DCCUSD School Board Session September 25, 2025

001Okay, pay attention. >> Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to the Decal Central United School District Board of Education regular meeting. Today is Thursday, September 25th. Um, if you are all able, 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, roll call, please. >> Armstrong, >> present. >> Tony Baker, >> present. >> Tony O'Neal, >> present. Katie Easter >> present. >> I'd like to read into the minutes that Mr. Baker notified the board that he had a work obligation this evening. >> Um tonight we will get started with our presentations from Decal Middle School. >> All right. Uh with great pleasure I

002get to introduce uh Mrs. Carrie Weissart, principal at the middle school. We appreciate you bringing a lot of friends with you this evening, giving up their time at the fair. So >> Carrie, take it away. Well, I'm not going to say much, but I am going to say uh that every morning in morning meeting uh before we start our school day, we say I say we are and we say middle school. >> So, what does that mean? Who are we? That's what I brought friends along to tell you. Click snapping. >> You shouldn't have to click either way. Try the trigger your index form. There you go. >> All right. So, for our week middle school, we are a combination of four different pillars and we really focus um on these throughout our school day.

003For college and career readiness, we're looking at doing this in our morning meeting. Uh making sure that we have clear consistent communication as well as incorporating our families and ities into what we do with the school. In the classroom, we have things that prepare students for college and careers. We focus on our portrait of a variance competencies as well as the strengths of our students. In the classroom, uh students are able to prepare for their future in a variety of ways. Whether they plan to enter the workforce or continue their education, students get to practice those skills or those portion of their practice comes with the access to PBL as well as PRBL. uh learning indepth classroom discussion and peer-to-peer collaboration. Um I did attach a picture here. This was one of the projects that

004my students did in science. Uh we were focusing on a planetary unit and at the end in order to demonstrate their learning, they had to work with a group and create a board game as well as incorporate technology through the guidance department. I'm also part of the pillar with college and career ready readiness. Um we a JA junior achievement um field trip for all eighth grade students to attend to attend JA Job Spark at the Coliseum in Fort Wayne. It's been a really popular, very productive get the chance to make a visit there. What they put on there for our students is amazing and our kids love going. Um that will happen for our students eth grade uh in November. And then starting with this current school year 2526, all eighth graders are required to

005take preparing for college and careers. And that will um assist them in learning do they want a trade job? Do they want to what does it take to get to college? So John Stevenson is teaching all of our eighth graders this year. You're going to hear from one of them shortly. And lastly, um our guys department, we just completed our college vote week. We do that every year. Um focusing with ST our student success time lessons as well as some dress up days to encourage our students to start thinking about college or those careers they would like to have. I'm going to >> um I brought with us Hannah Bullard. She is currently in Mr. Stevenson's um college and career class and she's going to tell you a little about what she's been learning so

006far. Um, our decal middle school helps their students prepare for college and careers by uh providing a class that's on the subject of college and careers. This can help students learn facts about different colleges and careers uh that they weren't aware of. And in college and careers, we learn a lot about what college or career fair is or what college uh they are they're uh college and who >> us for our college our college and careers prepare well okay college and careers prepare us for our future selves and the class teaches students about college uh college days job shadowing and service learning and a lot more. Our school can help prepare help help prepare students for their future and help open up new options for things to do in in a future career. This is

007how Dow helps us prepare for college and careers. the button on the back. >> Oh, perfect. All right. So, um the next pillar that I'm just speaking about is the supportive and inclusive culture. Um obviously, this is kind of just how do we ensure that our school um is a safe space for students? Um how do we make sure that it's a culture of belongingness for each and every person that walks through our building? Um, and so really when I kind of got down to uh the heart and the soul of our climate and our culture, I really just focused on morning meeting community circles and all of that kind of blending with portrait of bearing competencies. Um, so first of all, starting with morning meeting, um, I will say that it is one of

008probably the coolest moments in the day. Um we start every single morning with every teacher, pretty much almost every staff member in general and every student in our commons. Um and it's such a cool kind of unifying moment for all of us to meet and to be on the same page. And each day of the week we have a different theme. Um we have motivational Mondays, teamwork Tuesday, wisdom Wednesday, uh Thursdays is thankful Thursday, and then we've got flashback Friday. And on those days, um, we really just take our morning meeting as an opportunity to maybe spread a positive message that's going to motivate our students and our staff throughout the day. Uh, we might have moments, uh, where we just learn strategies. How do we overcome some big emotions? Um, because we know middle

009school is hard. It's challenging. Um, and it's a moment where every single student gets that same message. Um, sometimes it's the fun things like flashback Friday where teachers are often reminded that we are old. I'm one of the younger ones, but I'm still old um on those flashback Fridays. But what's really awesome is that all of the messages that we have in morning meeting, they don't stop there. We tend to spiral back and visit those even during our SST time when we have community circles. Um, our community circle is a ritual that we are expected to when every student knows that they are expected to be a part of that. Um, and really that community circle is just a moment where we all form in a circle. We have talking points that give students a

010space for maybe their voice to be heard. Um, for a little bit of vulnerability and it's a moment where we get to learn about students things that we would have never known if we didn't have that community circle moment. Um, and what's so cool is really just seeing as they progress throughout the school year, their walls kind of falling. Um, and getting to know each other and getting to uh pose more questions and having those deeper conversations. Um, it's an awesome moment for even our students to learn about us that teachers are human beings as well. Um, and so it's just a really cool moment that brings everything together. And so a lot of our students, they'll see things um, like for example, we did um, gratitude beads. We had a morning meeting where we

011talked about uh the strategy of finding five things that you are thankful for and how that thankfulness tends to replace those negative um heavy things in our brains and it allows us to be more present in our experiences when we're thankful rather than sad, angry, um anxious and so on. Um and you can see just some great pictures. The engagement in morning meeting this year is unmatched. It's really awesome to see the students listening. Um we teachers get to spend some time telling stories in the morning. Um, laughing with our students and really even just getting to know students beyond our classrooms. Um, I think one of my favorite things is that even having new students in my room this year, I knew them. I knew them from morning meeting from last year. And so,

012it's really just a space where we get to to build a culture of just belongingness and knowing everyone and being on the same page and building healthy um hearts within our students as well. So, obviously to all of that um the meetings that we have in the morning, the culture, um the circles we have around our community circles, those are all centered around Port of the Baron, we just a really awesome competition with communication and handshakes, that first communication that you have um with someone. And so it's just really is a cool momentum within our school each and every day. All right. The next part of who we are as a middle school is meaningful and equitable instruction. And the way we've chosen to focus um on this part is through project based, inquiry based

013and problem based learning as well as our learning center practices which is what we typically do um how we teach our content in a class period. And then we have our block formula because our classes are 90 minutes. So that's going to be how we choose to break up those 90 90 minutes to most effective. And then we also have our content. And on the other side of things, we have reading. Um I chose to kind of focus on emphasizing our project based inquiring with all of you because I think as a school we've spent a lot of time on this developing these projects and these problem based units because of the results that we get from those and those are on your screen. So we have the question of why are we doing this?

014We get that question from our middle schoolers all the time. So this lends itself to answering those questions so nicely because we are you know engaging them in authentic experiences and actual world problems that they are going to encounter one day. So it's very easy for us to then answer that question of this is you know why you are doing this. This is how you will see this in the future. So it's very nicely connected. Um also it encouraes curiosity. We want them to ask questions. We want them to be um independent thinkers and to um figure out what's going on. And then that lends itself nicely to problem solving, which as you guys all know is a very essential life skill. And they also usually have to be working with other people as they

015are doing their project based or their problem based learning and that takes a lot of problem solving. So this is a very good opportunity for them to develop those skills as well. And then preparing life outside of the classroom. Eventually, they do have to leave us. So, we want them to be as prepared as possible for that. And through these authentic experiences that we're providing them, they truly are getting that. And then finally, as everybody has reiterated, embody the portion of a baron. I would confidently say that every part of our portrait of a baron is being met in all of our classrooms throughout the year as we are doing these projects and these units. So, on your screen, you can some examples from some of our humanities classes as well as one of our

016band classes of things we're doing where the students are engaging with each other either um with their projects or give each other feedback. Um and I'm very excited to introduce our student speaker um Abby Todd. She is an eighth grader, but she's also our student council president this year. And she's going to talk to you about um some experiences she's had with projects at the middle school, as well as activities she said. During my years at Duel Middle School, I've experienced so many different type of project and collaborative learning experiences that have brought so much fun to my daily education class. Um these are these kind of projects that make you kind of forget that you're actually learning things. you're enjoying them so much you kind of forget that you're supposed to actually be taking

017in this information. >> One of the classes that stood out to me the most looking back at all my years I spent at Decal was my seventh grade science class. I found the teacher, Mr. Summer, has taught me so many different ways to learn through so many different projects. Um, I found that they were all so unique and different and something I never experienced before. And one that stood out to me so much and I still think about it to this day and we still talk about it to this day. Is it a parody to a song about our body functions and I found that one so much fun because he really just like felt so silly in the moment of it. But that kind of just brought the whole class closer together cuz it

018was like our first project of that semester. So we were all singing in front of a group of strangers we never really like actually interacted with before. And it just kind of felt like one of those really fun moments where you're learning but you're bringing yourself together and building a stronger community. And I really enjoyed that. Another project more recently in my eighth grade humanities class which I really really enjoyed was we got to do uh where our colonists one of them being myself were accused of treason and attempting to overthrow King George. I thought this was a really great use of project based learning because instead of reading about things that happened like try to like these problems that happened in the colonies, we actually got to experience it. We learned how like the

019jud judicial judicial system worked and kind of how like that goes on in daily life because it's still pretty similar. We've realized we got about the constitution and the amendments and our rights and then some people got to like tap into like the job of being a lawyer like taking that as a future career path which I also thought was really cool. And these are just some projects went to Cal. I probably could think of about hundreds of more that I've really enjoyed and yeah. Did you want to sing a couple lines of that [Laughter] >> and math teacher gets the exciting ones? Assessment um encompasses a couple of areas of consistent grading practices, common assessments, and rubrics to assess outcomes um and growth. teachers have been working collaboratively to develop curriculum maps with learning

020objectives um based on our state standards and frameworks to create rubrics then to help students meet those standards through formative and assessments. The emphasis is placed on helping students to know the level at expected performance, develop learning opportunities to help students reach those levels using the projects and problems and then assess them fairly against those expectations using rubrics that have been clearly communicated with students. And of course that was some of the work that we did today in our in service and we worked on last year. So I know math department has worked extensively on these. >> Um one way I see first assessments is through our four point grading system. Um I know that whenever I receive a grade of three or four on an assignment, I'm completing the work at what I'm supposed

021to be doing or even above the grade level expectation. If my grade is lower, I know I can work with my teacher to improve in that area. And the assignment in grade book details what I'm learning. I know the skills I need to work on to improve. Like for example, only a few weeks ago, I got a 2.5 on my math test. That was not my proudest moment, but then I talked to Miss Hefty about it and I was able to retake it and I ended up getting a four on my next two tests. So, I guess it was easy. Um I'm going to talk about um the purposeful assessment includes the clash of the competencies and I think Valerie kind of spoke to that um earlier but it's experience where students demonstrate mastery of

022the portrait of the bearing competencies through creative performancebased challenges. So they specifically work on these skills during SST reiterating what she said. Um to complete a ch they'll compete in a larger challenge in May I believe. Um so each content area also incorporates different competencies within their projects and lessons to further emphasize the importance of the relevance of these skills. When we did the handshaking um competition, they actually used a rubric to determine the winner of that. So like they had different criteria meeting, you know, eye contact, firmness of the handshake, and they use that rubric to really stand by and support their decision on who the winner was. Um, I'm gonna kind of go off script and talk because I'm a parent of a middle schooler and the teacher of a middle schooler and

023um, so I never get away from middle school. Um, but I talked to Carrie today because I saw it like it made the connection. And Danielle's great for my child who's not super confident in math, right? LA, she's got it. math, she's not super confident, but Danielle focuses a lot on and the whole math department does on it's the process, not the result. And um Kinsey got to experience that at her she's very big into softball and at her softball practice. And I heard her coach tell one of the girls, you're focusing on the result and we're getting away from that. And so we see it at the middle school where we're focusing on the process and the learning and it's continuous. It's continually growing, not the end result. So, um, she did talk to

024you about her 2.5 to her four, though, but she did not tell you in her next test she got a four. >> I said my next. >> So, she is growing and that to me, it all kind of connects to as a parent what I want her to focus on. And I think we're doing that in the school as well as carrying over into her extracurricular things as well. So, I didn't neglect I'm be quick, we'll finish up, but I didn't neglect to introduce because this is my PLC leadership team. They're the grade level leaders as well as their department level leaders and they took a fair night to come out here and to talk about what we're doing. I couldn't be prouder of who we are at Dal Middle School and what these leaders

025and these students are doing. Um, they are making a huge difference and I just Put a plug in. Next week we're going to be going out into the community on Wednesday. We are combining with United Way. All 772 of our students will be going into Ashley, Corona, Waterlue, Jackson Township, and Auburn to spread positive messages with chalk. And so you're going to see who we are at Dal Middle School when we spread the messages um of how thankful we are to Rock our community. So between 9:30 and 10:30 I I'll warn you the middle school. So thank you very much [Applause] to Cal Middle School team and student. Appreciate you guys being here tonight. >> You don't have to leave. >> You do. You need to get to the fair. >> Have fun at the

026fair. >> Yeah, it's fair week. smart. >> Okay, that brings us to item E. Um, adopt and amend the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> I'll move to approve. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Okay. Next item is item F. That is the consent agenda that includes board minutes, financial report, claims, personnel, and field trips. I'll entertain a motion to the board. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Yeah. A couple questions on the financial the cross fund report, Mark. >> Yep. >> Um Steve, I I saw this month only had less than $60,000 worth of debits. Also, I did not see a cross

027refund cross fund report for last month. Um so, I couldn't compare it to that to see that one. The one before that was 300 and the one before that was 400,000. So I'm kind of curious as to why that's a that's a huge drop off. >> Are you talking on a particular fund? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, good point. That would be helpful. Um the health fund. >> Health insurance fund. >> And and what was the question? >> Uh this month the debits were or for last month actually debits were only $60,000 for the entire month. >> Right. >> Money taken in. >> I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Money taken in. You mean that? >> And why is that so low compared to previous months? And then there's also not one a cross fun report from

028last month. I just noticed I looked try to compare it this morning and >> I want to check that first because I would have thought there would have been one. >> Yeah. Go ahead. While I'm looking for the other one. Last month we had three months on the 31st health insurance fund that we collected throughout the month that post. >> Okay. So we just had one payroll post for only 60,000 for that month. posted health insurance by retirees insurance that we had over 300,000 that was posted. >> Okay, that's what I needed. Also, can we get the craft fun report from >> Yeah, I will. I do not see, so I apologize. I don't know why that wasn't in the August. Um and then just you know kind of to key off of the the

029stifle that you know Luke I think he's here today. I thought he did an excellent presentation. Um obviously there's some concerns with um funding and I think you know this is going to drive the state to have the board and the administration work closely together on line by line budget items. So I think we need to start focusing more on these meetings as far as budgeting and how we're performing to budget on a line by line basis. I mean, right now we're looking at two this year we got 225 slated for impact teachers and that was just added last October at 50 grand. So again, these are things that we need to understand why we're not applying any any monies to and and looking at the budget and on a line by line basis basis.

030So I would challenge everybody to start looking thinking that regard because we're going to have to tighten belt loops if if we're going to if what he says comes true. I don't know what we looked at stifle last year. So, um, that's going to get tight. So, that's just my thoughts on that. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Motion passes. Okay, that brings us to item G, donations. >> Uh, we have several donations and I think there's information from the various individuals who carried those forward to the board. Uh, just Some shout outs here to um um Calp Central Elementary Schools were offered just a 81 play couches with a estimated value of six over $16,000. And so these

031um couches are used in each of the four elementary classrooms. Teachers use them in their classrooms um and they use them for student reading and places for students to go. uh the students benefit uh provides them a comfortable versatile seating options enhancing the classroom engagement and support uh collaborative learn learning opportunities. So, we're just uh very very appreciative for the generosity from a local donor and business uh FXI for making uh this donation and uh just uh once again appreciative of of a community partner stepping up and and making such a a worthwhile donation that truly will get used every day in these elementary classrooms. Um I think there's even a picture of it there in the memo that you can take a look at as well. Uh Mrs. Brandt from Country Meadow, our principal

032there, uh accepted a donation from the Dec County Farm Bureau, uh to help fund two field trips at Country Meadow, one for kindergarten trip to the Roberts Farm and a second grade trip to Orchard Hill u the combined contribution, $435. So once again, appreciate the contribution from Dalp County Farm Bureau. Um Mr. Wagner had several different donations uh various amounts uh coming from uh Noble RMC for the FFA, Stacy Daly, um trying to uh collect enough money for marching band lights for their new practice area. That was a $10,000 donation from Stacy. Certainly appreciate that. Marshia Schaefer, uh donation of over $6,000 to our FFA program. again, just amazing. Uh, the Elks, uh, number 1978 to Family and Career at the high school, $250. Steel Dynamics to athletic department at the high school, $1,000. Amy

033Bailey, uh, to the boys soccer program, $100. And Carbal Jewelers, $99 to the theater department. So, uh, once again appreciative of those community partners and, uh, helping our programs across the district and those specifically at the high school. Uh Mrs. Brandt from Country Medal. Once again, she's very seems like she's picking up several donations here. Nicely done. Uh Spellb donations. This one coming um uh from custom bottling and packaging and Newcore Building Systems totaling $450 for the Country Meadow Spellb. So, we appreciate um all the donations from our community partners, whether they're businesses, parents, grandparents, friends of the district, friends of different schools and grade levels and children. And so, we couldn't do it without the uh tremendous support of our community partners. So, just great donations. Great to see that. >> Great. Yes. Thank

034you to all of our community support. >> Thanks, Steve. Mhm. >> Um that brings us back to you for the report of the superintendent. Item H1, the recommendation for resolution in support of military families. >> Yes. This recommendation uh is coming to us from Mrs. Rice, the uh principal at Waterlue Elementary. The Indiana Department of Education recognizes schools that have displayed a significant commitment to service members, veterans, and students and families connected to our nation's military as Purple Star Schools. This designation is valid for a three-year period of time. With your support, Waterlue Elementary would like to reapply uh for this designation as a purple star school. There are seven requirements to apply to to become a purple star school and you can see those there. Uh Mrs. Rice will be the point of contact

035and has completed the necessary online training. A web page has been added to the Waterlue Elementary website after our first distinction there three years ago. Waterlue hosts two military celebrations each year. Veterans Day at 911. A public military display is located in the main hallway and Waterlue Elementary and Decal Central Schools uh is honored to currently employ two veterans at Waterlue Elementary, Tammy McDonald and Chris Raptor. We also have at least one family who has someone deployed and serving overseas currently. The free training that is provided is very enlightening and will become a part of the yearly training at Waterlue. So, we are very pleased to be purs pursuing this. I commend Mrs. Rice for leading the charge on this initiative. Once again uh to in this designation so that we can honor those that

036serve and better serve our families. So, if I would ask the board's uh approval of this recommend recommendation for Waterlue Elementary to become a dis a distinguished school once again for the purple purple star school. >> Thank you. Um at this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. I will move to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Thank you. Item H2, acceptance of the 2025 2026 IDHS secured school safety grant. >> So, our district safety uh director, Mr. Harrison and also principal at Watson Elementary brings for the consideration the acceptance of the secured school safety grant through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. This is an annual event. Uh the grant amount awarded

037this year is $92,500 with an additional $92,500 coming from the district's operations fund as this is a 50% matching grant for the total of $185,000. I believe that's the most that we've received um for this grant um I believe. So, congratulations to Mr. Harrison um in getting our funds uh almost up to the maximum level you can receive, which is $100,000. So, these funds will be used to help offset the cost of our district's uh three school resource officers program from September 1st, 2025 to August 31st, 2026. and will cover salary expenses for the three SRO's that are within our district. So, with the board's approval, that would be great. >> At this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. >> I'll make a motion. I'll second. >> We have a motion in a

038second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Item H3, acceptance of the updated school resource officer. >> And with with your approval of accepting those secured safety dollars, um Mr. Harrison also brings for your consideration um the updatedou between Dicob County Central Schools and our two local first responder agencies, the Dicob County Sheriff's Office and the Auburn Police Department. Theou outlines the continuation of the district school resource officer program which includes three full-time SRO's assigned to our schools. Just as a reminder and a review, uh the district will remain responsible for the items uh listed in the exhibit A that was provided. Uh the total cost u between September 1st of this year and August 31st of next year for the Cal County Sheriff's Office is $136,944.

039Keeping in mind that's two SRO's. One of our SR one of our SRO's that goes between Watson and McKenna from the Auburn Police Department uh in the amount of $76,000. Uh those totals primarily reflect SRO salaries. Importantly, there is no increase to the cost to the district compared to prior year. In addition, we have applied for the secured safety grant which you uh graciously approved for us here tonight. Each agency will remain responsible for for providing fringe benefits for their respected officers. So, I'd ask for the board's approval of this multi- agency uhou with the Cal County Sheriff's Office and Auburn Police Department with the Cal Central Schools. >> Thanks, Steve. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. >> I'll move to approve. >> I'll second. >> Have a motion and a

040second. Any discussion? I think these guys do a heck of a job and I think after current events, I think a lot of people are very happy that they're there and uh every one of them is personable. So, thank you for your service and and thanks for keeping our kids safe. >> I second that. I'm very thankful that we have had this relationship um with both, you know, county and city um officers and they really um do a wonderful job with their presence and many events and activities and the relationships they build with our students. So, I appreciate that. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Okay. Item H4, recommendation for the reo reappointment of Echart Library Board of Trustees. >> All right. I did

041receive a letter from Valerie Simmons and she is the executive director of the Echart Public Library and she has an appointment that she has sent a letter of recommendation uh to our school board to consider for a reappoint of Connie Fullerton. And I will just quote uh she writes today to offer her strongest recommendation for the reappoint of Connie Fullerton to the Echer Public Library Board of Trustees for another term. Her current term ends January 31st of 2026. Mrs. Fullerton has been a dedicated and insightful board member since February 15 of 2022 as the executive director since January 24. Uh I have worked closely with her and am consistently impressed by her unwavering commitment to the library's mission and community. She offers some other words of support for uh Miss Fullerton. I bring this letter

042of recommendation for the board to consider for this appointment to the Echart Public Library. >> Thank you. At this time, I'll ask the mo the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Item H5, acceptance of the Baron Friends Thrivant grant. I think we've brought this to you before. We we always appreciate Mrs. Laura Atkinson, one of our applied skills teachers at the high school, applying for this. Thrivven is a financial assistance um firm that we have some local contacts with here. And she wrote a grant for $250 and was awarded that grant by Thrivant. um she'll use that um she'll use

043that to help offset some of the the little expenses that come across uh her classroom every other day, snacks and supplies and things like that. And they just have always been a great contributor to our school and thanks to Laura for writing that grant each year. >> Thank you, Lori. This time I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll make a motion. I'll second. I >> have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Item H6, the acceptance of the 2025 2026 K through 12 robotics competition grant award. >> Yeah, we got this. We got notification of this um shortly after our last meeting. But I'm very pleased to inform you that we received uh another grant for robotics uh from the

044IDOE, the the state uh department of education. The grant is going to help support the expansion of our existing program and provide our students with increased opportunities for robotics competitions. The total amount of the grant is $25,921.95. And again, we'll be using that to purchase equipment and uh kits, building kits, and then also competition entry fees because those are not free. So, I'd like to commend Mrs. Kelsey worse for words for writing this grant. It's getting a little trickier now to get money from the state for robotics because more people are on board and a lot of the grants that they're sending out are for folks who are just getting started and we're usually the head of the game on these types of things. So, so the ones for those of us who are well

045into it are kind of few and far between now. So, I'm really glad we got the opportunity to apply and and we received it. Thank you, Lori. At this time, I'll ask the motion or ask the board for a motion. Sorry, I'm like tongue tied tonight. I don't know why. >> I'll move to approve. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I do know like people were a little nervous about that. So, I appreciate that we were able to get that. So, hopefully we look for options in the future too if that becomes an issue. So, you know, this is important for our students. >> It is and it's growing. Mhm. >> And thanks for all the efforts on the grant writing. That's a pain. I know. >> Yeah. Elseie

046does a >> special talent. I know. >> She's She does a good job. >> Robotics is tricky, too, because what people don't understand is the game changes every year. So, you still have to buy all the new things to stay current. >> Just because you have the game and the equipment from the year before doesn't mean you have what you need. So, >> we're hoping to do another competition here at Decal. if you get a chance, I'll let you know when that is because it really is an interesting day to be sure. Really cool. >> Yeah, for sure. Let us know when that is. >> Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. Item H7, the acceptance of the 2025 2026 DHS IvyTech dual creditou. And

047this is an annual request and requirement that we enter into every year anou with IvyTech Community College for dual credit opportunities for our qualifying high school students. These courses reflect all due credit courses and Indiana college core courses now that students have enrolled in and I believe in your package you received a list of those with theou. Um, again, this thisou allows our students to simultaneously enroll at Decalp High School and also receive those college credits and it's uh academically and financially very beneficial to our students and we've appreciated that relationship. >> At this time, I'll ask the board for a motion. >> I'll move to approve. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Um, round you did the presentation last month that showed >> a million dollars round

048up. >> Yep. >> Brag about it. That's a lot of money. So, uh, that's one thing that this district has done well for the last two decades at least that I'm aware of. So, >> shout that to the rooftops. You saved a million people a million dollars in tuitions based on average. That's a great thing. >> Okay. Thank you all. Okay, we passed that one, right? Lost my dream father. >> We get to vote. >> Yes. >> Ready to vote. >> We had a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Until you've been in that chair, you don't realize how easy it is to forget where you're at. So, I appreciate that discussion. Sometimes you get thrown off. >> All right. Okay. At this

049time, I need to entertain a motion to suspend our regular board meeting so that we can open our 2026 budget hearing. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. We are now opening our public hearing for the 2026 budget. I will hand this over to Mark. I >> I'll just start by saying this is the public hearing. I will go over um briefly as Angie pulls up report for the public and and for the board. Just a brief synopsis of the budget. We will do the exact same thing in October, the public will have a chance tonight to look at the budget and then they can ask questions tonight obviously or have comments on the budget. That's what the first public hearing is for. Then come October,

050I will basically do either the same thing or from public comment, board comment. We can make adjustments if need be to the budget. But October will be when you guys will adopt the budget. Okay. So, first slide I've got one. So, just basic assumptions as we start with the budget. Um the state did give us a 2% revenue increase to our education fund. They allowed us a 4% growth quotient through um for our revenue to increase our operations fund. We will take advantage of both of those. Our ADM levels based on our history and our demographic study which will be on the next slide. Just to give you a visual, little history um of our budgets and the school district as a whole. You can kind of see the the pattern over the last three

051or four years hasn't been the greatest. 2026 is an estimate by me at this point um at the 3245 for 2026. If you notice the big increase in 2022, that is when the state changed kindergarten to full-time instead of halftime. So that's why you see such a shoot up there in in the ADM in 2022. the demographic study that was done before my time. Steve helped me what year that was that >> it was updated in 2021. >> 2021 they did the demographic study. As you can see in that study, you know, they they space it out over 10 years. So just from this, if you look at 2022, they had their estimate in 2022 at 3416 and we were sitting at 3460. And I won't read each one of those to you, but each

052one of their projections thus far has been lower than where our ADM is. So, I try to take any win I can get. Obviously, I don't like CADM trending down, but at least it's trending down at a lower percentage than what the demographic study said it was going to. Just to show you the history of our property tax rates, um, all approved by the DGF as we've gone through the years. This takes us through 2025. I'll show you obviously where I think our projections are going to be in 2026 later, but you can see this district as a whole. I I started 2023, I believe. Didn't have much to do with that rate, but we have been trying to trend the rate down, trying to to be very mindful of taxpayers and what we need

053to use moneywise as a district and our operations and our debt service funds. So, that has trended down for us over time. We're currently at 7769. Looking at it as a graph on the next one, just to help visualize how it's trended down just a smidge over the years. The orange represents operations. The blue represents debt service and what we spend in a graphical form. Here's our levy. Remember that's revenue as we bring in for from property taxes. So this is for operations and debt service. Again, as you look at the levy and the amount of money we brought in from 2019 to 2025, uh you can see basically what we've generated from property tax as it's as it's gone up. We have benefited from a net assessed value increasing over the years. You saw

054on the last previous slide, we've decreased our rate, right, in our property taxes, and yet our revenue has increased. That's due to the to the net assessed value of the properties in our county. So, here is the net assessed value over the years. Uh we do have our net assessed value for 2026. I will share that um we are still kind of I believe we're set with Stuben County but they had a little bit of a snafu with a company called Breitmark um which is obviously the biggest taxpayer in our section of Stuben County. Um they're in some legal battles right now with with Stu Ben County and we are obviously the biggest beneficiary of the tax revenue in that section. It is a little concerning, but in talking with the assessors and the auditor

055in Stuben County, I think it's going to work out. I think we are pretty well set with where we are with our NAV. You can see from 25 to 26 just graphically looking. You can see how it's kind of sloped down. We had a nice curve up when those assessed values are going up. You're seeing it start to level out. You see we went from, you know, 1.8 billion to 1.9 in in the previous year. That's, you know, the immediate residual effect of SEA1 and the state legislation. We're starting to see it now. I won't be surprised at all if 27 27 rolls around and the NAV might actually drop down a little bit if you know property values don't increase more. >> Quick question if I'm reading this right from 2020 to 2026 that

056assessed value went up for lack of 50%. >> Correct. Well, it's not 50% but >> rough. Yeah. I mean roughly I mean >> close 700,000 >> and again that's attributed to you know hot property values we >> we don't control the assessed value side of it for the revenue that we um generate but just property values exploded over the last several years. >> Yeah, I think everybody can see that from >> any homeowner knows it. >> Right. just a brief, you know, just a glimpse at our facilities and what we have as a district. Uh the buildings we operate, seven, excuse me, six physical school buildings along with now our virtual academy this year that's not a physical location. We have four four support facilities. You can see um our enrollments. Those are as of

057a couple weeks ago. So that's fluctuated a little bit, I'm sure, but that is our enrollments currently. Snapshot. Go ahead. just to show you actual spends. I'm just going to show you through 2024. Excuse me. Um I like a graph like this that can show you I've I've mentioned this in work sessions and previous board meetings when the state makes adjustments to our revenue. Um you can see by this graph the first two columns represent our salaries and benefits paid out of the education fund. Um, it gets very difficult if we see state funding cut to look many places other than staffing to make adjustments. It's not something we like. It's not something we want to do and it's something we're hopeful we're not going to have to do. But I think this graphical representation

058can show everybody. Um, when things like that happen with our revenue coming in, we don't we don't have a lot of places to look to cut the budget. It's when, you know, when you hear the state tell you, you know, tighten the belt, you know, you got to do more with less. Well, they're telling you you need less people because I can't make many cuts from any of the other things. Next slide. We see the same thing in the operations fund. Little different. Um, but this the two biggies are still your salaries and benefits in both funds. You're paying your people the most. You would expect that. And I just kind of I thought this was a good graph for the public and for the board to see. >> You got a quick question. 23

059to I know it's on both slides from 23 to 24. Is that maybe an extra payroll period in there? >> Uh, and which one? I'm sorry. >> Uh, just from the salaries from 23 to 24 almost looks like there's 24 had one less pay period in it. >> Well, it wouldn't Well, I don't know if that what year was it? >> It looks like a huge I mean >> recall getting rid of anybody last year. So, >> um, >> I'm not sure. >> Sorry, it just jumps out with the graph noticeable. So, I don't it could be just timing of the period. So, I don't know. I just I can check that but I'm not sure but because we didn't obviously hire high-end salaries mid year or anything. So >> really the dollar amounts not

060that much. Maybe the graph just kind of makes >> Yeah, the graph is you know you see from three to three and a half million. So it it can be a little deceiving sometimes when you're only talking like from where it's going up three 3.5 to four. >> So that's 300,000. So that almost like a pay per. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. >> Yep. No, you're fine. Next slide. So, now we're into the actual 2026 advertised budget. This is what's posted to Gateway. This is what's posted on our website for the public to see. Um, you can Yeah, if you can go up just a little more so you can see the notes as well, Angie. I appreciate it. Thank you. So, here is where we're seeing our funds and where we're going

061to be. We're keeping our rainy day. It's still a million dollars. Um, debt service, our budget estimate is around, you know, 7.6. I guess I don't need to read them to you. You can see what our current levy is. That's for the the 2025 year. So in the last column there where we have the lever levy percentage difference if you remember in years past when you advertise your budget with the state you always want to guesstimate high in your advertised budget because if something happens at the state level you know our ADM explodes whatever it may be or the state changes the formula all of a sudden on us before we adopt a budget. If I put this number too low and we receive more money we're not eligible for that money. This number can

062go down but it can't go up. I can't from advertised to adopted increase these numbers. So, I'm always going to put the number high. I put on the notes below for the public and for the board. Um, I'm pretty tuned in with debt service levy. I think we're going to be right at that 6.126. We'll hear from Luke in a few minutes on this as well. Um, but I think that's where we're going to be. So, you can see that's not going to be nearly the difference. 6.1 from 5.89 is not nearly the leap as 7.8 or 7.6, excuse me. Education fund is not affected by property taxes. Keep in mind that's all state support. Operations fund. Um we're looking at a maximum levy around 9.1. I think that's going to be closer to 8.979.

063So if you if you look at the budget and what we're budgeting at 10.5 and you see the maximum levy coming into us is 9.1 that could that could raise questions. Well, as we've talked over the last several years, we have a healthy cash balance. The budget can be based on cash balance plus levy if that's what we're going to spend. Okay, next slide. We're just going to keep looking at this. I just want to show that. This is just basically to show you, you know, the history of advertise to actual budgets and the last column is where we're advertising our 2026. Typically, you come right in where you're going to advertise or below. Never going to be higher. Okay, that's basically the same information. So here is the breakdown just to show you in

064a pie chart there pie whatever pie chart that you say >> pie chart >> yeah it's 3D even >> it's a donut to >> a lot of time to figure that out >> you can see the the major portion of our budget is in the education fund should make sense right our teachers our paras um high school principles assistant principles and all all those folks all the instructional materials that's the education fund operations at about 22.28 28, debt service at 16, and our rainy day at about 2%. So, now we're going to look um at the budget from the program level. So, you have your funds for the that state assigns to us. And I was going to say, don't let Gina get away from me on this part in case I screw up. She'll

065be the first to tell me, believe me. So, you have your funds and then you go to program level. This is in my opinion um to Greg's point earlier, this is where if I'm a board member, this is where I look. I don't I wouldn't dive down into, you know, how many paper clips are you buying at the high school. I would want to know where you're breaking down your budget by these different program groups. 11,000s, that's our regular program. That's why that number is so high. That's the major percentage of the budget because that is your education fund. Everything we do educationally, K12, PK-12, excuse me, goes in the 1100s. 1200s are special programs, high ability, um, special education, things like that. 1400s, summer school, so you can see those are barely non-existent. I'm

066just trying to include where they even make a blip on the on the graph. Uh, remediations in the 16,000s. any of our educational services like our impact and our co-op is in the 1700s and so on and so forth. So you can see the supports. Okay, so this is at the program level and this is these are budgeted amount. Those aren't actual actual spends operations. This is the first graph where you don't see the big numbers right on the left side. So you may think something's different, but as you look and see what 2600s are, where it's the highest, that's our operations and maintenance. So that's most of our employees that are paid from the operations fund fall in the 2600s. Okay? And that has the maintenance of all of our buildings, all of our

067facilities, grounds, etc., etc. are paid out of 2600. So that is the bulk of that budget in operations. Okay. But again, those are budget numbers. So now you can scroll. This is a repeat, but you can see the new rate for 2026 and what I'm projecting and where we're going to fall. And if everybody remembers, last year we went through a lot of different things and I explained I can promise you this year the rate is is going to go up with state legislation. Um I'm proud of the fact that we were only going to increase it. 0142. I would like to show the public especially to give you an example. Um the net assessed value average for our portion of Decal County is about $175,000. That's the average. Okay? I realize people are going

068to fall below that. They're going to fall above that, but I'm just trying to use the average to give an example. So if you use our overall tax rate from 2025, which was 7769, you're going to generate for that homeowner a tax liability of 135958 for the year. with our new rate for 2026 with that net assessed value at 175 and our new tax rate at 7911. You can see what that is. The biggest number to understand is that difference. So, you're going to you're going to see an increase in your taxes at $175,000 NAV, but it's going to be negligible. It's going to be $25 for the school portion of your property taxes. I don't control the the county tax or anything else, just the school tax. So, we are going up a smidge,

069but I consider that negligible. Um, with sea1 things coming down the pike for us just to maintain, and I'm sure Luke will hit upon it, or he did last week, and he I'm sure he will touch upon it again with them trying to save property taxes for the owners. The only option we have is to increase our rate to maintain our current levy. Just our current levy, okay? Which is what I'm trying to do. We we took it up 4%. But I wanted to show you the property tax implication because I know that's the biggest trigger point for for home owners and rightfully so. So capital projects plan, we have to include rough drafts of what we're going to do over the year for the state and present this. Um these are actual projects that

070we're looking at. And again, these these are very rough. We we don't know exactly what we're going to do. This isn't saying we're going to do these. This is not saying we're not going to do them. You have to provide something to the state of what you think you might do anything over that 10,000 threshold. The next slide is the acquisition. So now we're purchasing equipment, things like that. You have to show that for three years. I take the philosophy as I've talked to others um just trying to get advice. These are the areas that you're typically going to increase, you know, or need to purchase things each and every year. you know, in your technology, in your custodials, in your cafeterias, uh, you know, grounds, you didn't have any this year. Vehicles, just all

071of those things you may have. Same concept. It does not tie us to, you know, it's not saying we're 100% doing this. It's not saying we're not doing this. That's not to say that we couldn't do something that isn't on this list. They just like to get a broad idea of what you're going to do anything over $10,000. Last one is the bus replacement fund plan. Excuse me. This needs to fall out five years. This is still blank. I will tell the board that we do end our lease in 2027. I could have put things on this sheet this year. I am not doing that because as I talked to my cohorts and we'd look at what's happening in the state, remember that all is going to come out of operations um or debt service

072for the property tax side. Many schools are shifting their train of thought with school buses. And the train of thought is, hey, we're going to keep our buses for longer than 12 years. Now, that was what people have done in the past. You hit that 12-ear threshold, the state, the only requirement of the state is they have two inspections done on those buses a year. The other downside of not purchasing new buses would be, you know, they're all going to fall out of warranty. So, we may have some costs there. I still believe we will purchase buses more than likely in this 5year span. I'm just not 100% sure. So, I didn't want to put it on there. um that seems to be the trend um from my cohorts. But again, it's a five-year plan.

073So next year, I know I'm not buying anything next year, this year, or the following year. So next year in the five-year plan, I could still throw something on 2030 for the board to see. So we know I'm still planning on bus. I'm still budgeting that way. I'm knowing that we're going to have to do something with school buses. We're not going to let them get to be 50 years old. And I don't want to wait 20 years to buy anything and then have to do a massive purchase of buses. I want to tar it. So, you know, maybe we're going to replace five buses every year for a few years. More than likely, next year you guys will see something on that bus replacement plan. I think that's the last slide if I remember

074right. >> So, that's all I have. So, Valerie, if you >> Great. Thank you, Mark. At this time, I would like to invite anyone in the audience that has any comments to speak. Um, reminder, if you'd like to speak, just state your name and address. >> Speak. >> They may have to come up to them. >> Yeah, come up here. about the budget. >> About this hearing only about this hearing? >> Oh, just about this hearing. I do have your request for later though. >> Yeah, this is just the budget. This isn't the public. Sorry. >> Okay. If no one would like to speak at this time, I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing and resume our regular board meeting. >> I make a motion to close it. >> I'll second. >> Okay.

075I have a motion and a second. Um, we are now moving on. >> Yeah. I I would just point out one last time, just remember this is the public hearing. We'll do the exact same thing in October. If the public watches this tape delayed, whatever on YouTube, you have questions, you can contact me at my office. I'll be happy to answer anything if you have concerns. If the board has concerns, we have from this day until October 28th for me to adjust things. I'm assuming the board isn't going to come to me and ask me to raise anything because we can't do that anyways. Um, but if there's any concerns from anybody, board, public, my door is always open. >> Thank you, Mark. It looks like a lot of work. >> I think I want

076to speak at this point. I would add some confusion with your budget. >> Well, she's closed it, but we can >> I understand you just closed it, but I personally >> No, you're fine. If you want to reopen it, you can, I guess. I I don't know the protocol on that, but >> or we can wait until the end. You can speak in miscellaneous. Okay. All right. Well, at this time, I'll ask the board to reopen. I'll make a motion to reopen the hearing. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Um, the meeting is now reopen. You can take the podium. >> It's all right. No, you're fine. >> Okay. >> Public speaking is awful. >> Um, you you'll need to state your name and your address. >> I don't want to do that, sir. My name

077is Matt Johnson. I live at 802 East Fifth Street. I've lived at that house since uh 1974, I believe. my parents there. So, I've been a part of this community a very long time. Something on the budget that caught my eye. You had $18 million prescribed for a student activity center. I came here tonight because I've fallen behind in property taxes and to pay them. I thought, well, maybe it's time to go see who my what my community is and what I'm really paying my taxes for. And I'm a father of all people. That's that's my number one job. I still have my my fifth child still in school. He's he's going to be here for another year. He's a great student. I got lucky. I was probably the worst student the child's ever had.

078Greg can attest to that. Um attitude wise, my son is nothing like me. Um $18 million for the student activity center. And I was glad to tonight because my concern is in the last four weeks. Um, there's been violence at a at a level that I'm not used to seeing in the civilian side. I'm I'm a military man. I don't know what it was. Four or five weeks ago, New Haven had a problem with their football field. Are you guys aware of that? >> And they've taken corrective action. Two weeks ago, unfortunately, Snyder High School doesn't have a field right now. I don't know the logistics of Snider, but we were sent to Kger Park and because of seating, I didn't even sit on the sidelines. I sat behind the one of the bowls and

079something was going on and I've addressed that with Snider and I believe they're handling it. Subsequently, something else happened where one of the boys on the Snider team threatened one of our boys with a gun and prompted he was going to do it after the game in the parking lot. A group of Snyder boys came to our bus. A few of us parents witnessed it. And then we have last night and I would I I'm glad that you're bringing on more resource officers, but as a military person, that's not enough. We need a we need a big presence at all of our events of police officers. Columbia City's doing it. Um times are different. Um children are different from my perspective. Some of them are very angry and we're seeing that every day we wake

080up. And I would hope this community would put our children's safety first above all things. all things because this is happening so fast. Everyone, last night's violence woke me up, kept me up. And I I know you're all good people. I'm not here to tear anybody down, but I would like to see more dedication toward the safety of our students. Hands down. This should be one of the most secure campuses in the county, in the state. One resource officer is good, but one's not enough. We need more. I would rather see just more safety, more presence, and I would like everyone in this room to at least I I mean, I appreciate you hearing me. I'm just a concerned father. And this pattern that we're seeing every day we wake up needs to be addressed.

081I believe you're doing it, but I'd rather see $18 million budgeted towards the safety of my son and all our sons and daughters than an activity center at this point. It needs to be taken serious from my perspective. I know you guys take it serious. I see you trying, but I guess I'm just tired of seeing it. We need to We need to realize that it's going to get worse. It's getting worse. And I commend every one of you for doing this. I couldn't do it. I've known Greg for a long time. I'm too busy to do this and care. I'm just a lay person in the community. But they say all politics is local and it's time to make it local. That's all I got to say tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr.

082Johnson. >> Okay. At this time, >> we will entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> I'll make a motion to close. I'll second. >> Okay. The meeting is now closed. We'll resume our regular meeting. Um the next items are H 8 9 I'm sorry H9 10 and 11. Um we will begin with our resolution. The two resolutions the board will consider tonight are related to the proposed capital improvement project. I would like to remind the public that our votes tonight do not mean we are approving a bond. Simply, if we approve these resolutions, we are okaying the public hearing and presentation of a bond request at our October meeting. Mark, would you please briefly share our proposed project? >> Sure. Uh, and just to reiterate, basically tonight are going to be two resolutions

083that Luke will speak to. He will go over the financials in a second. I'm just going to cover um which we've covered in FOG and and with you as well just potential projects. It's not none of this is written in stone for the GO bond, but these are potential things um that we would like to address throughout our district with this money. So the go bond again, I'm just going to go through all of them. It's it's quite a list. I will tell you that this bond would fall under $6.6 million for everything that we have on it. Okay? So, I don't I don't give you a tally on the end of this. So, I'm just telling you this tally is going to be around 6.5 right around there. A million. So, the first one

084is at the middle school. Um portion two, if you remember, can you scroll just a smidge more there? Perfect. Portion two goes all the way around. It's that massive um portion that covers over 104,000 square feet. We're going to try to knock out 26,000 square feet of it where we have some roof that we've been advised is getting close to being failing um around the main office area and around the corner that will cover like I said approximately 26,000 square feet. Um our estimate from Garland on this is and again that's the high level number is around 750,000. We also want to knock out a portion of the high school roof that is coming in right around the same price. You can't really probably see it on that screen, so I apologize, but section W

085is a smaller section. That section is the worst probably section of roof we have in the district. It is failing. It is leaking. It is the worst possible place we have. We need to get it taken care of. been talking with Garland um you know it's not very cost effective to just get up on the roof to take care of a small piece of square footage like that. So we included the entire main gym area which is probably next on the list which is um area CC that is the entire main gym and the hallway outside go to the next slide country metal flooring. Um, when we were looking into the Go Bond, I reached out to all the building principles, directors, etc. to come up with, you know, hey, what do you have that

086you might need? Don't give me any, you know, $3 million projects, but, you know, give me something reasonable. Country Meadow has some failing floors, as you can see by these pictures. Uh, Mrs. Brandt did a great job with her camera sending me these pictures. I appreciate it. Their hallways have some areas of flooring that are are sinking and becoming trip hazards. Uh, their cafeteria was carpeted. So, if you can imagine an elementary school with K to five with carpet in their cafeteria, uh, imagine we're going to make a few custodians happy with the move in the cafeteria to go from carpet to tile. That came in at about $66,000. Next is trying to centralize our DDC controls throughout the district to get them all on the same brand. Um, Watson is next up on that

087and that's roughly about a half a million dollar project upgrade. Watson, sorry I don't have any cool pictures of DDC controls, softball field lighting. These P keep going. This is the most important part. See these pictures? Yeah, those pictures are straight. It's the poles that are not straight. Um, we want to replace the old poles and lights the softball field. That's approximately 228,000. Then we're going to replace the batting cage with an estimate of about 18,000. That's been one I've heard and been on my radar for a little while. The cafeteria has some serving lines that are basically end of life. We cannot purchase parts for them. It's where the heated food goes in as kids walk down and pick up their food. Um, our food service director has notified me that, you know, if

088something were to go wrong with one of those serving lines, if we lose something, she can no longer get parts for them. So, we don't want to be in a situation where our kids can't get food at the high school. Mr. Wagner worked with her to look at those. We need to replace two lines. Um, and just so you know, Aubrey, uh, anybody that knows Aubrey knows, Aubrey is just about as tight as I am with money. Um, she was willing to take out a food service fund half of it if if need be. That's how important it is her to get done. But we're going to build this into the bond and get it done at 420,000. Mr. Horde contacted us from McKenna Harrison. need to see the pictures on this for their playground.

089It's a fenced in area um that gets trampled on daily. So, you can see the pictures of of the actual grass or non-grass in the second picture. And if we get any kind of rain at all, you can imagine the mud pit that ensues. Now, I imagine the kids might like the mud pit, but probably everyone else doesn't. So, we're looking at going to turf this area for $183,000 to turf that entire section. Obviously, um that's an initial cost, but in the long run, it's going to lower our maintenance cost and it's going to help our children. Probably the biggest of the go bond would be finishing off the 612 campus from uh not having bathrooms and facilities on them. We're looking at putting a pavilion and parking lot. Anybody was at the ball game,

090our game against East Noble, and then the band concert, I don't think anybody can argue that we are hurting for some parking at the 612 campus. So, part of this project will be putting in a 103 spot parking area between softball and tennis. And then another one over at baseball and cross country that is approximately 73 spots. That one will attach to our maintenance parking lots. So, we have pass through for anybody driving through. And there will be an open air pavilion uh with a restroom building attached at each spot. We will just duplicate what we're going to do at each spot with the pavilion. The next slide will be a picture just to give you an idea. Here's the parking lot and you can see at the top there past it um the pavilion

091and the restroom area which you'll see. But we put it up top because that's closest to soccer as well. Next slide. We'll show you the parking lot at baseball and cross country. I have to go just a smidge higher so they can see that. There's the pavilion down there. Everybody enters for baseball right there at County Road 31, right basically right where that new parking lot will be going in. So we put the pavilion at the bottom of the parking area because that will service cross country as well. So to see the actual picture of the pavilion, here's what it would look like. Um that's the one side. If you want to go to the next one, there's where the restroom doors will be. Um, it's partly covered and it'll be part part air open

092as well if you wanted to be outside getting sun, whatever. Next slide will show you the layout of the interior for the restrooms and what everybody's most interested in with the next slide will be the price tags. Um, and again, these are high level estimates. These are all in these are hard and soft costs from Garmin Miller. So, the parking lot at soccer and tennis is around 601,000. the pavilion at 607. You can you notice the numbers for baseball cross country are a little smaller. You remember the parking lot is much smaller. It's it's there's less grading to do at that location than there is. So that's why that number is lower. And the pavilion is a lower price tag because at the soccer facility we're going to have to have a lift station and

093that's going all going to boil down to sanitary is where that number got really increased. Um, okay. Maintenance department needs a new mower. Seems like, you know, why didn't they need a $47,000 mower? Well, this is the big one that um Jeez, Matt, help me out. I didn't put it on here. I should have. What's the width? >> 96 in. >> Yeah, 96 in. The one we have now, they call the Batwing where the the deck folds up on both sides. It's so massive that it doesn't fit on one of our trailers. So, for us to get it to Country Meadow, to get it to Watson for the big fields that we need to mow, the guys have to drive this mower all the way there at about what 6 and a half miles an

094hour. Uh, I'm not worried as much about the speed as I am the safety. It's it's a safety concern, especially driving up to Country Meadow. So, we can buy a new diesel mower. Um, it's going to mow faster. It's going to be more reliable for 43,250. We'll keep the batwing for the 612 campus because we have a lot of spaces to mow here. And this one will be able to fit on one of our trailers so they can just haul it and mow different areas. >> Transportation building needs new security lighting, additional really, but we're going to replace the old ones they have since we're going to be adding a couple poles for them as well. Um, this is in the fenced area where drivers come back from sporting events, field trips. It's late at

095night. A lot of the corners of that transportation lot are dark. Um they can't see. They have to back their buses in into areas. This is a safety and something they've been asking for for a few years at around 33,000. The central office refresh. Uh this this building that we're currently in is original from 1992. I am not looking to do massive things here. We're not going to gut the place and start over. Um it's not not where we want to spend money. We haven't spent money here other than in the boardroom. I don't think probably much of anything since ' 92. So, some carpeting areas. We want to up update the the entrance where people come in. You know, it is kind of the face of the district. Our restrooms, um kitchen area, flooring

096where we can. Uh our maintenance team is going to be able to do the labor. So, we'll be just looking at the materials that we would need and that's going to be roughly around $55,000. Our tech building is going to be relocating to the outside garage area that is detached. It's in the same area of the house that it's in now, but we are going to refurbish the tech building and we have plans for the current house that Tech is in to possibly transform that into our new choice location. So, we would have them closer to the 612 campus. Um, as that program has continued to grow, we have about 30 students in the morning and the afternoon. Uh it just makes sense to have them close to administration guidance SRO's if necessary. Um we

097run our boomerang backpack out of the choice academy right now so they'll be able to deliver right to the house into the back door. Um as we look to possibly expanding Choice with the middle school. This area allows us to have a totally separate area for middle school choice students to keep them separate from high school students. And we're looking at around $60,000 for that. our deferred maintenance when we talk about our HVAC and equipments and and roofing and electrical and plumbing needs. The beauty of the go bond is I will be able to, you know, kind of umbrella this with a project that would would handle all of our buildings at at about 1.4. All I basically did was take the other projects and subtract out what I would have left to get us

098to the threshold of the bond and put that towards deferred maintenance. things for the board to consider and why I want to do this is this is a way for us to protect number one avoiding an operations referendum um to to protect our operations fund for bigger projects that come up like a boiler goes out. We can use this deferred maintenance money. We have two years to spend it. We can use this to protect what's in our operations so our our employees will be protected so we don't necessarily have to riff. Um this is a strategy that a lot of school districts are going to. is why you're seeing a lot of school districts bonding right now to try to get some deferred maintenance built in to their debt service fund. I think that's the

099last slide. So, I'll turn it over to Luke now. He'll go over the financial piece of it. >> Perfect. Thank you. Good evening. Luke Brman with Steel. Good to see everyone again. correspondent under writer to the school corporation. My role really tonight is to walk through the potential structure of this $6.6 uh million dollar go bond. Uh the maximum parameters and the potential tax implications. So the first thing that we always start with is the school corporation's current debt service payments which you'll see here. There's three bond issues that are outstanding. In gray the 21 bonds, in blue the 23 bonds, and in green the 2024 bonds. You'll see a drop off in payments from 25 to 26. So if we close on bonds this year, we will get a levy in place for 2026.

100So you'll see we have some capacity for that. This next slide is a current debt service levy. Again, this is what what Mark walked through in his budget pre presentation. Really all it is is the school corporation's current debt service payments, factoring in some miscellaneous revenue and some cash on hand that's in the debt service fund. So you'll see it really mirrors what that prior slide was. And this is kind of our starting for how we structure the new bond issue. So in blue would be the potential 2025 general obligation bonds. You'll see that there's a slight increase from 2025 to 2026 of 4%. That's in line with what the school corporation has done historically in the debt service fund. Going back to 2019, it's been around 4%. So kind of keeping up with that

101trend. But probably more importantly is we know that there are additional projects that come up within a school corporation. Uh just general deferred maintenance type needs and all the other things that come up when you have buildings with a lot of kids running through them. Uh that we we're leaving capacity for additional borrowings if they do arise. So you'll see that drop off on payments again uh from 2026 to 2027, but really follow the same footprint as the school corporation's current bonds. This is showing a a term of 10 years. We can certainly shorten that up if we need it if we need to. Uh but really the goal here is to provide some flexibility for the school corporation the long term. Uh no knowing that this is going to tackle a lot of the

102immediate needs. Also want to keep an eye on on the long-term capital needs of the school. Last slide is the maximum legal parameters. Uh once these maximum parameters are set, we can always come down from these parameters. But once they are set, we cannot increase above them. So the maximum borrowing amount would be 6.6 million. Estimated cost of issuance and underire discount of 175,000. That's probably a little bit on the high end to be conservative right now. Uh any additional proceeds fall into the hard and soft project cost. So th those really line up with what Garmin Miller's projections were for for those cost. So uh that comes in at 6,425,000. Estimated interest rates of 2 to 6%. We've based everything on 5%. If you sold bonds today, you'd be in the three and a

103half to 375 range, which obviously that that's changing on a daily basis. Uh so this is just the first step in the legal process. So that's why we try to be conservative with this as as there's market fluctuations with interest rate. Maximum final maturity would be a 15-year term where you would make your your final payment January 15, 2041. Uh that's beyond what was shown in the previous chart. Again, that's a maximum. We can always maximum tax rate impact of 00936 which would be if you had no debt falling off which of course you do. Uh so when you factor that in uh that is a net tax impact to the debt service fund of 0.0057 so about half a penny tax increase and that corresponds to that 4% levy increase that was shown in

104the previous slide. Uh so as Mark mentioned he showed the tax gap between the debt service and the operations fund. The one thing I'll point out as we talked about is that the last work session with sea ones that does not include the homestead credit. Uh so homeowners receive up to a $300 credit for 10% of their tax liability. The lesser of those two numbers. Uh so that would somewhat offset more than offset what that uh potential change would be. So I I did want to make that point. Again, these are all maximum parameters. We can always come down from them. Um but happy to answer any questions from from the administration. >> I I would just point out before they have questions if you have up the the budget um that 0.57 if you

105if you notice 25 to 26 that is the difference then in the in the debt service rate that 00057. >> Any questions from the board on the initials? Okay. So you're ready for your next step. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Luke. Appreciate all your efforts on this. It was very well done the last two meetings. So I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. >> You'll be here. >> The first bond related resolution for consideration tonight is the preliminary bond resolution. Will you please summarize the preliminary bond resolution? >> Yes. The preliminary bond resolution establishes the maximum amount to be borrowed, maximum term of repayment and maximum interest rate all with respect to the issuance of these general obligation bonds which are outlined on this slide right here. And I would just add again

106from what Valerie said earlier, we're only voting on the parameter and the resolution of what the maximums could be. We are not approving any bond. We aren't saying, hey, let's do all this. Not that's not tonight. that will be presented public hearing and another presentation in October. >> Thank you. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the preliminary bond resolution. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Yeah, like I'm glad we're seeing we're directing this towards the infrastructure projects and I've heard a lot of a lot of complaints about the leaks in the roof of the high school. So again, it doesn't do good to improvements inside if we can't get the outside secured and done. So, >> um, again, next and

107as we go through this, again, I I do want to see inside classrooms get spruced up. Um, we need to some of those high school classrooms haven't been done since I was there. So, um, and I'm not going to say how many years that is. So, but no, I think this is good. Uh, we got to take care of our infrastructure. If we don't, we don't have classrooms. >> Thank you. At this time, I'll ask for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. The second bond related resolution for consideration tonight is a reimbursement resolution. >> Yeah. So, this is a federal tax law with the IRS. This essentially allows the school corporation to reimburse themselves for any expenditures that they have before we close on

108the bonds. Uh so, it doesn't obligate you to do so, but if you do spend any dollars before closing, to use bond proceeds to to reimburse those funds that you spent out. >> Thank you. >> That all makes sense. >> Yep. >> We sell it in October. We could start project, you know, if we had to hire somebody in to come and do something, I could pay them out out of operations and then reimburse the district with the bond money. IRS requires that resolution. >> Okay. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? As long as we're notified ahead of time, that >> board has to approve that. >> Yeah, sure that. >> Yep, I'm good

109with that. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Thanks. >> Thank you for being here again tonight. >> Thank you, Luke. >> I I just have to second on on Greg's comments. Um Luke, Eric Long from Ice Miller are uh worth their weight in gold. These these guys know what they're doing. um they can they can man they aren't as nice to me as they are to you. Um they really make it easy for you to understand and they really press my financial knowledge of of bonds and I think just to make me look silly sometimes but uh this district this district is lucky to have Ice Miller and Steel as partners. >> Y thank you. Um moving on we are now at our miscellaneous portion of

110the meeting. So, I'll open up to our board members if you have anything this evening. >> I always have something to say. Um, I missed the band competition, but I I I heard a lot of the positive things. Um, the negative part was the parking. Um, but you know, people were so excited to come out. Um, great attendance, great comments online. Um, so if you missed that, I was gone, so I missed it too. Um, but nothing but positive things from what we've been doing out there so far. So, kudos to whoever's doing all the work. Uh, girls golf sectional champs three years in a row. >> Yep. >> Congratulations. We had a play this weekend. Romeo and Juliet. Missed that. Uh, a lot of fall activities. There's a lot of things going on. I'm

111If you're sitting at home listening, get up and come out. There's tennis match and soccer match. So, just get out. That's nice. The fair will be back next year. Uh middle school things. There's a ton of middle school activities. We talk about the high school things and what's going on there. There's middle school cross country. There's middle school volleyball. There's middle school football. Some of the kids in middle school are in marching bands. So, if you got a middle school kids, I apologize. They'll get better when they get older, but it takes time. Um but the tournaments are coming up. So, if you haven't been to one of the activities here, you're going to have to check the calendar. They're not all here. Um, but you know, you need to get out and see what's

112going on. Uh, so just there's a great buzz to be a baron right now. So, happy to be a part of it. >> Check out those bleachers. >> Yeah, >> they're nice. >> Them bleachers are nice. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Tony. Does anyone have anything else? Yeah, >> we did attend the ISBA conference, fall conference in Indianapolis last week. That was last week, right? >> I don't know. >> I feel like time is very crazy right now. Um, but that was very informative. We um um attended and met with different boards and different administrations and just learning about what other school districts are doing across our state and I find those um meetings very valuable. So, and a good time for us to connect as well. It's nice to go to those meetings as

113well and see what they're doing and we're doing most of that stuff anyway, just a little better. So, that's that's kind of cool. Pat on our back. >> Great. Administration, >> I just quickly comment. We had a teacher inservice day today. Um, a lot of great things happening across the district and it's a powerful day when we uh can commit ourselves to this professional growth. I commend all of our leaders in the buildings and our teachers for attending and uh growing in their profession so that we can provide the best education possible for our students here at Decalp Central. I know it's I appreciate the community for allowing us to to have these inservice days, especially our parents. I know that means kids are home uh for the day, but we appreciate it. It is

114a powerful powerful day and uh we appreciate uh working alongside our community to make sure we can provide this to our to our staff. So, thank you. >> I'm good. >> I I would just want to publicly thank um there's too many people because at our at our first home football game with the new bleachers, obviously we're not done with the concessions building. Um, the amount of people that came to me with positive support was was uh why I do this job. I was just very proud to be a baron that night and the next night with band um several band parents I talked to. Uh it's just exciting where we're going. I'm I'm happy. I'm excited for the future of Decal. Um Steve did a good job of putting out the comments and I

115think he sent something out to people on that. So, I would address just the one thing that came across as a negative from some people in terms of the sound quality. Yes, you're correct. We only have our speakers on the on the far side right now. I promise you, you'll probably be telling us to turn the volume down once this stadium is done. Uh the speakers that are going to be on the home side are going to be phenomenal. Everyone's going to be able to hear just far once this project is completed. But I would just like to thank the community for all the support they've given me, Steve, Lori, everyone probably up here >> and all the community people that just attended. There was more than just parents there. It was amazing. It was

116a fun night and I look forward to more. >> Thank you. >> At this time, I'll open it up to our audience. And we do have a a community member that would like to speak. Mr. Turner, you take the podium. >> Thank you. Good evening, members of the board and superintendent teachers. My name is Shane Turner here tonight uh not to question the dedication our administration team which I recognize and appreciate but to address a matter of public accountability that deserves attention. At the August 19th board meeting was publicly noted that board member Greg Lance was absent from the July 15th executive session and early August meeting to approve new hires. These meetings are not trivial. They are essential to the governance and oversight responsibilities entrusted to the board by the t taxpayers of Cal

117County. As a community member, taxpayer, I believe it's important to remind ourselves of the duties of the school board member, which include attending all scheduled meetings, especially executive sessions where critical decisions are made, participating in evaluations, district leadership, which directly impact the quality of education, representing the interests of the public, not just private conversations, but through transparent and accountable actions. collaborating with fellow board members to ensure decisions are made with full context and input. When a board member is absent from key meetings without explanation and raises concerns not just about the individual's commitment, but about the integrity of the board's decision making process. Mr. Lance's response to the press offering private conversations instead of public statement does not meet standard of transparency. protected from the elected officials. This is not personal criticism. It's public responsibility.

118If a board member cannot fulfill the duties of the role, consequentially, the community deserves to know why and deserves assurance that the board is functioning with full participation. I urge the board to reaffirm its commitment to transparency, accountability, and I respectfully ask Mr. Mr. Lance to address his absences publicly as part of the duty to the constituents he serves. >> Thank you, Mr. Turner. >> May I address that? >> Sure. Okay. >> Well, I did not attend the 7 a.m. meeting. I had a family emergency that came up. I did not have time to contact anybody. I am a father, husband, grandfather, and I do take care of my elderly mother. So, uh 7 a.m. meeting proving uh new hires it's a rubber stamp. Executive session afterwards if it's important should have been done in

119the evening. I had other work obligations. So, from that perspective, from a professional perspective, it was not a critical meeting on that regard. I had to take care of my family first. As a board of president, I continually altered meetings to allow the ladies to attend to their families. as as a a father, I should uh be accustomed to the same uh afford the same opportunity. Uh the executive session regards to superintendent uh teters evaluation. Well, there was a uh somebody pretty much abused the technical uh IT infrastructure in our organization. So, I had a conflict with my work. I told them that. Secondly, it was an evaluation that number one was based on a rubric. Anybody knows anything about a rubric? You're comparing a person to another a peer. Well, we only have one

120superintendent. So, you can't compare him to anybody else. So, from there, that that methodology is flawed. A B in my past history um he's given himself perfect scores the entire time. So, or near perfect scores. So really there's no room for improvement. He's not going to listen to constructive con constructive criticism. So really what happens is is somebody acted improperly, used technology improperly. Instead of holding people accountable, they're trying to sweep it under the rug and and attack me. And that's the truth. I've got the data to back it up. Does anyone else have anything this evening? Okay. At this time, I'd like to um read into the minutes that our next facility and operations advisory group is October 2nd at 6 o'clock p.m. and that will be here at central office. Our next regular

121board meeting is October 28th. Um and that is at 6 o'clock p.m. here at central office as well. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion or motion pass. Meeting adjourned. Thank