ECS Board of School Trustees’ Meeting 2/10/26 - Presented from EHS Auditorium

001Um, the lights weren't so bright. I'd like to thank everybody for coming out tonight uh to the Elkart Community Schools regularly scheduled [laughter and clears throat] board meeting on February 10th uh 2026. Uh at this time, if we could uh all stand for the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] Thank you. You may be seated. >> Miss Davis, the Elkart Promise. >> Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff, and in partnership with the community will graduate college, career, and life ready. >> Thank you, Miss Davis. our invitation to speak protocol. Each of you should have received uh a pamphlet or had access uh to this pamphlet. In the back of the pamphlet is a little form uh that if you'd like to speak, you need to fill it out. Please

002state your name uh your affiliation uh with the school district and the uh subject you'd like to discuss. Uh during public comment, you can speak on any agenda or non-aggenda uh item. Uh at that time during public comment, uh you will have approximately 3 minutes uh to come to the microphone and and and speak on the topic. Um so when you please step up to the microphone when your name is called and uh uh state your name and your affiliation. Um we have a maximum of 30 minutes. uh set for public comment. Um and that's a uh a policy that uh we've adhered to uh for for many many years. And we also um each time I I I state this because of the uh family rights and privacy act um we will not publicly

003discuss personnel or personal student issues. this is not uh the the time to discuss those if there are any issues um with personnel or personal student issues. Um you know, we're not to use names. We're not to refer to specific issues. Uh the building principles or uh central office would be the place to bring uh those issues. Uh not tonight at this board meeting. So with that said, uh, Dora, first one is uh, Cenne Armstrong. Please step up to the microphone. The microphone's over, sir. It's right here in the middle. >> Yeah, we put one down there a little more convenient. >> Uh, good afternoon. Good evening everyone. Um actually I wanted to speak about Pinewood Elementary School and um discrimination that took place there against my son by his teacher. my son. And I

004know maybe [clears throat] you said don't speak about it or if I'm getting out of place about speaking about it, but uh on January 27th, my son was assigned a e sign e assignment program by his teacher about Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old black girl that lived in the south that went to a all-white school and was mistreated by all the white students. My son being a black child in his teacher class was given assignments to put himself for them to act as though they was the white students and to please hate everything about her color. So the teacher was asking my son to hate everything about his color. So, I'm here to speak about the teacher as well as the administration that allowed that e assignment to reach our home, our kids, and our our

005community. And um I hope appropriate actions will be taken. I won't get too much into details because you asked so, but um I did want that to be addressed and aware to everyone. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Armstrong. Jessica Ramirez. Good evening, President Scott, members of the school board, Dr. Huff, and Elcart Community Schools. For those of you who may not know me, my name is Jessica Ramirez, and I am the president of the Elcart Teachers Association. I began working for Elcart Community Schools almost two decades ago. Over the years, I have appreciated the long-standing relationship between ETA and this district, a relationship that has historically been rooted in communication, collaboration, and mutual respect. We haven't always agreed, but educ uh educators have consistently showed up in good faith. We have

006trusted the process. We have engaged in conversations and when the outcomes were difficult, even then. And we have done so because we believe in Elcart. We have been at the table before. We were there when a reduction in force became necessary. We absorbed the consequences of state legislation that strip salary schedules, altered curriculum expectations, and introduced funding formulas that continue to disproportionately harm Elkcart and other urban districts. We helped organize and implement the merger of our two high schools. We were there when Roosevelt and Hawthorne were restructured, restructured again, and ultimately when Hawthorne was closed. We supported staff and students through each transition. During the feasibility process, we again showed up. We listened to the realities of declining enrollment and the consequences of inaction. We understood then, as we understood now, the significant changes are

007necessary. Educators are not naive. We understand numbers, projections, and hard truths. We have waited in hoped for recommendations to be acted upon and now we are experiencing some of those changes firsthand in the middle schools with the addition of sixth grade. What we struggle with is being asked to implement decisions without being trusted with information. Elcart educators are ready. They are resilient, deeply committed, and profoundly invested in this community. They have weathered change after change with professionalism and grace. And while I may be partial to our small big city, I can say with certainty that no one cares more about the success of this district than the people who show up for students every single day. What educators are asking for is not unreasonable. They are asking for transparency. They are asking for communication. They

008are asking we be treated as the professionals, not afterthoughts. Right now, educators are excited, nervous, apprehensive, scared, and still expected to carry on as if uncertainty does not impact morale, instruction, or retention. We have followed every rule. We have colored neatly within the lines that were drawn for us. And yet, collaboration has increasingly felt like being more thrown at us after decisions are already made. Our consolidation committee has discussed staff staffing, one aspect of consolidation thoroughly. We have offered insight, asked questions, and raised concerns. Still, I find myself questioning how that input is considered once we leave the room, especially when districts wide updates can be distributed to staff within minutes while those closest to the work have barely put their coats on. We are Elkcart teachers, custodians, instructional assistants, social workers, secretaries, and security

009staff. We are Elcart. Building closures are necessary if Elcart is to continue providing the level of service this community expects and deserves. Closures, while painful, are part of sustaining quality education and financial stability as funding cuts continue to erode our budget. Educators understand this reality even and when it directly affects them because they've always put students first. [snorts] I urge you to support the recommendations being made by the school board. But I also urge the district leadership to reflect on how this work is being done. Prog progress does not require secrecy and trust cannot exist in silos. My hope is that the ambiguity lessons, that the level of secrecy and isolated silos of information, which have increased exponentially since I became president, begin to break down, and that educators voices are not just heard, but

010valued as we move forward. Regardless of what is announced tonight, educators will be back in their classrooms tomorrow, prepared, professional, and committed as they always are. Elkart's strength has never been its buildings. It has always been its people. Thank you for your time this evening. >> Thank you, Miss Ramirez. [applause] Michelle Kovatch. >> Good evening, board. My name is Michelle Koritch. >> I'm sorry. >> And I'm a member of the public. >> I'm sorry. >> No. George, >> thank you. >> I come before you today as a concerned citizen regarding a multitude of factors in this school district, but also as a taxpayer. I feel that you [clears throat] overuse the term executive session. per IC code 514 1.5 through 6.1 you are not giving proper notice because you are not specifying which of the

01115 specifically code described reasons for executive session just by putting it on your agendas does and andor your annual calendar is not enough. I believe it's a way to usurp the public's access to the decisions and the discussions that are being ha held behind closed doors. I would echo the president of the school board of the teachers association by saying, "You all think we're stupid. just keep us in the dark and then open the door when you feel like you've already made your decision. So, I believe you need to readjust and discuss more things in public so that the public has access and can make comment to your decision-making process. It's all in the code. So, I look forward to seeing the exact reason of the 15 for every executive session that you plan to

012hold. You are one of the only governmental elected bodies that hold one almost every time you hold a meeting. They are not meant to be a secret little cave meeting. They're meant to be used for 15 specific reasons. I look forward to seeing that change. Thank you. That concludes uh public comment and so we will now uh move on to the agenda of uh the consolidation recommendation. Ma'am. Ma'am, did do you have did you want to speak? >> Yeah, please. >> Thank you, Dora. I messed up the last name of the last one. Uh Gabriella, your last name. >> Mhan. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> Yeah. Yeah. Pull it down. There you go. Thank you. >> Um I just came and I'm going to keep it

013anonymous. Um, my child was searched at school and per your manual, the child can refuse a search. It has to be done by an admin or somebody in the like a police officer or a resource officer, right? My child was searched by a translator and was patted down. I reached over to the principal to let him know, hey, what's going on? Um, he said he would try and figure out what was going on, um, who did it and follow up. I waited. Couple days passed by. Week and a half passed by. Nothing. Per your manual. Parents are supposed to be let know if your child was searched the day after it's done. I was not let know that my kid was patted down. I pushed. I pushed. I pushed. I wanted answers. My kid has

014never changed her story. never hesitated as to what she said, how it happened. There was another child that was with her. That child was not searched. When I talked to the head of security and resource officer, they told me that that was not protocol. Protocol is to use wands on the child's body. She was accused of having a vape, which she told the person that searched her, "I don't have anything with me." She had leggings on, an oversized sweater. She showed her pockets, and that wasn't enough. She proceeded to go into her pockets, pat her down, and lift up her shirt in the bathroom. So, I want to know exactly what the protocol is. I would love an email. I did call administration like how you guys said. Never received a call. Supposedly an email

015was sent to Dr. Huff by your secretary. Never heard anything. I asked for records as I was hoping that this was recorded. Nothing. So, I just wanted you to guys to make a to be aware because I was told that I could not file a police report by the chief, by your resource officer, and anybody that I could contact. Also, the principal lied saying that she was a secretary. She was not. [snorts] She was she's a translator at the school. So, there were so many lies that were told to me, and I am furious. This happened November 3rd. I now have all the resources. I have all of the documents. I have everything that I need. The principal stopped talking to me because I got frustrated and I told him that if he did not

016give me the paperwork, I was going to get a lawyer. He said, "I can no longer talk to you." So, I would like communication to be better. And thank you for your time. >> Thank you. And we will um we will follow up. We'll have someone from school follow up with you. Okay, now that concludes uh a public comment uh portion of tonight's meeting. Uh next uh Dr. Huff uh the consolidation uh recommendation >> [clears throat] >> Yeah. Okay. [gasps] Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, community. Um, tonight, uh, we are here to give our February 10th update recommendation to the school board. And it is very important that we talk about the procedural part portion of this. Tonight is just for asking for reassignment of students potentially from one school to another.

017We will be coming back at another time to actually talk about what the board would like to see done with those buildings. Um should should you choose to have that conversation. Should we choose to have that conversation? This is hard. Our district has been having these conversations on and off for from what I understand 20 years about our buildings, our declining enrollment and things and so forth. One of the things that I've been here for two years, um on my first day here, literally my first day here, my first interview I ever had with a local station, they asked me what my plan was for consolidation. I didn't even know the problem. We spent the last year studying what the problem is in this district. Some of it known, easy to see, some of it

018not so easy to see. I've been very proud of the work that has been done by many members of the team, the collaboration, the transparency that about our finances, about our school sizes, about some of the things that we need to do, some of the difficult conversations that we need to have. Our responsibility tonight is not just talking about a single building. Is about protecting the long-term stability of Elcart Community Schools. And that's really, I believe, that's why everyone is here. So, I want to thank everyone in the audience for coming out to hear this very important information. You may remember this timeline from earlier this year. This timeline is talks about everything that we said we were going to do as far as what was going to be communicated. I would like for people

019to look at the screen and see that for the most not for the most part, we pride ourselves on all of those things in that very truncated timeline. In a perfect world, schools that go through this process typically would take a few years to go through this. It's been four months having to make lots of decisions that should have that could have been made over a period of time in a four-month period of time. It started in October when the board charged me to look at our school, our school structures, and work with our teams to figure those things out to where we're here on February 10. Thank you, Miss Davis. Appreciate it. On February 10th, in a perfect world, we would have had unlimited time. This is not a perfect world. I think leadership

020means be managing the problems that land on your doorstep, not asking why they land on your doorstep. We have moved through these deliberate phases through planning and engaging by having community meetings, by having sending out surveys, building dashboards, creating financial dashboards, having meetings with staff about cons about about consolidation, sending out weekly reports, policy analytics, building um of building assessments, all in a short period of time. And throughout these processes, we've tried to make sure that we have weekly updates. Always at our board meeting, there's always a a consolidation update update. And and those dashboards, these messages, while they're uncomfortable, unpopular, we really did choose to be visible over being silent. I believe silence is what got us here. I believe that is the best way moving forward is to make sure that people understand

021the problem and I thought that our team has done a really good job of doing that [clears throat] and we talked about transparency. I think that was mentioned earlier. Here are all the ways just since March of 25 that we tried to be transparent with the community at every meeting through work sessions through board meetings. Now, I won't read everything to you, but it we've been giving a monthly financial update in a more of a different format since March of 25. On our website, you can clearly see the policy, I'm sorry, not policy analytics, performance services, uh, outlook on all the building needs. We try to give you opportunities to manipulate the dashboard so you can see the school configurations. Those [clears throat] things not only take time, energy, and vision, it took the will

022and skill of a team. So, I just want to say thank you to those individuals to help to put all those processes forward. And you can see here that's a lot of work in a in a short period of time. So, we're going to talk about how do we get here tonight. You're going to hear from a couple different people. Um, you're going to hear from our CFO. You're going to hear from our uh building services director. You're going to hear from our um exceptional learners um sorry GC's two departments, director of exceptional learners and um shoot what's the other one? I'm having a break for student student services. And then last certainly not least, we're going to hear from Mrs. over HR. Before I invite Miss uh Ross to the stage, I want the

023community to understand school financing is probably one of the most difficult things to understand in Indiana. Um I think I heard people uh someone say before we got up here and I agree wholeheartedly this year, particularly in the state of Indiana, they laid wreckage to public schools. Point blank. The game is rigged against public schools. I I I've never in my 21 years of education seen so many things thrown at teachers, administrators. >> Yes. >> Could you pull the microphone closer? >> I certainly can. You want me to You want me to have one on my >> No, I'm kidding. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> I certainly can. I'll go back. I just wanted to This is terrible. That's too close. I do want to share that this year has been definitely one of the

024most trying years I believe in education from the federal level messing around with school finances from the state level as far as funding schools saying that we are increasing the funding of schools even though that 2% was woven into our tuition support. And then lastly, Senate enrolled act which we'll talk Senate enroll one which we'll talk about has devastating consequences for public schools not just for this year moving forward. Um and Elcart is not immune to those things. School finances determine whether we control our future or whether our futures control us. That's why we tried to create the public dashboard so people understood how we can certainly utilize money and whereas certain buckets we couldn't tap those buckets for certain things. Everyone is invested who is in this room. So you're going to hear that

025word education and transparency has been really a goal of mine this year to talk about all these things that are impacting Elkcart Community School. Not just this year, not just last year, for many years. So at this time, I want to come and have Miss Ross come up here and talk about some of our financial um updates and some of our slides that have to do with finances. and then I will she will turn it back to me. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. Good evening, board members um and community. I would like to provide um a snapshot of our finances. Um feel free to join us monthly. I give the financial update uh each month at the board meeting. So um here is a recap um how we got here. Most recently, you may have

026heard of SEA1, Senate Enrolled Act One. And essentially, it affects our tax revenue. So, while we all may be getting property tax deductions and businesses may benefit and charter schools, we may be sharing funds with them in 2028, all schools um statewide are going to be affected in our operations fund. So for Elcart Community Schools, our operations funds are about $30 to $40 million a year. And what's contained in there? You have your transportation paid out of there. You have your utilities, um your your payroll department, your superintendent, everything behind the scenes to make the district work. So this is going to effect in 2026. And our operations fund is being impacted to the tune um to from$1 to2 million a year loss. Um estimates are still coming in as legislation is still being tweaked

027and we're working closely with our partner Policy Analytics. Um you'll see a link here at the bottom of this slide. You can see more fully. Last month policy analytics came out and gave us a very deep dive into our property taxes, but essentially what this means for Elcart Community Schools will have increasing pressure over the next seven years, pressure on that operations fund. And here are some things that not only us but other school districts have to consider to balance the operations fund. Um reduce expenses in the operations fund. Um raise more money through local taxes. And it we may have to lean on more financing um through debt service to finance buses and other items. So we got some pressure starting this year on the operations fund. And this is just a projection provided

028by our partners policy analytics who uh specialize in property tax revenue projections. Just briefly that green line is our gross assessed value of all the properties in Elcart County. So we don't get to capture all of that. That blue line is the net assessed value. Um and this is where we would have had a prata share of that blue line before sea 1. And you'll see that orange line. Now we get a prorata share of less and so you can see um that impact on a high level again on our finance dashboard. Welcome you to uh take a look at that. So the two big funds that run our district operations and education fund. Just going to jump here to show you kind of where we're heading with the education and operations fund. Um you'll

029see here our cash balance. um waterfall model here. This is essentially what you have in your checking account, you know, to pay your bills. So, we are projected uh we just closed out the um school year uh calendar year 2025. We had, you can see $18 million in our checking account, per se. And you'll see that number is going to keep declining. If we did nothing, if we didn't make any changes, we're going to keep eating away at our cash balances. But that's why we're here. We're and I talk about each month the things that we're doing to change this trajectory. So this is mainly made up of your education and operations fund projected. You can see 2027 negative. We we can't be there. So we're taking proactive steps not to get to that point.

030>> Dr. did you want to speak on buildings and enrollment? Thank you. Thank you, Miss Ross. Appreciate it. Another thing that we kind of talked about before was the en enrollment, our decline in enrollment. I for this presentation went back to 2019. That was pre, you know, co pre pre- pandemic. During that time, we were at 12,17 students. If you look at today off our last count that was on last week on February 2nd, we're officially down to 9,963 students. we have dropped under the 10,000 student mark. So that leads us to having a 59% occupancy across the school district. Now, Miss Ross just shared with us how school funding works. It's tied towards per pupil. We have a structural issue in Elcart Community Schools. How do we make sure that we can maintain all

031the things that we have with all our buildings when we are serving less and less students? If you go back to Elcart's where it was at its peak where there's roughly around 14,000 students, 40% of the students have are gone. That's major ramifications for how we deliver our supports here, but also more importantly, it's an impetus for you to do something in your school district. So, I wanted people to see what we're dealing with today. Mr. Ross kind of talked about the tuition formula. This is what we get per student and that's just for that's called basic tuition. For some of our students who we receive additional supports for uh regarding let's say ENL services or maybe special education services, we receive additional dollars for that. Those are called through a complexity index. But we

032just use the basic um tuition support. Since 2019, there's 2,144 students who are no longer in Elcart Community Schools. That's approximately $18.5 million outside of your education funds that you cannot utilize today. That is roughly 20% of our budget from the education fund, less than we than what we should have if those students were still here earlier. I can another she referenced the feasibility study. A lot of the work that we've been working with here has been rooted in decisions that the board and the community had these discussions back starting in 22 and 23 until that work stopped. One of my charge when I got here was to pick up of that work. If you look at the feasibility study at that time and look at the projections for 2025 2026, they projected us to

033have on the high end 10,580 students and on the low end 10,435 students. If you see that number in red, that is the closest where we are today at 9,4 9,943 students. That is in the year 2930. Those demographers back then could have not anticipated the impact of senator act one because that didn't exist back then. They couldn't imp um understand the they couldn't foresee that we would be funding charters and micro schools and private schools and other type of virtual schools at that time. maybe virtual schools because we were in CO. But if you look at that, us being under 10,000 students was never projected as a high under 10,000 student was never projected as the high kindergarten and high migration. That that number was never projected as the highest peak. But if you

034look at the lowest peak that 9,943 based off our continue if we go based off what we've done in the past as far as student um retention, I suspect that we'll be at those 23 33 numbers ne at the beginning of next year. These are the numbers that are in our school districts. This is why we are facing some of the things that we are facing. It is not because people don't care. It is not because people are not um withholding things from individual. We have a we have less students in the same amount of buildings. This is tough that work. This is that's tough to see. So there's two choices for school districts in order to generate revenue. Either you go back out to your community and you ask for a referendum or you

035rightsize your school district. I've read and I've heard from our community members about what they wanted to see before we had even went and entertained a referendum. improve student achievement, reduce administrative staff, get a hold of your finances, and then we would be willing to listen to that. We are not pursuing a referendum this year. And I want that to be clear. We're not pursuing one this year. That doesn't mean it's off the table, but I don't think that we have done the work yet to be at that place. So, if you listen to that last policy analytics, there's only one option. It's to rightsize your your school district. Before we make any recommendations, we had pretty solidified criteria that was presented to the school board back when we start started this work back in

036October. And those criteria are for here for you to see. They had to deal with enrollment trends, facility uh capacity condition, academic progress, access, operational costs, feedback, and boundary adjustments as needed. One of the things that we really wanted to make sure that we considered is that when we went through these decisions that we need to know every student is worthy of an outstanding education here in Elkcart. Every single one of them, regardless of what school you go to, every staff member is worthy of having a fully functional school. that was never an option that was not on the table during these conversations. So when we make these consolidation recommendations, you will see what criteria that we utilize in order to come to the board and make those recommendations this evening. But last year there

037was an additional consideration. There's Indiana Code 2026 747. Mr. Thorne, would you come up here and explain to the community what that what that code means? Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. The intention of that particular code section is to really control situations where a school district is not effectively utilizing its buildings. Under this particular section of the code, when a building has a utilization of less than 50% for more than two years based upon the actual capacity of the building, the school becomes eligible placed on a list with the state department of education so that the building could be utilized by a higher education institution or a charter school at $1 for the purpose purchase or lease of that particular building. And so a number of our buildings if we weren't to address

038that issue, in fact a couple of our buildings right now would be under that threshold. And so that really drives uh some of the decision-m that you'll be hearing uh as we move through the evening tonight. >> Thank you, Mr. Thorne. Appreciate it. So now we're here to make a recommendation to the school board. I want to make sure before we start going down these recommendations, we did not begin this process with a list of schools and ask which one for you to close. We began with the criteria that was publicly approved by the school board. Every building in this district was evaluated in the same way. Um the recommendations that we're opposed that we're offering here today are not simply emotional judgments. They are judgment that we believe it best positions the school district

039forward and they're logical based off the conditions that we face today. There is no perfect solution that you will be recommended tonight. Board you you have some very tough choices to make. I say that to say is that we have to make choices. There's no more road. we have to. If we do not make those choices, I worry someone else will make those choices for us. And so tonight, I want to first start off. I plan to recommend to the school board Hawthorne to move students from Hawthorne to Roosevelt. If you see on the screen, you will see a recommendation, a rationale why, and the criteria that was moved utilized. The top criteria for Hawthorne is the Indiana code for as far as sustainability. It currently has a capacity of 191 students. I'm sorry. It

040currently enrolls 191 students. It has a capacity of 800. It is far under the Indiana code for uh threshold. Also, the enrollment trends, if you've been following birth rates over time, birth rates are down here in Elcart County. Actually, they're down countrywide. And then lastly, the facility condition. If you look at the screen and look at the facility it prepares, and I won't read every number to you, is approximately $24 million that will need to be invested in that school over the next 11 years. And then the annual cost is $99,24 just to keep that school open every single year. The next recommendation for the board would be the closure of Bristol Elementary School. You can see some information on the screen about Bristol. Opened in 1957, Bristol currently has capacity of 246 students. It

041can currently serve 850 students at the school. It is a a K through five building, a just like Hawthorne, a great school that does great things for kids. It also falls way under the threshold in Indiana. And remember, these are statutory things. You can you have to consider these things when you're making these decisions. Enrollment trends. We tried to make sure tonight you see the enrollment trends over time. We went back pretty far back to I think 2000 to where we are now. So 2000 roughly 58 students. As you can see today has 246 and that number is as of last week. $26 million will be the cost to keep that building to do average maintenance uh over the next 11 years. And that's how much it costs to actually to keep that building he

042heated and cooled over the year, $186,000. So the recommendation that I present to you tonight to the school board will be to relocate those students should you choose to Eastwood Elementary School. And this is what that would look like. One of the things that we have in the school district and once one of the things that I've heard our class sizes are just going to go balloon out of proportion. We are still going to maintain the classroom size of K through three of 25 students uh in grades four through 6 28 the standard case load that we would have with special education students. We would still keep that. And same thing for our ENL student population. All those things will stay the same. If you look at the this consideration for the board, you can

043see the capacity, the number of sections, and that is if every student left here today and was rolled up into the projections for um Eastwood, four sections, five sections down to four sections with an combined enrollment of 601. >> [snorts] >> The next recommendation would be the moving of Oslo students to Pinewood. Oslo student OSO currently has a enrollment of 342 students. As you can see, we went back to 2000. It had 567, had a peak of 712, and now we're here at 342. It is again one of our K- through5 buildings. It meets the Indiana code for closing or not closing for free for for consideration of moving students from one building to the next because of the capacity. It currently has a capacity of 700 students and we have less than half of

044that. The enrollment trends as you can see are here are down to 342. And then lastly, the operational costs that you will see there over almost $15 million to keep that building in its current not to upgrade it to maintain the building. And that's just uh the regular maintenance. I think I'm actually going to u pause right here. When Mr. and I'm going to have Mr. Gan Essie talk about when you see these gigantic numbers, what actually goes into those numbers? Can you come up and share that with our community? >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Dr. Huff and members of the community. Those are very large numbers. I know they're probably very scary to most people. Those represent looking at our buildings from top to bottom and addressing every need

045in those buildings at the time. From things like roofs to boilers and chillers or at home furnaces and air conditioners. Uh much larger scale, much more expense. It also includes our air handlers or temperature control systems, the boxes that keep the teachers and the students very comfortable. Uh that also includes the carpet, the paint, the ceiling tile, the lighting, uh it's sight work. So when we have to do work to address uh bad parking lots, I think everybody recognizes what uh a winter like this does. Uh that includes the maintenance there as well. And any any routine security and technology uh needs that arise over the course of time as well. So those numbers are very large. They're very large for a reason. Uh, a building like this, brand new, is going to cost almost

046$600 a square foot. So, this is a 90,000 square foot building. So, it's a $54 million investment in today's dollars for a brand new building. So, this this amount over time is a lot, but this is how we keep the buildings that we have in the condition that our students and staff deserve. So similarly to the other to the other considerations that we have, I will show you with you what that would look like should you take this recommendation this evening. Pinewood would become a considerably larger school. It would have 754 students but also would have additional supports there as well to make sure that students had um were able to transition um successfully to that school. [snorts] five sections of kindergarten. That is a projection. That's our average enrollment of kindergarten students over the

047years. And then the every other age group is students who would currently sit in Oslo and they would be um would attend um Pinewood. And as you can see, those thresholds are are definitely below our district guidelines. And so again, we're coming to you with that recommendation um this evening um to the board. The next recommendation is Woodland Elementary School. Woodland Elementary School does not currently meet the projection for the Indiana that Indiana code. They're building wonderful community. All of these again, wonderful communities. Kids are getting outstanding education. The conditions of this building um they're pretty poor. $25 million would would cost I'm sorry $25.5 million over the next six years. Um also the operational costs as well. Woolen is one of our smaller is one of our smaller schools as far as the capacity

048size. That's why that operational costs um seems to be pretty it seems out of whack. Um that's a lot for a building. U Tony, what's the square footage of that building? >> 70 78,000 >> 78,000 square feet. So $25 million on a 20 a 78,000 foot building is very expensive. And then the cost to heat is $129,000. We're recommending to the board um the last consideration was enrollment trends. As you can see the enrollment trends just like every other school that we're recommending this evening um is down to 344 and we're recommending to locate relocate those students to Cleveland Elementary School. Well, what does that look like? Again, same setup that we've talked about at the other schools, maintaining that we make sure that we have the integrity of the classrooms, 25 students from K

049through three and then also and grade levels four through six, 28 uh students. Again, we took the average size of the kindergarten uh kindergarten class. We will look at that kindergarten number there. there may be a need to add another kindergarten teacher there based off the um size of Wooden and Cleveland because they are above that threshold that 25.6 and that's if every student um based off their our annual projection shows up but then if you look at the other grade levels they all fall within that that uh that capacity I'm sorry within our our guidelines. This is a lot of information to take in in one period of time. So, I wanted to make sure that uh I pause for a second um board as you take your notes and and and have this

050u any thoughts. My last recommendation would be to the school board would be Mary Beck. Mary Beck um currently has 288 students inside of Mary Beck. As you can see, the enrollment over time started off at 419 is down to 288 as of last of our our unofficial count on 22. Um the capacity for that building serves 700 students. It is Indiana code um it falls under Indiana code uh statute. Uh enrollment trends the operational cost $21 million. Sorry, was $21.5 million. The utility cost is $152,000 a year. And for this school is a little bit different. Uh boundaries will need to be adjusted for um Mary Beck as we based off that we will be split splitting half of those kids will be going to Monger and the other half will be going to

051Riverview. Currently I think uh Mr. GNSE and u Mr. Smith are still working on those boundary lines, but I think that you're pretty close um for a formal recommendation back to the school board. And so looking at this is different a different side. There's not going to be seven sections at each building. That's seven sections total between the two buildings of kindergarten all the way down to fifth grade. Again, we want to make sure that we maintain the instructional um the instructional integrity of the classroom. And also just want to let everybody know this presentation will be made available immediately after this board meeting like we've done all year long. We'll send this out to the community so you can go back and look at the work. um and and see those things. Also, it

052will be on our consolidation um dashboard as well um where you can see all the information that we have um shared with the community this year about everything that has brought us to this moment. Um but back to to this there are seven sections of kindergarten between the two schools K through three and then in fourth and fifth grade there are six sections between both. It says Monger and Riverview will have a capacity up to 600 students 650. that's just what they can hold once we come back uh with the board and they finally um work on those bus routes. I don't expect those schools to obviously have 600 students in them. But we do we do want to make sure that you have specific numbers on how many students that we approximately have there.

053I don't feel I have not seen them but I know that they are um pretty close unless Mr. Ganessa you want to come and reveal those the exact counts. I don't want to put you on the spot to he doesn't even want to come up here. That's fine. Um, but that just covered our our our programming additional programming shifts. We will also be looking at our intense classrooms, our Pride Academy, Head Start, and Adult Education. And I wanted to make sure I I slow walk through this one. There will be any school that wasn't impacted by consolidation like if you didn't receive additional students those other schools will receive um intense classrooms and we're intense classrooms at those locations. We want to make sure that they are properly staffed that they are we have more

054resources at those schools. Currently we are covering those um classrooms and burning out teachers during on the way that we currently are doing those things. So Mary Beck Feeser and what would be the other one? >> Mary Dailyaly where we're receiving intense classrooms pride academy. I'll be making a recommendation on where one of the buildings and where that would be located to pri and then also our middle school programming as well. And then Head Start and adult education we will also be coming back with a recommendation where those be located. And the reason why it was important to share those things there are people these are I don't want not I don't want everyone who is watching this presentation is wondering well I see that my school is impacted well what about where am I

055going to work where's my location is going to be we have to finalize that we have to figure out what we want to do with those last buildings and I have a recommendation for you but I think the board needs to make this first initial step for that as well those locations will be determined in the next couple weeks and I say next couple weeks at the next board meeting I'll be bringing Back to the recommendation for where we place those additional programming, staff reductions. I want I want to talk about this in in a in a human as a human way. Hopefully this whole presentation been as a human in human format, but we've had tons of tough conversations over the last two weeks having to look individuals in the face who have done

056an outstanding job for Elcart Community Schools and it's a numbers game. There's not a there's not a school that is going to be there. That's probably the toughest job that I've had in my like I said 21 years of education. There are 12 administrators that will be impacted this year. And this was not just an elementary consolidation. This was a district-wide consolidation. There will be reductions at the district office. There'll be reductions at the elementary schools. There were there were reductions at the middle schools. And there's reduction at the high school. And we're going to have one athletic director in our school district next year. And over a two-year period, there's been a 25% reduction in administration here in the district. 19 out of the 78 total certified and classified the way that we will

057you see on the screen 38 uh positions currently as today Mrs. um I spoke to Miss Lozano, we have what 41 positions that are open or 25 is that what you said? Under 25. Many of these will be filled through uh attrition or we won't go back and backfill those. I know that number says 5% reduction when I bring the final numbers to the board. I highly suspect that number will not be there won't be 36 certified individ individuals teaching side impacted. Same thing with classified. I spoke to um Miss Wood. We have 55 um openings currently in the school district. 43 um would were based on our projections will be impacted. Many of those positions will be filled with people who will go from other um schools. The approximate savings for the school district

058on an annual basis is $6.5 million. But remember, there are people who are attached to these positions. I want us to remember that they came and they showed up every single day knowing exactly um what this presentation will look like this evening. and they handle those conversations with grace and with dignity. Um, and I couldn't have been more proud of them. This this is tougher to give than I thought, ladies and gentlemen. But $6 million uh $6.5 million uh annual savings for as far as salary reductions. Um I'll be coming back to the board with more um information about that. Those administration positions will not be backfilled. That is definite. Looking at this and what we presented tonight over what we're trying to avoid over the next 11 years in the school district is a

059minimum of $87 million 700 $14,570. And then the annual cost reduction savings on top of the um salary um projections that I just shared with you um $687,000 there. And the reason why this is important, the district, it's in a it's pretty close to being in a crisis when from a financial um standpoint if we do not make heavy decisions today. I worry about what will be left over for our school district tomorrow. Consolidation of resources stabilizes for a short period of time. the district finances and there'll still be work left to do. And that's kind of what we were talking about. What will allow us to do is for to balance access our resources and programs. You're able to hopefully improve the alignment with instructional practice district-wide. Currently in our buildings, you have certain

060schools that have access to certain curriculum because of the way that they are titled. You have certain that do not have access to certain types of curriculum. Hopefully, these things can be aligned district-wide and then more efficient use of staff and resources. You can't just move students and not believe that there's going to be a cost that comes to that. Receiving schools will receive some aesthetic improvements to make sure that that we are ready to serve those students and staff that will be moving to those buildings. These are the estimated costs. Obviously, these are projected high. Mr. GNSE, um I don't want for you want to come up and speak on this one. Yeah, please do speak on that. I want to speak outside. Please. >> Good evening, Ken. So, following the model that we

061used for the middle schools this last year, we're going to be focusing on carpet, paint, LED lighting, ceiling tile, roller window shades, and technology upgrades to make sure that our schools are all aligned in the same manner. and you have when you walk into them, you'll feel like they're all been they've all been treated the same way. So, these are really just like as Dr. Huff said, aesthetic improvements, but uh we feel that we need to do those to make sure the schools are all aligned correctly. The reason Monger is so much lower is that Monger had a project completed in 2023 when we did the majority of the work there that we just discussed. So, this is for uh technology and any little small items that we might come across such as paint touchup

062or carpet replacement where we need to. >> Will you will you share where that funding will come from? >> Yes, this funding will come from a bond that will be for our our elementary schools. It's a bond that the board actually uh heard a resolution on a couple of board meetings ago. So, it'll be a bond that uh focuses just on the elementaryaries. We'll actually look at doing some additional work in the other buildings as well and Mr. Smith will come up and talk about our transportation considerations. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. Uh routes will be be determined based on res u resation. Uh we will keep our onem walk zone intact. Students outside the walk zone will qualify for busing transportation. We are planning on continuing to take school ride durations into consideration. Uh

063with the uh with the changes that we might have with routes, we ask every parent, every family to please sign up for stopfinder. >> I'll follow up. Thank you, Mr. Smith. One of the things that was really important to this process is that we wanted to make sure that our routes are currently our longest route in the district is 54 minutes in the school district that we don't go over our routes. And one of the things that we've figured out through Stopfinder is that none of our routes will be longer than 60 minutes um next year. So we maintain the same u integrity of our bus routes as far as times. So that way parents have an opportunity to plan on what that looked like. um transportation. We'll be able to still provide the same

064transportation uh for uh families that we provided this year. Um but keeping that walk zone was very important through this uh process as well. So, Mr. Smith, I want to just thank you and Mr. Gianni for your work uh in this area. Miss Lozano is going to come up and talk about uh the considerations for staff. Um one of the things that she will go into is that what are the next steps and when that information will be delivered. So, I'm going to turn it over to you, Miss Lozano. Thank you, Dr. Huff. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, uh members of the community. Um over the last couple of weeks, we had uh quite a bit of conversations with several members of um both our ETA as well as other

065members in the support staff category simply because the work that needs to be done uh requires a lot of input and a lot of thoughtfulness that goes into the process and we have been able to come up with a process that would help identify how we're going to select the indiv individuals and what the process will be for that selection. And that process came out of the work that we did in collaboration with several stakeholders. We do have a process outline that at the end of the meeting will also be shared so that staff has uh that information available. Certainly there's a lot of information to absorb. So you'll have that to reference. But in essence, the process that was developed as far as our certificated staff, it was in collaboration with our ATA as

066well as other administrative staff in which there is criteria that was identified that we will be utilizing for this process which would be licensing and seniority will be the criteria and then there's also a selection process in which they will be provided with the list of available available opportunities that they will be able to select. spectrum. We do have a timeline that has been identified. The goal is to be able to finalize placements for next school year as quickly as possible. We know how unnerving it can be uh just not knowing. So, we want to make sure that we honor you and we honor the process and we make sure to communicate that to you just as quickly as possible. The goal for the process will be to finalize and make any notifications or announcements

067of the placements by March 27th. And that timeline will also be what we are um aiming for our support staff as well. When it came to our support staff, we also had a group that we met with for several weeks in which we outlined and discussed what a potential process would look like. And based on the feedback that was provided, the following criteria was also identified for this particular group. Um, we will be looking at licensing for those positions that require a license as well as the skill set required for that particular position. We will be looking at evaluations, uh, attendance and seniority as well. I do want to just uh pause for this moment simply because we do have as part of a support staff our custodial group and with our custodial staff. I

068simply want to just reiterate that we will be utilizing the master contract that we have in place which outlines what the process will be. So it would be based on the custodial contract, but just like with our certified staff, the process will also include a listing of the available positions that we would have available at that moment for the next school year. And the goal will be to communicate the assignments by March 27th. With that being said, we want to make sure that everyone uh knows that we understand the importance of communicating the information as quickly as possible. What will be shared tonight will be what I just uh uh reviewed with you. But as we get closer and based on the decisions that are made on the recommendations that are presented tonight, additional information

069will be following with more detailed explanation as to what the process would look like as this would be uh something that would be applicable to staff that is currently in those buildings that may be potentially impacted by the consolidation. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Sano. Appreciate it. Next up, we'll bring up Miss Brand overseas student services. She will talk about U program locations and she also talk about how are we going to make sure that we're supporting people uh throughout this process really. That's all of phase three. I don't expect you to go through the entire phase three, but I do expect you to talk about how are we going to support families through this process and staff. Sorry. Oh, this is family. Sorry. >> Okay. [laughter] Good evening um members of the board community.

070My name is Lindsay Brander, director of student services and exceptional learners. Um so some considerations for our families. We will open registration March 2nd. Very similar to the process that we had last year uh for registration. Parents will be sent snap codes um direct links in parent square so they can click on that and register their students. Still very important that we're registering our our students for the 2627 school year. Um the transfer window will open April 13th. So if you are a uh parent that is applying for a transfer for your student, that window will be separate from um the registration window. Um transportation will still only be available uh via request through the registration process. You'll need to register your student to request transportation. Um once we finalize uh programming locations uh based

071on board recommendations, we will um reach out to families and staff to ensure a smooth transition uh very similar to the process that we're anticipating for our um consolidated schools. Um if there are any questions or families have individual questions related to their particular situation with their students, our student services staff members are ready to answer those questions. feel free to call and we will do our best to provide support and if we are not able to answer your question we will direct you to the department that can support you >> oh yes absolutely um we will also provide open houses for the schools receiving new students um those dates will be are to be determined we will provide year-end celebrations for impacted school it's very important to maintaining school culture that we are celebrating

072ating um when we are moving on. Um and then more information will come from our um director of elementary, our assistant superintendent of of elementary school on what those celebrations will look like and the timing. >> Thank you, Miss Brand. Thank you, Miss Brand. Appreciate it. >> Again, I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out this evening. that it was a that's a lot of information to take in. It was a lot of information to deliver uh to you tonight. Um in my time here, I would have never expected by the year two that this is where we would be. But I'm glad that I'm had a part in making sure that the district will be in a different trajectory moving forward. These are tough conversations that you need to have, but these aren't

073conversations anymore. These are actions that will now require individuals to take very important steps to make sure that we can make the next step for Elcart. So, um if you have any questions, we do have a uh consolidation FAQ page. We actually look at those. They answer, we respond. We plan to also make sure that we have um direct contact with all the impacted schools whether you're receiving whether you are um whether you are receiving or sending schools location schools I'll be rece uh having changing in programming after this not after this evening your job is always to take care of the people who serve our most precious gift which are our students and now and very important that we make sure that that is a high priority for our school district and I'm very

074um um glad that I had an opportunity to work with these people and others uh through this process. So um at this time I'm going to um tell you thank you for your time this evening and I'm going to ask the board to first read the official uh resolution that you will be voting on this evening and I believe that is you president Scott. >> Thank you Dr. Huff. we've seen um and heard a lot of information uh shared tonight. Um so I want to normally I've done it I guess the last couple meetings normally I don't make a habit of reading resolutions but again I think it's very important that uh you know these words are said and these words are heard. Um, so if you bear with me, give me the grace. I

075will uh read the board resolution authorizing elementary student reassignment to which the board is uh taking uh under consideration this evening. Whereas the board of school trustees of Elcart Community Schools has reviewed the district enrollment trends, building capacity standards under Indiana law, and the operational sustainability of elementary programming. And whereas the board recognizes its responsibility to align student placement in a manner that maintains stable instructional environments, protects education, educational continuity, and ensures responsible stewardship of the district resources. Whereas the board desires to authorize student reassignment actions necessary to implement the district's elementary consolidation framework while retaining future authority regarding school facility disposition. Now there be it resolved in the board of school trustees authorizes the superintendent to implement elementary student uh reassignment based on enrollment capacity which we discussed program balance operational efficiencies including the

076following transfers. One, students currently assigned to Woodland Elementary School may be reassigned to Cleveland Elementary School based on the availability, capacity, and district enrollment procedures. Also, elementary school students designated under the consolidation framework sha uh shall attend Pinewood Elementary School in accordance with enrollment planning. Students currently assigned to Bristol Elementary School shall be reassigned to Eastwood Elementary School. Students currently assigned to Beck Elementary School shall be reassigned and distributed between Monger Elementary and Riverview Elementary Schools based on enrollment capacity and program balance. Academic programs currently housed at Hawthorne Elementary School may be relocated to Roosevelt Elementary School to support instructional continuity. Be it further resolved that the superintendent is authorized to develop and implement a transition timeline including transportation adjustments and staff alignment to carry out these reassignments in a manner that protects students safety.

077and preserves continuity of required educational services. Be it further resolved that this authorization applies solely to student reassignment and program relocation and does not constitute approval of any school closures, facility sale, or repurposing actions, all of which remain subject to future board approval. So, at this time, do I have a motion from the board to uh accept this resolution uh as I just read? >> So, moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Um do I have any uh board discussion or questions for uh from the board regarding uh this resolution and uh student reassignment? I I' I've got a question uh and it's it's for the um um the presentation and uh Miss Brander, if you could step up to the microphone. Um you

078know, we we we heard a lot about um the buildings. We heard a lot about staff. Um we heard heard you know a lot about programming and you and you mentioned you know the students and uh the impact that it's going to have on the students [clears throat] and you mentioned um open houses and celebrations. Could you go into a little more detail because this, you know, the students is why I sit here on this board and I don't want the community to think that, you know, because we we mentioned them there, you know, we we had so many slides and so many hours gone into this that, you know, it's it's very important to to address, you know, how it's going to impact them and and what you're going to do to prepare them

079for this change. um you know, anytime there is a significant transition that impacts a community like um school reassignment that we're going through right now, it really it impacts morale. It impacts um stability, how people are feeling. And so the at the building level, it's the job of the teachers and the administrators to support their students through the transition to um encourage them to uh celebrate the things that they've shared over the years and to help them look forward to the new things that are coming. Um it is our job at the district level to provide that type of support to our staff, to our administrators, to our teachers, to our classified staff, and to others that are impacted. And so it is our job to help them celebrate the change um you know go

080through the grieving process because it is a grieving process and to look forward to the transition. So I think it's important for all of us as we move forward if uh the board decides to take action um that we can have the grief we can process through it. Um I have had the pleasure of working in Elkcart Community Schools for um eight years now and I have never worked in a school corporation that has such strong community ties and I think it's incredibly important that we celebrate those ties and we celebrate them together and we move forward together. So, in speaking of our open houses and our um uh celebrations, you know, our our transition celebrations, I think it is very important to allow our students to have space to feel sad that they're moving.

081Um and that for us to allow our staff to to also have that space to have feelings about the move. um but to also celebrate what's coming um in the open houses and to welcome with open arms the people that the students and the staff that are transitioning into new buildings. >> It's my understanding that the students will be um uh taken to the the schools that they're going to be reassigned to uh as a group. Is that is that correct? Did I >> Yeah, I can I can speak to that. First of all, Miss Brando, you um speak very eloquently about just some of the feelings that some of us can't put into words at this point. So, I would just want to tell you thank you. Um you've been great to work with

082over these years and um we still have a lot of work to do. As far as the as far as those transition meetings at the those schools, I think it's also very important to make sure that we have we're not planning it for the schools. They know their students best. the leaders at those buildings along with their staff. I think our job is to make sure that we come alongside them and make sure that they get those opportunities. Obviously, we will have defined dates. Um Mrs. Reese will work the elementary principal to get the defined dates what that looks like, but it may look different for what Woodland needs for their building opposed to what they need for Mary Beck. And our job is to support along support along the way. But there will be

083ample opportunities for those students to go see those not just before the end of the school year in the summer and going visiting touring those buildings to make sure that they are comfortable not just students but staff too. >> Also I think it's important that the receiving school goes and visits them at their current school. >> This will be a collaboration between the schools are joining. We want to make sure that our kids feel not displaced during this process. It was important that our staff does not feel displaced during this process. Making sure that we have the appropriate supports and working with all the people that are involved. I think President's got to be premature to tell you exactly what that's going to look like. But I do think that it's important that it happens.

084Last year, one of the things they're doing middle school transition, they had open house nights. I think that were pretty well received um feedback we got from the parents. I believe that we will have to do that quite a few times for our for our elementary students along the way. So those dates, I would suspect that they would happen after spring break that we'd have ample opportunities to do those things for for students and families and for staff to go to um to those locations. Um but as far as also the other end as far as celebrating um the schools that um are impacted at this time, I'm using the word impacted specifically for a legal reason, right? I can't um we we're not saying close, we're not saying consolidate. We have to make that

085official determination at a later time. is important that they have an opportunity to I I think we keep saying we use the word grieve a lot and I think that's important to delivering this uh has very been very different uh for me kind of existential uh a little bit grieving looks different for everybody but also I believe many of them will also celebrate too with those students one last time they're very proud they're last year the the staff and all those schools did amazing job this year. They did an amazing job today. They did an amazing job and we need to make sure that we um get their voice on what that looks like for them, too. So, I just want to make sure that when we are talking about what that specific look like

086today, we can't tell you, but we definitely make sure we'll make a place and a space to do that. And so, we'll we'll keep the community updated and um we'll definitely work at those buildings to get those dates set up. Mr. Scott, I think you're spot on. is important that kids um have as much um support and staff have as much support needed during this time. And that's what phase three was all about of the timeline. This is typically work that's done over a multi-year period. We asked to make a lot of decisions in four months. >> Thank you. >> And so I just want to say that is um >> Miss Brander, thank you. Thank you for that. I know >> we we we've used the term and you know for legal reasons you

087know reassignment and that's that's that in itself could be a cold word and so I I appreciate the detail um you know and and further detail to come that uh you know how it's going to impact our students and and how we're going to come alongside and and make this um as as easy of a transition for them and their and their families. So, thank you for the additional detail. Uh, anyone else from the board have a question? Any discussion try and get through it. Um, I want to thank everyone who has been engaged in in attending our community meetings, our board meetings, assessing information, and seeking to understand and learn what is going on in our school system and and what has transpired over the last many, many years. It's important. You've been able

088to see where we are as a district, understand our successes that we've had, our challenges, and our opportunities, and the hard work being done to improve the long-term health and strength of our district to continue to move it forward. I know families and staff are feeling a great deal of emotion. I know the board is as well. Change is really difficult, especially when it affects our schools and the people who care for our students every day. And those feelings are real and they matter. And I I really appreciate Lindsay's eloquent way and how she talked about how to process that. [snorts] I also want to thank the entire cabinet and all the staff that has been involved in the many many many hours of hard work that has been done so far. It is not

089easy and they have been approaching this with a great deal of thoughtfulness and care and it's really hard. Our responsibility as a board is to ensure that every student has access to an excellent learning experience in a stable wellsupported environment. At the same time, being responsible stewards of our district district's resources. Reassigning students as part of our district-wide realignment is necessary and an important step to create the long-term stability so we can consistently meet every student's needs. And I think for me, I support this resolution because it's centered it's centered on what matters most, our students. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Ann. >> I was going to wait till the end, but I guess this now is appropriate to also uh kind of share a little bit of of things. I want to start

090by acknowledging I would say the emotion that's in this room and potentially emotion that's uh you know online for the folks that are watching. Um you know, we know schools are more than just buildings. Um you know, they hold memories, they hold relationships, they hold traditions. all those things. And as a board member and as a parent um and someone who deeply cares for this district, um I feel the weight of these decisions we're going to be making based on our recommendations. Um over the last several months, as Dr. Huff has said and some of the cabinet members have said, you know, we've been pretty transparent about the realities that we face. Uh tonight's recommendations um are about confronting our current reality so we can protect our future. um and if we don't do anything

091about it, our our our challenges only come, you know, kind of compound and things like that. So, um I want to be very clear as I try to make these statements that these recommendations, as Dr. Huff said before, they don't diminish the value or the commitments that our uh staff and and and teachers have exhausted over the years. And so, I want to say uh I appreciate um the efforts that's been exhausted along the way. Um, so thank you for bringing us such a thoughtful recommendation. I think that it's very thought out, great information. So I just want to say thanks for that. >> Thank you, Mr. Ivory. I'll echo both Eric and an, but I want to tie into something that Jessica said that the thing that we should never underestimate is that our

092students will come in tomorrow ready to learn and ready to be, you know, the Lions that they are, but our staff um our families, our parents that are impacted at this moment as we turn the corner are going to show up tomorrow and give 100% again. And we can never underestimate the value of of the teams that we have. And we're so thankful and thank you for the privilege of being in those buildings. And I just know that as we navigate through this, our school district will just get stronger and grow more. But thank you, Jessica, for pointing out the very much value to our students and that our staff is. And I thank our cabinet for all of their work. And before we um vote on this resolution, um I I I want to

093reme remind the community and and and folks in the audience that you know, a lot of times I'll ask for comments or questions um from the board and um believe me, this board collectively, individually has asked many, many questions. Um we toured each elementary school on a Saturday about 3 weeks ago was it uh for uh was 6 hours 7 hours uh cuz we felt it was important uh we charged Dr. Huff and his team and the cabinet um to come to us and with the recommendations but with with the receipts and the reasons why you know certain uh reassignments uh were going to occur. Um we we don't take this lightly as a board. This is something that was started in 2022 2023 with a feasibility study. Um we knew it, you know, we

094knew it was going to eventually get here. you know, the district's talked about uh consolidations um for a number of years. So, uh this this process has has has been a thoughtful one. We we spend a day with the team uh asking questions. What does that mean? You know, tell tell us, you know, help us understand this issue. Uh and you know, they were prepared. They were thoughtful. uh they were transparent and you know the data and in the way it was presented you know unfortunately you know it it made sense based on you know the the financial uh you know for the financial stability of this district going forward. So I understand there's a lot of emotion tonight and and there will continue to be emotion. So um thank you for you and your

095team. I think the there was over 250 hours put into gathering data and and making this presentation tonight. So, so thank you uh for that. >> Thank you, President Scott. >> I have a motion and I have a second regarding the resolution authorizing elementary student reassignment. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ward. Thank you, Dr. Hoff. [snorts] Okay. Next on the agenda, we have the consent items. Do I have a motion? >> I move. >> I have a [clears throat] motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussions from the board regarding the consent items? So, we still continue to celebrate our community and the great things that happen inside. So, again, this this uh

096week we received $5,980 of which the robotics club again is really benefiting with a total of $1,500 from American Milwork for $250, Hopman Julie for $250, Ketaring University 500, and Shield $500. Our cheerleaders who just came back from nationals received $1,500 in anonymous donation. Brian Ketchum, who is not only a wonderful teacher, but also a coach. His family and the Brian Tree Company continues to donate, and this time it was $500 to help with uniforms and many other things for new student athletes. The Elcart Education Foundation gave $1,000 to Pier Moran to continue their hoopla. So, thanks Char Charlene. And then the freshman division received $450 for their cares closet and Elcart build readers book brackets or I can't read my handwriting you guys. Sorry. But the prek through five they received $500 from the

097Elcart Education Foundation. Also scooters did an amazing thing of donating $10 um gift cards of a total of $530 and that was to benefit our national school counselors and our social workers. weeks. So, at $5,980, we received those donations and we had two amazing ret Well, we will have two amazing retirements. Margaret Scott from the freshman division that served 12 years as a paraprofessional, a job that is just so needed and so valued. But somebody else at the Elcart Area Career Center is retiring and that is Tracy Plank Tea Garden after 32 years of teaching cosmetology. And I personally have the honor of saying that I was one of her very first students my senior year. And since she did make it through, I can understand how she did 32 years. I can assure you.

098But she is amazing and has brought so many hair artists into the world that she really just just did a wonderful job and the team that she's created that she's leaving behind is going to do even better at the career center. So Tracy, thank you and enjoy your retirement with your husband who retired a little, you know, we announced a little bit ago and I thank you for your 32 years with our students. >> Thank you, Kelly. Any other questions or discussion from the board? >> Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. >> Next on the agenda, we have old business. Mr. Thorne, we have uh contracts. >> Thank you, President Scott. Members of the board, Dr. Huff. This evening, the administration presents contracts for final consideration, IvyTech Community

099College and Radio Research Consortium. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. Thorne. Uh, do I have a motion to accept the contracts as presented? >> Motion. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussion from the board regarding these contracts? Seeing or hearing none. All in favor of the contract as presented. >> I >> opposed. >> Thank you. Motion passes. On to new business. Uh Dr. Roush, we have uh contracts under new business. >> President Scott, board of trustees, Dr. Huff, the administration presents contracts for initial consideration. Memorandum of understanding between Elcart Adult and Community Ed and National Center for Construction Education and Research Ltda NCC. Administration is requesting to wave a second reading. >> Thank you, Dr. Ralsh. Uh,

100do I have a motion and a waiver of second reading on the contract as presented? I >> move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Questions or discussion? [clears throat] Hearing or seeing none. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion [clears throat] passes unanimously. Thank you, Dr. Ralsh. >> The administration recommends approval of the Elkart County Workbased learning hub countywide collaboration contract. Administration is requesting to wave a second reading. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion and waiver of second reading for the workbased learning hub countywide collaboration contract as presented? [snorts] >> Motion. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Any question or discussion from the board? [cough] Hearing or seeing none. All in

101favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you, Dr. Walsh. The administration recommends approval of the reinstatement of a participation fee for the summer band and orchestra program for sixth and seventh grade students who are beginning band or orchestra for the first time. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion for I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion. I second. Do I have any questions or discussion regarding the summer band and orchestra fee? Seeing or hearing none. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> Motion passes. Thank you. And Dr. Roush, instrument rental fee. >> The administration recommends approval of the reinstatement of instrument rental fees for the use of schoolowned instruments by students. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> I have

102a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion. I have a second for the instrument in instrument rental fee. Do I have any questions or discussion from the board? Seeing or hearing none. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Roush. Dr. Huff. >> Thank you, President Scott. Appreciate it. Um, just want to say again, I appreciate the board and the decisions that you've made today. You you'll be reshaping the the history of Elkcart moving forward. I also want to thank everyone who, as as Mr. Bond said, has been engaged throughout this process. Um, just been a lot of work. um the amount of change that that has been expressed this evening. Um when you sit and think about it, it it impacts thousands of lives

103and we do not take that lightly and and to do it in that time frame that is not only um short um I don't know short, quick, however you want to say it. I just want to say I it took a lot of people who gave countless hours um to do that. Um but lastly um I look forward to the way we support everyone during phase three. I think that is going to really show how we in Elkcart uh support one another. It is okay to feel as a young kid say some type of way about this evening. It also is very um it's normal. But I think that getting here is not normal tonight. Trying to rectify a a lot of things that um I think that needed to be done over a long

104time. So I'm glad that you had the courage this evening to do those things. Um so everyone who had a a role in this um this evening, I just want to tell you thank you. These decisions often get passed over time and time again. someone has to finally say, "Hey, this cannot continue to happen." Um, not just in our school district. This is happening all over the state. These conversations are being had. I just I am grateful to work with a school board that's courageous enough to say, "Hey, you know what? We we just can't do we can't allow this to continue to happen." So, I just want to tell you um thank you u from the bottom of my heart with that. Um, but also there's another person in the room who who I've

105been uh we talked last night probably at um 11:30 12:00 last night and spoke first thing this morning. Jamie Snyder and his team what they did across the school district today um was phenomenal supporting kids at all level. Our kids um safely protested out in the community. I'm pretty sure a lot of us know those things. I want to thank Mr. Schultz for his leadership at the high school uh of making sure that everyone was prepared to to to support the kids. But Jamie uh sorry, Mr. Snider, he done a wonderful job of being Johnny on the spot. I don't think there was a place in the district that he wasn't today. He did professional development for all leadership today. He was out at the road um getting kids where they needed to be and

106also strongly getting kids where they needed to be. And Jamie, we we couldn't do this work without you. you are such a valuable resource with all the things that you share with us and is literally one of the easiest people to work with. He's we we we're lucky to have Mr. Snyder in his team. So, I just want to say I don't know where he at. He's back here hiding somewhere, but we just want to tell you thank you, Mr. Snyder. Um and then I also want to um just give a uh a very very um brief shout out to Kyle Workman and and Lori Garber. Had an opportunity to just spend some time with them today from a custodial perspective. the way that they lead their custodial group, it is amazing. They're the kindest

107people, professional, and also how they bring solutions to the table. Um, I really uh appreciate that. Um, have had an opportunity over the last two years just working with them. And I just wanted to tell you thank Lori is um she is a phenomenal leader and I just want to tell her thank you. So, we have some outstanding staff here in the district as everyone knows each week. Um, these are tough conversations today. There'll be tough conversation tomorrow, but this is Elcart. We'll make sure that we get through it. So, I just want to say President Scott, I appreciate for the opportunity to share some words and I'll turn it back over to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. Um, anything from the board before we close? >> I um I have one thing. I

108think I've got myself a little more under control now. Um I want to give a shout out to um Miss Ross, um Miss Jennifer Lee, and Miss Erica Pervvis. They are part of our financial team and I had the opportunity about a week and a half ago to sit in on the exit interview for our two-year audit. Um and um they've done a great job. Um the final audit will be released the end of March. Um but we had nothing reportable. Um, and that is for a district as complex as ours is and the number of federal grants that we receive to have nothing reportable um is a real testament to to them um and what they have done um with processes, internal controls um and compliance. There's a whole lot of compliance issues that

109they have to be aware of. And I think that their work with other departments throughout the district um to understand the wise they have to do certain things certain ways um has enabled um the district to to have this um achievement with the audit. So I just wanted to give them a shout out and thank them for all their hard work. Going through an audit um is difficult. it's time consuming and um it takes away from a lot of time that of their routine normal day-to-day job as well. So, I just want to give them a shout out and thank for the thank them for the the great work that they've done. Um and this is the second time in a row that we've had um nothing reportable. So, kudos to them. >> Thank you.

110Um, I'd [clears throat] like to mention in reviewing the uh coaches uh who are recommended for employment for next year, uh we have uh three returning graduates uh from Memorial High School. Uh Geron Cooper uh doing Pieran girls basketball, one as head coach and one as assistant coach. Anyhow, um Geron Cooper graduated with my son Evan and uh they went to the Final Four in 2012 and Geron has a distinction of being the only basketball player to break the hoop in a game at Northside Gym and I think Dean Coleman probably remembers fixing that. Uh the other person is Nick Foy. Uh Nick Foy has come back to us as a golf coach, also a personal friend of my uh son. And uh uh Nick um I learned of him uh because he was the

111kid sitting at the kitchen table with my son uh doing math uh and uh not physics but algebra from Alex Holtz's class. And then the third person is uh Haley Stouter. Uh Haley is been a longtime tennis uh pro to so to speak and um also I think she graduated a year behind my son. Uh but it's good to see that uh uh you know these young people are coming back and giving back and uh supporting the community and also uh helping these young athletes along the way and they are all three of those kids are really good role models. Thank you. >> Thank you Doug. Anyone else? >> I'll I'll share a few words. Somebody brought up earlier uh the strength of the Elkcart community and I will say that um there's nothing hap

112that happens in the school district that doesn't impact the community and there's nothing in the community that doesn't impact the school district and over the last few years this community has been through a lot but we've also gotten through a lot together and this is just another hurdle that we have to get to through together. The city has been very supportive. The school has been very supportive with community partners, different churches. We have weathered a lot of storms and Elcart is very resilient and we'll get through this too together. So I I am proud to be a graduate of Elcart Community Schools. I've lived in a several other communities and I've never lived in a place that's more proud, more supportive, and more committed to the community. And I just hope to see that level

113of partnership as we move through this consolidation process cuz the strength of the community and how well this community thrives is based on the school district and also the economy. So, I hope that we can weather this storm together and come out on the other side better. If you've never been in a position of leadership where you have to make these kind of decisions that really come down to somebody else being able to take care of their family, it's something that we agonize over. We have had some very spirited conversations about is this the right thing to do? Is this the best thing to do? Is this right for us financially? Is this the best thing for the students? So, it's easy to sit on the be on the receiving end of it and feel

114like we have maybe rushed or didn't take this lightly. We take every decision personally. We lose sleep and we doing our best to steward this district in the right direction. So, I'm asking for grace and I'm asking for partnership as we move through this consolidation. >> Well said. Normally I uh I I say something at the end but Daisy that was it was well said and uh I think we'll leave it uh uh right there. So at this time I will adjourn the meeting. Thank you everyone.