001I was ready yesterday. Okay. All right. Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome everyone to the Child Central United School District Board of Education regular meeting tonight is Thursday, June 19th, 2025. For all those able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And you roll call, please. Armstrong, present. Baker, present. Present. O'Neal, present. Present. Okay. Thank you. Um, next we have pre presentations and recognitions. All right. Our first uh recognition that we have this evening on the agenda. Uh each June we offer our retirees uh an opportunity to come to our June board meeting and be recognized for their years of service at Decal Central Schools. And
002we didn't have a long list of retirees this year uh but they are distinguished and we do have one retiree uh that's here with us this evening, Mike Strand uh retiring from Decal Middle School uh as a custodian. I'd also like to reference u Tracy Reinhardt as secretary from Decal Middle School, not able to be here. Annette Fox and Kathy Goliff were pair professionals at Watson. Shelley Kennedy as a teacher, our only certified staff member that retired this year. And uh Cesaly uh Payton, custodian at um Waterlue. Um so tonight typically we have your direct supervisor say a few words and Mrs. Weiss heart is on vacation but before she left she recorded a message and wanted to share that with everyone Mike on your years of service at Cal Middle School. So Angie if
003you don't mind. Thank you for all the service that you've given us and thank you for what you've done. I'll stand Tonight, we have a little gift from the district that we'd like to present to you at this time. And we were talking before this is 23 years. I think that was the assistant path. [Laughter] Say no. Just say no. probably just [Applause] I could never tell the temperature with Mike at the middle school because he always wore shorts. But the very few times when he had long pants on, I knew it was cold then. Thanks, Mike. Congratulations to you and all of our retirees. We thank you for your service to our students and staff. Our next presentation. Yes. Um we have Mr. Harrison here. Mr. Harrison not only is our principal at James
004R. Watson Elementary, but also our district safety uh director. And each June or July uh we hear an update on our uh safety initiatives in the district. So at this point, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Harrison. Thank you, Mr. Teers, board of trustees for having here this evening. And I wouldn't feel like I'd be a promise I'll have you out here celebrate or watch our pacers. So, appreciate being here this evening. It's good once a year for us to look at school safety and the state of where we're at uh within the district. So, as Mr. And I am Austin, district safety director. Our school resource officers were not able to be here this evening really for a valid reason. The majority of them are at our Indiana State School resource officer
005conference in Michigan City, Indiana. So they're there getting the much needed professional development. And then obviously we have a picture of probably our favorite officer officer up there. At least the favorite officer when you ask the kids. This is just a ongoing partnerships and collaboration we have within our community, within our county. And this is not a list of everyone and every organization we work with. But these are organizations that do support all things safety that we do here at Cal Central Schools. Uh due to Indiana code, there are some pieces of school safety we can't talk about just due confidentiality reasons. Really what our plans are regarding safety, keeping staff and students Uh so we will get in depth on a lot of the things we do safety wise. There are some pieces um
006that we would have to discuss more effective session. A big piece is funding. Obviously with SCA1 right now you know it's fair amount districts are looking at funding what that looks like. So I always want to touch base on safety and how our funding is impacted. So the Indian Department of Homeland Security does offer a grant that is the secured school safety grant. We've applied for this. This will be my seventh our district safety director next year. We've applied for this every year that I've been the safety director. We've gotten a portion of the grant every year. So last year was the first time that we did not get fully funded and that was really throughout the state of Indiana. A lot of that's just due to the amount of requests coming in versus the
007dollars they had allocated for that. So if you can see the bottom bullet points, the state actually in their budget has increased this from 24 million to 27.1 million for this next fiscal year. So I'm optimistic that we will get the $200,000 which is $100,000 grant funds and then $100,000 that we use from our local operations funds. I'm optimistic we'll get fully funded. Hoping so, hoping that happens. Um because really that's our biggest avenue of safety funs that we get. There's no safety from the state that's directly for school safety. So this is a grant that we apply for every year. This is click that link. One thing I just want to note with this grant you scroll down. When I first started in this role so you can see all the different areas. So
008there's 13 different areas that you can use funds to pay for whether it's stop at le training, a school resource officer program, a threat assessment. And there's 13 different hours. When I first started in this position, there was just more than a handful. So every time I'm out in the community, people say, well, you know, hey Austin, you guys would look to use this safety grant to help fund this. when we're talking about a type of things that I'm going to talk about, but we're always s back to the same pot of money and that pot of money really hasn't increased during my team. The 100,000 has been the maximum we've been able to apply for during my now going into my seventh year. So, I just think, you know, as board members when I'm
009out community, that's always, hey, thanks for letting us know about the grant opportunity, but that's also how we fun our school resource officer program. Uh, the last bullet point here is really more um kind of clerical. So they they changed they have five employees at the state level with the Indiana Department of Education that they've eliminated the division of school building and physical security and safety. Well, they haven't really eliminated they just transferred those positions underneath the umbrella of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security for this school year, which really from our end as a district works out well because a lot of what we do is through IDHS. So a lot of times I would ask the state questions and they have to to their contact before they can get back with answers. So,
010this will actually clean up and streamline some of those communications. Uh just community involvement. Uh I feel passionately about being in this role. Um really should be a steward within the community advocating uh for all things safety and what that looks like. So, these are different commissions, boards that I'm a part of. Um I think the one at the top's the most important to make note of. So we have a city schools commission that we meet squarely within our county. So this isn't just the cow central schools. This is throughout all of the cow county. And it's not just schools. We have mental health organizations, county probation, county prosecutor, all sorts of first responder agencies there where we're talking through best practices and what different districts are doing to ensure we have a safe learning
011environment for our students. uh countywide collaboration. I think this is an area we've really grown in in the past two or three years. Uh so much before we be siloed within our districts. We've really made this commission very collaborative. We rotate between districts of where we're meeting each quarter. Um the organizations within our community are very actively involved. We always try to plan at least one countywide event. So the last two years we had an active shooter training in the summer at Jar Watson in McKenna Harrison. Keep in the spirit of truly being collaborative within the community. We are hosting this at Lakewood Park Christian and the five of you are invited. If you would like to come on July 15th as board members, just send me an email, a text to get a hold
012of me. Um, and I will make sure to reserve you a spot. Uh, we have plenty of room on July 15th and I will be at that training. Uh, so it's 8 to 11 or 1 to 4. Just let me know if you have interest in coming and I'll make sure you know the details. Uh this is a wide variety of training opportunities we offer for our staff. CPR certification. This really is a fringe of benefit. It's not something we have to we have to have for our staff members. We provide uh the call of trainer. Staff members only have to pay $5 to get their CPR certification or first aid certification. I mean that's a huge benefit. It is close to $100 if you go through the American Red Cross or other organizations. We
013do that on site typically at Boston. Just me being the principal there. Staff members come over. We make it work after contract time. We actually just finished up our last session this week at Watson and I'm proud to say we had 131 staff members trained this year, which is the highest we've had up to date. Uh stop training, which is tournate training. We have five staff members in every building uh to comply with Indiana code. But then also we took it a step further. Our entire transportation department, so all of our drivers also are trained in South Train. Looking compiance with all of our drills. Uh Naran training, all of our nurses have that. Obviously, our bus evacuations. And then our DOE school safety specialist. I'll get into more detail with this here in a
014minute, but state law requires one school safety specialist. We have over 20 in the district. Every single one of our buildings has over two school safety specialists within it. I'm very proud of that. I think it just is a testament of how we use school safety at Cal Central and we're always, I would say, very proactive. The state has a lot of this legislative cycle and there really wasn't big adjustments we had to make. Maybe change things here or there, but I think that's because we're always trying to push ourselves and be forward thinking when it comes to uh just some more compliance pieces. Um, one of the new laws, so the safety plan, you will have that for me either next month or August. That is something that the board has the opportunity to
015review uh moving forward. So, you will have that for me in the next month or so. Um, other pieces of compliance. One thing I do want to stop and make note of in more detail is the AED legislation. So this has been probably the last year and a half a big part of my role as we talk through things. So the law different versions of bills and it was going to be this and then this. Uh at one point it was going to be required that ads have to be within 3 minutes of response time. So if someone were to need an event, we would have to get the ad and get them That's not where where it landed. That's a recommendation. Where it landed was essentially if there's events where there's a higher risk
016of cardiac cardiac events, you need to have an AED. Well, that's very subjective to a local district of what that looks like. Obviously, you look at sporting events, fine art events, community events where you know, gymnasiums have larger areas. Um, so you know, working with Mr. Brown talking through you know, that's a expense when you're looking at the cost of those ads and once again I'm directed back to that safety rate that we're already using for our school resource officers. So getting creative um I think this goes back to our collaboration within the community and just having that network of people the county health department I really want to give them a shout out they have donated 198 to the central schools I'm a firm believer that's in the relationships we built why they're willing
017to do that it's not something they had to do there was no So really I just want you to take a look at these safety boxes for lack of a better term. So I'm doing a needs assessment next week with our district nurse Jen Hagar. Really want to give her a shout out. She's spearheaded this working through this with myself and the county health department. So these safety boxes will be going up in all of our buildings. Um they have a stop of weed kit in the box. They have an AED response kit. Um scissors, anything to sterilize anything. would be needed. Then I want to show you the new ads. So these are the new ads the health department donated and really why we landed on these ads. As uh Jen and I were
018talking, I said, Jen, we got to look at long term. You know, it's an expense to have the 1980s. I appreciate their donation. We got to look at longterm maint. So these batteries have a 5year life guarantee. The other thing with these is that we don't have to buy two sets of pads. Most ads you have to buy an adult pad and a child pad. These the pads are in there and then you base the shop whether it's an adult or a child. The other piece from the medical side that Jim love is they're semi-automatic whereas a lot of ads are automatic. So a lot of times when you put them on, you know, they're they're checking out vitals. They shock doesn't seem like a big deal until you have someone who stole a hand
019on a pad or on a person. So, they'll let you know if a shock is needed and then the semi-automatic piece, we're the one that actually initiates the shock. So, this was a great find and then working with the health department on what they felt was best practice from the medical side. These are where we landed. So, I think they'll be good for us long term. So, that's what you'll see uh before the start of the school year. you'll see all these items and all these boxes within our buildings. So, our goal really, and this is us trying to be proactive again. I think state legislation will change that three minute response time at some point. So, we're going to do our best to try to make that happen. We also have some older ads
020that still function. Um, so looking at can we update pads and batteries and reallocate those to different areas whether that's central office, maintenance, transportation. So, that'll be done over the summer. uh school resource officer program. So, I've touched on this briefly. We do have three officers. We work with the Cal County Sheriff's Office and then the Auburn Police Department um with officers, which I think once again goes back to the relationships we built. It's not usual that you see a district with multiple different agencies. Um that can that can cause a lot of different moving pieces and challenges. But I think it's it's went well for us and I think it's a testament of both those agencies of their willingness to work with us as a district. Uh the last piece so I have the
021officers as part of our grant that I have to track different pieces of data. So they have approximately 4,000 interactions during last school year with kids. And when I say interactions, they should have 3600 interactions every single day with the walking building. That's not necessarily what this means. This is more Whether it's a call to service, they need to talk to an administrator about a situation. The K9 check, they have been doing K9 checks, locker checks daily. Um, home visits, they're very involved in that piece. The other piece that I really t the officers to be involved with is in the educational setting. Kids need to hear from an officer because if they hear from them in a non-threatening educational setting of hey, this is why this wasn't okay or we need to learn from
022this and use it as a learning opportunity. That's the whole point of having SRO's in the school. It's not we all know that they're keep staff safe, but it's really the relationships and the mentor mentorship piece and that's actually the next bullet point. Here's a lot of what they do, but I will tell you the mentorships to me is the most important piece because they're setting an example for kids. They're building those relationships. They're helping kids see law enforcement as a positive within our community. Uh, one example that we wanted to show, so our high school collaborates with Officer Josh Hefinger and they do a SRO show with Guarant TV. So, we're just going to show you a quick clip of the SRO show. We just enmy stood up your down slow down your vehicle.
023Unless your vehicle on fire East. So this is just one example. Obviously But we do have those officers, you know, talking about the dangers of baby, talking about social media technologies and safe ways to do that. Um, but I think it's, you know, it's a non-threatening way for officer to be involved and help kids learn real life skills. So, that's how we use our SRO within our district. Uh, this is just continuous improvement and at this point, these are actually things we've done the majority of the time that I've been in this role. I'm just trying to be proactive within the district. The last one I think is important to note. So, if there's ever a parent concern, a community member concern, we do have a tip line and I get those regular people share
024concerns whether that's safety related or all things related because I think when we really talk about school safety director the administrative team does a great job our teachers do an amazing job but our kids do a great job we're big on if you if you know something if you see something say something because usually kids are the first line of defense our parents I think we have a community that They're vocal with us. They're going to share their thoughts. And it really takes a collaborative and a team effort. And I think that is that's the biggest thing I'd like the board to take away and anyone here listening to take away is it's not one person. It truly is a collective team effort when it comes to school safety, keeping all our kids safe. So,
025thank you for your time. [Applause] Thank you, Austin. and we appreciate everything you do for our district to keep us safe and our students safe. Okay, at this time we will I will ask the board for a motion to adopt and amend the agenda. I'll make a motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Item F is a consent agenda. This includes items F1 through F5, which is board minutes from May 7th, May 20th, financial report, claims, personnel, and field trips. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. I'll make a motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Uh, I'd like to make a request for the next board meeting. Could we see an update
026on the solar panel field and and how that's operating within the district for the last 12 months? And then can we see a comparison for the new insurance to the old insurance expenses for the first five months of the year? See how that how's that new plan working out for us? Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Which brings us to item G, donations. All right. Um, we have some donations here. Some great things uh to highlight. Uh, Mrs. Brandt, principal at Country Meadow, uh, received a donation from Breitmark. just a laundry list of different uh donated PE equipment for recess recess games. Uh also popsicles for reaching a 10,000 pounds of plastic donations from Country Meadow Elementary. This is just a continuation of a great partnership that
027Country Meadow has with Breitark and Ashley and uh I think it's almost like on a monthly basis we hear about more and more things that are coming from that relationship. So certainly appreciate the efforts uh from Country Meadow Elementary and the the partnership really with Breitmark um and Mrs. Brandt's efforts to continue to grow that relationship. Our students at Country Meadow Elementary are certainly benefiting from that in a many different ways. When you when you look at the amount of donations that were received, I think totaling $873.81. uh the popsicles that were purchased from our food service program that the kids were able to enjoy. And then the different games that there was no uh price disclosed, but they were all shipped directly to Country Meadow. Just a laundry list of different games that the
028the kids at Country Meadow have been able to enjoy. Um another uh donation that um Mrs. grant brought uh was uh coming from the Indiana State Parks and the Indiana Natural uh Resources Foundation, a grant for $250 to help with a field trip, a third grade field trip to Chain of Lakes uh State Park. Um Mr. Harrison commented on the AED donations totaling over $37,000. Yet again, just another great partnership and relationship with the Dic County Health Department. So appreciate the efforts there and certainly our district nurse Jen Haggar and Austin Harrison your efforts as well. And then Newore uh with a great donation of $500 to I think round out maybe our Gaga pit um creations at each of our elementary schools. I know Mr. Neil, you've had some uh hands-on uh experience with
029uh those initiatives, but certainly appreciate again another great partner with the district is Newport and their $500 donation. We saw a lot of great pictures, a lot of great videos um of the Gaga pit getting great use, not only at Watson, but all of our schools. So, just some uh some great donations to highlight there across the district. Thank you. I'd add there was no uh I don't think there was any sight of turkey buzzards at the gaga pet at Watson. Very good. That's very positive. The perch isn't high enough. I don't think I feel good about that. Well, thank you and thank you to our community partners. We couldn't do it without you. Okay. Item H, report of the superintendent. All right. Um, my first item is a recommendation for the Decal High School
030athletic director and the I'll summarize the recommendation from Mr. Wagner, the high school principal. The athletic director position was open following the resignation of Josh Bolds. Um, we had 31 applications received uh through the process, which I thought was a very good indication of of the interest of the position. Of those 31, we vetted uh down to nine candidates for initial interviews. Uh we settled on four candid candidates to bring back for final round interviews. And I'm very happy and pleased to uh recommend Mr. Christopher Riker who is in attendance tonight uh to be the next uh athletic director at Calb High School. Uh Mr. Riker's background over 20 years as director of athletics at Portage Northern High School in Portage, Michigan. Uh a school size slightly larger than Decal High School. Uh he has
031served as the east representative on the Michigan High School Athletic Association representative council for the past five years. The strengths of Mr. Riker's strong focus on student athlete development and community centered education. He led initiatives focused on culture building, organizational efficiency and leadership, uh, exceptional communication and mentoring skills, and extensive experience with budgeting, scheduling, and regulatory compliance. Um, something to note, uh, the successful implementation of the CMA project on leadership, which enhanced schoolwide culture, not only within athletics, but it was great to hear the story of how that spread throughout the entire school's culture. Um and certainly something that that was a highlight in just in talking with him through the interview process. Um he's highly organized. He's a forward thinker. Um plans begin engaging with the community right away being here tonight. Um one
032of those examples, but also I believe uh is attending the golf outing tomorrow. The athletic golf outing is tomorrow and great opportunity for him to start building those relationships um at Bridgewwater for the athletic golf outing. Its official start date would be July 1st uh of this year. It's a 260day administrative contract with an annual salary of $13,000 and includes which would would also include the administrative benefit package as well. So uh I'd appreciate the board's uh consideration to approve Mr. Christopher Riker as our next uh athletic director at Calp High School. Thank you, Steve. Okay. Okay. At this time, I'll entertain a motion from the board to approve the DHS athletic director. I'll make a motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I.
033I. Oppose. Motion passes. Welcome, Mr. Miker, to Decal Central. Go Baron. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 7. Same. Same. Same. Okay. Item H2, Decal Virtual Academy. All right. Um I believe u included the presentation in the board's packet um at the May 29th schoolboard work session. Uh we had a presentation from Mr. Wagner, the high school principal, also Mrs. Weheart, middle school principal, and Justin Lee's uh choice academy uh director. um and outlined the program's purpose, structure, strategic importance to the district. The session emphasized how the Decal Virtual Academy addresses current enrollment trends and student needs. Uh the purpose of the Decal Virtual Academy is designed to provide a flexible, fully online learning environment for our students in grades 6 through 12 uh who may not thrive in traditional settings due to academic, social,
034or other personal reasons. We really started tracking numbers last year to try to gain a complete understanding of the total need and I think as reported at the work session uh 119 students withdrew to either homeschool or to attend an outside virtual school from DALP Central. And digging deeper into those numbers, I think a question was uh was presented how many of those 119 were middle school or high school age students? Turns out 95. So the vast majority of those 119, 95 of them were um grades 6 through 12. The vast majority of them uh were did go on to attend a virtual learning uh option. Uh only a handful maybe 10 or 11 students went to a homeschool option. But nonetheless, those are the two targeted areas um that we felt it was important
035for this academy to be put into effect. So that we have an opportunity, you know, not thinking that we could have kept or kept all 95 of those students with us, but I'd like to think that if that option were available, uh many of our parents would have chosen that as an options to stay with DALB Central. Um, now the ADM funding is only 80 85% of a full ADM funding student for a student that attends in person, but of the if 95 if all 95 students stayed with us, that would have recouped $538,000 for the district in just one year. So, we could extrapolate, you know, if half those kids were to stay, if 60% of those kids, you could do the math there to see that we can certainly make an impact. Um,
036I'll talk a little bit more about that um in the recommendation a little bit later, but the curriculum for the virtual academy would align to the Indiana academic standards. The instruction would be tailored to varied uh learning styles. Uh, some students just prefer that method of online learning. Um, it's customizable. The courses are customizable. Uh, we use a program called Edenum. It's something that we're already currently using at the middle school and high school. Justin Lees as our director of the choice academy is already using that platform and is wellversed in the use of that platform. So we feel very good about that. We know we can also continue with our district's portrait of the baron competencies within this program and it's built on existing successful virtual platforms that we already have in place at
037choice the DHN DHS online lab and change academy which is our alternative to expulsion alternative program. uh we do have some limitations and and expectations of students who would go into the virtual setting. Uh we do we understand that the best place for students to learn is in person. I think we we all saw that firsthand during uh the global pandemic. Um these students are choosing to go virtual. So they're choosing then not to take part in athletics or extracurricular or co-curricular activities. Graduation would be at a different time than than the normal. This is a totally separate school for these students. But we would still want to dangle that carrot, that motivation for those students to come back to us in person because as students from grades 6 through 12, there's a lot of
038changes that take place with the student. So depending on maturity level, depending on how that student the interest might change, we would always want to dangle that carrot for that student to come back to us in an in-person setting where they can then take take advantage of extra and co-curricular activities. Maybe they want to be involved in an art league or they want to be in marching band or they want to be uh play in athletics. Those are all options that could be that motiv motivation to get those kids back. Time will tell, but that's why the um limitation on those types of things entering into a virtual academy are put into place. And that's very typical of other virtualmies that we have seen um uh begin in our area and across the state. the
039vision while affirming the superiority of in-person learning. Uh we certainly want to make that as an option for students to come back to us. This proposal and what you heard at the work session in May was really um a collaboration between Justin Lees, our director at Choice Academy, Mr. Wagner at the high school, and Mrs. Weisart at the middle school. And so at this point, I'd like to formally uh ask the board to consider the approval of moving forward with the creation of the Decal Virtual Academy, which would entail um working with the state to uh file with the state to create a a school, the Decal Virtual Academy, uh to begin operations uh in August of this coming school year. Thank you, Steve. Yep. At this time, I'll bring this to the board to
040approve the Decal Virtual Academy grades 6 through 12. I'll move to approve the Decal Virtual Academy. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I I think it's a great idea. I think we've got to give more options. And again, this is open to anybody within the state of Indiana. Right. It would be. Yes. We're targeting those kids that we're losing, but the success of the program, if it if it's successful, we can entertain. We do allow out of district transfers into our district currently and the policy supports that we can accept students into this program. If they reside in the state of Indiana, I think the team did a great job presenting session. They put some real effort into it. I think they got their structure set. So, I look forward
041to watching. I know this is going to progress and be a good district. I agree with you, Tony. Um, Steve, how do you plan to advertise? Will that still be advertised through our traditional uh social media outlets or on district website? So, our middle school and high schools will still be intricately involved. Our guidance departments will be involved. uh students that attend the Decal Virtual Academy, some that have special needs or if they're special needs students, we still have to oversee their IEPs and have those types of making sure that we meet um their needs as well. Um it's a slippery slope. We know that the best place for students to learn is in person. So, we're not going to go out there and bang the drums and make this the end all beall, but
042we know that we have it as an alternative for those students that we just aren't able to reach or that parents feel like in person isn't working. And then I think we can adjust that as we go. I think we can see how um how it progresses, the success of the program to see what it's doing for our students. Is it meeting their needs? and then we can alter that plan on just how much do we want to advertise and promote it. But I think starting off slow and really entertaining um students who just are not able to be successful or parents that are just exhausted and they don't have an answer and we haven't been able to provide an answer for virtual. We have that answer for them now. So I've challenged Mr. Wagner
043and Mrs. Weiseart. They're kind of the gatekeepers. You know, it's a slippery slope. I think that uh we could get a lot of kids that would really like to do this but may not be their best option. So we have to work closely with the parents and Mr. Wagner and Mrs. Weheart really have to be the gatekeepers to really understand that this is really a last resort option for students that we otherwise will lose. Will we be reaching out to the students who already like in the last few years made that option or chose to leave to do a virtual academy? We know, we know all 95 students that left us for homeschool or for virtual. I think reaching out to those parents and letting them know this is an option. We we could gain
044some something now that might meet your needs. I actually received an email from a high school student asking about the DAL virtual academy. Oh wow. So I mean it's already by word of mouth it's already it's already spreading out. That's great. That's great. Do we still utilize or do we still have a subscription to niche? We we don't we we didn't we did it one year and didn't really feel like um the information was really worth what what we were paying into it. So no. All right. So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I oppose. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Item H3, 202526 DMS fundraisers. All right. So, in June and July, we typically start getting our list of fundraisers. Uh, no
045action to be taken here,formational purposes only, but I challenge the principles to send over a list of their expected fundraisers, what they're used for, and the amount of money that they expect to raise. So, Cal Middle School uh is presenting those here for you for your information tonight. How how do we how do we promote those type of activities? We send that information home with the child to the parents or do we email it to the parents? I I think it's any and all the above. I think it's through our social media. Parent Square, our new um the new our new online communication tool that we're we're transitioning over from that's going to have the ability to be able to communicate with parents and to share this type of information. I think our social media
046accounts promote it. I think our our coaches and personal accounts promote it. Most of our schools send out weekly newsletters. I see fundraiser items in their newsletters a lot. I know individual classroom teachers, especially in the elementary, communicate with their parents weekly and those fundraiser reminders. I think they do a lot of that, Tony. Kind of like any any and all that you referenced. I just know my granddaughter hits me up all There you go. See, so it won't end. It won't end. All right. Thank you, Steve. Yeah. Item H4, University of St. Francis tuitionou referencing the uh board memo. The University of St. Francis has invited us to join other Indiana school corporations to take advantage of a 15% tuition discount option for teachers whose school districts agree to to partner with the university
047by enticing them into a non-binding. non-binding, meaning uh reviewing this legally. If there's really no harm, no foul. If we enter into it and and we the record shows that we do, the 15% discount applies. If we enter into it and nobody takes advantage of it, no harm. Um USF offers fully online transition to teaching licensing programs, which we just see more and more of um every year. uh in all high need subject areas, elementary education, special education, all secondary ed subject areas, and over the the past few years, and I would say probably three, um they have really stepped up their game, and we have also increased our relationship time with St. Francis. They've been sending us more and more student teachers, especially special ed. And so, we've got a pretty good relationship going.
048And and again, this is no harm, no foul. 15% trans trans uh tuition trans what am I saying here? Tuition discount, I'm sorry. For anybody that would be interested in adding something onto their license or for those who are transitioning to teaching and we do have some of those currently. Okay. Thank you, Lori. At this time, I'll propose a motion to the board. I'll make a motion. I'll second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? I think anything we can do to help teachers get engaged and people get involved with education is worth it. I know. You're right. You're exactly right. I'm hoping this maybe sets a precedence and some other universities um might do something like this and we do have good partnerships with the major state universities and maybe maybe some others will
049get on board. Okay, have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I oppose. Motion passes. Thank you. Okay. Item H5, acceptance of the cash and inind donations to support robotics program. And I I'm not sure why we didn't put this under donations, but but it also gives me an opportunity to talk and and recognize um the work that Kelsey WZ and Kelly Hudson continue to do. And I think you used the terms laundry list, Steve, a little bit earlier, but we're just asking you to approve and accept the recent cash and inind donations made to our district's robotic programs. These generous contributions will directly benefit all robotics teams throughout the district and align with the district's commitment to expanding our STEM opportunities for our students. And I would just like to
050read them out loud just so the public hears. Um, we received $2,500 from SFO. We received $1,500 from Newore. We received 15 parts bins valued at approximately $36.90 from community member Bob Wright. Um, and the donations will be allocated as follow. The cash donations will be used to fund competition registrations, which are getting more and more expensive, and to purchase essential parts and materials needed for the 2526 robotic seasons. The part bins will help us organize and store robot materials and tools, enhancing our team's efficiency and success. So, we are deeply grateful for this assistance. This is a program that's getting a lot of attention from a lot of different community members. And just just like the parts bins, hey, I've got these parts bins and these are perfect for what we need. Um we're
051going to outgrow our space pretty quickly here. And um the number of kids participating is growing. And if you've never been to one of these competitions, you really should you really should go for just a little while at least and see what's going on. It's amazing. It really is. So we just need your approval to accept these donations behalf of the robotics teams and Kelsey WS. Thank you, Lori. At this time, last the board I'll move to approve. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Is there a room designated for those robotics, Marcus, in the high school or I know the middle school kind of has the old art room that's temporary. They move a lot of stuff out in the hallway. So, do you do have a spot? Sure. space
052platform. Sure. Good. Yeah. the the grids, the competitive grids are they are space intrusive and at the elementary and I I don't know if you remember this been a few years ago when Sally Peas came and she she works at Country Meadow and she had made like a canvas sheet grid to use for their very first competition. So we have come a very long way but again it is space intrusive for sure. It has crown crown Okay, thank you. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor that signify by saying I. I oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H6, region 8 career coaching. And um this recommendation comes from principal Marcus Wagner at Decal High School. He's asking you to consider approving for Decal High School um the ability to enter into a
053memorandum of understanding with the region 8 education service center for the 202526 school year as part of the Indiana commission for higher education career coaching grant initiative. This is yet another way to get on a pathway and get kids moving down one of the pathways. and region 8 has taken this on and provided this opportunity at um no cost to us which is very very nice. It just gives our students another option. Um it aligns directly with statemandated requirements for college and career readiness. It will specifically support the required preparing for college and careers co course as well as our ongoing efforts with career discovery meetings, workbased learning pathways and career exploration. And I might add, you know, as we look at budgets and we know what's happening and, you know, trying not to impact
054programs because that's what gets hit first, people in programs. You know, this is yet another way to be able to add programming without the expense of a teacher and and us taking on that expense. So, we believe this is a good partnership and would like to utilize it fully. Thank you, Lori. This time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. I'll make a motion. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Thank you. Okay. Item H7, director of technology recommendation. Mark. Yes. I'm excited to uh recommend Mr. Craig Jones as the new director of technology. I would like to start by he's not here this evening, but I would like to thank uh Matt Buchanan for his years of service at Decal
055Central. U came in and really did an overhaul of this technology department. He has taken the position a little closer to home. Uh I really want to thank him. He's known about the job, what is it, Steve? Two months. Yeah. And I think we all know that when you take a new position, sometimes you can get a little lax in the position you were in. Uh Matt was the exact opposite. He's been phenomenal as we've had to navigate, you know, access points for the new football stadium, things like that. He has not missed a beat. So, I just wanted to take a second to thank him before I go on with the recommendation of Craig Jones. Uh Craig's been in the IT world for about two decades. He his most recent job was with Premier
056Truck Rental. He was the director of IT where he managed a complete overhaul of their IT systems as well as managing the $750,000 IT budget. He also has public school experience most recently with Northwest Allen County Schools where he um was a network manager and managed their help desk and was second to their IT coordinator. Uh he was also at Garrett Community Schools. While while he was at Knack, he oversaw eight technicians in his department. So, he has extensive management experience. Um, he received his information systems management degree from IvyTech, but he's also received A+ certifications. He's done what's called six sigma training, which is an an excellent, it's not just it. It's, you know, it's basically for defects and errors and things like that to try to maximize efficiency and production. and he took
057courses uh at Purdue University in IT security. I would say that Craig's strong suit is IT security. Um he has had extensive training. He's done uh dats data as a company that deals in cyber security. He has two certifications with them dealing with backups and disaster recovery. Um he's had firewall training courses. He's had Cisco training with their firewalls which we incorporate here at this district. He has been in a leadership position in the last 10 years of his career. So he he's excited to come to Decal. Um you know we interviewed seven candidates and he rose to the top. We brought a couple back for second interviews and Craig just just outshined. He has a knowledge base in technology that I'm excited to get on board with our team. He actually came in last
058week to meet the team. Um, worked with Matt a little bit in his transition with tomorrow being Matt Buchanan's last day. You can imagine the amount of work that Craig is going to have coming in. Um, he wanted that opportunity to come in and try to learn the ins and outs. Took him around the district. I've talked to our current technology team. They're seemed very excited about the transition, which made me happy. Um, Craig is extremely team oriented. One of the things he mentioned in his interview process of wanting to bring along the guys in the technology department, get them the training they want, um really bringing them into their own, so to speak. He has intense energy and he is an advocate for um students and staff when it comes to technology. He wants
059nothing but the best. We currently partner with Reliance IO for our internet, you know, infrastructure and we pay them over $20,000 a year. I'm hopeful in talking with Craig uh Taylor who's here tonight and Eric who are are our our network experts now that we're going to be able to go away from that coming right into this position. I believe, you know, I'm we'll wait a little while to see with Reliance, but uh I don't think we're going to even need them in the future with what Craig brings to the table. Working with Melissa and seeing letters of recommendation and following up with his references was mind-blowing to me. Um I've gone through a lot of those processes and every person I talked to and every letter we saw was exemplary. I mean, every person
060we'd hire him back in a second. We have absolutely no qualms in recommending him to you. Um, East Noble's CFO, I talked to him because, you know, he said, "Yeah, please hire him so I can try to steal him away. They know him. He has kids at East Noble." Um, he I'm excited to bring him into this team. I think he's going to be an excellent addition. So, I would just ask that the board approve my recommendation. Um, he'll be on a 260day contract as a director with a starting salary of $85,000. Okay. Thank you, Mark. At this time, I'll turn to the board. Ask for a motion. I move to approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Is this a straight position or is administrative benefits as long? Director, not
061not an administrative position. Yeah, director classified. Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. And thank you for the work of our team going through the interview process. Okay. Item H8, Academy or Change Academy 2526 lease agreement. Yes. Uh, as the change academy is making the move to our choice building that we lease, they require anou or a lease agreement to meet auditing purposes for the county. Um, it's it's basically a I mean it's rubber stamp is what I would call it as well. Um, they are agreeing to pay us $27,75 to lease. What I did basically was take the square footage of the choice building, break down what their square footage was, found what we've paid in the last year and utilities, internet fees,
062things like that, bundled that all together, and just applied it to that square footage, which is where I came up with with the number. I know it's an odd number, the 230875. Mr. Lee's pointed that out to me. I was like, how do you come up with a number with cents in it? Um, that's just how I am, I guess. That's the number that came up when I did the division. So, that's going to save us considerable money in our leasing of that building. Uh, currently we pay a little over $3,500 a month. So, they will help us, you know, that that breakdown for them, like I said, was 2,300 of that. Um, that is including the utilities, internet access, and things like that. They are bringing in their own camera systems and things like
063that. We are doing with our maintenance department east side and Garrett as well, you know, contribute with the change academy. So, their maintenance departments as well are helping us put up a couple walls for separation purposes and things like that at the Choice Building. Basically, all I need from the board is if you would approve me signing off on this lease agreement. I did include that with you in the packet as well. So, I'd be happy to answer any questions and ask for your approval. What's What's the overall square footage? That's a great question. I I don't have it with me. Do you know Justin off top of your head? Thank you. That's why I wanted him here. for everybody or just Yeah, that's the entire building. Entire building. Yeah, they're they're getting just under
06450% would you say of the square footage? I just wondered based on what discussions we had at the committee meetings as to looking down the road, how much square footage would we need? Right. I think with with the addition of the virtual academy, I think we're kind of in a gray area right now. We got to see how many of Not that those kids are going to be on site, but we I don't know how that's going to impact our choice academy as it is right now if we're going to lose some kids to that. Um but but it'll be a a telling sign this next school year if if Justin comes to us and says, "Hey, I um am overloaded here with the choice program." And that's a one-year lease. Correct. Okay. At this
065time, I'll ask for a motion. Motion to approve. Second. Motion a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H9, request for authorization to dispose outdated, unusable curricular material. Yes, the middle school has gone through their curriculum like we had just done with at the elementary level. Um, you have the list of some textbooks and student workbooks that they're looking to dispose of. just asking the board's permission to dispose of those workbooks and textbooks. Just don't burn them. Again, we will attempt to ask students or anybody that wants those, they're more than welcome to them. But other than that, we will probably put them in a dumpster. Approve. I'll second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying
066I. I. oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H10, smart systems agreement renewal for 2526. Yes. Smart systems. I'm bringing this for um Aubrey Ruford, our food service director. She just needs that we do this every year where we approve the partnership with Smart Systems. They require that contract to be signed. Um it's a lot of safety equipment, gloves, cleaning equipment, things like that that they contract out with Smart Systems. So, I just need the board's approval for her to go ahead with this. Move to approve. Oh, sorry. It's okay. I'll second. Have a motion, a second. Any discussion? Has there been any discussion with them about because of the type of products that they're supplying? Is there going to be any kind of anticipated pricing? Yeah, they and that's mentioned in their smart systems with the
067tariff. You're talking about tariffs and things like that. Yes, they're kind of in limbo. Most of the prices did go up I think three or 4% this year. Not not bad at all. Um and we're just again that's a limbo area and just wait and see what happens. Most of the gloves I think was the big one that they referenced coming from China. So we just we'll have to wait and see what happens there. Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Okay. Item H11, request to raise summer feed pay. Again, for Mrs. Rutherford, she wants to raise um the pay to $15, bump it up a dollar for those fruit food service people that are working for our summer feed program. Um she mentions in her memo, you
068know, our numbers have increased by over 50,000 meals and our reimbursement increased by over $177,000. Uh anyone that knows Aubrey knows she's like me. That's why we get along so well. She's a penny pincher. She's extremely fiscally responsible. So, for her to ask for a dollar raise, I don't ever ever question her. She I let her run her budget. Um she does a fantastic job. I think this is a good way to reward the workers that are they're working in the summer. Um the $15 falls right into where most of our employees are are at right now. And that's the main reason I approve asking the board to let her bump that pay up to $15. Up to 15. Correct. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to the board. Motion to approve. I'll second.
069Have a motion, a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H12, the 25 2025 2026 cell phone stipens. It's that time of year. Our fiscal year is getting ready to start in July one again that the board has to approve our travel addendums and our cell phone stipens. Um most of our cell phones are with FirstNet. I think Mr. Harrison's still here. So that they partner with AT&T for emergency services if our cell phones would go down. Um so most people have that. So that's why this list has shrunk. If you have a cell phone with FirstNet, we just pay for the phone and they get it. So, administrators, um, people that need them have two phones, their own their own personal and then the
070FirstNet that the school district provides. But we still have a handful of people that do not have FirstNet phones that use their cell phones extensively for work. So, we um reimburse them a $600 annual cell phone stipen. So, I would just ask the board to approve this list. Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Yeah, I'm sorry. I apologize in catch this, but don't fringe benefits for the administrative staff run out on at the end of this month. Correct. Where I don't see we're voting on that. Are we voting on the fringe benefits so we can No, that that will be um because they expire they expire July June 30th. We should be voting on now to make sure it stays in force. Well, we will we will go um the term has left me. Sorry.
071Status quo. Status quo. Thank you. on their benefits. We want to take directors and I did the same thing with I just want to make sure we don't they that we we're we're we're within the legal framework so that we're not lo they don't lose that benefits. We create extra paperwork for HR needlessly to Oh, and believe me, I've talked to HR and and Gina to make sure I don't make either one of them. Sorry. I just I saw the monthly thing and I just thought I wanted to make sure we were covered there. We we are trying to with with where we're at with the state funding, I want to try to get teacher negotiations, administrators, directors all done at the same time. So I've have decided to go status quo on those. I
072have been talking with Steve. Um so their benefits package would stay the same, stay status quo until till we know more until we just wrote that round and I just I knew there was it was aligned with the contract. So I just want to make sure our folks are protected. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Okay. Item H13, the travel agenda. In the same vein, we do the travel addendum for our district employees that travel from building to building. We reimburse them mileage if they're using their own vehicle. Um, so I would just ask the board to approve this list. I have made some just a few adjustments on a few people that had to go up a little bit that were
073going that were going over in mileage. Um the one Tim Yoder in in it. Hopefully he's not going to have to use all that because we do have a district vehicle. When we upgraded one of the district vehicles, we gave one to tech. So I'm hopeful those numbers will go down. Um everyone in the business office gives me a hard time from the standpoint of this is one of those things I watch very closely. This is one of the things I want to make sure we're not giving mileage to people that don't need it. I want to make sure they're using vehicles available to them if we have them. Um, this list is as whittleled down as I could make it, believe me. So, are these max payouts or is this Yes, those are maximum
074payouts up to up to um is and I don't have a problem with that question going forward with all the technology we have today. Are we traveling back and forth between schools for meetings when we could be doing that through teams just as a thought process like you said thinking about what's going to happen with the state that we don't know about for next year? We ought to be thinking about okay how does are we really having to travel? I all I can tell you Tony is I promise you Gina could back me up. I I look at every single one of them that comes in and where they're going. Um technology especially, they they travel to buildings when they have to fix something. So they they'll go they'll fix it. I've had the conversation
075with everybody on this list in terms of because I've seen a few of them where they've gone they've gone back to their home office and then they've gone out again and I've had the discussions. Hey, let's try to be a little more efficient. If you know you're going out, go from this building to this building. Yeah. They all hate me, believe me, when it comes to the travel to Denim. Okay. But, um, I'm with you on that one. Again, it's just absolutely we've done the same thing. My my sales team doesn't travel anymore, right? Everything can be done online meetings. Agreed. There's we can meet with eight or nine customers in a day versus spending a day driving and only getting to meet with one. So, right. Okay. This time, I'll entertain a motion. I'll
076move to approve. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Okay. Item H14, non-certified staff raises, non-certified benefits. Right. Um, I'll start with, well, I can just show it's pretty short memo. Um, we'll be anywhere from 0 to six. We are still working on our wage compression and trying to get things as equal as we can or you know as close as we can. So that's why I have that range. Um I add in there that most of our certified staff I'm looking right now at 3% raises. Um I will tell the board I'm still trying to crunch some numbers. I don't I only have a couple weeks left but um I I would like to be able that to
077have that be a little bit more. I'm just trying to look at a few of our revenue streams right now. I'm comfortable at 3% and the reason I'm at 3% is we changed one thing in our benefits for the classified staff. We are now picking up the PEF contribution which is 3% for our pair of professionals and our school lunch employees. I I don't know the history of why those two areas were left off. Um I I don't like it. I didn't like it. every other employee class has their retirement benefit paid for by the district. So that is how I'm going to get the paras and the school lunch employees their 3% raise. We're going to pick that up. So to try to stay consistent across the board with classified, I'm looking at most
078of them at 3%. To Greg's point with the benefit sheet, um Gina would have killed me had I gone status quo on classified staff. You can imagine the nightmare with all the hourly employees for payroll to not get that portion done. Much easier for our salar salary, excuse me, administrators, directors, and teachers to deal with that. But the classified that are on hourly pay, uh, yeah, I wouldn't have wanted to come into the office had I not gotten this one done. So, I I am still kind of in limbo. I will I will keep the board up to date. If I do decide that we should go across the board at a higher percentage, I can tell you that at 3%, and again, it's obviously rough, but it's pretty close. That would increase us in
079our budget um approximately $312,000. I'm comfortable with that number. Um I'm I'm a firm believer. I know we've had a lot of discussions on what's happening at state level. Um, I'm a believer that I will find places that to cut anywhere but employees. I think it's extremely important that we give raises. Um, at least to try to keep up with cost of living adjustments and things like that. So, I I think with the funding, you know, the state budget going up 2% at least, and if I'm going at 3%, we'll be able to make that work. So, I would just ask the board to approve that. than the benefit sheet. Like I said, the only thing that's really changing on the benefit sheet is that PEF contribution for pair of professionals. The wording of the
080PEF section used to be everyone is paid their 3% except pair of professionals and school lunch employees. It's like the worst thing in the world to see if you're one of those two classes. So, would they get the PEF and the cost of living? They will not. Their 3% is going to be us picking up their PEF. That gives them a 3% raise. Okay, this time I'll entertain a motion to the board. I'll make a motion. Second. Okay. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. This brings us to item I, miscellaneous. And I'll open it up to our board members first. Do you have anything this evening? Sure. Uh, I want to bring up some of our ex-
081studentents. Um, Mark Beckman is currently a DeCalb employee at the middle school. Uh, I think he was a 2015 grad. Uh, he just finished his journey to complete the Abbott World Marathon Majors. Uh, I have no idea why you'd want to run 26 miles, but he ran in the Tokyo Marathon, the Boston, the London, the Berlin, Chicago, and New York. So, if you ever want to know what his pace is, his goal is to be under six minutes. That's 26 times. Very impossible. Um, I get sore riding in a car for 26 miles. So, I I don't know why you want to run that far, Mark. But, uh, if you haven't met Mark, you probably won't meet him very long because his heart is go go go go go. So, if you see him running
082around town, you probably missed him because he's gone. Um, Rachel Dinkoff. Uh, she's a 2012 grad. I believe she is going into the Indiana High School track and field hall of fame Saturday. Uh, she won the state in shot in 2012. She got third in discus, the other way around. Won the discus, third in shot. Um, she was in the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo. So, um, you only need to make Rachel one time because she is booming with excitement, and she's got a personality that gosh, you just got to love her. She's a great person. I was hoping she could be here, but man, she's a great great person, a great role model, and a a great person from Decal. Hopefully, she'll come back and we can recognize her for that honor. Uh, my third
083thing is, um, since you drove here today, you've hopefully gone around and looked at all the nice new dirt that we've turned over. Um, the old bleachers are gone. It's sad. The visitors bleachers are gone and they're waiting for their new residence. The home bleachers on the west side. I'm excited. I drive by there and I just drive slow. I'm I feel like an old farmer driving by and just gawking at what's going on. So, I'm I'm excited for the new bleachers to come in. Uh, the new concession has a wall. So, if you're ever working on projects, there's nothing like seeing a wall go up because you know that something is happening. You know, when you can smell dirt moving, something's happening. Uh, the new band complex. You drive by there and it looks
084like a little fishing hole right now from the rain. There's a nice little pond over there. I think we'll get rid of that. But, um, that's slowly getting moved into the right direction. Um, I want to be here when they move the tower, though. I wanna I want to see that engineering process. I'm just I'll make a note of that for you, TL. Thank you. I uh I'm going to be in Italy next week. So, it won't be next week, so you're safe. July 2nd, I'll be back. Might not be safe. Can't hold up the project. Don't let me get in the way. FaceTime. FaceTime. All right. Six hours difference. Also, the softball press box has had a lot of compliments with this the press box and the and the dugouts and I I want
085to thank the FCI crew for coming in and doing that. Man, they came in and it was nasty weather and they were getting it done before we hosted the sectional. So, uh I I they did a great job on that. So, thanks to them. Great. Great. And to piggyback on that, remember we paid for the materials to do that and FCI donated the labor and that ended up being a much more extensive project than they had anticipated. So, um, that's a testament to FCI and their commitment to the school district. Yeah, they were out there when it was nasty, ugly up on top of the building and looks great. Looking forward. That's it. Committee, are we have the July meeting. You know, the girls didn't last a committee, they knew they were going to be
086busy in June and July, so they weren't sure they were going to have a meeting in July. Do we know that yet? Okay. All right. Thank you. I just got one item real quick and then Mark, you know, you said I appreciate you trying to open up revenue streams for um wage increases. One thing I think I I'd like to look at I think there might be some lowing fruit there is do a five-year analysis of our annual credit card purchases. Excuse me. credit card purchases just high level dollar amount because if we can do some kind of deal where we go to a credit card we get 2% cash back 3% cash back and then um opportunities exist like not we can't use smart systems because that's food service but opportunity for these subscription
087things right if you get $50,000 a month in credit card purchases or 2% or $1,000 a month in in savings that could go I mean maintenance could do a heck of a lot with that so I mean to me I think that's pos opportunity for lowline fruit. So something to look at before the next month. I I believe do we have that with Lake City? Don't we get with our Lake City credit card or no? Right. I mean, right. Yeah. But I mean, if we do a full-blown analysis, I mean everything. I mean, down to your supplies, get them switched to one, might be able to work a deal with card company to get three or 4%. Again, that's my absolutely supplies. I mean, an extra 1,500 bucks a month can go a long way
088for maintenance or even supplies for the teachers. So, Just an opportunity for a cost save. That's all I Oh, I do want to say too, I do want to point out uh Mr. Matt Vince and Jesse Garrett, their monthly reports. I I very professional, very concise. Um and what I like about too, I don't think I don't know if they collaborate, but they're they're pretty well aligned too with what what's going on. So, that makes me feel good that the communication that tells me the communication is strong between those two folks. So, I just thought that needed to be pointed out. They work together extensively. I'm sure they're probably sick of each other by now here. I I will add just because I know Matt well enough and Steve probably back me up. Um you
089might be the first person that's ever said Matt Vince is concise. He he will give you as much information as you want, but his his uh board updates are extremely thorough. He's got a future as a project manager. That's all I got to say. Well done. So, that's another one that I am in a good spot. I am putting together for the board hopefully for next month just to recognize since that position now is a year old. The amount of money Matt Vince has saved this district. Yep. Has more I don't like to say that because then he'll come and win a bigger raise. Uh far exceeds his salary. I will put it he is a pitbull with vendors. Um and does an excellent job for us. I think we all saw the value in
090having that role when we when we when we created that back then last year. I can't even imagine not having the role in my position. And he's good about purging things that are no longer used. Well, yes, he is. Some things that are still used, he likes to try to purge. I'm aware. I'm aware. Sometimes change is good. That's right. I appreciate that recognition of those two. They work extremely hard as do all the directors. Again, like I said, what amazed me the last two. I meant it last month too, but the alignment in their updates too without even collaborate. You know, you know they're they're working together, communication strong, so they're good hard workers. Good. Anything else? Um I also want to make a shout out to our administration who had a retreat. Oh,
091I mean school I think sometimes people think, oh, it's summer and everyone's on break and our administrators are not. They're always continually working for us. And I've also seen a lot of our teachers who have also been doing professional development and they are out of the classroom but still working hard for our students too. And I just want you to know it's seen and it's appreciated. So if you just drive through the parking lot here anytime any weekday the amount of students and staff that are here every day is unbelievable. Hundreds of students are doing incredible things all summer long and they couldn't do it without the coaches and the teachers. So, okay. Anything for administration? Just quickly, I shared a letter that I I'm sending to Rick and Vicky James. I think we know
092the level of support that they provide the district. And this is specific to our early learning program, our four-year-old preschool program that began in 2014. Since then, they've donated $3.7 million to that program, influencing uh and impacting over a thousand four-year-old students. I think the first group will be juniors this year. So, we've got some longitudinal studies that we were able to take a look at and see the impact that starting early, starting as a four-year-old in that preschool highquality program. Um, I could go on and on about the benefits of that program, but their generosity uh is amazing. And that's just one area that they have made commitments to the district, but it's just incredible the amount of uh support that they've provided the district in that program. It's been amazing. So, I just
093wanted to make sure the board had a copy of that letter. Thank you. I I will just um piggyback on Tony a little bit. Uh, I've been super excited about the football complex, the band practice area. Um, as I drive by and I talk with FCI and and I'm out. Um, the amount of feedback I've gotten from the public is amazing. They love to see something new going up. Um, we also have exciting things hopefully on the horizon with our performing arts wing and a student activity center. We did receive some highle numbers from Garmin Miller and a couple sketches that we will share at our July 10th um facilities and operations advisory group where we can start to dig in a little bit and see, you know, what we can do with that. Um
094the initial sketches were extremely exciting. I think Steve would agree. We were there. Matt Vince was there. Um just great things on the horizon for this district. I just thank the board for their support in getting that off the ground with the with the football facility. Um just the excitement of our kids. You know, my daughter's going to be a senior. Um you guys have I mean, I'm sure you hear the same things I'm hearing. Um kids are excited. Adults are excited. Um I am thrilled with the coaches that we've been hiring recently. Um our new athletic director, I was in the first interview. I mean, these people are excited to be Barrens. They're excited for the school district. I know Steve and I have probably said this a million times. You know, what do
095we I don't even know. It's been too many years, Steve. 33 that we came in together. Um, you know, when Steve and I started at a time when football was a powerhouse, basketball, you know, we went through the basketball years of being a powerhouse. I I sense I don't want to speak too quickly, but I sense the tide is turning and getting us back to the I don't want to call them the good old days, right, Steve? I mean, they're all They've all been good days for us. We're sounding old. That's true. But, uh, I'm excited. I'm excited for the future of this district. I'm honored to be a part of it. I thank all of you way back to when you blessed me with this position. I will say it's it's nice because if
096you have tried to drive through water right now, I come around the back side of the school now. It's nice to see that the football team is still practicing when I come through when before they weren't even in sight. So, I think that's a very good positive with 70ome kids at camp this week, right? I mean, y huge camp. And I will give you the date, Tio. I can't remember it. I I don't want to give you the wrong one. I want to say the 21st. If Matt were here, he'd be able to tell me that the bleachers will be being installed. The day they bring them will be the day they set them. I think it might have been in his update. It might be in that. But 21st, yes, July 21st would be
097when they're doing the foundations and the bases in two weeks hopefully if the weather cooperates. Um, but the bleachers, I'm excited to see those come in and how they set those down. But the day they bring them, they say they they begin their work because they say they will have them set and done in two to three days. So that's let's go. Quite an undertaking 30,000 seating bleacher stadium. The July 10th committee meeting, will that be a midday meeting? That's that. Thank you. That is at one the one o'clock here. Yes. And I I obviously will email. I just kind of wanted to share with the public and the board um that we will have that as an agenda item to discuss. That is a Wednesday, too, which is different. 4th of July kind of
098impacted the normal. That's fine. I just want to make sure which time it was. July July 10th. I'm showing it as a Thursday. Is it? It's a Thursday. Was it July 10th? Unless I'm looking wrong. July 4th because the 4th is on a Friday, so that'd be 11. It is July 10th. Yes, it's a Thursday at 1. I apologize. I mean, you and I probably attended a lot of meetings. So, I don't know if other board members want to go instead. Well, if there's not, I will go. Well, if there's three of us, one we can just sit off to. As many can go as they want as long as we sit outside. I don't want to get anybody to get in trouble. I'm good at it. That's why trouble. Experts aren't. Yes, I am
099an expert at getting in trouble. Long as you take Bill Murray's advice and just don't say speak this evening, but if anyone from the audience would like to participate or have anything to share. Okay. Again, thank you all for being here and giving us a a summer evening. All right. At this time, I will ask the board entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move to second. A motion a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppos. Motion passes. Our next regular board meeting is July 15th, 2025 at 6 o'clock p.m. here at Central Office.