBlanc and Ben Baker and coaches would you like to say any words about your team I always forget that I have to say something um I just want to say that uh you know we're always really lucky to have
004kids who come and are just extra committed to robotics uh these students put in up to six hours a week in the classroom after school uh but this year well last year they were given an extra challenge that uh construction kind of limited how much time we could spend after the winter break in the room so they went home and their parents opened up their garages and their basements and their out buildings and all sorts of things and gave the students you know the opportunity to practice and get a lot more practice time in than we would have had so so this is really them taking it on themselves to do what they needed to do this year so I'm just super proud of our group um so yeah thank you very much okay as
005I call you up please uh come and get your award if I mispronounce your name I'm sorry in advance Noah Nichols Dexter Kyer this is a great first name miles that's a great first name miles curit he's a college so okay great first name Jackson Donovan also at College okay Macy are you here okay that's three in a row right okay Emily hack okay Brianna Johnson Sophia is it Kiper or Nipper Kiper Noah is Noah here okay Noah [Applause] chapco Joshua goury Aaron Grady Jackson Pew okay John John hel estet Samuel McGrath oh boy okay Arnav so far I'm not finished yet paricular I was I got [Applause] it and Caesar Caesar is here Brothers okay Caesar quit team the e e okay okay this is the Crown Point High School first robotics team for
006winning the engineering inspiration award at the regional competition advancing to the state championship so first let me introduce your coaches Matt LeBlanc and Brian trap and again coaches we're going to put you on the spot like to say something about your squad so uh Crown Point is lucky enough to support two completely different robotics leagues uh we're one of only about four or five high schools in the entire State that's able to do that and uh don't have the not everyone's here obviously um it's normally a bigger group uh we had some leave for college just like we have a effect and then just some couldn't be here today um but this team we've worked real hard over the last few years and uh you know state has been something that has been something we've
007been trying to accomplish but hadn't quite made it and uh this year or last year they were finally able to get through with the in engineering inspiration award which is really an award given for the entire program so uh it's based on bot performance at the competitions but it's also based on they make their own business plans they do their own U scouting they talk to go out and do their own fundraising and all that kind of stuff and so they have to put all that together kind of like entrepreneurship running a small business but they're robotics team uh and with the help of our mentors um you know they did a really good job putting together and so there are 64 teams at a regional and so you know they they only give one
008of those Awards so very very proud of them thank you you coach that was great great words great accomplishment I'm gonna go through them anyway coach okay Logan canap dude that had $500 in it just Riley Schuler he's at College sha O'Keefe Brendan sea Autumn frza Tyler Kennison Savannah LW Kevin wner Brendan McBride James crashed Noah de laaz who do I have left Liam Brianna Johnson yes thank you congratulations again give to you great job coach thank you so much e okay I have the uh honor of presenting the next accomodation this evening the Crown Point High School excaliber yearbook can we bring him in please have them all good all right so this uh this accommodation goes to the Crownpoint High School Excalibur yearbook for receiving the first place Rowena Harvey award for academics
009in division three at the Indiana High School press Association state competition I would like to read your accommodation and then we'll talk about the team and how you did um the Crownpoint Board of school of Trustees is honored to commend the Crown Point High School excaliber yearbook for meritorious achievement be it hereby resolved that the board of school Trustees for the Crownpoint Community School Corporation wishes to express sincere congratulations to the Crown Point High School Excalibur yearbook staff for receiving the first place Rowena Harvey award from the Indiana High School press Association at the state competition the board of school of Trustees publicly recognizes this achievement and renders it permanently to its minutes to be PR preserved for public posterity this 26th day of August 2024 congratulations to each and all of you I know
010how much work that takes I used to be a writer myself long ago for the newspaper so I always appreciate these types of honors and awards coach U congratulate Miss Lisa ke first and I think there's G to be some questions because I know have I have some myself what is the Rowena Harvey award for academics what does that mean for Crown schools and if you could share a little bit about how go take students that's excellent you pointed out that there's been a long tradition of awards and accolades students through the uh caliber yearbook I got to tell you the father of two students last year went to high school I saw that yearbook it was excellent so well congratulations fantastic is there anything else you would like to say before I present all
011right uh I'm going to call your name if you come forward I'll present your award to Samantha is that correct Samantha no problem Ariana Romo Aiden Noak Adil Khan Vian King the Seal King Addison GRE Brooklyn GGO abigel Conway carmichel El Anderson congratulations all right you all would remain I think they're gonna want to get a photo of youat e e than if we could have our Crownpoint High School inklings uh individuals please come in inklings is first though Mr you're you're last tonight good I will go ahead and read the accommodation award first resolution of commodation the Crown Point Board of school trustees is honored to commend the Crown Point High School inklings news magazine for meritorious achievement we are hereby resolve the board of school Trustees for the Crown Point committee School Corporation
012wishes to express sincere congratulations the Crownpoint High School inklings news magazine staff for receiving the 2022 2023 user star that state's highest recognition from the Anana High School press Association at the state competition Board of school trustees publicly recognizes this achievement and renders it permanently to its minutes to be preserved for public posterity may this 26th day of August 2024 congratulations our sponsor is Jennifer bian Jennifer a few words about it I I need you to come to the mic otherwise I get yelled at by Brian Gil okay because people can't hear on I gotcha I gotcha uh so we have a a lovely small staff um this is been a a fun couple of years and one of my first years here we actually won the hooer Star Award and that Hooser Star Award
013is a competition it's an annual competition by the Indiana High School press Association whereby we are evaluated and critiqued and sort of moved on and we are critiqued in all of our writing our news articles our opinion pieces um our arts and entertainment our news our local our national our state news and we were recognized in order to move on in this competition you have to be ra either Superior or excellent and then you're moved on to the second round and so in that second round we actually won the actual losers hoer Star Award so this is uh quite an honor for for uh a tight small staff uh because they they work their tales off um they do a fantastic job and obviously they did because they won State and that's [Applause] it Ashley
014Johnson Annabella angeron come close Katie mey Molly Avery Moore Mason urbini we'll announce these names uh aene monz Evangeline sorry Milani Basquez May R Wallace and your own Jif for yeah picture you all right our own Crown p in High School Crown toown media news come on in oh you got to come on down resolution the Crownpoint Board of school trustees is honored to commend the Crownpoint high school crowntown media for Meritor achievement we are hereby resolved at the board of school trustees the Crownpoint Community School Corporation wishes to express sincere congratulations to Crownpoint high school crowntown media website staff for receiving the 2022 2023 hooer Star Award the state's highest recognition from the Indiana Indiana High School press Association the board of school trustees publicly recognizes this achievement and rers it permanently to its
015minutes to be preserved for public posterity this 26th day of August 2024 congratulations Mr glof a few words um we win lots of state and national awards um and I'm I'm proud of all of those but this is one of the awards that I'm most proud of because it's the result of about 10 years worth of work and the complete support of the cpcsc and our administrators over at cphs um we VIs visited anenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California about 10 years ago and they were really heavily pushing this idea of converged media print magazine television radio all together and we didn't know what that looked like and when we started looking at other schools websites there was a newspaper website and there was a yearbook website but there was nobody
016was doing this idea of converged uh media and so we decided we put an idea together we took it to Mr marck our principal over at C PHS he took it to uh Mr Gian fery who then approved it and uh got us in touch with a company to help us build this website and it is a monster and it is a huge un undertaking by all three staffs yearbook newspaper and our radio and television program and um in our first year of actually getting it finished and out there for publication we were named the top ranked website in the state of Indiana so I'm really excited about this moving forward and with our new facilities and the work that we're doing as as a combination staff now this idea that we are converged media
017program Under the Umbrella of crowntown media super proud of our students and of our staff and of our colleagues and of the people that have supported us throughout this process thank you Mr glof um why don't Mr glof you announce names and I'll hand the certificate this way I don't Butcher on you got it I know here Ashley Johnson Annabella onon Katie Ma Avery Moore Mason urbini evangelene monz mean Velasquez mayay mayay Wallace Elise Anderson McKenna carmichel Abigail Conway Brooklyn Gano Addison grean Lucy Keane Vivian King Adil Khan Aiden Noak Ariana Romo Rael ruffen Samantha uran Jen biani Lisa Keane and Brent Barber e e all right at this time if I could please have a motion to suspend a regular meeting and open the public hearing regarding the disposition of real property second motion
018by Miss Bas second by Mr Smith all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 uh disposition 3.02 of real property Mr Reese thank you Mr President members of the board tonight's public hearing is regard to the sale of some real property that we own this is the property that is the old Administration Building at 200 East North Street uh tonight is here to hear uh public comment regarding the sale of that property um what will take place next is a notice of sale be placed into the uh legal ads I will also be contacting those who've already expressed some interest in the building uh to find out uh their interest moving forward and what the timetable will look like we have a few things we need to get
019settled um with our board attorney in regards to the sale of property some terms and conditions that we'll work through with her and once we have those done we'll get that notice published and that'll start our period at this point looks probably like a maximum of 60 days uh to receive bid regarding that regarding that property pretty much done similar to a bid as you would if we're buying items in this case we're receiving bids for somebody to buy the item for a m uh so at that point then we'll bring that sale to you uh for the best highest and best bidder that needs to terms and conditions so with that um that has any questions you might have for me at this point regarding this process any questions for Mr Reese I I
020do do you know approximately Mr ree how many parties are interested at this point we had initial uh contact from five uh we've already reached out to two three of those U groups or organizations if you will at this point they don't have any interest in buying the property uh so that's why we're to this point of holding a public hearing uh to receive bids on selling the property thanks thank you any other questions uh moving on to 3.03 the patron comments on a public hearing and those there was no nobody signed up for that so 3.04 uh motion to close the public hearing and resume the regular meeting may have a motion so move second motion by Mr Vasser second by Miss Basin questions or discussion all those in favor please signify by saying
021I I those opposed motion carries 4 z uh item four now on the regular agenda patrons registered to comment on educational issues uh we have four individuals signed up this evening uh I will call your name if you could please come to the microphone uh you each get three minutes to speak Mr Smith will be our timer uh once again this is on educational issues or uh regarding education um please keep any names students anything like that out of there uh at uh Mr Smith will'll give you a warning in about two minutes and 30 seconds just to let you know you're getting close uh and the first one on that list tonight is Tory Murphy but I'm a mom for I have two Crown Point high school graduates um 2021 2024 I have a
022high school sophomore and then I have a second grade that a in Rob we love Crown Point we moved here for the school specifically that's that's why live my son attended um is Howard for kindergarten and we were red redr to Solen last school year when we came to the open house last year we were very surprised by the level that was happening but did realize the need for improvements the second day of school my son was sent home with a pink eye we of course took him to the doctor um about a week later he was sent home again with pink eye um and this was before you know very healthy child he's never um had any health issues no asthma like allergic to dogs that's pretty much the expense of his issues but
023multiple times last year he was sick with what seemed allergy related symptoms he had struck throat once bronchitis twice um he had to begin using an inhaler uh twice a day he has wheezing um and he's been to the doctor multiple times in the last year for these symptoms um I kept thinking to myself last year you know he's been really sick this is such unusual and and just not and Care compared to my other children who really um are healthy kids it was just a very unusual year with how sick he was when I walked into the school this year for the my heart instantly sank um I was honestly just shocked at the condition of the school was in um I I saw not only um it it just didn't seem like there
024had been any Improvement Not only was there not Improvement um the building actually looked worse um this school year than it had last school year um there's no floors There's No Ceilings there's wires hanging um in the building there's no lunchroom uh there's no hot lunch son got a hot lunch yesterday or last week one day we he wanted a hot lunch and they actually gave him a lunch bowl so there's there's no hot lunches being served this year at school part of the building has no running water there's no drinking fountains so if your child's not to bring a water Bott bottle to school then there's nothing to drink um for the day there's no roof I I literally looked up uh while I was standing outside of his classroom and could see the
025sky um there's no um there's just this is no condition for any student to be attending school I I I literally felt sick to my stomach um now with little to no opportunity to make other arrangements for the school year I honestly was mad uh why Crown Point School have you not planned this better this is not a renovation in POR in a portion a contained portion of the school this is a fullblown construction gut job that you have asked me to send my child to five days a week seven hours a day um every day for the next 52 100 and however many days is SCH on the third day of school my son instantly started complaining of his throat was hurting eyes itching his neck is hurting um I'm just not sure how
026in good conscience I can continue to send my child to school and I feel like I have little to no choices at this point I just would like to ask you all I mean have you walked through the school have you seen the conditions of soing please go walk through and see not only is this somewh that you would not want to go to work every day and work five days a week seven hours a day but you're asking me to send my child there um unfortunately M I have to cut you off at this point okay thank you uh next on tonight's list is uh Jenna fry hi um as you said my name is Jenna and I am also here about the issues at um I have a third grader and a second
027grader there and more children who will be coming through the school let me just start by saying I have heard over and over and over again that every school is under construction and to that I laugh if you were to go to Eisenhower during the construction as we did and see what their construction looked like in the nice sealed off way and the very clean air quality it's nothing compared to what we're going through at s currently at s They are tearing the school down around our children as Tori has mentioned we don't have a roof we don't have a playground we don't have a cafeteria we're using our cafeteria I'm sorry our gymnasium as a cafeteria so we don't have a gym either we have no outlet for our children to take a break
028from the day I share a lot of the concerns that many people do I have a severely asmatic daughter who has been to multip she has had pneumonia we have been through all of these things I also I also have a son who is healthier than most anybody in this room who experienced multiple issues last year too if we separate from the construction issue and the issue of the air quality that everyone is Haring on I just want to know how we expect our children to thrive in an environment that most adults would not thrive in would you guys like to be in a construction zone 35 hours a day while the walls are being hammered and the roofs are being fixed around you would you like to Beed in that environment would you like
029to test in them would you like to eat in them this is what our children are going through and I'm sure your answer to those questions are no and I'm also very sure you're far older than seven I have no anger this is a school that I wanted to be in this is a district I was proud to come into but here at s we're starting to feel forgotten I'm not feeling like anybody's listening I'm not feeling like anyone's communicating and quite frankly I feel like I'm sending my child into a war zone allow them to live in if I was doing this level of construction in my own home insurance companies would be paying to hous us in a hotel this is not safe this is not okay the lack of communication from Crown
030Point Community School System in my opinion only further exacerbates this issue I'm not a fan of complaining without suggesting Solutions so some of the things I'm wondering is have we considered looking at classroom pods for children to be housed outside of these schools this is something Griffith Public Schools with success as much as I hate to say the word have we considered until these are more acceptable conditions like everybody else I'm looking for information and I'm looking for real solutions as opposed to the scripted responses that I feel I get when I contact members of Theo how are we protecting my children and all the children at so thank you on next Carney evening um like I GNA kind of mirror what they're saying but I have to read from it you give my my
031classroom writers I can talk to them but talking to adults just so I wrote it down all right so anyways good evening um I just want to address the same concerns about the state schol and Elementary School where both of my children currently attend um I will say I'm extremely appreciative that um what is to come of Solen Elementary uh it was long overdue and very much needed uh we were a family that she was affected by the redistri last year we were removed from E now placed at Solen and I was very extremely underwhelmed the first time I stepped foot in that building um and I was shocked to see that Sten had been neglected in regards to compared to Eisenhower for so long uh so it he that um it was going to
032be rectified with construction and all the things that they promoted that was going toen awesome I was really excited um because after all we are all part of the same school corporation and I think every school should Beal um my concerns that I'm hoping will be addressed um are the continued construction conditions that take place day in and day out I feel that every student and faculty member deserves a safe and conducive learning environment and that simply is just not the case currently there are open walls um in the ceiling in the side that you can see out it's a safety hazard my K Used to Be it it worries me so it it just should not be that way with a piece of it looked like blue painter tape when I walked by that
033came right here and all of their equipment everywhere um the amount of dust and Haze um in the areas you walked was overwhelming um there's no carpet and I I know it's coming but in the in the meantime like I would help definitely um with the amount of dust um not to mention the of cafeteria and gym and more functioning bathrooms as was mentioned before every square foot of that building is under construction it's not being done in stages and if it is I failed to see that when I was there I'm back to school um I truly believe that if you drive by that building people would not think that school would be in session uh both of my children have suffered because of this uh continued construction that takes place around them and
034um I received a call on day three from the school nurse that my child had a sore throat and itchy eyes and he had visited um trying to this is a trend that also occurred last year with my son specifically itchy eyes sore throat lots of doctor's appointments uping as allergy meds with no results um constant complains of headaches and things like that and a lering cough I'm hoping that we can be provided with some solutions um to these safety concerns that we have please know that I understand the amount of work that needs to be done and the process could be delayed and it just takes a huge job it's expected um but what can we do in the meantime do we just have students suffer and have them take it for the team
035or can we bring in portable should we utilize distance learning um or can we utilize other empty School classrooms I don't know what the answer is but I hope that we can figure thank you Melissa hacker is that correct my name is Melissa H I did not come here expecting to speak so I really do not have anything prepared um I am a mother of a child that was um extremely sick last year um she started the year off on no medication um at the end of the year she was on two allergy medications two inhalers um cough medicine daily DayQuil nightquil we probably every day um antibiotics monthly every two weeks it was something new she was hospitalized in and out um she was diagnosed with um still they ended up saying it was
036Kawasaki disease so which is very rare I don't know if anybody knows what that is um she was six at the time um Kawasaki is children in the United States have it it's very rare um mostly males she's female under the age of five she was six and Asian descent we have no Asian descent I've did the 23 and me I have zero ASI um my husband she is none of that and somehow she ended up getting what I think is Kawasaki it took 12 days to diagnose her with this she had2 at fever for 12 days um her eyes the whites of her eyes were as red as her shirt there was no white in her eyes her lymph noes and her neck were five times the size they should be she had a
037rash that would come and go she had pain she couldn't explain she's an energetic child that's in gymnastics and dance and um is on her head watching TV she's a very energetic free spirit and all I could do is hold her and she slept for 12 days she was finally given an infusion um an IVIG infusion which they finally had to get this disease which is autoimmune basically her body had built up all these infections and all the pollutants over this time was February 1 is when she had that's me and my husband's birthday we had the same birthday as when she had her infusion um so all of these pollutants and I have built up these infections and caused her body to attack her own body um we've had 12 doctors on our team
038working with us there's other kids in the school um that have been hospitalized I found out recently kids with with blood work that have high high lead there's kids that have so many bizarre so many bizarre issues in the ER where doctors can't figure out why their kids think they're poisoned you know they they're asking them why they're poisoned and these are all kids that went to Sol last year I'm just asking you to please think of the kids um I'm not saying are getting sick just because they're going to the school but it's definitely irritating it and making it more severe thank you at this time I'm going to turn it over to Dr Terrell and uh we're going to address some of these concerns let me first begin by thanking you all for
039showing up tonight and sharing your concerns um please know that we do not take the health of your children our children for granted uh lightly um at this time though I'm going to ask Mike molaski our director of buildings and grounds to come to the podium along with Dion gour who is vice president at skilman and is overseeing our construction project just a few things that I want to address while they're coming here um it was mentioned that Solen feels like they've been left out they've been left behind I want to assure you that um they're the fourth major construction project that we've had at an elementary school so Eisenhower was mentioned Jerry Ross would be similar that were both the two who were very minor in their construction Winfield went under this level Timothy
040ball mccarthur all went underneath the same level of construction that we're currently seeing at Solen um all of that took place because of what we're doing some of that has take place during the school year with the students in the building um safety that concerns were mentioned as far as um drinking fountains we've gone to bottle fillers in all of our our elementary schools since Co that was a a move that we made so it has nothing to do with what's happening currently um as far as construction and not seeing yeah if you drive up outside it does it looks like a major construction zone absolutely um inside though the classrooms have been most of the classrooms have been completed and are new uh the ones that aren't are not being used right now um
041hallways uh concrete floors the grid is open because we continue to work on wiring and different things there everything has been passed and checked by the uh Fire Marshall to make sure that everything is as it should be uh is it ideal absolutely not ideal is it doable yes ma'am it is um very doable so at this time though I'm going to ask Dion if you would start by just giving us kind of a scope of where we started and what the plan is um and then once he gets through that m can talk just a little bit about air quality what we do on a regular basis but then what additionally we're doing even at so so Dion sure thank you Dr Terell um as the administration and board work to develop a project
042of this size we go through and evaluate phasing plan because we know we can't do all the additions at once we know we can't renov renovate the entire building once okay so if you were to walk through MacArthur mathur and Timothy ball last year um they were actually I would say that s is probably in better condition than both of those buildings were at this time last year uh it's a phased approach we are believe it or not when you go and look at the schedule when we bid the project we are head in some areas I heard some comments as far as completion of um like the cafeteria and the kitchen space so that's actually the cafeteria space is going to be turned over around mid to late September we originally were on target
043to complete that around fall break so that's going to be accelerated the other option working with the administration in the building was to have kids in the individual classrooms but as far as serving the lunches the cafeteria was the best space in the type um when you walk through the corridors there were comments made about cleanliness those floors are swept daily they're mopped there's a sweeping compound that's used I'd also like to mention about the uh air handle unit I know I know that Mike's going to mention discussed indoor air quality there's only one air handling unit that's on the cafeteria it feeds that space each indiv classroom around the entire building um take it like your house it's like you have a furnace and a condenser it's one individual unit that serves each room
044the filters were replaced before the start of the school year and then there's regular maintenance no different than you would replace the filters in your home so I wanted to point that out as well um it's very typical to have the exposed ceilings and the flooring we did hear comments about the conrete being bare just so everyone's aware um we did expedite that as well as a matter of fact of the corridors the corridor that's on the North side which would be well street that runs East and West that's the main Corridor I believe there are 10 to 12 classrooms in that space that all that carpet will be laid by the end of this week and the ceiling tile will be replaced as well there will be some ceiling tiles left open just because
045the Fire Marshall still wants to walk through and perform his final inspections but once he does that those AAS will be turned over 100% as well so we understand it's a phased approach it's very common um you couldn't do the project like this an entire summer for example you know the only way you could do it is if you maybe you know vacated the building I've had that happen one time in my career we hit a building hard for about nine months but it's a phased approach there was a rofer strike that impacted Us by about three weeks as well overall completion just so everyone's aware I've heard comments that um completion was anticipated December of 2025 that's not true it's the overall compation is actually going to be March um 2025 which you're going
046to start seeing around the exterior the perimeter of the building the Landscaping being completed as well um more than likely it'll be completed by end on next week unfortunately this week with the extreme temperatures it's just not ideal to plant seed and grade and things like that so playgrounds I understand there's been frustrations it's the same contractor that's been installing the playgrounds they've been moving from Lake Street to Jerry Ross to Solen the playground Solem will be complete around October 30 I will say say this I have a 9-year-old fourth grader that attends that building so I would not put her in hars way um did I touch on some of the things you wanted me to touch on Dr car absolutely okay Mike thank you uh I think that as we move forward with
047this project we don't ever say we're making the best of a bad situation we're we're making the best of just a transitioning situation as we started the school year and I want to my angle from a cleanliness standpoint in the buildings and grounds uh side of things we I've been through this six times in other buildings I knew that there was going to be some dust that there was going to be um hot temperatures like we had today and as we move forward uh we started the school year with brand new filters in all of the classrooms uh we are checking and monitoring those um as we go I think the addition of carpeting is going to make a huge difference and even by the end of this week there's going to be a major
048uh change as people will see what we have in that building um sweeping and mopping those concrete floors is does cause a little bit more of of dust uh to to be created whereas the carpeting seems to will absorb it a little bit more uh we have thrown extra staff uh custodial staff to try and mitigate some of these circumstances as I walked that building today on two separate occasions um the hallways were clear and clean and there was nothing that caused anything with eye irritation for me or uh anything like that and I really feel like we're transitioning forward and there are going to be major changes even within the next two weeks they're going to make things uh better for kids in that capacity um I understand and I spoke with several people
049that spoke here today and had very nice and healthy conversations with uh some of the speakers here tonight uh I have given them access to my direct line that if they have trouble or issues that they can call me I was there today and I can be there from my office in three minutes uh and I want to be transparent and open with families that need our help so thank you Mike if you could talk a little bit about how do we monitor the quality of thank yes I'm sorry about that so in our HVAC system we constantly are moving air and bringing in fresh air into the building it's required of us um as we do that uh the air that we're bringing in from the outside and the filtration that we use and
050the air filters that we use um not everything gets caught uh right now these conditions outside with certain allergies I've gotten in my eyes now um certain allergies that we at this time of year is certainly not the same as we'll see in October or March um but as we monitor the air filtration we monitor the oxygen that we bring into the classrooms the carbon monoxide carbon dioxide relative humidity and obviously the temperature with with what sort of was happening here and this situation started to begin to boil on Friday we immediately myself and Dion jumped into action and we're doing indoor air quality test it's going on currently we expect to have the results sometime on Wednesday evening um and then we will be sharing that those results when we receive them I'd also
051like to add this isn't um just the one time we're taking this indoor air quality test all these reports have all the air testing in them and the clearances if we don't receive the clearance from the environmental Consultants nobody can be in those spes stud not staff not me not so it's a process from in the the original valuation took place on May of 22 so well in advance of starting construction I also cafeteria overed believe me I hear from my daughter all the time that she doesn't get a so along those lines I'd also like to that that's not unique to Solen every building that we've gone in and redone their cafeteria has gone through that same process as well um we obviously try to get through that as quickly as we can but
052that is one of the the things that happens with redoing an entire kitchen enlarging the cafeteria with that um also as a result of all the current construction concerns that have been expressed we have contracted with a independent group to come in and evaluate our could you speak to that just a little bit yes they set up uh monitors they actually set those up at 1:00 today they'll have the results by the end of day tomorrow and like mik can mention the results will be submitted To Us by Wednesday and that's going to be additional verification above and beyond the verification that's already been taking place since we started Construction in March of 23 so they take sampling sometimes it's a long-term sampling sometimes it's a brief sampling it's in random areas throughout the building
053just to provide that additional reassurance thank you the other thing that I'd like to just mention briefly it was brought up have we been in the building I can assure you that I am in that building on a regular basis um we're on day nine I've been in there at least four times since the school year started uh continuing to monitor just trying to look in see what's going on are there noises that are too loud um I was there the first day and there was work outside as we were students were coming and walking and parents were riding bikes up with kids and we asked them to stop and they've been very um agreeable and good to work with about stopping noise in certain areas if there's something that's going on changing their schedules
054so we do appreciate that um I I can tell you that in talking with others who have gone through this once they see the finished product it's an unbeliev it's going to be an unbelievable space and it'll be as nice as anything else in our Corporation and definitely throughout Northwest Indiana that does not the concerns that all of you have and I understand that and again we'll continue to work in that that way when we get these reports we'll be more than happy to share those with you to publish those um and I can assure you that if there are concerns that come out of those reports we will address those and deal with them as quickly and efficiently as we can so with that out entertained questions that board members may have and I'd
055also just like to state from a board perspective we do have your child SA safy and concerns utmost to educate them and keep them safe in our environments uh the lines of communication obviously Barb would be first the principal and then uh Dr Nick shakina our director of Elementary education his uh lines of communication whether it be email call central office here are open as well so I just want to make sure that you can get the answers you need to get it might not always be the ones you want to receive but I think a lot of this information could help you at least rest a little once again we don't want any kid getting sick so uh we're doing our best of our ability to make sure that doesn't happen yes Dion did
056I cut you off I'm sorry uh the independent crew that's coming in that put the uh monitors up today is their system the same as our system that we use to test the air it's even better which one's even better their system takes on more particles uhuh so it'll give you a more accurate reading their system is accurate as well not within the for indor Quality read out of yeah that that was my question so it's not the same type of okay this is what they do so this is their specialty so it is in depth more in depth correct I have two questions I guess two parts number one um we've heard from concerned par tonight has that Dr T's probably directed to you has have the concerns been focused around certain age groups
057or certain classrooms or or is it just I don't know the ages of all the children so or is it just generally some of the concerns are just spread out throughout the building in general I would say I don't know that right off hand I would say it's probably spread out throughout the entire building but I I couldn't speak okay then the second question I had is I think there was some discussion about security and safety as far as the walls in the openness goes do we have a time frame for when those types of issues would be fixed I don't think I heard anybody speak on that I will say I heard comments about like roofs being opened up the only roof when you walk through the building that's open right now is in
058cafeteria and cation space um if and actually where the new Administration Wing is being completed which will be completed by the end of December that's the addition that's located on the northwest corner of the site building being tied into the existing building um what I will say is there are no occupied spaces where there's not a roof where it's not weather tight we wouldn't allow it we wouldn't allow any students or staff members to be in a space that's not weather tight okay um we walk the building regularly we have a site manager that was on site every single day so Mike's usually pretty good as far as communicating with us and Dr Terrell as well if there are concerns now there are um barricades that separate construction areas from un you know occupied areas
059I'll say and we make sure to try to create a separation between contractors and students now from time to time you will still have contractors maybe going down the court or to wire up a fire alarm you know for example tonight when the building's unoccupied that's when some of the carpet will be laid but again we're at again we can demonstrate per the schedule we're actually ahead in some of these areas um Mr Smith you asked a question as far as are impacted for students that North Corridor that runs East and West along well Street I know that there are at least three different grade levels I know they Mak can do with what they can I know I believe there's first and second and maybe a few fourth grade classrooms but again by the
060end of this week that entire quar quarter will be complete with the exception of some ceiling tiles like I mentioned what'll be left um to be to be completed is actually wall covering finishes de I've got one quick question for I know um so my children are at t-ball and last year we kind of went through the same thing so at open house we came through and had a lot of those um similar things that that you guys have mentioned and they used a lot last year and then we also saw when we toured the high school last year a lot of the like the plywood walls with the the doors that are made that have kind of the locks are we using that same method to make sure we keep area secure at all
061in this year yes we are okay thank you one other thing I'd mentioned too I know there was a concern about recess so one of the things that you can't see is in the middle of that building um Courtyard has all new concrete um rubber mulch that's going around it as well so they are utilizing that as well as the park across the street for a lot of recess but also for PE classes uh different times too so again they're trying to make the best of a not ideal situation so if I can add one comment when it comes to phase construction the process is typically you add you put an addition on First and that's what we did we put the classroom addition on because at a building that's pretty pretty close to capacity
062but you want to create an opportunity for contractors to be able to get in either four to six classrooms at a time like this summer we were able to get in a classrooms renovate them but then what's left is the quarter work is going to be completed over the next week so try to gain as much real estate as possible and that's why you typically do the additions Bas you brought up Timothy ball we did that addition on the Far West End first shifted students into that space we're able to um occupy some of the existing building and renovate those you doing hop Scots throughout the process so so Deon when they do these tests these air quality tests one of the parents I can't remember which one of you had mentioned about lead lead's
063not an Airborne article we will be testing for that okay and how how is that done I can't give you the exact definition but I spoke with within the air yes thank you okay uh Brooke how soon is the meeting after the meeting's over tonight is it online available okay so if parents um those of you that have others that have these concerns and can't catch every detail if you would pass that along that they can access the taping of this meeting later on tonight uh not really but um if if you want to stick around I you can ask any of us when the meeting's over you know what based on the circumstance I I'll allow this and this opportunity can be was it open after August 14th okay August 14th was the first
064day for students so it may have been that night we have the back to school night yes Dr Terell can I ask one more quick question just to clarify about the so I know that we have moved away from the water fountains to the bottle refill stations are those available at S as we sit today the bottle refill station bot refill stations okay thank you they're all fully functional everyone and that was one other part was there's a part of the building that does not have water um there's a part where there are restrooms that are still being renovated but the all the building that's occupied has water all right good thank you thank you gentlemen appreciate it and thank you parents uh item five tonight is a consent agenda uh Dr Terrell thank you
065for your consideration this evening we have the executive session minutes from 7:29 the regular business minute meeting minutes from 7:29 as well uh 5.02 our Personnel agenda 5.03 the recommendation of employee employment of candidates and then 5.04 the voucher registered checks as listed you've heard the recommendation of the administration for approval of the consent agenda I may I have a motion second motion by Mr Mr Smith second by Miss Basin questions or discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z action item 6.01 approval to apply for and receive the title one part A Helping disadvantage children meet high standards Grant Mr Harman langu schols also indect funds are allocated based pre at 204 to receive title funds schools need to be above that percent add always
066allss add it's always supplement it's I think usal app funding 9,955 you for the recommendation of the administration to appr for approval to apply for and receive funding from the Indiana Department of Education Title One helping disadvantaged children meet high standards non-competitive Grant in the amount of $649,950 22 may I have a motion motion by Mr Smith second by Miss Basin question or discussion Mr Harman one one question um is would this be fair to for me to analyze it this way that you mentioned these um free reduced rates the three elementary schools that you have listed there MacArthur Sol Robinson Timothy ball all feed into Colonel wheeler so is that's a fair statement St right okay all those in favor please signify by saying I I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z 6.02
067approval to apply for and receive Grant funds from the Indiana Department of Education robot robotics competition gr than first of after found I realiz schex teams that can only be $3,500 so when I and I noted that we were over that am by toal of 8447 I don't know that can be am this is gr competive Grant from the state of ind5 milon alloc is INE are it's also to that coule ofer in first of all they want to robot areed process modif and CH it's not just pull robot out of the and put it together and then you play that's not the right to say have the competition and then these are truly a design process that they go through that starts in the elementary school through midd the second thing that is important
068two other things I point out is that the question is how do you build the high school how do you build this uh group of students coming out of the elementary middle you have to show that into grant and then the last thing that they ask for you have to show a 25r Bas research our coaches we are anticipating approximately 53,000 support evening thank you Mr Harman you heard the recommendation of the administration for to apply for and receive the Indiana Department of Education robotics competition Grant funds of $65,625 53 for kits and supplies to maintain our elementary middle and high school robotics teams and registration fees to participate in local robotics competition may have a motion please motion second motion by Mr Smith second by Miss Basin questions or discussion can can this as
069Mr Hardman had requested can this be amended to reflect the amount Harman mentioned the motion fix okay all those in favor please signify by saying I I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z thank you very much thank you 6.03 policy updates and approval Mr Aiwa thank you Mr President board members we have three policies that we're bringing to you this evening uh for a rep approval first is p uh 3540 which is the teacher appreciation Grant which needs to be submitted to the state so that we can receive those funds later this uh this year and then distribute to our staff members that qualify also po 26231 test security and Provisions for Statewide assessments policy we need that updated for the 2425 school year and policy 1260 the non-discrimination and equal access to education
070policy that will allow us to provide consistency between various discrimination reports and the processes to address so this evening we're asking that we wave the readings and approve these for the 24 25 school year you've heard the recommendation of the administration for the waving of the reading of policies 3540 2623 number one and uh policy 1260 them for the and approve them for the 20242 school year may I have a motion second motion by Miss Bas second of Mr Vasser question or discussion Mr a are there any um major changes to these at all when we did the update uh no sir all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z thank you Mr Kiwa thank you 6.04 the 2024 bus bids Mr Reese thank you Mr President
071members of the board uh in concert with our plan you approve last uh September and October for our 2024 uh budget with our bus replacement plan we'd like to actually go through the process of purchasing those buses at this point C CC which is the central India Education Service Center Cooperative purchasing for these buses we do that the Statewide purchasing program uh with that we're requesting permission to approve 5 72 passenger buses three 42 passenger buses with wheelchair lifts and 114 passenger sa with that the total comes to klin uh for a total net cost of 1,278 1823 thank you Mr you've heard the recommendation of from the administration rewarding the bus bids to the lowest overall bidder curland Bus Sales in the amount of 1 million 278,000 for 572 passenger buses 342 passenger buses
072and 114 passenger um vehicle may I have a motion motion second motion by Mr vaser second by Mr Smith question or discussion yeah Mr ree are these uh buses I know we have a long-term plan where we turn over the buses are any of these additional in addition to that long-term plan it's not really an addition to it's a not going to trade in some buses we had planned to trade in and do it that way instead instead of buying um so if you want to call it buying buses outside the replacement not really it's more of just not trading in the buses we had planned to trade in I have one quick question are these buses that were purchasing are the amenities on those in line with what we currently have or the direction
073that we plan to go that's correct all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z 6.05 the naming of the crowno high school baseball and softball fields Mr ree thank you Mr President members of the board at the September 2022 board meeting a donation was approved for the use of funds to significantly upgrade the baseball and softball fields at Crown Point High School those upgrades are now complete and in recognition of the significant financial contribution uh to this project the name for the baseball field is to be the named the white Mali field and the softball field to be the Cynthia field with that the recomend the administration recommends approval of those two names and waves the second meeting requirement according to board policy 7250 you've heard the
074recommendation of the administration for approval to name the cro Point High School baseball field the White meley Field the cro Point High School softball field Cynthia field and wave the second meeting requirement they have a motion I move to approve motion by Mr Smith second by Miss Bas question or discussion uh yes I have several questions um I don't I W I don't want to go back and read the policy I think we're all familiar with policy 7250 in fact we discussed that in a public uh work session approximately one month ago we never did finish that convers that discussion that is still yet to be finished by the way um I was not on the board in September of 2022 so I had to look up the meeting that was cited by Mr ree
075he just read that to us for September excuse me September 26 of 2022 to approve a donation of $3 million and that donation according to the record here were the crowno athletic boosters so my one of my questions is if the donation that was approved by the board back then it was approved by four of the five board members at that time how did athletic boosters get moved to the three names that were asking to name fields after yeah I'd be more than happy to explain that to you so the donor in giving that that kind of money one of the tax benefits that goes with it so our booster club is a 5013c and so the donation went to them and then to us to be able to take advantage of those tax benefits
076Mr Reese anything to add to that attack okay thank you for that so without using this uh person's name that you can use his name it is all public now okay so if Mr White donated this money s a singular person is that correct it was it began that way and then it ended up that the White Foundation um came alongside and wanted to partner with him so they actually gave 1.5 and Chris White gave the other 1.5 okay so by Mr White and and Mr White's uh foundation and so we're we're asking name naming a field after Mr White who made a outstanding contribution Financial contribution I don't how anybody could say anything against this but why are we why are we naming facilities after two people what contributions have they made so contributions
077that they've made Cynthia white is a sister and the white family and their contributions throughout not only our community but Northwest Indiana I think Rings uh through and through um John mey worked uh here in Northwest Indiana with youth baseball and Chris really felt like he wanted to um give special consideration to that fact um and talking with some of those who have been around the area for a while and been involved in Youth Baseball they said that indeed he was involved with it at the level I can't speak to that tonight I didn't come prepared to do that um but special consideration was given to Chris White uh in the fact that he was making this donation um to let him submit the names for the field not seeing any issues with those names
078any issues meaning that they weren't upstanding individuals citizens uh their reputations were um good uh there was no reason for us not to consider those and agree to that okay so based on Mr White's generous contribution I think this is setting a really bad precedent to me it's like okay if you have enough money you can do whatever you want you can name whatever you want we have many schools in our district none of them are named after anyone who's given a financial contribution but because somebody comes up with a $3 million that person gets to call the shots on I don't know any of these PE Folks at all personally but I think we're setting a terrible precedent to do things like this it's gonna come back and bite you down the road I
079I Mr Angel and I have had discussions about this on the side I think we have a better plan for this and I think this needs to be moved along so we can further discuss it before we vote on this I think in response Mr basser the the idea that buildings or facilities use name uh you know you would apply someone's name to that for a generous donation certainly could be discussed and should be discussed but it's not abnormal I mean you're seeing more and more facilities and naming rights of stadiums and Facilities because there is a financial contribution that benefits all students that benefits your community so I my personal opinion is I'm not I would never draw a hard line against somebody or some Corporation who wants to support our students and if
080they want to come forward and be involved in the community and contribute to our Sports programs our extracurricular programs or academic programs um I I personally wouldn't be opposed to that now we can talk about the process or what that looks like but that's just my personal opinion so you know for me I'd be prepared to vote on this tonight now I I believe that this person should be recognized for his donation but I do not believe that we should be naming facilities After People based upon something like this I really truly don't believe that Mr Angel is it worth reviewing for everybody with that what that policy currently States I mean to my understanding the policy regarding naming facilities has been followed with with the process of everything regarding this facility um in terms
081of moving forward my understanding of the policy is that we will continue to have the ability to review every naming opportunity prior to it being officially named as a board is that correct yeah nothing's changed uh I don't does anybody have that first line of the policy available I think the first paragraph first uh section of it says the board may consider a request to name a portion of the building a single building on the campus with multiple buildings or a specific area on the campus for a person provided the proposed name has special significance and or the person has made an outstanding contribution to the school the school system or the community so ask that question you just ask Danel well it's my understanding that we have followed that process I I agree with
082the policy as written not that we're voting on a policy to be amended today anyway but to me we we follow the policy in place we are using a name that we are deciding to use bed an an outstanding contribution as written in the policy so well the last qu question you asked is the board gets to review each one and then give their approval before this is done that's that's what we're doing right now this has already been done those plaques are already up there correct but in this specific case there was based on the timing of the events uh this was scheduled for last meeting prior to his inaugural event there um or right within that timeline so um what what inaugural that's that's not baseball or softball season right now no no
083no he just had his own dedication to it as part of the contribution before it was even approved by the board well that that this had nothing to do with the signage you just had a family event up there I think the other thing that's unique in this situation was when he came to us back in I gotot the date you gave 2022 um at that point in time he wanted to remain anonymous for as long as he could um the understanding with the board was that he would give input on the naming of it and um we agreed with that the approval of what those names would be I I I think we set a really bad president here okay at this time based on that discussion um I'm going to ask for uh
084approval of the naming of the Crownpoint High School baseball field White meley Field Crown Point softball Cynthia field and wave the second meeting requirement we already did that uh all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed nay motion carries 31 item 7.01 the superintendent's Discussion Group um anything from either Cedar Lake or the city had a very short uh Cedar Lake Redevelopment meeting a few weeks back uh there was absolutely nothing to report from that meeting thank you Mr basser uh Mr Smith anything with the city I have nothing okay moving on to 7.02 is Mr Hartman didn't think that would go that fast I'll give him an opportunity to arrive director of Grants and assessments Mr Hartman when you're on vacation There's an opportunity to watch a board meeting do
085you take that opportunity I did you may need to find better vacation find a better vacation resort or something but I think my comment is that it made me reflect on tonight EV dialog here the discussion that just happened very professional purposeful demean just exceptional doesn't happen every I just want to thank you all leadership than you thank you Mr Harin director of Elementary education Dr China thank you Mr President and board members I'd like to share some information tonight about um a pretty big change that's going to impact about 1300 of our students this year uh Senate enrolled act one uh has created uh some meaningful changes with uh the I 3 assessment um IAD 3 is a state reading assessment that measures important foundational reading skills that's traditionally been given to third graders
086uh this year uh second grade students will also be required to take I 3 uh on our website now as of I think toward the end of last week and then coming home soon in elementary newsletters uh there's a letter from me that outlines some important information about I and also some of the some of the benefits that come along with taking this assessment in second grade uh so that's kind of addressed to our second grade families but uh it's on our website now and we'll be coming in elementary newss here soon uh some of those benefits that come with taking this assessment in grade two are that third grade is a heavy testing year um with I read three already and the first year of the I learn assessment um so students in second
087grade that pass the assessment uh will not have to take it again which is a good benefit um another good good reason uh benefit of taking it in grade two is that this proactive testing can help parents and teachers work together a year earlier um we had the choice to opt into this a couple years ago we decided not to because we felt we had the information already with our nwaa assessments um however the state is requiring it this year based on this new legislation um another big change along with Senate en World act one is that the retention um rules are a little bit more strict for third graders that don't the assessment uh so uh there will be some exemptions uh for students uh able to move on to grade four um if
088they do not pass however that guideline those guidelines are more strict than they have been in the in recent years um we'll also have a a summer school reading program for third graders who do not pass and second graders who are um kind of score in that at risk category like they might may not pass uh in third grade uh this is It's only August this is happening in March but uh we felt it was important to get information out to our second grade families uh early on in the year um our teachers will have lots of professional development about this change um starting in September um this isn't the only big change in the assessment World in Indiana this year Mrs is going to speak about another big change for our third through eth
089graders um but just wanted to share that those upat read uh last thing I'll say been in all of our elementary buildings U multiple times this school year already just very grateful for the hard work of all of our teachers our all employee groups I don't want to mention any of them by name but um everyone's working hard uh kids are excited kids are enthusiastic and just very appreciative of everyone getting us off to a good start thank you any questions about the I information all that's going to this is the first year for the retention and exemption Nick is what you're saying yes yeah it's become a little bit more strict this year Mr thank you thank you uh director of secondary education Mrs Ramirez thank you Mr President and board members I would
090like to provide an overview of what I learned testing is going to look like this year for us here in Crown Point we have as a corporation opted into learn checkpoint pilot this year in 2526 all Indiana schools will be required to administer the checkpoints in addition to the summited assessment but we wanted to get in on the front end so that we can experience this be able to provide any feedback as well as then help support our teachers and students in acclimating during this pilot year prior to um the official year next year this will impact our students in grades three through eight and what they will be doing is they will be taking three interum Ms that are called I learn checkpoints throughout the school year we will not administer nwea which we
091had administered previously to grades three through eight since this assessment is an interim assessment and then students will take a summative assessment like they have in the spring of 2025 and really the purpose of the iearn checkpoints is to help our students and our teachers our staff to see how students are doing on targeted skills and Concepts based on the Indiana standards and so then we will get reports after each of those assessments are administered that can help us inform um intervention and our instruction in the classroom these assessments will be administered in English language arts and Mathematics we will start heing Crownpoint they give you Windows of time for each of the three checkpoints our first um checkpoint Administration across the board in grades 3 through eight will start in October and what those
092assessments look like are 20 to 25 question questions in ela and 20 to 25 in math the tests are technically untimed however um they anticipate approximately 25 to 45 minutes however um if students need extended time test can be taken over multiple days in most cases We are continuing to learn a lot um I think that it's great for us to be on The Cutting Edge of being part of the pilot so that we can attend professional development that the Department of Education is holding this year as well as they are consistently releasing documents and support materials that we're then enable we are then able to share with our administrative staffs our teachers and then of course our families we have um the most recent information posted on our school's websites that show what the
093I learn checkpoints are and then they link to some of the overview documents that are very easily digestible in terms of what subdomain topics or categories are covered on each of the checkpoints and so those are very user friendly for families to reference and we will also be messaging more information um in our school newsletters which will outline specific windows for each grade level and when they will um administer the assessment so are there any questions about the I learn checkpoints and or the summit tip for this year great my last thing is just to thank um the partnership of our families our students and our teachers staff administrators during open house our Middle School open houses occurred on the 15th of August and were very well attended so I'm greatly appreciative of that and
094I'm looking very much forward to the Crown Point High School open house which will be on Wednesday so thank you very much for partnering um families and students staff at those building levels Mr thank you Mr remirez that's very good report question you may not have the knowledge of but I'm gonna ask it anyway since it's a big change with the cell phone policies I don't know if you know any information how things are going at the second level yes I have actually I'm very excited to share I was checking in with administrators at the high school where I think the biggest impact would have been felt um with this change and they have reported back to me that teachers feel very appreciative of the fact that we're making this such a priority it's allowing
095students to be more focused and I think it allows students to be much more engaged and not distracted and not because necessarily they're choosing to not be distracted but because the teachers are holding them accountable for not being distracted on their cell phon so within the first week and a half of school um really positive reports from the high school oh good well thank you for yeah thank you for asking that question thank you thank you Mr M 7.05 director exceptional education Mrs pascus good evening president Angel members of the board um starting with a positive so this year an exceptional ad we have decided to have a theme and our theme is something magical is happening here we have a lot of Disney lovers in our group um but we do just feel like
096there is something very unique Happening Here with exceptional Ed so we decided to Spotlight um a few employees just no pattern to it we're just kind of indicating um in our leadership group to one another when we feel like someone has done something outstanding so Mr Jan fery helped me deliver these Awards to a few staff members Friday um complete with confetti in the envelope um so we recognized Hannah Grady a MacArthur perah Teresa Novak one of our teachers at the high school Stacy sort a high uh Winfield applied skills teacher and Mandy Nelson a Wheeler applied skills teacher and these folks are just going above and beyond without being asked to support families and students so we just wanted to give them some um I also want to thank um Kelly my assistant director
097our coordinators and our diagnostic staff um they've been assisting in processing over 75 movein to our district with IEPs and um you have to provide services in meet within 10 days of enrollment so for these 75 students that day is August 28 it's quickly approaching and they've been working very hard thank you Mr P any questions thank you uh 7.06 assistant superintendent Mr G fer thank you Mr President board members so we we have somewhat of a theme through our curriculum instruction Department um there's a lot of new mandates a lot of new testing coming down through the Department of Education and much of it been because of new legislation um and one of the things I provided for you in your board packet was a couple attachments that deal with the proposals for the
098new high school diploma um you may be very aware uh the department of Ed submitted a proposal back in March um they've been mandated to have a new high school diploma by December of 2024 the first proposal in March was not very well received it was very heavily work-based experience no matter what type of rigor you were taking in your classes um and there was a lot of questions about how how could we have every kid do so many work based experienced hours to get a diploma so they came out with a new draft in August um it's it's been better received they have answered some of the questions like higher ed had a lot of concerns about um taking away an academic honors diploma so the comparison graphic attachment that I gave you has
099the core 40 which we currently have right now laid out to this newest proposal you can see U that there are some there's only an addition of two credits and that comes in the form of a computer science course and a personal finance course which are good things I think everyone would agree upon that the flexibility they want to build into this new diploma does however shift some credits and take away some of the required uh credits that we've had for many many years so we could see some impact there one of the things this new proposal does it does bring back of kind of a a version of the academic honors diploma where you can earn seals so there is one base diploma everyone would have to get those 42 credits um and then
100you could then add on if you were to pursue a pathway in enrollment which is more or less enrollment into a college very similar to an academic honors diploma employment which was more work based be adding on to your base diploma or enlistment and service if you been going to military service each one of those seals then also has a plus seal that goes with it which is additional hours of work base or hours of mostly in work Bas places but extra pieces that you have to go for that plus seal um some of the things that we noticed that really are a change for us are are reduced in PE and health credits um reducing some of the required social studies credits that we currently have and really right now there are five directed
101electives which are fine arts from CTE coures those would go away and you would have 12 personalized electives really opening the door up for the kids to create kind of their own diploma pathway as they as they work towards graduating so it's there's a lot of complicated pieces here and moving pieces that's why I gave you the attachments I also gave you a narrative for each one of those pieces that goes along with it I don't know if you had a chance been a pretty long me meeting right now so I'm not going to go through each and every piece of that but that's kind of it in a nutshell right now there will be public comment on this latest draft and then uh the doe will be going in December making a final proposal
102for a new high school diploma which then um we've already had conversations myself and Mrs Ramirez with the High School administration we're preparing for that uh incoming Freshman Class who this would this would affect so we have our e our incoming freshman parent orientation at the end of January beginning of February will'll have to dissect what they land on and make sure that those parents know exactly what's happening we did not react strongly or even share anything in March because we did know that it would probably go through some some changes of what they first initially proposed so you have that in your hands um any questions on that U thank you Mark for putting that side by side that's that's that's very helpful so as I look through this um for what with the
103current core 40 and then what their newest proposal is and I know that's getting a lot of backlash in mathematics there's no more there will be any requirement for you to take introductory geometry yeah there's no requirement for geometry or Algebra 2 which we currently have however you do have to get seven credits right math so you're gonna have to get it somewhere so well and I don't know where that there's several places you could probably get that but also I I noticed as you pointed out that the removal of Economics which has been a staple in the state of Indiana since Moses yeah answer to is that now the required personal finance class would answer a lot of crossover on that's that's the answer I'm not defending I'm just telling but thank you for
104doing that that's really helpful yeah it's I know you guys get some questions just want to make sure you had that and then just to wrap up my report um just going into some of the classrooms that I did uh to give out our confetti Awards they were some of our applied skills classrooms and uh just the work that was being done in those classrooms was amazing to me uh just I was very busy when I walked in but when those teachers had the kids in great routines and were just able to just bring it all together and just really you know you walk into that working in curriculum struction in a corporation just get really proud of who you have working here you know kids that we have coming into their school so just
105wanted to mention that as well thank you Mr sorry one more question practical question justum you had grader that's coming up to high school next year we leave these courses these credits or seven credits you know math and English child wants to go to college Crownpoint high school is like a college I mean they have so many classes to offer where does a parent start to say son or daughter you should take these classes or how does that work and what's the practical way we're going to be instructing so that's you know that was actually a conversation myself Mrs RZ Mr M against Aly we're having on Friday um really feel like that College Prep piece where kids are that's my goal I want to go to college they'll go into the base diploma and
106then go into the honor seal enr and the Really the big change in there just one really quick is that's really close to an academic diploma however um one of these of the following has to be completed so you have to take a four AP courses but then pass the exam or six college credits which would be a dual credit which would be a different challenge for our school counselors because generally kids take a lot of AP courses or they might take credit courses now you're G to kind of have to look to be like okay I can pass this exam I want to grab this dual credit course but they felt they're already thinking about it you know regardless of where we land they're they're kind of planning out on how do we best
107guide our students into those Pathways they do a pretty good job of that current at some point in the future will this when this all gets settled will the school corporations send out information to parents and say this is kind of the path or the recommendation AB you're going down this path this is where you're going to be guided going down this path I mean is that something we can expect in the future all right thanks for sure thank you Mr J fery 7.07 Chief human resource officer Mr thank you Mr President board members uh just real briefly uh I want to just the list is too long to um itemize every individual that chipped into the uh the new teacher Academy this year but um from July 24th to August 6th we had sessions
108ranging from school safety technology all of our curriculum leaders in the back uh language arts math uh exceptional education um we even had Finance helping folks insurance and benefits and how and get themselves signed up for that um we had obviously directors leading sessions we had principles leading sessions we had teachers leading sessions we had counselors leading sessions about social about about emotional supports in the um schools so it's just truly amazing to see how many individuals are invested in getting our new Educators in our school system up and running we we like to stay in a Groove uh soon in the school year so that they can really be firing on all cylinders and then growing beyond that um as they enter their career here at Crown Point uh this week um and I
109should mention to food food service to treats our folks incredibly well throughout this entire time um I must uh share that this week uh I'll be visiting uh each School building uh starting this week it's going to take about a week and a and we do uh about four check-ins every year and this will be the first check-in to see how the starts going uh whether they're feeling connected feeling family feeling feeling like they're a part of something and finding out if there's any that they need extra support with at this time so um I just want to thank the massive amount of humanity out there in our school corporation that wraps their arms around our new teachers every year to get them off to a great start so thank you to everybody that's been
110involved in in that process Mr I have to just really quickly from um somebody who I know who's just starting teaching here but has taught in other corporations and from the beginning of the the meetings and everything that you guys had here with them they had said this is a whole new ball game like this is a whole another level like they had never seen before just the way like the the entire process of how we bring them in and everything and I have to say um I think we take it for granted sometimes how like we do things here and how we try to make it a family and bring everyone in and provide consist across the board and and support and that that does not exist everywhere and it always is refreshing and
111great to hear when you hear somebody coming in feel so lucky and special to get to work here and this is somebody who is not a first year teacher this is somebody who's been teaching for over 10 years so that's it was great to hear so I felt like I would I would share that with you that's super feedback thank you very much for sharing that 7.08 Chief Financial Officer Mr ree thank you Mr President members of the board uh tonight I have a little discussion than what I normally provide during this segment last week we received assess valuation for the school corporation from the dgf um not any big surprise to many of us but our assess valuation for the district is up over 13 and a half% um with that we do have
112some Levy constraints for the up three funds we have where we can Levy taxes we have the referendum operating fund which is uh limited to a 3% growth this year as like last operations fund is also limited to a 4% growth the only fund we have that we can actually go and increase I use this term that from where our tax rate would be if we did nothing uh is our debt service fund with that we've utilized this in the past back in 2022 we issued a a small Bond issue5 million and quickly paid it off in six months we would like to take that same approach uh given the availability of some tax rate for us with the large increas in our ass so we would be a similar $5 million issue we would
113pay that off on June 30th 2025 so about a six Monon issue given the timetable that's laid out in front of us that we have to statutorily complete in that period we are limited on the number of days that would allow us to get this done by the end of this calendar year get it on the tax rules for 2025 so with that we would hold our first public determination hearing on the next board meeting September 16th and we would second one then on September 19th that Thursday after the Monday board meeting with that we need to publish notice of these meetings similar we did tonight with the disposition of real property so for this meeting we would need to publish those dates and times in that legal ad so with that I'm requesting a
114meeting a special meeting on September 19th uh and I just need to before we leave tonight have a time for that meeting so we can get that published in the paper thank you Mr ree we'll discuss it real quickly in other board business move through this thank you okay um just to clarify so this does not increase any overall tax rate correct no actually even with this $5 million issue we anticipate our tax rate to decline by over 5% excellent thank you thank you 7.09 director of communications M alen thank you good evening I'm excited to announce that our first Ambassador meeting of the year will be Wednesday next week September 4th we have individuals in our community that will be joining our group this year the largest that we've ever had and then also
115later this month well September and October we're going to be taking a really close look at the accessibility of our website it currently meets all the basic requirements for accessibility but we'd like to kind of push that to the next level to be kind of a leader what it means to have access information anyone who wants to go to our website so we'll be making some changes probably theology a thank you 710 superintendent of schools Dr ter thank you uh Brook did not mention and I thought she would since the last time we met we had our bus tour and we had I think it was 17 community members who joined us for a day that included more than 10,000 steps throughout the district um it was a great day a lot of positive feedback
116we'll definitely be looking forward to doing that again in the future uh but thank those community members who came along with us that day and spent the better part of the day um with us it was a great opportunity um has been mentioned multiple times about all the things that happened for our new teachers but also for all of our current staff and the professional development that takes place before in school year um three weeks leading up to the start of the school year this building was booked nonstop if you tried to find a parking place here you were probably parking over in the Education Center parking lot um want to thank everybody who provides that professional development but also our custodial staff here within this building a lot of setup and tear down of
117chairs and tables and different Arrangements um the week of the beginning of school August 12th is just a half week for students a man that like we cram in about two weeks into that week and um it's just really satisfying to see how quickly we get right into just having school and if you go in right now you would think we're a couple months into the school year with the way that things are flowing so appreciate all the work of all the people in our buildings and our administrative team here as they help support that uh last thing just want to mention our community as you saw with our robotics Grant and the amount of money that's coming in there um our community just continues to support our students over and over again um it
118was evident if you were at the football game on Friday night it's just amazing to see the continual outpour uh people who are at the the game but then also people who uh support the teams that are up on the Jumbotron advertising their businesses and uh we just appreciate so much and do do not take for granted the community in which we live and the support of our district thank you thank you Dr ter uh item eight tonight is other business of the board um our board meeting normally is the fourth Monday of the month but because of the uh fall conference for school board uh a few of us will be attending uh it's scheduled for the 16th of September um I find out tonight miss Bas was going to be out of town
119so if everybody can check their calendars to make sure we have a forum I we'll get a hold of Scott babjack she did say you return on the 19th but like you'd be able to do in the afternoon um I know Mr Smith being an attorney your schedule could change in any minute do you know uh Tim at any point that Thursday would you be available maybe like three or four for a regular meeting no that's just a quick one for the bond issuance the uh actual that hearing process where we got to go through that we' approve the first one on the Monday the 16th and then that other portion of is on the 19th uh later in the afternoon be better okay perfect so why don't we because you need that time just
120need the time Danielle's saying she'd be good I'll wait Brian to get SC can we do like four o'clock and it's like a 15minute meeting tops less than that yes okay so we're good all right there thank you we got that out of the way and then I'll just verify with Mr babjack and Mr B if you could just check make sure with that change on the meeting date at the 16th will work for you what was the first date well the 19th is the date we were talking about at four o' that's 19th okay 19 the regular business meeting is the 16th gotta being out of town I just want to make sure we got enough for a quum I know Mr BJ schedule that out of town work has been okay so we
121got two so I I'll verify that we're all okay for and in order to be in our deadlines we really need that meeting on that date the 19th and the 16th yes okay both them all right we just need one more knowing that me and Mr Vash will be here unless God willing I'll be here all right with that being said any other board business yeah we okay um board statements of appreciation recognition item nine 9.01 Mr bastter anything this evening i' like to thank you parents for coming out tonight and advocating for your children um you don't see that all over the scope of the land so thank you very much for doing that and i' I'd urge you to continue to do that when you have issues to bring them up so thank
122you very much Miss Bas anything Stephen yeah I wanted to Echo I app apprciate the respectful conversation and I loved I heard multiple times you know we don't want to come with just a problem but and to offer Solutions and I really appreciate um the way our community can work hand inand with the administration um and the teachers to have a successful year and then to con uh continue on that uh I did want to have just a statement of appreciation in general for all of our families who got all of the kiddos ready to school um for all of our buildings and grounds and our our background staff custodial staff services for having everything ready for the kids this year and of course the teachers for having the classrooms ready for all the smiling
123little faces um a quick comment on stem for any of you who have Elementary um school kids my kids personally have said that they've been excited uh one my one daughter has gone I think twice and the other one has gone once and um they have very much enjoyed getting to kick off that whole new programming so I'm very excited to see what comes from that so thank you um Dr China for your hard work getting that up and running um offering that for students and um yeah that's it for me tonight thank you m Bas Mr Smith nothing um myself I just to all those that you know go through getting these kids back in the school buildings I mean it's just incredible when you're dealing with where's technal enrollment adm's coming up but
124what are we estimating we're about 8965 okay so 9,000 I I'll round up assuming that we'll probably have some movements during the year 9,000 students get them back in buildings and with the construction again my sentiments to the moms that spoke this evening um we understand those concerns and glad you brought those to us so thank you um normally these meetings aren't this long so you wouldn't have to sit here so um but it is and we're glad to sit here when it necessary to be here so with that I would look for a motion to adjourn motion by Miss B and second by Mr vaser all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z for