ECS Board of School Trustees’ Meeting 10/14/25

001[Music] Good night. Yes. >> Okay. I got a message from her about 20 after, so she's going to be a little late then. Okay. [Music] All right, everybody. All right. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight uh for our October 14th, uh public work session. At this time, I will call our public works session to order. And uh Lindsay, Miss Brander, you have the uh podium. >> Good evening, board president Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff community. Um thank you so much for allowing me to present this evening on our bullying prevention and investigation practices and project aware, which was our mental health grant. So October is bullying prevention month. Um, bullying prevention month was first established in 2006 by the Pacers National Bullying Prevention Center. Um, historically, bullying has been viewed as a

002childhood right of passage that made kids tougher, but in reality has always been that bullying can leave devastating, often long-term effects such as loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety and depression um, for those involved. And that includes students experiencing bullying, those who exhibit bullying behaviors, and bystanders who wish witness it. Um, as a special treat for our bullying prevention month, um, Dr. Huff hosted a very special guest to, uh, share a book with us, Henri and the Magnificent Snort. So, please stay tuned to our social media for that. >> Yes, it was it was a good time. >> Um, so within Elcart Community Schools, we uh use the OVAS bullying prevention program. We're one of the few school districts in the state of Indiana that use this program. Um it is uh the purpose of the

003program is to create positive culture, reduce bullying and increase staff awareness around um bullying behaviors, supervision and uh creating a culture of positive engagement with students. Uh it was in uh developed in partnership with Clemson University and over the last four years. We've used it um for a decade or more. Um over the last four years we've really um worked hard in the re-implementation process. They've updated some of their um practices and the lessons and things like that that they have within their program. Um so we partnered with um OLES trainers. They came out, we trained our bullying prevention coordinators to help us in the re-implementation pro uh process with this program. Um and then two years ago, Clemson University came out and did a big um I can't remember what they called it, but

004was basically to ensure that we are um implementing the program with fidelity as it was tended because it's an evidence-based researchbased program. So, um, we were able to go through that training, re-implement the program, and it's been in full swing, um, for several years now within Elcart Community Schools. So, what does OLveas look like in practice? Um, it really is a culture shift within the building. Um, it's teaching every staff member from um, cafeteria staff to custodians to your secretarial staff, any staff member that engages with students, how to recognize bullying, how to intervene on the spot, and then how to report. Um there's usually a kickoff event. Um as you can see from our slide deck, a lot of our um schools participated with box out bullying. They come in and do a big

005um presentation and they review the four anti-bullying rules which I'll share with you shortly. Um and then at the elementary level there are class lessons once a week and at the secondary level they have class lessons every other week. Um and initially those are about bullying. We've aligned them to our pride uh framework, persistence, respectfulness, initiative, dependability and efficiency. Um, and so how are we teaching students to respect each other and show each other respect and what does that look like um, within our schools? And then class lessons can also address things like um, work ethic and building resilience and things like that. So we have a little video of one of our class lessons from Munger Elementary. It's a song. You said >> it's better. >> One more time. [Music] That's very nice. >>

006I don't know if we're going to owe Mr. Swanson any royalties for playing his song during the board meeting, but just in case, I'll make sure that uh he gets his 10-centent check or whatever royalties pay out. Um so the four anti-bullying rules, these are posted in every one of our schools and our classrooms. Um often our schools will also um announce them in the meeting in the morning when they're going over, you know, the classroom expectations for the or the the expectations for the school for the week. And the rules are we will not bully others. We will try to help students who are bullied. We will try to include students who are left out. If we know somebody is being bullied, we will report this to an adult. um these anti-bullying rules are

007aligned with our pride framework. Um so we make sure that you're showing each other respect when you are not bullying others so they understand that. So how do teachers and staff help? All of our teachers and staff are trained on Oveas. They get additional bullying prevention training which I'll talk about in a moment but um they're taught to intervene on the spot. Um, so you have a handout board members um called the teachable moment and we have shrunk this down and made it ID size. So for um staff members that have the ID slots, they slide the teachable moment in there and they can refer to it. Um, and it really is when you're seeing bullying happen, how do you as an adult intervene on the spot? um just because we're adults doesn't mean we

008always feel comfortable or know how to intervene in those situations and do it appropriately so we're not um we're maintaining the dignity of everyone but also making sure that students know that it's an unacceptable behavior. So this school year um almost 1500 Elkcart staff members participated in our bullying prevention course through Vector and that isn't specifically related to OLES but that is very specific to um recognizing bullying ensuring that adults are not bullying each other um how to report bullying and then the information related to um the impacts of bullying on students and staff. So, Elkcart has a very robust bullying investigation protocol that follows state laws and Elcart Community Schools board policy. Um, this investigation protocol was developed several years ago with national experts. Um, and it really does um help our administrators understand

009what bullying is and what it isn't and what are the interventions that happen once we've identified that bullying has happened. So, there have been some recent changes to the law. So we always ensure that we are updating after that July 1 uh time that we are updating our policies and our invest in investigation plan and protocol. So the the big changes to the law this year were um parents of the alleged target and the alleged perpetrator shall be notified before the end of the next instructional day of the alleged bullying incident. Um this was actually already written into our procedures, but we wanted to make sure that the language aligned. Um the second change was that the investig investigation shall be completed and the written findings to the principal as soon as possible but no

010later than five school days from the initial report of the alleged bullying incident. Um again we had a very short turnaround time for when the findings of the investigation are presented to the individual uh the principal. And the reason that language is in there and the way that it's like that is we can train whoever whomever the principal designates to be an investigator, but only the principal can make the determination of whether an event is a bullying event or not. And that's really tied to their administrative powers, right? And them um assigning a consequence related to uh bullying. And then yes, >> good question. Um do we um do anything uh if an incident happens on a Friday and you know according to the changes in the law we don't have to notify uh the

011parents until the end of Monday >> right >> so we have a weekend that would come into play do we do we because of that and uh knowing that you know this could maybe uh incident could be be taken from the school setting to >> um outside of the school setting over the weekend do we do anything special uh >> so I think That depends on how it's been reported. Um there are times we do receive sprigio reports over the weekend. Um and I always receive those. Um staff member um administrators receive those as well. So if we receive a Sprigio report on the weekend, I know some of our administrators have reached out to parents. Um it's not part of our our policies or expectation that administrators are reaching out to parents on the

012weekends, but I know many of them do make that decision to just say, "Hey, we've received this and we'll look into it first thing Monday morning." um if we're made aware of an incident during the school, you know, during the school day or during any time when we're working on a Friday, yes, we do reach out to the parents. It's not the 24 hours or the end of the next school day is a you have to, but it's not necessarily what our practice is, if that makes sense. >> Thank you. Mhm. Um and then the third change, the findings of the investigation and any remedial action shall be reported to the parents. No later than one instructional day following the conclusion of the investigation. So it's kind I guess that would be on the sixth

013day from the initial report. Um and just to be clear, remedial action is not consequences. So we cannot share the um private information of students who have received consequences with other parents that are not their parents. Um, but it could be what are the interventions that we're doing? What are the safety protocols that we're putting in place? How are we going to ensure the safety of the child to experience bullying? And on the other side of that, for the child that was found to have exhibited those bullying behaviors um for that parent, what are the consequences? But also, how are we going to support your child and teach them to not engage in those behaviors? So, Spriggio is our anonymous safety reporting app. Um, it's a site. Um, it's downloaded to all student and staff

014iPads and it's available on our website. Um, student, staff, parents, and community members are encouraged to report safety concerns, including bullying through Sprigio. Um, as you can see, we get hundreds, almost a thousand Sprigio reports a year. Not all of them are related to bullying. Um, oftent times students will report safety concerns that they have or um, misbehavior that they've witnessed uh, students engaging in in their own building or even safety concerns for themselves. You know, some some concerns about um, even their own mental health challenges that they don't necessarily feel comfortable verbalizing to an adult. They feel safe sending that information to Sprigio. um we have a duplication of um contact which means not one person receives a sprigio report it's multiple people and frequently you can tell when a when a sprigio report

015comes in that puts us on high alert because then there's emails and calls flying back and forth and Natalie Bickl receives them and she's calling the school but then I'm also calling the school and then the administrators reaching out. So, um, our administrators and staff who receive these reports are very well trained and very aware of the importance of when something like this comes in. And just to be to clarify, that was not 788 incidents of bullying that were reported. Those are just reports that came in and then we determined based on the language in the report or what the report says whether it warrants an investigation. So, I think it's really important to mention this um that bullying prevention is a mental health intervention. These are national statistics. These are not for Elcart Community

016Schools, but they they probably do mirror closely just um for our students. One out of every five students has reported being bullied. Students with disabilities experience bullying at higher rates. 30% of students who have experienced bullying report serious mental health impacts. and relational bullying, exclusionary. Um, this might look like we're not going to talk to that person or they can't sit with us at the cafeteria can have significant negative impact on students academic achievement. And the reason I put this one in here, I think it's really important to highlight because we think oftentimes of as of bullying as an action, right, and aggression towards a student or we're doing something to them, but oftentimes the most negative impacts can be felt when we're being excluded. Um, and so that can the reason that it has

017such a huge impact on academic achievement because who wants to go to school if they don't feel like they belong. So to tie into that is mental health prevention. A lot of the work that we've done with our bullying prevention and with um has come through the funding we received with project aare in 2022. We applied and received uh the project aware grant. It's a large mental health grant from the Department of Education and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. And with support from the Department of Education in Indiana and the Indiana Department of Mental Health, we've been able to provide mental health supports and services for four out of five awarded years. So, initially the grant was awarded for five years. Um, this would be our fifth year. We're still not sure if

018we're going to fully receive the grant. So, that is to be determined. um just to to keep that out there and make you aware. So the goals of the grant were established by the um Department of Mental Health. The first goal is to increase the sustainability of school-based mental health programs. The second goal, increase the capacity of school staff to employ evidence-based tools. Goal three, increase early identification of mental health needs, interventions to address them, and the number of students identified, referred, and receiving mental health services. and goal for increase student and family awareness of mental health issues, services, and engagement. So, what has our project aware funded? What has it helped support? I have a big list here because I couldn't fit all of the pictures up there. Um, it has fully funded our

019Alveas bullying prevention program. Um, and it helped support the uh bullying prevention coordinators that init um helped initiate and implement the program. We've been able to hire additional social workers. We've been able to offer direct access to school-based therapy. Um it has also helped provide funding for our um bullying prevention and mental health support clubs which we will hear from some students that participate in those clubs shortly. Um we've been able to partner with Oaklan and they provided building hope groups at our middle schools. All of our social workers have been trained to be trainers in QPR suicide prevention. So we hope to train staff on that um in the coming years. All of our Elcart staff um I'm sorry, Elcart staff has presented at national mental health conferences. Um there have been mental health

020libraries at the schools. The youth mental health first aid training um we were able to provide that training for all nurses, security staff and bus drivers to help them recognize signs of crisis in students and then the steps that they can take to support their students. Um we were able to offer zones of regulation training for all elementary and middle schools. Zones of Regulation is an emotional regulation curriculum. It helps students recognize when they're feeling a challenging emotion and then what they can do to calm themselves and move on. In addition to that, um we have established regulation rooms at our elementary schools and middle schools and I believe we have them at our high schools as well. And that really is it is not a a timeout space. It's not a space where students

021go to avoid academic work. It really is part of that recognizing I am not in a good space to learn right now. I'm going to go spend five minutes in the regulation room to reset myself and then I'm going to come back and continue the learning. Um, we have increased referral and access to mental health service providers and then we've also been able to provide training support for mental health related behavioral challenges. Um, some other things that it has helped fund. So, every May we have it's u May is mental health awareness month and we have the um mental health walk. So, um please look for that in May. We're going to hold that again. That's to bring awareness to um mental health struggles and how you can support yourself and your family members. And

022then we've also been able to bring in speakers to provide um to provide information on supporting student mental health. But the most important thing is the impact on students. And so it is my absolute pleasure to introduce uh Mrs. Jamie Preswood. She's our bring change to mind sponsor for the high school. And then Remy and Kayn, I'm sorry, Noammy and Kayn, sorry. No, um are gonna come up and speak to you about the the things that they do with our bring change to mind club. Good evening. Thank you for having us today. Thank you for asking, Miss Brander. Um, so the bring change to mind club is a national club that was started in 2015 to help kind of change the stigma around surrounding mental health. It is a student-led initiative group. So, um, the

023adult adviserss are really supposed to be able to step back and allow them to do the planning, the organizing, and we are really just there to kind of help facilitate and provide them and get them the resources that they need. So, just helping in their language and meeting where our youth are at today and what their struggles are. um to be able to really sit down and change that conversation about normalizing it's okay to not be okay and to what are the resources we have whether that's within our building with the social workers or school counselors or amongst each other and how to help have that peer support amongst each other and so we've planned a lot of really fun activities to kind of both just as more of an intimate setting just as a

024club to schoolwide stuff so I think no is going to kind of share with you some of the different things that we've done. Um, are you going to talk about the affirmation mirror and Mr. Kurt? >> Last year we did really cool project with affirmation mirrors and kind of all the kids wrote affirmations and then we had them kind of share and they decided to give one to Mr. Kurt. So then every morning when they'd see him if he looked grouchy they'd tell him that he needed to go look in his affirmation mirror. So and one student still continues to ask him if he's used his affirmation mirror that and he still has it in his office. So, that was a fun, but I'll let you finish telling some of the other ones. >> Um,

025hello, my name is Noam and one of the activities that we had planned was on Friday last week, which was the communication cafe. And we basically showed up to school early and we set up a table and we had these cards and when students came up and when students came up we asked them the questions about their mental health and how they um cope with it >> basically coped with it and how they learned to like overcome it. And I remember asking this one student like I don't exactly remember what the question was but it was about his mental health and he stated that he had experienced bullying and he told me how some people came to him and basically like told him that it was going to be okay and things would change and

026that made me feel like really nice. And yeah, basically we had a lot of students come in and we asked them questions about their mental health and we like talk to them and just like learn different things about the other students. So that's kind of one of our schoolwide activities that we have. but also every other Thursday we have meetings either in the office, the cafeteria, the library, places like that that are just kind of closerk knit and we give other students, other teens just an opportunity to talk about what they've been going through and what's been going on in their classes or with their friends or any struggles that they've really had mental health-wise. And then us leaders, we're part of the leadership team, both of us. We kind of give them advice from

027a student point of view rather than an adult point of view because we can kind of connect with them differently than an adult might. So we give them the opportunity just to talk to us or give them advice or even ask one of their friends that are also in the club what they would do in that situation. And I know that there's a student who came up and talked to me about it and they're just very grateful that they have that outlet because they might not have that outlet at home or with another teacher. So, we kind of give them that space to just open up where they may not be able to somewhere else questions. They another schoolwide event that we love to do, we've done it the last few years that they look

028forward to doing is the week of before we go on to winter break. Um we've used some of our grant part of the bring change to mind national club allows us the opportunity to file um a not a claim got claims on the mind. Um they do a $500 grant to help fund the clubs every year. And so they do it in three or three or four $150 increments that we then as long as we like are showing that our club is active and that we're using the different events so we can use this money. So, one of the things we use that money for, obviously we put a lot of our money together to create the mental health walk um in May. But another fun thing that we do the week of finals in

029December is being able to hand out um stress bags. Like last year, I think they put in little coloring books, um little stress balls in there, um and try to have like some healthy snacks that they can take with them like I'm just wishing them luck. We also have the table is usually set up with mental health resources who they can call over break if they're struggling. Um lots of 988 information for the students so that they know that there are people available even if they're not able to come to our office because we're off for two weeks. Here are some resources that are available as well. Um with because the project aware grant was able to help with so much of the mental health walk this past year. we had extra money and so

030we also just bought and we displayed it at our the World Mental Health Day on Friday in the cafeteria. It's probably this six or eight foot coloring washable tapestry that is has the bring change to mind logo on it and all these different positive affirmations on it. So the kids can color on it with washable markers and write their name if they want on it and then I can take it home and wash it and then it all comes, you know, clean and then we can use it again. And so that was a really fun purchase. I think the kids had a good time with that in the cafeteria Friday morning being able to just kind of color on it. It was kind of a non-threatening way as the kids were asking different questions um

031about mental health or just tell me something about yourself, you know, an opportunity to create some new relationships and friendships that maybe you wouldn't normally get to create. And then also at the mental health walk, that's kind of one of our biggest things that we do. And it's I don't know if you guys know what it is, so I'll just kind of explain it really quickly. It's around the track at the freshman division. There's different booths set up from different community partners. And then we also have our own table. And we give out mental health resources. And that's not just, oh, you can call this person, you call this person. We also had hygiene products because feeling good that's also part of your mental health that can make you feel good about yourself and make

032you feel good about going out and talking to other people. So we also have those resources there and then we just have kids there too who are there for questions or for help or just to give advice. And then we do have those resources for the 988 and who to call and if you're just struggling and need help, we have those available too. And that's just one of my favorite events because you get to connect with such a wide range of people because we had all the way from elementary to 60 70 year old people there who were just connecting with us and talking to us about their mental health and just giving us advice on what to give the next generation. >> Have any questions? >> I just have a comment. Um it is

033one thank you for leading um these outstanding young people. But it it blows my mind um just just how I I share with a a building principal that we have some of the greatest kids in in any school district here to prime examples. If I'm a kid who is struggling with mental health or bullying, I sometimes don't know how to talk about those things. Watching hearing how you interact with others would encourage me to come. You you've created a safe place for kids to talk at the high school. And sometimes it's not done with adults, it's done with kids. And so I just want to say done through kids, not with not because of the kids. So I just want to tell you thank you and again another opportunity for our kids to lead in

034the district. So um these are just two good two great examples of that the leadership. So I just want to say tell you thank you for what you're doing for our school. >> Great represent. Well, we have no choice, but we we but but no, really, seriously, when we start thinking about the mental health issues that are happening, not just in Elcart County and Elcart Community Schools, but around the country, you need to know you're making a huge impact. Teaching people safe places to go to when they're not doing well, whether are kids or adults, it is going to be a need that's going to be around for a very long time and is not just something that you're going to do in school. this is going to help others as you go uh uh

035through life. So, I just want to tell you thank you. You really are changing people's life with the work that you're doing. So, just want to publicly acknowledge that. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Great job. >> Any other questions related to the presentation? >> Did outstanding job, Miss Briner. um you always are in teaching mode and we appreciate you leading um this over the last few years. And so just want to tell you thank you for all the hard work that you're doing managing multiple departments but most importantly making sure our kids and staff have the um supports and resources they need in order to do this work and do it well. So just want to tell you thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right. Next we have uh transportation.

036Thank you. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, members of the community. I am honored to be here today to give a transportation update and report of what's going on at the transportation department. Um, excellence in school transportation means more than getting students from point A to point B. It's about ensuring safety, building trust, and creating a welcome environment every day, every ride. In our transportation department, it takes a lot to work and have it function the way it needs to function. We have an assistant manager, two supervisors, three routers, um we have a secretary, two dispatchers, and six mechanics. 15 people without Yes. >> Using a lot of people, we want to know who you are. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We we would like to know who you are. >> I'm

037sorry. >> I am Tyrus Smith, the transportation director. So that but without these people, our transportation department could not work. It could not function the way it does and I do have some of them that are here now. Um these people to me um even the drivers and also the helpers, they're like a clock in a clock. It takes every little piece to make that clock work. And without them, without the drivers, it will not work and it will not be successful as it is. I appreciate them and they know that. And I just want to tell them thank you you guys from the bottom of my heart from welcoming me here and just everything that you guys do. Um, our transportation department, we have a 124 yellow buses and we have 17 white activity

038buses. So, a total of hund 141 buses. We service over 80 square miles of area that we cover every single day and we transport about uh over 60% of the total enrolled students. That's a lot of kids that we transport every single day to and from school. Not to mention of the various activities that we do from sporting to whatever it is that they need transportation. That's what we do. Um within that we have a total of um 97 drivers. We have 31 helpers, 31 claim drivers. We have three drivers that are in training right now and we have 96 total routes. >> Can I ask a question? Yes. Um what is your optimum number that you believe you need in order to feel comfortable with all the to manage all the transportation? I see

039the routes and the drivers are very close. Um, I would say I'm looking forward to getting us to 115 drivers. That would get us everything that we needed from if we have call offs, if drivers are sick, um, anything. So, 115 would be our our ideal goal. Within our 96 routes, we have our sped routes. We have 12 that are full speeded routes, that is elementary and secondary. We have one sped route that is a standalone. So, it's only a secondary route. So, that's either a middle school or a high school. We have another sped route that's um it has an elementary sped with a gened secondary. We have another sped route that's secondary with a gened elementary. Um we also have our title one and pace routes. We have four that have uh gened

040secondary and three with uh sped secondary. So, it's not just the big buses that you see. We also have a lot of different things. Our special need routes that we service um that we provide really good service to each and every day picking up our students. Um transportation is not cheap when it comes to operating buses and how many buses that we have on a day-to-day basis. A cost per bus route per year is about $52,000. That's with insurance. That's with driver costs. That's with helper costs. That's with if that bus breaks down, the constant maintenance and making sure that number one, it's safe to transport our students and that it's meeting the state regulations that we need to put that bus on the road each and every day. Um, bus replacement. Also, bus replacement,

041as we have talked about before, they're not cheap to buy a bus. Depending on what size of the bus and the specialty of the bus, it can range between 250,000 to $500,000 per bus. Um, our transportation goals number one is safety. Safety is our number one goal that we want to do and we want to have every single day from just doing our pre-trips on the bus, getting to the bus, making sure that our drivers are safe each and every single day. Um, our biggest goal is ensuring student safety. This involves creating a secure environment for students for the moment they leave their home until they arrive at school and vice versa. We want to make sure that this is the most and the and the best experience that they have because our drivers are

042the first thing that they see from telling them good morning to getting them to school to telling them to have a good day and then picking them up and taking them home. To me, that starts off the day of how, you know, we want our children going into school. Um, next is operational efficiency and reliability. Our parents depend on us to get their kids to school each and every day on time and safe. And we want to make sure that what we're putting out there is the very best that Elkcart has. And that is making sure that our routes are where they need to be. We're not going all over the place that we are efficient in everything that we're doing. We are reliable to our students and our parents. Um students and community well-being.

043Like I said, we want to create that positive every single time we are encountering with a student. We have that positive outlook because you don't know by just saying good morning what that does to a child each and every day. And a lot of our drivers and helpers, you know, they have that intimate and that personal relationship to where hey, you know, they're looking forward to seeing their bus driver. They're looking forward to getting on the bus. They're looking forward to having that that ride with their driver each and every day. Um then the next thing we have is community and accountability. We always want to be accountable for everything that we do and that's in providing um timely information to parents. So when the winter time comes and a bus is running behind, we

044don't want that kid standing outside 20 30 minutes. We want to make sure that we're getting that information and that communication to the parents to letting them know, hey, buses are going to run be running about 10 15 minutes slower than normal. you know, just be prepared and be, you know, looking out for it and just letting the parents know what's going on. >> Can I ask a question? >> Yes. >> Um, well, not really a question, observation. How do we utilize our Stopfinder app to make sure that parents have this information in his or her hands to um so you're not placing all these phone calls? Where would you like to direct parents to um in order to get this information? Um, on our website, the Elcart website, if you go to transportation, there

045soon as it pops up, it says how to download Stopfinder. Stopfinder. >> Explain to people what that is, cuz some people may not know what that is. >> Stopfinder is an app so parents can track their bus. They can um get information that we send out that may say, "Hey, there is a bus change." So, normally you ride bus 7, it is now bus 9. Or if there going to be any delays or anything like that. So, it's an app that we communicate through um through it with our parents to let them know what is going on. >> No problem. >> So, the big question is we know in transportation especially in school bus there is a lack of drivers. There is a not just an Elcart shortage but there is a national shortage of

046drivers. So, no matter where you go, I come from Illinois, we had shortages there, too. So it's not just Ilcart. So the big thing is why become a school bus driver? You make a difference in the community. Do you know like I said we we are transporting 60% of our enrolled children. So we make a difference with parents of getting their children to school to home every single day. Not only that, but with sporting events, with um you know, anything that they need a ride to or anything like that, we are there to provide that for them. Being a role model, you know, being that role model of showing them that, hey, this is somebody you can look up to, that the drivers there, we have friendly faces that are welcoming our children onto the

047buses. Um, another thing is school friendly hours. You know, you can become a bus driver and when the kids are in school, you know, that's when you're working and everything else. Summers off. We have summers off here. A lot of jobs you can't go nowhere and have summers off like that. Job security. This is the one of the only jobs that you can go to that you know you're going to have your job each and every year because of the shortage that we have. And we have the competitive pay. Elcart, we are one of the highest paying bus companies around here. I know because I've looked out there, I've seen it. We are one of the best paying with also our benefits that we have, our sign on bonuses, our retention bonuses, um everything that

048we have. So, we have a lot of good benefits here of why to become a bus driver. Um what does it take to become a bus driver? Most people think that you just walk in, hey, I want to be a bus driver. We put you on the bus. No, it ain't that easy. It ain't that simple. Um, we actually train you here. So, we will train you to help you get your class B, which is what you need to operate a bus. So, we bring you here. Um, we put you through our class that we have and then we get you ready for state so you can go take your your four tests you have to take and then we take you down so you can go to state so um the state instructor can

049put you through their test. After you go through all that, you pass everything, then you, you know, you require your CDL. Also, I did not know since I moved here that Indiana is the only state that requires a yellow card. Basically, a yellow card is is a certificate that a bus driver must have to transport children. Like I said, I was stunned by Indiana is the only state. So once we um get you to get your CDL, then there's a two and a half day class that you have to go take to uh acquire to get your yellow card. Some of the highlights that we've done this year, earlier before school started, we loaned out buses to Michigan City. Um they had a situation go on where they couldn't have school for 5 days because

050their buses were were down, but we were able to loan them five buses. Um we were at the um we have interviews every single day. We have our resource fair, stopfinder for parents, everything that we have. Uh so in summary, our transportation department is complex with many challenges. Yet commitment remains to build top tier teams that attract and retain outstanding staff. Elcart transportation drivers and helpers are held to the higher standard when it comes to student transportation. We're proud to have some of the best and brightest individuals in these roles. Their dedication and hard work are evident in every day as they safely pick up and drop off our students, ensuring reliable service and care for the children of our community. We have some of the best drivers here at Elcart. Our drivers and our

051helpers that come to work every single day that, you know, they're here more often than they're at home because they're transporting our children. And every day, uh, every Friday, I do what's called a thank you Friday. So every Friday I get on the radio and I thank them for their hard work and everything that they do. You're transporting 40, 50 kids at a time. You have to make sure that they're seated properly, that everything they're doing on the bus safely and they have to still pay attention to what's on the road and everything that's going on around them. So it takes a a different type of person to be a bus driver, but we can give you those skills. We can give you those tools that you need to become a really good bus driver.

052And I just thank our Elcart drivers and our helpers for every day and everything that they do. Any questions? >> I just want to give a comment, Mr. Smith. Great job for your first presentation to the to the community. Awesome job. Uh both. All right. Good job. But to can if I can just piggyback on the our transportation workers. Hey, all those in the back. Uh I we really thank you for all the work that you do. We have people who've been there not just for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20. Last year or maybe my first year here recognized someone who had 50 plus years working for Elcart Community Schools. I know there's several that have 40 years of experience over there. >> They had plenty of options to go and they choose

053this place because you love this place. So, I just want to tell you thank you. Um those ladies in the back who I see Rockstar, I see you trying to hide over there, James. you know, you wonderful. Their customer service outstanding. Um, but they also are real people. >> Yes. >> When you get to talk to them, they get straight to the point. There's none of this other stuff there. Get straight to the point. And I And sometimes we need that too is a reality check. They don't get an opportunity to mask their mistakes on the road. >> No. >> If something goes wrong, it's seen by everybody. >> Yes. >> And I like to say, hey, >> no news is good news. definitely in that department, but we should never go no news without

054saying thank you. So, I just want to tell you, take this opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Uh, we know you couldn't be out there without them, but I also think it takes good leadership, too, to make sure that they are set up to win. So, I just want to say I really appreciate this presentation. Thank you from us too because you guys are the first ones to see our little ones, our young adults, and you are a direct uh impact on how their day starts and how their day ends. So, thank you guys for being there every day. No matter what the weather is or how hard it is or how loud the buses or anything, you guys really are the first ones to have the eyes and ears on our babies. So, thank you

055very much. Thank you. Very good job. [Applause] >> Okay, that was uh the last uh presentation for the public work session. So, at this time, I will adjourn the public work session and we'll reconvene at 7 o'clock for our regularly scheduled board meeting. Thank you. Yes. >> This agreement covers our maintain So, and you got the same feeling as well. >> Yeah. She was all >> duck goes first. I >> think so. I could hear you. >> Hear me? >> Are we good? Testing. Testing. >> All right. All right. Thank you uh for waiting patiently. Um, thanks for everybody coming out for our October 14th, 2025 regularly scheduled uh Elcart County Community School District board meeting. At this time, I'd like to call our board meeting to order. And would you please rise for the

056uh pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. Thank you. You may be seated, Miss Mullins. The Elcart Promise. >> Absolutely. The Elcart Promise. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff and in partnership with community will graduate career college ready and life ready. >> Thank you, Kelly. public comment. Um, I think everybody uh if it's not your first time, you you've heard me say this before. If it is your first time, uh you were given uh one of these pamphlets inside the pamphlet. Put your name and uh uh the organization you represent and your affiliation with the school district. if you could fill that out and give it to Dora. Um she will

057hand those to me during the public comment. Uh during public comment, uh you can speak on any agenda and non-aggenda items. So please come up the podium. Please speak into the microphone, state your name and uh your affiliation uh with the district. You'll have three minutes uh at which time to uh uh give your comments and we ask that you know please uh uh stick uh to to the three minutes uh as the time is allowed and um any uh personnel or issues with students or any uh issues uh that uh would involve identifying a student please this is not the place uh uh for that and we have to respect the family rights and privacy act as we do at every board meeting. their protocols in place uh to handle those situations and actually

058will uh um you know get those those issues and situations handled in a more efficient and uh proper manner. So, at this time, uh, Dora, public comment. Thank you. First person, uh, Frank, uh, Ramirez. Please step forward. >> Hi there. Um, I'm Frank Ramirez. I'm a volunteer with the United Way reading program who which will have a meeting later this week and I took part in this last year. Um I want to digress very briefly to say how much I support public education because of my own experience as a child when I began to attend school in the state of Virginia. The state had closed all public schools rather than comply with Brown versus Board of Education. So I had to go to a private school. But uh after we moved out of state was

059able to go to public schools and it's always been very important to me that we support our public schools. I really enjoy this reading program. Uh the the program the books are chosen by educators who with their qualifications and their experience uh pick books usually that have a Calicott or a Newberry or a Ketta Scott King award. It's fun to explain what those are to the children. And what I really want to share is last year I discovered that the children in this school district are extraordinary. They ask extremely good and engaging questions after a book is read. They have been listening very deeply and they listen very politely and I just was impressed by uh uh the the opportunity to share that reading program last year and I look forward to doing it this

060year and I hope that it continues. An important thing is that we trust our educators who have not only the credentials but long experience in selecting the books that we read and that's an important part of it. So, uh, once again, just want to thank you folks and thank the district for being able as a community member to take part in the United Way second grade reading program. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Ramirez. Next we have Stephanie Sakolix. >> Good evening. My name is Stephanie Suglex. Um I'm here for um some of the parents, 31 to be exact, uh for Mary Feaser. Um I'm a parent of attending children at Mary Feaser. I'm here today to bring attention to the struggles happening in classrooms, not only with our children but along the Elcart community

061schools. Our children and many others have been struggling this year and mostly due to the large um classroom sizes. Currently the classroom sizes have reached nearly 40 kids per class. Um this overwhelming teachers and hindering students success in the community. Teachers are blunt or burnt out and exhausted, struggling to give students an individual attention that is needed and manage disruptive behaviors due to lack of time. It is difficult and effective to address students behavioral issues and support students growth. Class sizes this large create environments that are incredibly disruptive. These factors have a negative impact on success both in the classroom and community, leaving the teachers and students feeling overwhelmed early in the school year. We're only in October. Um while while some reports indicate the average student ratio is 16 to1 we are pushing 37

062to1 to 40 to1 students um or studies confirm that teacher burnout and stresses are serious and widespread problems over 55% from the national education society in oversized classrooms it is nearly impossible for teachers to address the individual academics and emotional needs of every student large Classroom sizes can force teachers into whole group teaching approaches and limit their ability to use the more hands-on and projected based learning methods. A teacher stress from the from an unimaginable class size is having a negative effect on the classroom's atmosphere, creating a less supportive and more chaotic environment for our students. Dis in larger classrooms, students are more likely to be passive observers. Discussions are less thorough and some students may not have the chance to contribute. While this hinders the development of critical thinking and communication skills, large groups

063in this size can lead more to discipline problems with fewer eyes and less individual attention from teachers from some students may become disengaged and act out. The Indiana state guidelines for our classrooms is 24 to one for the funding purposes that is kindergarten through 6th grade 6th through 12th is 25 to 1. Schools are required to notify our parents within 10 days if the class exceeds the limit size. We have not been notified. Our kids are struggling. In conclusion, I have seen teachers in tears, overwhelmed and lost. As a community, we love and support our teachers. I hope you all remember that one elementary teacher that you had that made a huge impact on your life. We want that for our children. We also want the best for our children. Elcart Community Schools is falling

064short of this. Elcart schools are facing a significant challenge with oversized classrooms. This negatively impacts test scores indiv individualized attention behavioral management and mental well-being for the staff and the students. Solutions I am bringing. I am formally asking that you hire additional teachers and aids for Mary Feser especially for the fifth grade. Breaking up the enormous fifth grade classrooms into the smaller units would significantly ease the pressure on teachers and create a more uh conductive learning environment for our students. and I ask you to perform a district-wide evaluation of class sizes. We believe that this is not an isolated issue. There are other schools that may need additional teachers and aids to properly properly support student learning. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Okay, that was it uh for public comment. Um,

065at this time I am going to pause uh our uh scheduled board meeting so we can have our uh scheduled uh public hearing on the 2026 budget, the 2026 capital projects plan and the 2026 school bus replacement plan. So at this time I will call our public uh uh hearing to order. And Miss Ross, it is the podium is yours. >> Thank you. Uh good evening, Mr. President, board members, and community. The budget hearing is an opportunity for the community to make comments on the 2026 advertised budget now posted on the Department of Local Government Finance website. Also, this is an opportunity to comment on our bus replacement capital projects plan which are posted on our ECS business finance website web page. Um, if there are any comm community members here who would like to

066speak concerning the 2026 budget, this is the opportunity to come on up to the podium. >> Anybody in the audience or committee members uh that would like to uh speak at this time? Now is your opportunity. Seeing or hearing none, M. >> Mr. President, hearing no comments or questions from the public, I ask that we close the budget hearing and resume the regular meeting. At this time, I will uh close our public hearing on the 2026 budget, the 2026 capital projects plan, and the 2026 bus replacement plan, and reconvene our uh school board meeting, uh October 14th, 2025 school board meeting. Thank you. Next, uh we have uh the Mary Beck report. Uh Miss Washington, come on up. [Applause] Good evening, President Scott, board members, Dr. Huff, and our community. Thank you so much for

067allowing me to share with you the heartbeat of Mary Beck because it beats loud and it beats strong. But before I begin, I do want to take a moment and just thank my staff for coming out tonight because you could have been anywhere and you chose to be here. And so that's a delight. Thank you very much for being here. I am very honored to be named the the principal of Mary Beck. It is a school that is founded upon love, community, support, and grit. And I am very honored to carry that torch. and I thank you for that. Our mission is to provide a safe, orderly, and supportive environment so everyone can achieve and rise to the top. I want you to take a really close look at the word everyone. Because when we

068talk about everyone, that's what we mean. We mean staff, we mean students, we mean our custodian. because it's going to take all of us to be to work together as a community to help our students grow, perform, and find success. But without that, we need a vision. You can have a mission, but without a vision, without a place to go, you don't know exactly what you're aiming for. So our vision is 100% of Mary Beck students will achieve academic growth through rigorous tiered instruction. Well, how do you accomplish that? How do you accomplish that vision without setting goals? Now when you think about um Lisa and I coming into Mary Beck, one of the things that we have to we have to do is we have to create culture. We have to create a culture

069of support. We have to continue the culture of community. We cannot le we cannot lose the feel of the heartbeat of Mary Beck while we also instill in our staff and our students that high academic achievement is a priority and it's doable. That high behavior expectations is a priority and it's doable. So our goals is to increase our iLearn from 20 from 10% to 20% schoolwide third through fifth grade. Our second goal is to increase our math 6% to 20% schoolwide. Now when you think about that increase over two years, it's a five it's about a 5% increase. Now, of course, our goal will be um of course, you know, we want to make steady increments of growth and we are achieving to do much loftier goals. We want to keep them realistic so that

070we can achieve and feel some success. Now, I say that but our goal three and I learn is to increase from 57% to 80%. Our state um recognizes that we should have about an 8% increase each year. Um but we were we were given a challenge and when you create successful I read I read um assessment takers that means you're creating readers and that is what we want to do. We want to create readers. So, if you think about our 10% where we are in ELA, our 6% where we are in math, one of our very proud moments thus far is that our math checkpoint one shows that our current and our current fourth and fifth grade students, they're showing growth. They're showing progress. And it comes back to that culture of high expectations, of

071support, of push, and really believing that we can do it. We grew 2.7%. It's growth. We are very proud of our growth, but we want to push a little further and continue to talk about that 80%. One of the things that um we do is a video announcement in our school. Again, it's about building culture. It's about building community, but it's a way for us to talk about our goals. Because again, if kids don't have a vision, if they don't know where we're going, they don't even know what we're what we're aiming for. So, we talk about our growth and we talk about our goals. We keep goals set high because I really believe that in our staff and our students, we cannot accomplish any of this if our kids aren't here. So, we have

072to give them a reason to show up to Mary Beck every single day. And we do that by celebrating that they are there every day. We are greeting kids at the door. We are hugging kids. We are telling them thank you for being here. And we also share our attendance. We create attendance battles. We celebrate those things. We had um popsicles on the playground because we are really getting our kids involved in being at school. And so as you can see uh last year first quarter we were at 93.91%. And thus far we are we are at 95.7%. And we can we really believe we're going to maintain that because it is the drive that we have as our staff and it's the it's the fact that we talk about it so our kids know

073what our goals are so they become part of the passion. It's no longer just my passion but it is the students passion. And if you don't instill that in them, they don't know why they come to school because their mom and dad told them to do so. And we want them to know that it's so much bigger than that. Uh we are really putting a a big focus on our tier one instruction because you cannot tier two your way out of a tier one problem. So we are putting a really big focus on our tier one instruction. What is happening every single day? How are we checking for understanding? How are we making sure that our students have learned the standards? And with the help of UFly which is a an intervention that we are

074doing and we do this intervention for grades 2 3 4 and five. We use our amazing literacy cadre coach. She has been a staple for us. She helps us keep UFly organized, make sure we are meeting our progress monitoring data points and she goes into classroom and she coach she coaches teachers because if teachers are not confident in what they're doing, it decreases teacher efficacy and we want to keep our teaching efficacy high. We want teachers to know and believe that they can do it and our literacy Kadre coach is doing that. We have the pleasure that Alex Holtz is coming into our building as well and working with our our teachers and coaching us in math, helping us understand those connections between I learn our math curriculum and how do we realistically bring that

075to life in our classrooms. We're using SOR strategies. I had the pleasure of sitting on a board um for this for the state of Indiana and we talked about some strategies that we are using in our building and I said to myself, well, what exactly are we using? So, I went back and I talked to my teams and we make sure that schoolwide we are using SO strategy. so becomes a universal language and no matter what classroom you go to student students know what we're doing and our community partners are amazing. We're partnering with FiveStar. We also have a partnership with Belmont Community Church and that partnership has yielded us with so many people that are passionate and excited about us. And one of the great things that we do um is we have a

076it's called a UFly binder and our community partners helps us come in and check they read with kids, they mentor with kids and so we are really excited about that partnership. We have a mantra that we use at Mary Beck and it's take flight, level up, land proud, bear strong. We say that every day and you can do hard things. We tell kids to take flight. Lean into your learning. Ask questions. Be curious. We ask we tell them to level up. When you don't know something, keep asking. And when you do learn, you land proud. And we celebrate that success. But in order for our kids to do it, the adults in the building have to do it as well. So, here are some quotes from our staff that just talk about ways that they

077have leveled up this school year. One of the ones we laugh at is um Mrs. Cos, who says, "I keep coming back." And Mrs. Cos has been in our district for 50 plus years, but she keeps leveling up too because her heart beats for Mary Beck. Our secretary has been in our building starting as a parah and she keeps coming back because her heart beats for Mary Beck because without the circle of community support, high expectation and celebrating success, we'll stay stagnant and that is not what we will be. We have lofty goals and we will reach them because we will continue to thrive. So the heartbeat of Mary Beck is beating hard and it is beating strong and it will continue to do so. [Music] When we walk through the doors at Mary Beth,

078we feel safe. We feel loved. We know this is a place where we belong. Every smile, every high five, every good morning reminds me that this is my school family. In our classrooms, we take flight. Our teachers are ready. Ready to help us learn. Ready to help us grow. Ready to help us soar. We ask questions. We think hard. We try again. We level up. Because learning here isn't just about getting answers. It's about being curious and discovering what we can do. Every day we stretch our wings a little wider. We take off with confidence, courage, and joy. And when we land, we land proud. Proud of what we've learned. Proud of how we've grown. Proud of how to be a baron. I am a Mary Beck Baron. At Mary Beck, we don't just learn,

079but we take flight. We level up and we land proud. This that is what makes us Baron strong. >> I am Baron. We are barren. >> I am a Mary Beck Baron. >> I am a Baron. >> I am a Mary Beck Baron. [Applause] >> Do you have any questions for us? >> No. First Mr. Scott. We we were talking. Go ahead. >> We were just talking about how great this presentation was. Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Arn Miss Ernsburgger, wonderful job. I know that both of you are new there to Mary Beck, but look at your teachers here supporting you. Proud of you. Teachers, can you stand up and just get so we can applaud you too? Nothing happens without the work. [Applause] I do like that take flight. I got one of your t-shirts. It

080was uh it was a little bit too small for me, but but it is it is wonderful. I I appreciate the enthusiasm and I know that kids are going to make it because of great leadership and your teachers that are there because they're leading in the classroom every single day, too. So, great place. happy and I'm so glad that you're able to present this tonight and these stories need to get out into our communities. You're doing great work and you have high expectations. >> I do. >> Yes, you text a lot too. But I want but I want to say thank you and thank you for rising up to the challenge. You and Mr. Nber had an opportunity to work with over on this side last year. I feel like a great team down there

081and do great things. >> Thank you. >> Have Allen. >> Yeah. I mean, you have Alan forever. I don't And I don't really think she has any thoughts on like slowing down at all. I don't think >> zero. >> No. No. I even asked Micah and Molly. I was like, "What do you think? Do you think mom should retire?" And Molly said, "No, no, I don't want to do any more chores." So, I was like, "Oh, yeah." But to Jen, too, in the office that this is a great presentation. Your energy was amazing and I'm excited for you. I think these are great goals and I love that the kids are completely bought into it. It is a right fit for you guys. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, you're welcome. >> Great, great job.

082And you know, both you guys being new coming into uh a culture that uh you wanted to put your own, you know, personal stamp on and and and to get the buy in is is not always easy and and and you've done a great job. And so, uh keep doing what you do. And uh Dr. Huff, uh if you come to realization that that size medium shirt took flight when you're in the 20s, maybe maybe early 30s, like like trying so hard like I am humor. >> This is national and not bully anti-bullying. >> You need every single one of you are a witness. >> I'm just saying walk walk into that large or extra large like I do every day. >> Thank you. >> Walking into it in totally different ways. >> So I

083I I embrace my >> your attendance too is amazing. >> You're welcome. >> That's that's it's the kind of the obvious, but if they're not there, they're not learning. >> Absolutely. >> Right. And so you guys recognize that and put an emphasis on it and you know and that's that shows in in in the culture. >> I I will say that that was a great presentation. I appreciate you sharing that with us this evening. I've said it before. I'll keep saying it. I think that in the video you shared the students said, "Hey, we feel loved. We feel safe." And I think that when those cultures are present, uh I think you know you do have some lofty goals. And I I don't think that those goals could be reached without the students one showing

084up and then also feeling safe and feeling loved. And so good luck with those those goals. Uh we're here to support and cheer you on. So thanks for being here tonight. She needs no luck. She knows how to do it. >> We'll get after it. We appreciate >> you. And on side note, this has had Congratulations. Attendance is up across the district. um what at least 2% and in every every school attendance is up. I'm very proud elementary is like averaging almost 94% attendance up and I think the high school is up 2% from last year and middle school man those kids come to school every day. Um they are up 3% at the middle school. So over the messages getting out through all of our schools. So I just want to say just add

085that little bit of information as well. >> Is that that's accurate? Okay. All right. >> And if you were here for a public works session, we can certainly tie that back into transportation. So, so thank you again for getting them there. >> All right. Uh, next we have Mr. Peddley in the Bristol report. >> Pilots. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Hoff. Thank you so much for having me tonight. I'm the proud principal of Bristol Elementary, Tim Padley. Um, we've got a crew of Bristol teachers up the back and they're behaving themselves really well. Bristol is 25 minute drive on a good day and a little bit longer when you hit that road work that we're uh always dealing with in Bristol or Elcart. So, uh we're a little bit out there,

086but I share with people that uh Bristol has the benefit of being part of a large district that is Elcart. Um the support that comes with that, the perks that come with that. but we're in our own small little town and our town wraps around us and loves us well. Um so it's a great school to be at and I'm excited to share a little bit about Bristol and the work that's been going on over there um for the past year. So uh very similar goals um that Mrs. Washington shared for you this year we had last year. We really wanted to focus around reading around math and around attendance. So we set goals for growing by 5% for iid um and growing by 5% in iLearn last year. And so I'm proud to share

087that when it comes to I read we had already started doing some good work. Um last year we were the first school to get our iid pass scores up above 80. Um and the year before that we were down at 61%. So, we jumped from being below the district average and below the state average um to being above the district average and above the state average last year um at 83.7 and we were able to maintain that last year. We grew by another um 6% um to get ourselves up to 89% passing. Um so, um really phenomenal work from our staff at Bristol um to keep that good work going um getting more and more kids across the line. when you've got a small number of students, every every student counts for a big um

088percentage. And so that that was a really big um yeah, a big a big work from our teachers to get ourselves up to 89%. Um we're not satisfied. We want to keep getting um further along there, but 89 was some great work. Um how were we doing that? We were um reaping the rewards of our letters training. So really being um aligned with the science of reading. Um really glad that Elcart's wrapping around us with that training, getting us um quality training with what it takes to teach students to read. Um we've got a great literacy coach in place. Um he'd been in the building the year before as a math coach. And I think that's part of why we got that jump on some of the other schools um when it comes to um

089I read. He was helping with both reading and math the year before as an instructional coach. So our teachers are getting support implementing the things that we're asking them to do. Um we've focused on building fluency in our kids. So once they learn how to decode, doing that with automaticity. Um so getting lots and lots of practice with reading, becoming fluent readers. Um and we've got some good structures in place for our tier 2 and tier three support for students that aren't quite getting it. Um so that uh worked when it comes to our I read scores and we also um we set our goal of 5%, we grew by 9% when it comes to iLearn um in ELA. So um surpassed that goal of growing by 5% um in ELA as well. Math um

090math's important to me, I was a middle school math teacher before I was an administrator. Um, so we really were able to rip into math a little bit last year. We want our students to grow there as well. Um, set that goal of 5% growth in I learn. Um, we were um really focusing on explicit instruction um giving really um structured examples for students um gradual release helping them to kind of um have the the support they need as they're learning something. um showing teachers how to do that well, supporting them in doing that well, building their fact fluency up. Um I think we moved away a little bit of kind of really ensuring kids have their facts, their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts fluent. Um so not just knowing them, but knowing how

091to do them um with automaticity as well. Um and doing a lot of daily review. And so through that, we were able to not just grow by 5% for math, we were able to grow our scores by 10% as well. Um and so in around all of that some really um great growth with academics but it it's not going to happen if we're not getting kids to school. Um so uh we wanted to get that 95%. Um and I think if we we round it up we actually did hit that 95%. Um so uh uh just under there but we were really proud. We were um really lagging behind with attendance. 92.6% is where we were the year before. Um, and we really chasing that 95% hard. Um, we set ourselves a little challenge uh

092with Mrs. Washington at Pinewood and I think we'll do something similar this year now that Mrs. Martin's over at Pinewood. Have a little challenge attendance challenge. Um, that was fun sparing our kids on with that. Um, but also really focusing on the kids that um don't get to school regularly, the the chronically absent. So, kids that miss 10% or more of the school year. Um, historically we'd not done well with those students. So, we were at 30% or above 30% a couple of years ago, uh, of students missing more than 10% of the school year. We got that down to 21%. Um, and then last year, we were able to get that down below 9%. Um, really, um, working hard to get our students um, to school every day. Um, and you can see the

093trajectory that we've got there with our daily attendance, too. So, um, again, this is not my work. This is the work of the team at Bristol. They've worked really hard. Um, we we have a great leadership team. We talk about these goals. We we set them in front of the staff. we put him in front of them daily. Um, and not just in front of the the teachers, but in front of the students. And so, one way I get to do that weekly is by having a weekly gathering um, in the gym, pulling all the students together for a short hit. I know some um, people here have been out to our weekly gathering and shared there. Um, it's a great way um, just to make sure that we're um, uniting as a school and

094that we're all running in the same direction. And so, I just wanted to share a little bit piece of um, a Friday gathering with you um, here tonight. [Music] Hallelujah. getting yourself. Keep doing that. All right. [Music] You got it all inside. [Music] Thank you so much. [Applause] I just want to compliment you on the culture that you are that you've clearly created at Bristol. You have outstanding educators. I you and I walked around at the beginning of year. You had a little one who was doing some extra things out there. And the this rest of the school did not miss a beat. kids are are so kind and your staff follows the leader. I think you are a great example of what great leadership looks like in Elkcart, but I think your staff would

095reiterate those same things. Can we give them a round of applause? >> Absolutely. Please. >> Stand up. >> Please. >> Stand up pirates. And and I think another testament of someone who is a good leader who also helps to create other good leaders. You mentioned Pinewood. I think the principal at Pinewood also has something to do with the Bristol culture as well. She is leading Pinewood for some of the things she learned at Bristol. And I just want to say hats off to you. I'm sure your mentorship has not stopped because she's in a different building. Probably has increased dramatically to be honest with you. >> We do chat from time to time. Yeah, but I just want to say that is a that is the ultimate sign of good leadership. Can you duplicate yourself

096to help impact kids in other places? So, I hope that you also take a little pride in those Pinewood scores, too, as well. Not responsibility, but pride, you know, and it's a big difference. So, I just want to say thank you and hats off to every single Please because that's a long time to be standing. And um just want to say thank you again. And your academic achievements can't go unnoticed as well. to double every one of your goals. That does not just happen on its own. That's clear focus. That's clear um expectation and everyone has to buy in and believe the kids to the to the teachers to the administration to the parents. So, you're doing a great job out in your community. We we kind of spoke about uh attendance and it's a

097it's a point of focus uh for the state and obviously point of focus uh for the district and um >> you you know you uh took it to 95% rounding up and we we'll give you that with the distance and the road you know road construction challenges you face. Um but you know I think sometimes it's so easy to say we're at 95% you know high five all around which you did you know in your presentation you mentioned it you looked at you know the chronically absent and said you know two years ago we were at 31%. And you you know I I think those are the kids that it's you got to find out why aren't you coming to school? What's the issue? Right. Right. And I think getting the kids that are chronically

098absent to school is is is challenge and uh you've demonstrated over the last two years going from 31% uh to what is it uh 8.9% is amazing. I I think that is just uh you know that that should be applauded as much as as your 95%. So great job at looking at you know the reasons why and getting those students engaged uh and and with with the learning and the I read scores it all you know it all comes full circle. Congratulations to you. Congratulations to everyone in the back because you're you're also part of the reason, you know. You know, they they didn't want to come to school. They had their reasons and you guys worked hard to give them a reason to come to school. So, congratulations to everybody. >> My favorite part

099about your presentation is this is exactly how Bristol is. It's like to the point like we here it is. This is what we do. We're going to do these goals. We're off and it's a gem. Like if some of you have not visited Bristol, it is an absolute gem in our community and a gem in the city of Bristol and like having partnerships with St. Mary's and the United Faith Methodist Church there and just even your trustees that talk about how well behaved your students are, how how that is such a valued item in Bristol. But Tim, you're a great leader and that is a great school and it is exciting to know that you'll be there for a long time growing education, growing attendance, growing our school. So congratulations to you and your staff

100and you're extremely clean school too. You've got a great custodian. So >> absolutely sure. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Great job. >> Yeah. Great job. >> All right. I wish I wish all board meetings were continuing like this. Could we get a move right into the excellence of Elkart? Miss Wood. Thank you. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community members. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share highlights in the areas of academics, arts, and athletics. In the area of academics, Pinewood Elementary is finding creative ways to provide opportunities for student leadership. Aiden, a fifth grade student in Mrs. Bower's class, took on a different role by teaching Mrs. Jones second graders how to code. Elkart High School's cadet teachers in

101teaching and learning had hands-on experience exploring inclusive education. They learned about the tools used by students who are blind and have low vision and had the opportunity to type their names using the Perkins Brailer. This experience gave them a deeper understanding of how to support all learners in the classroom. In the area of arts, the pride of Elkcart delivered an outstanding performance at the Conselmer Invitational over the October 4th weekend. Their talent, dedication, and hard work were on full display, showcasing the strength of the district's music and arts program. Proceeds from the event hosted at Ricefield will directly support the music education at Elcart High School. In the arts and communications school of study, Mrs. Hecman's students combined creativity and math in a unique way. Using their understanding of angle relationships, students demonstrated their dance

102skills in geometry class and even admitted to having fun in math because of the activity. In the area of athletics, Elkart High School's boys soccer defeated Penn on Wednesday, October 1st in PK's 3 to1 to win the program's first NIC championship. The boys finished the season 14-3. Elementary athletics is off to an incredible start this fall. Nearly 100 students competed in cross country meets while more than 300 participated in flag football and cheerleading supported by the Elkart High School coaches and athletes through skills clinics and game nights. The volleyball program's participation has nearly 300 players who competed in the city championship tournaments. We're proud of the effort sportsmanship and pride of our future Lions have shown during shown across every program. For our future happenings, October 15th, 16th, and 20th are the state of the

103district events. October 22nd is an e-learning day. October 23rd through the 27th will be our fall break. And October 30th is track or treat at Ricefield. As always, please be sure to follow our district and school social media pages as we share each day the excellence of Elcart Schools. Thank you. >> Thank you, Wendy. Great job. [Music] >> All right. Next, uh, on the agenda, we have the consent items. Do I have a motion? >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I have a second. Uh, do I have any uh, comments from the board? >> Yes. Here we go. Okay. Are you guys ready? The drum roll is our community donated to us $79,562 and that came in a couple of different sponsorships. Now,

104one I want to talk about is at the career center, they have different le levels of sponsorships. There's bronze, silver, gold, and there happen to be a couple of silver sponsorships. And what those sponsorships do is they ensure enrolled students that are not required to pay for college credits. It gives money towards that and their certification. So, companies out there still have the opportunity to contact the career center to continue to donate in our sponsorship levels. But tonight we have Gen Y Hitch and also Who's Your Crane. They were both silver sponsorships. And then our gold level sponsorships were Beacon Health System and also Growing Kids Management Corporation. But the biggest donation that we had actually is with the career center again and that was $70,000 donated from Elcart general healthcare systems for our equipment

105medical supplies for our surgical services program which they continue to keep getting money from there. Um our boys tennis team received $716 from vertical raise trust account. $1,000 was given to the girls basketball program from Welch packaging. And then we also received $1,746.20 from Bob Martin to pay for our football senior dinner. In addition, Horus man donated $600 towards our national principles month. So when you think about the amount of sponsorship that goes towards our children and the different events that are happening, we I continue to say at every board meeting how blessed we are, but at $79,562.20, 20 cents. We are doing something amazing and right in this school district. So, thank you community partners for helping us grow yet again. >> Thank you, Kelly. >> Um, we we Dora, we're going to need

106uh since uh Trusty Weaver is uh in attendance remotely, we're going to need a roll call vote. >> Eric I >> Vandervel, >> yes. Troy Scott, >> yes. >> Doug Weaver, >> yes. >> Kelly Mullins, >> yes. >> Mike Bernett, >> yes. >> Dy Davis, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we have old business. Uh, Mr. Thorne. >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and community members. Uh, this evening, administration presents the following contracts for your approval on behalf of Elcart High School. a contract with AMS Global and on behalf of the Elkart Area Career Center, a contract with Connectable, Inc. >> The administration presents the following contract for final consideration. CEL Public Relations Incorporated. >> Ross, >> the administration presents uh Milleman, Inc. contract

107for your review and consideration on second reading. >> Mr. Giansi, >> the administration presents the contract with Energy Cap LLC for final consideration. I have a motion from the board to accept these contracts as presented. >> 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, uh, door, please roll call. >> Eric Ivory, >> hi. >> Annne Bondervel, >> hi. >> Troy Scott, >> I. >> Doug Weaver, >> I. >> Kelly Mullins, >> hi. >> Mike Bernett, >> hi. >> Dy Davis, >> hi. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Thorne, under old business, we have board policy 3142C, cancellation of a teacher's contract. >> Thank you. Tonight, the

108administration presents this policy for final consideration and recommends approval by this board. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion on board policy 3142C? >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any questions or comments regarding regarding this policy? >> Hearing none or seeing none. Uh, roll call, please. >> Eric Ivory. >> I. Anne Vandervellin. >> Hi >> Troy Scott. >> Hi >> Doug Weaver. >> Hi >> Kelly Mullins. >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi >> Dy Davis. >> I motion passes. Thank you. >> Next we have uh new business. Uh Mr. Rose contracts. >> Uh good evening President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. Uh tonight the administration presents the following contracts for initial consideration. Network solutions maintenance

109agreement. Uh this agreement covers our core networking uh equipment to make sure that everything stays up and running as far as communication is concerned for the district. >> Thank you. >> On behalf of safety, security, and risk management, the administration presents for preliminary consideration a proposed agreement with Geoc Inc. We have any uh initial questions uh regarding these contracts after we've had an opportunity to review. Okay. Since these are under initial considerations, if any questions uh come up uh before our next board meeting, please reach out to Mr. Rhodess and Mr. Thorne uh regarding such. Next, Mr. Dr. Giansi, we have recommendation for award of kitchen serving line upgrade projects. >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, and members of the community. Tonight, the administration recommends award of a contract for

110the kitchen serving line upgrade projects at Northside, Pieran, and Westside Middle Schools. You do have a motion uh for the award motion. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I have a second. Roll call, please. Well, any discussion or questions? >> Seeing her hearing none now. Roll call, please. >> Eric Ivory. >> Hi. >> And Bondervel. >> Hi. >> Troy Scott. >> I >> Doug Weaver. >> Hi. >> Kelly Mullins. >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi. >> Dy Davis. >> I. >> Thank you. The motion passes. Mr. Thorne, under new business, we have board policy 3410.04CS, substitute compensation. >> Thank you. Uh, the administration presents proposed revisions to this policy and requests a waiver of second reading. >> Thank you. Do I have a uh

111motion uh for this uh presented policy with waiver of second uh reading? Motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any discussion or questions regarding this policy? >> Door. Roll call, please. >> Eric, >> I >> Bondervillain. >> Hi, >> Troy Scott. >> Hi, >> Doug Weaver. >> Hi, >> Kelly Mullins. >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi, >> Dy Davis. >> Hi, Next we have uh board policy 3422.04S bus helpers wage schedule. >> Thank you. The administration presents proposed revisions to this policy and requests a waiver of second reading. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion uh for this uh weight schedule and waiver of second reading? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> You'll second. >> Sure. >> All

112right. Thank you. I have a motion and I have a second. Um, any discussion? No discussion. Roll call, please. >> Eric Ivory. >> Hi. >> And Bondervel. >> Hi. >> Troy Scott. >> Hi. >> Doug Weaver. >> Hi. >> Kelly Mullins. >> Hi. >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi. >> Dy Davis. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Hoff. Under new business, we have a resolution. >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, community. Um, tonight's resolution represents an important step in preparing Elkcart and community schools. It ensures we continue to provide every student with high quality education while managing our resources effectively. Um, just as we think about things, for several years, this district has faced declining enrollment. We have had um some financial troubles and issues. just just speaking very plainly, aging facilities

113and financial pressures that make it really hard for us to do the work that we need to make sure this level of excellence that we saw tonight from Tim Pedley and what we saw um hearing um to Washington speak about um that they're doing for their schools. I believe we can do better if we make sure that we take the necessary steps to ensure the long-term health of Elcart Community Schools. in 22 23 this district before I became superintendent you embarked on a pretty extensive study on what you needed to do in order to address some of these issues that I'm going to recommend to the board this evening and you'll have an opportunity to vote on in that feasibility study they had multiple recommendations on what the board should do once you hire a

114new superintendent to carry out that plan I think it's very important that people know that this work is just not something that has started this year this has been something that from what I understand has been a conversation in this community for quite a long time. Um the the data tells us, not just the data, sorry, our finances tell us, our enrollment tells us and our footprint tells us it's time to really make some tough decisions and that there are some people here who now need to be responsible stewards to make sure that these um decisions are carried out. Um, since I've come here and I notice noticed very quickly that we were going to be here last year, I was going to be asking the board for some um for the authorization. Since then,

115my team and I have worked together to try to strengthen internal pro uh protocols. I would like to share with the community that we are starting to see the ramifications of those decisions that we made a year ago show up in our payroll, show up in our uh monthly um reports to the board. I hopefully you believe that there's been more transparent information about our finances and our situations. Um, and actually look forward to following up on one of the questions I was asked this evening about class sizes and some of those things to make sure that everyone has accurate information when we talk about the work that we need to do based on that earlier study that I think was important to to to start this work and our current reality. Um, it is

116my recommendation that you authorize superintendent to begin looking at a consolidation study and and bringing back recommendations to the board. Um, knowing how consolidations work, they are not easier and it is not linear. This work will require a tremendous amount of time that we don't have. It will also require members of our community to really be informed. So I look forward to doing state of the districts tomorrow and the next day and Monday to share the presentation that I've shared last week with some additional information as well to talk about what our financial and what our footprint looks like and what it could potentially look like afterwards. But we also know that consolidations come with emotional things to them as well. people attached themselves and rightfully so to their history of hey I walked that

117hall I know that kid I went there I know that family went there shoot I went there and that is hard for any community this is not something that I take that responsibility lightly so continuing to operate right in the way that I think I have hopefully led in the last two years being very transparent and being upfront and timely I think it's important that we begin this work and begin this work now so pe so we and bring recommendations back um by no later than March of 2026 regarding what that should look like for I'm sorry. Yeah, March of 2026. It's hard to think about for the upcoming school year. The board will then make a vote on if you choose to accept the superintendent's recommendations or not. This work will require voices from

118our community again, from our teachers, from our bus drivers, from our from anyone who touches the lives of of a kid. I think it's important that you come out and be well informed um about the current state of the district. But I need to remind everyone this is not new work. There are people who already are speculating about this is going to happen or this school. I don't want to lead in that way. I want to lead in facts and evidence. And so I think you'll see me share that when we talk with the school community over the next um months or so. Um so at this time I'm going to respectfully ask the board to approve a resolution for me to begin that work to explore what that will look like for Elcart Community

119Schools. So at this time I will answer any questions that you may have of me. But at some point I would like for you to take action this evening on that which I say some point uh probably right now. >> I understand. Um, first we uh need to have a motion uh on this uh resolution to initiate a study of school consolidation and facility uh realignment. Uh do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> I have many. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh any questions for Dr. Hoff? If No questions. Um, I normally do not bore everybody with uh uh reading a resolution, but I think it's important uh uh to kind of read through uh this resolution and uh uh so everybody kind of understand, you know, what

120the board is is committed to. Um and this board is committed to ensuring that all schools operate efficiently, equitably, and effectively in support of the district's mission to provide exceptional educational experience for every student. Uh this board also recognizes the changes in enrollment, aging facilities and fiscal realities that have created challenges to maintain highquality academics and student support progress or programs across all schools. This board remains dedicated to the long-term financial stability, equitable access to educational opportunities, and responsible stewardships of taxpayer resources. This board believes that a comprehensive datadriven study is necessary to determine the most effective and sustainable configuration of district facilities to meet the present and future needs of the students. And with this resolution, we are directing uh Dr. Hoff and his team to initiate a comprehensive study evaluating enrollment trends, facility

121capacity and conditions, financial sustainability, transportation considerations, and access to academic and co-curricular programming. We're asking him to engage stakeholders uh including parents, staff, students, and community partners through uh through public meetings, forums, and digital communication to gather input from all stakeholders and share information throughout this process. at which time his team will develop recommendations that identify potential opportunities for school consolidations, closures, or repurposing with a focus on student learning, safety, and equitable access to programs. Uh we are we are charging uh Dr. Huff and his team to provide us with regular progress updates uh throughout this study. And uh as he stated, we will expect final recommendations no later than April of 2026, March. I think uh >> that's I'm just going to be honest. We're doing probably two years of work in a very

122short period of time. >> That's why I want to declare April April 2026. Yes. Uh this should allow us uh sufficient time to review uh allow us to hear public comment uh and inter necessary action before uh the implementation of any decisions that are brought forth. So, I uh I thought that was um uh important to to let you know that this uh that these findings in the study shall shall guide the district's long range facility and financial planning uh ensuring that every decision supports the continued advancements of Elkart Community Schools and the success of all students. So, as a board um you know, we we we take this very seriously and we uh entrust that Dr. Huff and his team will be able to meet the guidelines of this resolution um and uh uh

123present uh to the board. So I have a motion and I have a second. >> I will I'll do state the district at um >> yeah at the end. So I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any any other comment from uh the board? >> I'd like to say something. I think you know this district it's been through a lot. We've put a lot of um time and effort um we've put a lot of investment um into our school district, into our people. Um and this is for our kids and we've got to be able to have a district that's strong um and that can provide the opportunities that we want all of our kids to have. Um and so while it's difficult for some for for many people who

124have been paying attention for a long time um they've seen the progression of what's happened um in education um and in our enrollment specifically over the last 15 20 years um so while for some this is going to be really difficult for others um it's it's going to be we're moving in the right direction it's time to move um it's and probably too long. Um I'm glad we're moving in this direction. Um, and I hope that our community, um, while it is emotional, um, I hope our community can, um, see through that emotion, take that in motion, um, use it for the betterment of the district, use it to help support our superintendent and his team, um, so that we make the best decisions and they're given the best recommendations to us, um, that will

125move our district forward and help our district be stable. um and have the ability to provide many opportunities for our children long after we are all gone. Um so I would just encourage the community to come to the U meetings that are happening in the next week or so to please stay engaged. This is really important. This affects our entire community and it's important that we as a community come together and support our school district. So, I would appreciate everybody um getting behind this um and and let's show the rest of the community what it means to be an Elcart Community School um champion. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Bonville. Can can I follow up with one and I think all of everything we everything I'm sharing hopefully is important. Either we do

126it or somebody else tells us how to do it. >> Absolutely. I sat in a phone call, a zoom meeting last week with with the state. There were President Scott, you were there. Our CFO was there. We had some of our external partners there as well. When I say external partners, people who kind of help us with our uh financial trajectory, and we met with um an official from the state of Indiana who point blank, if we don't do it, it will be done for us. And I would much rather have our community make these decisions opposed to someone coming who does not know all the stories of our children does not know what it's like to from this side of town from this side of town. They those will not be factors. They will

127just be numbers on the page. And I think when you're doing something like this, you need to do it with precision and you need to understand there's a human factor to what's is the work that's about to do. If you would have told me like, hey, this is the I was going to be doing this at this time, I would have said, well, hold on, let's stop for a second. But then I think about it, it is time to do that. And I'm I believe that my team and myself, we should be the ones to do this because I don't want anybody telling us how to run our district here besides us. And so sitting on that call, Mr. Scott, and you were there, that was a life altering um part of my thought process

128about this. I would I much rather have our hands on the wheel when it comes to this. What What are your thoughts, sir? >> I I completely agree. This is this is a you unique district is a unique community. We should have say and uh and we will have say and uh I' I've discussed this uh at other board meetings. You know, there's a there's a resolution on the table uh tonight. There's a strategic plan in place uh with our finances. Uh we we have made decisions uh leading up to this point. will continue to make decisions uh for the fiscal viability and success of this district. We have the right team. We have the right leadership uh uh to do this. Um I'm not concerned about it. We're a resilient community. We're a resilient

129district and uh we will come out of this um uh for all the right reasons, but the you know the biggest reasons and our focus our our north star is the kids and they will they will continue to benefit and that will be the the guiding light to every decision that is made by this board by Dr. Huff and his team. So, uh there's there's uh uh I've got all the confidence in the world uh in this leadership and and the task that we're about to uh embark upon. And uh um you know, I want the community, please engage. Please be part of this. Please be heard. We are here to listen to everyone. Please come out. We're going to talk about the state of the district uh meetings at the end. We'll give dates.

130We'll give locations. We'll give times. There will be other opportunities throughout this process to have your voice heard. I encourage, I implore everybody to step up, take the time, don't be too busy. This is an important decision and decisions we're going to be making. Please engage with this process. Please engage with the team. Everybody's a stakeholder and your and your opinion matters. I have a motion and I have a second. Dora, roll call, please. Eric I >> hi >> and Vandervillan. >> Hi >> Troy Scott. >> Hi >> Doug Weber. >> Hi >> Kelly Mullins. >> Hi >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi >> Dy Davis. >> Hi. >> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you Dr. Huff. >> Mr. Thorne. resolution on the administration's uh recommendation uh of Elcar Community School's commitment to supporting the educational and

131social success of students from the military families and reaffirming our compliance with board policy 5111.02 educational opportunities for military children. >> Thank you, President Scott. Board members, Dr. Huff, we are seeking your approval of this resolution this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Thorne. Do I have a motion for approval of the resolution? I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any comments from the board? Mr. Weaver. >> Hearing none. I thought Doug would speak up. Hearing none. Um, door. Roll call, please. >> Eric Ivory. >> Hi. >> Anne Bondervel. >> Hi. >> Troy Scott. >> Hi. Doug Weaver. >> Hi, >> Kelly Mullins. >> Hi, >> Mike Bernett. >> Hi, >> Dy Davis. >> Hi. >> Motion passes. Thank

132you, Mr. Thorne. >> Dr. Huff, floor is yours. >> Uh, thank you, President Scott. Appreciate it. I wish it didn't come back to me so quickly. Um, one of the things that I had the extreme pleasure two Saturdays ago is going to the Conmer event at that we were able to host very well over at Rice Field. uh two Saturdays ago. Um I just want to say it is a huge privilege to be able to host 12 different districts in our in our area and it was a great time. I learned so much about precision and I'm watching I'm thinking everyone's doing a great job and I'm watching people up there looking at it with a different critical lens. Our kids did spectacularly. I just want to give a huge shout out to Kyle Wyrick

133and to April Oppenheimer the the band director. the kids. You did wonderful. They Coco Chanel theme. I think I what it was. I hope that's what it was. They did a wonder they did a wonderful job. But what I also like hearing back from my peers, thanks for hosting this and allowing these opportunities if we didn't host it. There was one school said that they would have to travel um it was a school from Michigan said they would have to travel four hours in another way. And so I just want to say this is huge. Our thanks for our security for also coming out there. Anyone who donated their time on that night, those are huge things. 150th anniversary. He was um I I met the gentleman who is the um um I don't want

134to say director, I would say CEO of K con Khan um summer and he said he already was working with our district on helping create a pathway for um band instrument um repair. It's a it's a major need um in the United States. So I just wanted to say we can keep those kids at home in a very highpaying job. So I know Dr. Rousa, you were there, too. So it it was a great event. Um, I also want to say, um, a huge shout out to our principles in, uh, principal appreciation month. We had a little, we had an opportunity to speak with them today, um, and every day how they lead. It is amazing the stuff that a principal does on a day-to-day basis to keep everything going in their building. They they

135manage staff, they manage parents, they manage they manage textbooks, they manage crisises all the time. It shouldn't just I shared this morning, we shouldn't just be celebrating this month. This is a reminder, but celebrate them every single day. Our principles are rock stars. Uh we appreciate you and if you're watching this tonight, I just want to tell you thank you for all that you do. Um also, uh I want to give a shout out to one of our own employees, Brian Hammetry. Does anybody know him? You may not recognize him. His hair is cut. Um at Elcart Academy, he was uh selected as Indiana youth um uh worker of the year by the state of Indiana. That is a huge honor for our district. are no >> we have the Indiana counselor of the year

136we have the Indiana rise worker we had Indiana youth work of the year and I think that's just the beginning of of those type of accolades I look forward to actually our district hopefully on November 21st being recognized by the IDOE on another measure Katie Jenner if you're watching lots of pressure on you um but I just want to say he is really changing lives at Elcart Academy that is a good dude, just flat out a great guy. Um, and he has the passion for the kids and but he also he helps to contribute to graduation rate. He takes pride that those kids are doing the exact same thing that we're doing at um the freshman division at the 1012 uh building. I just want to say thank you Mr. Hammetry. I know that you

137are not watching. Um so he's with his kid. I think his kid is going through some type of recovery with his life. Uh but last uh but certainly not least, this is actually a direct plea to everyone in this room regarding pay attention to what's happening at the federal level. The shutdown stuff is real. Um today um they there's a possibility that not possibility most likely is going to occur. Um things that impact special education office of special education is closed now. And so without that there is not oversight protection for many of our families. Elcart has 21% at least of our student population that um has um identified as a special needs population where there's an IEP or so or so forth without having this oversight or eventually funds to that that that really

138limits the work that we're able to do. Um if you know a legislature, this is the time to talk to this this this impacts Elkcart tremendously. I have an opportunity tomorrow. I'm going to shift from a meeting that I go to. I will be with some legislators to talk about this issue. Our re rehabilitation services program is also being shut down by the federal government as well. School is hard enough. Not having the resources that you need make it really really critical, but also the safeguards for our staff and for our students. So I implore you if you know of an educator in a professionally and respectful way, hey this is this is happening. I think sometimes they did not know the ramifications of what was going to happen down the line. There's a lot

139of things this year that I just did not think was going to come into play. But I'm going to stay back on script. It's important that to definitely talk about this issue because if those offices go away, I really am worried that those people will not be put back in place and that will impact Elcart for years to come. So, let a um legislator know if you do not uh know exactly what to say or we need some um jump off points. We have two outstanding leaders in the um exceptional learner space, Lindsay Brander and Tracy Hen. they can help you to not do it for you, but they can give you some talking points on why this is a critical uh time in um education, particularly in the special education world. So, I didn't

140know if you saw that today, but that is a huge deal and impacts Elcart Community Schools. So, I just want to share with you this is a good time to start to reach out to our legislation um to talk about those things, and I will definitely be talking about those things tomorrow. So, um, other than that, President Scott, I think I've said more than I ever wanted to say, um, this evening, so I'm going to turn it back over to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. Uh, as promised, um, we're right back at it, uh, tomorrow with State of the District. Um, Wednesday, October 15th from 6:00 to 7:00. Uh, we'll be at Adamsville Road Church of God. Uh, the address is 51287 County Road 7 in Elcart. So, that's tomorrow from 6:00 to 7:00.

141And then we back that up with um Thursday, October 16th, same time from 6:00 to 7 will be Trinity on Jackson Church, uh 2715 East Jackson Boulevard in Elcart, uh state of the district. So please, if you can't make the first night, please make the second night. Those will be the two this week. And then we um go into next week, Monday, uh the October 20th, same time, 6:00 to 7, state of the district. We'll be at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church. That's at 122 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive here in Elcart. So, I encourage everybody um you know, you don't have to come to all three uh but you know, please please try to come to one. Um there'll be a uh add that to you as well. They'll be live streamed.

142They will be also sent out immediately the day after. If Jake can be so kind to compress those things, we'll send those things out as well. Um it will be the same information presented just in three different uh local. Um but I I think there's multiple ways for you participate. And then we will also start to we're already drafting on our working with Mrs. would um digital dashboards to kind of so people can see our decisions and not decisions I think that's the wrong word can see the information and you can manipulate it any way that you would like to um I just think it's important to be super transparent through this process and then also there'll be FAQs as well um so there will be plenty of time to uh participate and it's not

143the only time where we're going to have community discussions I would expect these to probably be occurring on a monthly basis so um they just will be at different locations miss what am accurate. I I got to quit saying I'm accurate because it feels like I'm just I'm confir having you confirm the things I I already should know. So anyway, but I just wanted to make sure that people knew that there were multiple ways that they could uh >> multiple ways to get this information we feel is important. As you can see, we want to be transparent and again we we we want to hear you. We we want you to be heard. We want you to feel you've been heard. So, there's going to be plenty of opportunities up until the decisions are uh

144brought to us in uh April of 2026. So, please take the opportunity, engage, uh attend uh and understand uh what's going on in your district. Anything else? >> I'm sure that Wendy's going to bring this up at our next meeting, but it just happened over this weekend. So, I want to just do a special shout out to our head cheerleading coach, Haley Worsler, and their wonderful success that they had this weekend. So, this weekend, the varsity placed first in division, and they received the sportsmanship award, plus they were the jump off champs. Our JB took first place in the division, and they were our jumpoff finalists, and our middle school took first place in their division. So, Elkcart schools wiped it out at the cheerleading event. And something to know is that our varsity cheerleaders

145have done a trickle down effect to all the way to our elementary which um Wendy talked about today. They have just become an outstanding family and Haley has created some of the best coaching staff. Plus she has two wonderful little mascots that were on. So I just want to say congratulations to them. It would be remiss to not recognize from Mary Beck Michelle Troutman who's going to be retiring. She has spent 33 years in our district, special education. So, a celebration to her. 33 years. And then we also want to say a special thank you to an employee that has chose a different direction. And you know, the hope is that as life goes on, people always navigate to finding their way back home to Elcart. But there is a person that has worked in

146our district for 22 years. And she worked with Frank Kurt very closely and she also worked with Will Cody. She is an example of why our attendance rate, our graduation rate was so very, very successful. So, as we say goodbye, hopefully temporarily to Tracy Miller and somebody who has chose to just move through the district, we want to make sure that she has a very clear understanding of our appreciation and our thankfulness to her and we value the role that she played in our school system and we hope that as she sees life, she looks back at the district and says, "Hey, welcome back home." So, thank you Tracy and all the hard work that you have done with Frank Kurt, Will Cody, and on behalf of all of our students, especially our seniors. And

147moving on to Kelly's Corner, which yes, is still a thing. This week, I'm going to celebrate our security. I think that many of us have forgot how important their role is. There are so many behind the scenes things happening, things that we don't even clearly understand, and our security is there all the time. We heard about them being extracurricular events. We had a huge band competition that they had to oversee, all of our sporting events, everything that happens in our school. So Jamie, I thank you and I thank all of your security staff that go above and beyond making sure that our staff, our students, and our parents are safe and we just appreciate everything that you guys do. Bring it in, buddy. So yeah, so this week, this week the celebration is everything that

148you're doing behind the scenes that we're not even aware of and everything that all of you do to give your time to us from the mornings to making sure our children get to school and cross the street safely to the way that our our buildings closed at the end of the day. So thank you and our school appreciates you and your staff very very much. >> Yeah, that's it. That's it. That's it. Anything else, Mr. Weaver? Hearing nothing. Me a journal.