001Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to the Decal County Central United School District Board of Education regular meeting. Today is Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. At this time, I'll ask all that are able to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Angie, could you take roll call, please? >> Present. >> Baker, >> present. >> Tony O'Neal, >> present. Thank you, Angie. At this time, we are going to begin our night with our presentations from James R. Watson Elementary. Awesome. I'm going to turn it over to the principal of Watson Elementary, Mr. Austin Harrison. Make sure that's on, Austin. I'm not sure it's
002on. Green light. Thank you, Mr. Teers, and to the board for allowing us to be here this evening. I do think the timing of this performance is very fitting uh with the board taking action last month um looking at a student activity center, a performing arts center. Um obviously having venues like that for our kids in our community, not only to gain new skills to have community events, but also to showcase their talents like they're going to do this evening. Um I would be aiss though before we get into the kiddos showing you their talents, not mentioning uh Mrs. is Caitlyn Doublestein. Um, I will tell you the one consistent thing I hear in the community. Um, a lot of positive things about things going on in the district in Watson, but it's our performances.
003Families love them, kids love them. Um, it's something people always come up to me and a lot of that would not happen without her. A lot of people don't know this. She makes the scripts from scratch. I mean, that that's really unheard of. Um, she goes through, does her due diligence, makes the script. She's also um an assistant director with her show choir at the high school. Um, so really as we're talking about these new buildings and facilities, someone like her in our community is awesome because it's really, you know, starting with our preschool, kindergarten kids all the way all the way up. She does an amazing job with that. So, I just want to want to give her that shout out. Uh, so without further ado, we do have a special narrator this evening.
004So, uh, Mr. Teters, you can take us away. >> Oh, of course. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. I got a lot of candy canes. >> More sugar. >> Take them down to Mr. O'Neal. >> Yeah. >> Ready for those guys? Do you need to take a couple of mine? >> Did they get enough? >> A little sad. >> You guys know how to keep Thanks, sir. >> Thanks, bud. >> Always me. >> Thank you. >> Oh my gosh, there's so many. >> I've learned I need to wait for my queue. Okay, thank you. On Christmas Eve, a little girl named Sam drifted off to sleep, dreaming of presents, candy canes, and sparkling snowflakes. As she slept, tiny snowflakes began to fall softly, silently, covering the world in a fluffy white blanket.
005The next morning, Sam woke up and peeked out her window. "Snow! It snowed!" she shouted with excitement. She hurried to get dressed, pulling on her warmest clothes. She grabbed her gloves and hat, rushed out the door, and whoosh, the crisp cold air brushed across her cheeks. It was perfect snowman weather. So Sam called out to her friends. >> Sam scooped up some snow and rolled a small snowball. Her friends came running from their houses, ready to help. I'm going to build a snowman and fat. I'm going to build a snowman. What do you think of that? I'm going to make him happy with his nose. I'm going to build a snowman. >> I'm going to build a snowman. He will wear a hat. I'm going to build a snowman with a star. Don't forget that.
006I'm going to live with I'm going to build a snowman and I'm going to build the stone. What do you think of that? I'm going to put a forest. You wait and see. Good job, guys. >> Together. Oh, we're not done yet. >> Together, the children pushed the snowball along the ground. It grew bigger and bigger. Soon they had a giant ball for the snowman's bottom. Next they rolled a smaller ball for the middle. And with a big heave hoe, everyone lifted it to the top. Finally, they made a small snowball for the snowman's head. Easy peasy. Now for the decorations. Sam got a carrot for the nose, coal for the eyes and smile, and her friends found two sticks for arms. They wrapped a red scarf around his neck and placed a warm wool
007hat right on top. Oh dear. >> Wardrobe malfunction. The children stepped back, admiring their creation. Sam beamed. They made the best snowman in the whole neighborhood. And as they waved goodbye and headed for home for hot chocolate, the snowman stood proudly smiling in the winter sun. That night, as moonlight shimmerred across the snow, Sam gazed out of her window at the snowman. Suddenly, his eyes twinkled. His arms wiggled. He gave Sam a little wink. It was a Christmas miracle. Inspired, she wrote this poem. One Christmas Eve, I made a snowman, very fat and jolly. I dressed him up in red and green and trimmed his hat with holly. I saw his arms were trembling and if he couldn't wait, it made me start to wonder how do snowmen celebrate. I think that while I'm snug
008in bed dreaming of Christmas treats, the merry snowmen slip away and hurry through the streets. Frostman happy But the corn fro they say he was made of snow on his began to dance around the Happy snowman. They say he was made of snow. Tra and stop on his way. Up hills. We got to go. >> That is all we have this evening from James R. Watson Elementary School. Very entertaining for sure. They did a great job last week as I know Mrs. Doublestein had performances um at Country Meadow. Um she's teacher there as well and at James R. Watson. So once again uh this time of year it's always great to have a reminder why we're all here and get to see the great things that kids are doing. So, thank you. >> Thank you.
009They were adorable. Awesome. >> I don't know if it's normal, but can we just adjourn the meeting now? Nothing gets better than that. >> Top that, guys. >> I'm not sure we're going to top that >> for sure. All right. Um, this brings us to item E. We're going to um adopt and amend the agenda. Do I have a motion from the board? Motion to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Item F is the consent agenda. This includes items F1 through F5, which includes the board minutes, financial report, claims, personnel, and field trips. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second.
010Any discussion? >> I'll wait till miscellaneous. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Item G, our donations. >> All right, we have uh several donations once again this month. Just an outpouring of support from our community. Uh Mrs. Brandt from Country Meadow um sent us a memo. Another donation from Breitmark donate from Breitmark Industry in Ashley of $2,000. The money will be used to purchase items for families in need during this Christmas season. Um food, paper products, cleaning supplies uh for families that attend have children attending Country Meadow uh elementary. So uh just appreciate that donation from Breitmark. Uh multiple donations coming from the the high school. We have a couple from Steel Dynamics, one for uh the high school winter percussion uh program and one for
011the theater program. Classic City Body and Paint uh donation of four tires and Hot Wrench Auto LLC donation in kind of tires and labor um in value of $450$425 respectively. And then um a donation of $500 to the theater program from Jonathan and Jennifer CCH. So once again, just uh a great outpouring of support from our our community for our programs. >> Thank you, Steve. Thank you to our community members and businesses. Um we appreciate your support of all of our schools and students. >> Okay, this brings us to item H, which is report of the superintendent. Item H1 is the 2026 school board meeting dates recommendation. So looking at 2026 being right around the corner and preparing for our board meetings coming up this next year. I'd ask the board for consideration um of
012looking at our scheduled board meet our scheduled regular board meetings for 2026. Typically uh our board meetings start at 6 p.m. Uh they're typically on the third Tuesday of each month. Uh work sessions will be scheduled as needed on a month-to-month basis. I believe I added the um the dates of the board meetings. Um most of them fit into that third Tuesday 6 pm and right here in the boardroom at the central administration building. Um exceptions to that would be our organization meeting and regular board meeting which is the second Tuesday January 13th and then our May 19th meeting. We we go on uh location to our middle school. That's usually our fifth grade presidential awards. Um July 31st, that is a morning meeting on a Friday to approve last minute hires before we start
013the new school year. Um the one other one that might uh land a little bit later in the month is um October 27th meeting uh due to fall break uh that takes place a little bit later. So I ask for the board's consideration to approve these meeting dates for the 2026 uh school or 2026 calendar year. >> Thank you, Steve. >> Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H2 is a NEC letter of intent recommendation. >> And I'll apologize. This this is a little uh wordy. Um but I think it's important to make sure um such a pivotal and important decision. And I just want to
014make sure that we capture everything. Uh for the record, for our people people who are viewing from home and people that will come back and and watch the recording, the Northeast Indiana Special Education Cooperative is a cooperative that DAP Central Schools have been a has been a part of for many, many years. As part of our continued work to evaluate how Decalp Central Schools delivers our high-quality special education services, we have been reviewing our long-term organizational structure, our staffing needs, uh financial considerations, and our capacity to pro to provide consistent support for students and families in our district. This would include our current membership within the Northeast Indiana Special Education Cooperative and the future needs of our district. In accordance with the procedures outlined in our joint services agreement with the co-op, I submitted a
015letter of intent on November 25th of this year notifying uh the co-op that Decal Central Schools would have the intention of withdrawing from the cooperative as of July June 30th, 2027. That's 18 months from now. Um it's a very long process um that has some safeguards within it as well that I'll I'll talk about. This letter preserves our option as a district to explore an alternative service delivery model for our students and families. The agreement also allows the the district to resend the notice at no later than June 30th of next year. So basically the district would have six months to evaluate programming to evaluate um the financial impact uh involved uh if we were to leave the co-op and basically look to provide um our own programming uh for co-op services that currently exist.
016And over that six months certainly we'll communicate with the board accordingly uh through uh our monthly updates but certainly through uh schoolboard meetings and potentially I could see a need for a potential work session to be scheduled at some point prior to June to make sure that the board has all the information that it needs before we ultimately make the decision then are we going to uh leave the co-op and go off on our own beginning the 2728 school year or will we rece send our letter and stay within the co-op. And so we hope to have all of those answers to those questions for the board to review before you before we ultimately make that decision. I do want to note that a year ago, East Noble uh did withdraw completely from the cooperative.
017And I think that's significant because if there's a school district that we look at as as almost like our twin meaning enrollment um so socioeconomic factors they are very very similar to DAB in many many ways and so they've been able to they've left the co-op and they're providing their own services. So we have been in contact with them to talk about their structure and we really hope to lean on them for information since they've gone through it. what are the things that we're not thinking of that maybe they've gone through and we can avoid maybe uh not being aware of certain aspects of of leaving the co-op. I would also note that just um last month uh Central Noble West Noble and Cherab Buscoll all three submitted their letters of intent to leave the
018co-op as well. So, the co-op is currently made up of 12 school districts. So, including Decal, that makes four this year that have submitted a letter. So, uh that's a good number of districts. So, we want to make sure that we're positioning ourselves in a in a good spot so that we're making decisions for what's best for Decal Central and not necessarily what's dependent upon whether other districts are staying in the co-op or if they're leaving the co-op. If that if that makes sense. Um, so moving forward with the board's I I would appreciate the board's um approval and support for our letter of intent to withdraw with the understanding that the action does preserve the flexibility and does not constitute a final decision to exit the cooperative. The district retains the ability to resend
019the notice by June 30th of 2026. The administration will continue to study the potential pathways, engage stakeholders, assess financial and staffing impacts, and provide regular updates to the board prior to the final recommendation. So, at this point, I would just ask for the board to um approve and support the letter of intent that I have uh submitted to the cooperative at this time. And I'll address any questions that you might have. >> I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> What What were the three schools that you said have already given their letter of intent? >> West Noble, Central Noble, and Cherabusco submitted their letters at the same time I submitted to Calbs. East Noble submitted theirs last year, so
020they are fully on their own at the start of this school year. >> And majority of all the services are at East Side, right? >> Um, we host nearly all the co-op programs in Decal Central with the exception of the emotional disabilities program at the elementary level and middle school level. We do not host. They are hosted at Butler Elementary and East Side Junior Junior Senior High. Um all the other programs, applied skills, we host we host early intervention, preschool. Um we host those programs. We would have to look at things like um psych services for testing. We'd have to look at OT and PT. We'd have to look at uh students who have blind, low vision uh disabilities or deaf heart of hearing disabilities. really looking at how we would provide a service model
021to uh capture all the students within our district and there may only be one or two students that have that disability. We have to really look at can we provide the same level of service? Can we do it in a financially reasonable manner um to take care of our kids as as we see fit within our district. So I think our people are excited about the opportunity. I think if you know any uh special needs teachers in the district and you kind of ask their opinion, I think they're excited about what what this could mean for us as a district moving forward and the type of programming that we could put in place for our students here at CalP Central if we were on our own. >> Can you clarify for some people that have
022asked me and I know they've talked to you about the unified situation? They're concerned that we're going to lose that and I've assured them >> that's not the case. So, can you >> Yes. Um, our unified program is is really one of the spotlights of Dicab Central Schools with our unified flag football program winning their second state title and the other unified programs that we have going on throughout the district that bring disa disabled students alongside uh general students, able-bodied students if you will. and we do not want to lose the unified program and we don't think that this is going to have much of an impact on unified programming. We do understand that because we host the applied skills programs from kindergarten really preschool all the way up through high school. We do have
023students that attend here from other districts from our two neighboring districts within the county. moving forward, regardless of what we do, we've always been a district that will allows out of district transfers. So, I don't see that we're going to be changing that anytime soon or ever. Um, and depending on what type of programming we set up if we leave the co-op, who's to say that some of our neighboring districts we won't enter into some agreement with that we share some services with some of our closest neighbors. So, I really don't envision that any unified programs are going to uh be hurt, >> right, >> from this decision, >> right? >> Thank you, Tony. I appreciate you bringing that up because that >> an email I received too from a concerned high school student that
024>> um brought it to our attention >> and I'm sure it's been discussed from other high school students. So, >> get that out of the way. That's important and it's important to us too to keep it and >> um yeah, I think we'll look forward to some more discussions too and just hopefully you know we better understand and um the community better understands too what our opportunities >> are going to be. Y >> and I see this as a starting point really. >> Yeah. >> And and Cal Central used to be on their own before. >> How long were we? >> It's been a while. at some point in time, but I think the co-op dates back all the way, I want to say, my goodness, 80s. >> I mean, it dates back quite some
025time. It's grown over time. Um, some might say it's gotten too big. It is the largest cooperative, special education cooperative in the state. >> Um, but it's been around for quite some time. >> Great. Any further discussion? Okay, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I >> oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H3 is the 2025 2026 ECA recommendation to suspend the gymnastics program. >> I have a recommendation from Mr. Chris Riker, our high school athletic director, and he has included Mr. Wagner on this as well. And so I'm I'm bringing this to Carrie uh to the board of this recommendation to uh suspend our gymnastics program for this school year. Uh not cancel it, but suspend it with the opportunity that we know there's there's an
026opportunity to grow it and get um more athletes involved as we move forward. At present, there's only one athlete uh that has completed all the necessary and required uh materials. um and has been at practice and but due to the lack of participation um our athletic director is suggesting that we suspend the competition portion of gymnastics this year and really focus on building numbers and skills within the program by uh hosting a series of open gyms or open maths or open gymnast I'm not sure the proper terminology to use but to allow our coaches to work really at onethird the pay to really um take their skills and their efforts especially to our middle school and use that as an opportunity to call out and get girls in interested and involved over the course of
027this year and see where that puts us for next year. So I really like the the opportunity to suspend the program and not eliminate an opportunity u that our kids have available to them and have had available to them for many many years at Dalb uh high school. I will note that gymnastics uh does appear that it has struggled in other areas. Uh mo most recently Lakeland did end up cancing their program recently. Uh we're hopeful that we we won't have to do that, but I think it's worth the effort to suspend it and really try to build up the numbers to get it back in competition form for next year. So, I would just ask the boards for consideration to suspend it this year, keep our two coaches, they'll be paid one-third of their
028coaching stipened and use that time allotted to really build the numbers back up. >> Okay. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? the the student that's been to practice, what grade are they in? >> I do not know. I do not believe they are a senior. >> So, >> I'm not sure, Tommy. >> I am I am very familiar with this program as I have had um two gymnasts um and my daughter last year was a senior um and she was one of the four seniors on the team. And so, um, when all your seniors graduate and know there weren't any other ones that were coming up, it's it's hard to see that go. Um, and I I'm sad about
029it that there isn't going to be a season this year, but um, I do appreciate us um, taking the opportunity to not discontinue it completely like some other um, schools have done, but to suspend it and build our program and keep those coaches on because obviously they still want to be here for our students. And I do think, you know, sometimes certain sports hit lols and um I'm sure um if it's like an Olympic season, usually it picks back up again. We'll have more gymnasts and um but it is a sport that's it's difficult and it's um one that takes a lot of different skills and it's something that usually girls have to train out train at year round and that's what's hard when we also are pushing our students to be multi-port and be
030able to participate in different things and um so sometimes it you know we hit walls and hopefully that's what this is and we can see it return again so >> and I know there are quite a few gymnasts at in middle school right now. Is there are the coaches working with Mr. Ellsworth and I don't know maybe doing like a call out to >> Yeah. Yeah. So they they'll coordinate with Mr. Ellsworth. Um the number seven to 10 is what I've been told. Okay. So I don't know how accurate that is, but that's certainly more than a handful of potential athletes that could really help >> build the numbers back up in the future. >> Good. I think the same thing happens with high school courses. If you offer a course that's pretty unique and
031only two kids sign up for it, I don't think we're going to allow one teacher to teach two students. >> Probably have to reassign them somewhere else or maybe help that program grow earlier on in middle school or high school. But it's it's it's tough. It's hard to lose something that has been around for quite some time. And but it's pretty common throughout the state. Kids are just not as engaged in extracurriculars like I was when I was that age 20 years ago or so. So, yeah, it's just tough. We don't like to see that, but it is what it is right now. >> Is is there any boys gymnastics anymore? >> Not in this area. I'm not familiar with any boys gymnastics programs. Marcus, are you aware of any? >> Yeah. It's not a
032sport. >> It's not a sanctioned club, >> right? >> But as far as IHS >> and that the student athlete wouldn't be able to participate on another team >> for my the student who has shown up does not have the experience. So this would be for all those response. I do believe the student that is showing up is under >> train that goes into gymnastics as well in some other sports. on a separate note being that it's public information now with the sale of the CCC. What about is any of that equipment ours? >> So the agreement at the time um of that equipment is that we move the we move the equipment over there to be used and tickets. The gate money is something that was collected by the CCC at the time. >>
033With the change in ownership, we've already had an initial conversation on the desire to maintain gymnastics at that location, which of of course would be key. The timing of suspending it a year may be perfect to allow new ownership to get to the point of what they're actually going to do with that new location. But we're optimistic that gymnastics will be a part of that future in some way. Don't quote me on that, but initial conversations have been positive and productive for gymnastics. >> Okay. >> All right. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item H4 is the acceptance of the Decal Central Foundation grant to the Decal Middle School. >> All right. A grant for your consideration.
034Decal Middle School has received a Decal Central Foundation grant of $800 for the creation of a podcasting room at DMS. The creation of the podcasting room at DMS will provide both students and staff with dynamic space to to develop communication, collaboration, and creativity, key components of our portrait of a bearing competencies. This dedicated technology-rich environment will allow students to apply content knowledge in meaningful authentic ways while producing podcasts that showcase research, writing, and critical thinking across subject areas. So, I would just ask for the board's approval of this $800 donation from the Decal Central Foundation. If you have any questions, I think Mrs. Weiseart is here and has probably helped to lead the charge for this podcasting room if I were to guess. Um, so for your board's consideration. >> Okay, I'll entertain a motion.
035I'll make a motion. >> It's okay. >> I have a motion >> motion and a second. Any discussion? >> We still call it podcast. >> We do. >> Sounds awesome. >> Do we have a special name for this podcast other than Portrait of a Baron? >> Well, it'll be the Baron podcast studio. And if you know where the lecture space is, the room at the top of the lecture has the window in it. >> So teachers can be working at the same time. >> Oh, cool. That's cool. Is this a club or is it Well, that will be open for all classes and teachers to use. We have all when we have all the equipment, we'll set it all up and then the teachers will be able to check it out and use it. But
036of course, yeah, that would be great. >> Be fun. >> Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Okay. Item H5 is the acceptance of the Donwood Foundation grant. Uh, another great donation by one of our key partners, the Don Wood Foundation, uh, and kudos to Kelsey Wartz, uh, for working, uh, close um, very close with different key partners for the robotics program. She wrote this grant, $15,000 for the robotics program. The funding will support robotics teams across the district through the purchase of essential robotics, materials, and storage equipment. We have robotic teams all the way from the elementary through the middle school and high school. So it has really caught fire really everywhere and certainly it has caught fire here at Dalb Central. A portion of the grant
037will help Dalb High School host its second VEX V5 robotics competition. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 7th, 2026 with matches beginning at 900 a.m. Uh we anticipate welcoming more than 100 student competitors along with their families for this event. So if you've not attended a robotics competition, it's it's quite um it's quite the event and I would encourage you if you have time available to do that. There are some other competitions that will take place um like the Leo uh Robotics VEXIQ Midwinter Challenge Saturday, February 21st at Cruz Plaza. That's another great one to hit as well. Um it's intense, it's stressful, and you kind of feel it right along with all the competitors who are involved. It's it's really a neat opportunity. So again, a a big thank you to the Don Wood
038Foundation. They have helped and supported us in so many different ways here at Decal Central and Kelsey Wartz who just works tirelessly to find funding sources to continue to grow the robotics program here at Dalb Central. So I'm hoping the board will accept this $15,000. >> Thank you, Steve. I'll entertain a motion to the board. >> I move to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Do we have rooms allotted in six buildings throughout the district where they can have their robotics set up? I know the middle school has a room by the guitar room. We hear them. Um, but it sounds like if it's going to be that big, they need to have a home. >> I think every building has a location that they use. Now granted,
039in some of our buildings, locations are used for multi- >> right purpose program, right? not just used for one thing. Um, really when I think about the Baron Activity Center, you think about that structure, a robotics competition could easily be hosted within that structure, right, and be a perfect location to uh offer more opportunities for our kids from a robotic competition, right, >> standpoint and a great a great money maker too for the program. >> Yeah, that would be great space. >> Okay, any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Okay. Item H6 is the Decal High School new courses. >> Annually, uh, Mr. Wagner, the high school principal, will bring for the board's consideration different course offerings for Decal High School. And Mr. Wagner does a
040great job of really paying attention and staying tuned in to uh high school redesign and all the changes that are happening at the high school level. Um so these new course offerings uh a lot of times are reflection of the changes that are happening and really staying tuned in to what students want to take uh in the high school if they have availability in their schedule. personal fitness and wellness, team sports, lifetime sports activities, industry 4.0 smart manufacturing capstone, English 11. Uh these are all um recommended for Mr. Wagner to be able to add to the course offering sheet. Uh now, just because something is offered, still takes a certain number of students to to make the course run, but certainly Mr. Wagner would like to add these to his uh course catalog for the
041upcoming school year. So for your consideration and Mr. Wagner's here to he could answer any questions you might have about any of these courses. >> Do I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Questions. this the the smart manufacturing capstone. Will the plan be that those individuals will form teams and help do capstone projects for some of the local businesses? I don't really know where that comes into that rationale behind it is the fact is that it will actually it's an elective class that will allow for us to offer a lot more dual credit earn as far as go offer We went through the process of trying to get credit. So the real push for this change is that allows the students
042to take that class. So this one this capstone is a dual credit. >> Yes. Okay. Typically caps are the manufacturing pathway but it aligns more. Our students have more opportunity to take more credits leaving us align students. that >> skill set. >> I know the state's pretty picky about the wording of your any course offerings, whether it's a just a regular offering or dual credit. They get really picky. So, I'm glad we've made the adjustments, realize what words we need to tweak a little bit and then push down to this direction so we can offer more for the students. That's great. And >> these are the 26 27 school year. So not like next semester. >> And they start signing up for courses in January. >> They do be here. That's what I thought. >>
043It does say they're encouraged to have the workbased. >> Yeah, that's why why I was asking >> that. >> I'm used to using Capstone out of Tri-State. We use them quite often. Um and that's why using that term kind of >> program selection is what needs to have all the stars to our students. >> Yeah, it's great. >> Switch gears slightly but try and stay on track. Is there opportunity for trades to to administer the same type of program? >> So I think you're going to see pathways do offer different opportunities for kids to leave impact there into a business partner on an internship basis. the state is shifting everything along those lines we get into high school work you're going to see us having to realign and having conversations of I'm using the pathway
044for example experience in the summer that will carry over carries over into the school year they need to now actually be out working with the community partner what that is the realm is so big um there also be standalone a class that involve the employment and then enrollment service. There's workbased learning hours that go into that students they'll have to be enrolled in a work class for that they may know what their goals are and then it's how do we create partnerships and put students out there I would say that our work we're already doing quite a bit of this I would say that we're farther ahead maybe others are so that's come into play. >> I know manufacturing would love if you just teach them how to read a tape measure and use a
045set of calipers. >> No comment. >> Thanks, Marcus. >> Okay, at this time we have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Item H7 is our prek tuition adjustment. >> As we look ahead to the 26 27 preschool enrollment period, um we do need to look at increasing our tuition costs by a dollar per day. Um we've stayed steady at $13 a day since 2022. So we're looking at going to $14 a day, which will be if students are with us for the entire school year for all 180 days, that'd be $180 increase for them. and they'd go from $2,340 to $2520. Um, we've tried to keep our cost low that the cost of the tuition covers, you know,
046transportation for prek, a daily snack, their lunch, school supplies. Uh, the state this year has drastically cut the on myway prek funding. Unfortunately, um, cut the number of enrollment spots from 6,000 down to about 2500 that they're covering. So, they're putting more of the burden on the parent, which then obviously passes to us, unfortunately. Um, it's an unfortunate situation. We don't like to have to increase tuition, but um we also don't want to forget that the James Foundation funds tremendously our preschool program. But, uh, in order to maintain our staff raises, etc., I do need to ask the board if we could possibly increase funding by a dollar a day for our preschool program. >> This time I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I have a
047motion in a second. Any discussion? >> What is our preschool enrollment? Do we know? >> I'm sorry. >> What is the preschool enrollment this year? >> About 132 students we have right now. >> We have capacity for 144. >> Okay. And we'll we'll be starting enrollment shortly after >> January. Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's why we kind of need to know now moving forward. >> We have six teachers on staff right now. >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. Right. And that brings us to item H8. Our dental insurance moved to a self-funded. >> Uh, thank you for the preschool. On the dental insurance, we are looking at going self-funded. Currently, we are fully insured. We pay the premium. If we needed an
048understanding of what that means, we pay an entire premium to ameritas for our dental insurance for our employees. We cover about 270 employees currently on our plan. Um, so being fully funded, we pay an entire premium. They cover everything for us. Um, I've noticed as I've looked at the last three-year periods, I included in the memo for you to see, we pay, you know, roughly on average the last three years about $282,000. Our claims have been on average about 229 $230,000. So, we're looking at, you know, 82% ratio where we could, you know, hopefully save some money if we go self-funded with this. Ammeritas will still handle the the administrative end of things, still bill us for claims, etc., but we will pay the claims ourselves as we become self-funded in this. And my hope
049is that we could hopefully, you know, save 45 $50,000. One important thing I want to point out is this is an invisible ask to our employees. This has no impact on our employee side at all. One of the reasons we decided to look into self-funding was ameritas had recommended that this coming year starting January 1 that we did increase our premiums for our employees. Switching to self-funded will allow me to not have to do that and keep our premiums the same for our employees which is roughly $24 23.66 I think for 24 pays. So um the other thing I would point out to the board is that we do have a maximum liability per employee of $1,000. So, if you do the math, $270 employees times $1,000, that's $270,000 plus the $15,000 administrative fee, we
050would still be underneath what we're paying in premiums now. So, the risk is negligible to do this. Um, I was a little surprised that we aren't already on a self-funded dental plan. It's usually the first thing that goes self-unded because of the low risk to to go self-funded. So, I would ask the board's consideration that we switch from a fully funded insurance plan with dental to self-insured. >> Okay. I'll ask the board for a motion. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Is there any carve out plan? >> There is not. >> There's not. >> Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor signifi signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Okay, that brings us to item I, which is
051our miscellaneous portion of the meeting. I'll open it up to our board members first. >> Go first. >> Sure. I know I know you have stuff, so go ahead. >> I know you have stuff. >> Okay. Um, nobody likes the school to close. I other than the students. Nobody No one wants school to close because it creates havoc for all adults. I just want to thank the people that work for the state highway, the county highway, the city street department, the people that plow the school parking lots. Uh there's independent people that plow businesses and people like me that shovel driveways for no other reason to just shovel driveways. You know, those people are up at 2 or 3 in the morning trying to figure out, do we delay? Do we close? But, you know,
052people complain because they hear the snow plows going down the city streets at 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning. I know that our office here is focusing on keeping the students safe. And the buses, as far as I know, are not four-wheel drive, and four-wheel drive doesn't mean four-wheel stop. So, you know, delaying is tough, closing is tough, but I just want to thank all the people that get out there early early in the morning. The police department's out there helping people get out of the ditches at 2 am. So, I just want to thank everybody that's out there doing that because it's not a fun job, but someone's got to do it just to keep keep the community running. So, I just want to say thank you for that. >> That's it. >>
053I love it. >> Next. >> All right. >> I would just piggyback on that really quick. Uh that's our maintenance department that does all the plowing of our school parking lots. um sidewalks. Sometimes they're in here at 2 in the morning to make sure we're ready for the start of a school day. Uh that's rough, >> but uh they do a phenomenal job. So, I would like to thank the entire maintenance team for that. >> Yeah, it's rough and especially when so many days in a row. >> Yes. And we're only in December. >> Yes, >> I know. >> I have a couple questions just to make sure I'm reading the forms right. So on the multibond PDFs that we have the the total balance at the bottom is what we have remaining. Correct. So,
054as as you go through the list >> from time, we're deducting from the total. And right now, the two bonds we have left, we have one that's has as of 121, it says we have $4.7 million available and the other one as of 125 says we have 9.7 million available. Right. >> Correct. >> Let me rephrase that. Not available. It's already been assigned. It just hasn't been spent. >> Correct. Yeah. Okay. >> All right. So, just want to make sure I was reading that right. >> Correct. >> And then are are we done with the concession stand? >> We um Matt, we we've been through the punch list. I know we have fencing to finish. I know they hit that weather. I think the punch list was done >> um completed. >> Right. And then
055will we have the discus and shot put or pole vault or whatever we're doing at the other end. They they started that >> and then we got the snow >> so if the totals stay the same which they probably won't in the bond current open bonds we have plus the go bond that going into 2026, we're going to have approximately $19 million of capital money for improvements. >> Uh well, most of it is appropriated already, but >> I know that balance will be those projects are already approved, >> correct? 19 million worth of work, correct? >> Complete. >> Okay. All right. That's it. Yeah. >> Well, some of that work is completed. We just haven't paid for it. >> Yeah. Well, some of it's completed and as soon as the punch list is done, um
056there'll be big checks going out. Yeah. So, >> correct. Beach bleacher punch list. We have about $350,000 remaining to pay Dan Clayton. So, they're coming together. It's just getting through those last final inspections. >> Good. I also did notice that those wavy softball poles were missing about three weeks ago. And then today when I pulled in, I saw these nice silver things in the ground. There were three of them. So >> they straight. >> They were very Well, I didn't go out with my uh >> level, but they looked pretty good as I slowly drove down the road. >> I saw three of them, I think. So >> Well, I only saw three. I was watching the road. >> Sort of. >> That's why we plop. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks, Tony. Katie, did
057you have anything? >> No. Okay. But our administration, >> uh, just a couple things. I think I think I mentioned doozies last week or last month, but Kelsey Kanaman, a high school teacher, was nominated. Carrie Weiseart was nominated. She won the doozy. So, congratulations uh to Carrie on that. I I also just want to reference uh Mr. Wagner uh taking a seat with the IHSA U board of directors. So, he's going to represent DALB in Northeast Indiana um in the world of athletics at the IHSA level. We're we're excited about his uh the growth opportunity there. Um and then I'm going to steal some thunder, but and we had a national championship in the middle school with our unified esports team. National champions. I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Gary,
058but just kudos. Congratulations. >> Yeah, we're so proud. So, There were 11 teams and and what was exciting about that is you think of NE right against eight other schools about the same but they were all other states right they were all over the country the only team right now and Valerie got to come and see our kids they were just beyond excited national champions so really proud of them for this first year met with Special Olympics today and they're really excited to send in their newsletter. >> Yeah, awesome. >> It was really fun to watch. And I will say they're all sixth graders, which is awesome for them to be leading the way. So, I'm sure this program is only going to grow. So, I'm excited for them. >> For some of us older
059generations, what is esports? >> So, this year's game, they have a game every year that they play this year. And so, they compete against teams all over the nation. So they were competing against New Jersey and New York and Colorado, different states. Um but yeah, they were playing Mario Kart and to watch them is amazing. They kept saying this one kid is the ringer. So I I was like, "Okay, a really good Mario Kart." Um but it was it's fun to watch. It's hard to understand, but >> it was cute. All right. Um I did not have anyone Oh, Mark, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to skip you. >> You're fine. I'm sure you have something. >> Nothing. >> No, I'm good. >> Okay. >> Um, I didn't have anyone sign up this evening from the
060audience, but if anyone would like to stand up to the podium and speak, just please uh give us your name and nobody this evening. All right. Um before we adjourn, I would like to um read in just some two of the minutes, just some more um information to the public um regarding our board vacancy process. Um this important information will um be provided to fill the current board vacancy. In accordance with the state law and board policy, the school board has established a clear and transparent timeline to ensure the vacancy is filled thoughtfully, fairly, and in the best interest of our students and community. The vacancy and application process was publicly announced on December 11th. Individuals interested in serving the remaining year of this term um must submit a letter of intent to me, Valerie
061Armstrong, the board president. Um, my email is listed on it as well. Um, v Armstrong central.net. Um, please submit that to me and your application form that is sent to you no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, this coming Friday, December 19th. Following the application deadline, the school board will meet an executive session to review all the submitted applications. After that review, the board will conduct initial interviews on all the confirmed applicants at a special public meeting and then identify a group of finalists during an executive session. The board will then interview no fewer than three finalists in a sub in a substant substantial or I'm >> sub subsequent >> sorry I need some water subsequent um special public meeting during which an official action will be taken to appoint a new board member once
062selected the individual will be appointed to fill the vacancy and will be sworn in in following the public vote Um, details regarding the special meetings, dates, and times will be communicated to the public as soon as they're finalized after our executive session this evening. All meetings and actions related to this process will be conducted in compliance with the Indiana law, board policy, and a commitment to the openness and transparency. The next scheduled Decal Central School Board meeting is January. Um, and that will also be our organizational meeting and the regular schoolboard meeting. And that is January 13th, 2026. And that will be at 6:00 p.m. here at central office. We appreciate all the interest shown by the community members who are willing to serve the remaining year of this term and the continued engagement of
063our community in this important process. So, thank you. So, and if you do have any other further questions, you can please direct them at me um and you can email me or reach out to me. So, thank you all. All right. This time I will ask the board um for a motion to adjourn our meeting. >> I'll make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. And I will um reiterate that we do have a a um executive session right after this meeting um tonight. And our next board meeting is January 13th. Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Meeting adjourned. Thank you and merry Christmas to everyone.