001Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the Decal Central County United School District Board of Education regular meeting. Today is Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. At this time, I'll ask all able to please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. >> Angie, could you do roll call, please? Present >> present. >> Thank you, Angie. Um, tonight we will begin our u meeting with our presentations and we have Country Meadow Elementary. >> Yes. And we're going to turn it over to principal Mrs. Brandt who has some friends with her this evening. So, we're excited to have Country Meadow here. >> It's on. It's on. >> Okay. Thank you for having us tonight. I'm excited
002to introduce our three representatives from our student leadership team tonight and our adviserss for the program that we have. We have Mrs. Typton and Heather Ford who are teachers and our guidance counselor. So, they're going to take it away and share all the great things that they do at Country Meadow. So, I'll start you. I'm not sure. I'm let the introduction. >> I'm Mrs. Typton. I'm the school counselor at Country Meadow and I run the student leadership team with Mrs. Ford. Um, so we just wanted to tell you a little bit about the student leadership team. So at Country Meadow, our team is composed of third through fifth grade kids. Um, so this year we have 14 students total. And for them to be a part of our team, they have to complete an application.
003They also have to take that home, share with their parents. They also have to do a presentation for their class. And then as a class they vote based on the presentation that they see. So it's really all student driven which is really cool. Um we just put our mission up there as you can see too. But just be leaders within our school and our community and you'll see that as they share some things tonight. So they're going to show you how they're leaders um within Country Meadow. But then also the things they do at Country Meadow that also really helps our community um in Ashley Corona. You know, some of those little surrounding cities that our kids come from, too. I'm Heather Ford. I have done this with Mrs. Pikton for eight years now. Um,
004I teach kindergarten at Country Meadow. Today, I'm going to introduce to [clears throat] you our three representatives and they were all very gracious about doing this. We did not have to pull any teeth. We all do it. So, I have Maisie Fels. She's up first. She is in fourth grade and this is her second year with us. So, Callen Welman is in third grade. This is his first year. And then we have Emmy Bigalow. And this is her first year at Country Meadow and on our team. So, it was a really cool thing she offered to do, too. So, I'll let you take it away, Lisy. Our jobs at CME are all of them are completed at Friday, and our jobs change every nine weeks. We have paper recycling and plastic recycling. We also have
005student mentors, which is where a couple people go to kindergarten classrooms for a couple minutes and they mentor help out wherever they can and we have boomerang backpacks where the kids parents can fill out form for them to have extra food for the weekends and they are delivered at Thursday afternoon. So we help um our community by doing plastic recycling. My partner is Bright Mark and we accept like plastic from home. People can bring them in from home. They could bring it to school. We like accept plastic like you could just bring it to us and we'll take it. and we it's in Ashley, Indiana bright market is and we've we've um had over 10,000 pl um 10,000 pounds of plastic um donated to um Bright Mark Brightark is a great community partner for us
006because they also made a book which we're going to show you. >> [clears throat] >> Breitbart came to Country Meadow uh last December and they sort of gave us a little taste of Hollywood in our small little town and school. They set up the lights and all the different places and spaces and they did write the story the magic of the the story of the magic dino bin. And in the you'll see what was the gym transformed into their trash area. So, they did a a great job with the kids and um we were really excited to be partners with them. This video has not been released yet. It will be released to the public um in a couple months, but they've given me permission to go ahead and show it. So, I hope you
007enjoy it. It's a short five minute video. [clears throat] >> [cough] >> There's a little girl and her name was Ashley. She wishes on a bright side that someone could help her clean all the plastic waste up off the ground. >> The kids had no idea it was inside that box. So, my kids love dinosaurs, but they hate plastic waste. >> It's everywhere. Plastic recycling is broken. Only 5% of plastic waste is recycled. >> My name is Rick. I'm an engineer at Breitark. Our mission is to reimagine waste. We've built the world's most advanced totally circular recycling system. So, I like to try and explain the process to my kids, but pyrolysis is a little bit complicated. So, we made up the pyrolosaurus to explain how things work. >> Pyosaurus, >> it eats plastic. Chomp,
008chomp, chomp. >> We're able to take just co-mingled mixed plastics, styrofoam cups, plastic wrap, >> all kinds of plastic. It gets turned into tiny little bits, then it's made into new things. car seats, traffic cones, bicycle helmets, you name it. >> It's totally circular. >> I'm pretty proud of our dad. >> To celebrate Breit Mark going fully circular, we decided to take the Pyrolosaurus and make it real to inspire more kids to recycle. It >> could be the coolest recycling bin I've ever seen. So, we've been working with a local school here in Ashley, Indiana, and today we're going to surprise them with this magical dino bin that they can collect their plastic in. >> The kids know a lot about the recycling program, but they [music] have no idea about this dino bin. >>
009It's a secret. >> But before we show them what was inside of the crate, we read a whole magical backstory about the dino bin. >> We got to hear a magical story. There's a little girl. Her name was Ashley. She love dinosaurs, but >> she hates plastic waste. >> She wishes on a bite side to fix it. And a magic dinosaur appealed. It like to eat plastic. Wow. When the tiny dino eats the plastic, it gets bigger and bigger. It became bigger. Then it can cough up new plastic things made from the plastic waste. She runs out of plastic to feed it. and then Ashley put wheels on it and she took it to school. It was pretending to be a recycling bin. >> Are you guys ready to see the big surprise? [screaming] >>
010Here's the big wooden box. It's a top secret. >> What does that mean? >> [laughter] >> I hear something. Open it. >> I think there's a little kitty. >> It's a big unicorn. >> Come on, friends. Come sit. >> Are you guys ready to see what's inside? >> Yeah. [crying] It was a real life magic dino man. I told my teacher that it's actually real. The diamond band's really cute. >> So, this is a real life Pyrolosaurus. >> It's a dinosaur >> and it is famished. It's super hungry. So, it's ready to eat your plastic so we can take it over to Bremark and turn it into new things. >> How do the big dinosaur plastic? The kids absolutely [music] loved seeing the character in the story come to life. >> The dino bin looks
011different because what happens to the plastic is different. It doesn't go to normal recycling. It goes to Breitmore. We went to Breit Mark and got to see how the plastic waste got turned into new things. So a story like this really captures their imagination. You can see their eyes start to light up and the excitement start to brew in them starting to wonder what they can do. >> We go through so much plastic and we never would have realized before we started this program. >> We've already saved 7500 lb of plastic from going into landfills. >> I feel like science is like real life magic. Imagine if recycling worked the way we all expect it should. >> Imagine bright mark bins like this all over the world. >> I kind of love the dino bin.
012>> It makes me feel hopeful. This is just the beginning. Pretty cute video, isn't that? The neat thing is that Dino Ben is is going to eventually be placed at Country Meadow. They're working on the replica to make sure it doesn't um snap fingers because it's a very heavy lid. Um so, we need to make it safe for the kids. So, we're excited to see it come back at some point. Um but really and truly, Breitark has been an amazing partner with us and they've done a lot of things for Country Meadow. Um including some um toys and bigger things for the playground for the kids to pull out the tic-tac-toe, some personalized um cornhole games and can jam, a couple things like that when we reach 10,000 pounds. So, um there was a celebration
013and then as you could see the kids actually went to Breitark and visited and went on a field trip. So, they learned a lot about the process and had to wear all their safety gear and there as well. So, I'm going to let the students go ahead and continue, but thank you for watching. We do a food drive to help our community. CME set a goal to collect 500 items. All the food was collected and given back to families in our community. Food was also placed in the blessing box in Ashley and Corona. Ryrock also donated food towards our drive. Our final total of total of items was 21 collected. And this is us when we were collecting all the um all the food in the hallway. And we also put all the food in
014the gym. >> We help our by also doing Loyal Canine Rescue. We work with Loyal Canine Rescue to collect items for puppies who needs homes and they also take in other pets too. They also prioritize the health and safety of pets and they seek out families who will continue to live and care for them. The donations collected were Lysol wipes, toys, leashes, small large harnesses, and potty pads and We also collected beach. And these are a couple pictures of them coming in and sharing to us about what they did and how they did it. And then this is some SLT members collecting the produce that we got from them. For junior achievement, we did a school community um collection for pennies and just coins and dollars and we ended up making 1,120 coins and dollars.
015We do this thing at um for fifth grade. They get to design their t-shirt and we do different stuff to raise money for them to be able to make their own shirts. And these are some of the things we've done in the past and we've done this year. We've done um like a smart cookie sale. We do it like uh Valentine's Day or the closest day to Valentine's Day. We also do hot chocolate and ice cream sundae sales. team design. >> [applause] [applause] >> Great job. Thank you guys for being here tonight. >> You all did wonderful. >> Do we know who's presenting next month? >> Because that's going to be hard to top. >> You're gonna have to >> set the bar >> high. [laughter] That's a lot of different programs. >> Great. I
016love that video, too. >> Oh, I was thinking the video. [laughter] Well, this evening I have the the pleasure and honor to recognize one of our own, Mr. Joshua Yankee. Uh Mr. Yankee is our district's power school administrator who recently earned the certified education technology leader designation. I think we call it seidal. This has been about an 18-monthlong journey for Mr. Yankee which included spending a year in a mentorship program and preparing to take and pass a rigorous comprehensive certification exam. The seedal certification awarded by the consortium for school networking signifies that Josh has mastered the knowledge and skills needed to bring 21st century technology to our K through2 students in schools. Kosen is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders and its mission is to empower educational leaders to leverage technology to
017realize engaging learning environments and to help me navigate >> [laughter] >> everything. I've learned so much from Mr. Yankee. [laughter] Earning the Cetal certification demonstrates the commitment that Mr. Yankee has to our district and to bringing the 21st century learning to our schools. Because of this seed certification requirements, certified leaders pledged to stay current in this everchanging field of education technology. With us this evening are two guests who were instrumental in helping Josh achieve his certification goals. This is Darlene Kennedy who is the director of technology integration and professional development coordinator for the Northern and Northwestern Indiana Educational Service Centers and Mr. Nick Williams director of technology innovation for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation in Columbus, Indiana. So I will turn it over to your mentors Josh. First of all, thank you very much for
018having us. We're excited to be here. Um we're um a little bit um in shock of having to follow that great presentation by those kids. We were like, how are we going to follow that? Um that was absolutely amazing. You guys have a wonderful district here. You really do. Um oh, as as she said, I'm Darlene Kennedy. I work for the Northern and Northwest Educational Service Centers, but I'm also the Indiana Seidal Ambassador. um through our Indiana CTO council which is our state chapter of the Kosen network. Um I get the pleasure of working with all of our seedals and our CTO to bees um to gain that seedal certification. Um I'm very passionate about it. But what I'm really proud of is that Josh has now put us right over the 75 mark. We
019have 75 seedals throughout the state of Indiana. And I think that has been over if I'm not mistaken maybe the past 10 years or so. So um it's not something that hundreds of people have in the state. It is a very small group and we're very proud of that group. Um it is an internationally accredited exam um that is very rigorous. It's a hundred questions I think in 80 minutes. 120 I don't know. It's you you have this much time and they're scenario based. So, you're reading a paragraph and then you're not just looking for the right answer, you're looking for the best answer. Um, so you really have to take what you know from the essential frameworks um and and apply your knowledge and um your leadership and your skill set to answering and
020passing that exam. >> So, thank you for having us again. Um, I had the privilege of being paired with Josh. Um, and you know, just been thankful that we can spend the time to celebrate one of your staff members. Uh, it's been a pleasure getting to know him over the last year and a half. Not only is it studying for the test, which is mainly Darlene, but we also do a lot of leadership uh, study and a book study throughout it. So, um, it's been a journey and I really think Josh exemplifies your mission in terms of being a critical thinker, a communicator, and a collaborator. Being in technology, you have to work with everybody in the district. You have all sorts of problems coming at you every day. No, no day is the same.
021Um, and you just get to learn or at least uh become a better communicator. And I know Josh has done that with his work with Power School and now enrollment. Um, so it's been a pleasure to honor Josh in this way and again can't thank you enough for having us here. >> Um, so on behalf of the Indiana CTO Council, um, and the CTO to be cohort that you are a part of, we are very proud of you and we would just like to present you with this little >> not technical at all. >> [laughter] >> technical, but we'd like to present this to you and just recognize you. Thank you for being a part. [applause] >> Congratulations, Josh. Thank you for your hard work with this. >> Thank you. Congratulations. And thank you guys
022for being here to present it to. >> Absolutely. [clears throat] And that's all we have for presentations tonight. At this time, I will ask the board to adopt and amend the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> I have a motion, a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. Item F is the consent agenda. This includes items F1 through F5. This is our board minutes, financial report, claims, personnel, and field trips. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Yeah. on the financial report Mark on not not tonight but for tomorrow or next month's board meeting
023can you show a breakdown on when you look at the overall budget you have total revenue total expense there's a $5.6 $6 million difference. Can you explain what that is? >> Sure. >> I mean, I don't need 191 line items. Summarize it. [laughter] >> What's the difference? So, we can explain that, >> okay, >> to the community so everybody understands. >> Thanks, Tony. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Item G, donations. >> We have a number of uh donations. Once again, just a very generous community, different businesses and individuals, families. [clears throat and cough] And so, just wanted to read into the record tonight. Um, we had a $600 donation from Newore for the high school winter guard program. We had $200 donation uh
024for the softball program at the high school from Larry and Gail Norton. Um, we had a $250 uh donation from New Core Building Systems for the DMS robotics program and certainly um coach there is extremely grateful for all the support for robotics and that program is in full swing across the district and across the area. So uh once again just a very generous outpouring of support from many people and organizations uh for the programs and the students that we have involved in them. Thank you, Steve. Thank you to all of our community members to support [clears throat] our district. Um item H1 is a soccer scoreboard donation. >> Yeah, I pulled um a specific donation. It was a little bit larger in size and so I just wanted to um pull it and allow the
025board to um consider approving the the receipt of this donation. Um, we're excited to announce a tremendous gift made in the memory of Rex Burkhoff, who passed away in 2004. Rex's widow, Chris Gardner, has graciously offered to provide full financial support for the purchase and installation of a new soccer scoreboard totaling $24,925. Just tremendous. Uh, the family has a long and meaningful connection to Decal Central Schools and Decal [clears throat] athletics. Their daughters were active in Decal activities and today the next generation of their family continues that tradition participating in DAB soccer amongst other activities as well. The donation reflects not only the tribute to Rex's memory but also the family's enduring love and support for DAB soccer and our student athletes. So, I put a uh picture of what the scoreboard will look like,
026and we'll we'll continue to work with Chris [cough] and keep [clears throat] her involved in other updates that we're planning on uh putting in place across the 612 campus because she has indicated that she would like to uh get involved in in more than just maybe this contribution and maybe there's some other things that she can help and support us with. So, we're just extremely grateful for for people like Chris and um that are able to give back um to the district uh that has provided for their family over the years. So, hopefully the board will approve of this donation. >> Thank you. And with that, I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Is there a way
027we could pop that up on the screen? I know I know that it was on the bottom of that so that the people here can see it. Sorry, Angie. Put you on the spot. >> She's smiling. >> Well, I've seen her smile before. [laughter] >> Well, >> you're almost there. So it sort of resembles the football a little bit. [clears throat] >> Yeah, we're trying to keep maintain that that similar design. Um so yeah, that's just uh yeah, we've got to do some a little bit of trimming up over there to make room for it. We have a lot of trees there in that background, so some trimming that has to take place. And we're in the works of uh looking to replace the flag pole as well. That's a much needed improvement over there.
028But Soccer has has become a focus with the the soccer barn getting a refresh and some other items over there in that area and of course with the pavilion and the parking lot coming over there as well in the near future. So just some much needed improvements. So glad to do it. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Motion passes. Thank you to the Burkall family. I know we will have a lot of soccer families that really appreciate seeing the scores all lit up and not just a poor portion of them and um yes much needed and and very much appreciated. So thank you. >> Okay, item H2 is a recommendation for DMS 2627 Dina students athletic director. So, I pulled
029this recommendation from the consent agenda just because it's a it's a unique recommendation that I just wanted to bring for the board's consideration. And this comes to us from the principal at the middle school, Mrs. Carrie Weiseart. She's recommending Brett Ellsworth for his continued employment for 20 uh the 26 27th school year in the role of dean of students and athletic director. Uh, as the board may recall, midy year our [clears throat] school experienced an unexpected leadership transition with the resignation of an associate principal athletic director. During that time, Mr. Ell stepped in immediately to provide stability and leadership, assuming responsibilities not only as the athletic director, but also successfully le learning and supporting the duties of the dean of students. So, he took on two major leadership roles. In a split [clears throat] second,
030he He offered his support right away when this happened. And he's just his 27 years of teaching experiences and coaching uh in the middle school and high school level varsity sports just made him a really good fit to take over the athletic director responsibilities, but also that dean of students uh role as well. So this recommendation, we basically plugged him into that. Mrs. Weiseart plugged him in. We've offered a lot of support. I know Mrs. Wiseheart and Mr. Wrenchler the associate principal have worked alongside Mr. Ellsworth and he's really done a great job and we we kind of promise we'll see how the year goes and at this point we are really excited to [clears throat] be able to recommend Mr. Ell stay in this role and make sure that we accompany it with a
031contract for the number of days needed for this type of role. So uh we strongly recommend that the board consider Mr. Roth for the 2627 school year as dean of students athletic director on a 210day contract at 89,19. Again, Mr. Alrath is a 27year um staff member here at Dalb Central Schools and of course once we get to the point later on in the spring summer to consider um raises or salary raises for administrative certified staff outside the bar and classified staff members. Mr. Ellsworth would also be qualify for that as well for the board's consideration tonight. >> Thank you, Steve. >> At this time, I'll ask the board for a motion. [clears throat] >> Motion to approve. >> I'll second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Yeah. When I got hired in
0322001, I was very lucky to have two people as my neighbors to kind of tell me what I shouldn't do at the middle school. Steve was two more two doors down and Brett was one door down. So if I had a question or if I was doing something I shouldn't do in a middle school setting, I had two role models even though I was I'm still older than them. Um I I had two good guys that could help me if I had questions and and I think I can't think of a better person to fill this spot than Brett. I've known Brett for a long time and I think he's probably more excited than what we know. So, I think this is a great fit. >> I hope so. I know he hit the ground
033running with that role. So, [laughter] >> we appreciate him. >> Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Item H3, the demographic study proposal recommendation. Um, I've communicated to the board in recent updates and just through conversations uh about our demographic study proposal that I was planning to bring uh this evening. The most recent demographic study for DCAP Central Schools was completed in 2021. Since that time, a number of factors have continued to influence our our enrollment trends. housing development patterns, long-term population projections within our district, and to ensure that our strategic planning and facility discussions to which we've had many facility discussions um over these past five years and more discussions yet to happen. We want to make sure that we have a good
034understanding of our demographics and what the enrollment trends might look like. Um, the district has received a proposal from McKibben Demographic Research L LLC to complete a comprehensive population and enrollment forecast. Uh, we have used Jerry McKibben for I've been here a long time and I can't remember using anyone else besides Jerry. He understands our district. He understands this area. He was born and raised in north north north uh west Allen County and he he has done a good job um I believe in providing uh accurate information. Um demographic studies are uh impacted by a lot of different factors. So you really can't take them any further past the different factors that are going to come into play as years go by. but he's been fairly spoton on what he has predicted for us as
035far as our enrollment over [clears throat] the past several years. So this would allow us to have population estimates and forecasts for from 2025 to 2030 to 2035 by age, sex, total population of our district 4 elementary uh attendance areas, enrollment forecast by grade up and through the 2035 36 school years for each of our four elementaryaries, Decal Middle School and Decal High School, and then a written report summarizing uh all of his f findings and his forecast results. The total cost of the study is $5,900, which I think is reasonable. There is an additional charge if we want him to come in person for a presentation. The last time we did this in 2021, he presented virtually and I I [clears throat] wouldn't recommend paying additional uh fee to have him come in person.
036and I think he can present the information virtually and he can provide all he can answer all questions that the board might have uh in that uh format as well. So I would be happy to entertain any questions that you might have. He is someone that is utilized quite a bit by a lot of different schools, other superintendents that I that I work with and meet with. U we all speak very highly of uh Jerry McKinnon [laughter] and the the the work that he's done for not only our district but for other districts and I would just ask for the board's consideration to move forward with this proposal. >> Thank you, Steve. >> At this time, I'll ask the board for a motion. I'll make a motion. >> I have a motion and a second.
037Any discussion >> in in that demographic study? Is it possible and I don't know, he might not be able to do this. I'm just thinking out loud. >> Okay. Is it possible that he could recommend what redistricting the district would look like in order to utilize and equalize the use of the current facilities? you have >> I assume you're referencing [clears throat] the the four elementary areas. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I did ask him also um there's always been discussion about the growth seems to be coming from the south from northern Allen County. So what would it look like or what does the forecast tell him about any type of additional elementary school between Auburn and Allen County? So he'll probably come with some specifics on that as well, whether it's 10, 15, 20
038years forecasted. It's just that's one of those big strategic items that you'd want to get at least on our list, >> right? >> No matter how far off it is. >> That's why I would ask for how do you how do you reone the districts by elementary school in order to utilize the facilities we have first and what's going to be the cost of that versus building another school. I'm sure I mean for years we bust a corona to Auburn. Now today fuel was a lot more expensive than it was back then. Then busing and labor is a lot more expensive. So even if we wanted to do that [clears throat] there's going to be a cost >> and over 20 years what's that going to look like? >> Does it make more sense to
039build a school with less driving again? I don't know. And I don't even know if he can do that. I don't know if that's one of the things he does. >> Probably provide information that would support the growth and where it's happening the most. >> Yep. [clears throat] I I made a note of that and I'll send that to Jerry and see if he can add that to it. >> See what's the typical timeline that it takes to do this? >> I think we could have it as as early as next month. >> Pretty quick turn. >> We could do like a work session. I do think this is like very valuable information and might be very helpful for like some of our redevelopment commissions as well. Um just for planning and >> yeah purposes
040right putting it in longterm >> plan I have a second and a first and a second. So any other discussion? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I >> oppose. Motion passes. Item H4, special education consultation services recommendation. >> So my last item this evening uh is a continuation from an earlier um approval from the board to explore um the opportunity to withdraw for from the Northeast Indiana Special Education Cooperative. Knowing that that is it's an 18-month process. The first six months of that process is to evaluate our current needs from a financial standpoint, from a programming standpoint, from a method of delivery standpoint. And so we're currently in the middle of gathering as much information as we possibly can. Everything from how much would it take to reoutfit a room that is currently
041a co-op room that would have to be a decal central [laughter] room. How much would it cost for the furniture or would we purchase furniture from the co-op to so we're trying to cover every aspect of it? And so this ask is for contracted services of an individual by the name of Dr. Angela Balsley. She's uh an expert in special special education and she assists schools in who make the same decision of maybe moving away or analyzing if it makes sense to move away or what you need to consider moving out of a co-op situation. Uh she has recently helped East Noble, a neighboring district who went through the same process and uh I checked with them and they recommended her and said that she was just very good to work with and regardless of
042our decision, it's going to provide outstanding information for me to be able to bring a recommendation to the board uh hopefully by April but no later than June that we either stay recommending we stay in the co-op or if we leave and it's going to be based largely on uh information that we're collecting now, but through the advisement of Angela and working through all the legal parameters of leaving the co-op, the structure that we're creating or looking to create if we're if we're off on our own. Um, and already we're starting to have conversations with Angela, but this contracted service, and I was very pleased with just the amount of $2,625 to to get some expert um guidance through this process and work with us, but she she could also work with us if we
043decide to withdraw from the co-op. Uh, we could extend our services with her, and I I would bring back something else for the board to consider if we do decide to do that. So, I think this is something that um we need to do uh to make sure that we're thinking about everything that's involved in in making this type of a decision. The co-op, we've been a member of the co-op since 1970. So, that's a that's a 55 56y year um relationship that we've had. Um but I also know that we want to do what's best for Decal Central and the students that we serve. And I think Angela's input will help us reach that decision that I'll bring to you later on this spring. So I would ask for the board's consideration to approve
044this uh contracted service agreement with Dr. Angela Bossley so that she can assist us in getting the information we need to make an informed decision about staying or leaving the co-op. >> Thank you. Steve asks or at this time I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Do we currently have any open positions or any of the special ed activities that we currently post? >> I I would say that we probably have some pair positions that are currently posted. We don't have any teaching positions currently for special ed, but we do have some PAR positions um some special ed in our some of our co-op programs that are open right now. >> And we would anticipate possibly having
045to hire some. >> Say again, Tony. >> We have to something. We probably have to hire additional teachers, but at this time we just don't know how much. >> Yeah. Like like right now, we host several co-op programs. Um like our applied skills programs that we have three classrooms at at Waterlue and then a therapy room as well. We have applied skills at middle school, applied skills at the high school. So if we were to uh withdraw from the co-op, those room those programs would then be to Cal Central programs and then we'd have to evaluate the the number of staff members. We would need to we'd need certified teachers and we would also need pair of professional support as well. And that would be based on our counts. And so we currently know the
046number of students that we have are current that are currently special ed students that are in those programs. And so we can get an idea of the level of support that we would need for those programs. something that we'll have to decide later on then Tony will be if we decide to leave then we'll need to decide are we going to allow students from outside our district to attend those programs and what does that look like we are an open district right now we do accept out of district transfers to which we have I think around 300 students that come to us from outside our district so some of our most atrisisk students coming to us from uh with special education needs, we would still look to allow those students to come to us, but
047it just might have to look a little bit different because they're going to need more support. So that but that's a that's a question that can be answered after we make the decision, >> right, >> on staying or going. >> But doesn't that require a special certificate for special teachers got to have a special license or >> Yeah. >> And are those readily available? Are those individuals hard to find? I tell you special education teachers, I mean those are high needs position typically. Um but I I I believe we will be able to fill those positions because um right now they may be co-op positions. They may become Decal Central positions. And I I like to believe that people want to work at DAB Central. Um and I don't think we'll have a problem once
048we post those positions. I think we'll have a good number of very qualified candidates applying. reason I ask those questions because >> Oh, absolutely. >> I know it takes a lot of extra effort. >> Y >> just to move them >> sometimes takes >> and some of our co-op programs are some of our most at risk students who need some of the the greatest supports that we can offer. >> Thank you. And this is just, you know, we're exploring this >> option with it um by approving this plan right now. Um so if there's people in the community that have questions on how things might look or whatever, I really encourage you to reach out to our administration. So I know we've had a few here and there just >> based on the rumblings, but
049I think um that's it's been good to get good feedback and information. So thank you. >> Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I >> I oppose. Motion passes. >> Item H five. Sorry. Uh the draft policy proposal. >> Here we go. Here we roll. [laughter] >> Well, you you recall that we uh have moved our policy service from Neiola to ISBA. And I I will tell you that has not been an easy undertaking. Um there's a lot of moving parts and pieces to it, but But we're getting it dialed in and we're having to review each policy. Look at our NEOLA policy. Look at ISBA policy. Do compare, contrast, edits. The the first five that I provided for you, you've had time certainly to take a look at them. And I'm
050just going to summarize them quickly just for public sake. And once uh we go through these tonight and this is just the presentation part. This would not count as the first reading. It's just a presentation. And this will be kind of how we do this moving forward. During the March meeting, we will have the first reading. It is lawful to have the first reading and vote to approve or reject all at the same time. We do not have to go through a second reading and then another. So unless the board directs me elsewhere, we'll probably run it like that. A lot of the changes that I presented to you for tonight, um, you notice there was quite a bit of Neola language stricken. Niola, that's they're very thorough. I'm going to say that about Niola.
051They're very thorough. And sometimes the intent and the meaning of the policy get lost in the thoroughess. And so when we started going through them, when I started reviewing, okay, what's important for our people to know about this polic? And that's that's the I tried to keep on as we work through them. We also are working with ISBA right now to do the number conversions. So, the policy numbers will change once ISBA has concluded that and that's taking a little more time than we planned. I want to recognize Angie Brown because she's like my right arm. She's dialed in the whole editing process and she goes online once I I visit, review, revise. I subject those to her and um she gets them edited so that they're ready for you to take a look at.
052And so that has been very very helpful. She keeps me off the ledge on this. So, um, want to say thank you again, Angie. Um, so we'll start just just, uh, first with the homebound instruction program. You notice that I've basically struck out the new policy. There was a lot of antiquated language in there, things that are no longer required to be done or are done. Um, and we're updating that with an ISBA policy 5350. There really was no new information. Just took out a lot of language just to make it absolutely clear. One thing about homebound instruction that's very important to know and this is and when I tell you these things it's because I've dealt with it over and over and over again. But with homebound instruction, we do not allow homebound teachers
053to go into the individual students home unless it is an extreme extenduating circumstance. And we have had some of those. But we we require that they meet with the parent and the in a public place most most generally at the library either in Waterlue or in in uh Auburn and so that instruction takes place in a public place. The rule of thumb with homebound just for your information is an average of five hours a week onetoone instruction. We don't make any teacher ever do homebound. Once once a principal has a situation where they need homebound, they will put that out to their staff and if they can't find it within their building, then we'll start extending into it to other buildings. for special ed students. Um there is no law per se that [snorts] says
054it has to be a special ed teacher, but every effort must be made to make sure that if the child does have an IEP that they are instructed by a special education teacher if poss if and when possible, which is getting harder and harder to do. So that's homebound instruction. um the policy 5111 determination of legal settlement and eligibility and enrollment of students without legal settlement in the corporation. I think honestly Niola probably wrote that policy back when nobody did this. [laughter] So if you look at the language that was stricken there was a lot of language about it. One thing we need for for folks to remember about our uh legal settlement and eligibility is that we do accept out of district transfers, but those do have to be applied for annually. So, we
055try to remind our parents that this has to be done every year. Um and and we have the stipulations that the student has to be in good standing as far as behavior. We do not accept expelled students. That's the that's the big one. And then also we take a look at the attendance. So really, it's one of those things that um either do it for all or or you do it for none. We can't pick and choose who we decide once we say we're going to take out of district students. So that's a really important thing to remember on that policy 144.1 compensation for board members. The change here, and it was reflected in your revision, uh is going from $1,800 to $1,900. [cough] So, it's a whopping an increase of $100. [snorts] I'm not
056sure where that came from. I'm just the messenger. Okay. So, uh that's proposed policy 5541, credit for religious instruction and release time. This one has become increasingly important because it is happening more than than it did probably when the original Neiola policy came out. The one thing that's important for us to know about this policy, aside from their standard language, is that MacB High School does not provide credit for religious classes outside of the school. If we excuse a student to go, [cough] that's one thing and that's fine and and we're glad to do that according to policy, but we will not grant credit for those courses. >> And then finally, board vacancies. I think we were the poster child for that this year, weren't we? some things really changed and it caught some people's
057attention and I know our our legal uh representation spent a lot of time on this and so that policy 0142.3 addresses the minimum requirements for filling board vacancies and so we're going to replace what was what Neiola had because it was much different based on on past past practices and update with the current ISBA policy which is aligned exactly to what Tim Shel has and sending you to to know what we can and can't do. So again, this kind of starts our our journey on uh reviewing, revising, adding if necessary, removing if necessary. It's a it's a pretty big task, but and and we want to kind of take our time and go through it um methodically. uh what what ISBA does for us, they'll put out a quarterly um policy newsletter for you and
058and I I get that and then I'll look through the policies. Those are usually aligned to the most recent legislation, things that have changed. So, we're going to first of all stay as current as we can and get caught up as we can with those types of policies and then we'll start breaking down the the other policies because there are hundreds to see where we can start streamlining a little bit. I'm anticipating getting a little more help from ISBA on that and getting the numbers aligned because that would really make life easier. Angie and I were doing a little searching and there's a school district not far from here um that literally just kept their NEOLA policies and just put their ISBA policies in. And so we were trying to figure out how that would
059even work and and that's not how we want to do it. We want to have one combined list. So we're going to work hard on that. So again, Tonight is presentation only. Uh after this evening, I will ask uh Miss Zimbo if she would please post these on our website for public review if necessary. And certainly if anybody has any thoughts, questions, needs more clarification, please reach out to Steve or myself or a board member for that and we'll be glad to help you. And then in the March meeting, we I would ask for you to consider approving these in a first. >> Thank you, Lorie. Okay. So, we will not we don't need to vote on this tonight, but um do you guys have any discussion or any questions? >> Yeah, when I was
060looking through those, it reminded me of my composition papers and colleagues. >> I know. I know. Red ink. Yeah, >> I'm just glad it's not red on my screen. >> I know. Sorry. >> It's a lot of work. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for helping. >> Thanks, Angie. >> Okay. Item H6, the region 8, career coach team grant renewal. >> Great. That's me. So, Region 8 is part of those educational service centers you heard me reference with uh Josh Yankees award. Region 8 is our local um educational service center. And this is uh regarding the next coaching grant renewal. and I'm bringing this tonight uh on behalf of Decal High School, please accept for your consideration approval for Decal High School, renew the current memorandum of understanding with the region 8 education service center
061for the 2627 school year as part of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education's career coaching grant initiative. Region 8 career coaching has been instrumental with helping the high school develop career discovery meetings which have become extremely important and agility's training for career focused curriculum courses and this has been a really good opportunity for several of our teachers. Um so we just need to enter intoou for next school year if we'd like to continue this service from region 8 and Mr. Wagner would like it if we could. >> Thank you Lori. At this time I'll entertain [clears throat] a motion. to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> What's the value of the grant? >> I I don't I don't know. It's more of an agreement versus the money
062thing because I've never seen like the agilityities training broken down. It's they they cover all the cost. They just [clears throat] provide it to us and grant us the opportunity. I don't have an amount. I can dig for 120, but I I've not seen it. >> Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Item H7 are the resolutions for the 2026 lease bond. >> As we get ready for our backpack bonding process, um I just want to cover a couple highlights and then I'm going to turn it over to Josh Winters from Ice Miller, our bond council, to go through the resolutions for the board. First thing I'd point out is this is not a hearing. This is just strictly approving some resolutions for the bond
063lease. Uh there's two ways that our corporation can borrow money in terms of bonding and that's through lease bonds and general obligation or go bonds. We just passed a go bond a couple months [laughter] ago. As you remember, we approved the backpack bonding process through a leasing process a few months ago. So the bond the board has approved. Okay. The spending of the money has been approved. Now we are in the process of getting to the sale of the lease and the bond itself. Okay. So we form what's called a building corporation which is comprised of three individuals from the community. Um they act as a board of directors to hold a piece of our property [snorts] and then make payments on behalf of the school district for our bonding process. Biggest thing I just
064want to point out to the board is just a reminder and the public is the bond itself has been approved. Now we're in the process over the next two months of getting to the sale of that bond. So tonight is the formality of the board approving three resolutions for our building corporation that is formed with um Angie Lockwood John Good Tina Basset form our building corporation. That's a separate entity. I had meetings with them. I had a meeting this month and I'll have a meeting next month. Next month's board meeting will be the hearing to pass the actual lease um agreement with the building corporation and then that will be when we can sell the bond itself. Okay, with that I'll turn it over to Josh to go through the three resolutions that need to
065be approved by the board tonight to proceed. >> Thank you. >> Yes, there's three resolutions tonight. The first one um is resolution determining for the project. So before [clears throat] the the school district can enter into a lease with the building corporation, you first need to make a determination that there's a need for the project. So that's a state law requirement. It's pretty straightforward and short resolution. Um the second resolution is um approving the form of a lease. Um so before the the school district can enter into a lease or conduct a hearing on the lease which will take place next month um you first have to approve the formal lease so you have some basis on which to hold the hearing next month. So that's another state law requirement. And then the third is
066a federal um federal law requirement that the school district must um approve or in this case reapproved since we're using the same building corporation. Um must approve the the building corporation to issue tax exempt bonds on behalf of the school district. So that resolution is taking care of those requirements. Any questions on those resolutions at all? So, I would just need a motion and a >> agreement to pass. I I believe I'll ask defer to Josh. I believe we can approve all three in one motion or do they need to do a motion for each one individually? >> We put it in. >> Okay. Okay. At this time, I'll ask the board um for a motion to approve the resolution determining the need for the project exhibit A. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll
067second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Motion passes. At this time now, I will ask for a resolution approving form of the lease um exhibit B. >> Approve. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. Resolution for reapproving the building corporation exhibit C. >> I'll make a motion. Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. [snorts] Okay. Up next will be our recommendation for the architectural work contract for the GO bond. >> We got a lot of bonding going on. So, I try to
068remind everybody this is now for the go bond. We're going back. This is specifically [clears throat] for the pavilions and the parking lots at soccer and baseball. That's what we're getting architectural help with with the go bond. Okay. The other projects we don't need. Um, but I am bringing to the board a recommendation to approve Garmin Miller as our architectural partner once again on the 2025 GO bond. Um, we've obviously had fantastic experiences with Garmin Miller. They've been a very positive partner for the school district. highlights of the contract if you're interested are uh first first off I'll point out any contract that we ever sign has gone through by our legal team um to make sure there's nothing in there that I could miss because I am by far not a lawyer. Um so
069that has all been vetted by our legal team and approved. Um Garmin Miller did agree to wave any supplemental fees on this project because it is a smaller project which is a huge benefit to us. That's literally tens of thousands of dollars that we're probably going to save. Um they will go with a 5% owner budgeted compensation package. That's going to be their main form of um payment by us. Keep in mind that the go bond and my estimate on fees, well not fees, excuse me, on the project cost is a little over $2 million. So the architectural fees 5%. You can do that math >> as long as they don't come back with a project cost of $5 million. Correct. >> Correct. Well, if they do that, we're in trouble because we don't we
070don't have those funds in the go to begin with. So, I think we'll be all right. Um, so I would just ask the board to approve that architectural agreement. >> Okay. At this time, I'll ask the board for a motion to approve Garmin Miller for architectural work for their go bond to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H9, the recommendation for CMA GO bond. >> Still on the go bond now. Same project, same cost, things like that. I'm asking the board to approve um FCI to be our CMA in this project. That's a construction manager isn't as an advisory role. It's not as as the management which we've done in the past with
071our bleachers and things like that. Um I will butcher this conversation which is why I have Tyler Wolf from FCI here if you do have further questions on the CMA arrangement. But um highlights for me I would point out that FCI agreed to wave any pre-construction fees for this project. It's just not as big of a project. So I asked both Garmin Miller and FCI to work with us on that. And I'm happy to report they're both very willing to wave some fees. It's never a fun conversation when you go to a construction company or an architectural firm and say, "Hey, we really don't want to pay you this much money. Can you do something for us?" And both firms were very willing to work with us. Um, and I appreciate that both Gar Miller
072and FCI. Obviously, FCI has had a relationship through our our bleacher project and our co-curricular stadium as they worked as a CMC. So, there's a close working relationship between Garmin Miller and FCI already in place. Um, the fees for this, again, they wave the pre-construction costs. There's going to be a fixed monthly staffing fee of 13,500. Um, and I believe we said how many months we're we're determining on that, >> right? So, six to eight months. That That's what I thought. Um, and then their fee will be 2.24% based on GMP, which isn't determined yet. But a 2.24% is an excellent figure. Um, again, FCI did everything they could to shave costs for us on this project. So, I'm glad Tyler is here for me to thank him for all he's done for us in
073this project and in projects past. FCI has been an invaluable partner as a local company. So, I would just ask the board's approval as FCI is our CMA. This time I'll ask the board for a motion to approve FCI for CMA arrangement. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> I just think it's great that we can get local companies to help us improve our community. So, I want to thank Tyler and FCI make sure that we don't use the same concrete contractor. Let's [laughter] see what we can do. >> Any other discussion? >> All those in favor signifi. Signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Motion passes. And now item H10 is the request of permission to advertise for the CMC backpack.
074>> Okay. Again, now we're switching gears. We're going to our 2026 backpack bond. Um, again, Quick reminder, we've approved the bond. So, if you think we're getting ahead of the game, we still haven't sold the bond, but this is going to allow us to get the advertisement out for the CMC of this big project um to get somebody hopefully in place for me to bring to you in the March board meeting. That's my goal. I'm going to get this advertised if the board approves it to tonight um immediately. I'm going to make a due date on any applications that come in for the CMC role by March 10th. That gives me about a week to get things around, meet with Steve a little bit and go over things to bring somebody to recommend to the
075board in March. Again, this isn't approving a CMC. This is strictly for me to get the advertisement out to advertise for them to bring their proposals into me to go over. So, I would ask the boards for the lease. >> This is for the lease bond. Correct. Backpack >> for a CMC. >> Yeah. One area bond backpack. Which one? Sorry. Same thing. Those are synonymous. The lease bond is the backpack bond. Apologize. >> Okay. At this time, I'll ask for a motion to for permission to advertise for the CMC backpack. >> Motion. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos. Motion passes. Okay. Item H11, school cash payment portal. >> Journaling along here. So, we're looking to make a change um in
076our parent payment platform. Looking to go to a company called School Cash. Um this does integrate with our current ERP system, which is New World, which is a is to me is the biggest bonus of switching from Ryore, which we currently use. We also use EPES for our extracurricular funds. Um, this is going to allow us to house everything in one nice little bucket. Um, this will save us enormous amounts of time as a staff. Um, school, excuse me, school cash is also in the United States, which Reichor is based in Canada. Nothing against Canada, but it does create some delays sometimes. Uh, again, I'm not going to butcher too much. So, I have asked my right arm, Gina Burr, to say a few words on school cash and answer any other questions that you
077may have. If you wanna I did try to tell her to limit her conversation to five minutes, so we'll see if how fast she need. >> Thank you. >> Um, I don't know if you guys have any questions, but let me just say one of the things that I've found over the years through school fight through school finance is we're so disjointed. We have a program to do this and then we have a program to do this and one to do this. I've always said the billion dollar as idea is to get a program that can handle all the things that happen and need to be tracked and reported in a school district. Well, that hasn't happened yet, but I truly believe that school cash is a step in the right direction. So currently we
078have like Mark said we have Ryore which is our student fee management system. That's where we put the fees in you guys. Back when we had student textbook fees that's where you would go in and you would pay. Then we also have EPES which is our extracurricular accounting software. So each of the schools, let's take the high school for example, large extracurricular presence, right? With all the athletics and all of the clubs and organizations they have going through there, a lot of money runs through there. Um the nice thing about school cash is it combines both of those into one program. We'll probably pay about $3,000 more per year than the two standalone programs, but I'm guessing a conservative is we're going to save at least 20 to $25,000 a year in just the freed
079up time of our school secretaries and treasurers. You think about all of those disparit systems that information has to flow from one to the next to the next. Well, guess how that happens, manual data entry, which we all know opens up um the opportunity for fraud to happen. I don't [snorts] want to see Dalb Central be the next headline for our extracurricular funds. And this is going to be another way for us to prevent that from happening because we have massive amounts of transparency and it connects and speaks with our main financial program. So that's that's why I'm recommending this. I've looked at probably four or five other programs. I've talked to probably 12 other school districts. Um, I think this is the Cadillac and for it to only cost us an additional roughly $3,000
080a year. All the efficiencies and transparency that we're going to gain is well worth it. So, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer what what I can. >> Do you have any idea how many data entries you have per month? [clears throat] >> No. Thousands. Thousands. >> Because someone said, "Well, how much money goes to the school?" I said, "Millions?" >> Yes. >> And then they said, "Well, where's it all come from?" I said, "Well, I could show you a spreadsheet and how many pages of data." It's not like three pages. >> Well, you think about 191 pages. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> So, they have no idea detail level and get you more, Tony. >> That's right. That's not even the big picture. >> No, it's it's a lot. And I'm super
081excited that our staff members and treasurers are going to be able to step back from that. They have much more important things to do than transfer data. one system to the next. >> Good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. At this time, I'll ask the board for a motion to approve the school cash payment portal. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppos. Motion passes. Gina, I hope this makes your life easier, too. [laughter] Her life's already hard enough dealing with me on a daily basis. [laughter] I know >> she's being nice not saying that out loud, but I thought I would say what she's probably thinking right [laughter]
082now. >> As a parent, Gina, we're thankful that you're minimizing some of the Great. >> One password. >> Is is did you say lunch is or lunches in there too? >> Thank you. >> That is good. >> I I don't know if I'm I'm just doing this for the public at home because Gina wasn't at the microphone and I always get blown up with the fact that people in the audience because nobody can hear what they're saying. >> Uh we are working on that by the way to have speakers or excuse me microphones for this. But I would point out what the question you know being everything is tied together. Parents are going to have one login to be able to make all of their payments now. Lunch, extracurricular book fees, things like that. It's
083a massive advantage to our parents. I know Lauren shared the picture from her parent square and I mean it's as a parent I get it as well. It's just what we deal with. We're trying to streamline things and make things easier. So, >> it's great. Thank you. >> Sorry, my phone or my watch answered a telemarketer. >> All right. Um, our last item on the agenda is item H12. This is Cameron Health prescription drug partnership. >> U, we do have Pete Kemp here who will be presenting, but I just want to say a few things really quickly before he does. I won't hopefully take any of your any of your thunder, >> but I would want to point out that this is not a replacement to our healthcare at all. This is a supplement. This
084is an add-on. Um, I would also point out that Cameron and Pete and his team have been again very willing to work with me when it comes to money and costs. I am always very leerary of signing [laughter] long-term agreements on things and contracts. Um, we are looking at a three-year agreement. Cameron has offered to wave fees in the first year. My concern is going to be in getting us to utilize this as a staff. Uh, we really have an education piece to get out to our employees to take advantage of this fantastic system that will Are you going to go into savings in that? So, I'm not going to say that. >> I'll be high level, but okay. If you want to go a little more granular, >> nope, you're good. Um, so this
085is a fantastic opportunity. I would be remiss if not mentioning that Tony Baker is the one that brought this to my attention through Cameron. Um, I have given Pete a little flack for like why do I need to have a board member come and talk to me about a sales pitch and not you. So it's clear he's not high pressure sales. No, which is nice. >> But um, I do want to point out Tony was the one that brought this to my attention. We got him in and that's why we're here now bringing this recommendation after his presentation. We were actually the first company to sign up for their program >> and and and so really the background I can give a brief background about this. We work directly with the PBM that Tony's company
086works with. So in the in the in the landscape of self insurance. So the the county central United school is selfinsured much like Tony's company. So when you build your benefits package it's all cart. So you design it based on your company's needs. Um, and Tony's company partnered with a PBM partner of of ours. So what his model looks like is kind of similar but very different all at the same time. What we're enrolling at the Cal Central is slightly different. So we'll kind of break that down. We'll talk a little about what it is, how it works, and how we can achieve success. So overall what this is called is script well. And this itself as a consumable retail entity in the health care space meaning that companies can actually work with us directly
087to do it um is new in the last six months. However, we've been doing this exact program for well over close to three years. So this isn't something that's new. This isn't something that is not proven. It is something that we are just now rolling out to local entities to be implemented in their in this case district. U we already work with two local area districts already um with this program. So it's again you're not the pioneers. Uh other districts did it for you guys and now we get to bring it here and really capture an opportunity to work locally. Um it's called scriptwell and this is the partnership we're going to kind of outline. So what is it? Well, it is essentially a specialty pharmacy carveout. So, how many here have heard of the
088term specialty drugs, right? Like when I mean we have we know what it is, but we really don't have any clue. By definition, a specialty drug is anything that costs more than $1,000. So, what we have done in working with other local entities is we've come together, identify these highcost drugs, and we create what's a specialty pharmacy carveout. which is we identify from the help of the broker. So we talked a lot with Nick um and their TPA or third party uh administrator. We looked at the entirety of the drug spend and with that we were able to identify essentially 10 drugs 10 prescription that drive about 65% of your cost as a district which you get comfortable saying what it was in 24 >> which was a little bit north of a million dollars.
089So for the size of employer group, you have a very very high drug spend. So what that tells us is there's a great opportunity for savings. So what we'll do is we'll work with Nick and the TPA. We'll identify individuals without the school district knowing. Very important to know so the employees know that their information is private. will work directly with those employees for them to gain savings around drugs in these prescriptions as high cost prescriptions. Um what that looks like is we are able to procure these prescriptions at a discount rate. So what we're not doing is we're not going through the traditional PBM model. So inside your insurance you have a PBM whether it could be true scripts whether it could be Northern Winds um Optum you know there's a countless number of
090them right for you to get your prescription [laughter] at the doctor you go to the doctor and then you pick it up at your Walmart or Kroger pharmacy right at that point there's usually seven or eight layers of middle management that will see some step of that prescription from point A to point Z, if you will. With this, we work directly from the hospital procuring the prescription at our rate and we share the savings back to the district. Meaning that savings goes directly to the employee. So there's no out of cost savings and the savings goes back directly to the district. So essentially you have a direct white glove pharmacy partner for your employees and that's what this contract is outlined. Um you know that's all you know fancy but the reality is we're just
091trying to reduce the bureaucratic levels. Let's say we're going to keep it positive here. Reduce the bureaucratic levels within the health system provide the best possible care best possible care. And in this case we're focusing on pharmacy. So, how does it address the cost drivers? This is just fancy for saying, you know, no, what we're going to say is nothing changes. Your employees will not feel a disruption in services, which is the single most important fact of all this. What we're doing is we're creating a slow roll out over the first year, a targeted roll out that will have the highest benefit to the district and the employees who are spending the most money on their prescriptions. So, it doesn't change your PBM, it doesn't change your primary care, it doesn't necessarily have to change
092anything except where you get your prescription filled. That's it. and we work with you directly. And when I say you, I mean the employee and the district to make sure that it's filled at the best cost possible based on how we're able to purchase the drug. Meaning, no matter how we purchase the drug, whether it's through a government entity or program or a GO or through retail, we are going to give the best lowest possible price to the district through a profit sharing mechanism that we've agreed upon. Um, why does it work? because we have shown time over time again through multiple employer groups that by discounting it a certain amount in this case over 50% of a lot of drugs um that the cost savings will be significant which I'll kind of outline here
093a little bit. So, how does it operate here? One, I kind of we kind of said we're going to work with the TPA. We're going to work with your broker and we're going to say these are the, you know, five or 10 individuals that can be qualified for this program. Once we've done that, we'll have a proactive outreach and this all belongs on Cameron. So, this is not an ownage to the HR department or to Gina or to anybody else, Mark, to say you got to go target these individuals because they don't know who they are. It's on us and the broker and the TPA to make sure that we are, you know, keeping that information confidential, reaching out to these employees, qualifying them for the program to ensure that they're eligible, and then filling
094the prescription in the best way possible. In transparency, because this is targeted, these high dollar maintenance drugs, it is almost all mail order. So, how we fill these prescriptions across several different states is through mail order. But because, and I'll touch this a little bit later, but because we are such a close entity, we did in which is not usually included in this program, we did include a uh a Z generic list, which I'll talk to on here a little bit, but that's not really intended to be part of that, and I'll kind of talk about what that looks like. So, what happens is we have a positive outreach to the employee. We qualify them. We run them through, you know, the what we call MTM appointment. So, our pharmacist has a 30 minute an
095hourong conversation. We review all the prescriptions are on the medical history. We have an indepth conversation with this person to make sure that whatever we're filling is appropriate, providing suggestions. And even if they're not part of this program, part of what the district is paying for a per employee per month is for that service. So, if you have an employee who's on prescriptions that aren't part of the program, they still have access to the pharmacist, meaning they can call the number on the card that they have and say, "Hey, I'm taking these prescriptions. What do I need to know?" So, it's a trustworthy local partner that you have to help manage some of those questions that you may be too afraid to ask. Um, eventually when when when they have qualified for the program through
096the MTM appointment, we fill deliver and then continually deliver and maintain the conversation with that indiv prescription for the males. Um, great question. What do we report back to the district? High level cost savings. So, the two numbers that or the three numbers that will matter most, how many were filling? What's the savings? And what is the out-ofpocket savings for the employee? So, with that, what looking back into 2024 because we can't look forward, right? We're not we can't look into 2025 to say who's going to be healthy, who's not going to be healthy. In 2024, I'm comfortably I think we're both comfortable in saving these and these numbers were vetted by the broker that the district could save well north of $100,000 off the pharmaceutical spend net. Um, and that's I think that's being
097fairly conservative. What's it mean for the employee? The employees of Decal Central would have saved between 40 and $50,000 out of their pockets that you would have spent on co-pays. So between the employee base and the employee base, a savings of $200,000 is not unrealistic, which can go a long [snorts] way to pay for the raises for this decal central school, which is probably the most important thing we talk about. Go to the next slide. We look at top end percentages. What are the expected outcomes? If we're saving a 20% discount off your pharmaceutical spend, it's a win. Um I would say with the level of health that we were able to derive from the data that was provide provided to us from the PBM uh I think the opportunity could be even more significant
098looking closer to that 25 to 30% because of the health group I think you know really that's kind of where we are. Do we have what kind of questions comments concerns can I get from the board or anybody in the crowd? Can you give me a scenario like [laughter] so one of our like say a patient is going to their physician does the physician call this into this location or do how does that work? How's that process? >> So great question. So the way it happens, so let's say they have a great primary care physician here in the town of Auburn and let's say I go to that primary care position and he looks at me and says, "Pete, you need this GLP1." And there and a big driver a lot of those costs are
099the GLP1s and I can say, "Hey, I'm on this. I'm on OP." And I'm not going to say whether or not what the savings are on that because it's not for me to say at this moment, but you're on OEP. I get the prescription. What I can do is two things. I'm going to go fill it the first time and in that case what'll happen is there will be a trigger at the at the third party the TPA they'll reach out to us to fill the second time. So that is what happens most commonly. Now with the proactive outreach like we plan on doing we will get that what's called first fill. So, you know, if we know these individuals who are unhealthy or we know these individuals who are on these other drugs might
100prescribe that drug, they will have a Cameron card which just will say script well Cameron preferred pharmacy partner. They'll have a number to call and a group number. If they get a script, they can call us to say, "Hey, does this drug qualify for the program?" Um, we're developing a lookup tool as well, but that probably won't be active for, you know, another six months. So what if a patient has they already have a special pharmacy that they're using like you said optim >> so how do they transfer like how would >> they do that that's what that appointment's for so we proactively outreach to transfer them from optimum >> to the script while pharmacy >> and that's what that appointment for manage their One of the one of the big benefits that we've seen
101as a small company a lot of times smaller companies insurance cost is expensive. It just is because we just don't have enough people offset the cost. Um we've gotten so much positive feedback that somebody actually called these individuals to help them with their health care issues that they came in. We didn't have to have the list because they came in and said thank you to the management team for having somebody call and help them. Then the cost savings came in and we got another thank you. So it's a for us it's been a huge PR positive within our organization that a increase in inflation is through the roof and you guys are out there trying to help us save money. I mean we've got people our program is a little bit different but it's very
102[clears throat] similar. >> Yeah. But we have people that are saving $300 a month. >> And and the way we'll roll this out will be that targeted beginning and hopefully by the end of the year as we're working with Melissa. We'll put flyers up in cafeteria in the in the teachers lounges. We'll send out communication. Um we do have a monthly newsletter that we work with with our direct partners and that'll be up to Mark and will be up to HR whether or not they want us to send those out. Um, we detail these programs very specifically to whatever the employer needs and looks for because the more they're very rarely our triple wins anymore in healthcare. But for us, we keep these dollars local. So they go to Angola, they serve, you know, Decal
103County, especially through Ashley. Um, we serve St. Joe area quite a bit with the Cameronet work platform. Um, then the cost savings goes back directly into the employees pockets that they spend locally and it goes back to the district. So it win for everybody involved and that's hard to find these days. >> So am I right in understanding that the employee at first doesn't have to do anything. You'll contact them to help them get >> the slow roll to start. Yes. And again the district, you know, as far as like the administrative side of the district, I can't reerate this enough. the district will not have the names of the individuals that that patient information is scrubbed on that end. So there especially working in a blueco collar community there is always a little bit
104of nervousness if you will because we do the we do this for I think three local factories in Steu Ben County surrounding areas that's always the biggest um once we can get past that first hurdle with four or five people then we see the true benefit to both the employees. So it is a white glove service. It a pharmacy service. Um it's handled all locally and you know the individuals here can go pick up their prescription if they want. They can have mail delivered. Um but right now we don't do a delivery service because there's no order. >> So if they pick them up, where do they go? >> The retail pharmacy. >> Okay. >> But again, we just step back. What is this program for? High c high cost maintenance brand name prescriptions. >>
105Yeah. So the the free generics that we mentioned earlier is just an added benefit for those who have access to the Cameron retail. Okay. >> So if they were already on a generic does what does that do then? uh if they are on a maintenance generic. So let's say you're on like u you have an inhaler, right? Um we alerall is on you can then have albol mail ordered to your house but again they have to evaluate the cost like usually that cost is between you know $30 and $50 depending on your insurance. So it might be best for the employee to go for the insurance instead. So it really it just we can help navigate that's the whole point of navigation. If they call us and say, "Hey, this is a free drug, but
106I just want to filter through you." >> Great. The benefit if it's on that three generic drug list because they have two because a lot of people aren't just on one script. They're on several. So, you know, like metformin is a great example. A lot of people with more on high dollar brandame drugs are also on like a metformin is a free drug on that list. They can have that attached to that brand. The other nice thing about the system is your employees don't have to use it and it doesn't change their program and it doesn't change anything with the school. >> Correct. >> This is 100% a bolt-on. What does that mean? So, and again, we can have a much larger conversation as legislation in Indiana is aggressively changing how healthcare is consumed both
107on the federal level and the state level. direct contracting like this is becoming more and more and more common and you already kind of see it how you know how we set it up with Lutheran way back in the day for like a coach Collins or how the clinic looks like or you know other deals that have happened in the past. This is kind of the same thing but except it's focused on pharmacy. So you as a consumer as an employer can work with other local entities to bring in like we're bringing mental health services. So like for several factories are bringing in on-site mental health services. So we have teleaalth for that and so they come in twice a week if they need additional services. [snorts] Great. And they can do tellahalth with our
108psych team at camera. Um because what we're finding is things like EAP are horrible. Um and not saying that they aren't valid. They're just not meeting the needs of the employers. So we know right off the bat like you know the mental health, muscoskeleletal health, hypertension issues. we can help. This helps curb the cost, but it doesn't fix the root problem. So, as you as an employer are looking to address the root problems through the data that you get from your TPA, you can go to a hospital like a camera and say, "What can you do to help me address uh the mental well-being of my employees, the the you know, we do a lot of screenings for employees, like we'll go to Tony's place, we do the screenings, we come back to HR and
109say, "Hey, you guys have a great issue with hypertension." Well, part of it is these guys are on the line drinking White and you know you know have the pouches in their mouth like that's not a great way to live life and eat lunch. How can we create education around serving those individuals to make sure they're not dying by 40? >> So you know there are so many things that you as a district can do being self-insured that can help cut off the cause of these issues and not just kind of save money on the back end treatment issues. So something to kind of be aware of and Nick does a great Nick Napier is a excellent resource for that. Is this something we need to like roll out with information to the our employees
110or is that because Pete will reach out to them. How does how does that work? >> Yeah, it would start the agreement would start March 1st and Melissa and I and Gina and others will be actively working on it. Um Pete's team obviously has, you know, volunteered and will be actively involved in contacting employees. It is a slow roll out. Um, again, I think one of the biggest things to point out to the board as you're considering this is that they did wave fees in the first year. So, I have I have no PEPM in the first year on this, but we will we will re-evaluate. And I can't stress enough that utilization is key to this program being successful. If we do not get our employees on board with this, which they have no
111reason to not be on board, so I'm hopeful that they will be, but if they do not, our worst case scenario is they'll claw back what is owed to them in that first year. that's in the contract I have no issue with. I mean, they're going to be doing a ton of work. They're going to be offering the service. It's not their fault in my mind if our employees don't take advantage of it. So, our worst case scenario is 25 to $26,000 if I'm remembering right off the top of my head. Um, that's well worth the risk in my mind for a program that I feel is invaluable to our employees. I've had a few questions on, you know, what if I get a cold? What if things like that? I need a Zpack right
112now. I don't want to run up to Angola. Um, I would say to those employees and I have said to those employees that have brought that concern to me, that's why we have a clinic that is free. You go over there, say, "I have a cold," they'll give you a free Zpack right then. >> Okay. So, I'm kind of hopeful that the utilization of this prescription drug program will feed utilization of our clinic as well. Um, because they're two great services for our employees that are just not being taken advantage of as well as they can. It it will start slow, >> but the employees are the best salespeople for this. >> Absolutely. >> Because as soon as somebody tells somebody else that they saved 300 bucks last month on their prescriptions, >> that's what
113I'm banking. >> Open up the floodgate. That's what happens. >> And at the core of this too, it is a a capitalist of heart, right? knowing that it is a it's hugely incentivizing for camera to deliver those prescriptions. We are incentivized to do so. Uh the per employee per month fee that you know uh Mark is talking about is what incentivizes the employee and that fee directly to us allows us to hire individuals that will work the Cal Central only. So essentially we charge the bare minimum um I say the bare minimum we charge some of the lowest pms across the market to achieve that effect and and real the reality is is if we find huge success we might have future discussions which we've done for other larger groups but we find huge success
114and we have you know a high level of enrollment and [clears throat] we're seeing a high level of utilization we reevaluate those. >> I have one more question. keep asking >> um how does it work if they are if they can obtain a savings card directly from the like drug or from the >> So you're talking about rebates. >> Yes. Yeah. >> So as you you and I both know those pharmacy rebates are starting to go away less and less and less and really let's say you are working with your PBM and I I we talked about that a little bit earlier. Um you a lot of PBMs will keep some of those rebates and only give you a certain amount. That's how they make money. With this it's a different model. There are no
115rebates. We are giving you the best price we as a a hospital, as a pharmacy can give to the employer. So there are no So if like let's say you get a good RX card, >> you know, if I'm I'm Pete and I have to go get my my high cost branding prescription at Walmart. I go up, I have my good RX card, that's using cash pay through this program. there will be no deductible or co-ay and I'm not paying cash pay because the employer in this case the Cal Central is paying for that script. So if I'm the employee, do I want to go pay $35 or $50 for that co-pay or a lot of cases with these high deductible plans I'm covering my first three to $5,000 um when I don't know what
116the plan structure looks like. But as more and more employers are pushing the high deductible health plans where they have to cover the first three, five, $10,000 out of pocket, this program becomes even more invaluable because a zero dollar coverage or first dollar coverage if you want to consider it that to the employee. >> I like want to quiz you on drugs. Tell me how much how much is this one? Well, we were supposed to have uh we were supposed to have a couple pharmacists here tonight. One was an administrator on call. He's up north and the other one is a young mother um with three small children at home. So, um her name is Hannah. She's the one that runs our pharmacy teams and we're going to be up here next Wednesday >> um
117working uh with HR here and the central office to kind of set up that roll out for March one. And also, we are also available like if any of you guys want to quiz us, ask us um in a more private format or online, we're happy to do that. That's exactly what we're here to do. And that's almost the entirety of my role at camp. >> And I'll add that his team, Hannah in particular, is is phenomenal. I think Gina would attest to that as well. They're all extremely knowledgeable. The third member of the team is is a licensed pharmacist. So that excuse me, both of them are. >> So that's obviously helpful to us, but they know what they're talking about. There's no question. Um, and they're here to help. I think we all
118know to cal grad that helps that doesn't hurt. Um so I I think the risk is negligible to the district with the benefit side being through the roof. >> Absolutely. The power of partnership is huge clinic even gives a bigger advantage. >> Absolutely. the utilization of the clinic district far bigger advantage >> right far as someone I help manage three of those clinics I can work with H like I know it's not our clinic and it's not something that we necessarily want to take on but that's something that we could help do like that's my entire existence within that world so that's something I can help with >> that's enough time [snorts] >> thank you >> again I'll be around after or by phone I think everyone here has my phone number anyway. >> Frightening.
119>> I know. That's scary. [laughter] >> Thanks, Pete. >> I think I >> That's all I have. >> Okay. I think I asked a lot of questions, but if employees have questions, definitely reach out. >> Absolutely. >> Did we have a motion in a second? >> We have not. >> I've not even >> We haven't had a motion. You >> just had a presentation. [laughter] All right. Well, at this time, I will ask for a motion to approve the Cameron Health prescription drug partnership. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. And thanks Pete for all the information. Uh that brings us to our miscellaneous portion of the
120evening. So I will open up to our board members if you have anything this evening. >> I have three things. I'll be fast. Taste of DMS is Thursday 6 to 8. So if you missed last year's, you missed out. So just come in just kind of check things out. I think you have refreshments. So you can kind of dine >> light >> dine light. So that's Thursday 6 to 8. Saturday is the decal choir invitational. >> So they're looking for volunteers. Uh I think it goes from like 6:00 in the morning if you're going to work. >> It's all day. Maybe 17 choirs. So if you got nothing going on Saturday, help. Um, third thing, polar plunge was supposed to be on, I thought, an optimal day on February 6th. It was like warm. Yeah,
121it was really >> It was perfect for a polar. Um, and they rescheduled it for March 13th. And >> I'm unavailable. I will be in Louisville at a schoolboard conference. So, if you'll pull up the first slide, Angie. Um, that's at my house. Uh, I got the chainsaw out because I don't ice fish. So, I decided to cut the ice and then for some reason I thought I'd set it off to the side. So, that's how thick the ice is. >> Um, >> we are today. >> Are we getting photos of >> Go to the next one. >> There's more. There's more. >> So, that's me standing by the hole. Was Barb supervising? >> No. >> So, that's me not just AIing my picture there. >> Uh, go to the third. That's me. sitting on
122the bottom. It's only about two feet deep or no, that's me standing. So, you know, going knee deep doesn't really count. So, the last one is you'll see my face is a little [laughter] different. That's me sitting in the lake. It's about deep enough. Um, [laughter] so that's uh I fulfilled my pledge to >> be in the polar plunge even though no one else will be in 12 inches of ice. So >> that might be >> Oh yeah, >> I could care less who you show. >> That could be AI. I I don't see you physically in the water one of those [laughter] first. Well, you can come out tonight and you can join me because >> actually still look out. I want to see some witnesses. So, [laughter] >> actually, we need a video.
123>> I'll need a photographer. >> Where was Barb? Why wasn't she videoing you? >> She's in Lafayette at the basketball game. >> All right. >> That's great, Tony. >> So, if you want to donate, I'm a little short of my goal of 400. So, >> yes, >> click in there and but that's me. Nice face. >> Well, that's >> I'm done. >> That's great. >> Well done, Tony. And I'm sorry we'll miss it, Carrie, but >> we'll be there in spirit, but we'll be in Louisville. [laughter] >> That'll be awesome. >> Um Valerie and I were in Indianapolis today attending the um legislative day for uh Indiana School Board Association. Um this morning the ISBA presented about um the 34 bills that they are currently tracking at the state house that affect education and >>
124short session. >> Yeah, for the short session they started with 90 bills that were affecting education, they're down to 34. And um I would say the three they kind of highlighted the most. They went over more than that, but there were three that they're kind of highlighting. Um HB uh 1004 is the they're calling it the deregulation bill. Um they're removing about 17,000 uh words out of the codes. Um the last time they did this was the last time we were there and that time they re removed 35,000 words out of the codes, unnecessary words. So that's nice of them. Um and um so that was an interesting one. Um SB78 is currently kind of being uh called the cell phone bill and we're we're busy um following that because that will affect um how
125uh schools are dealing with cell phones in their in our schools. So uh that one is going to pass in some form. So our our schools will be affected by that. Um, and SB 199 is mostly about social media and it it has more to do with parental controls and social media, but it will affect schools um and things like that. So, those were kind of the three main ones. Um, we did we were very excited. We did invite um uh Senator Tyler Johnson and uh State Representative Ben Smaltz to join us. Tyler was able to join us for lunch, which was really nice. And we talked to him about a couple of bills and um talk to him about how our opinions about some of them. Um and then we walked over to the
126state house and um Ben Smaltz was able to come out and talk with us and took us back and we also shared some opinions with him about some things that um we felt pretty strongly about. Um and both were very good listeners and um so we appreciate their time and um them being able to and willing to talk with us. So, it was it was a really good day >> and we zipped right back here and came for this. So, yes, we left at 6:00 a.m. and got back here right in time for this meeting. So, it was a good day and um yeah, thank you to uh Tyler Johnson and for Ben Waltz meeting with us and always willing to listen and work with us and help support us. So, >> yeah. So, that
127was Yeah, that was our miscellaneous. Not as exciting as yours. There was no polar plunging. We did take some pictures, but I did not make a slide. >> They weren't like yours. >> No, [laughter] >> that's safe statement. >> Tio and I got to go up to Country Meadow today and work with the uh the fourth graders and Mrs. Keith as far as their simple machine projects. So, all those kids were so proud to share their creations. Everybody had a presentation, kind of worked on um you know, some of the interaction that we had. So, that was a really you had today as well. >> I figured he'd be there. [clears throat] >> That's awesome. All right. How about administration >> just briefly? U normally Mr. Wagner is here, principal from the high school, but
128he attended a council meeting, city of Auburn, where Carol Fe was named Auburn citizen of the year. >> Carol's a special ed teacher at the high school and unified coach all across the board. So very deserving. We're proud of her and uh we're happy that Mr. Wagner could be there to support that and I think you'll probably see it >> in the paper and across social media. So just wanted to reference that. >> And I didn't have anyone else sign up to speak tonight, but if our I will open it up to our audience if anyone has anything tonight. >> Just want to thank our guests for being here with us. We appreciate your services and spending your evening with us. So, okay. At this time, I will read into the minutes that we will
129hold an executive session immediately following this meeting. Um, and I believe that's it. This time, I'll ask the board to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion, a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> thank you all.