001I'd like to call this May the 4th, 2026 Dulan School Board meeting to order. Would everyone please rise for the pledgece 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. >> I'm going to get sink there. All right, we're going to start off tonight's meeting with student and staff recognition, beginning with employee and teachers of the year. The Dulan School Corporation announced the winners of the 2026 teacher and employee of the year recognition program last week. Our recipients are here tonight and I would like them to come forward for recognition in just a moment. Our elementary teacher of the year is Bandy Beckwith from Brumit Elementary. Our secondary teacher of the year is Terry Chesvich from Dunland
002Rise Academy. And our employee of the year is Marie Herring, special education instructional aid at Jackson Elementary. Would all the recipients please come forward? This year's winners were presented with their awards at their respective schools. by their principles, corporation leadership, and our sponsors. Each of the winners received a $500 monetary stipen from the following local sponsors, Lane One Foundation, Elementary Teacher of the Year, First Source Bank Secondary Teach of the Year, and Ellis Electric Employee of the Year. Uh the 2026 winners will be recognized not only tonight, but also at the beginning of the year program in August in DSC Publications, Corporation website, social media, and on a plaque displayed in the lobby. Congratulations everyone. Uh would the sponsors please come forward to the extent they're here tonight too? >> There you go. Donna, the
003floor is yours. Tonight we are here to celebrate students who achieved a perfect score which is a 650 on this year's I read assessment. Although we do not have all of our I read scores in yet, we do know that these students are our top students that had perfect scores. The majority of students are recognized are in second grade along with some third and fourth grade students that are new to Indiana and required to take the exam. The I read assessment measures foundational reading skills aligned with Indiana academic standards with a focus on phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. We are so incredibly proud of our young Trojan students and appreciate all of the strong reading foundation skills that are provided by our kindergarten, first, second, and third grade teachers, as well as the support that our
004families provide to our students and our schools. We would also like to take a moment to congratulate Jackson, Liberty, and Yoast Elementary Schools for being recognized in Indianapolis for the IdoE I read statewide recognition day that took place on April 8th for schoolwide achievement of 95% or above. We're proud to say that all five of our elementary schools had a pass rate of 91% or above and are thrilled with this achievement. Our first group of perfect scores representing Bailey Elementary School and they are here tonight with their principal Carrie Storm, their assistant principal Ashley Trumbull, teachers Adonna Elkins, Renee Nagel, Jamie Swanson, and Kathy Ern. Um, please come forward. James Adam Rodriguez, Beckham Jones, Nora Koser, Anna Neville, and Lucy Richens. And if our student, if our staff could come forward, too. Teachers, please come
005forward. Did all the parents get pictures too? You good? Okay. Congratulations Next, please welcome Nino Camarada and his students from Breum Elementary School. We also have teacher Elise Herman who is joining tonight, Gavin Anderson and Miriam Schrader. Please come forward. Jackson Elementary School is Up next, joined by assistant principal Jenny Fairbar. Please welcome Abigail Dolphin and Katherine Smitty. CONGRATULATIONS. Principal Heidi Henar is here with a large group of students from Liberty Elementary School. Welcomed also by teachers Laura Robertson and Tammy Pullins. Riley Papawwell and Allison I don't want to Allison M. I don't want to ruin your name. Please students please come forward. Dylan Eckert, Adeline Graden, Crosby Jackson, Quinn King, Medics Price, Emma Rataker, Chase Ryber, Tobias Stewart, and Adele Sozapinsky. How'd I do, ADELE? We'll make sure all of you have a chance
006to get a picture. Don't worry. OUR final group tonight is here with Principal Josh Huig Huig from Yoast Elementary School. Teachers joined also by Andrea Street and Michael Diaz. Please welcome Zoe Pierce and Charlotte Rig. All right, I will continue with the student recognitions and we would like to congratulate the Westchester Science Olympiad Gold team who competed at the state meet on March 28th and placed six out of 35 teams. Team members are Elena Barut, Ben Bryak, Danielle Burch, uh, Dalon Dolph, Galvin Ellis, James Gano, Robert Hunt, Jackson Lukes, Paisley Miller, Lennox Murray, Virginia Murray, and Riley Seismore. The team is coached by Terresa Kyleman, and Carrie Balon. Would the teachers and students please come up? You guys Congratulations also goes out to the Chesterton High School Business Professionals of America who qualified for nationals
007at the BPA state leadership conference in March. National qualifiers are Aroihi Agashi who took first in ethics and professionalism and Devon Throw took second. Stella Stupick took first in health insurance and Caitlyn Callaway finished first in medical coding. Their coach is Danielle Gingrich. I think we have one student here tonight. Um, come forward. a second. I'll get basketball in here. >> And finally, congratulations to the Chesterton High School boys varsity basketball team on another successful basketball season. and a sectional championship team members are Tommy Caspay, TJ Ray, Logan Pakornney, Jaylen Watts, Bradley Basilla, Ethan Virgil, Cooper Huig, Crosby Moore, Gunnar El Caden Schneider. Coaches are Mark Urban, Tim Ray, Adam White, and Drew Bodel. And I think they're forward. A minute. >> Congratulations. All right. Thank you. I'll wait till we are moving on to
008agenda item 3.01. Duelan School Corporation K through five writing pilot being a writer. >> Yay. >> In your board packet tonight, you will see an item referencing K through5 language arts adoption. I wanted to take a couple of minutes to share with you and introduce you to a new curricular resource that is included in this adoption. Being a writer was published by collaborative classroom. It's a K through5 writing program that builds writing craft and social emotional skills side by side. Two priorities that surface clearly in Dulan's curriculum review. So, as you'll see on this slide, um we love to track our data over the years, and we noticed a trend that definitely um our math scores were superior to our ELA scores, um on average by 4%. And so, we are always looking to improve
009ourselves. And so, we are our own best um judges and um comp competitors in what we're doing. And so, we want to make sure that we have an opportunity to increase our ELA scores as well. We've been doing a lot in the area of phonics and our reading scores as you saw tonight are doing well for our K through2 students um um as observed by their I read scores in second grade and third grade. Um but this will give us a broader path to follow and so we're looking um forward to introducing this to you tonight. Leader teams have voiced a need for a cohesive writing resource since 2020 2021 school year. We just haven't found quite the right thing um until recently. So we're excited to share this with you. So we started the
010pilot back in November. Um started our conversation with collaborative classroom and we went around the district and and selected some teachers. The majority of the teachers were involved in um our GVC course building. So they had a background in developing the curriculum and kind of knew what it was that we were missing and um wanted to elaborate on in our curriculum development. So we went around the district. We made sure that we had two teachers from every building, representation from every grade level. We also included some of our special education teachers, a reading specialist, and just wanted to make sure that we had a really broad um group of teachers to be able to take a look at at this writing curriculum. So, we went on and we did some onboarding with collaborative classroom, and
011the pilot teachers um began teaching their units in January after they came back from Christmas break. um the in-person group. We went and visited the classrooms in February along with collaborative classroom. We had a couple of coaching sessions and check-ins with the teachers virtually with collaborative classroom. And then in the spring during the final PE feedback session, we um provided teachers access to the online curriculum so that they could look at it as well as some of the materials that were in the building for them to review. That formalized the textbook um adoption process. So being a writer has two areas of focus. One piece is on writing and the other is on social skills. The writing component um encompasses the technical, genre based and academic side of writing while the social skills component integrates
012interpersonal skills and student agency. Um that was something that we were really excited about because this piece of social skills integration certainly um is complimentary to this curriculum but we know that this is something that can then be generalized and used by teachers in other areas and curriculums and subject matters as well. So we've noticed some things such as motivation and creativity in our students that are involved in the pilot. um a variety of rich mentor texts um balances the foundational writing as I mentioned before along with the process and um exploring the genres and um also gives us the opportunity to balance the organization with the grammar and conventions. Um the social skills aspect it's about building relationships being a good listener um and cooperative structures and student choice. So really um helping students
013to be valuable partners in the learning process to their to their teammates in the classroom. So the units of study in a K5 collaborative classroom provide a structured genrebased framework. So there's narrative, information, and opinion writing that guide students through the writing process from brainstorming and drafting to revising, editing, and publishing. Um, publishing involves looking to peers to help you edit as well as conferencing with the teacher. These units foster a community of writers by encouraging daily peer collaboration, partner sharing, and supportive teacher conferencing, which ensures students learn to give and receive constructive feedback. So, as you can see up here, K1 is a grade band we call it, because there's two grade levels together. And then grade two, and then looking at grade three, four is kind of a combo grade band as well
014with the focus areas. So, I'm going to share a video with you. Um, it's a quick clip of a kindergarten classroom and a student working through some productive struggle when a teacher was coaching them, ultimately building student agency in the process. >> You made a second sentence. So, what do you think you could do next? >> Read to me what you have. >> Cheese. >> So, let's write my pizza. >> Is there anything else you could write about watermelon? >> What's a fact about watermelon? Come here. >> Okay. So, we need to trace all of this. >> So, I'm sorry. I I don't know if you could hear that very well. So, what's happening in this video is the teacher is coaching and prompting the student to develop their writing further. So, instead of going
015over and providing the for the student asking some questions to kind of coach the student along and think about something that they learned in the classroom to further develop their to further develop their writing and expand on that. That was a kindergarten student. So, I think that's pretty impressive to see um how they're independently able to sit and write in this this scenario two sentences um utilizing some of their encoding skills to spell along the way. So, grade five, grade five is tricky for us. We always want to know, should we continue what we were doing with K4 and expand on that for our fifth grade students or do we need to shift over to getting them ready for six, seven, and eight. Um, with the intermediate model, that can be tricky sometimes. And so,
016we have to weigh and balance out what we think would be best for the students. So in this case, we were looking at what it was that collaborative classroom offered to our grade five units and what it was that would be expected of a grade six student when they got to the the middle school level. So here you can see how um some of the pieces of units correlate with what would be an expectation and is a precursor to those skills that they need to be successful. Sorry, Amanda. So, now we're going to move into paraphrasing. So, this is an example of a fifth grade student, what it looks like now to go from a kindergarten student who needs that teacher coaching and prompting. And now we're going to look at the application level of
017a student in fifth grade um talking about paraphrasing. Okay. So, what did you write about in here? Um, so basically when we do research and go on like internet sites because on internet we have to like make sure we have to like when there's like popcorn or something we have to like make sure that it's simple for like our audience simpler for the audience to read. So basically first we have to read the sentence and then we have to think about basically the words or phrases that are like are like synonyms that are easy easy to replace easy to replace with and then you can like and also you need for like the audience to understand. >> What do you replace those words with? >> Like um words that you come up with like words
018that you know you know that I do know too. >> Very good. Awesome. And um you also want to think about what the author author is talking about sentence like you don't like make it like a different meaning. Oh, okay. That's good to know. And you're going to add a new word to like the sentence that you just read. You create a new sentence that um you will create a new sentence and easier for people to understand. That's a great job. So, it's pretty impressive to see the development of a kindergarten student still using that coaching model by the teacher to ask questions for the students to kind of build that agency and get there on their own. Um, but helping them to get to this level where they can now not only produce the
019writing, but articulate what it is that they're doing in their writing. There we go. So, at the end of the pilot, we um surveyed all of our teachers and provided them an opportunity to give us some feedback. And so, as you'll see on here, um, majority of it was very positive. Teachers described students who looked forward to writing, which was something that they were struggling with before. Um, they were demonstrating confidence in their writing. Um, writing multiple paragraph essays, showing clear growth through the writing process. Teacher feedback captured the enthusiasm um, as well. I enjoy teaching the pilot. The students are engaged in the writing process, and the benefits of the SEAL component help create a safe environment. Others echoed that sentiment, noting that they love the SEAL component and all the mentor texts and
020that the program was quote well organized and laid out for the teacher. The writing assessment preparation materials were also praised, particularly at the fourth grade level. Across the board, teachers left the pilot feeling confident, energized, and ready to adopt, which was pretty exciting because we started in the middle of the year. So they had to kind of um pitch hit so to speak because they had to stop what they were doing with their with their grade level teams and dive into this pilot. And the reason being that we really wanted to do a comparison between what we were already utilizing within the GBC and what it would look like enhanced through this new curriculum. And so the only way to do that was to separate them, which was difficult because we've been working in our
021PLC's and so they're used to collaborating together. So we were very excited to hear how much they enjoyed the pilot. So, just wanted to send a thank you to all the teachers that participated. As I said, um we were visiting classrooms. We were doing online check-ins, talking to them along the way. So, they really had to put in a lot of extra effort to not only learn the curriculum, jump in mid year, but then also to devote this time to be able to do these check-ins with us and provide us with valuable feedback. So this is an example of all of the teachers from Bailey, Brumit, Jackson, Liberty, Yoast, Liberty Intermediate, and Westchester Intermediate that participate in the pilot. And so we wanted to thank them. That's it. >> I know. Thank you for that.
022>> Thanks, Donna. >> Thanks, Yeah. >> Okay. Uh, no one signed up for patron participation. I'll move on to the consent agenda. >> Entail a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> First and the second comment on the motion. All in favor, please say I. >> Uh. Any opposed? It's really loud. You turn it off. Nobody wants to hear me that much. >> I jump in, Brandon. >> Um, are you next? Oh, yeah. I'll with that. Um, sorry, Mr. McDerman. With the passage of the consent agenda, the board has formally approved Mrs. Brooke Busy as our new director of teaching and learning effective July 1st. It is my honor to introduce Mrs. Busy. Brooke joins us from Plymouth Community School Corporation with more than 20 years of experience
023in education. During that time, she has served as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, director of quality programs, and principal. Under her leadership, Webster Elementary earned the national designation as an exemplary model PLC school through Solution Tree. At Plymouth, Brooke has been directly responsible for overseeing district curriculum and instruction, professional development, and federal grants. In addition, she brings valuable experience in developing and implementing a guaranteed and viable curriculum. Brooke holds a bachelor of science and education investigational technology from Ball State University. I'm excited to welcome Mrs. Busy to our team and look forward to her leadership for many years to come. BROOKE, I just want to thank all of you for this opportunity. So excited to get started. Most excited to work. >> Okay, moving on to our new business. 6.01 textbook adoption language arts grades
024K through five. Hi, I'm here today on behalf of the department of teaching and learning seeking approval of the curricular materials for the 2627 school year. Kindergarten through fifth grade language arts, specifically being a writer program, which I just shared with all of you, the adoption of a writing curriculum was delayed in the 2425 school year due to teacher feedback pertaining to the request for additional time to evaluate and secure a resource that provided the best fit for our GBC, which we feel like we found. Being a writer provides teachers with a comprehensive K through5 curriculum which includes the materials, the guidance and training to ensure teacher and student success. As I shared in the presentation, this program has piloted throughout the district by a variety of teachers including general education teachers, special education, a
025reading specialist, and our instructional coaches. Teachers districtwide and for parents then had the opportunity to review and provide feedback on digital materials and copies of classroom sets that were provided to grade levels. The feedback was then shared with collaborative classroom to ensure that program and teacher support training moving forward is on mark with what we need. At this time, we ask for the board's approval to adopt collaborative classrooms being a writer program as part of the K through5 language arts adoption for the 26 27 school year. >> Thank you, Donna. I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the language arts grade K through five textbook. >> I'll second. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. 6.02 textbook adoption, English language
026arts, grades 6 through 8. >> As with our previous request, the Department of Teaching and Learning is seeking approval of the curricular materials for sixth grade English language arts materials. The sixth grade teachers have especially expressed a need for access to reading passages that can be adapted to a variety of student reading levels. The sixth grade teachers have reviewed and recommended Common Lit 360, a digital resource for teachers and students. The adoption committee was compromised of sorry fifth through 8th grade English language arts teachers and two of our fifth through 8th grade instructional coaches. Additionally, we had one sixth grade parent who reviewed the selection as well. At this time, we ask for the board's approval to adopt the Common Lit 360 digital program as part of the 6 through8 English language arts adoption for
027the 2627 school year. >> Thank you. >> And this is in addition to what they're using for the GBC. >> Okay. So, seventh and eighth grade felt comfortable with what they had and sixth felt like they needed a little bit more. >> Any other questions? >> Motion to accept the text. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say I. I >> I any opposed? >> 6.03 textbook adoption art course. >> DSC administration is seeking the approval of the curricular materials for our IB art class for the 2627 school year. Since 2017, the IB art course curriculum has been built by teaching staff. The adoption of this new textbook will provide more opportunities for students to be exposed to exemplars, resources, and streamline instruction for our teachers. The art department
028along with CHS administration and two parents had an opportunity to review the recommended course materials. And therefore, at this time, we ask for the board's approval to adopt the visual course companion as part of the IB art curricular material adoption for the 2627 school year. I'll make a motion to adopt the art course material. >> Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> 6.04 textbook adoption miscellaneous world language courses. >> Similar to the previous request, the Department of Teaching and Learning is seeking approval of the curricular materials for grades 8 through 12 world language. This includes French, German, and Spanish levels one through five. For the 26 27 school year, a combination of textbooks, consumable workbooks, and digital subscriptions will be purchased based on the recommendations of each world
029language teacher. Language specific teachers, school administration, the instructional coach, and a parent were included in the review and recommendation process. At this time, we ask for the board's approval to adopt Lingo for French, German, and Spanish as part of the miscellaneous world language course adoption for a 2627 school year. >> Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to accept the foreign language textbooks as presented. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor, please say I. I. I. >> Any opposed? 6.05 Instructional Supply fees K through six. >> The Department of Teaching and Learning is here to request approval to seek reimbursement from families for K through six student classroom supplies. The supply fee will be charged to cover the cost of supplies such as notebooks, pencils, and similar items
030for classroom use. Additionally, you will also find lists labeled items for student success preK through six. These items are suggested items for families to provide for individual student use. So the so the supply fee is for the classroom versus individual student use. The fees suggested will not impact the 2023 House Enrolled Act 1001 whereby textbook and curriculum material fees were eliminated for Indiana families. Our goal is to keep fees to a minimum for our families while maintaining high levels of experiential and relevant learning for our students. At this time, we ask for your board's consideration for the approval of the 2627 instructional supply fees as well as the items for student success. >> Donna, I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll second. >> That's first and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I.
031>> I. Any opposed? 6.06 2026 2027 student handbook and code of conduct. >> Each year, the Duelan School Corporation brings handbooks and code of conducts uh to the board for approval. The proposed revisions include minor updates to align with current administrative practices, as well as several new K- through2 regulations. Key additions include a statemandated b-tobell cell phone ban, updated language regarding AIdriven harassment, and revised policies on video and audio recordings. Additionally, we are introducing a new security feature allowing parents to create a unique four to eight digit PIN which will be required to verify their identity when releasing a student from school early. Other modifications reflect localized updates to school specific and corporationwide practices. The administration recommends board approval of the 2627 code of conduct and handbook revisions for the elementary, intermediate, middle, and high
032school levels as well as Northwest Indiana online school. These updates ensure district compliance with state law and reflect our commitment to student safety and modernizing administrative practices. >> Just a motion to any discussion. >> Sorry, I was going to ask Robert how how we're seeing in enforcement levels of the current cell phone ban. How successful or >> the current? >> Yeah, >> the current is is going really well for us. Um because we do have we do not allow cell phones in the instructional areas. Um, but students can use them in the hallways and at lunch periods. With a new state law that completely bans uh the use of cell phones from the time students arrive at school till the time they leave, they they're required to power them off, keep them in their locker.
033So, it's going to be uh some work for our administrators to enforce that again moving forward next school year. >> I mean, once the school day ends for extracurriculars, right, they're allowed to use them. >> Correct. >> And then prior to Correct. >> Some students will have to find out where their locker is to put them there. Exactly. >> I think it's a good thing. I'm excited for it. I do have a quick question about the PIN. >> Um, is that something that's being utilized in other area districts or >> Yeah, there was a local school corporation that actually had somebody call a student out of school and when it uh when they looked into it, it was not a family member. They, you know, they got the information from the internet or wherever it
034might be. So, we thought that was an easy fix uh and one that could allow us to make sure, you know, we're still going to check all the normal things that uh they fulfill, you know, that they're able to relay everything that's in their student information screen, but that added PIN just adds one layer additional security to make sure students aren't released to someone other than a parent or a guardian or emergency contact. >> Thank you. And I reviewed the handbooks and thank you for your work on this. I'm very pleased. >> So, there's a first. >> Kirk, do you have a motion? have to make the motion to accept the handbooks. >> I'll second that motion. >> I just want to make sure. All right. Um, any further discussion? All in favor, please say
035I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. 6.07 first reading one policy 5136. >> Thank you. In response to Indiana public law 107-2026, the administration request the board policy 5136 be replaced to ensure full alignment with state requirements. Under this updated policy, students are required to power off all cell phones and mobile communication devices immediately upon arrival at school. These devices must be stored in the students assigned locker for the duration of the school day, including passing periods and lunch. Devices found in violation of this policy may be confiscated and held securely until a parent or guardian retrieves them from the school office. Furthermore, school administrators will implement progressive disciplinary measures for any students who violate these regulations. >> Thank you. a motion. >> I will make a motion to accept this policy as written.
036>> I'll second >> right away. >> First and second. Any more discussion? Uh all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> One of the things that is going to be trusting the kids to put them in their lockers or not have them on their >> correct. Um there are secure devices sacks um that some schools have purchased um you know we've reviewed that but the expense of there they're 15 or $20 per per container plus the ability to man them store them and so forth. We thought our best measure was just to have students place them in their lockers when you know we have enough lockers for every student knowing that they don't use them all the time. They're going to have to find them now, but uh they can secure
037them within their locker. >> 6.08 uh certified teacher sick day buyback pilot. >> Thank you. The administration requests approval of the certified teacher sick day buyback pilot. This two-year pilot will utilize funds set aside during the 2025 negotiation period to allow eligible teachers with an accumulated sick leave balance of at least 90 days the opportunity to sell back up to five days at the current substitute rate of $90 per day. The total annual allocation is $36,000. Once all funds are expended, the program will conclude for that year. Awarded funds will be deposited into the teachers corporation approved 403b account. This is a two-year pilot. Thank you, Mr. McDermott. Um, entertain a motion. >> Make a motion to accept the certified teacher sick day pilot. >> Uh, first and a second. Any discussion on this program?
038>> All in favor, please say I. >> I'm going to abstain just because I have a family member eligible. >> 6.09 09 and Chesterton High School baseball softball improvement project alternatives. >> Thank you. >> Alternate, sorry. >> The base bid for the ths baseball softball improvements, which included installation of athletic turf on the varsity baseball and softball fields and replacement of existing fencing with black vinyl fencing, was a awarded to golf construction at the April 6th board meeting. Five alternates were also included in the bid bid with none accepted at that time. They included replacement of fencing at both the varsity and JV fields, masonry stone back stops with netting behind both the varsity and JV fields, and substituting field turf with sprint turf. That fifth alternate for substituting the field turf with sprint turf
039was rejected, but the other four remained on the table with 120 days from awarding the contract to accept alternates. As the project has moved forward and the budget is allowing, DSSE administration tonight recommends accepting two of those alternates that were submitted as part of the improvements. Number two, masonry stone back stops with the netting solution behind home plate at the varsity fields for $110,000. And number four, replacement of fencing at the tennis complex with vent black vinyl fencing for $180,500. This leaves two more alternates to consider in June due to the timing of the project being dependent on making those decisions uh when the uh construction teams are on site. GSC administration recommends the school board accepting alternates two and four at the CHS baseball softball improvements for a total of $290,500. >> Thank you.
040I'll entertain a motion on 6.09. I'll make a motion to accept the alternates. >> A second. >> Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Um, nobody signed up for patron participation. Uh, is is there a replacement for Bridget or no? Dr. Pettit, any last words? Okay. Thank you. We are adjourned.