001Okay. >> Come in. starting with golf then um soccer and then >> okay so you want to may make them >> okay so golf >> golf's wait >> um anybody sign up today >> okay good deal >> uh Thank you everyone. I'd like to call the January 12th, 2026 meeting of the Duelan School Board to order. Thank you for rising for the pledge. >> Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> All right, we're going to start tonight with some student recognition. Uh beginning with girls golf, we'd like to congratulate the girls varsity golf team and coaches for their success this year with an IHSAA sectional championship. In addition, Kristen McCoy and
002Taylor Kissik both were recognized on the allconerence team. Uh team members are Kristen McCoy, Taylor Kissik, uh Genevine Driscoll, Elizabeth Dods, Caitlyn Robinson, Ella Bowlinger, uh and Marie McKitty McKitty, and the coaches are Patrick Ward and Adam Schultz. And thank you for coming forward, guys. Congratulations. [applause] >> [applause] >> Uh [snorts] second, we'd like to congratulate the girls varsity soccer team uh and their coaches for their success this year with an IHSAA sectional championship in addition to Ava Montes, Ayda Ay, and Claire Vada, sorry, and Selena Ford were all named to the DAC all conference team. Uh team members tonight who I believe are here are uh Cherylyn Dash, Natalie Peters, Claire Sutter, Gabriel Robinson, Campbell uh Gingrich, Ayah Ay, Claire Vajaritas, Alice Fer, uh Hy Agassi, Lucy uh Arocha, Ava Montes, Natalie Bachmann, Lillian
003Dat, Selena Ford, Ava Kitsik, Ella Ran, Ava Flores, Mackenzie Cochran, uh, Laney Sensib, Amy Frink, Mattaline Sharp, Laureli Simmons, and Mia Aguilar. Coaches are Ben Fori, Donovan Cole, K Katie Green, and Elise Gustoson. At this time, I would ask the team to please come forward uh for a photo. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] CONGRATULATIONS. GIRLS. I was told that >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Finally, we'd like to congratulate the boys varsity tennis team and coaches with success this year with both a DAC and sectional championship. Uh, in addition, uh, Payton Bell Eagle, Jake Bell, Shane Henry, uh, Luke Sorgic received all conference honors, and Luke was also also earned MVP and number one singles player recognition. Furthermore, Luke continued his season by advancing to the state finals as an individual with a 19-2 regular season record and a
0047-0 tournament record. Uh team members are Luke Sorgjik, uh Payton Bell Eagle, uh Jack Cupic, Jake Bell, Shane Henry, Brad Mcwarter, Roland Tolton, uh Jace Budro, Bryce Douglas, and Owen Solarski. The coaches are Tom Boore, Scott Garrison, and Kenny Walsh. Would the team please come forward for a photo? Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Thank you. We will move on to our regular board meeting 3.01 uh election of officers. I make a motion for Brandon Croft to serve as president, for Elena Lightoot Pole to serve as vice president, and for Beth Mailing to serve as secretary. >> Johnson moving a second. >> I'll second. >> How about first and a second? Any discussion on this motion? >> If not, all those in favor, please say I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. >> I'd like to
005make a motion for Elena Lightfoot pole uh to serve as the Chesterton RDC representative for Beth Mailing as the Porter RDC representative and Jocelyn to serve as the Burns Harbor RDC representative and Brandon Croft to serve as the 2025 ISBA legislative liaison. kind of combine some uh agenda items all in one motion. But uh fair enough. I'll uh I'll take uh Is there a second on that joint motion? >> I'll second. >> All right, we got a first and a second. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> So I think we need 3.02 appoint corporate treasurer and deputy treasur and establish bonds. Okay. Uh, I will make a motion to reappoint Lynn Quilaz as treasurer and Aaron Pbilla as deputy treasur and maintain the same dollar amount of bond coverage. >> I'll second.
006>> All right, got a first and a second. Any discussion on that motion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. >> 3.03 establish salary and compensation for board members. I will make a motion to maintain the annual stipen and attendance per. >> I'll second that motion. >> All right. I have a first and second. Any discussion? Um I would just maybe a point of clarification. Last meeting, we did uh adopt a policy that would allow us to increase our own stipens in accordance with the state law change in the last legislative session and um that was not anticipation of us raising it because we're not we're maintaining the same stipen. So just want to make that clear um and it's been that way for since before I joined the
007board more than 10 years at least. So 25 years. So uh all in favor of uh that motion on 3.03 3 please say I. >> Any opposed. Thank you. 3.04 [clears throat] has already been adopted. Okay. So we'll move to 4.01 YMCA Healthy Living Campus and Westchester Public Library Brown Mansion site development update. >> Thank you and good evening. Um I am Jeff Schroeder, a architect with Moch Park Group and we have been involved with uh Dunland YMCA and the Chesterton um Westchester Public Library on both projects on this campus where you exist and where we have already created some parts of the uh final product. So, I'm going to show some still images this evening. Um, and I'll let Dave Casarda is here with the YMCA and Heather with the Westchester Library if they
008want to add a few things as we go. This won't take very long. Uh, I should be able to use the mouse here to to point to a few things. So, we're looking an aerial view from 8th and Porter Avenue back to the uh northeast. And as you know, the parking lot is already in place um and lit. So, um we've already begun putting back in place items uh after we demolish part of the middle school. So, I'm going to and as part of I'll start over here with the mansion. And I'm not sure the order here, so I may jump around. Um, the program for this project is basically the mansion's full. They they're using it for storage, offices, gift shop, everything. And they want to make it restore it back even further um
009to the way it was in some historical photos. So, we're going to be putting the front porch back on the way it used to be. And we're moving the museum part out of the mansion into a replication of a barn that used to stand on the property. And that'll allow the offices to come out of second floor um the gift shop to come out and basically we are going to up um restore uh to the historical level all the rooms in the mansion. So when you come in to tour the mansion you're seeing the full mansion. I think right now Heather what we have two three rooms that are kind of set up to be historical >> right. Right. >> And even on the main level, you walk in and there's somebody's workspace right there
010as well in what probably was the dining room, I think. So, The whole house, >> right? And so this is a view from um 8th Street looking back east and you can start there's some that are going to zoom in here uh the barn which is separate from the mansion um and some new parking coming off of Porter Avenue because we have disconnected that property from the uh Porter Avenue entrance onto the campus. Uh we have a very large green space that'll be easily used for the whole uh community. It's also where potentially some um summer kids club activities would occur and those type of things. But we've incorporated more walking paths because we do know that a lot of people like to walk this full block and um it's just another avenue to maneuver
011through the property. This is from the next corner. The parking lot, like we said, is already in. Um part of the additions that will be coming next this this year. Uh this is a twocourt gym with an up second level walking track. Um fitness more to the south and a twotory public entry um directly from the parking lot. And let's go to the next one. So now we're back a little more to ground level. The other component is an outdoor pavilion uh kind of between the two next to a lot of that green space. So um raised area inside for presentations or um productions, small scale open air, and then some restrooms, storage um for the park itself and for when it's being used. And again, you can see the barn in the background. There's
012a little bump out that would be the gift shop. I think I have one later that shows the mansion front porch. Then this is looking back to the new portion of the YMCA. Large glass area with the fitness full of treadmills, all the all the latest things that are being used. There are some um studios around the corner for um more aerobics. We'll have a spin room. Um I'm forgetting some things. I know functional training, performance, sports, physical. Yeah. Um some of the items already in the building though are as you're well aware we have senior um living senior center. We do a lot of the kids programs out of here. So really looking forward to how this campus will come together. So here we go. This is the Porter Avenue entrance leading you back
013to the YMCA. But this shows the beginnings of putting the porch back the way it was. There were actually two stairways up to that area. Um, and there was no porch at this dining room window. And now we're incorporating a um accessible ramp to the side here to to get into the main door of the mansion. The museum will be at grade. So that and there's an elevator inside to move items up to a climate controlled storage room which is much better than what this current condition is. We'll feel better about preserving many many articles that Serena has procured over the years. There may be another one. And then this is kind of standing over the building looking back to the west. And so there's some addition here that wraps around the existing building. This
014is the curved patterned uh drive where we're trying to slow people down because we will have kids crossing over here for summer camps. And so we wanted to be a little more obvious um situation. And we are going to have artificial turf area here where we can open up some overhead doors out of some of the training and fitness areas um and go do the more aggressive summer type training. Um, and then here's the pavilion again and the Brown mansion. That might be the last one. It is. So, is there anything Dave or Heather you want to add beyond what we've already stated? Okay. Are there any questions? That kind of concludes our >> You started mentioning some of the additions on the the new additions on the Y building. You said this year 2026.
015That's plan. >> That's that's the plan. We're completing the construction documents the end of this month for that project. for the um Brown Mansion project. We'll be completing documents about the end mid to end of March this year. >> And then there's we're working with Berglin Construction on both of those as construction management. Um there will be evaluation of the bid packages and the right timing to uh get the best pricing. >> Great great to see the two organizations working together. unison the campus is coming together nicely uh >> jointly. Thank you. >> Well, I'd like to thank you know your board for you know allowing this to happen really. That's that was in place. >> It's been a lot of discussion. >> Yes. But I we appreciate that. So that concludes the uh presentation.
016>> Thank you. >> Beautiful. >> Uh 4.02 O2 doing the school corporation strategic plan update. Thank you for the opportunity to come together and talk a bit about the uh strategic plan update. As you know, in the fall of 2023, a strategic planning team was formed to review and update the current four-year strategic plan into a 5-year plan that will be used to guide the corporation for the years 2024 through 2028. The board of school trustees for the Dulan School Corporation approved the new strategic plan at its December 4, 2023 regular meeting. The plan would guide corporation for the next five years in the areas of student achievement, safety and operations, people and culture, and finance and facilities. Updating the plan is an essential step in ensuring the continued success and growth of our educational
017community. This plan serves as a roadmap guiding us forward towards a future that is not only responsive to the evolving needs of our students but also aligned with the values and aspirations of our community. We're here tonight to share some highlights from our bianual update. As you can see on the slide, the strategic plan is organized into four key areas. Director of teaching and learning Donna Biggs. Director of exceptional learning Jen Bogner will provide highlights on student achievement and growth. Director of Human Resources Reagan Keading will provide highlights on people and culture. I will pinch hit for assistant superintendent Robert McDermott tonight as he is not with us as he is celebrating the birth of his first granddaughter. And CFO Link Quaz will provide highlights on finance and facilities. and then we'll finish up talking
018about an addition uh recommendation for addition to the plan related to artificial intelligence. Within each key area, there are action steps that we track to document our progress. Tonight, we will highlight one action step in which we are making considerable progress and one action step in which progress is proving to be a challenge. Tonight, we will also be proposing that addition to the student achievement and growth part of the strategic plan in the area of artificial intelligence. This was not an area identified in late 2023 as a priority. Donna, >> good evening. Um, tonight I wanted to talk a little bit about something that I don't often get the chance to talk about because I'm always talking about assessment and our guaranteed and viable curriculum. This goes along with it, but might be a little
019bit different. So, I'm going to highlight um our growth in the area of strategy five, action B1, which is provide formalized actions and support to students and parents through grade level promotion and orientation activities when moving to a new campus associated with a level change. So, um it's to simplify that, you know, student transitions from year to year as they're making those big moves throughout the district. Um, we have prioritized formalizing support for students and families during milestone shifts in academic experiences. Prior to entering kindergarten, we've had our traditional roundup and orientation activities. And within the last year, we've added additional things to build a stronger community and provide earlier access for our families to become familiar with our school campus and where their students will be transitioning into kindergarten. And so we've added activities
020such as um video tours that are available on the school websites, events such as story time in the library or popsicles with the principal on the playground. Um we've even done some extension of inviting families into um school family nights that are happening prior to entering kindergarten so that they can come in and again familiarize themselves with their building. So additional supports to help as we bring um our kindergarteners in and build that community sense for them as they're entering the school. um as they move from fourth grade to the intermediate um and then again sixth grade into the middle school students um attend an end of the school year visit to the either the LIS campus or the WHIS campus. Um they have locker nights, family orientations, and openhouse. Um our school within a
021school focus for our 58 campuses has also helped to ease these transitions. From 8th grade to high school, students again test tend attend an end of the year school visit. They spend time scheduling with their counselors. Parents are provided information nights. There's a Trojan charge for students um and also a freshman team for our kiddos that are entering and need a little bit more support entering into the high school. Um additionally, we offer high school credit courses during the middle school years to provide students with rigorous high school level academic opportunities to best prepare them for 9 through 12. um high school to postsecary. We utilize our student counselors and our advisory period at the high school. Um we provide college fairs, dual credit courses, AP and IB courses and all of these prepare our
022students for college level academic expectations. Additionally, our CTE courses and our internship program of course also play a pivotal role in preparing our students for employment, enlistment or enrollment beyond high school. So each of these opportunities for our K through2 students provide support to students and families during critical shifts in their academic experiences and are embedded into our practices each year. So we're happy to say that we've moved into where we feel like this is part of embedded embedded into what our programs are offering for our students. Um one area of growth is on um strategy three action B1 and that is to conduct a needs assessment of mental health staffing and leadership needs as well as tier 2 and three community partnerships to provide review of current structures and responsibilities. Mouthful. So much of
023our work in this area that we've been doing and focusing on so far has been centered around building background knowledge um and to build a better understanding of what is currently in place for our students and available for student support. We focused on building relationships with community partnerships through monthly meetings with Porter Stark and Crown Counseling as well as bimonthly meetings with our K through2 school counselors. We're continuing to build a comprehensive community resource list for parents and families and sharing those resources at the building level as well as the district level. Great work has been done to refine um the identification of student needs through our our multi multi-tered system of support process and we have used this structure to collect data for all of our services provided for students at schools during the
0242024 and 25 and 2526 school years. So all of that data is helping us to kind of frame where we're heading in the future. Each year our K through eight students complete the DESA which is the DERO student strengths assessment and the Indiana youth survey is given to grades 6 through 12 as an entry point evaluation um of students seal needs and behavioral needs. We also utilize the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale to evaluate um where our kindergarteners are at. So proactive resources have been embedded through SEAL lessons through secondstep curriculum zones of regulation framework, the TBRRI model and high school advisory activities and we've also added um refresh rooms. Um they've been established K through 8 to help students with self-regulation. So our next steps moving forward in the future to move out of this
025gray area is to research best practice models of service delivery throughout our League of Comparable Schools. what's happening out there that we can lean into and learn from. Um, we're also going to be looking at national research organizations such as the National Center on School Mental Health and American School Counselor Association to guide us through this process as well as conducting a needs assessment of student services and how we can help better support students in the future. Okay, thank you. Um, my name again is Jen Bogner and I'm the director of exceptional learning. So, I've got a couple of sections to go over as well. Um, we've had a a lot going on in the exceptional learning department in the last couple of years specifically um geared towards these goals um and strategies listed on
026our strategic plan. Um, we've been able to be really focused on it. So, um, one achievement that we'd like to kind of highlight, a strength that we have is strategy 7, action three, investigate the addition of inclusive models of instruction throughout the district with an emphasis on attempting to provide programming and services to students in their neighborhood school. Um, and I would say that this has definitely been one of our largest priorities in the district is how can we provide the for the needs of all of our students to the extent possible in their homeschool. Um, so the first thing we did was we expanded programming across the district specifically for students with intensive em emotional and behavioral needs as well as students with applied skills needs those with some significant cognitive disabilities. We created
027um the reset rooms, which is a new um type of room, a new type of programming for students with intensive emotional and behavioral needs, and located that at two elementary schools, where in the past we only had one school that really supported those types of intensive needs. And those students have additional support to be able to manage that behavior which can go from a great day to a rough day um while still accessing the general education curriculum and still being a part of their classroom for most of the day. That gives them positive role models. It gives them the opportunity to have peer relationships as well as access to that guaranteed and viable curriculum which we believe very strongly um is the key to um academic success for them. Um but the reset room allows
028them to also have that um that observance of the whole child and the success of their social emotional growth as well and those other executive functioning skills. We also expanded our um programs for applied skills students, those with cognitive disabilities. We um expanded that to an additional elementary school so that we could have students who are going to go to the pathway of the Westchester campus as well as the Liberty campus. So now our students are going to be able to be with their classmates as soon as as as much as possible. Um we are expanding the opportunities for those students to be a part of their general education classroom. So they're not just in a self-contained classroom all day as well. They have opportunities to be with their general education students for lunch, for
029recess, for independent reading time, for calendar time, for other activities and opportunities throughout the day. So we're very excited about that. Another [clears throat] expansion is at the middle levels where we have programs at both schools for both types of intensive needs for students which means that every student in the district is in their home school by the time they hit fifth grade. Uh and we're very proud of that ex that change which was not the case before where we had programs a little bit more siloed. So now we're um kind of making sure that we're funneling kids towards their home school at least by the fifth grade if not sooner. Um [clears throat] our next the next slide that I'd like to highlight is some opportunities that we have some things that we're still
030working on. Um this is strategy seven action five. evaluate the effectiveness of current PCS shared services and recommend adjustments as needed to provide high quality support for students. This has been another priority for us. So areas that we are looking into to help support students and look at this partnership with Porter County Education Services. First is the educational evaluations, the M team um who does all of our educational evaluations being a part of looking at the process, the evaluation team, the timeline that is utilized and having some more input um to make sure that it's what we think is best for kids. This also includes our preschool evaluations. We are working with them in order to provide some opportunities for students to be able to be tested on site here in the district at their
031Trojan learning center as opposed to just at self. So, we're still exploring some options to again be able to bring kids more into the districts during that evaluation process even at age 2 or three. A third area we're looking at is in regards to related services that Porter County's education services still provides for us. That includes our speech language services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, our deaf and heart of hearing services, counseling services, and the behaviorist. Um, and by being a part of the, um, leadership team at PCEES, we're able to have a lot more influence over the resource allocation, um, the effectiveness of those types of services, how they're utilized, so that we can best match the needs of Dulan students. We've also been looking at self school. Self-school um self-school remains a part of
032our continuum. It is for students with some very intensive needs that includes emotional and behavioral um needs. They provide a day treatment program as well as um needs for very intensive um autism, you know, students with autism and students with severe cognitive disabilities. But in the three years since our um decentralization, we've reduced the number of students at the self school by about half. Um and we've done that by looking at each student individually and their individual needs and determining when it's appropriate to start transitioning them back to the Dueland schools. And we've been able to do that successfully for a large number of students. Um, finally, um, just with having a greater amount of input collaboration with the new executive director, Aaron Hawkins, we're really working on processes as a whole to ensure that
033their processes align with the values, mission, and vision here in the Dulan School Corporation. Thank you. Hello, good evening. I'm Reagan with human resources. Um, we will uh jump right in here to the discussion about the state of a couple of people and culture strategic plan goals. Um I I won't read through everything specifically that's written under the goal in terms of the actual action language, but um specifically this is what we're looking at. Strategy 2, action one. Um these goals have to do with the professional development of our classified employees. So, um, the corporation does this in various ways, and I'll give you a few examples of where I think that there there's several, but there's two in particular, um, that are in recent history that I think illustrate how we've been doing this.
034Well, um, the first is with our custodial staff. So, we've had a longtime practice where um our managers, department managers, and also um site leads at our different buildings are charged with um identifying leadership skills and abilities in some of their daily custodians. When that comes to pass, we have a process by which if a head custodian at any building, even not the building of this person who's developing their leadership skills, goes out on some sort of leave, um we will pull on one of these, I guess you could call them an upandcomer custodian to serve as an interim head director. So we um temporarily assign them to the responsibilities as well as the pay um so that they can have a real like on the job training that um enables them to get that
035experience um and also give the organization and um custodial management an opportunity to see this person really shine. Um we had a successful example of that just as recently as this past spring. We had a custodian go in and cover as a head for a few months. At the end of that time, the head did return, but shortly thereafter, we had an opening for a head custodian and um this person put in and was promoted into that role. So, we also try to promote that that is something that we do to our folks so that they know they can be working towards that in their day-to-day. Um another example is with our IT department. So, um, since 2021, the, um, and the board members here are probably familiar with seeing, um, several iterations of this,
036but since 2021, IT and HR have been working together to develop, um, and promote and refine continually over time the list of meaningful professional development and certification attainment opportunities for tech department staff. So, um, a lot of these things are in words and acronyms that are, um, itish. Um, but for an example like network plus or Cisco, um, training, we we spell all of these out in their different levels. And, um, what we did was tie some compensation incentives to that process. So, um, I will be honest, the first two years after we initially put this into play, we didn't get any takers. and the IT director and I were looking at each other going, "Okay, you know, how are we how are we going to get this thing off the ground and eventually then
037two years in, we did have an employee go for it and it was one of the I would say more time consuming certifications to have to achieve um but she did achieve that and then was eligible for that compensation incentive. So then just in these last two years we've had I believe three other techs earn various certifications. Um, and there's one who just keeps keeps going for all the different ones. So, um, we continue to to refine that, but ultimately it shows goodwill to the staff that they are able to have an incentive, but it also betters them personally, professionally, betters the department, and then that ultimately betters the district overall. Um, okay. Moving on to a people and culture strategy that I would say is a work in progress here. Um, same thing. I
038won't uh go word for word on the action item because it's posted up there, but um up on the screen there you're seeing um strategy 5, action two. And what we're talking about here is succession planning. Okay. So the the first point that I want to make is that when a lot of folks think about succession planning, they're thinking at the executive or leadership level only. And this is a I think pre-existing practice of Dunland School Corporation for a long time, but we've tried to improve upon that in recent years. um and that is that I think we do a really good job of trying to um extend those best practices to everyone in the corporation. Meaning um we've got folks like administrative assistants who we bring in for cross trainining opportunities. We encourage them
039and have managers charge them with creating things like desk references that can be used if, say, one of these folks is on leave or if you've got your um data systems administrator at a building who's out, the ECA treasurer might be able to fill in on some of those duties. So overall, we've made this a culture of a best practice where we're continually looking for ways to get folks to document what it is that they do to make it easier when they're out or to make it easier if we have to replace them should they choose to separate from the district. Um, all that said though, as it relates to department heads, in recent years, we have begun to have conversations about succession planning and how each department either is or could be better preparing
040for that, even if it's something that they're not expecting to encounter themselves within the next, you know, couple of years. um or something that a department head or a manager needs to work through yet. Um so we've done some assessing on on where the various department heads are and um there are natural challenges of course with succession planning and I think that that goes across the board to every department in every industry everywhere. Um there is, you know, a aside from the how do we get all the information down in a usable fashion for the person who's coming in next, but there's a real emotional component tied to this and that is and can be a barrier. Um but it's also something that, you know, allows us to say show appreciation for that person as
041they're in that last phase of their career with the district. um to really tap into their brain and extract all of that stuff out that's not necessarily written down anywhere. So um but in terms of these these challenges, you know, we we mentioned um the emotional stressors that come with that, you know, coming coming to terms with letting go um especially for people who are retiring, that's a that's a big life decision. Um there's also there can be a sort of lazair attitude about backfilling the position. um with a hiring manager. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes, you know, there's there's there are glass half full people out there who think the right person is just going to walk up to the door, you know, just in the nick of time um without putting in,
042you know, the the work that's required to make sure you get the right person. Um there's there can be a failure or a a lack of planning to consider things like what are the current challenges of the department versus what are the challenges going to be five years from now. Um so that future looking for both the person's characteristics as well as the department needs. Um and then I would say uh you know one one last downfall is the mindset of strictly adhering to a one-sizefits-all model. Um so all leadership turnover scenarios will differ. There's different lengths of notice that we get you know a month to six months to a year out. Um, there's different work processes and projects that are in different states of completion or maintenance. There's differences in levels of willingness
043to participate in a planning process in meaningful ways. And by the way, that goes for the person who's exiting the role as well as for the hiring manager sometimes. Um, and sometimes those two people involved have a very close relationship and both of them are just plain sad about about the departure and it's really hard for them to get engaged. So being proactive in this space is really crucial and again because no oneizefits-all and because all resignations retirements occur as a snapshot in time. Um succession planning will always need to be a case-byase work in progress. Um, but that said, I'll just take my final 30 seconds to a minute here um to to just say that um our most one of our most recent experiences, a case study in leadership succession planning occurred this
044past school year in 2425 with our child nutrition director. And um given you know all of these complexities that can happen, I would say that that process went Lyn Lynn I think would maybe agree with that. That process was about as good as it can get. Um but there were a lot of things working in our favor. So um giving the notice was emotional, but we went into the year knowing that this was likely going to happen. And by the time we actually got our written notice that would serve as like the action item that we can like move on um we had several months yet to um you know get going on that recruiting. So um from the start also the exiting director was a willing and active participant. Um she also you know
045that was when requested. She also stepped back at times which you know was appropriate and sometimes will be appropriate. Also from the first moment we were alerted to the impending notice of retirement. Um Mrs. Quilas and HR were in lock step with planning and recruiting and um we worked through the the director's ability to really document all of the current department challenges as well as future ones that had been identified. So, one example was these looming regulation changes that we knew would require the um era parent to be somebody who was flexible um creative, maybe even an out of out of the box thinker and patient. So, um the exiting director was also willing to stay on and do some cross trainining and she's made herself available to the new director for those oneoff, you
046know, questions of guidance that that pop up. So um final thought is a perfect you know succession planning plan or process can't be executed without the realization that it can and should be a timeconsuming process. Um, and it's even emotional and stressful, but I think we do a good job here of keeping our eye on where our strategic plans and goals are. And we look to support all of our department heads and managers to be sure that they are um really documenting and building up bulking up those detailed process process directives for um the person who's going to fill their shoes. Thank you. finance and facilities. We chose strategy 2, action three of conducting our referendum and renewal campaign. We shared that information um and as it notes up there about all the opportunities and
047experiences of our students at the time that this strategic plan was developed. Um, we expected this strategy action would occur in the spring of 26. So, at this point, we might have been bringing you the information that a referendum renewal was ready to go. Um, that would have been the natural point for a referendum renewal to occur. However, during the 25 legislative session, um, as we know, the Indiana General Assembly enacted legislation that dramatically changed is the ongoing amount of property tax revenue that taxing units can generate. And it further made significant changes um to the timing and working of operating referendums, beginning with referendums that were approved or renewed after July 1 of 2025. These challenges were recognized in late May of 25, shared with the school board um in June, and a determination
048um to conduct a November 25 operating referendum renewal was made by the school board uh prior to the July 1 enactment deadline. This campaign um was different than the past renewal processes. The focus was on the positive impact that the referendum funding provides to our students, teachers, and staff, and the very real need to continue to have this funding source in light of the tax reform challenges facing public education. Over 20 in-person presentations were made to faculty and staff throughout the district, various community groups, and individuals. Thousands of door-to-door visits throughout the entire geographic area of the Dunland schools were made by teachers, administrators, staff members, board members, and community volunteers. Thousands of postcards, mailers, and calls were made. Hundreds of yard signs were displayed to get our community to vote yes. And in the
049true spirit of the Dunling community, our friends and neighbors voted yes to allow Dunan schools to continue this funding source. We gratefully move forward over the next few years knowing that Dunland Schools will continue to provide excellent opportunities for our students to learn, for teachers to teach, for staff to help support all facets of the school corporation's operations, and for our community to be proud of our schools. So, this one is done um early and unexpectedly early, but done. Next, we'll look at some opportunities. Our opportunity here um is the strategy re re um requiring that we provide the school board with financing strategies for priority capital improvement projects. As a result of that sweeping change um to the property tax system in Indiana, a significant challenge will be not only to just prioritize district
050improvements of a capital nature, but to determine strategies to finance such programs while maintaining adequate fiscal reserves. The new $300 property tax credit for homeowners will generate approximately um a funding loss of real dollars to our operations fund of $1.3 million just in calendar year 26. That coupled with the traditional circuit breaker losses of approximately $900,000 will mean that actual revenue reductions of about $2.2 million. That's property tax revenue that we will not receive and in turn will not be able to spend. Such losses will continue to occur annually through 2032 as the tax reform changes are phased in. Our successful operations referendum will help us maintain our staffing and programming. However, it alone will not provide sufficient operational funding to continue to do more than maintain our facilities. Updates and replacements of equipment and
051building related improvements beyond the maintenance will need to be funded through avenues such as additional bonding, financing student technology items through the state common school fund loan using rainy day funds, leasing versus buying big ticket items like school buses and straight out cost avoidance strategies. Likely a combination of these funding mechanisms will need to be used and the combination of methods is likely to annually change based upon the effects of the tax reform for the that given year. And given the calendar nature of property taxes um versus the fiscal nature of school, the need to imple in implementation may be out of step with each other and may be delayed. For Dunland schools as well as other K to2 schools, there is no one-sizefits-all answer to funding capital improvements and significant equipment expenditures. We are
052already reviewing and prioritizing potential work and purchases based upon the information we now have. a portion of our current info is still estimated and will not be known well until after the first June tax distribution when those estimates become more refined and they can provide more specific planning for us. So, this will be ongoing and this will be a challenge um and it will likely involve a lot of pivoting as we move forward. >> Thanks, Lynn. As we look at the last section of the plan for an update, specifically a strength to our safety and operations is ensuring the corporation emergency response plan is in line with national best practices. The corporation continues to train and conduct drills on emergency procedures in alignment with best practices. Our emergency response plan is reviewed and updated at
053least annually to ensure alignment with current school safety trends at the local, state, and national levels. For example, within the past month, the corporation's reunification agreement was reviewed and updated in collaboration with Liberty Bible Church personnel to confirm the plane. The plan remains actionable. Additionally, last week, school corporation safety personnel met with representatives from the Chesterton Police Department, Fire Department, and Porter County Emergency Management Agency to review severe weather shelter locations within our schools. These types of actions occur on a regular basis to ensure the ERP provides the strongest possible framework for keeping students and staff safe. In addition, in highlighting one opportunity for growth, like to look to um how we ensure security procedures are relevant and appropriate for non-school day settings. Our ERP addresses a wide range of topics applicable to non-school day
054settings and is updated on a regular basis. with recent updates include the addition of the sudden cardiac arrest response plan and the installation of AEDs in multiple athletic-based areas. However, non-school day settings are inherently fluid with activities occurring across various campus locations with many events hosted outdoors. As a result, a comprehensive review of emergency procedures is currently underway to ensure that all foreseeable emergencies are appropriately addressed within the plan. One of the challenges of developing a five-year strategic plan is that it's difficult to address emerging needs during the life of that plan. One of these emerging needs in K12 education and society at large is how to come to terms with artificial intelligence in support of highquality instruction, personal learning, and improving educator effectiveness while preparing students to meet college and career expectations through responsible
055human- centered use of technology. Donna Biggs, director of teaching and learning, will outline recommendations for additions to the strategic plan and then we'll ask the board to formally approve those additions as part of the new business on tonight's agenda. As you know, schools need to address AI urgently to prepare our students for an AIdriven world. shifting from reactive plagiarism concerns to proactively teaching AI literacy, critical thinking, and ethical use and data privacy while integrating tools for personalized learning, curriculum enhancement, and administrative efficiency. Requiring new policies, training, and assessment methods to ensure equitable, effective, and safe AI adoption. We have taken steps to support AI integration through the formation of the DSC AI committee, creating acceptable use guidelines which include an AI acceptable use scale, establishing a case review procedure for suspected student violations, and utilizing
056the IDOE digital learning grant to purchase Magic School AI, a teacher and studentf facing tool to support appropriate AI use. We have begun to provide professional development for staff and have plans to increase and enhance such professional development in the future. Our proposed strategy for inclusion in the strategic plan is the following. Integrate artificial intelligence tools to support highquality instruction, personal learning, and improve educator effectiveness while preparing students to meet college and career expectations through responsible human- centered use of technology. Um we've drafted six action steps to support this goal. Um the first is to utilize DSC AI committee to identify student and staff needs and pro promote effective AI integration. This is already in progress but we know that we're continually trying to we're chasing AI and so um we're updating it as we
057move through. Action two is to implement DSSE AI acceptable use policy and scale for grades K through 12. Action three is to provide our teachers and administrators with professional development and coaching along the way. Action four is to develop and utilize a vertical alignment of AI literacy skills to guarantee student success K12 and beyond. Action five is to integrate ongoing instruction on the topic of responsible and productive AI use into curriculum and family outreach. And the final action step is to expand AI integration into the guaranteed and viable curriculum to enhance instruction. questions. I'm I'm happy to see the AI. I can do >> all this so many phases of society. being ask question. So I'm happy to see that try to stay ahead of that [clears throat] and I think we'll see over the
058next five years. Magic School AI has been a really great tool for us to provide for teachers to get in there and see how they can utilize AI to enhance um their curriculum planning and support of students as well as the studentf facing side of it. We've been able to create some customized bots um that are subject specific so that we can download our curriculum into that bot and a student could go in and um those guard rails are already up because it's customized specifically to whatever um the content area is or whatever the area of need is and um that's been a useful tool for students to use but also for teachers to use in their planning as well. So, it's been interesting to kind of flip between supporting teachers through that lens as
059well as being able to support students at the same time. >> Thank you, Donna. >> I do have a question. Um, first of all, I'm h I'm very happy to see this and want to thank you for your work on this. Um, I also have to say like kudos to the educators who want to dig into this too because it is >> intimidating and scary, but I I the only question I really have and this has to go with for all um and the whole plan and any action item >> at this point and you might not have an answer, but if you think of anything that is has been like a hurdle preventing um maybe moving forward on any certain action item that maybe would helpful for the board to know of. Um I
060just I'm kind of I mean like I said it might be I'm just I don't know if there's >> and I think you know and this is not a an ask per se >> but as we as we think about our our financial constraints and how to get return on investment for for those dollars. support for student mental health needs continues to be a concern specifically at the secondary level or grades 5 through 12 and um you know I don't don't have a recommendation for that. I know that we're still looking to um to research that but um I think just how we support support students in in that mental health area is um something that we probably need to continue work. >> Okay. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you everyone. I appreciate
061it. May anyone sign up for comment on Okay, I will go to um section six consent agenda. >> I move to approve the consent agenda items. Can you guys hear me? Sorry. [clears throat] >> First and a second. Any discussion on consent agenda? No. >> Nope. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. >> 7.01. New business 24 through 28 dun strategic plan update. Thank you. The administration is seeking formal approval for the additions to artificial intelligence just outlined in the in the presentation to the 24 through 2028 DSC strategic plan. >> Thank you, Dr. Pettit. I'll entertain a motion on the plan update. Make a motion to accept the proposed plan update as presented. >> I'll second. >> First and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please
062say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. 7.02 award base bid for Chester High School LED lighting retrofit. Thank you. The base bid for the LED LED lighting retrofit at CHS uh includes the replacement of all remaining fluorescent lighting in the building with LED light fixtures. The project included one alternate which will include the installation of dimmable fixtures and wall-mounted dimmer switches were applicable. The project was designed and bid by Strataline LLC. Strataline has reviewed qualifications and references for Continental Electric, the contractor providing the lowest responsive and reasonable bid price. Based on review and recommendations from Strataline, Dulan Administration recommends the board of trustees award Continental Electric the total base contract with alternate for the wall-mounted dimmer switches in the amount of $862,000. >> Thank you, Dr. Pettit. I'll entertain a motion on awarding
063the bid. >> [clears throat] >> First and second. Any discussion? All in favor? Favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. 7.03 first reading policy 7455, policy 7440.02, and policy 8121. >> Thank you. Thank you. The administration respectfully requests your approval to revise the following board policies. Policy 7455. This policy has been revised to identify the correct department of the state board of accounts utilized in helping determine the price or appropriate fair market value of item at the time of acquisition. Policy 7540.02. Revisions to this policy reflect the US Department of Justice final rule provisions under title two of the Americans with Disability Act requiring state and local local government entities including public schools to make web content and mobile applications accessible to individuals with disabilities. And policy 8121, the revision the
064revisions to this policy are considered technical corrections to correct citations to the Indiana code and omit duplicated text. >> Thank you, Dr. Pettit. Uh I'll entertain a motion on first reading of these policies. >> I'll make a motion to approve on the first reading of these policies. >> Uh first and a second. Any discussion? >> It's nice to see only three of them. >> Um all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? [clears throat] >> Thank you. Uh 7.04 final reading policy 3220.01. Policy 3231, policy 4162, policy 5350, policy 5462, policy 6320, policy 7440.01, policy 8452, and policy 84.62. Thank you. The administration respectfully requests your approval to revise the following board policies. Policy 3220.01, 01 teacher appreciation grants has been significantly revised based on the recision of Indiana code and the
065adoption of new Indiana code by house enrolled act 100001. Policy 3231 has been revised to clarify that that staff members may not tutor a student outside of school if the student currently is enrolled in their class and the subject of the tutoring is the same as the subject being taught in that class. Policy 4162 is updated to comply with changes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration substance abuse policy. Policy 5350 is a replacement policy that attempts to streamline recommended options and tools available that corporations may use to fight depression and self-destruction in students. The policy is written to aid the corporation in meeting the training requirements mandated for teachers, counselors, counselors, and other licensed personnel by Indiana code. Policy 5462 is being revised to allow students who are working towards a seal on the
066new Indiana diploma an additional opportunity to retake a class if they receive a grade of C plus or below. Policy 6320 has been amended to incorporate the changes made to Indiana code 36-1-12 by House Enrolled Act 111 198. Policy 7440.01. This policy has been amended to omit references to mandatory discussion and to revise policy language for consistency with other corporation policies. Policy 8452 has been revised to incorporate the revisions to the Indiana code made by Senate Enrolled Act 350, automated external defibrill requirements and the requirements of a new Indiana statute Indiana code 20-34-8-4.5. And finally, policy 8462 has been revised to expand the members of the corporation community who are responsible to report immediately instances whether ascertains or ascertained or suspected of child abuse or neglect resulting in physical or mental injury to a student
067by other than accident. Further, this policy removes the option of reporting to appropriate law enforcement if a crime is suspected as such a report is mandatory and the failure to report a crime could result in license revocation. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Dr. Pedit um I will entertain a motion on final reading of those for stated policies. >> I'll make a motion to accept the final [clears throat] >> a second. >> Uh first and a second. Any discussion? All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Um information we have M Mrs. Martinson tonight. Nobody signed up for 8.01 general patron particip participation. My mouthful. >> All right. 8.02 superintendent comments. >> Nothing tonight. Thank you. >> Okay, we everyone stick around. We've got a budget meeting after this. All
068right, so uh the regular board meeting is adjourned and I will let me find how to get to this other meeting. Everyone have it up. >> Yep. >> Amanda, >> I will call to order the board of finance annual meeting. >> You did. Okay. >> Miss Quas, the floor is yours. Officers. >> Okay. So, 2.01 elected 2026 board of finance president and secretary. You have that motion over there. >> I do point. Oh, you must have 2 >> 2.01. >> This is the elected 2026 board of finance president and secretary. Was this consolidated in the first motion? Probably had to have it. Probably had to have it again. >> You have it. >> I did. I have three points. >> Okay, I'll just read it. >> Just move that. It's the same as the >>
069Oh, I see. I thought somebody had that. So >> I make a motion to reappoint Lane Quil as treasurer and Aaron Prella as deputy treasurer and maintain the same dollar amount of B. >> Okay, that's a slightly different one. Could I just have a a motion or 2.01 uh that the board will reappoint our same president and secretary for the board of finance for 2026? I'll make a motion that the we reappoint the current officials for the board of finance president and secretary. >> I'll say >> thanks. And I'm sorry if I confuse anyone. I have a first and a second. Any discussion? >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> 2.02 annual interest and investment report 2025. >> Thank you. Okay. want to throw that Amanda's putting that up there for us.
070Um, currently Doomland School Corporation has three major financial institutions with whom we work. Centier Bank, US Bank with the Hooser Fund and the US Bank and Trust which has our bond funds. Centier serves as our primary bank for daily operations such as payroll accounts payable, food service, um, our self u funded health insurance account. Our core savings are held at the Hooser fund um at US Bank and that is primarily our rainy day funds and some operating cash balances and our u 2022 bond proceeds are held at US Bank interest. Operating funds are held in interestbearing checking accounts with no service fee as we maintain a prescribed u $2.5 million balance. The Hooser fund is a m is a municipal investment pool managed by US Bank. These funds are completely liquid at all times and
071earn variable public interest fund rates that are typically greater than the public funds rate that our local banking institutions pay on high balance savings. During 2025, the Hooser fund rate was also better than any 6 to 24month CDs. So, we did not use any CDs as part of our investment strategies during 2025. Um, interest rates at both Centier and the Hooser Fund ranged from 4.7% to 3.96 over the course of the calendar year 25. Currently, the Hooser Fund rate is 381 and the Centier is 379. Bond proceeds from the 2022 bond sale were fully invested under the provisions of our investment policy that allowed for investments with banks outside the geographic area of the school corporation. and in investment vehicles with maturities up to 60 months. These funds were managed under the guidance of Baker
072Tilly Wealth Management Service and the funds were held and there's a little bit left at US Bank and Trust. Earnings on these funds remain in the accounts and have been used to um pay for scope increases of projects within um the formentioned bond funds. These earnings have helped offset also some of those higher project costs that we encountered due to inflation and supply chain increases in goods and services. As a recap of invested items, in April of 2020 23, we um obtained a 5,450,000 general obligation bond. In April of 24, we obtained a 5,785,000 um general obligation bond. and in June of 25 a 14,390,000 general obligation fund bond fund. These funds are held in separate centier public funds rate uh interestbearing checking accounts. Earnings on these funds remain with that account um to help
073offset those higher costs or to pay for scope increases. The earnings generated by our operating and core savings are used as miscellaneous revenue within the fund that generated the earnings. So food service fund interest stays with food service and health insurance stays with our health insurance fund. The education and operations funds um proactively share the um or pratatively I should say share the nonspecific account earnings which assist with offsetting some of the unforeseen daily operational and educational cost such as the increased cost of instructional materials and supplies. The overall total interest in uh investment earnings for 2025 were $1,498,674.75 which was comprised of 1,34,686.35 from our normal operating fund core balances and savings and $463,988.40 to the specific bond proceeds. These earnings were lower than what we um had in the year 2024, which is
074of course the result of the declining interest rates that began in late 2024 and continue um through 25 and have already started to kind of decrease again here already in 26. the fact that all bond dollars are being held um that are being held have decreased as those funds have um gone to pay for our projects um is why that bond interest is down. So that's the recap. That's the official report that you are required to hear on our investments for 2025. No action needed, just information. >> Thank you. 2.03 annual investment policy review. >> The this one will be brief. Um nothing has changed in our investment policy. Um it was last adopted um by the board in 2024. It's good for four years. Uh so we will um entertain that again in 2028.
075Um but no changes have occurred. >> Thank you. 2.04 review of financial conditions of the school corporation. >> Okay, this is the long one. Um and I apologize to start it is a little bit long. Um Amanda, are you able to click for me? Okay, that way I don't do bad things with it. Um, during the 2020 the 2019 legislative session, the Indiana general assembly added a requirement for each local school board of trustees to annually review the fiscal condition of the school corporation during the board of finance meeting in January. Such review is based on the distressed unit of appeals board DWAB their data and it is um reported on publicly on the DOWAB site. Um that is the front page of the DOWAB report um with some fun facts. Um anybody you don't
076need a password you can just go on their website put in the school corporation name you want to see and you can get all kinds of good facts about your school corporation. Next slide. First first item to cover tonight is our ADM numbers. Um ADM is the number of students which as we all know equates to our state funding. Dunland has had a fairly consistent level of student enrollment. Um beginning in the fall of 2021, the impact of closed enrollment became evident as the total number of in-person students declined and has continued to remain lower than our historical average. In 21-22 though we added the K to2 virtual instruction option of the Northwest Indiana online school and we continue to provide that virtual instruction option yet today. Students enrolled in the Northwest Indiana online school
077are fulltime virtual learners and by state statute virtual learner funding is set at 85% of the total in-person per pupil funding amount. The September 24 ADM was comprised of 5,570 in-person learners and 136 uh virtual learners for a total of 5,76 as recorded with the DOWAB indicator report. This was a net decrease from 2324 of 59 students. The net decrease was comprised of a decrease of 88 in-person students, but were po offset by 20 an increase of 29 students in our virtual learning. While not included in these DWAB reports, the fall of 2025 ADM um increased to 8 5,000 I wish it was 8,000 5,829. Virtual learners uh this fall had totaled 187 uh students and in-person learners for 5,642. This resulted in an overall increase of 123 students, student learners in Dunland schools, which
078is good news. We want to see that chart start moving up. Next slide. This is revenue by type. Revenue for Dunland schools comes primarily from state support, local property taxes, and operating referendum property taxes. Federal and local nonpropy tax revenues are minimal. This revenue um data and makeup is rel relatively consistent over time for Duneland schools. The substantial increase in 22 is primarily from the sale of the $160 million capital improvement bonds. In 23 we also had the $5.4 million in bonds and 24 $5.7 million in bonds for capital improvements. At the end of 24, all federal stimulus stimulus dollars have been depleted. So, um, as you can see in that chart, basically property taxes in pink, um, pretty steady over the course of time. Blue is our state support, um, which also is relatively
079steady. Um, a few increases that were per ADM, typical increases and green are our, um, debt revenue. um because as we um take on more debt, we have larger payments to make. Next slide. Operating referendum revenue as a percentage of our total revenue. Operating referendum revenue has grown over the course of the referendum period. Revenue is from property taxes. Revenue increases as the assessed valuation increases since revenue is a function of the referendum tax rate multiplied by AV. at least it is for the referendum that we're um finishing up and see here. Uh from 2021 to the present, AV has grown more significantly than any other time in the prior 10 years, which in turn has increased the revenue um generated by the operating referendum fund. The operating referendum from revenue for 22 dropped on
080a percentage of total revenue due to that uh large increase of bond dollars as a part of our overall revenue. However, in 23 and 24, even with the receipt of another almost 11 million worth of general obligation bonds, the operating referendum revenue as a percentage of our total corporation revenue began to normalize back towards that 9% um historic aid average that it has supplied. Next slide. Fund balances. These are the 2024 year end. So these are actually one year old um but still relevant um and they indicate that our educational and operational funds have been relatively consistent over the past several years. The big blue spikes again are the bond funds um that we um took on um during those particular years. The operations fund balance for 2024 was less than that of 2023 because
081the projects that we began in 21 and 22 that had delays uh due to supply chain issues were finally completed. Buses that were ordered in 21, 22 and 23 were also finally received which um expectedly drew down that cash balance that had grown during 22 and 23 while we were waiting to to actually pay for those buses. Um so we had an artificial um increase in that cash balance. The 2024 education fund balance showed a slight increase from that of 23 as the state funding dollars per student increased for all K to2 schools. This was however um also a partial timing increase as new staff that was added for 2425 had just begun to draw salary and benefits for the 2425 school year. Um, as we came to the close of 2024, the 2024 debt
082service fund increased as repayment on the new debt from 22 and 23 um went into play. So, that went up a little bit. The operating um referendum fund balance decreased slightly as a result of the levy limitations that had been placed on the operation referendum tax revenue from House Bill uh 1499. remember they artificially held our growth down um during 23 and 24. So that revenue was a little bit decreased and that's reflected in the balances. The 2024 self- insurance fund balance increased slightly as the P plan gained additional participants which meant that we generated additional premium dollars and while the overall claim expenses remain consistent with prior years. Next slide. Fund balances is a percentage of expenditures. This data indicates what level of expenditures the school corporation can sustain from its operating fund balances
083should revenue not be received in a timely fashion. Dunland fund balance reserves um have provided or can provide sufficient protection from a temporary delay in revenue. This percentage though has decreased since 2021 as things like the federal stimulus funding was spent. Cash balances from both the education and the operations fund balance were consciously incorporated into the 23 and 24 budgets to support student achievement as well as to provide for special education instruction delivered directly by Dunland schools and not through just the uh county special ed cooperative. Even with those reductions in this percentage, the school corporation has remained sufficient cash to make payroll and pay critical bills for several months should funds not be received from on time from property taxes or state support. Next slide. We're almost done. Annual deficit surplus. Annual revenue and
084expenditures are captured as they stand at 1231 each year. Indiana schools, as you know, account on a cash basis. So this represents exactly what was received and what was spent. Purchase orders for goods and services obligated in one year but paid for in the next are recorded as an expense in the year that the payment was made, not in the year of the obligation. This can cause expenditures from one year to another to exceed revenue um and subsequently make the cash balance higher or lower because of timing. In instances where the school board has authorized a budget that utilizes a portion of the cash balance in a specific year, expenditures will exceed revenue for the year creating the deficit. From 2020 forward, revenue and expenditures are reported by DUAB do have exceptions to their totals,
085which are actually the allowable transfers of state support funding from the education fund, which is an expenditure exception, to the uh educ to the operations fund, which is a revenue exception. So it cancels each other out. As adopted by the board during the annual budget process, the 2024 amount that was transferred was $3,840,000 for 2024. The revenue again as in 22 and 23 includes one-time bond proceeds which overstate our ongoing operating revenue and in 2022 created a substantial positive balance. So you see that surplus uh of an up gold in 2022 but in 23 and 24 you see that down gold where we are spending down that um that revenue from those bonds. Even when you factor that out um which is on the next slide, last one. Um what you see there is that
086this is just the operating funds and as you can see the green and the blue are relatively level um in most cases. Um so that is factoring out those large increases from bonds. um they are closely aligned and that has kept this with the school board's general philosophy of spending current revenue within the current year. However, the conscious use of onetime money from cash balances in the education operating referendum and self- insurance funds does show that regular educational and operational expenses were slightly greater than the revenue generated for 2024. In conclusion, overall Dunland Schools has generally operated within the confines of available revenue. Should funding be unexpectedly delay delayed or decreased, reserves to sustain the school corporation in the short term exist, allowing the Dunland School Board of Trustees the opportunity to thoughtfully react to
087such changes. This ability has contributed to Dunland's double A bond rating. And these cash reserves have continued to provide the school board with the ability to undertake the targeted initiatives you have deemed important to the overall success of the school corporation. And that is our conclusion. >> Thank you. >> Having come to the end of our agenda. >> Yes, we have. >> We are ajourned. >> Thank you. >> Signing. Thank you.