ECS Board of School Trustees’ Meeting 3/24/26

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> This >> Do you have We ready? >> All right. Thank you everybody for coming out to tonight's uh March 24th, 2026 Elkhart Community School Board Meeting. At this time, I'd like to uh call the uh meeting to order. And if everybody please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Dora. Thank you. You may be seated. Mr. Weaver, the Elkhart Promise. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff, and in partnership with the community, will graduate career, college ready, and ready for life. Thank you, Mr. Weaver. Our invitation to speak protocol. Everybody should receive a little pamphlet on on your chair. If you wish to speak, please fill out this portion of the pamphlet, and please give it to Dora. Uh please put your name and address, and

002uh organization you uh pre- uh represent. Um I will call your name. When you hear your name, please come up to the microphone. Uh announce your uh name and relationship to Elkhart Community Schools. You'll then have 3 minutes to speak on any agenda or non-agenda item. Um as always, uh because of the Family Rights and Privacy Act, uh anything that uh pertains to personnel or personal student issues, this is not the venue to discuss those items. I think we've uh all been uh getting getting used to this protocol. So, um at this time, uh Dora, we'll take public comment. Thank you. Who's that? Ralph, uh Spellbring Is it Spellbring? Yes. Okay. My name is Ralph Spellbring. I live between Rice Cemetery and the St. Joseph River. I've lived there for more than 50 years. First,

003I think that home schooling for high school students should be illegal in Indiana. Students that do that, I think, miss out on a lot of opportunities. Last August, while driving along Ash Road, I noticed an ice cream truck, so I stopped, had some ice cream with the residents there. One of the residents pointed out that if his family lived across Ash Road, the property taxes would be much higher than they are here. They also would be higher if you were in Edwardsburg. They'd be higher if you were in Cleveland Township within the city limits. There are a couple meetings tonight in St. Joseph County pertaining to people like me, elderly people, elderly homeowners. Uh the legislature passed a bill in that allows senior citizens to get a tax break if the county council passes legislation.

004I think you have to be 55 years old and lived in the property for more than 7 years. Uh Uh one other thing I wanted to point out uh Money Magazine selected Rockford, Illinois as the worst place to live one year in the 1990s. Generally, they Generally, they pick what rust belt cities. Another year, they selected Jackson, Michigan. So, I drove up there. As I went into town, was a sign they'd been selected as an All-American City a few years earlier. So, it depends on the standards you're using on whether something is good or something is bad. Uh after I spent some time in Jackson, I went to Hell. Hell, Michigan. That's a small place between Jackson and Ann Arbor. It's just an amusing place to visit. Uh I'll mention, too, I lived here more

005than 30 years before I found out there's a Purgatory Wildlife Area along the St. Joseph River in Michigan. The Constantine cross country teams came up with the idea to have a run through Purgatory in the early 2000s. I thought that was really clever. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stelzer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You will You will retain your number one position for next week if so you choose. Yes. Thanks, Rob. Uh Chris Thomas Bartley. Well, Chris, I You better have something good, girl. Good evening. Board, Dr. Huff, President Scott, members of the community, I have lived at my house also for 30 years and on the same street for, oh god, 57 minus two, 55 years. So, I have not been to hell. I have been to Rockford. It's not that bad of a city.

006Um, there's a couple of things. First, uh, you're going to approve, well, I hope you're going to approve a a donation from, um, uh, Special Olympics. We had the unified cornhole team. Um, part of our commitment to to, um, starting that team this year was, um, that we purchased these, um, monogrammed cornhole boards. They're really nice. Uh, and then Special Olympics actually reimbursed us for them. So, we got, uh, a set of four Elkhart Lions, uh, cornhole, competition cornhole boards, uh, essentially for free. So, that was nice. I just want to bring attention to that. Um, actually up here about the policy, um, the proposed policy student staff relationships, I did talk on that a couple of months ago. It's brought back to the table. I'm still very concerned about not a clear carve out

007for those relationships that, uh, we have with family friends. Um, some of the wording in here is very vague. Um, pulling a student out to talk to them, um, that that happens in the course of my day. Uh, I've heard from a a a of a friend, so-and-so is upset. I pull them out, we have a talk, and then we make a decision whether we need to go to a a counselor or something. So, there's some some vagueness in there. Um, specifically the um personal um hygiene / toileting. Um, again, there's no there's no carve out in there for intense interventions where toileting is a a part of the job. I am uh it's easy to say, well, that is part of the job. Yes, it is, but unless it's spelled out specifically in a

008policy like that, I think it leaves someone open to uh retribution or God forbid legal action. I'm done. My time is I still have more time. That's unusual for me. Thank you. Worstoffer. Good evening, Dr. Huff, Mr. Scott, Board of Trustees, and community members. My name is Laura Worstoffer. I am an eighth grade science teacher this year at Westside Middle School. Just want to start off by sharing we took all of our eighth graders today to um different colleges. We visited IUSB, Holy Cross, and Saint Mary's. Um, I know my group at Saint Mary's had a great day even though it was a little bit chilly. We made it through. Um, I think we're all really tired, so if you catch me dozing off back off back there later, that's why. Um, I am here

009to talk about the student-staff relationships policy. No issues first couple sections. Um, when it comes to the inappropriate boundary invasions by corporation employees, um, like Chris Bartley pointed out some concerns about how those things are worded. Um, letter A, it says hugging. Um, does this mean that when I was over at the high school this afternoon and had one of my former students come up to me and initiate a side hug that I should have just pushed them away and said, "No, I can't hug you." Um, we see this often times with younger students. There is a point in here where it mentions kindergarten students, but only kindergarten students. Um, there are days that somebody needs a hug and it, you know, if we say, "Is it okay if I give you a hug?" or

010"Do you need a hug?" that is something that we should be able to give that child at that time. Um, letter F, taking an undue interest in a student, like having a special friend or special relationship. It is common practice to have athletic buddies where we have teachers paired up with athletes that they are providing snacks before a game, letters of encouragement, and things. The way this policy is written, we would no longer be able to have those. G, initiating or extending contact with students beyond the school day for personal purposes. This means that, um, when I lived in district and one of my students lived across the street, I was unable to mow my lawn one weekend and I said, "Hey, would you come mow my lawn for me?" I wouldn't be able to

011do that anymore. We're taking away some of the ability for our students to become entrepreneurs. Um, also same case with pet sitting. That's something that happens very regularly. Letter J, um, it falls within a social worker's job description that at times they need to discuss with a student what their bra size is because they are working with that student to find appropriate garments so that they can attend school comfortably. And as Chris Bartley pointed out, the intense classroom toileting issues. Letter M, um, holiday gift drives. How would that be impacted by that? It says we can not give gifts or money to a student for a non-educational purpose. Um, O, P, and Q, we just have some questions. What is overly touchy with a student? Um, in favoring certain students by inviting them to come

012to a classroom at non-class times. That means I can't have a student come help me cover my walls before I learn testing. The way that is written, I can't have an NHS student come help me set up my classroom before school starts. It's non-instructional time. Um, like Chris Bartley pointed out about the pulling a student out of class to visit with the staff member. Obviously, if it's not an educated related purpose, that shouldn't happen. But the way this is written, it is very vague. Um, letter R, when it says a properly licensed person, um, to talk about a personal problem. There's times a student comes to you because that staff member is their safe space. Um, we can't automatically stop them instantly and say, "Hey, we need to go talk to somebody else before they've

013completely unloaded on us, but we need to be able to listen to that child and say, "Okay, now we're going to go get that help that you need." Mr. Hopper, Yes. Are you getting close? Yes. I'm just about >> Your time is up, so you can finish up. Um, two more, S and T are very vague. And then just want to note that in the paragraph before allegations involving contact, there's a typo that says contact between and adult. That should be an. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right, that uh concludes public comment for this evening. Uh next on the agenda we have um moment of pride. Uh Nico Baba and uh Graciela Gonzalez. Welcome. Um thank you, President Scott, the school board, Dr. Huff, and the community. My name is Graciela Gonzalez.

014My name is Nico Baba. Thank you for giving us time to present the moment of pride for Elkhart High School. On February 24th, Lavon Johnson from the Chamber of Commerce met with 14 juniors and seniors. This was a panel discussion for students to give input on what things they like about Elkhart and what makes Elkhart a place they want to be and want to return post-secondary. On February 25th, student athletes had their first visit with elementary students to read their favorite stories as a part of March Madness book brackets. This provided time for athletes to make connections with the students. Athletes continued to visit the elementary schools throughout this month. On February 29th, we had ISMA State and we had 90 Elkhart High School students and those and 18 of those earned gold with distinction.

015Also on February 28th, our drill team traveled to Michigan and we placed third for JV unarmed and that was the first medal for JV unarmed. March 4th was our official SAT day. We had 695 juniors test. Students and schools get scores in a few weeks. The SAT is important as it is one of the indicators for state accountability as it shows post-secondary readiness. In our robotics club, we were runner-up in Mishawaka and we just had our latest competition in Lafayette and this past weekend. Um some of our helpers for this competition were EACC, Elkhart Area Career Center, and our local-ish university, Notre Dame, and some retired teachers. On March 10th, we had our blood drive run by our student government benefit by South Bend Medical Foundation. We hosted this at main campus and we got

01665 units of blood this year. For Shrek the Musical, we had three overall performances. It was very good. Though I personally did not go, I had many friends who went and was part of it and heard many great things about it. On March 14th, we had a large group of students finish in the top 10 at the Indiana State Leadership Conference. Elkhart finished in first place in international business, business management, and many other competitions. March 16th was the winter sports banquet, which celebrated many student athletes. Elkhart athletes recognized from the sectional level up to the state level, as well as individual team awards. The Gates Scholarship grants fully covered the cost of college attendance. There was 100,000 applicants nationwide and only 1,500 were chosen as finalists. A student of Elkhart, Colin Compashan, practiced his interview

017with administrators prior to the official Gates Scholarship interview. In our upcoming events, we have the military ball, which is March 28th, and it As a freshman, I've heard many great things about it. I'm excited to go for it. Um then we have ISMA for our high school band festival, our coffee house talent show, which is this Thursday, and we have our foreign exchange students coming to us from Japan on April 13th. They will be visiting us for about a week, and come July time, our students will be visiting them for a week. And the financial literacy program is part of a grant which 25 seniors will receive a thousand dollars for each student senior. Once again, thank you for your time President Scott, the school board, Dr. Huff, and the community. Do you have any

018questions that we can answer at this time? I just want to say you I get the privilege of sitting with you once a month. Amazing job as always representing all the great things at the high school. I know that when you were doing your presentation, you were so focused and I could that's how you are doing our presentations. You've done a wonderful job and also it's not easy. You all make it look pretty easy. So, I would love if you present for me tonight. It'd be great. I think they would have appreciated it as well. But if you don't, remember that these are skills that are going to stay with you for a lifetime and so, I just want to say thank you. It was you did a wonderful job. And thank you for to

019to you and to your teachers at the high school. Thank you. Great great job guys. I uh We uh get it we get this uh your presentations in advance and I went through them and I saw some of the names that you had to pronounce and I was like, "Oh, good luck." You did great. You You nailed them all. So, great job. I never know they're freshmen. No. Next on the agenda, we have uh Elkhart High School Arts and uh Communication School Study Report uh from April Oppenheim. Good evening, Dr. Huff, Dr. Rauch, uh Mr. Scott, and members of the board. I am so excited to be here this evening to uh present the Arts and Communication School Study. It's been my honor to be their principal um for the last year and 3/4, I

020guess at this point. We um have a wonderful team, and I always think about our entire school of study as a team. It doesn't matter what your role is, you have impact on students. And our team is just incredible. Um couldn't do couldn't do what we do without these folks. Our uh school of study has 36 teachers, three counselors, and five support staff. Of our teachers, several of them are in music, and they travel between the freshman division, the 10-12 building, and the middle schools. We have 422 students total in our school of study. And um you can see the breakdown there. I won't go into details, but uh the majority are female students, 56% with uh 44% being male students. My belief is that when kids get involved, and they show up, and they

021thrive academically. And I think through arts and communication, we're able to reach out and grab those students and get them connected. And because of that, we have um students who are uh thriving and showing up to school. Some of the things that they're enrolled in through our school of study, we have um this year, first semester and second semester, we had 23 students involved in yearbook and the pennant. And those are both publications that come out. So, a lot of pressure to get all of that correct. And then in music classes, first semester, 526 students, and second semester, 531 for a total of 1,057 students involved in our music program just at the 10-12 building. I think that's pretty incredible. We are uh proud to have marching band, wind ensemble, concert band, two jazz bands,

022and a pep band. With our choirs, we have several choirs, uh chamber choir, intermediate treble choir, advanced treble choir, Main Street Jazz, Madrigals in the fall and Gold Rush in the spring, and the tenor bass choir. Really a place for anyone that wants to be involved in choir. And in orchestra, we have three orchestras this year, Philharmonic, symphony, and jazz. And lastly, we have piano class for students who are new to piano or continuing their journey. In art classes this year, first semester we had 800 students take art class at the 10-12 building, second semester 778, for a grand total of art students 1,578. That's a lot of impact on students making connections with teachers and their peers who also enjoy art. We offer ceramics, drawing, painting, digital design, photography, sculpture, visual communication, and jewelry.

023Again, a place for anyone who wants to explore the arts. Um here's some examples of students with their art projects recently uh submitted for uh art uh shows around the area both here at Elkhart and South Bend. We also offer theater and we have a speech team. Um of course theater in the fall we had Twelfth Night and Shrek and our speech team just finished with one of our students participating at state. Again, once kids get connected, that brings them back to school. When you're in an environment where you feel that people see you and hear you and notice you and you belong, you're going to it's going to be a little easier to roll out of bed in the morning and come on in. We have an excellent attendance rate, 178 students have a

02495% or more attendance rate for this school year. And our school study attendance rate from the beginning of the school year to now is 90.31% 39 students with perfect attendance second semester and we just celebrated with our 10 students with perfect attendance for the first semester and we just celebrated with a a lunch and a goody bag and lots of we're proud of yous. Our grade point averages we have 192 students with a 3.0 or higher so 47% of our arts and communication students are really achieving at a very high level. Most of our seniors are on track to graduate 97% and our juniors and sophomores are close behind and as they near that senior year I always see that percentage rate go up. So with our seniors right now we have over a we're

025a million dollars in scholarships and that goes up daily. We have 20 21st scholar students and so far students have been admitted to many colleges and universities here in the state as well as countrywide. I really believe in celebrating students and each month we do a recognition for students of various ways. Some of the ways we recognize students we recognize no tardies everyone has that ability to have no tardies perfect attendance pride awards 3.0 improving GPA I work with students who we set a little goal they match it we celebrate and just try to recognize all the good that's going on with our students and let them know that we see that we see the good that's happening. For our pathway from arts and communication we have the civic arts pathway and this is one

026of the newer pathways but at the moment we have 181 band and orchestra students utilizing that pathway 74 choir and 91 fine arts. Approximately 45 students are currently enrolled in music or fine arts at a secondary level. And lastly, coming up we've got the ISMA contest for the high school coming up. I kind of color coded these here cuz there's three different levels. So for the students who are performing at the the kind of normal level if you will, they're in the beige box to the left and those students will be performing on April 23rd and Friday, April 24th as well as April 25th. So that includes um freshman choir, the the freshman division band, concert band, freshman orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra. And then to the right, the lighter blue, that's for the qualifiers.

027So our top two groups, the Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Ensemble. They will perform at Penn High School and their goal is to be one of the top groups in state and then they'll perform at state if they end up being named as one of the top groups. 16 for band and eight for orchestra. So that's the lower right hand corner there. And our students are working really diligently towards that. Lastly, we are a team and I try to remind the students, families that we are truly a team. We work together and with by working together, we can achieve great things. Thank you, April. Wonderful job, April. Thank you. Oh, oh, okay. I mentioned you once ago. I'm not going to hold you up. She's ready to go. She's ready to >> that we're on

028schedule. >> I'm I see that you have some of your staff members here tonight supporting you. Yes. Can we recognize them as well? Please please stand. >> Communication teachers. We actually don't have any teachers here, but we do have some of our wonderful principals here with us. >> Who is that? Uh Mrs. Ripley. Yes, of course. >> Mr. Bird and Mr. Schultz. >> Oh, yes, we can recognize them. I want to thank you wonderful presentation. Your There's a lot of things going on in your school. I just want to tell you thank you. Also, I want to thank you for the messages you send out every Monday to your staff. They are some of the most positive messages I've ever I look forward to getting out of my inbox every week. It's like you're just

029driving down the street reflecting on the world and and and that energy that you choose to put out in the world is very positive. I just want to tell you you are seen as well. You're a great leader. We're very blessed to have you here in Elkhart. The two years have flown by. I realized the things that I did not know about music by sitting up with you in that booth for two hours. To you they were short, to me it felt very long. They were just like, "Oh my gosh, I don't know what's happening." You knew all the technical nuances of what every person on that field should have been doing. We're lucky to have you here. So, I just want to tell you you're you're you're fantastic. Thank you. Next we have Shirley

030Elliott Mary Del- Mary Daly Elementary School report. Good evening. Good evening. President Scott, Dr. Huff, school board members, and community. I am Shirley Elliott, the proud principal of Mary Daly Elementary, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share the great things that are happening at Daly. Um this is my second year serving as the principal of Daly, and it has been a true privilege to work with the students, staff, and families. This year I have been very fortunate to welcome Laura Christoffel um to the team and as my partner and assistant principal. Having her support has strengthened our leadership team and helped to continue the positive and supportive learning environment for our school community. I very much appreciate having Laura there. All right, before I share about our goals and data, I would like

031to provide a little background about my history at Mary Daily. Um, I moved to Elkhart and began my teaching career at Daily in a year that started with a one and we're just going to leave it there. I had the privilege of being there for 18 years. During that time, um, Daily was consistently ranked in the top three in the city and in the district. When I was given the opportunity to be the principal at Daily, it truly felt like I was coming home. I was incredibly excited to come back and serve the school community that had been such an important part of my career. However, it had been some 13 years since I had worked at Daily and last taught at Daily school. In that time, the school had shifted from being in the

032top to being at the bottom. And seeing the results was a little shocking to me, a little surprising and a little difficult to see. It's a As I reflect on the data that I see before us, I know that we have some work to do, but we are committed to doing that work and moving Daily forward. So, our first goal is to increase our ELA data. Um, I like even numbers, so I chose 5.5 to get us to 17. Um, and in math, 5.2 to get us to an even 15%. So, how are we doing on our ELA? You can see our goals from 2019 to 2025. There was from 2019 to 2024, there was a steady decline over those years in performance. However, last year there was some growth. And it was through that

033growth, the hard work of our teachers and students, and we are proud of the effort that they put in to achieve the results, and we're encouraged by the positive movement in our data. And this year we are um our predicted growth is is upward as well, so we're encouraged by that predictive growth we're seeing this year by our last checkpoint data. For our math on I-Learn, our data from 2019 to 2025, as you can see our results have hold steady over the last two years. And this year we are seeing our steady growth as our students are taking opportunity one to opportunity two on their checkpoint assessment. They are showing steady improvement as they continue to practice and grow their understanding on their math assessments. So, how are we doing this? How do we and

034how do we plan to improve? As many of our the other elementary principals have pointed out, you'll see many of the common things that you have heard from the other elementary principals. In addition to that, I want to point out one thing that is not on there that we are using that we're adding to this, which is the explicit instruction that's based on the work by Anita Archer. This is a training that's being given by our literacy cadre coach Kim in addition to Kristen. And we're seeing positive growth from our teachers just going back to some of the the things that teachers know and that they learned when they were in college and that they kind of forget along the way cuz you hear about all the newest latest things and you kind of forget

035the tried and true things that you learned in college and so we're just going back to to those tried and true things that teachers learned in college and refreshing them and getting to use those tried and true things and we're seeing positive results in the classrooms based on the um the explicit instruction by Anita Archer. We're seeing very positive results. In our tier two, I want to point out um our U-Fly instruction and point out two teachers are again literacy cadre coach Kim and our interventionist Kristen Beecraft. Those two women went around and taught all of our teachers how to use the U-Fly intervention and they taught every single person in every single adult in the building how to use that intervention. So whether they were a classroom teacher, an ENL teacher, a special ed

036teacher, a paraprofessional, every single adult in the building learned how to use the U-Fly intervention so that all teachers in the building can be providing a consistent reading intervention for all students whatever their need is in the building so that there's a consistent intervention for all students at Mary Daily so that we can show growth and intervention for our students that need that reading intervention. So shout out to those two women and a couple of our teachers who have been departmentalized for quite some time and have taught math for a very long time. They even jumped on board and were willing to learn how to do a reading intervention. Um one of them even shouting out um that they could teach an old dog new tricks. I look back cuz she's in the audience. Um

037and so it shows the commitment to the the teachers at Mary Daily. They're willing to do whatever they need to do to help our students grow and succeed. Our third goal is our I-Ready goal and in getting our proficiency to 80%. Last year we were able to grow 14.6% um and up to 61.4%. Um so we were very pleased with the results that we had last year. This year we are we have based on our first results that we had in March, we have already identified students that are within 40% of passing and again we're providing a targeted intervention for those students between the test that they took in March and the test that they will retake in May providing them with additional support so that we are very confident that we will be at

038that 80% when we retest in May. We are very excited. And so again, how are we getting there? Um, I will say the biggest difference for us at Mary Daily this year is having a third-grade team that is made up of certified teachers. Um, that has been a huge difference for us. Um, we are thankful for that team. They're brand new team of teachers that they they have experienced teaching but not at the third-grade level. So our literacy cadre coach Kim has been wonderful in helping that those teachers who have experienced teaching but not at the third-grade level grow and develop their skills in helping the third-grade students do what they need to do to be ready for that I read test and also our intervention teacher working with those students to get them prepared

039for that test as well. So our third-grade team has been wonderful again with all of the other things that you've heard the other elementary principals talk about. So the team has been just phenomenal but having certified teachers at that third-grade level has made a huge difference for us. Our last goal is our attendance and last year we saw a a little tiny dip in our attendance and then this year in January and February there is a is a dip in our attendance and that is due to our e-learning. We definitely see a dip in our attendance on those e-learning days. Um that has been whether it is synchronous or asynchronous, we definitely see a dip on those e-learning days. And so we have implemented some strategies to help our um attendance. And so we are

040recognizing students at our quarterly awards who have that 95% attendance or better at each one of our assemblies. That's new for us this year. Then in February when we were seeing those significant dips in attendance, we implemented an Olympic challenge. So we were awarding um a gold, silver, and medal Wait, gold, silver, and bronze medal each day for a classroom each day through the month of February for the high three highest attendance per classroom every single day. We announced it on the announcements. And the students were glued to the announcements every day wanting to know if their class was going to win the attendance challenge for that day. Um and so that was very successful for us. We had an overall the overall winner for each of those medals also won prizes. Um and we're

041doing the same thing then in March with a March Madness challenge doing it like a bracket. Um and then we're also planning already for an April and May challenge again to help those attendance to bring up our attendance percentages for overall attendance for the year to increase that. All right. Now on to some fun things, our student engagement. So for um student engagement, our chess team, um which was led by Timothy, um he won second place for the fifth and sixth grade division in our in the chess tournament. Our football team was the city runner-up for the city. So we're very proud of their teamwork um for the year. And our Spell Bowl team came in fourth place, which is the highest that Daily has ever placed in a Spelling Bowl competition. Most of those

042Spelling Bowl team members are fourth graders, so we're very excited for them to come back next year and compete again next year with Mrs. Van Doran, um, and hopefully do even better next year. We are also a full-service community school. Um, when I came to Daily two years ago, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, and so I met with Hannah, who is our site coordinator, and she explained to me exactly what that full-service community grant was, which was very exciting to me, um, because we need to have that community involvement in order for our students to succeed and do well. I was also disappointed after I meeting with Hannah because found out that they weren't really using that grant very well at Mary Daily, and so after talking with Hannah, I said, "We're going

043all the way. Let's go." And Hannah met me, and she said, "Let's do it." And so we have, um, dove in, and we are using our grant. And so we currently have many clubs for our students to participate in. We have broadcasting, crochet, curious mind curious mind science, LEGO, Spanish, 4-H, reading, board games, piano, science fair, I Read Boot Camp, music, student ambassadors, Global Explorers, Five Star Art and Run Club, just to name a few. So, students have many after-school opportunities to, um, participate in clubs, and we do see an increase in attendance on days that students have after-school clubs. So, that's a win-win for our students that they are excited to come to school to participate in after-school clubs, which is fantastic to see. We also have staff members that are going above and

044beyond to help our students. So, Mr. Eason, our wonderful librarian, noticed that our students needed more opportunities to read books. So, he came to me with this opportunity and said, "Hey, Ms. Elliott, I noticed our students need to read more books. So, how about if I do a reading challenge?" Absolutely, Mr. Gitson. So, with his help, he wanted students to read 25 books by the end of 2025. We started at the beginning of this school year. The students did fantastic. They read 200 or 2,237 books. Our top readers read over 100 books. And after they read a book, the students had to submit a book report to Mr. Gitson for him to review. The students who read at least 25 books were rewarded with a ice cream party. Students were rewarded prizes along the way,

045so they were encouraged and motivated to continue to read from the beginning of the school year until the end of 2025. Students did a great job, and so it just shows that our staff are willing to go above and beyond. They see a problem, they come to me with solutions and ways to help our students close the gap and to um improve. And so, thank you to Mr. Gitson. We had another staff member who noticed um Ms. Casey, our speech language pathologist assistant, came to me and said, "Ms. Elliott, our students don't have books to read at home." When she was assigning students um things to do with their speech to improve their speech and to practice their speech at home, she would often ask for them to read books or do things with books

046at home, and realized that our students did not have books to read at home. So, she came to me and asked if she could start a book drive for our students, and I said, "Sure. Let me call and make sure that this is okay for us to do." Called over, and sure enough, it was okay for us to do. So, we started a book drive. We had multiple business um who were willing to house a box so that people could donate gently used or new books for our students, and we were able to collect enough books so that every single one of the daily students could go home right before Christmas with a brand new or gently used book. So, every one of our daily students were able to go home with a book to

047take home and read. And so, again, a staff member was able to identify a problem, come up with a solution. So, coming up with ways to improve and address problems for our students, our staff. Fantastic. Um school activities. One of the things I noticed when I went to Daily is that Daily school had um pretty much closed its doors um with previous administrations. They weren't very welcoming to the community or to parents. Um and that was something that I wanted to change right away. So, when I got there, I kind of threw open the welcome sign, and we're open. Um and and meeting with Hannah, we wanted to what make sure that families felt welcome, and that the community felt welcome, and that families felt welcome. And so, we wanted to do everything we we

048could to make sure that everyone knew that we were kind of open for business, and we were welcoming um the community back to Mary Daily, and welcoming people into our school community. So, things that we have done to welcome people back to Mary Daily school is we had our family family literacy night. We do that annually, and this year we partnered with Bonner and the EL department, um and had our family literacy night. Some other things that we have done is we also had our Hispanic Heritage Night. Um we also initiated last year our VIP day, so we are having VIPs into our school. We also started our first Veterans Day luncheon, and um that was important to us because we were challenged to apply to be a Purple Heart school, but we couldn't apply

049to be a Purple Heart school if you didn't recognize veterans in a meaningful way. And so by initiating our first veterans luncheon, we're able to now hopefully apply to be a Purple Heart school because we now have a Veterans Day activity that recognizing our veterans. So we're very excited to start that Veterans Day luncheon for our veterans on Veterans Day. So lots of lots of ways that we're inviting staff our community into Mary Daily School. We also have lots of activities for our families. We have All Pro Dads and this year we had our biggest All Pro Dads event with we had 57 attend our first All Pro Dads event, which is the biggest event we've ever had. We also had our first moms event in a very long time, many many years and we

050had 80 attend our first All Moms event, which is very exciting for us. We also are in a reconstruction year for our PTO. PTO had been four four people for the longest time. They met at 3:00 um and it was pretty limited to those three moms at 3:00. Um Hannah and I talked about it and we decided to survey our parents and say, "Hey, if we kind of opened it up for PTO and ask when when would you come if you could come to a PTO meeting?" And our parents said that they wanted to do that in the evening. So we changed our PTO meeting to the evening and we increased to nine, which was we more than doubled our PTO. So we're very excited. Um we now have our PTO is changing and it's

051growing and we're seeing more parents come. Um we actually even have had to request Spanish um interpreters come to our PTO event because we're now having some of our Spanish families come to our PTO meeting, which is important to include all of our families in our PTO meetings. So we're excited to increase our family involvement. We have also participated in lots of fun things not only for our families, but for our students. So, we participated in the homecoming parade. We had one student who was so excited to be in the homecoming parade that he came without his shoes on and he walked the entire thing in just his socks. He was super excited the whole darn parade in just his socks. So, our students are excited to participate in things as well. We also were

052the only elementary school to participate in the tracker treat. Our students absolutely love seeing us out there looking goofy. But, it didn't matter that we look goofy. They were just excited to see us there. So, we are excited to participate and for our students to be able to see us and be present in our community. So, our partners and community connections, many of them are through the schools. We are partnered with the National Junior Honor Society at Westside. They come over in the morning and they help with breakfast. Our kindergarteners and first graders eat in the cafeteria and so they come over in the morning and they help with breakfast. If you've ever been to first grade in kindergarten breakfast, you know exactly what I'm talking about and it's all the more hands the merrier

053and so we're thankful that the National Junior Honor Society can send friends over and help with that. On Mondays, they're able to stay a little longer because of their delayed start and then they go down and help in the first and kindergarten classrooms. So, we're very thankful for that partnership with the National Junior Honor Society at Westside. We also are partnered with the servant leadership servant leadership class for sophomore athletes at the high school and they come over in the fall and they volunteered in a kindergarten class and also in our PE class. So, it was nice to partner with that class in the fall. We partnered with the junior class government and they came over right before the holidays and they were handing out candy canes to our students right before Christmas break. Um

054Our students love that to get a candy cane at 7:30 in the morning. Teachers maybe not so much, but the students love to getting candy canes early in the morning. We have two cadet teachers from the high school that come over and they both are working in a second grade classroom. So we have two teachers cadet teachers from the high school and that partnership has been wonderful to have those teachers in our helping our students and our teachers. We also have about four four students coming over from the early childhood intern from the Elkhart Area Career Center and they are working in our first and second grade classrooms. So it's been wonderful to partner with the Elkhart Area Career Center for those early childhood interns. We also partner with the Purdue Extension 4-H Club and

055they participate in club. They are currently doing Chef University. So they come over and run one of our after school clubs. They are helping the students learn how to cook with fresh ingredients that works with the team building and at the end of the students are actually involved then in 4-H and they can take continue on and do a 4-H be involved in 4-H this summer and attend the 4-H Fair which is exciting for our students cuz most of our students don't get involved in 4-H so it's exciting connection for our students to be involved in 4-H Club. Some upcoming events for you all. We have a fine arts night coming up on Thursday night from 5:30 to 7:00. Our you will be able to see a art gallery. Our art teacher has been saving

056art projects from all school year long. She has a wonderful art projects from kindergarten through fifth grade for families to see that will be available in the gym. We have art making activities and stations for families to participate in. There will be music stations to participate in and musical performances for that on Thursday. And then on May 22nd, something that I think is unique to Mary Daily School is our student of the month banquet and that's where all the student of the months from all school year long come on that night with their families and they have a dinner and then we honor each one of the students of the month and then at that night we name our student of the year. So we make it a very special celebration to name our student

057of the year at Daily rather than going to a banquet and they really don't know why they go to that banquet and they kind of find out at that banquet that they go to that they're the student of the year but they don't really know why and so we try to make it a very special celebration for our student of the year to be named the student of the year at the student of the year banquet at Daily. And finally, we can't of course be up here as Mary Daily School and not talk about the the Daily Dash. So the Daily Dash, this year it is our 18th annual Daily Dash. It is on May 2nd. It starts at 9:00. The block party follows. Registration is $25. Our run club started the beginning of March

058and that's where our students run the halls. It's a it's a club and they're running the halls getting ready for the dash and so from 2:00 to 3:00 don't come in unless you're ready to to run with the students. And if you want to run and train, please come on over. We'd love for you to run with the students. They are practicing getting ready for the dash. Our students run miles during that run club. It's fantastic to see them running every day after school. And our t-shirt is designed it's a contest our art teacher runs every year and it is designed by one of our students. This year's t-shirt was designed by Adriana Ariana Cervantes. She's one of our fifth grade students and the title is running through the years. And so the years represent

059the different years that the dash has been the different 18 years that the dash has been going on. So please join us for the 18th annual Mary Daily Dash. And finally I we couldn't do what we do without our amazing staff. Um they're willing to go above and beyond um to go to all the crazy things that I say, "Hey, let's go to this." and they come along with a smile on their face wearing silly clothes um and join me for all the fun things that we do. Um and so I appreciate them. So I have some of them here. If they could stand I would appreciate it. THEIR SUPPORT. THEY'RE AWESOME. THANK YOU. THANK OUTSTANDING JOB. There's a lot of things going on at Mary Daily. There there are. One very proud of you

060Charlene. When you interviewed for that job, I knew that it meant a lot to you to go back. I didn't know that you taught there for such a long period of time. So congrats to you. And also one of things you're taking on a a challenge and you've you've tackled it head on and you should not diminish the 14.6% increase. That's that's huge. That's triple state average. So I know that you recognize that and I know that your staff recognize that. And I just want to say very proud of you and all the things that you're doing there. Yeah, and your assistant, she's okay, too. She's pretty amazing. You have a you have a wonderful assistant as well, but great community. Every time I There's just one person in the media center. He doesn't share

061a lot when I go to the media He knows what I'm talking about. But but your staff, you always ready to go. Make it a one make it a fun place for kids to be and it's it's showing up in your work. So, I just want to tell you thank you for sharing this with the community tonight. Um, and I continue to do the great things at Mary Daly. Now, I'm just saying I cannot wait to get excited about something to to where I show barefoot. Uh, so I'm I'm I'm waiting for that moment. But I'm also old enough to remember um, the the reading challenges with Pizza Hut with the Book-It coupons. You imagine how many pizzas that would have been at 2,237 books. Uh, so good job. Thank you. Thank you. This driver

062of May 2nd is the ash. You should you want to show off with the With no shoes. Surely. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I'm just no Much like April and how she gets complete buy-in from her staff at the high school. Like like she can get her staff April's staff in the Arts and Communication to do anything which I applaud you for that because that's great leadership. Your staff too is exactly the same way. I mean, they are all in all the time and everything and I that's that's a great to you, but it's also you guys are amazing what you do for your students constantly. So, good job to all of you. Yeah. Thank you. We've heard from Arts and Communication at the high school. We've heard from Mary Daly, but there's more excellent spell

063cards. Ms. Wood. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, community members. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share highlights in the areas of academic, arts, and athletics. Autumn Holloway, an Elkhart High School junior, earned third place in the Agribusiness Management at the FFA District 2 Leadership Convention. This competitive academic event requires students to analyze agricultural business scenarios and apply financial, economic, and risk management principles to real-world situations, demonstrating strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The Elkhart High School El-Logics robotics team placed second at the Penn robotics competition. This achievement shows how our students are building strong skills beyond the classroom, including teamwork, problem-solving, and applying what they've learned in real-world situations. In the area of arts, Elkhart High School's production of Shrek the Musical was a great success. The students did a

064fantastic job and it was a pleasure to see all the hard work and collaboration come together on stage. In advanced digital design, students at Elkhart High School recently partnered with second-graders at Cleveland Elementary to bring imaginary friends to life. Our high school designers translated the second-graders' characters into digital art. The finished designs are now being returned to the students alongside encouraging notes. In athletics, junior Maddie Collins cleared 10 ft 6 in in pole vault, breaking the 22-year-old school record of 10 in 10 ft 3 in set in 2004. She now holds the all-time pole vault record across Memorial, Central, and Elkhart High School history. Golf practice has begun indoors as a team awaits the start of our spring season. And some of our future happenings, March 26th, Elkhart High School acquires coffee house. The 28th

065is the annual military ball. The 31st Pierre Moran Cookies and Canvas. April 3rd through the 10th will be our spring break and April 16th is kindergarten kickoff. And as always, please be sure to follow our district and school social media pages as we share each day the excellence of Elkhart schools. Thank you. Thank you, Wendy. Next on the agenda, we have uh the human resource and transportation audit update. Dr. Huff, Mr. Hickenbottom, Ms. Lozano. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board community. Tonight, I just want to provide you an update on thing our transportation and our human resources audit. Uh plainly, recently, we had um some personnel matters that have raised serious concerns in the community and understandably so. Um there's been a couple questions regarding our background check procedures and our reference check

066procedures. I want to provide the board an update on things that we have discovered over that time. Going back to um over the last 10 years, we've looked at the files. So, tonight, we want to provide you a comprehensive update from administration, from human resources, and from um legal. Since joining the district 2 years ago, I've been committed to understanding what are our systems and doing things that we can to improve all aspects of those systems and where they need to be stronger, um these two instance clear or make clear that we there's some work that we need to do to accelerate those practices. Two serious instance involving members of our staff came to light, instance that raised immediate and legitimate concerns about hiring and vetting practices. People put kids in our care every single

067day. We take that very seriously. As a parent who has raised kids, I've taken that very seriously. This is nothing that we take lightly, and this is our number one obligation. Conducting an audit is not only a responsible thing to do, it is the right thing to do to ensure that our community owners knows the protocols and the practices that we're doing to make sure that we're Oh, I'm sorry. Terrible timing. Ladies and gentlemen, terrible timing. I need to tell my mother um to to to watch the clock. See, you know we all She should be watching. She does every week. Trust me, she does every week. We're focused. I have a directive at a board meeting approximately a month ago, I asked the board for the the authority to look at our transportation or

068human resources hiring practices and I would was committed to bringing an update to the community in 30 days. Tonight was the process of doing so. That work began in February and has continued even through today. It has examined hundreds of personnel files spanning multiple employee groups and classifications, both certified and support staff, and also included direct interviews of individuals across both departments and measured our practices against Indiana legal requirements for school employment and established professional standards. What I'm trying to say is the scope of this process was not narrow. We had many people in the HR department who put in countless hours looking at files over and over again to to make sure that our processes are not only sound but what things that we can do to improve them. Tonight you'll hear from Ms.

069Lozano and from Mr. Hixonbaugh um our corrective action plan but also um things that we Bless you. Things that we have done to shore up those practices. And here's what we found. Our background check process exceeds what state law requires. We complete those checks before an employee's first day. Indiana law allows up to 30-60 days after hire. We don't do that here. We we complete it all for they get here. Our review of the background checks are relevant of these matters found no criminal or child prosecution protection findings that would have triggered or flagged under process or state law. But this is not a defense of what happened but it's an important fact that tells you where the actual vulnerability lies. Background checks document history. They do not predict future behaviors where no prior record

070exists. That is a known limitation of every background checking system in our country and exactly why every other part of the hiring process must be executed consistently and without exception. This is where we found our problem, our issues. Our reference checks protocols and hiring procedures were not followed with consistency in this community as they should have been. Looking at files from to through across 2024, we found some inconsistent when it comes to checking the references of the individuals. You'll hear later from Ms. Lozano who will provide more details on that, but she will also talk about her corrective action plan. Our corrective action plan, not hers. In those specific instances, execution did not meet the standard that those policies require and we have identified and are directing addressing those instances directly. We have to own

071and are addressing those issues now and also put this plan in place for the future and we're doing this without delay. I want to say this plainly. The overwhelming majority of the people, and we're going to refer to our hiring managers, those are your principals, those are your people who work at transportation, those are any individual who makes a recommendation recommendation for someone, they are handling these responsibilities with care with care and they're professional on a daily basis. What we have identified, forgive me, is a gap and inconsistency. Not a wholesale failure with the work that people are doing. It's time to make sure that we raise the standard for that each and every single time. So, in this moment you will hear from our legal counsel and our HR director. They will walk you

072through the specific findings and the corrective action plan in detail. I asked them here tonight to because a general overview is not enough. Everyone in this room deserves a full picture. And so at this time I'm going to bring up Greg Hicks and Ball. He is a our in-house one of our in-house attorneys who handled the investigation looked at some of our files. So, I'm going to turn it over to him at this time. Thank you, Dr. Helf. Um Mr. President, bless you. Um honorable board members, um as Dr. Helf mentioned, I've been asked to participate in your audit of your human resources and transportation uh department operations. And after having reviewed relevant information, I'm going to I think Dr. Helf did a great job of uh providing an overview, but I'm going to dig

073in further with regard to some of the preliminary conclusions that I've drawn, particularly after having reviewed those personnel files, as Dr. Helf mentioned, that span both certified and support staff groups um in a variety of work groups over the course of many years. And in particular, I'm going to focus on those pre-employment personal background checks and pre-employment reference checks. Now, with regard to the background checks, Indiana law requires the school corporation and all school corporations to conduct an expanded criminal history check and an expanded child protection in in index check on any applicant for employment um who is likely to have, and this is an important statutory phrase, likely to have direct ongoing contact with children. The criminal history check has to be completed by no later than 30 days after the first day of

074employment with the child protection index check having to be completed no later than the 60 days after the start date of employment. As you might imagine, the statute also speaks to prohibitions against hiring certain individuals for work in the school setting. That includes any individual who's subject to a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect as well as any individual who has been convicted of a lengthy list of 28 criminal offenses. Elkhart as is required under the statute has adopted a policy that governs the pre-employment background check process. And as Dr. Hoepf mentioned, it's your human resources department that's responsible for implementing the requirements of this policy but in conjunction with all other individuals involved in the hiring process. As is allowable under the law, you have contracted with the third-party vendor BIB to help

075complete your background checks. Their system archives all of your background checks and then as is appropriate, hard copies of background checks are also placed in certain personnel files. Your human resources department reviews the results of each and every background check that is conducted on an individual who is recommended for hire within the school corporation. If that background check comes back with a result other than no records found, the human resources department elevates the issue to legal counsel for review and then after that, Ms. Lozano consults with the superintendent regarding approval to add the name of a prospective hire to the personnel report for board approval. Now after having uh conducted uh my review of your personal files and other uh relevant information, I agree with Dr. Huff. I'm I'm pleased to report that my review

076has uh uncovered no significant deficiencies in your background checks check process or your procedures. Um your policy, again, is fully compliant with the requirements of Indiana law. But, I think it bears repeating that this school corporation, in fact, goes beyond the minimum statutory requirements in so much as you require that all employees successfully pass the statutory required background checks before being hired as opposed to only those employees who will have direct ongoing contact with children. So, your background check process is in broader in scope than what Indiana law requires as a minimum. Um I think it also bears mentioning that uh you have a well-established practice that you require the completion of those background checks prior to that first day of employment rather than waiting 30 or 60 days after someone has begun working within

077your schools. I am also pleased to report that in my review of um criminal background checks for both certified and support staff, including those involved in the recent high-profile personnel issues that uh Dr. Huff mentioned, I did not discover even a single criminal or or child protection-related background check that at all foreshadowed in future employee misconduct. Quite frankly, this is not overly surprising based upon what a crap uh background check will disclose. A background check only captures arrests, convictions, or substantiated instances of child abuse and neglect. And absent this type of notation, a background check will raise no pre-employment red flags. That's not to say that nothing should be done. That underscores the importance of the reference checking process that I'm going to speak to in just a few minutes here. But with regard to

078your background check process, um I do have uh a recommendation to make, and that would be that in order to reflect your current administrative practices that go beyond the the minimum requirements of Indiana law, I would recommend that you take immediate steps to revise policy 3121 ACS, which governs personal background checks and mandatory reports, in order to explicitly require that the background checks that are required by Indiana law must be completed prior to the first day of work for a new hire. Again, that's your current practice, but I believe that it is appropriate to embed that practice in policy language that's approved by this board. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have with regard to uh your your background checks before I move into your reference checks proper process.

079Well, questions from the board? Go right ahead. Then moving into reference checks, um here you're not subject to the same type of statutory requirements as with uh respect to background checks. Actually, in 2025, the Indiana General Assembly repealed a statute that uh previously required school corporations to conduct pre-employment reference checks. But as is consistent with best practice, the school corporation has approved um and has in place multiple policies that do mandate the completion of pre-employment reference checks. That policy that I cited a few moments ago, policy 3121 ACS is but one example of your policy language that requires these type of reference checks. That policy in particular tracks the former statutory language by requiring um if applicable, a reference check that's directed to the most recent employer of someone who is um considered for being

080hired. Um in that contact has to take place before an individual is eligible to being hired um by the school corporation. Once again, your human resources department is responsible for implementing uh this process. This school corporation, like many other school corporations, has digitized both the application and the reference checking process uh through the use of software that is provided to you by Frontline Education. It's a wildly widely recognized uh software application that's in place both regionally and throughout the state. Um As Dr. Huff mentioned, there are hiring managers, many times administrators, who are also involved in that digitized uh application and hiring process. And it is the uh administrator who is going to recommend that an applicant be hired who is responsible for conducting employee reference checks. Following the reference checks, the administrator completes a

081recommendation for hire form that's forwarded to human resources where it's reviewed by Ms. Lozano and uh the human resources department. Ms. Lozano then provides the superintendent with a recommendation for hire, and upon the final approval of the superintendent, the human resources department adds that applicant's name to the personnel report to obtain formal board approval for employment. Now, with regard to my review of your pre-employment reference checking process, um I have identified multiple areas of concern. Again, as Dr. Huff uh indicated a few minutes ago, these concerns do not relate to the specifics of your policies or to your current internal practice. Rather, my concerns are driven by what I believe to be a lack of appropriate compliance with these policies and related practices on the part of applicants and others involved in your hiring process.

082By way of example, um I have come across references listed by multiple applicants which included only colleagues and no former supervisors. Several applicants who left, uh ECS to work elsewhere before seeking reemployment, did not list any references from other school employers. And multiple applicants only provided one or two references, although your application requires three references. And while to some these examples might appear at first glance to be trivial, in my opinion, anything less than a a scrupulous attention to detail in your reference checking process will, uh increase the risk that an employer hires applicants who are not highly ideally suited to fill a vacancy. Well, even though the most rigorous reference checking process can't guarantee the suitability for employment on the part of all new hires, it's for this very reason, as well as the

083limitations provided by background checks in general, that the reference checking process has to be meticulous each and every time. This is particularly prove true in public public education since under Indiana law, um a school employer who receives a reference check is obligated to explicitly disclose knowledge of certain incidents that are related to a former employee. This school corporation does this. All school corporations are obligated to do this. And once again, it validates the need to be very very systematic with regard to those reference checks. So, with regard to your reference checking process, I do have um some recommendations which include that once again the board take steps to revise all of your applicable employment related policies so that they reflect a mandatory completion of a pre-employment reference check in order for an uh an an

084employee or an applicant rather to be eligible for hire. Um I would also recommend that uh the superintendent consider issuing an administrative guideline that directs all applicants and employees to comply with the requirements of the pre-employment reference checking process. And this guideline um should include at least the following points. The human resources department would may should be authorized to place a hold on the hiring process for an applicant until the background checking process, the reference checking process, and all other mandatory steps in the hiring process are completed. All applicants for hire should be provided to should be required rather to provide the contract contact information for their supervisor at their prior places of employment. When an applicant lists prior employment in an educational setting, the school corporation should assign an a high priority to fully

085understanding any issues that may have arisen during that employment. And last but not least, all reference checks should include the answer to what I view to be a critical question. Whether the applicant is eligible to for rehire by the former employer. I would also recommend that uh the school corporation review all frontline digital uh materials for compliance with the your policy expectations. And I want to commend Ms. Lozano and the human resources department for already having commenced that process. Finally, I would recommend that the the school corporation initiate an appropriate training program for all administrators and support staff and by involved in the hiring and reference checking process. So, with that, um I will pause again for any questions that the board may have with regard to reference checks. I had a quick question. Um

086some of your concerns you brought up uh involve the Frontline digital application. And you may not know this and this may be a question for you, uh Ms. Lozano. Um is that application able to be modified uh to to meet some of your concerns uh this evening? I'll certainly defer to Ms. Lozano, but I have some direct experience working with Frontline. And I have found them to be flexible in terms of working with uh school corporations to meet their needs. In many respects, um one change would be as simple as asking of applicants for support staff positions and more to the point their references the same questions as are asked of applicants for certified positions. And in particular, that all important question, is this individual eligible eligible for rehire? That I believe is going to

087be a a simple fix with regard to Frontline, but again, I'll defer to Ms. Lozano with regard to the specifics. >> Actually, your your your question your answer was right along what I thought that it we we would need to check with Frontline, but uh it's possible. So, I got my answer. Thank you. And with that, if if there are no other questions, I want to thank the superintendent and the board for the opportunity to work on this project. Thank you. Thank Good evening President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community. I would like to uh thank for the opportunity to be here to speak about the hiring background and reference check process. Why we are here tonight. In response to recent matters that have raised serious concerns, the Human Resources Department has

088conducted a thorough review of hiring and reference checks processes. The review confirmed areas of strength, but it also identified areas of execution gaps. Tonight we are here to provide at this parent Sorry, to provide transparency about both and walk you through the process in regard to the corrective action that's underway. In tonight's presentation, you're going to uh hear three things. Uh we're going to cover what we reviewed and examined, what we found, and what we're doing about it. The goal is to uh provide full transparency in the process, and part of that is to share how we got here in regards to the recommendations. Over the last month, the Human Resources Department has reviewed and audited personnel files from employees in various categories. This includes both current and former employees. What we found. As Dr.

089Huff mentioned, as well as uh Mr. Hixenbaugh, we've identified the need to strengthen processes and consistencies, particularly as it relates to reference checks. We found that reference checks were not always conducted with the candidate's current or most recent employer. There were instances in which it was incomplete information regarding reference outcomes, which underscores the need to refine our processes and to ensure we consistently gather the most relevant information. The review also confirmed strong procedures, in particular with the background check process. The background checks are consistently completed prior to employment. The hiring process does not move forward if a background check is not completed or does not meet the district's policies or guidelines. And the hiring managers are actively engaged throughout the hiring process. So, what we are doing about it? To address the need to strengthen

090reference checks, we are standardizing the process. The reference check current the I'm sorry, the reference form check currently housed in Frontline, which is the application management system. Uh that is going to be a required form that is going to be mandatory for all recommendations. This will ensure consistency in the recommendations as well as consistently coming from the buildings and the departments. We will be improving the quality of the reference questions to better assess the candidate's employment history, performance, strengths, and any relevant concerns. In addition, we will be strengthening the documentation requirements by clearly defining the information that must be collected for each reference. The employment application will now require a minimum of three references. Two of which must be from the candidate's most current or recent employer. The Human Resources Director will conduct regular file

091audits to ensure compliance. This will ensure clarity, consistency, and accountability, and allows more meaningful and informed hiring decisions. How we are strengthening oversight. The process will continue to be led by hiring managers as they are the closest to the role. But in addition, the human resources department will provide a second layer of support by verifying references and conducting additional checks as needed, particularly to address employment gaps, confirm employment history. Neither layer will move without the other. So we want to make sure that we have uh checks and balances. Some of the areas that we will be focusing on will be as I mentioned the employment gaps as well as ensuring the references are from the most current or recent employer. And that we are requiring at least two references and that are uh employer related.

092To support this work, training will be provided to hiring managers and clear guide will be developed to ensure everyone is confident and consistent in implementation. How will we ensure accountability? We'll implement internal audits to ensure the process is followed consistently and across the district. Findings will be reported to the superintendent. And any hiring manager whose process does not meet the standard will receive corrective guidance. This is about maintaining quality and alignment and not intended to add burden. Ultimately, um the community has laid their trust and the district and our goal is to ensure that we are committed and are honoring that trust. And for that, we are I'm sorry, we've defined the areas that need strengthening and some of the areas that we've addressed right now are currently already underway. Um Mr. Scott, you mentioned

093about the application processing and frontline. There are several features that we're able to adjust and modify to ensure that we continue to strengthen this process. Mhm. Thank you. >> Um you know, thank you for you know, taking the time and getting on this right away. I know you put uh many hours in this with your team and and legal. Uh these are issues that we needed to examine and make sure that we were were doing things correctly. Um we can always be better and I think you guys through this process has determined ways to be better. Uh so I appreciate that. I I I like the um transparency and you know, hey, this is what we found. Um these are our areas of concern. These are areas that of strength that we're really doing it

094well. Um you came up with a corrective action plan that you're going to put in place. It's only going to make the process better. Um it's going to make uh staff better better and ultimately the district better, but ultimately what we're all here for is going to uh you know, ensure the safety of our children that everybody that they engage on a daily basis have gone through a thorough process, whether it's a background check or a reference check or an examine uh on the application. So I appreciate your commitment and your team's commitment to do that. Uh so often in times like this, I think you can sit there and say oh my goodness, you know, I I can't believe this happened. That's not what you did. That's not what your team did. That's not

095what Dr. Huff did. I think you realized that we we we had an issue that we needed to look into and and you did that uh immediately. So thank you for that. Um a lot of things that come out of here, the accountability, the areas of focus, the spot checks. I think they're all great things and uh I I I I look forward to um uh this process going forward in the constant um upgrading if needed of this process as things change uh you know, in in in the hiring process. So thank you and your team and Dr. Huff for taking this seriously and getting us a report. You said 30 days and I believe we are within that time frame. So, thank you very much. Thank you. I'll just add to just real quick.

096I truly appreciate you making those statements on behalf of all of us. I know that audits aren't fun to go through by any means, but they are definitely informative. And so, what come out of this audit has been informative to not just, you know, us as a as a district, but also, you know, how you and your team have been, you know, move forward ensuring the safety that we talked about. So, I wanted to make sure I said that as well. So, thank you. Thank you, Keith. Next on the agenda, we have the consent items. Do I have a motion for the consent items? So move. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a couple of seconds. Um, any comments or questions from the board? Um, yes. And as we usually

097do for all of our employees, again, um, the transportation department lost one of theirs. Um, Beverly Richardson was a, um, uh, employee and she did, um, transportation bus riding attendance duties, um, and she was there for 4 years with our community. So, prayers for and over her family and for our transportation department as they have lost one of their loved ones. And as we, um, move through all of our wonderful donations that we received, we heard from Chris that they received from the Special Olympics $1,900 towards their unified cornhole boards. That was pretty amazing. Um, the next coming up is for our softball team. So, between Goshen College, Brubaker Auction, Pinnacle Roofing, Elkhart Emergency Medical, Kid Kidsports Lines, and an anonymous donor, our softball team received $14,000 for their program. The Higgins family graciously donated

098$500 to our girls basketball program. Haley Stouter donated $2,050 to our girls tennis and Sid Schaefer donated 500 to the FBLA curriculum. So, at 18,500, and we don't have to correct my math this time, we received that many donations moving forward for our programs. So, from our community, thank you. Ms. Mullins, any other questions or comments from the board regarding the consent agenda? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. On to old business. Ms. Ross. You have contracts. Yes, good evening. The administration presents a contract for final consideration, Professional Benefit Administrators, PBA. Ms. Ross, do I have a motion for the contract as presented for final consideration with Professional Benefits Administrators? Motion. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and I have a second.

099Any questions or discussion from the board regarding this contract? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Mr. Thorn, board policy 2340, field and other corporation sponsored trips. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board and Dr. Huff. Tonight, the administration recommends approval of a proposed replacement for board policy 2340, field and other corporation sponsored trips, as presented during the March 10th, 2026 board meeting. Thank you, Mr. >> Mr. Thorn, do I a motion for uh board policy as presented? Motion. I have a motion. Second? Second. I have a motion and I have a second. Any discussion or questions from the board regarding this policy? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. You. All right, under new business, Ms.

100Lozano, personnel report. Good evening again, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community. Tonight, the administration recommends the personnel report as presented. Lozano, do I have a motion to accept the personnel report as presented? Motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Do I have any discussion or questions from the board regarding the personnel report? Hearing and see or seeing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Lozano. Next under new business, we have contracts. Mr. Thorn. Thank you, President Scott, Dr. Huff, members of the board. This evening, the administration presents the following contracts for initial consideration. IACE Travel and Mazi Educational Consulting contract amendment. You. Ms. Ross. Thank you. The administration presents JWF Specialty Company contract for initial consideration. This company processes our workers' compensation claims.

101And Dr. Roush. The administration presents contracts for initial consideration, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Elkhart County for our summer learning MOU. Dr. Roush. From the board, any any initial questions or comments regarding the contracts as presented? All right. We've had an opportunity to review these contracts. These are for initial consideration. Should you have any questions or comments in the next couple weeks, please bring them forward to the the representatives that presented them tonight. And they will get back with you post haste. So um No further questions. We'll we'll move on to Ms. Ross and the First Student Incorporated contract. Yes, thank you. The administration presents First Student Inc. contract for confirmation only. This is for the ability to lease drivers and have driver support in our transportation system. From First Student. Do we have

102a motion? For the administration for First Student contract. I'll move. Do we have a second? Second. Do we have any question or comments regarding this contract from the board? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Ross. Next, Mr. Thorn, we have board policy 3213.04, student-staff relationships. Thank you, Mr. Scott. This evening, the administration presents proposed revised board policy 3213.04, student-staff relations for initial consideration. Thank you. Since this is for initial consideration, do we have any questions or comments from the board this evening? Um would there be after uh comments earlier today, would there be any changes you think? We will We will take into consideration some of the comments that we would hear we heard. I would note that many of the much of the language in this

103policy actually has been in place in a professional boundaries policy, and it's now just being incorporated it this one particular policy. But we will take certainly having heard the suggestions from the audience, we'll take a look at those. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Uh yeah, as as based on the uh the questions, the representations we had, should there be any uh question or any changes as to this policy, obviously you will uh send those out >> Yes. uh to the board so we can review. Should you have any questions uh regarding uh this policy in the next couple weeks, please reach out to Mr. Thorne uh and and inquire. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Next we have administrative guidelines 5112.01, kindergarten early entrance requirements. Uh Ms. Cedarberg. Good evening, President Scott, members of

104the board, and Dr. Huff. The administration presents for your consideration, as written, um updates to the administrative regulation JEA1, which is the early entrance kindergarten application. It was updated to better align with the um recommendations for kindergarten readiness from the Indiana Department of Education. And Mr. Thorne will speak a bit more about the logistics. Thank you. Uh the purpose of this evening is to actually rescind current policy administrative regulation JEA1 uh and replace it with administrative guideline 5112.01. This is brought for initial review, but we are requesting uh that you would waive a second review so this can be in place as we begin the uh kindergarten kickoff and student registration process. Okay, so just to be clear, um this would be a motion rescinding JEA1, which is uh currently administrative regulation, and replacing it

105with administrative guideline 5112. That would be correct. And we're just really asking The only action would be to waive second reading, not to actually approve the guidelines since the board doesn't historically vote on guidelines. So, we would just Yeah, so you you're just asking to wave second reading. >> Yes. Any question or discussion in regard? Do we need to to vote on waving second reading or I think it's unless the board I don't see a reason to actually to wave second reading on something that you're not going to vote on anyway. So, does the board have any issue with waving second reading? Hearing or seeing none, the board has no issue with waving second reading. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Mr. Anderson. We have virtual school proposals for grades 6th through 12th. Good evening, President

106Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community. The administration seeks board approval to submit an application to the Indiana Department of Education for an additional school number, establishing a virtual school program beginning with the 20 26-2027 school year. Thank you. Do I have a motion uh for the virtual school proposal for grade 6 through 12 as presented? I'll move. I'll move. Uh motion, do I have a second? Second. I have a motion, I have a second. Uh any questions or discussion from the board regarding uh this proposal? Mr. Kent, can you just share a little bit with the community about why we're doing this, what we hope to or Yeah. Absolutely. I know I'll give a uh more detailed in the consolidation report with this. But in the last uh several years, um we

107have lost literally hundreds of students um to online options throughout the the state of Indiana and and frankly nationally. And so, we want to keep our kids in Elkhart. We want to provide them um with an equitable online uh solution. Um and we think that we have the people in place in the programming already in place to be able to establish this virtual school to provide our students um opportunities that they currently don't have and they're choosing options elsewhere. We We We definitely want to keep them in Elkhart. I want to ask when it comes to our surrounding schools, how many of the other schools have a virtual school? Um, this is not an exhaustive list. Goshen, Mishawaka, Fort Wayne, South Bend. Uh, a lot of our students really throughout the state of Indiana, Beach

108Grove, even though that's not local. A lot of our kids um apply for their on online platform. And so, I think we will in the years to come, we will see most school corporations uh take this route. I and we are trying to again make sure our Elkhart kids stay here. We hope that some of our students that have left us will come back. And we can provide them with uh um We can wrap our arms around our own kids and provide them with the educational experiences that they deserve. Or provide more context. Thank you. Um, why would Beach Grove be a magnet? Uh Some school school corporations initially jumped on board earlier than others and they provide like students obviously they can choose um where they want to uh get their education. And so,

109some school school corporations provided an online platform for students not only in their school district, but throughout the state of Indiana. And so, they were one of the first adopters. And so, a lot of families around the state of Indiana including Elkhart have uh chosen to go that route. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions or comments? I have a motion. I have a second. Uh, all in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Mr. Rhodes, we have the common school fund loan application. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community. The administration is seeking board approval to submit a common school fund loan application through the Indiana Department of Education for a low-interest loan to complete technology projects. Mr. Rhodes, do I have a motion regarding the

110common school fund loan application as presented? Motion. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Okay. Have a motion, we have a second. Any questions or comments regarding the school fund loan application? Yeah, um as some parents and some families look about, you know, going back to books and, you know, maybe moving away from the technology of it. Um and again, I know it's a tough question for you to answer right there, but what would we need to do just to think about, say, okay, if that is some of the drift that people would go in, how do we get the technology to complement the books so that we don't end up, you know, misspending our money on technology and, you know, or get the best technology that will complement, you know, that transition

111for some of the kids? Well, we already use many vendors that work alongside printed textbook materials. So, we would stay the about the same course as far as textbooks and digital textbooks in the classroom. Um but, teachers would just change the way they teach. Instead of kids doing individual stuff on their iPads, they would do more group coursework. And of course, there's still technology that's involved in that as far as projectors and displays and other tools. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passed unanimously. Thank you. Uh wait, you're still up, Mr. Rhodes. Yes. >> Uh Apple device sales. >> Yes. Uh the administration is also seeking board authorization for the bulk sale of Apple devices that have reached the end of their life

112cycle within ECS. Thank you. Uh do I have a motion for the uh board authorization for the bulk sale of our Apple devices. Motion. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion. I have a second. Any Any questions or discussion regarding uh the bulk sale? As uh Dr. Huff is on his Microsoft laptop. No question. No questions? No questions. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you, Mr. Rhodes. Thank you. Oh, yep, I got You're a little quick. All right, next we have uh cancellation of uh teaching contract. Um On March 14th, 2026, an Elkhart Community School teacher, Don Shafer, was given written notice of the preliminary decision by Dr. Huff uh to cancel his teaching contract, uh effective immediately um upon final decision of the school board, um which

113we are here uh for the final decision tonight. Uh this notice advised the teacher of his right uh, to a conference with the superintendent uh, should one be requested within 5 days of receiving uh, the written notice of the uh, superintendent's preliminary decision. Uh, the teacher failed to request a conference in accordance with Indiana code 20-28-7.5-2E. If a teacher does not request a conference within this time frame, the superintendent's preliminary decision is considered final. Therefore, I move that the Board of Trustees of Elkhart Community Schools cancel the teaching contract of said teacher effective immediately. Do I have a motion for cancellation? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Do I have any discussions or questions regarding uh, this motion for cancellation? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? This is a unanimous

114decision to cancel Mr. Shafer's teaching contract. Ms. Ross, financial report. Thank you. Good evening board members, uh, President Scott, Dr. Helbling community. I'm here to present your monthly financial update of our education and operations funds. So, here we have our monthly expenditures for our education fund. Um, here you see our budget for the education fund um, circled there just as a reminder um, and in the next column you'll see our February expenditures. We started out with a beginning cash balance that was negative. As you may recall, January was a three pay month um, so that uh, contributed to starting off February um, with a negative cash balance. Um you'll see our receipts from the education fund a little bit over 8 million followed by our expenses. And coming on down to total expenses of about

115just just under 7 million. Um that is running high. We should be a million um less than that um a million to a million point three less than that each month. But we did um end in a net revenue position. And our ending cash balance is is cited there. Just a graphical rep- presentation of this data to date year-to-date you can see our wages in blue here and our benefits. You can see the majority of this fund here just for these first two months of the year comprise about 97% of this fund. So of course some bills still to pay but this is just a monthly snapshot and it kind of illustrates the point of the the the expenditure in wages and benefits. Which we're actively working on and uh slides to come. So here's

116our cash flow for the education fund. Uh last month the month of January and February slightly increasing getting out of that three pay month. And moving on to the operations fund. Here are our expenditures. You'll see our budget for reference here. I've also referenced um January expenditures there in relation to February. You'll see our total receipts. Very low this Just a reminder this fund really receives like two large payments a year in June and December. So that is typical that the receipts are low. Um and then you see our expenditures here. One thing that jumps out uh utilities uh really increasing. But we've all just went through that winter, so that is typical for the season for utilities to be up. Um we expect that to level out as the temperature levels out. And you

117can see our total expenses is trending about right under 3 million. Ending at a net uh expense situation uh 2.6 uh net expense. Typical for this fund to dip a little bit in the negative until it gets um its next payment. Um So, then to the right, just a graphical uh presentation of this uh fund, you'll see wages and benefits comprise about 57% of this fund. And the next big item would be util- utilities there in green. Here's our cash balance for the operations fund. Um we expect that to trend down and our payment to be received in June. However, it does need the uh transfers from education fund to sustain it. So, we've taken some steps to mitigate um and prepare for the lack of transfers, which we've talked about before and I'll I'll

118bring up as it becomes um as things get more clear as if we're going to receive those bond funds to help sustain this fund. Um rainy day, uh no change. We prefer not to touch our rainy day fund. And then here is our combined balances, our um education, operations, rainy day. Kind of we call these consolidated funds. These are our major funds of the district. Um we like to see a prudent uh cash balance of at at least 10 to 12% of the these combined balances. You can see that dotted line um below is where we want to be, the lower dotted line, so we'd like to have higher cash balances for many reasons. But that is where we are in relation to that. And um moving on um our cash flow projections for 2026,

119just a reminder, um we are expecting about an inflow across these uh the education and operations of about 120 million. We expect an outflow of more than that, over 130 million. And we know where our issue is and it is the um salaries and benefits or wages and benefits to be precise, which will lead us in deficit spending at the end of this calendar year 2026 of over 12 million. And you can see our projected um cash balance will be comprised mostly of rainy day funds by the end of this year. Um which we prefer not to touch, of course. And then you'll just see on that bottom green kind of area the consolidation projections does help us start turning the corner in increasing our cash balance, so that's what that reflects. These are the

120numbers uh the first numbers illustrated were without consolidation. Um that last number 9.2 million being our cash balance does reflect us starting to see consolidation savings in 2026, but you can see here we still have uh work to do. Um we've identified some of that work in a recent call that we had um with Standard & Poor's. They are our uh credit rating agencies for our bonds. Um and we've committed to making sure we have a positive cash balance for 2026 and 2027 and that would include cutting a $6 million more out of our budget for 2026 and 2027. Just high-level um how we could get there is we currently have 76 proposed or projected vacancies for the next school year. Just theoretically, um if we didn't fill those, not that that is practical because

121some are key positions your math and science, but just to give you the larger picture, if we didn't fill those, that would be roughly our $6 million we need to save this year. So, it's just something to think about some, you know, set up the paradigm in the working framework on where some of the work can begin and it can begin with the vacancies not filling as many of those as possible potentially. And um here are some of our savings initiatives. We're um still working on these. Um so, our we have reduced uh cost in payroll. So, that should read from August to February end of February, we've saved $2.5 million. Just in payroll alone compared to the year prior with a total of about $5.3 million in savings across these items. So, I last

122report showed about 5.1. So, we are still trending up. Again, that three-pay month kind of set us back, but I expect the trend uh to continue on our savings initiatives here. Just to highlight some other savings initiatives um on the right side as you're aware of the time clock software. Our food services management contract with Chartwells is putting us back in the black. And of course, you know about the consolidation efforts. And just a reminder for us and the uh community, um please take a look at our um school finance dashboard. Learn all about Indiana school finance and the finances of the district in in less than probably 5 to 7 minutes. So, that concludes um I believe our finance update. Yes. Ross, I have a question. Um well, you mentioned our um S&P call

123the other day. Most people don't know what is all involved in that call in a 2-minute I'm going to hold you that 2 minutes. Can you explain people why that call is important for Elkhart Community Schools? What is that impact and what are some of the things that we have to do in preparation to make sure that we come out as in a great position as possible to S&P? Absolutely. So, the S&P Standard & Poor's call is essentially your district's credit rating. Initially, you know, because we need to procure bonds to make our district run. So, for example, we have three bond issues we're interested in procuring now. So, that would be improvements to the elementary school, the secondary improvements. So, you're talking mechanical, you're talking heating and cooling. All these things we need to

124get done, right? That you see that education and operations fund are not going to get there. We need to issue bonds or issue debt, which is paid for by our tax rate, right? However, if you are pure risky as you can't pay your bills and things of that nature, your credit rating could sink and sure you may get a poor credit rating, but that is going to increase the cost of this debt. So, we want to keep our credit rating high. Currently, it's a A with a minus and that has a caveat on why they gave us a minus, but we like to keep it, you know, in that range. So, it's important to show them Standard & Poor's our cash balances will, you know, our operations will be in balance for 26 and 27.

125So, And your last 30 seconds, one of the things that for these calls, they aren't just get on there for like 10 to 15 minutes. These are Can you kind of describe what that process looks like for what that looks like on both ends? Yes. So, they give you a litany of questions. You don't have a lot of time to prepare, but they ask you everything from about they dig into your enrollment data, right? Um, they dig into and ask you those questions. They dig dig into your funds, the health of your funds. Um, um, just an hour of just grilling from this credit rating agency across our district operations uh, down to our audits. So, luckily we had a favorable audit, um, recently. So, just like when you go to the bank and apply

126for a loan and they want to know everything. So, it's pretty much telling them everything about your operations and we should get our results this week. Mhm. Yep. Thank you. Mhm. Now, you said luckily we we had a favorable audit. There there was no luck involved. It was the hard work of your team, your department, the protocols, the safeguards we have in place. Um, so I wanted to correct you um, on on on that. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Mhm. You You see the attorney in Oh, well, I I guess that's required for a round. You do You do great work and then also, you know, I I I was privy to look at the list of questions that you were presented with and your team was presented with prior to this call and it was

127an extensive list. It was four, five, six pages long. Um, it even asked questions of, you know, talk talk about the economic climate of Elkhart County. Talk about the economic climate of specific industry, the RV industry. Where do you see that going? Um, so, you know, there was a plethora of questions and you know, just not the finances we had here that you had to be responsible for and you had a very short time frame uh, to turn that around and I know you and your team worked tirelessly uh, to do that prepare for this call because as you described this call is so very important. Uh, you know, school financing has gotten very complicated. It's uh, it's it's changed over the years. And uh, the attention to detail that is required of you with

128school financing your team is is mammoth. And so I appreciate the hard work and and the and the seriousness that you took for this call and I think that it was even noted on the call that you and your team were very prepared and with the answers. So again, thank you for doing that. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> You did a great job, Nicole. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any questions regarding the financial update from the board? All right. We will move on to the insurance report. Yes. So your our insurance update is as presented here. I like to present our loss ratio, which is a key metric in determining the health of our plan or where we're heading. So our loss ratio for 2026 for this month of February was 54%, which

129is pretty great in compared to 85% last year. So this means for February our plan expenses were less than the premium, so leading to a favorable loss ratio. So our plan is performing well and I hope that everyone's pleased with our expanded Anthem network as well. I'll just comment on that. Yeah, the first quarter in an insurance plan generally is you know you expect it to be good. You know, people haven't hit their deductibles and whatnot unlike the fourth quarter. But I I I do want to point out the the expanded Anthem network. We were on a a narrow network last year, which means we had fewer providers to choose from. For that we got better pricing. Allegedly, okay? Allegedly and I say the word allegedly when we expand in that network typically contractually your

130your discounts change. But, your providers increase, and you can go to more places. To see that we're at a 54% in 2026 is um knock on wood is is a good indicator that the right decision was made to do that. I think I was privy to the contract and and it was the right decision at the time. So, um just keep up the good work. We got uh many months to go, but everybody get your wellness exams, get your physical, stay healthy, eat right. Please. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Huff, the floor is yours for a consolidation update. Good evening again, President Scott, members of the board, community. Today, we are here to provide the board with the March 24th consolidation update. This slide should look very familiar at this point. We have gone through

131phase one where we went and we engaged the community, our parents, our our our staff, our stakeholders about what is the actual issue that we're trying to solve here in Elkhart. Where where where are the some of the problems in having a candid reflection and conversation with all of our stakeholders about this consolidation process. And phase two is where we actually came up and we to the board, we provided you a list of criterias as we began and as you authorized me to do this work. And we presented you some recommendations on how to look at the schools for evaluations on decisions that were difficult and that you would have to vote on, and you voted on those decisions on February 10th. One of the things I'm really proud of, the work that we've done

132just in isolation, if we're just focusing on consolidation alone, is typically a two, if not three, year process. It's it's been a whirlwind. It's been done um five months, and I just want to say that is a huge credit to uh the team that sits behind me, the teachers, the staff, and also some candid conversation um from our community members, but also the courage of our school board. We know that some These decisions should have uh could have been made a while ago, but the responsibility lies in our lap, and we take that responsibility very seriously. Um today we're here to get a update on where we are on phase three. And phase three is a lot that has to do with the staffing and about the people, but also the preparation. Um Mrs. Reese

133has done a really good job of leading this part of of phase three and working with our elementary principals and our staff on some of the consolidation pieces of it. I've been working on the back end with our um back of the house, what we call our um Mr. G and SC, our construction and our tech teams and so forth to make sure that our buildings are ready to go for our teachers and for our our support staff and for anyone who'll be transitioning during this time. So, um lots of work to do in phase three still, but we are here today to give some um recommendations to the school board for your approval. Uh tran- district transparency. Uh the that word transparency means a lot. I think I've heard it tonight probably about seven

134times this evening. Um and but transparency is I look at it as an opportunity to engage with the school board and school community. One of the things that you charged me to do and charged our team to do is every 2 weeks we come back and we give a some type of update to the community. Um starting last year uh with our previous CFO, we gave a pretty broad picture looking at some of the financial trajectory of Elkhart if you did not do anything, we would be in a totally different place. And that conversation uh was over a year ago, and a year moves by very quickly. We also presented multiple times out to our community at stated uh district events where we talked about uh just the problem and how we compare to other

135school districts uh when it comes to where we are in our financials, not just financial situation, but our structural makeup here in the school district. And then I won't read all the other aspects to you, but I want just as a reminder, I think the the our district has done a pretty good job of making sure that anyone who had an opportunity to to who had anything to or commentary or any type of thought about this, they could come and share. Definitely, we we hear that during our one our public comment, but mostly we also hear it when our feedback with our with our team. So, that has been a great learning process this year. I'm also want to give a huge thank you to our tech team this year who's made a lot of

136this work visible for our community. The incorporation of the consolidation dashboard incorporation of a consolidation page and incorporation of a financial dashboard, those things as I shared before are not developed on our own, they're developed with some strategy, but most importantly time and effort. So, DJ to you and Mrs. Wood and to Kristen Cedarberg and and Mrs. Ross and anyone else who had a part of those front-facing part that are on our website, I just want to tell you thank you. Those things have been really helpful. that I refer people to there all the time. And it's documents all the things that we've done over this last year. So, again, I just wanted to send some reminders to our community on some of the ways that we have engaged people throughout this process. And so

137tonight you'll hear from various cabinet members on updates on their specific areas of expertise on how we move forward through this consolidation process. And so I'm going to have Mrs. Brender start it off. Good evening, Board President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huenneke community. For Hawthorne Early Learning Center, the administration recommends moving the programs located at Hawthorne Early Learning Center to Roosevelt STEAM Academy for the upcoming school year. Roosevelt provides spaces designed specifically for early childhood, allowing developmentally appropriate instruction and environments. This move also places students within an elementary setting, helping them build age-appropriate learning and behavioral skills, and supporting a smoother transition to kindergarten. The program design and services will remain unchanged, ensuring continuity for students and families while enhancing the overall learning environment. For our intense special education programs, the administration recommends

138adjustments to the locations of our intense special education programs to better support students and families. This plan prioritizes preserving established peer groups and maintains consistency and relationships, while continuing our strong commitment to inclusive practices and access to general education settings. Expanding program locations across the district will provide more opportunities for students to receive services closer to home, reducing travel time and increasing accessibility. These changes are designed to balance stability, inclusion, and access while maintaining high-quality supports for students. Planning is ongoing to determine the most effective and supportive structure for students in these programs, being mindful of the unique needs of these population of students and considering input from parents and staff. Okay, now Dr. Ross will come up and talk about highly ability programming. President Scott, school board of trustees, Dr. Huff, for the upcoming

139school year, the student cohort structure will shift from a combined 2-3-4-5 class to a grade 3-4 cohort and a standalone grade 5 cohort. The number of teachers will still remain unchanged at two. This adjustment allows for grade 5 students to continue to participate in key experiences such as BizTown, middle school visits, El Cordero career School visits, just to name a few. Additionally, the new cohort configuration better aligns with the grade 3-5 standards band and aligns with grade level assessments. The high ability program will continue to be housed at Roosevelt STEAM Academy and there will be no changes to the middle school and high school programs. The district The non-traditional school programs, the district administration recommends that all K-12 non-traditional school programs be housed at the current Woodland Elementary School. This continuum of services will maintain

140our current programs, Pride Academy, Pride Middle School Academy, Elkhart Academy, while providing a more cohesive structure. A centralized relocation will improve student access to resources and strengthen proximity to Elkhart High School and Elkhart Area Career Center. The district will continue to collaborate closely with staff to ensure students receive the same high level of support and services they currently experience. Mr. Anderson. Hello again, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community. Elkhart Community Schools is developing a new virtual school for grades 6-12 set to open in 2026 2027. This program is designed to provide students with a flexible asynchronous online learning option while still ensuring they remain connected to the district's academic expectations and support systems. The fall '25 This day is to your to your point, the fall '25-'26 transfer report showed 494

141students chose to attend virtual schools compared to 462 students in the '24-'25 transfer report. This continued increase highlights the growing demand for a high-quality virtual option within our district. The school will be located at Woodland Elementary and will use the district's current Edmentum platform, allowing for continuity and familiarity for both students and staff. The virtual school will be supported by a principal, the current School Without Walls registrar secretary, and the current School Without Walls teachers, who will closely monitor student progress and engagement. To move forward with the process, the district needed to request board approval earlier during this meeting, which will allow the submission of the application to the Indiana Department of Education, requesting approval for a separate school number to ensure proper accountability. This initiative highlights ECS's commitment to expanding learning opportunities while maintaining

142strong oversight and keeping students connected to Elkhart. Next for adult education, the district administration recommends that adult education relocate from Hawthorne to the Freshman Division due to the secure space originally designed for the program, its central location, and its proximity to public transit. Currently, of the 642 students enrolled in adult education, 176 students attend the daytime programming while 466 attend evening programming. This relocation will not change the delivery of services, but will better align the program with a facility designed to support both the daytime and evening access while providing a more centralized, secure, and accessible environment for students and staff. Ms. Sano. Good evening once again, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. Since our last consolidation update on February 24th, uh we have provided staff that's been impacted by the consolidation with the

143list of available positions for the upcoming school year and a form for them to indicate their preferences. The preference forms were due on March 13th, and due to um the due date of the final week, uh during that time there was uh daily updates that were sent out to staff. We provided daily reminders to ensure that all staff uh who had received that form had the opportunity to submit their selections. Staff who did not uh submit a uh selection, we ensured to contact them to confirm their intent. We also wanted to ensure that their submissions were not overlooked. After all the submissions were received um and we ensured that we had not overlooked anyone, the preference forms were reviewed and I'm pleased to report that over 90% of the certified staff who selected uh who

144made their selections are receiving or will be placed in their top three choices. Building on that progress, our focus this week has been shifted to review the finalizing of placement for support staff. We remain on track to complete all placements and communicate with staff by Friday, February 27th. I'm sorry, March. March 27th. Looking ahead, beginning May 1st, staff will have the opportunity to apply for any remaining positions through the traditional transfer window. The uh to April to allow time for both employees and the administrators to review and consider uh candidates, the internal transfer window has been modified to run from May 1st through June 12th. And then any available positions remaining after that would be then posted as external only. Overall, the progress reflects thoughtful and structured process that continues to prioritize both staff and

145the needs of the students. Ms. Brander? Hello again. Uh I could shout this from the rooftops, but uh board, Dr. Huff, families, community members, parents, registration for the 26-27 school year is open. Uh and we encourage families to get out there and complete their registration as soon as possible. Um it's essential for planning staffing and and things like that for the next school year. Um thank you to the families that have already registered their students. Currently, we have 1,400 students that are enrolled, which puts us slightly ahead of where we were this time last year. Um for families interested in transfers, applications will be available on April 13th on our website and shared through Parent Square. Um the application window will close on May 8th with notification sent shortly after. Due to consolidation, some schools

146will be closed to new transfers for next school year, and a list of schools accepting transfers will be available when the application opens. Um if you have any questions for our uh families in the community, uh you can reach out to student services. Um and as a reminder, we have our kindergarten kickoff um April 16th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the receiving elementary schools. Thank you. I want whatever Ms. Brander is having. Um as we close out, one of the things too that that we're going to do this uh next quarter is that opportunities for staff to go out and visit their uh new schools if they were impacted. Also, opportunities for families and students to to visit um our the the new schools as well. So, a lot of exciting times coming up

147in this fourth quarter, but again, this work cannot have been done without the the great work for our team and and our teachers uh and anyone who Well, actually, we had representatives from every part of the district to do this work. So, I just want to tell you thank you and I'll leave time for the board to ask any questions. Questions from the board? Great presentation. Thank you. >> It's been a while since we've gone over 2 hours, but we're there. Uh That is nothing that we want to be proud of, Mr. Scott. But I do I do think that a lot of good work was affirmed tonight, so yes. Anything in closing? Uh actually I do. I just want to share that um we talked I've talked a lot about the last year about

148the things that we've done to make sure that we increase our financial awareness. Um the state has also taken notice of that as well. We have had two employees that were recognized by the Indiana Association of School Business Officials um that not only won not only won regional two um um business person of the year. They also won for the entire state. And this individual is a outstanding, loyal, dedicated, most process process-oriented individual that I've come across since I've been here. But if you know this lady and you see her around, please give a huge thank you. She's very humble. Jennifer Lee. She's done an amazing job. Um so when you see her, embarrass her and let her know. But you know what she'll do? She'll just say, "Thanks." and get get back to work.

149That is a huge huge honor that can't be understated. So to have Elkhart have I think this is the uh second in the last 3 years uh to be recognized at the state level as the number one business official in the state. Um but not business official, a business official for that organization. And they just don't hand those out. So Mr. Ross, congratulations to you and your team. But you also had another person recognized on your team as well. This individual was recognized in two different categories, nominated, um did not win those categories, but but to be nominated twice uh is very rare for IASBO. So um Tara Browning um is another individual who uh um whose work is seen not just in this area, but around the state. So, to have that back here

150gives me the utmost confidence that we're going to on top of having no findings of a large organization over the last 2 years, that means we're definitely are doing the right thing. So, Ronnie, you have a huge gift back there and um those ladies are doing an outstanding job. So, I just want to say thank you. Jennifer says she's going to watch this tonight, which I know she's not actually Yeah, she actually does watch the board meeting. So, um any if you get a chance, say um congrats to both of them. Well deserved. Um and that's it. That that's what that's my update. I'm actually my parts from speaking today, so I'm going to turn it back over to you, President Scott. Thank you, Dr. Haugh. Uh board, any closing final comments? Can I just

151say something? Just 1 second. Back to Dr. Haugh. Uh at the um the hospitality at the Northside gyms uh this this past weekend for hosting um our the the semi-state was amazing. We heard from the other district superintendent just how welcoming Elkhart was. Um so, um for that community, it looked like we had their whole city here in Elkhart on uh Saturday. So, was that true? Yeah, they were all green. Well, we're going to change it. They're going to be blue next year. But, uh I just want to say it was it was it's great to to be able to put on events for others that are it shows what we can do as well. So, a hats off to all the athletic department for put having a great weekend for not just our community,

152but for for others as well. And it was a great it was a great event. So, just want to say you thank you to those who put that on. And now I'll officially turn it back over to you. Thank you. Uh closing comments uh from the board. I just want to applaud um our theater department and the uh Shrek show. It was amazing. And um like things to think about Shrek was like hysterical, but Donkey was so funny. And for us like to see Zoe be put Pinocchio and that have her in the pit was like incredible but if you didn't catch this when Wendy said it 20 of our students were in that Orchestra pit and that pit sounded phenomenal Mr Weirock does an amazing job with his students but I couldn't have been

153more proud it was so cute and so funny and they did such a great job so if you didn't have a chance to see it make sure that you see our theater shows next year because it was excellent Yes um uh going back to the semi states at Northside gym Northside gym is a real crown jewel of gymnasium complexes within the state of Indiana and it was good to see it probably I think you know 60% 70% full and you know people in the bleachers and stuff like that you know kind of bringing back the old days a little bit from 2012 my wife and I were having flashbacks um but it was a good time compliments to the staff and to the hospitality crew that and the people at the gates and the people

154in the parking lots too um for some reason I get priority parking I don't know why but it works for me thank you have a good day handicap handicap sticker stop >> No that was Miss Bowles that was actually very funny what you did No thank you very much that was funny I am funny actually but I'll leave that not important It's a I didn't hear it Don't worry about it Don't worry Don't worry I'll call you later I'll call you I'll fill I'll fill you in Any other comments? One more time for a comment if the comedy show is over Yes Okay I just want to say thank you to Dr Huff and his team I really appreciate your hard work and your diligence you took a lot of time to make sure the

155board was well informed. You entertained all of our questions and all of our demands, which sometimes are not real reasonable, but um I appreciate that. It gave me and the board a lot more confidence in this process. And um I just appreciate it. I know it was a lot of hard work. So, to you and your team, thank you. I also want to thank Oh, and you guys, some of the feedback you got also was not very hard to hear, but I appreciate that you always listened, took it into consideration, and made the appropriate adjustments. Um and that shows great leadership, cuz not all leaders are willing to listen, um especially when the information is coming from some certain sources. But, I also want to say thanks to all of the parents who came, all

156of the employees, all the community members that came to share your perspective and fight for what you thought was right. I appreciate that, and I hope to see that level of commitment continue after this consolidation process. So, thank you to everybody who has been involved. This has been definitely been a team effort. Um and we're getting over the finish line. So, thank you. Yes, from the board. All right. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. Meeting is adjourned.