Danville Community School Corporation April 13, 2026, Public School Board Meeting

001All right. Good evening everyone. We're going to officially call this meeting to order here at 6:30. We're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. If you'd like to stand and join us, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. The first item on the agenda is amendments to the agenda. Dr. Schaefer. Uh, Mr. Chair, we have no amendments to request this evening. Thank you. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is students of the month. Dr. Schaefer. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And we are again this month recognizing our students of the month. And we're going to start off with North Elementary. Mrs. Perkins, you will lead

002us off. Thank you. And parents or grandparents, if you have a student here and you want to move up more towards the front to get a better picture, please feel free to do so. Good evening everybody. I'm excited to introduce North Elementary student of the month of Talia and big brother. >> Rush is a first grade student in Mrs. Crosley's class. As I talked with Rush, it quickly became clear that he has at least two big passions, reading and building. I know there are more, but we're just going to focus on those. Russia's favorite part of school is reading. Everything about reading. Right now, Miss Crosley is reading the chapter book, Just Grace, to the class, and he is really enjoying it. It's no surprise that his favorite related arts class is library. And if

003Rush couldn't change one thing about North Elementary, to make it better, he would add a second specials class on Fridays. Instead of repeating one of the current five specials, he would introduce a brand new class focused on building where students could create with Legos and magnetiles. At home, Rush continues to pursue his love of reading and has quite a collection of books. He enthusi enthusiastically recommends the Magic Treehouse series to anyone who hasn't read it. He also loves building with Legos, any and all kinds. Whether it's creating freestyle designs or carefully following instructions from a kit, Rush enjoys it all. His current favorite project is a Titanic set he received for Christmas with the help of a few snow days. He completed it by the end of January and it is so large that it

004extends beyond the book the top of his bookshelf. Rush admires many things about his family. He appreciates his mom for cooking for everyone and for taking the family on fun trips. Over spring break, they traveled to St. Louis where they visited the arch, attended a Cardinals game, and explored both the zoo and the aquarium. Rush looks also looks up to his dad who works hard designing and building to support their family. Rush is especially proud of a warehouse his dad is currently building. If given a chance to be in charge for a day, Rush would choose to be principal of North Elementary. And looking ahead, he hopes to be a g become a geologist when he grows up. Mrs. Crosley nominated Rush and has the following and said the following. I am nominating Rush for

005this month's character trait of adaptability. Rush is a student who knows our classroom schedule well and relies on the predictability of it as most first graders do. However, when he is faced with a change in our schedule or within an activity we are working through, he adapts quickly and with a positive attitude. When he is faced with a challenge academically, he works through the different strategies he has been taught and is able to use whatever materials or manipul manipulatives he has around him. He takes initiative when an issue arises during group work time to try and think through ways to handle the situation and adapts to what others need in order to accommodate the feelings of his group. He also shares an understanding that sometimes the answer to a problem doesn't always work and he

006has to try something else instead. Rush does not give up. He keeps trying until he comes to an absolute solution. He does not get upset when something doesn't work. He just tries something else. And this is exactly why Rush what Rush does. And this is the biggest reason Rush deserves to be student of the month. Congratulations, Rush. We are very proud of you. Congratulations, Rush. And Mrs. Hollingsworth is now going to introduce our South Elementary student of the month. And you'll you'll notice that we're recognizing our students on our Warrior Way to Success skill of adaptability this month. South Elementary is proud to introduce Miss Laney Hedrickk as this month's student of the month. Laney is a student in Mrs. Wheeler's third grade class. And she also works with Mrs. Dodd's classroom and her amazing

007team of teachers that are all here tonight. So I have Mrs. Graham, Miss Alban, and Mrs. Robbins are here as well with Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Dodd. She lives with her mom, dad, and sister. And at home, Laney likes to play pretend games with her imaginary friend, Naen. Naen and Laney like to play Minecraft the most. When Laneie grows up, she wants to do lots of jobs. And right now, she's thinking about being a teacher, a doctor, and a veterinarian. Laney's favorite animal is the red panda. This month's Warrior Way to Success skill is adaptability, and Laney has shown an incredible amount of adaptability throughout our school year. At South, Laneany loves to play and go to recess. her favorite special is library because she loves to read. And if Laney was principal for the

008day, she would make an inside jungle gym where we would play all day. We'd also have a talent show, but only for the third graders, and we would serve ice cream for lunch. And there would be lots of flavors, especially Laney's favorite, French vanilla. Laney is thankful for Miss Alvin, who helps her with her hard math when she's at school. Laneany was nominated by her entire team of teachers that work with her every day, and the team had the following to say. Laney demonstrates adaptability by showing a strong willingness to grow and adjust to change. Her schedule has changed several times this year, and she has done a wonderful job adapting each time. Instead of becoming discouraged, Laneie has continued to learn, grow, and embrace her new routines. Looking back at this time last year,

009the growth she has shown is truly incredible, and it's been wonderful to watch her become more confident and show more of her personality as she navigates change every day in her life. We are so proud of you, Laney Lee. Congratulations, Laney, on being South's student of the month. >> Congratulations, Laney. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And now we're going to recognize our middle school student of the month, and Mrs. Berkkey is going to make those introductions. Perfect. >> There you go. >> All right. This month, I'm proud to recognize Kayla Neran as our student of the month for demonstrating the Warrior Wave skill of adaptability. Kayla lives with her parents, Florence and Simeon, her brother, David, who is in seventh grade here, and her baby sister Kendra. Kayla joined our school community earlier

010this year after moving from Avon. And she shared that one of the things that she appreciates most about Danville is how kind and encouraging people have been since she moved here. From the moment she arrived, Kayla has embraced every new opportunity with a positive attitude and an open mind. Kayla's teacher, Mrs. Gleason, who's here tonight, shared that I have that she has the privilege of teaching Kayla in both reading and civics. And she was the first person that she thought of when choosing a student of the month who consistently demonstrates the character trait of adaptability. She said whether we are beginning a new unit, adjusting to a different group activity, or tackling a challenging assignment, she approaches every situation with a positive attitude and a willingness to grow. Um, Mrs. Mrs. Gleason also noted that

011Kayla is incredibly friendly and kind, always organized and prepared, and quick to offer help to both classmates and teachers. Kayla's math and science teacher, Mrs. Jeff, who's also here tonight, shared how impressed she was with the way Kayla transitioned into a new school partway through the year. She wrote that Kayla joined our classroom at the end of September, and she is a wonderful example of this month's trait. Starting at a new school can be challenging, but Kayla handled the transition with confidence and grace. From her very first day, she fit right in and quickly felt like she had always been a Danville warrior. When I had the chance to talk with Kayla, it was easy to see that her curiosity and determination were what set her apart. Her favorite subject is math because she enjoys

012thinking through problems, following the steps, and finding solutions, even when there are multiple ways to get there. Outside of school, she enjoys playing volleyball for fun, and is considering joining a team next year. She also told me she enjoys shopping, skin care, and clothes. When I asked what she hopes to do in the future, she answered immediately and confidently. She wants to become a surgeon because she wants to be able to help save people's lives. Case Kayla also shared a little bit about her background and the experiences that have shaped her. She would love to travel back to Nigeria where she grew up to visit and enjoy the food and culture she sometimes misses, especially her mom's Jolaf rice, which she described in such detail that my mouth was watering as part of our conversation.

013Um, sorry, I lost my spot. Kayla's ability to adjust to new environments, embrace new experiences, and continue to grow is exactly what adaptability looks like in action. It is an honor to recognize Kayla as our student of the month. Congratulations, Kayla. Way to go, Kayla. Congratulations. >> And Mr. Cloudfelder is going to introduce our high school student of the month. The DCHS student of the month is Esther Ranger. Esther is a sophomore who enjoys spending time with her friends in her free time. Her favorite class is geometry because her teacher, Mr. Riley, is kind and helps her understand the difficult material. She also looks up to her older sister Abby because she makes times to do makes time to do fun things with her like hiking. Someday Esther would like to become a dental hygienist.

014Esther was chosen as student student of the month by her multilingual teacher Kim Hayes. Here's what Mrs. Hayes had to say about Esther. Esther has only been a student at DCHS for a short time, but in that time she has demonstrated tremendous growth in both her language acquisition and academic performance. She is a student who wants to succeed and takes pride in her work. Esther is not afraid to ask questions when she needs help and approaches challenges with determination and a positive attitude. She is aware of her areas for growth and consistently works to improve upon them. One specific area she's been working on is vocabulary development. According to Mrs. Schafter, Esther even organized a vocabulary study group in the library last semester, not only to strengthen her own skills, but also to support other

015students who were struggling. What began as a small study group has naturally grown into a a regular lunch group in the library as other students are drawn to Esther's welcoming and supportive nature. In her ML resource study hall, Esther is will always willing to help her classmates with her assignments. She does so with patience and a smile. Her dedication to her academics and the way she helps others around her have not gone unnoticed. In fact, she was recently inducted into National Honor Society. An achievement that reflects both her strong academic performance and her character. Esther is a delightful young lady whose work ethic and generosity towards others are the very definition of what it means to be a Danville warrior. Congratulations, Esther. Congratulations, Esther. And thank you to our our families. What what great kids

016and teachers for recommending uh these kiddos and our building principles for recognizing. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is student commendations. Dr. Schaefer. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have some awesome I'll say some more awesome kids to recognize this evening. And I'm going to ask Mr. Claude Felder to to come join me here at the podium. Our first student we want to recognize is Bryson Hill. Bryson, if you want to come forward, Bryson, congratulations. Bryson is in broadcast at Area 31 and just doing a great job there. And on behalf of the board of trustees, we want to congratulate you on your accomplishment. And uh and let me let me let me see again here because I want to make sure I get this absolutely

017correct. You are the IASB honorable mention sports event broadcasting honorable mention basketball playbyplay. May May maybe we should have him give us a like a a short sample here this evening broadcast. You have to be quick on your feet. That was a great answer. So Mr. your cloud photo. I know you're you're familiar with Bryson's work there too a little bit. So >> yeah, I worked with uh Mr. John Easter who leads that program at Area 31 for a long time and he actually has reached out to me a couple times this year just to say uh what a sponge Bryson has been in the classroom. Um and obviously his quick wit has gone a long way. Um but he uh Mr. Easter has spoken very highly of of you and you he's been doing

018this a long time. He knows what he's looking at. So congratulations. >> And I'm going to ask Mrs. Harvey to join me as well as we have a couple of our student athletes with some academic honors that we also want to recognize here this evening. We're going to start with is is Tanner here? Tanner Wineer. Yeah. Awesome. And Tanner's being recognized as the Indiana Basketball Coach Association academic allstate honorable mention this year. So Tanner, congratulations to you. >> Love it when our athletes are getting academic awards. That is that is awesome. And we also want to recognize Paxton Trump, our Damville High School football IFCA South all-star team. Coach Comr is here. And coach, thank you for being here this evening. >> You're welcome. >> I see you brought a future linebacker with you this

019evening. >> His mom says three football team. >> Coach, you got a couple words about >> Sure. >> Uh really really proud of Paxton. I feel like I've known him since he was Griffin's age, but in reality, uh, my first year I got here, Paxton was in seventh grade. Uh, came to our camps in the summertime, and at that time, we knew he was going to be a great warrior. Uh, he's grown up in our program. He's done everything we've asked him to do. The hardest worker in our weight room. He was a junior all state selection. His junior year, was a team captain this past year. Uh, and he'll have the honor of representing our school and our program July 10th at Decator Central. Uh, he's the 22nd Danville Warrior all time to make

020the All-Star team. uh in the six straight years we've had a guy. So very proud of Paxton, proud of everything he's done. >> That's that's an excellent accomplishment. Congratulations to you. And although she's unable to be here this evening, I want to recognize Aubrey Menelmain. Uh she's our Danville High School Girls Wrestling uh Indian High School Girls Wrestling Coaches Association senior first team academic all state. So uh Aubrey uh got in touch with me, let me know she was not able to be here this evening, but we certainly are proud of her accomplishment and want to wish her the very best as well. Mrs. Harvey, I'll I'll let you if you can please get that to her, that would be great. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda is community input. Seeing

021as no one is signed up, is there anyone in the off in the audience that would like to step forward and say a few words? All right. If not, we'll take a short pause so that those of you that would wish to leave may do so. However, you know, I'd always love to have you stay. >> Think a little harder. Got the cell. >> I know. If I was a construction update, that would be a fantastic reason to stay. >> Is your name? Just let me know whenever you're ready. to those two water. If not, she can have mine. All right, the next item on our agenda is a DO Community High School athletic department presentation. >> And we are very pleased to have with us uh Mr. Claudefelder and Mrs. Harvey uh from the

022high school this evening to give us a a good overview of the athletic department. Um I I'll call it a state of the athletic department here in uh April, but uh we we appreciate you both being here. And uh Mr. Cloud Fitter, I'll let you take the lead. >> Yeah. Uh before I hand the microphone over to Mrs. Harvey. Um I when I was doing the research on um this job opportunity that came open a little over a year ago, one of the things that I was drawn to, granted I knew a little bit about the community already. Um however, uh things like mission statement and vision, those those aren't always uh uppermost in your mind as a parent. Uh but they do kind of drive how we operate and how we move. Um, and

023I was kind of drawn to our district mission, which is posted right over here. One of the things it talks about is students who are ready to contribute in any community. Um, the microcosm of that within a high school is where students are involved. Um, and uh, in my in my career, I've been really interested in growing these umbrellas that our kids live under. Uh, those are things like performing arts, clubs, athletics, give kids a sense of belonging. Um and then if we if we plug the right people into those positions uh to lead those groups um what happens is we teach kids to also pursue excellence. So after we give them a sense a place to belong and after we've give them a place to grow and uh kind of search out their passions

024then we teach them how to pursue excellence. Um and and I think that when we're growing young people who are ready to contribute, those types of experiences are absolutely vital. And so I'm really excited for you to hear from Mrs. Harvey today um and how she's kind of leading our athletic department um to a place where it's in a very good uh it's on very good ground, very good standing. We're plugging the right people into these activities for this enormous umbrella that is Danville Athletics. And again, we have, you're going to tell us how many students, but we have an enormous amount of students that are involved in Danville athletics. It's a central to the fabric of our community and our community cares very deeply about it. Um, and Mrs. Harvey and I do, too.

025So, Mrs. Harvey, >> first off, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to share with you um kind of the the underlying uh theme for the athletic department. I will go ahead and apologize ahead of time because I'm in that stage with glasses where I need them to see you guys, but I don't need them to see here. So, if I squint at you, I'm not making a mad face. It's just because you're a little blurry right now. Um, so I want to take a look at kind of where we've been, where we're going, um, both accomplishment wise, financially. Um, and I'm going to start with some things that I would like for us to celebrate. Um, so I think it's important for us to step back and recognize what this program has

026accomplished. The last four years have been awesome, not just in the wins and losses, but in the quality of the student athletes and the coaches that we have representing Danville. The capstone was this past year when we were named the Sagamore Conference All Sports Champions for both boys and girls. And that doesn't happen without excellence across programs. For those of you that may not be aware, the conference awards at the end of the year an all sport champion for boys and girls and that is determined by the number of points scored throughout the year as far as who is the conference champion in each individual sport. So that was a a great thing for us especially as it was the last year of what was the Sagamore Conference. So, we got to go out with

027with a huge win and and felt like we had accomplished a lot through that. So, as you can see, we're going to look over um if we're looking back, we've got over a hundred allconerence athletes were recognized last year. Um and throughout the the time, we've had over 20 um team championships. That could be anywhere from a conference championship, a sectional championship, and so on. Um and we've had state champions and uh several podium finishes in individual sports as well. So the going back to the 21-22 school year um it was a somewhat return to normaly after COVID. Um, and I probably should just quickly let you know for those of you that weren't on the board at the time, I took over the athletic department in the summer of 2020. Um, that was after

028COVID had cancelled the spring season. Um, and impacted the rest of that year. Um, so finally after that, uh, we got to somewhat return to normaly. Um, and our kids did really well in making the most of that. We had state champions, all-star honores, sectional titles, and over 40 first team all-conference athletes. Even more importantly, 16 student athletes earned academic all-state recognition. And you guys are familiar with a lot of those. They they show up here at board meetings. Um those come through coaches associations. Um, we talk a lot about student coming first for student athletes and this group lived that out. Then we go to the 2223 school year. Um, it champions became a theme across all of our programs. Uh, girls soccer, girls basketball, boys basketball, boys track, and girls track all won

029conference or sectional titles that year. On the individual side, we had football allstate honories, state podium finishes, and between athletes and allconerence academic honories, over 75 individual recognitions. At this point, we felt like, okay, we are back from COVID and and we can look forward. 2324 saw more historic progress. Our girls basketball team made it to the IHSAA 3A final four. Our boys basketball team were conference, sectional, and regional champions. Our girls tennis team won the first conference championship in school history. Boys track won their fourth straight conference title. And then we had individually Jack Harold, Evan Lawrence, and Kaden Collins who all made it to the state podium. Additionally, we had 57 student athletes earn academic all-conference honors. This past year, we also had some great things to celebrate. We had state qualifiers. We

030had a lot of records set and we had sectional and conference championships across multiple sports. Our competition cheer team, as you know, finished 14th nationally out of 92 teams. Our swim team won the Sagamore Conference. Girls basketball won conference and sectionals again while setting new program records. And we topped it all off again with the conference all sports title for both boys and girls. And that is where we are now accomplishment wise. So now I want to shift toward the financial. Yes. >> Before you get to the financial ask a question about before >> this slide here and it may just be what it says but maybe the meaning comes across a little differently for me. >> You're saying the 24 25 years the pinnacle of the warrior nation. I think with pinnacles being the

031peak >> and so is it you're saying we peaked or you're you're trying to say that we're still climbing the mountain to create warrior nation. >> Yes, I would say pinnacle is just in the in the tenure that I have been there. But yes, we would continue to climb. >> So you're saying it's the pinnacle of your tenure? >> Yes. And honestly, I don't I mean it's a metaphor. It's definitely not meant to insinuate that it was our best year ever. >> Again, there's people that are going to perhaps go look at this without this conversation in place. Without this conversation, they see that and say, "What's she talking about?" >> Right? >> Because we're still >> Yep. >> Okay. So, how athletics is funded. I know that you guys are aware of this at

032least to a certain degree. Um the district does provide a lot of support for athletics. They provide the coach and staff stipens. They they provide the department salaries for myself, my assistant athletic director, and my administrative assistant. Obviously, they help with facility upkeep and maintenance. Um they are pivotal in providing the outdoor facilities that we have and that we enjoy now. um by providing an outdoor groundskeeper and they cover our transportation costs at this point. Um the rest of the things involved with athletics are self-generated revenue. That revenue comes from ticket and gate sales, concession sales, individual team fundraisers, and then the individual team accounts where um a an individual sport may collect money for warm-ups or basketball shoes, that type of thing. So that is how our um revenue is generated. Um so in

033July 2020 when I took over the athletics department was in a great place. Um uh Mr. Mc Regacious my predecessor had left us in a great position. Um however as part of that we had some facilities and some equipment that needed to be replaced and then additionally with the huge loss of revenue for the spring that they took a hit with not having a season at all. and then the continued loss of revenue over the next year and a half. Um it's a good thing that we were in a good place because we fared a lot better than uh a lot of other school districts around us who weren't in that great place. Um so again, I mentioned the aging permanent equipment. Um you maybe you wouldn't, but some of you might be shocked to

034know the cost of a pole vault pit and the mats that go with it. um wrestling mats, things like that are tens of thousands of dollars. Um and so some of those were getting old and needed to be replaced and so we incurred those uh expenses. We had some uniform deficits. Um I some of our teams had five plus years on a set of uniforms and one one season depending on the sport can be pretty rough on a uniform. So, we needed to catch up in that regard as well. Um, and then some of, like I mentioned, some of the uh equipment that we needed to replace because of uh and a couple of examples would be helmets and shoulder pads. Um, some of those were in pretty bad shape and needed to be replaced.

035Um, and so we incurred that cost as well. Okay. So, um I I already touched on the revenue lost during the 2020 season, especially in the spring where it was canceled all together. So, there were no funds received during that spring. Uh once COVID hit, um spectator limits were cut significantly. Um we lost spectators over more than 50% to football games alone. Um, that's a, you know, when you can only have, I think we were at like 350 spectators that were allowed to be at our football games, that's a significant impact. Um, so as you can see there, we had five home games that season. That's a $5,000 plus loss per game by limiting the number of um, spectators that we could have. Um, so I mean that's 10,000 plus lost in a single season

036and that's if you're conservative with your figuring. Uh, the reduced crowds obviously impacted concessions when we were able to offer concessions. There were times where we weren't able to offer concessions at all. Um and then that continued as the community even though we had lifted a lot of restrictions and were able to get back to a sense of normaly the community still had some hesitancy about um attending events even after some of those restrictions were limited. Additionally, we faced rising costs as you're I'm sure well aware. Um equipment prices increased significantly postcoid. Um and so that impacted us and of course uniform costs rose as a result. officials and event workers. Those fees increased um because we saw people taking more choice in what they were willing to do and that required us to make

037sure that we were paying fairly and competitively to get the officials that we were looking for. We added new technology needs um through electronic ticketing um because that became the normal thing when we were going through COVID. people didn't want to exchange money. So, a lot of things went um the way of technology. We also added live streaming and once we were back at games, people did not want to see live streaming go away. So, that increased some um expenses as well. I already mentioned we had some equipment replacement that we couldn't wait on anymore. Um and then our growing enrollment also drove us to need additional coaches and participation costs. when you have to buy more uniforms, that requires more money. A good problem to have. >> Um, so where we stand today, and

038if you look, it's kind of a a a chart of getting back to um full recovery in 2022 and 23. Um but now that we have come to the other side of that and we're seeing those participation numbers which I will talk about here in just a second um the the resources have been depleted and we are still needing to add part of that being when you open a new facility people want to see new things in that new facility. It shines a light on some of the things that maybe weren't quite as um up to par. but blended in in the past and now with newer facilities, we're having some increased costs with some of that. So overall, if you were to look at all of our ECA accounts in the athletic venue, um

039we are in the black. Uh meaning that we could cover all of our expenses and have some money remaining. Um, but that would require maybe taking some money from track and using it to cover another sport or some money from football and using it to cover general expenses. That's not something that I'm a proponent of doing because those funds were raised by those kids and their families and we know that the intent was there for for those to be in those individual sports accounts. Um, so what that has left us with is the depletion of our athletics fund and our concessions fund. Um, we typically are fine to to pay all of our bills through at the end of the year. Um, however, there are some times where we might get 30 days behind, 60

040days behind because you go through seasons where you don't always have the income. For example, the end of winter season occurred and spring season, we had about three weeks in between where we did not host any home events. Um, and that wasn't anybody's fault. It just was the timing of of when seasons ended and when the next season began. So, when you go through those times, the money gets a little bit tighter because you're not getting the income that you get throughout the rest of the year. um we feel confident and and our our baseball and softball numbers have been great. So, we're looking forward to recovering or recouping some of that. Um and we just hope that the weather helps us do that. One of the things that we have been committed to up

041to this point is no athletic participation fees. This is just a general type of participation fee that a lot of school corporations around us are charging just for students to be involved in athletics. Um it's not particular to a team. It's not particular to this uniform versus that warm-up pack. It is just to participate in athletics. And if you have multiple kids, you're play you are paying that multiple times. And if they play multiple sports throughout the year, again, you're paying it again. Um, so we really want to make sure that we maintain access for all of our students to be able to participate. People ask me why I became an athletic director. Why was this an area of interest for me? And I will tell you that I believe firmly in athletics because I

042could name kids every year that athletics is the reason they crossed the stage and got their diploma at graduation. It kept them engaged. It kept them interested and motivated and it got them through. And so I don't want to deny that access to any of our students who want to be a part of it. Um, part of our mission, the the mission of the athletic department is the mission of the school corporation. We just use the term student athlete instead of student. Um, and we want to maximize their success and their personalized experience so that they can go on and be successful in whatever they choose to do. And we don't want to add to the things that could limit that. Um, and we all know that a lot of the reason that kids that

043we want kids involved in athletics is because of the important life skills that they learn. and we feel like that's a very valuable thing that we allow our kids to leave our doors with. Um, and so why having a revenue strategy matters. Um, we're growing, we're self-generated in a lot of our funds and we want to continue to be able to maintain that and even add to it um to help ease some of the burden perhaps for the district itself. Um you can see here a graph of our growing participation. Um it was fairly constant for the first three years and then um this past year we have skyrocketed a little bit to 420 athletes. This is individual kids who are participating. They may participate in more than one sport, but we are engaging 420

044of our students in athletics. Um, that's a 21% growth and that means more coaching staff needed, more uniforms and equipment, more officials because when you add teams, you add games and events. So, you need more officials. Um, and then that obviously puts more more pressure on the self-generated funds. So there are several um plans that are in place or moving forward or at least in the beyond the idea stage at this point that we would like to be able to pursue. Not everything next year, not everything in the next two years, but over time to increase the revenue that the athletic department is able to bring in. Um so our goal sustain quality athletics, maintain zero participation fees if possible and reduce district dependence over time. Um so you can see there our sponsorship. Each

045one of these is a different initiative that we have talked about. So we've got sponsorships and advertising. We started that. We we've always done it to a certain extent, but I would say we really kicked it in this past year um with our new scoreboard and the uh ad capabilities that that gives us. That's going to continue to grow moving forward. As people see those ads and see the reach that they can have um by participating in sponsorships. Um, we also have increased facility signage, program ads in our athletic program, and corporate sponsorships. Corporate sponsorships, I'll tell you, is one area I'd really like to see us be able to grow. Um, we may not have an Andy Moore car dealership in Danville, but Danville people buy cars from Andy Moore. So, I I don't

046see any problem with asking Andy Moore for a sponsorship. Um, concessions optimization. Um there is a need to streamline those operations um and to figure out what sells the best, what makes the most profit, popcorn. Um and to expand our menu in certain ways. For example, offering specific items at specific events that people then start to look forward to from year to year. um if it's a unique item that's at a football game or at a girls basketball game and people look forward to that and it just becomes part of their experience. Um and so we want to also improve our efficiency with doing that. Um and we've implemented some things to try to help out in that arena arena. Um, one that I did add that was not originally in your um, board packet

047was the team agreement with D1 Sports and Adidas. That is an agreement we are entering into for next year. Um, and we are not alone in going down this path. There are schools in our county that already have um, agreements like this in place. The benefit is that you get discounts on equipment and uniforms because you're saying D1 Sports, we're going to use you for our uniforms. So, when you're buying in that much um uh with that many, then you get a reduced cost. Um and especially with signing with Adidas, they are giving us so you get a a a changeover piece. um we get $25,000 for changeover. Um that will pretty much be spent in ordering football uniforms for next year. Um I implemented a uniform rotation when I came on board. And so

048we in order to make sure that it was equitable across the board for sports to be getting new uniforms at a somewhat regular interval, uh football is up for new uniforms this year. $25,000 will go quickly when it comes to football uniforms. Um, but not only that, we get a a rebate from any any of the Adidas merchandise we spend um as well as if it's through D1 Sports. So D1 Sports is our sales rep. They will sell us Adidas um when it's applicable in areas where it's not, for example, with equipment. And with Adidas, it's a a neck to ankle um contract. So, if we need helmets or hats for a uniform um or if the boy, you know, if you're a boys basketball player and Nike is your go-to for basketball shoes, uh

049you can we can still do the Nike shoes. But, um so D1 Sports helps us establish all of that and and as well as ordering our equipment. Um, so we get the promotional uh merchandise as well. This can be used for our coaches as ways of saying how much we appreciate them. Um, it can also go into one of the things that you see under here or the next one is the spirit store. So we can use that promotional credit to purchase items to put in the spirit store that that we can then sell to the general public. Um, so that is there are so the 20 thou $25,000 is a one-time thing, but then there are additional amounts that are annual. Um, from Adidas, I mentioned the Spirit Store. Um, so we already have

050an existing space for this and I saw at Hamilton Heights, we were there a few years ago and I was really impressed with their spirit store. Um, so you you know if you show up to go to a volleyball game, a basketball game, and you're like, "Hey, I need some gear for this," you can visit uh the Spirit Store during events and purchase items right there. So, that's something we're looking forward to. Morgan and I are actually going to work together to try to figure out, okay, what should this look like? Um, but I'm really excited about that opportunity. Um the district in particular has helped with the facility rentals piece. Um we're trying to kind of shore up our guidelines for facility rentals. Make sure that um Abby has done a great job Oh,

051she's not here. Abby has She's probably going to bed to sleep. Um Abby has done a great job of um addressing all of our outside requests for facility use um and making sure that that's all coordinated. Um as we continue to have more facilities available, we know that the the requests will continue to grow. Um aquatics revenue is a huge one for us right now. Um does anybody have a swimmer? Nobody has a swimmer right now. Well, with the the Heat Swim Club started offering swim lessons again this spring, you should see the number of kids that had to that showed up to have to do their swim test to determine what group they were going to be in. Um, I mean, it's like the community has said, "Finally, we're ready. We want to use

052this." So, um the increased revenue for that, not only with being able to revive our swim club, um and offer things like lessons, um we're hoping to be able to offer open swims. Seems like this community has a lot of of athletes that are doing triathlons and and I get contacted frequently about people asking, can we get involved with an open swim? Um and then different aquatic programming. Um Dr. Hman has been hard at work looking at different ways that an aquatic facility can generate revenue and there are a lot of them. Um and so that's an exciting thing because not only does it help re generate revenue, but it allows our community to be using a facility that they have supported us in getting in the first place. Um I talked to you guys

053a a few years ago. I'm not sure who all was on the board at that point, but one of the things we would like to accomplish is a department booster club. All of our team, not all of a lot of our teams have their individual parent support groups or they have coaches that are out doing fundraising opportunities. I'm pretty sure the baseball team was um doing a waste management trash pickup on Saturday morning um out on 36. So, a lot of our teams are out there trying to generate revenue. Um, but I firmly believe that if we get a group of individuals together, we can do it more efficiently and more beneficially for our entire department. Um, and that will be something where it won't be me saying this is how it should happen. Um,

054as a booster club, they would be a separate entity. they would look for the ways to do this in the way that best benefits Danville athletics. Um there are groups around us. Um Avon has a departmentwide booster club. Lebanon Lebanon has a department booster club and those places have seen a great benefit to having that. We don't want to take away the, you know, um, I don't know if anyone sold trash bags this year, but trash bags are always a huge one that people look forward to. So, we don't want to take away those things that have become kind of the signature of the various sports. So, this would be a departmentwide booster club that would be operating in addition to that, not taking away from those teams. um and hopefully making the job easier

055for those families and those coaches that are involved in the individual teams. Um, one that has become a a really hot topic is the um youth sports coordinator. We don't have one um right now and and I'm not asking for one. I'm we will look within to see how we can accomplish this. Um, but I can tell you Decatur Central and then I just saw today Speedway is going this route as well and Fisers has somewhat of a twist on it and that is to bring the youth sports under the school corporation athletic umbrella. Um, you know, a lot of the people that are running these youth sports organizations are volunteers. um they may or may not have expertise in those um sports um but they're just trying to provide something to benefit the youth

056of our community. Um we see a lot of promise in helping to oversee that bringing that all together in one organized place. I had a parent uh reach out to me. This was what actually got me started thinking and she said, "Is there one place on the athletic website that I can go to to find out about all of the different youth sports?" And I said, "Unfortunately, there isn't because those change depending on who's in leadership of those different organizations. Um, some people have a specific type of platform they want to use for athletic registration. Um, some, you know, you've got some people using Blue Sombrero. you have other people using a Google form. Um, so it's kind of all over the place and it changes from year to year. So finding a way to

057make that a little bit more uniform across sports. Um, and certainly for the organizations that already have something efficient and effective in place. It's not like we want to come in and say, "No, you can't do that anymore. We're taking over." But we have some good uh youth sports programs to start with. for example, the Heat Swim Club that's going to be using our facility. Um, Voli Digs is getting started again and could use the support. Um, our wrestling club uh is also they're trying to grow the the wrestling club. So, that's another one that would be a great uh club to get started with to try to make this a little bit more uniform. And then at over time if some of the organizations that are already ran well see the benefit of it

058that would then allow for ease of scheduling facilities because they all want to use our facilities. I'm trying to think if there is a youth sport that doesn't ever want to use our facilities and I can't think of one. So obviously it would help facilitate that. It would allow our head coaches to help out all the way down to the the little bitties in developing some consistency. Um, and the athletic director at Decatur Central said one of the unexpected benefits is that you get get to teach spectators from a very young age how they should how they should behave at athletic events. So, that's that's a perk right there, too. So, um, our long-term vision would be to reduce the financial burden on the district. Um, I am well aware that there are districts that

059the athletic department has to pay for their transportation. Um, and so, you know, and I know that the groundskeeping that we have is amazing. It costs money. So, if the athletic department could generate revenue and help alleviate some of that pressure, um, then that would allow the school district to to reallocate some of those dollars into other places that it would be beneficial. Um, so, you know, I mentioned that there. So, first we want to stabilize, we've kind of put some plans in place to try to rebuild our central athletics and concessions fund reserves. um and not want to have to rely on any of the team accounts to cover departmentwide type expenses. And we don't ever do that for, you know, just randomly, but um we pay for all of the replacement helmets, the

060reconditioning of helmets, which has to be done annually. And so occasionally the football team will cover it until our pro until our fund has enough and then we'll play pay the football uh team back. and our coaches are always very willing to help with that. We'd love to get to the point where we don't ever have to ask that. Uh then we would like to grow. We want to launch and scale revenue initiatives and I went through those um to try to be able to generate that revenue to to alleviate some of that. And finally, uh relieving that burden on the district in some of those areas. That would be a goal for us. Okay, questions. >> Amy, you mentioned uh you're seeking sponsorships, >> like Andy Moore, for instance. Great idea. Um, is that

061something you're actively doing in your dayto-day? >> Um, no, actually Abby has been doing it. Um, but that is something that will shift to the athletic department. And so that's one of the things that I'm looking forward to taking on is the ability to do that. Yeah, >> it's it's trying to figure out who takes care of the other responsibilities while because those types of things, they take time. People want to meet in person um and that type of thing. And so trying to figure out how to navigate that is is on our list of priorities. >> Plenty doable though with a secretary and an assistant ad. >> Um yeah, I well I stay pretty busy, but um I definitely think it is doable. We're looking for some other efficiencies that we can help with

062to kind of to extend that. >> Gotcha. >> And expand it. >> Question for you. >> What are your thoughts on homeschooled students participating in public school sports? I've got a lot of homesooled parents been reaching out to me recently. Seems like they've all learned that the state allows it. It's just up to the school community to decide whether or not we're going to accept them. >> I know that we've got school students involved in our other programs and different things. I'm just curious if you saw opportunity there and or if you saw like potential issues arising because of that. >> Um I would say both. Um I do see opportunity there because obviously um adding to the athletes that would like to participate, you know, in in some ways that's a benefit. Um I

063will be honest in saying I haven't looked into it a lot because it hasn't been something that I needed to be thinking about. Board policy prohibits it. Um and so when people uh reach out, I I just tell them, you know, board policy prohibits this. One of the issues that I can see is that um the the IHSAA um requires us to certify students as eligible every quarter. I'm not sure how that would work with homeschool students. However, I don't know that we would have enough of them that it couldn't be handled on a case-byase basis. Um I'll just be honest and say I'm a little unsure on that. >> Dr. Schaefer. It's my understanding because I had this several years ago when I was running that students who are homeschooled students who want to

064participate in athletics, they have to take some the standardized test and meet certain academic criteria that they would in school as well. Is that correct? >> That would if that's so that would be an IHSAA rule. >> I I believe so that's the case. So like your homeschool students would have to take the iLearn, have to pass the I read, have to take the PSAT, have to take the SAT. Does that make sense? >> All those scores would collect on our results. >> Yeah. I I'm pretty sure that that is what was written at least probably six years ago. Part of our conversation back when you first contacted me about that was the fact then all those testim kids had to participate in it and their results reflect on our results but they don't participate

065necessarily in all of our >> prep. There's there's the the hiccup. >> It has to do with Yeah. some of the guidelines. Yes, they can, but they also have to have these requirements as well. It's not just a yes they can because they're taxpayers. >> I have the I can I just add one thing to that? Um so when it we talk about um certifying student grades each quarter. So the IHSA re requires that our students be passing five classes in order to participate. Um, and so knowing how many that they are enrolled in and how many they have passed, that's what I'm referencing when I say knowing how to manage that in order to verify that they're eligible is a piece that I'm not sure how that happens. >> If I had questions, I

066wanted to talk to somebody at IHSAA, do you have anybody that I could contact? >> Um, I don't think honestly that it's an IHSAA issue. Um, I think it's more of if a if the school board were to decide that that's a policy that they want to change. Um, the IHSAA allows it um with the RAM the the stipulation of the testing. >> Yeah, I think I just had I just want to get clarification on the stipulation because I don't think anybody here would feel comfortable voting on it without knowing what all the stipulations are. Yeah, and I can certainly look into that more just to tell you exactly what the IHSAA bylaws say about it. Um because that but I do know that that there are school districts who do it and so it's

067definitely a doable thing. >> I think like emailing one of the commissioners is probably your best bet. They might have like a more direct answer, but just like googling it, it says um IHSAA allows Indiana homeschooled students to participate in public high school athletics if they've been homeschooled for three consecutive years, are in enrolled at least one class per day, and pass all state mandated assessments and meet all IHS eligibility requirements. >> We we can get that information for you directly from the IHSA to be certain. >> Yeah, sure. I have some questions, but um there's another piece of the athletic department that didn't get covered in the presentation and I'll get to that to in a second, but I want to ask some questions or comments on your your PowerPoint >> and that is

068and just to clarify because it's been explained to me differently until now, your predecessor left your department in a very strong financial position and none of his purchases put you in a financial hole when you took over. I think that that he did leave us in a strong financial position from the standpoint that there was revenue available, >> but he didn't leave you whereby he had committed revenue to go out. >> Um, I would have >> there was a there was a large financial purchase right at that time. >> Well, I have looked at that and that's partly your communication and I've actually talked to the individual we're talking about. Uh but according to Gateway, the large purchases and the depletion of those funds, which I understand why you're doing it >> because I understand

069that that philosophy could have been we're going to have a strong financial base, but we're going to have a larger rotation of equipment replacements to get that. >> But to say that it's somebody else's doing when gateway reports show me otherwise, I have a problem. >> Um when I look at those gateway builder reports for details, receipts and expenditures for that 22 23 period where the software problem occurred and then I look at the detailed reports for the next several years thereafter. It's there you can start to see the expenditures that depleted not only the emergency fund but the reserve fund and then took down the athletic fund and I get that but it's the clear the clearness of the communication is what concerns me. Um, that being said, you talked about the strength, the

070fragility of the finances right now. When I ran the 63025 detailed funds report from Gateway, >> Mhm. >> that ending balance on 63025 was less than $2,000. That that I wouldn't say that's fragile. I would say that's definitely alarming. And it's just not the athletic account because this goes back to uh administration not adhering to policy and bringing forward extracurricular account treasury reports to the board because when you start to look at all those other ECA accounts within that gateway report there is just incredible amount of this is the beginning balance this is the ending balance and it doesn't matter what we spend exceeds the beginning balance for the revenue coming in. It just again it's one of those things that seems to be a culture of spend spend spend without the understanding that you

071you can't spend more than you you take in. >> If that is the mentality then that's where our society has gotten to and why we have so much credit card debt in our country because they're not living within their means. So, I thank you for clearing what I thought to be the case compared to some of the information I've been provided. Um lastly on your strategic plan um you know for example talking about your youth sports coordinator given what I just said and what I've seen looking at account balances and again I don't know about the current year because I don't know that until July of 26 or so after that comes out which is a public record for people to look at. um then it's it's a great idea that you want to bring

072perhaps you sports in underneath the umbrella of Danville, but a coordinator as you said you're not looking for one but given what I've seen on those athletic ea accounts and the balances that are there knowing that it's currently underneath the opice of the rest of the district and I think you got a great aspiration but from this board member's perspective I don't think that should entirely be in the athletic department. I think that as a corporation, the reason you said you got into athletics is a large part of why I believe I'm here and so many others. And in that instance, the school corporation needs to have some ownership in that even during the challenging times because if we don't do it and we don't have it, especially in a state where you have non-resident

073transfer, guess where they're going? somewhere else. Um, so the concern over the finances, which I think maybe some of the previous communication is what's led to such a large part of this. I thank you for that. I thank you for clearing up the one piece. Um, but where you talk about if your strategy exceeds, you mentioned on the slide, if it succeeds, can you speak to how you're going to measure its success in the timeline it's going to take you to determine that you're traveling down the wrong path or you've got to drastically change that plan and think a little differently? Well, I think the benefit is that we none of the things that we have mentioned per se would cost more than what we are currently spending. Um, so it wouldn't require us to

074spend additional dollars um in order to hopefully start generating that revenue. >> I don't know that answers my question and that's okay. But that you mentioned the word cost and that brings me back to the other thing. You said that during co you need to hire more coaches and I assume that's because you needed you couldn't have as many students with one you need to create smaller groups >> so you needed more coaches for that. Is that where you're going in terms of to saying that there was a need for more coaches during co? >> No actually the more coaches was after co when our numbers started to grow. Um and and it may not reflect when you look at the total enrollment, but for example, we started to have a consistent number of boys

075and girls soccer players to the point that we were able to add a full JV soccer team and have a full season for them. Um and so where they maybe had been able to play a few JV games, now we had enough to play a full season of JV. That helps clarify some because again when you talk about the growth and rising participation, we don't have any more numbers of sports. >> Um, we have more teams within a sport. >> Yeah, but we don't have >> you 101. >> No, >> we're adding more sports teams at the middle school, >> right? We added girls wrestling teams. >> We did add girls wrestling. Okay, so that's at the middle school but not necessarily safe to assume school has girls wrestling >> probably with a 21% increase

076in students participating there's 21 sorry Jim to interrupt you there 21% increase in g people coming to the events that are going to pay gate to get in and or concessions >> um possibly in some however some of our sports don't necessarily generate revenue um golf does not generate revenue tennis does not generate revenue venue. Um, a freshman boys basketball game on certain nights may generate revenue, other nights it might not. Um, and so in theory, yes. Um, but that would probably be also, and when you're talking about being able to add like a a JV soccer team, certainly we are having more spectators, which generates more revenue in the concession stand as well. Um and so it yes and over time we would expect that. Um one of the things that factors in here

077is for example in in our most expensive sport which is football um I'm not sure how many players they rostered prior to me but since coach comr has come on board those numbers have exploded. Um, every time you add a a football player, you're adding a significant expense. Um, so it can depend on what sport are they being added to. >> That sport also generates the most money. Yes. That covers a lot of the rest of the sports. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Well, thank you for covering the finances part for me. Again, I do have a concern about the athletic department. The athletic department is not alone regarding my concern for how it manages the monies within the CCA account. And I think a large part of that has to do with what I

078read in that ECA report. And it's my hope that as we get more information about some of the things I've read in the weekly update that eventually that ECA report will be brought to the board for a robust public conversation. >> Okay. >> Because there's But moving on part that in the athletic presentation that's not here is and you mentioned the mission statement but it's philosophy. >> What is your philosophy of the athletic department? Um, well, that's a that is a great question that I'm not sure I could synthesize down to just a a one or two sentence statement. Um but it is it is basically what I said about believing that athletics is um a route that brings students across the stage at graduation but also prepares them for life beyond high school with

079the the skills that they are learning the leadership the uh workbased learning skills um things that will help prepare them for college. I really think any of the pathways that our students choose, what they learn while being involved in athletics will help them in that. >> Does philosophy come in as part of the conversation when you're hiring coaches to understand the coach's philosophy? >> Yeah. Well, there there can be a couple of different aspects to that. You can have coaching philosophy that has to do with X's and O's. You can have, you know, we one of the things we generally will ask is how do you define success? Um, and I can tell you that a state championship to me is not necessarily the definition of success. Certainly, as a competitive person and as an

080athletic director, I would love to see that. My goal is that at the end of a student's four years of involvement or two years of involvement in Danville athletics is that they leave our doors better equipped for their future. I ask and that you know as you know I've asked for some previous documentation since the beginning of last year and I've continued to look at it and review it and some people continue to talk to me about it. Um but it seems to be that in one of the you do a survey as part of your evaluation of coaches. >> Mhm. >> It has to do with u transactional and transformative >> coaching which I think is part of a bigger initiative through the state level >> called inside out. >> Yes. Um, and so

081I guess asking you about your philosophy was trying to figure out the consistency of the message throughout the department >> within the community and the way you've answered so far I can tell you it gives me a little bit of concern about the consistency of the message. Um I take point with for example in one of your questions were when you're talking about transactional coaching >> and it was I think it was Red Sanders back in 1950 who coined the phrase um winning is everything. Vince Lombardi came in with something and then he regrets having said it because what he was really trying to say winning it's not about winning isn't everything but the attitude to win is. Mhm. >> Um, but the way you describe the question to and these this goes to a

082student athlete and again I think some of the questions that you ask about >> All right, Mr. Brian just are you asking are you talking about this presentation or are you asking about and I'm going to get there and you'll need to let me know what I'm asking is >> okay >> Mr. Bryant you've got five more minutes and we're going to move on. >> That's fine. In that question where you define transactional coaches as bullies, I can tell you that most kids will not know if a kid if a coach was transactional with them until years after they graduate. I find that question to be leading as if you're trying to reestablish who you want to thin out coaching wise. And I don't agree with that. I think that again, if you have a

083coach who's transactional, having them run Bearclaw runs on an asphalt track in the summertime, they're gone. But on the other hand, if you have a transformational coach who isn't worried about putting a winning record up for the season to draw people in to come to the community, you're not going to have a great G income to fund what you're talking about. So, as I look at this, I guess I've presented the concern and asked you to reflect on your philosophy within the department because it's not in this. It's not in the coach's handbook. It's different within the questionnaires that are asked. It's not mentioned on the website. You talked about the things that you looked at when you came to the community. >> I think those are important things, but again, I think the inconsistency

084of what we're trying to get at is being lost. And sometimes it's about trying to put people in a situation where it's a double-edged sword. >> We appreciate your input and we will reflect >> and that's and that's part of it. You know, it's kind of like and part of it is about communication. The participation in the outside event started in 2023 cohort. I started on the board in January 23. I had to hear about it through the community. >> What was that? I'm sorry. I don't know what you're referring to. your the state website inside out lists Danville Community High School Amy Harvey athletic director as a cohort started the initiative in 2023. >> Okay. I would have thought that that would have been brought to the board through communication through administration. >> I've

085also recently learned and again I think it's a good thing but I'm only hearing about it because I dig for it as opposed to the communication comes to me as a board member not through the community but through the administration. And again I think it's a worthy thing. You've recently developed a student athlete leadership team, >> which is another initiative through the state association, but there's no mention of it in the in the coach's handbook. There's no mention of it on the website. There's no mention of it in terms of it's great to have that mission, but you need to communicate the philosophy of the department that leads to what you said that brought you to being an athletic director. I >> I would say that that it has been communicated to all families that

086are involved in athletics, all students who are involved in athletics, and there is a link on our web page to Champions 101, which is the curriculum for our salt group. I think that's a nice attempt to get there, but in reference to the greater community to create that gain income, you're going to need to draw people in the community to come to those athletic events, not just immediate families of the when I got here 20 years ago was happening. And I don't see it happening necessarily today given the few sports events that I've been to. And that relates back to the fragile state of the finances within the department. >> One last thing, Amy, appreciate you being here. I definitely learned a lot and I guess I didn't really realize just everything that went into

087your position. U I think just my thoughts after hearing your speech, I think the corporate sponsorships are going to be key. Just hammering that as hard as possible because I think that solves a lot of the issues. >> And the other thing I would say just as a for little kids that are playing in these new sports like parents are so conditioned to pay for athletics like maybe a small fee might not be a super hardship and might also help solve some of >> definitely take that under consideration. >> I I do have a question. Can we go back to I think it's slide 13. Yes, that one. Back one. That one. Um tell me more about the the team agreement with D1 Sports and Adidas. Does that I guess I have a couple questions.

088How long is that agreement? >> Um the the >> is it like a contract for four years, five years? >> I think it's three years with D1. Um and I believe it's three years with Adidas as well. >> Does that mean that all of the uniforms that all of our student athletes wear will be Adidas? Um it means that that will be the first avenue that we go down. But certainly if we don't find something that meets the needs of our students, we have other options. >> Okay. All right. I just I know there are some uniforms finding them in the right color scheme. Adidas doesn't always offer that. So that was my question. Are we >> That's another thing that we have worked really hard on is establishing what colors are our Adidas colors

089as well as their um because Adidas does have non-Adas brands. kind of their their cheaper, more cost effective brands and establishing what that color is in each of those brands so that it becomes a lot easier for our coaches to put together team stores and to know what uniforms to order. >> Okay. All right. And I appreciate the neck to ankle because I really don't want to have to tell kids what what brand of shoes they have to wear because depending on >> Yeah. >> on Yeah. on how you how you do then you want to have your own kind of shoe. Yeah. >> Um I think that's it for questions. I've got one more on the inside. >> What is it? The inside out initiative. >> I noticed what little research I've done reading

090through it on it. Um there's not that many schools that have adopted that technology in my or theor >> um the inside out initiative. Yeah. >> Um I would say that there have been a lot in the past. Um, and it's kind of, you know, it's kind of like when you choose textbooks, every time you adopt a new textbook series, there have been improvements. Some things have stayed the same. Um, we actually and the definition for transformational coaching that came from um the inside out coaching initiative. So that was taken directly from their materials. Um, more recently, the Champions 101 curriculum has been um a better has provided more of what it seems like athletic departments are needing. Um, and if you visit it from our web page, you'll see that it provides coursework for

091athletes, coaches, parents. Um, and so if a parent's interested, I know for example, having had three high school athletes, it's not always easy to navigate your student being a high school athlete and knowing how to have that conversation on your way home when they've just gotten beaten. Um, you know, and so there are resources like that available to our parents that that they can um look at. I send home a a newsletter from the founder of Champions 101. He was also a a keynote speaker at our double AAA conference, that's our athletic association, um this spring. And so we've made that move. And so then our um our survey for athletes will also probably shift to match the the terminology that is used there because that's what our students are used to seeing. >> Gotcha.

092Yeah. Um, just I'm more of an old school type guy and I can guarantee you that none of what's in the this inside out was that Jack Harbaugh knew in the film room when we were watching after we got beat by Eastern Kentucky. So, I'm I'm more more that way. I don't necessarily align with with some of the the thoughts and but >> I think it's just my opinion. >> It's a spectrum is what it is. >> It's not being one or the other. So, you know, for example, if you had a coach and the athletes say that the individual is more transactional than they are transformational, that does doesn't necessarily mean that they're not a coach, that's not going to fit well with our mission statement. Because again, it's like in a classroom, you

093want classroom teachers to bring in a philosophy and develop it that aligns with it. But they're not going to come in with a wholehearted text for blank philosophy that aligns to Danville schools. >> All right. Thank you for your significant time this evening. We appreciate answering all of our questions. No problem. >> Thank you, Mrs. Har, Mr. Claude Felter. >> Mr. CL. All right. Next item on the agenda. >> Quarterly board goal update. Dr. Schaefer. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, we're going to walk through our board goals that were approved uh this past month. And this will be the first quarterly report just to kind of give a a status report on where we are uh with our schoolboard goals. Okay, you go ahead and advance to the next slide, please. Thank you.

094Um, we have three areas. Uh, academics being the first of those. We have two goals in each area. And our our first goal under academics is to review our workbased learning program development uh progress quarterly. This is an ongoing process. We are working uh jointly with the other county schools uh also at the central Indiana Educational Service Center and Hendris College Network to put together a fullyfledged workbased learning uh program. uh that group uh we actually uh have the group branded uh as West Next and CESC and HCN have helped us uh work down that path and it's what we're doing is connecting working to connect employers to high school students using the intermediary which is in statute and our intermediary is Hendris College Network and developing a plan to do that essentially countywide uh

095because what we don't need are six different schools with 12 different coordinators trying to approach one employer, for example. So, we're trying to coordinate and develop a a very robust handbook that will guide the process uh for each district, each building in a very similar way to do that. Um, and we're making good progress. We actually have the the handbook drafted. It's not in final form yet, but we're working through that. uh next we'll be meeting on Friday to try to refine that further and to set some goals and timelines as we move into this next year. uh part of the process will be to adopt uh a software platform and we've selected job ready 360 and that should be deployed here in the fall and that is that will be the the framework if

096you will to help directly connect students and their needs in terms of internships, job shadows, those types of things eventually with employers on the other end. In the middle of that will be the schools uh our our uh workforce coaches and also the HC and intermediary to help connect so we don't have kids going directly to employers. There is a buffer in between to try to get those opportunities out there. You need a software piece to help coordinate that with thousands and thousands of kids that we're talking about. So that progress is well underway. We're not there yet, but we think by late summer, early next fall, uh we'll be in a really good position to begin to take this on as we begin to schedule kids out then in the uh uh January, February

097of 2027. Our second academic goal, I'm going to have uh Dr. Walker kind of walk through that uh because that is reviewing academic progress. >> Thank you. So, um obviously a lot of our assessments aren't necessarily quarterly on when we receive our our data. So, um, we obviously have, um, a few tests that either we're taking now or we should have results back on soon. Um, we have our special populations data for ivory. Um, we've taken our first round. We have another round in the spring and then a third round in the summer and so we'll have that um, data to share at that point. Um, our data, we are just starting the window. that I learn uh window opened up today and so um normally we have our data back at the beginning of

098the summer or at the end of the school year. This year it will be delayed um and so we're anticipating early fall for iLearn final results. SAT we just got our results back last week so we're just starting to kind of dive into those but hopefully by the next quarterly report we'll have some some data there to be able to look at. Um, WEDA is another test for our ML students and so hopefully we'll have data here back um, late spring. But I did want to share some MClass data today. Um, that's our K2 um, skills test. So we take that test three times a year. We've only taken it twice, but I want to kind of share some some data from that assessment. So um, this is a chart here that just shows our

099beginning of the year to middle of the year growth data. So um again um MCLASS is a literacy assessment. It's aligned to the science of reading. Um it measures fin uh foundational reading skills. So phonics and phmic awareness um fluency. Um it identifies students that are on track versus students who need additional support. And so I know we kind of wanted to talk about students who need tier 2 and tier three support. Are students sto scoring at below or well below here? Are those students exactly who we are um giving support with tier two or tier three support? Um, so students scoring at or above are on track for grade level reading. The benchmarks actually increase from beginning of the year to middle of the year. Um, and so as expectations rise, students who maintain

100their level are actually keeping pace with that grade level growth, if that makes sense. So if you're sticking in the same area, that doesn't mean that you haven't grown. That means you're you're making that growth. And we hope that some of our students who are below and well below and even at are making more than that expected year's growth at that point. Um so uh students who began below grade level are making some measurable progress especially in our f foundational skills. And so I want to kind of show you some of those highlights. So here are some key growth highlights. And again our students at below and well below those are students that are in tier 2 and tier three um instruction. So, we're really excited about a lot of these results. Um, our kindergarten

101well below um area reduced by 19 points. So, that was a significant increase from the start of the year. That's something that is um something that we see a lot. We have kids that come into kindergarten at varying uh levels, some who have been to preschool, some who have not been to preschool. Um and so it's always nice to see that growth for our kindergarten students for the beginning of the year. Um we obviously really increased our at and above benchmark there um from 43 to 60%. So an increase of 17 points which is amazing. Uh phmic awareness um we were able to decrease our students at well below from 41% to 18%. So that's amazing. That's something that our kindergarten teachers are working very hard on. Um as well as letters and sounds decoding.

102They're working a lot on their letters and sounds obviously in kindergarten. So that's a huge decrease which is exactly what we want to see. Um in first grade um our reading accuracy they were able to lower that score. So lower the number of kids u by 11 points there which is amazing. Um and word reading um a decrease in the students who were in that well below category by five points. And then our second grade uh phmic awareness they were able to increase the number it added above by nine points. And our comprehension they were able to move that number from 38% to 29% of students who fell well below. So at this point um driving growth um our students are obviously our teachers are analyzing um specific skills in those subtests um to pinpoint

103the needs. Uh the students are grouped for targeted RTI instruction based on the skill gaps. They receive additional instruction using programs um such as Hagerty and MA Rooney. And then we have flexible groups and frequent progress monitoring to adjust instruction. So again, that was sort of one small test and a couple iterations, but um a good demonstration of the growth that was made by those students who are receiving additional support. >> Next. >> Yeah. Our second area uh is under operations. So we had a couple goals under academics. We have a couple goals likewise under operations. And the first of those uh was to provide community financial education. Uh we had uh completed a video series this past year and have recently completed a second video series which we we have kind of dubbed school

104finance video series number two. Um that series is completed. Uh it is linked uh both to our finance site and our board site. Those videos are are done. Uh we will be releasing those. If you want to go to the to the site, you can get there now and see all six videos. Uh but we will be releasing those every every week or two uh through social media as well to get that information out so people don't have to go to the board site to to get it. Um it is a six-part series. Uh we we talk about local tax rate. Uh we talk about the legislative changes that have led to some of these some of the changes we're seeing now. Uh we talk specifically about Senate Bill One and what the uh attributes

105of that were. Uh we talked about our budget uh here locally. uh we talk about construction funding and then we end up with kind of an overview to summarize back through uh what the previous five videos were were about. So I don't know uh Mr. Herbert if you hit the board link up there. We'll see if that takes us where we want to go. This is our school website. Uh we have a section under the finance area called finance 101. Uh so if you go there you can scroll down. Um, we have a lot of information there about school finance in general, but as you go through, uh, you'll go down, you'll see some of the graphics and explanations that we're using in both video series. It kind of pulls those out. Uh, and then

106as you continue on down, you'll come across the first set of videos that we did last year. If anybody wants to review those or see those, they are still there. And then if we go on down a little bit further, uh we'll see the second or the most current video series that was just recently completed. And I I want to thank uh Abby England for her work in putting those together. She did a really nice job with the graphics which I think helped bring some of the explanation together to make it a little bit easier to understand. Uh but those are there now. Uh we've essentially completed uh that goal and uh you're welcome to take a look at those at your at your leisure. Have any of series 2 been pushed out on social

107media? >> I don't I don't believe she's done the first release yet, but it will be here very soon. >> And our second goal in operations is development of a multi-year transportation growth management plan. Uh that is under underway in terms of the work. Uh so there's really three steps in that and we're currently researching the student growth trends for writership just to see enrollment wise where we're at and how that's trending in different areas of our district. Um that modeling then will lead to a staffing plan as a result of those growth trends with our student areas. So where do we shift staff? How do we add staff within the transportation department? Then that will lead us to develop the fleet management plan that will mirror th that those staffing needs which will be

108potentially uh adding buses, moving buses around to be more efficient with time, space, turning radius, those types of things. Um so one will follow the next. So they're working on writership study right now which will then lead to the uh the staffing plan and then the fleet management plan as we look out over the next at least five years. part of that plan get to a point where we return transportation to pre209 referendum. >> We would look to one of the one of the pieces that's in there. I don't know if this answers your question, but would be to try to pick up our walk zones and try to get them back on buses as as we get it planned out to try to be more efficient. uh I say be more efficient, but it's

109it's really getting the staffing in place and then getting the busing in place and sort of studying where we think the growth patterns are within the district around the area. But that is that is part of the the thought process moving forward. Yes. >> Thank you. >> And then the third area uh are our two finance goals and Mr. Herbert is going to walk us through those. >> Thank you, Dr. Schaefer. Uh yeah, again area of finance here. So number one goal was to maintain a balanced budget and the operations fund for the calendar year 2026. Uh looking at ways that we were going to be achieving that and and really this was not only doing that but then uh we've discussed communication back to the board. Uh so we're going to see a little

110bit more of that here once we get into the financial reports uh which I believe is our next agenda item. Uh but really looking at our quarterly expenditures and our monthly claims. Uh those are things that we have typically been doing every month. uh but trying to just provide a little bit more information, have a little bit more conversation as we go through those uh not only on the quarterly basis but but on the monthly basis as well. uh when we look at the areas of savings specifically in the operations fund uh here over the first quarter some areas that we've really focused on uh and tried to make sure that we are keeping an eye on uh security costs uh we know that with a reduction in staff in that department we have had

111uh expenditures decreased in our security area uh we have had legal costs including legislative and litigation support uh that was another area that we really focused on uh that we thought we could produce and have been doing so far. Uh and then also heating and cooling costs uh since joined the East Central Gas Co-op last July. So that's our natural gas that we're providing uh really for all of our buildings to heat those buildings. Uh we entered that co-op which gives us a little bit stronger purchasing power, a little bit bigger purchasing power. Uh there are I forget the number now over 60 districts I believe that are a part of that co-op. Uh so it's a pretty good sized group and it does give us a lot of good purchasing power to be able

112to drive down those costs. Uh so we have been able to see that and recognize that. Um then again on a positive note as we look at just areas of improvement uh from a facilities and from operations, uh we do know that uh Lincoln Street right out here in front of the middle school and running all the way down to south. uh as we come out of the uh the winter months, it's not going to be as noticeable, but during the winter months, it definitely is that just how dark that area is. Um and so over the past, I think two years, you've actually rented uh light poles and kind of put those out there. Uh lights running off of a generator. Uh again, obviously that's something that it's a cost that we have to

113look at and we have to maintain. Uh but we thought it was worth it for the safety of our students as they walk down that path. Uh and so here just recently actually over spring break uh with partnering with the town and partnering with Duke uh and with the RDC uh we were able to have Duke install some light poles and also some just some overhead street lights. Uh so now we are essentially lighting or that really it's the town is lighting all of Lincoln from kind of the corner of Mackey and Lincoln all the way down to the last pole was installed uh right in front of the middle school. Uh we actually have one on both entrances now. Uh and then once you kind of get even past that a little bit further

114with our new transportation area, that's starting to put off a lot of light so that you can even see a little bit past this last entrance of the middle school. Um so that's again uh operational cost that actually uh the RDC funded a majority of that project for us. Uh so we are greatly appreciative to the RDC and to the town for all the support that they've provided uh and for Duke Energy as well. So, uh, that's definitely, uh, like I said, probably won't be quite as noticeable here, uh, as we move forward as the days are getting longer, but, uh, definitely something that was greatly needed during the winter months, uh, when a lot of our students are walking to school. Uh, as we look at the finance area goal number two, and that

115was to maintain the debt service rate uh, of 89.99 cents here for calendar year 2026, uh, as we know that the budget process uh, really starts in October. really even is when it's approved. It actually starts more closer to September. Uh so we're kind of right in the middle of uh completing the cycle for 2026. It's already been approved and and that we're operating under. Uh but then as we starting to look at moving forward into the 27 uh which we will start doing here probably late summer and like I said into September. Uh but right now we are currently maintaining that debt service rate of 899. Uh and we'll look to do that throughout the rest of the year. So, >> thank you. So, what questions would board members have in regard to the

116update? >> Just more of a comment point out. I think you recently made some or a large chunk of money savings in the operational area over choices between resources for legislative information. >> That's correct. >> So, that was a that's an annual savings there. What 20,000 a year >> roughly? Yes. >> Any other questions or comments? All right, let's move this along. The next item on the agenda, consider approval of the minutes from March 9th, 2026 regular school board meeting. I need a motion to approve those minutes. >> So move. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Comments or questions? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, consider approval of treasures report. Mr. Herbert. >> Uh thank you, Mrs. Cherry. Uh

117our treasures report here for the month, we uh for the month of March, we had a balance in our property and state tax supported funds of 8,954,676. We had educational fund expenditures of 1,726,55. Our debt service fund had no expenditures in the month of March. and our operations fund had expenditures of $741,677 in March. We did transfer $278,000 from the education fund to the operations fund. Uh and this transfer brings corporations total transfers for the year to 13.13% of the total education fund revenue and 14.01% of the total state tuition support. uh as we had discussed and I think uh and this is where I want to kind of highlight a couple of different things. Uh this month I did add two different uh and two additional reports. Uh one of them being a year-over-year

118report. Uh I want to kind of walk through this. I know it can be if you're just looking at it quite confusing. Uh so wanted to kind of explain uh what it is that you're looking at uh that's in your packet here. Get this pulled up. Uh so what I did was in looking at the year-over-year report so the Danville year-over-year report uh essentially look at at the top line there you have it says 2526 those are the expenditures uh broke out in the education fund and the operations fund. So you can see what the expenditures were for the first quarter. So January through March of 2025 compared to 2026 with the difference there. And then also showing the transfers again for both years as looking at those differences. Uh the next line there would

119be your year-to-ate profit and loss. So that's looking at just through the first three quarters where we stand as far as the revenue coming in minus the expenses going out. Uh so you can see in the education fund we're showing a positive balance there of just under $375,000. Uh meaning we have obviously brought in more money than we have been spending. Uh which is in reason why it is in the black and what we're shooting for. Uh the operations fund as you can see that that one becomes a little bit more challenging and I'll explain why that is. Uh but you can see year to date right now we are at negative $1.26 million. Uh obviously negative being in the red is that we've spent more than we have brought in. Uh now that is

120expected though however because if you remember our operations fund is primarily funded through our t our tax dollars that we receive from the county and from the state. Uh we do not receive those in payments until June and we receive those payments in um in December. And so essentially we would receive the payment in December and we kind of use those dollars to pay for our expenses until we get the next payment in June. So I wanted to show that but I don't want you to be alarmed because that is to be expected. Uh but what I'm forecasting for the end of the year so this would be at the end of the 2026 year uh for the operations fund is that we would be 269 have borrow some glasses here 269,000 to the good.

121So that means we would be bringing in more revenue than we would have be having in expenditures. Um again driving back to what we talked about as far as the goal for this year was to maintain and to balance our operational expenditures in the operations fund. Uh again that's it's it's going to be hard to show this throughout the year just because those two big lumpsum payments. Uh but this is doing the best that I can to kind of show you where my projections are going and where we're looking at throughout the year. So, what I do expect is that in June, this will look really nice. Uh, then we'll start to see it trendle trend down again and then once we get back to December, then be back into the positive or back into

122the black as well. Uh, as we scroll down and look at the the area below, uh, again, I broke this into education fund and the operations fund. And then I just looked at uh the top five categories for each one of those funds at the function level, which is just a portion of our account numbers. And then I also broke it down to the object level, which is another portion of the account number. Um, one thing, and I'm just going to focus on the operations fund since that's kind of been our goal for this year. Um when we look at the top five operational increases, not only from both the function level and the object level, you can see both of those numbers are roughly a little bit over 400,000. A lot of the same

123expenditures are in both of those. So I don't want us to think or look at this and think that okay, well the the operations fund is $800,000 uh higher when it comes to these expenses. There are a lot of expenses that are in both of those two categories. uh again and that's just the way that our account numbers are broken out and what those represent. So like if you look at uh maintenance of the buildings uh up about 151,000 uh when I look at that and trying to say okay we're we're in the in the concept here that we're trying to reduce our expenditures or at least control our expenditures. And when I look at that it's like well that doesn't feel like that's what we're doing. Um but I wanted to look at that

124and try to figure out why. Well that really just is its timing issue. So, uh, in 2025, which would have been last year, and this is what we're comparing to. I'm sorry, let me back up and say that increase is a comparison to year-over-year. Again, we're still on what did we spend January through March of 25 versus what did we spend January through March of 26. So, what this is saying is that in 26, we spent 151,000 more than we did in 25. So, then I went back and started to look and say, okay, why is that? Uh when I look in specifically just for that first one right there which is maintenance of buildings that has to do with the electric bill that we have. Uh last year we paid the March bill would

125have been paid in April. So really it was just kind of a timing issue. Um when you look at some of the other things some of them might be one-time expenses. So maintenance of equipment when you look at that I can tell you that uh 529 of that was a one-time expense that was for the middle school elevator. uh we're having to have that elevator reworked. Uh and so that was the down payment to get that started. So that was where 52,000 of that 102 came from. Uh we also had an air handler at North that we had to replace the fan on. Uh we tried to get it rebuilt. We tried to do as much as we can to rebuild those. Unfortunately, this one had gone past the ability to rebuild it. So that

126cost us about 26,000 and to to fix that. So when you look at those two uh items, that accounts for a good portion of the increase uh from that second line item there, which is on the maintenance of equipment. And then like I say, if you have any questions, I can go through these. I've explained them. Um I'll leave that up to the board. I could keep talking if you want me to or >> I have two questions. One's related to this. >> Let's let's go by order and get a motion and then we can have our comments if we don't mind. Can we have a motion to approve the financial reports as presented? Thank you, Mr. Bryant. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Comments or questions? >> So, Mr. Herbert, on the

127operations in the red there, the 1.2 million something on your year-over-year. >> Is any of that 1.2 million something onetime expenditures? >> Yeah. So, some of the things that I just talked about are included into that number. So those onetime expenditures are we're using geo bond money. >> Some we are, some we are not. Um so for example, and again if you look at the big one right there was the 52,000 here for um the middle school. So we have other dollars that we're using to be able to do that. Um essentially what happened was and try to condense this and make this as easy to understand. When we took out bonds to build this school, we make payments to those bonds. Once those bonds are paid off, sometimes there's a little bit of an

128overpayment that is there. When that overpayment happens, what they do is they just cut us a check and they send it back to us. But in consulting with Ice Miller and Kristen, uh, our attorney, it is strongly recommended that whatever the dollars are, you take those dollars and you kind of have to use them for whatever that project was for. So hearing you say that the 52,000 to do that, was it or wasn't it a part of the original net appropriations for the operations fund we approved back in January? >> It was not. >> Okay. >> Yeah, it was not. >> That's that's one because again knowing that I guess I still see that where you have the red of 1.2 million. >> I'm thinking looking at that 1.2 2 million is the appropriations are

129already off target >> and they will be >> but yet it's not off as much because there's $52,000 there that we're not reusing permit appropriations we're using from this other format they talked about correct >> or a geobot correct >> I guess that's where I find it to be a little bit confusing >> I don't know if appropriate word misle what it is >> it that's a I hate to use that word but that is a good way to look at it. Um, when you look at the appropriations report and like I say, it's it is misleading because those appropriations are constantly going to change >> because that is just the authority to spend those dollars. Um, if you remember back when I talked about our budget from last year, uh, there are schools and

130we are going to probably be one of those this year. And if you remember even last year, we had to do an additional appropriation hearing for the debt service fund. Well, we're getting to the point now where we have been growing. so much that we I anticipate us probably going to do a an additional appropriation hearing for both the operations fund and the education fund. >> And essentially it's because if you remember, you know, we're trying to do the budget back in September. And that's really challenging to do the budget in September when we're a growing district when we don't even hardly know at that point what we're going to grow in October, how much we're going to grow over the winter as we get into the next school year. So, as we get through

131this, we probably will spend all of our appropriation dollars. >> And again, this is just part of my idea. >> You have the school website part that talks about the school finances, >> but this to me gets a little bit more up to the details of the protocols that go with it. >> Sure. >> So, that again trying to get to the point where we can remove that >> Sure. >> misleadingness part. Yep. >> So, that was my first question. My second question relates I asked it last month but I couldn't because the lack of audio I couldn't go back and listen to your answer a little bit more to further understand the time we had >> but in the funds report fund 9491 miscellaneous reimbursements I don't think it's there in the I don't

132think we have an appropriation for it as I asked last month it starts off low and it has a lot of expenses that get paid over the year >> you mentioned something about being a clearing house for the credit cards out of the buildings. >> Correct. >> But the question, the answer I was really looking for is where does the as as they look at that line on funds, it gets revenue as we go through the year. >> Where is that revenue coming from? >> That revenue is typically coming from the buildings because >> where in the building though is it are they collecting are they doing fundraiser? Are they doing >> typically it's coming from the ECA or it's part of their budget. >> So So it it is >> so it is tied

133to ECA. it it most definitely >> which could be part of our problem related to what I'm trying to understand and make of our recent ECO. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Any other comments or questions? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, quarterly reports. Mr. Herbert. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cherry. Uh before you, you do have our quarterly reports here for the month or for the first quarter. uh at the end of the first quarter the school operations had spent or encumbered 24.64% of our education fund and also at the end of the first quarter we have spent or encumbered 28.79% of our operations fund. Uh you also have some of the additional reports in there uh that we've been providing. Uh again to point

134out the you know when you look at that and you would think we're a quarter of the way through 25% is the number we're looking for but we're a little bit over in operations. A lot of that has to do with like you just said Mr. Bryant are some of those one-time expenditures that were not seen uh that would not have been accounted for in the budget numbers. So uh that's where like the one-time expenditures would come from with the the middle school elevator. That's one of those. Uh so that's part of the reason why you see or that is the reason why you see that 28.79%. But we do also have revenue that's coming in to offset that. So we will see an increase in both revenue and expenses uh for that period. So

135again, happy to answer any other questions, but would ask for your approval of our quarterly report. >> All right. Motion to approve quarterly reports as presented. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Bryant. Comments or questions? I have a question about the 2024 geo bond. It's not really a question, but it's a request. But as I looked at that and reviewed that, that bond is for the cost of the administrative building project, >> which we approved at $4,32,000 here earlier this year. And then the rest of it is for funds for the operational expense offset. So that there's more clarity as to as we spend money in that geo bond. Could you color code as you list the expenses down below? Could you color code those as

136to say the green is for the administration building and yellow is for something that is being used to pay for something. >> Sure. In the >> operation. It's kind of already done that. I didn't put colors on there, but the the gray highlighted areas, those have been the administrative expenses so far. Everything else should be operational expenditures. >> Just looking for an easier way in a glance to see. >> Sure. And I can total that up and put that at the bottom for you. Thank you. >> All right. Any other comments or questions? >> Actually, before and as part of that, could you up above, could you kind of separate out We know that we're going to spend four 4 million 32,000 on the admin building. >> So, if you subtract that from the uh

137actual remaining balance that's there. >> So, essentially, you're going to have two balances. one, you're showing what we're spending to get to the 4,32,000 on the admin building, but then also what we have left over and how that balance is either wingling or growing and and I understand that you're going to have interest from that and as you gain interest on that, it should go to the operational side. Correct. >> Sure. It can it can go either way. It can go >> I thought we were always putting interest in the operation. >> Well, but remember if it's a interest earned in a geo bond or any type of bond, then it has to go to that project. And I guess that's how I'd like to see spread it out of interest and how much interest

138is going to cover a $4 million 32,000 renovation to Edmond >> versus what we're looking to take care of in operations. >> Okay. >> Given all of our conversations about the operational problem. >> Sure. Yep. >> All right. All in favor? >> Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, approval of claims. Mr. Herbert. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cherry. Uh here for the month of March, we had pre-written claims of $98,130 and we had our traditional claims of $818,83127. Uh bringing total claims here for the month to $916,96127. I would ask for the board's approval of our claims for March and happy to answer any questions. >> I need a motion to approve the claims as presented. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Mr. Hempil. Comments

139or questions? >> The bus wash, that's what we've talked about. >> Yeah, that's the new bus for transportation. Yes. Okay. >> Any other comments or questions? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? That passes unanimously. >> Next item on the agenda, approval of payroll claims. Mr. Herbert. >> Thank you, Mr. Cherry. Uh, we actually have four payroll claims here for the month. We had a March 13th claim of $863,983.82. 82. We had a March 27th payroll claim for $922,112.35. And we had an April 3rd claim for $90,673.38. And we had our April 10th claim for $780,131.50. Uh bringing all total payroll claims here for the month to 2,656,915. I would ask for the board's approval of our payroll claims and happy to answer any questions. >> Need a motion to approve the payroll claims as

140presented. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Bryant. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Hempil. Comments or questions? >> All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda is old business, which we have none of. We'll move right along to new business and consider approval of personnel recommendations. Dr. Schaefer. >> Yes, thank you. Um the personnel report is before you. Uh would like to point out that um Mrs. Joanne Gully has announced her retirement and a longtime aid in our uh library at North Elementary. We certainly wish her the best. And also we're adding our fourth uh multi- lingual teacher would be in preparation for next year. Uh is also on the docket this evening which continues to show our growth in that area and appreciate uh Mrs. knows

141leadership uh with our ML teachers and how they're working together to to address those needs. So, I'd ask the board's approval of the personnel report as submitted. >> I need a motion to approve the personnel report as presented. >> So, move. Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Comments or questions? All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, consider approval of the 2027 2028 proposed school calendar. Dr. Schaefer. >> Yes, thank you. Uh calendar committee uh is proposing uh the attached calendar there uh in your board packet. Uh that's for the 2728 year. We previously approved next year's calendar last year. Uh this calendar 2728 is very consistent um with this year's calendar, next year's calendar, etc. uh school year still begins in early

142August and it's going to end prior to Memorial Day. Um it's going to maintain a oneweek fall break, uh a three-day break at Thanksgiving. Um a twoe winter or Christmas break and one week spring break very consistently. Uh the dates on fall break shift just a little bit. They actually they actually shift next year and sort of shift back in the 2728 calendar. Um, as the calendar has put it together, they're trying to keep it on the same chronological week of the year. Um, we're in that time period right now between next this year and next year's calendar when a lot of schools are rolling back their calendars, i.e. we start a week later next year. So, we don't start going to school in July. Every once in a while, about seven years, you got

143to roll that calendar back. Uh so that's why you see that that shift on the fall break calendar for next year because uh Wayne Township and we'll have probably over 100 students attending uh Area 31 career teched next year. We're trying to keep on keep some of our breaks on the same as some of their breaks. They shifted their calendar. We had to shift ours with that uh to reflect it. Um so in 2728 the calendar we're talking about we're able to shift that back to the third shifts back on the calendar naturally really to the third week of October. Um and that's where we're at presently. So it kind of takes care of itself. You'll just see a slight difference if you compare those two uh with each other. Uh the one thing it

144does though is it helps to balance the first and second quarter number of instructional days. First nine weeks, second nine weeks. Uh so that's a good thing. Um so again I appreciate the work of our calendar committee. uh putting that together and uh developing the proposed calendar when ask the board's approval answer questions that you might have. >> All right, I need a motion to approve the proposed 2027 2028 school calendar. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Hamil. Comments or questions? All in favor? >> Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, consider approval of a new textbook adoption. Mr. Sorry, Dr. Walker. >> Good. Thank you. Um, so our textbook adoption committee is recommending that we adopt the following textbooks for use beginning

145next year. Um, HMH into literature for 6 through 12 ELA. This is the program that the high school currently uses for their textbook and the middle school would then align with the high school. Um, Syngage Explorion for Spanish one and two and Explorion Curso Intermedia for Spanish three and four. I did practice my Spanish in order to read the textbook name. Um, the accord super site that'll be for French extension for one year. And then the social studies option for AP human geography um which at this time is the cultural landscape and intro to human geography. That's the official um AP text that is recommended. So, um, each adoption team spent a lot of time reviewing multiple books for alignment to standards and rigor and quality of instructional materials, student engagement, among a lot of

146other review categories. So, I do want to thank all the members of the adoption team for the time that they spent participating in professional development and reviewing materials and collecting information to support the decision. So, more information there in my um in my recommendation, but tonight I ask for your approval of these new textbooks for next year. All right. I need a motion to approve the new textbooks adoption as presented. So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Bryant. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Comments or questions? >> Go ahead. >> Just lost track of my mind. >> G. Okay. All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, consider approval of additional financial instit in institution. Mr. Herbert. >> Thank you, Mr. Cherry. Uh, if you recall back in

147January when we have our board of finance, uh, we go through and we do approve the financial institutions that we have been using uh, and those that we will be using into the future. Uh, this was a an addition here that we're looking at uh, for regions bank. uh they provide a different solution for our credit card processing or not processing but our credit card usage. Uh our current institution does not provide with uh benefits really I would say with it more of a cashback type thing. Uh regions has done a very good job with this program. I've talked with other uh districts kind of here in the in the county and also in the state and they've got a really good program. So we have uh engaged in some conversations with them. Uh but

148before we move forward with that, I just wanted to get the board's approval uh to add regions bank as an additional financial institution uh which will again help us with our payment processing and uh allow us to be able to earn a little bit of dollars back. So I would just ask for the board's approval on this. >> I need a motion to approve the additional financial institution as presented. >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. comments or questions? All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, discussion of curricular consumable fees. Dr. Walker. >> Thank you. So, we have um discussed this before that updated state guidance now allows districts to charge certain student fees for consumable materials and course

149related costs. These are not textbook fees. These are just for consumable materials. Um and so we are um looking into the reintroduction of student fees beginning in the 2026 2027 school year. Um I did attach a document um it's been shared with you previously so nothing has changed in that document of um these are preliminary fees based on those that were previously charged. So years ago the last time we were charging fees these were the fees that we charged. I do anticipate those fees changing. I think there'll be slight changes. I think some things will stay consistent, but a few of those fees um will have changed. I'll need updated costs for each of the things. For instance, you know, if there's an animal for a dissection, I'm going to need updated costs on how

150much that animal costs um to the teacher. So, those fees will be updated slightly. Um our sort of proposed structure is in the elementary that we would have one low standard fee collected at the start of the year. um at the middle and high school. We um because those are course-based fees um we have talked about collecting those in two installments. So collecting in the fall and in the spring at each semester due to just varying course costs. Sometimes there are scheduling changes. A student thinks that they may be taking something second semester at the beginning of the year and then you know something flips and they're taking another class. So I think this will help the treasurers not have to collect money back or ask for additional fee money for second semester courses. Um

151I did list a few sample student schedules with some high school courses in the um attached documentation because it's not a um you know every student pays the same type of fee. It is very course dependent. So I tried to pick students with varying different types of schedules with different courses um and what their fees would be um if you know if we were utilizing the same fees that we utilized in the past. Um so the costs are currently covered by the education fund. So, this does allow the district to um redirect funds towards instructional resources. So, a few next steps. Um we need to obviously finalize updated fee amounts with staff. Again, looking at the cost of some of those items that we're purchasing to make sure those costs are still accurate as of

152today. Um we want to review all the fees with legal counsel for compliance just to make sure that we're charging only for the things that we are able to charge for. Um we have talked about exploring additional allowable areas. um checking with legal counsel on device protection for our Chromebooks or even some of the Chromebook costs um to be able to make up some of those um some of those dollars. Um and then obviously to consider the details of the fee process. So how fees are collected for students on free and reduced lunch and how the fees who for students who move in the district mid year are calculated. Um, all of those are decisions yet to come, but tonight we wanted to bring it forward just as information um to collect any questions that

153you may have, things that we can look into um any comments you may have about the process as a whole. >> You would want to implement this for 26 27 school year. Do you when would you want to when do you plan to bring that back to the board for final consideration and approval? >> We would typically we brought fees in the past when we were charging fees for textbook fees. We bring those back in June. >> Uh we'd like to bring these back as early as May, no later than June. So we give parents and families plenty of time to be aware of it. >> And we find ways to push this out on social media so that they're not >> no matter how hard we try, there will be some people that will

154be surprised, but if we can not surprise the vast majority of them, that would be fabulous. >> And and these are fees, but they're not the same fees we charged before. Those were textbook fees, uh, supplemental textbook fees. Uh, these are, uh, just for the consumable pieces. So, we used to charge for these and the textbook fees together. >> Okay. >> Any else have questions? >> This is not actionable. It's just questions, right? >> Yes, >> I have a question unless you ask a question. >> Again, it's just kind of resonating with me. So, I look at some of these fees that we have in here like a web access fee. Mhm. >> I think about the earlier presentation tonight. Aren't these fees somewhat instead of pay to play and pay to learn? >> Yeah.

155I'm not sure um those particular like when I look at the elementary um fees for some of those web access programs. I know looking at them that those are not programs that they utilize any >> and I'm not saying she's wrong. I'm getting that. >> Yeah, >> there are. And again, I think about the struggles of the finances we talked about earlier tonight. I think maybe you might want to have a conversation within some of those ECA areas that there is an initial fee that it's a participation fee. This is a pay tole learn part of the fee. I get that. >> But if you add a pay to participate fee in some of those other ECA areas, I think it it doesn't have to be a large amount. might only be $10, >> but

156if you multiply that by the number of participants in the ECA area, it might help some of those ECA funds that start off drastically low at the beginning of the year and the printing of papers and all the stuff that goes into that. Um, still part of the use of that department that I don't think is truly covered there, >> but it seems like it might help. Yeah, we we certainly don't disagree and as as we've talked this body's talked earlier. Uh we see a bit of a progression over time. Um again for this next year, we're simply looking at cons that kids are consuming in the classroom. Um we do see a time in the future where we probably will have some ECA pay-to-play types of things if legislation continues the way that it's

157going and c and continues to create the tightness of budgets, we really won't have any other option to do some of that. Uh, which will help. There's a trickle down effect of that certainly um that can be a possibility. One of the things we provided as a district, this has been a really good thing. It's been good for families. It's been good for the district is uh the technology insurance or the device protection. If a student breaks a a device, we have paid 100% of that premium cost now for the last few years. And that's something we need to begin to share. Parents, families are going to benefit from that. If their child breaks the device, it's still going to be covered. We just need to have them to help us pay for some of

158that cost. That cost per device ranges on the type of device because some of our devices are are touchmatic at the lower levels and some are not. Uh that device fee runs up to $30. Um some of those that aren't touchmatic, it's as low as $22 for that coverage. Uh so these are the types of things we're going to need to pass along part or all of that fee. Uh as Dr. Walker mentioned, we're going to double check some of these fees with legal counsel because there's been a lot of changes in these areas in the last three or four years. We just want to make sure that what we are charging fees for is covered appropriately under statute, is allowable. We we believe they are, but we're just going to double check and make

159certain. >> Again, I'm not saying I'm don't disagree with these. It's just that earlier tonight we talked about presentation where they're saying you participate in that there is no fee >> and yet this is getting to the heart of truly the learning is what the school corporation is about. >> Yeah. >> And yet here we're saying that you know across stage you got paid. >> Yeah. We uh I will tell you we've had conversation about that. We have not charged athletic fees in the past. We see a time in the future that probably will need to happen. We just we don't want to hit families with all that all at once in one year. >> All right. Any other questions on the consumable fees here that Dr. Walker presented? >> Yeah, I just thinking back

160to all these sports conversations we've had tonight and how our athletes, you know, glad they currently get to play for free, but at the same time like we're going to start charging these fees. I scroll through here and everything seems pretty reasonable. And I come to one that says $300 and that's for an encore choir. And to me, like that's very similar. It's like one child wants to play football, one child wants to sing in the choir and go do competitions. We're charging one $300 and one's getting to participate for free and probably has even more expenses. So like that was >> really stood out >> at Planefield. It's thousands of dollars >> that that show that show >> thousands of I'm not kidding like 2500 to 3,000 to 4,000. >> I think your point

161is also about the amount of money the math that in that particular >> yeah just thinking through I mean >> it's a class right >> that's the difference as a class >> they they get a credit for that class >> it's just the number that stood out to me everything else is I mean >> $3 to $30 >> I think our similar they have a similar booster group too so they try to do you know fundraisers and things like that to you know >> we currently don't charge them though and now we're getting ready to charge them is that what I'm understanding So they are currently paying a fee for the um show choir. >> So they are already accustomed to things. >> They're already >> be like a band member has to pay for

162their instrument. >> Those would fall into the area of co-curriculars, band, choir, FFA, a some of those areas that are they're curricular, but they're also extracurricular. >> And that's typically where you'll see some of those higher costs and students are choosing to participate at some of those higher levels. Don't band members have the option if they can't afford to buy their instrument, they can rent it? >> Do we have that option? >> We do it. Yeah. And we have some um extra um instruments at both middle high school. >> I'm just saying. >> All right. Any other comments or questions? >> Uh just just cl your awareness. Um and we appreciate the questions and the feedback. So we'll take that back and work that through and get updated numbers. That which we would bring back

163would be for potential approval here in the future. We'd like to bring those back next month if at all possible. >> All right. Next item on the agenda, school board policy review. Dr. Schaefer. >> Thank you, Mr. Cherry. Um again, looking in the 4000s area. Um you have employment of support staff SBP 4120. Uh those go in order through the board packet with criminal history checks for school employees, criminal history checks for applicants and contractors. Uh equal employment opportunity and then concluding with schoolboard policy 4122.1 drug-free workplace. Uh doing a read through those they look to be in in still in good order. I don't see any particular needs for changes or updates to those particular policies. >> Comments or questions? All right, next item on the agenda. >> Ju just a quick note if

164I can. Uh just so you know, cell phone policy is now going to be required for school districts with the changes in the legislature. So please look for that coming next month. We'll be bringing a draft to you for consideration on limited cell phone use of students through the day. We're required by statute to have that policy. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda, approval of schoolboard policy updates. Dr. Schaefer. >> Thank you, Mr. Sure. Um during the the March regular board meeting, uh we reviewed schoolboard policy 3430. Uh noting that that language on the repayment of of days from the sick leave bank was not quite consistent with that in the collective bargaining agreement. Uh so I've brought that back at the board's request. Um that attachment there will show you the updated language

165in bold. uh making those uh making the policy and what's in the collective bargaining agreement the same leaning towards what was in the collective bargaining agreement as we discussed last month. So essentially a recipient uh of sick bank days if they're using those for their own personal illness uh will not be required to repay the borrowed days. uh if they are using from the sick leave bank to help cover for someone that's immediate family illness uh and they stay as long as they stay in employment of the school corporation then they will be required to repay those borrowed days over time. Uh we lack that part in the previous um or in the the current board policy that ability to borrow for someone you're looking out for in your immediate family. So this language will

166match the language uh that is in the collective bargaining agreement. >> All right. I need a motion to approve school board school board policy 3430 with the updates as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Bryant. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Hempil. Comments or questions? >> How does one repay a borrowed day? >> Uh if you get a new aotment each year, so if you get seven new days, you'd essentially that year give back one or two of those days. So that year you'd only have maybe, you know, five or six for your use. And we try to do that gradually over time to to pay those back. And I will say our staff have been really really good uh about not overusing sick leave bank. Uh we typically get one maybe two requests per year.

167Uh so I appreciate that from our staff. They're there for their use, but they certainly have not overused our sickly. >> How does that work if for some reason a staff member were to leave before they repay back? >> That's a great question. I've thought about that too and it's really unspoken here. So essentially they just I think those days don't get repaid. Uh when our sick leave bank there sort of virtual days you want to think of it that way. When that gets down to a certain level we can go back out and harvest additional days from people at the beginning of the year everybody gives one day. We haven't needed to do that for a long time. Uh and usually when people borrow days the first time it's a maximum of five days.

168So our virtual bank if you will gets depleted very very slowly. And and again, I'm asking a question. I'm aware that anyone's ever done it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um that's it. They just wouldn't get repaid. >> Any other comments or questions? All right. All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, consider approval of surplus obsolete equipment. Mr. Herbert. >> Actually, before you move on, I guess reflecting on the last one, Dr. Schaefer in the conversation having there. Is there any reason that when a teacher retires if they have a bunch of sick days that they haven't used? I'm thinking of a person retired with me. He was with the corporation for 40ome years and he left behind 400 and some sick days. Couldn't he be allowed to donate some

169of those sick days into that bank so that if what we just talked about were to happen to kind of still make sure there's sick days there? >> Yeah. Well, sick days are going to be there. We have a process for doing that. I I appreciate the consideration, but this will get into a long explanation, but those days were bought out years and years ago. People were compensated for those sick days that they had occurred. So the value has already been given, if you will, to them. >> Someone like me, I left 110 sick days behind. >> Right. Right. >> I mean, it' been nice to know that I could have left those a percentage of them to go. If that ever happened, then we could say that we've compens we've already been compensated because

170yeah, >> we've had x number of employees already leave behind in x amount of days. >> Yeah. It gets to be I I appreciate that. It gets to be a technical explanation because what you're doing is you're giving value now back to those days because now they would be paid back and paid out at you know however many hundreds of day dollars a day that those would have value to now. So it gets a little I appreciate the >> food. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's a great thought. I appreciate it. Yeah. >> All right, Mr. Herbert. We're going to do the approval for surplus and obsolete equipment now. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh before you do have a list of some items that we are requesting for surplus that we are no

171longer in need of uh couple of technology items and uh several chairs that are here from the middle school. So I would just ask for the board's approval uh that we can dispose of these and get rid of them. >> All right. Motion to approve the obsolete and surplus items as presented. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Comments or questions? All in favor? I. Any oppose? That passes unanimously. Next item on the agenda, superintendence report. Dr. Schaefer. >> Thank you. Keep it really quick. Um, just a quick construction update. At South nearly all of our punch list items are completed and um that work is almost a thousand% done. We just have a few office blinds that need some adjusting. Um, high school uh primary

172work areas right now are upstairs, which will be the new family consumer science areas and the old library. the new art edition, um the business central part where the um offices used to be. Uh those areas are going to be finished up here at the end of the school year essentially be ready turned over in June. Uh life skills which is down at the very far east end of the building as you go straight back through the building. That blocks being worked on now and that will turn over to us around fall break next year. Um, our focus right now here at the end of the year is going to be on cleaning out the current business, art, kitchen areas along that south side of the building, getting all that old equipment out of there.

173Uh, a lot of it disposed of. We will sell that which has value. Um, because we need to move the kitchen and cafe down to the old wait room where we'll be serving out of next year starting in the fall around through until about spring break. Then we'll have the kitchen and cafeteria areas done and we'll move everything back. Um track work, I know that question came up. Uh that will begin right after graduation. Uh the tenative schedule was just released today. Um we're looking at I'd say about 8 to 10 actual work days of active work out there. Those will kind of be spread out because there'll be two or three days to strip uh grind what's there off. Uh then we have to repave it. Um, and then we'll have to seal it

174and put that top that top coat on. Each one of those processes takes some days and there's also some curing time in between. So, what we see is by the second moratorium week just before we come back to school, uh, they'll probably putting the top surface coat on about a week before that and then let that cure into the moratorum week. So, it reduces our days and there'll be some of those days we can actually get back and forth across that to get out and use the football field. Be a few days in there we can't. Um, so just we kind of know that and and um uh Nick Fipps will be working with Amy Harvey be working with our football program to you utilize that all that we can and be able to plan

175a know ahead. Miss a few days there um but not not a lot of days. Um transportation uh moving right along. Uh we're working on finishing areas and the bus bays and um ordering furnishings for the offices, completing final site work outside right around the building with some concrete and that they've done a really uh smooth process there. Kept a very neat work site. Um so that project will be wrapping up here and we'll be ready to turn over probably mid to late June. >> Recent newsletter on April 10th showed a picture of the transportation building of the stairs leading upstairs and the caption was stairs leading upstairs to offices. I thought that area was simply a storage area. >> Yeah, there there are not offices up there. I think that was a misnomer for

176whoever put that together. Yeah, that's just the mezzanine air for storage. >> Any other questions? All right, next item on the agenda is announcements. The high school spring play, Pride and Prejudice, will be April 24th and 25th starting at 7 p.m. and April 26th starting at 2 p.m. The wellness committee will hold its annual meeting on April 28th at 10:00 a.m. and it appears that you can join that by Zoom. The high school prom will be held at the Builtwell Center on May 9th this year. The next um regular scheduled school board meeting will be May 11th at 6:30 here in the Danville Community Middle School District training room. I need a motion to adjourn this meeting. >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Ward. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. All in

177favor? I. Any oppose? Passes unanimously. Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. Yes, >> the