001She knew you were coming. >> The door needs to be open. >> Hey, can you open the door, >> please? Stacy >> or somebody, can you open the door? I'm not >> that back there. >> You call. >> How about uh one by Carrie? >> Open a different door. >> Can you open You open the door by Thank you. >> Sorry, I didn't know why you had it close. Ow. Okay. [Music] I want to thank everybody for coming out to the September 9th uh Elcart Community Schools uh school board. uh meeting. At this time, I'd like to call the meeting to order. And would you please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic. >> Thank you. You may be seated.
002>> Miss Vanderville and the Elcart Promise. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff and in part partnership with the community will graduate career college ready and life ready. >> Thank you Ann. >> You're welcome. >> Our invitation to speak protocol. Everyone received uh little uh pamphlet on your seat. This is a form that needs to be filled out and given the door. If you haven't done that, please do so now if you'd like to speak. When your name is called, please step up to the podium. You'll have three minutes to speak about any non-aggenda or agenda item. Um because of the uh family rights and privacy act, I say this every time, please uh this is not the uh venue to address personnel or personal student issues. So please
003uh refrain from doing that. And uh with that said, Dora First uh person for public comment, Sean Simmons. I am a long-term substitute at Westside Middle School, now beginning my fourth year. I hold three undergraduate degrees and a master's degree. I spent over 30 years in another profession before dedicating myself to serving students here. The truth is, the only difference between me and other teachers is a teaching license. I am in the process of taking my practice exam and enrolling at IWU. And yet, my pay has been cut drastically from previous years to the point that my daughter, who is in college and working a part-time job, now earns more than I do per hour. I do the same daily work as a licensed teacher, but I am not compensated fairly for that responsibility. My
004value and the value of other substitutes cannot be measured on a spreadsheet alone. Over the past three years, I've proven my commitment and effectiveness. I've provided stability in the classroom, built trust with students and staff, and even contributed to raising the iLearn student scores by 5%. That's measurable growth for our school. Growth that does not happen without consistency and dedication. That came at a cost, my cost. I put in 10 to 12 hour days, spent my own money on school supplies, and paid out of pocket to decorate my classroom so students can walk into a space that feels positive and inspiring. That kind of investment goes far beyond filling in. It shows the dedication substitutes like me bring to this district. But here's the bigger issue. Elcart Community Schools face a real shortage of teachers
005and substitutes. And if Elcart does not take care of their subs, the weight falls directly on certified teachers who are already stretched thin. And when classrooms are filled with students who are below proficiency on standards, struggling with disrespect, and often unwilling to learn, the load on teachers only grows heavier. These pressures are driving good educators, teachers, and subs alike, making it even harder to recruit and retain the people desperately needed. Elkart cannot afford to make it harder to recruit and retain people willing to step into these roles. That is why I'm asking for a creation of a substitute tier system similar to what exists for certified teachers. Right now, certified long-term subs who plan and grade see their increase by nearly $100 compared to daily subs. substitutes like myself who plan, grade, and help with
006classroom management receives no additional um compared to daily subs. A tier system would recognize the real responsibilities long-term subs carry and would make it possible to attract and keep qualified people until teachers fill those vacancies. I am proud of the work that I've done at Westside. I believe in this mission of the district, but to keep dedicated teachers and substitutes in place, we need more than words of appreciation. We need action. You Julie Gun. My name is Julie Gun and I'm a first grade teacher at Oslo School. When Dr. Huff became our superintendent, one of his top three priorities was to adopt a customer service mindset for families, colleagues, and students. And I'd like to briefly address this priority for our families, colleagues, and students at Oslo School. On back to school night, families of
007my students were already concerned. They were worried about the large class sizes. They were worried that their students would be the ones chosen to switch later when we if we got somebody um and they were worried about the reduction of two sections per each grade at Oslo 2. So for my colleagues and I, my gened colleagues and I, we're veteran, highly effective teachers, and we keep striving to be excellent despite the burdensome class sizes. Our special education, EL teacher, intervention teacher, they currently each carry the load of two teachers. So, at the moment, our special ed teacher has 26 students that she is supervising and the teacher of record for. Now, I appreciate that positions are slowly getting filled. I realize that they are, but my teaching partner is a first grade teacher who has
00829 students in her class. I only have 26, but I have specialed students in my class who have very specific needs. So, that brings me to the very last point. Our students, it's why we're all here, why we're all present. And I just want us to remember that they deserve the very best customer service possible. And I just want us to do everything we can to bring that to them. Thank you, >> Nikki Gernand. >> I didn't get it right. >> You did great. >> Hi, my name is Nikki Gernin and I am a teacher at Eastwood and I have been for 22 years. I'm also the mom of two Elcart High School graduates. Um, at the last schoolboard meeting I was unable to attend, Eastwood is able to celebrate our remarkable gains and I
009read scores and I want to highlight some other things that make Eastwood a great place. Uh, we've had a great start to our school year helped by the fact that almost all of our staff returned from last year. Our amazing PTA has helped our year start off right with Popcorn Friday and our fall fun fair last Friday. One other very successful thing that is our MTSS multi-ter student support system committee that assists students with that are struggling academically and or behaviorally. I believe our team at Eastwood is one of the best and I'm so happy the decision to keep MTSS staff the way it has been in past years and not make significant cuts. So I thank you for that. What I'm here to focus on is the lack of social studies textbooks in the
010elementary classroom, specifically in fourth and fifth grade. Last year was decided not to adopt a social studies book for elementary classes. This wasn't a decision that was asked for teacher input. It was decision told to us. We were told to use the reading series and discovery learning online platform to supplement. That might be doable for K through three, but not possible for fourth and fifth grade. In fourth and fifth grade, we are reading to learn, no longer learning to read. The social studies book was a big way to practice that skill, but now that is gone. Fourth grade is Indiana history, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the series about Indiana history. Fifth grade is studying US history, and the reading series provides little to support the curriculum. Our next unit is about Native
011Americans, which sounds great, but that's about the Native Americans in Central and South America, not the ones of the United States. That's unit 8, way too late in the school year for all the standards that we are to cover. I know our primary focus in elementary is reading, language arts, and math, but social studies, and science gives students something different, something that they may excel at when struggling in other areas. Even though it isn't used in evaluating in our district, fifth graders do take a social studies test with iLearn in April. And students learning the history and facts about our country couldn't be more important in an era where people are trying to rewrite history to fight fit their narrative. We are focused on K3 and middle school a lot this year, as it should
012be. But it feels like fourth and fifth grade are getting overlooked. And the assumption is that fourth and fifth does everything the same that our K3 staff does. We also are often the grades with less support. We are very important grades and we need support and attention. I understand that we are very tight on funds, but please consider adopting a social studies curriculum for at least fourth and fifth grade for the next school year. Thank you. I'm probably gonna get this one wrong, too. Sarah >> Floor. So, I was gonna say Flooringer. >> Good evening. My name is Sarah Floringer. I am a 33y year veteran teacher of Elkcart Community Schools, having spent 24 years at Pinewood and now the last nine at Oslo. I also sent both my boys through the school system and
013I'm pleased to say they are thriving. As I just mentioned, I currently teach at Oslo and I'm proud of the hard work and gains we made throughout our building last year, especially in the areas of iid. We poured every resource we had into developing our students to be successful and the progress really showed. This year, however, feels different already. I am completely aware of the funding issues here and around the state, but currently my building is missing an ENL teacher along with a first grade, second grade, and third grade teacher. I myself and doing reading interventions by myself instead of with a colleague as I have in years past. At the end of May, we were fully staffed only to find out that three of our dedicated and talented teachers were asked to transfer to
014other buildings. The irony is that now we're scrambling to try to fill those same three positions. We've been told of various scenarios regarding these positions. They would be filled, they would not be filled, they would be given to a sub or they would be covered by a pair professional. 30 plus students in the class has created low morale and high frustration. Dr. Dr. Huff, at our annual back- to-school meeting at the high school, you stated that open communication and transparency would be key. At this time, the staff at my school is in desperate need of consistent and timely communication. Students suffer when teachers are not given the tools needed to succeed, including reliable answers from the district. We need to feel supported, heard, and seen. Thank you for your attention to this matter. You I
015believe that was the last one. Next on the agenda, we have uh the Monger report. April Walker. Almost sounds like an official report. The Monger report. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. I'm April Walker, principal of Munger Elementary, and I am excited to present and brag tonight on U Munger Elementary School. So, we started the 202425 school year with pretty basic goals. It's always to get better in reading and math. um with an 80% I read3 pass rate and a goal to improve student attendance. So on this screen you can see I learn trend data for the past five years since 2021 ELA. Um we have had an 18% increase from um 2021 to 2025 in reading and a 25% increase or we have doubled our pass percentage in math since
0162021. On the screen you see um graphs that have Munger's passing percentage compared to Elcart Community Schools and the state passing percentage. And for the first time we were higher than the state average in both reading and math. I know it's only by 3/10en of a point for ELA, but >> I can see it. I can >> but it's still there. Okay, this looks a little busy, but I'm going to just highlight um this is our ELA demographics report. Um we were higher than the state average in all but two subcategories. The one that I want to highlight is our EEL percentage. Um we had 33.8% passing compared to the state's 12.7% passing. In math, we were higher than the district and state averages in every single category and nearly 30% higher pass percent for
017our EEL population. And I'll give a little shout out that we were 10% higher for our females in math. So, girl power there. Hey. Um, and just on the lines of math, our sixth grade math growth. So, the state of Indiana has a goal to have 45.8% of students meeting their individual growth goals by 2030. Munger had 62% of students meet um their growth targets in 2024. So we have already um exceeded the state average with six years to grow more. >> I have a quick question on that. What is the expected growth target for a student per year? What what do you look at? >> So it's different per student. So they use like a formula. So let's pretend in third grade, I'm just going to make up numbers. They scored a 500 on
018the iLearn test. So all of the students in third grade who scored a 500 in third grade are considered a cohort. So the following year they will find like the average growth for those students and then that's how they get assigned an individual growth target. So it's different for every student. Okay. We had an 80% uh goal for passing I read three which we increased from the year prior by 11%. And we increased our second grade pass rate by 14%. Okay. For attendance um Munger is the recipient of the full service community schools grant. It is a grant that extends um over 5 years and there are five Elcart schools and three Concord schools that receive it. So we have used these funds for increasing student engagement with afterchool programming um increasing student engagement and
019community engagement. So last year we had 158 of our 408 students um but 158 students in 2 through sixth grade participated in at least one six-w weekek round of afterchool programming and that's not including elementary athletics. We did summer clubs um with about 30 students where we took students to different places um around the state and community on field trips. We did things like reading challenges, book clubs, math clubs, ask and in explore science clubs, girls on the run, cause for pause, music and art, sign language remediation, and like I said, summer trips. So why do I tell you that? Because engaged students and engaged families equals improved student attendance. In 2425, we held 47 individual parent meetings where we created attendance contracts and plans to support families in getting their children to school. That's
020four times the number of attendance hearings we held the previous year. In 23 24 we had 41% of our students attend 95% or more days of school. Last year we had 56 56% of students attend 95% or more which is a 15% increase. We targeted 44 students who were on the chronically absent list. 29 of those 44 students fell off the chronically absent list by the end of the year. Also um a result of Munger's full service community schools um efforts uh we were the recipient of the familyfriendly schools designation by the Indiana Department of Education and it feels a little um like I shouldn't be the one up here because my staff um are the ones who deserve all the kudos. And there's a lot of them back there. They thought it would make
021me less nervous, although I feel like they made me more nervous, making me go through a dancing line on the way in. Um, but they truly define when you always hear the studies and the research on teacher collective teacher efficacy. But this group, they are it. they work together um to have appropriately high challenging expectations for what a year's worth of growth looks like. And this quote um from John Hattie, it's not just a growth mindset. It's not just rahrh thinking. It's not just oh we can make a difference, but it is that combined belief that it's us that causes learning. Okay. And then >> we are the Mustangs. Show pride in all we do. >> We will demonstrate >> persistence, >> respectfulness, >> initiative, >> dependability and efficiency. >> We give our best and
022take pride in all that we do. >> Or we are >> the Monger Mustang through and through. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you. Uh, April, do we have any questions or comments? >> I have I have a couple comments. One, I just want to say congratulations to you and your school community. you really are changing lives down there on the south side of town. Um, kudos to your outstanding teachers back there as well. Um, when I hear you and your teachers talk, I sometimes can't tell the difference other than your high pitch voice. I know it's um but the expectations for every it is it's different but for the but for the expectations of kids that they know that they can do it and they all have can do it and the struggle is the
023way, right? Our kids really need to understand that there's someone in front of them that believes in them on a day-to-day basis just like our teachers do. So, you model that for your teachers. Your teachers model that for your kids. I just want to say it hats off to you and your your entire school. Um, it's a huge honor. You also left some things out. Um, your school moved up 217 state rankings and I learned this year. um you have a one of your grade levels, I don't want to give out misinformation, but I think it's either fourth or fifth grade that was um in the top 12% in the state um in uh student performance. So, um hats off to you. The numbers matter and your outcomes matter. And I just want to say
024you thank you. Even though you look a little nervous now, I'm sure that you'll be dancing a little bit harder with your team in the back. Hats off to you. >> Thank you. >> So, um I have a question. Obviously, there's a lot of moving parts to what you and your staff do over there with the community and everything, but is there a way to patent what you're doing? And that way we can say, okay, hey, you know, I can sell it to one of my other elementary schools here and stuff like that because, you know, [Music] >> well, she wants money for hers. You know, the word we're searching for is mongerized. The other schools not I don't think that's the right word. >> Sounds like a word I'd come up with though. But
025you can own that one. >> Okay. >> Um I you know you do your crew and your team you know do so well down there and uh you know and you exceed all expectations on a regular basis and stuff like that and then you're to be applauded for that. Okay. But you know how do we can what you're doing and so okay you know here we can take it to here to here to here to here here and stuff like that. >> Yeah >> there you know we get asked that and you know it's not it's not just one thing but I will say that it is a group of people who truly truly believe that um all kids can learn and there are no excuses. Um, it's having the right people in the right
026places. I, um, am a fierce advocate for my staff, um, because I believe the people matter. Um, and you know, there are things I advocate for really, really hard. It's small class sizes. It's like-minded people. Um, you couldn't work at Munger if you made excuses, if you didn't own results. Um, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but um, everybody there truly would go above and beyond for kids and they don't make excuses. Like I have to talk people off the ledge when they get their data back and their results back sometimes over the years, like the course of our conversations cuz they're just like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. Oh, they didn't." And it's okay. It's just one measure, you know, because we really just own it. Um so when
027I when I highlighted up there because I assumed that question would come like what are you doing and yeah it is it's the systems we have systems in place for everything. Um it is definitely whole child. I mean we have a team of support staff that tries to take the load of all of the social emotional um burdens that our car kids carry off the teachers so that teachers can focus on teaching. Um, but there's a lot of whole child, but it really is a common shared belief that here's what we expect and we don't waver from it. So kids can do what you expect them to do and it takes every single person from teachers to support staff, secretaries, custodians, the lunchroom paras like we are all accountable for here's what our expectations are
028and everybody in the building is responsible for holding kids accountable to them. No, April. >> I'll say no doubt there's a lot of variables that goes into that, but I love simple math and I think the equation you share with us uh speaks to the volume of that and that is engaged students plus engaged families equals equal improved attendance and improved outcomes and things like that. So to Doug's point, I think part of the variables also include those things. >> Definitely. And it and it takes extra resources and and money and effort, you know, um to to meet the needs. We have a very diverse um group. It's a beautiful thing over there. Um but it does take extra without afterchool programming, without the tutoring that we do, without the interventions, without the social workers,
029without the support team. like you you take any of those things out of the equation and we are taking a piece of what it takes to educate a whole child. >> April, you are a phenomenal leader. We've had lots of private conversations in your office and I appreciate your dedication. I believe change starts at the top and your staff wouldn't be able to do what they do if you weren't modeling the right behavior and holding them accountable for those outcomes. So, thank you for your outstanding leadership >> and I can't believe you're so nervous cuz she's normally bouncing off the walls and you get up here being nervous. I can't believe it. >> I I like we see you in the school and how you just like have everything going. This is like kind of
030like cute to see you kind of like wait there's vulnerable. I'm really excited like bragging to my team, my staff when we're celebrating, but like like I said, I kind of feel like they should be up here talking, not me. So, it's just this is embarrassing. I don't know. So, thanks for calling out that I'm nervous. >> No, I think it's because I am. It's humanizing. So, yeah. No, thank you, April. You're It's amazing. Like I think about like three years ago, the first time I ever saw like you know what you shared and it was like the one point you said is that like from the minute they walk in the school the expectations are there and we just keep rolling out your staff rolls out rolls out rolls out until they catch on
031to it and then before you know it like the little ones are sharing it with that the the next ones and it just catches on and like going into your school you can see like every one of your guys' hallways what your expectations are everywhere and they just know it and I think you're right like you show it and share share it with them and they'll model it and bring their peers alongside of them. So yeah, it's a great little school and man, you guys are killing it. Even with all the construction and everything that's happening in that neighborhood and everything, you just keep rolling. So, yay to you guys back there. >> Yeah, congratulations. >> And all of the Monger staff, stand up, please. [Applause] Yeah, you can run. >> Okay. Thank you, >>
032girl. >> Well done. Thank you very much. Next on the agenda, we have the excellence of Elkcart, Miss Wood. >> It really is. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, community members. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share highlights in the area of academics, arts, and athletics. For AC academics at Westside Middle School, Mrs. Walt's sixth grade high ability students explored how the sun's shadow changed throughout the day. Building an understanding of the Earth's movement in space, they preparing they are preparing for a field trip to the Challenger Space Center later this month. At Hawthorne Early Learning Center, Title One PreK students in three classrooms went on a number adventure practicing the number two and learning to create squares with four equal sides and corners. In the area of arts, Elcart High
033School's Air Force JOTC color guard and marching band proudly represented the Lions at the Elcart Labor Day parade. At the freshman division, Mr. Summer's intro to 3D art students completed an impressive origami challenge, folding over 2500 cranes in three class periods and creating a sculpture that showcased their creativity. For athletics, the elementary fall sports season is in full swing. At Woodland Elementary School, under the leadership of Coach Karina Flores, girls volleyball students athletes have been working hard to perfect their skills and sharpen their game time strategies. That's not the right slide, is it? All right, we're backwards. We'll go back one. The high school football team secured their win of the season with a 17 to7 victory over Northridge. In a historic moment for the program, the girls flag football team won their first game
034ever with a 31 to0 score against Southbend Adams. Future happenings. September 11th, we have our full service resource fair from 5 to 7 at Woodland Crossing. Also on the 11th, Elcart volleyball has an alumni night. September 12th is the Emmens Coach Award at halftime and September 26th is homecoming. As always, please be sure to follow our district and school social media pages as we share each day as the excellence of Alcart Community Schools. Thank you, >> you Wendy. >> Next on the agenda, I have the consent items. Do I have a motion? So move. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any discussion or questions from the board? >> Yes, we have donations from the community of $6,810. And of that money, 3,173 went to our athletics. The Blazer Club
035donated to two different sports, cheerleading for $1,360 and to girls soccer for $630 to grow those programs. Goan College donated $1,000 to football to make improvements and grow the program. And a donation of $750 came from Mike Krempic for improvements to the athletic team room. Once again, United Physicians Hospital did wonderful by our surgical program at the Career Center. They received $2,000 to purchase surgical supplies. And Elizabeth Boyd donated $800 to make the Elcart Academy Pride Awards program even better. So, at $6,810, our community brought it to us again. >> Any other discussion? >> Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries. Next, Mr. Thorne, we have uh under old business, we have contracts. >> Thank you, uh, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. Uh this evening, the administration
036presents uh the following contracts for final consideration. Uh these contracts were presented for initial consideration uh during your August 26th meeting. On behalf of the Elcart Area Career Center, a renewal of our agreement with Eden Barber Academy. Uh Brandon Ekens reports to me that uh nine students have through the first two years of this program obtained lure through the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency as barbers. Uh and then in addition on behalf of our adult education program, a proposed agreement with medical communication ambassadors to offer a course in medical interpreting services. Tech Services is requesting um approval for ADTE administrative uh and technical consulting which is our -ate consulting. Good evening. The administration presents Lexio Voyager SOPress uh for final consideration and this is the one for the K2 um formative grant. The administration presents the
037following contract for the Crossing National Incorporated. This is for our high school students. Good evening. Uh the administration presents the Elcart County Special Education Cooperative Contract for final consideration. Good evening. The administration presents policy analytics contract for final consideration. You do I have a motion for uh the contracts as presented? >> Motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussion from the board? >> Yeah. Um I think two weeks ago I had a question about the results that we get from Eden Barber Academy. Uh was there any followup to that? Yes, >> I just spoke to it, Mr. Weaver. We had, according to Brandon Equin, we had nine students graduate with a barber license from that program. >>
038Okay. Right. Okay. But percentage-wise out of That's what I'm looking for. Yeah, I know. I understand you're going to have people graduate. But what I was looking for, what's the success ratio? Is it nine out of 18? Is it nine out of nine? Weieber conveniently I have an expert in the back of the room who could come up and provide you with some additional information >> that obviously you know yeah we're going to have kids students graduate and stuff like that but you know what what is the success ratio we're having >> or whatever the metric is you measure. >> Good evening. Um so the nine graduates that we have uh the first cohort that we had was 11 students that went through. So nine out of the first 11 have graduated successfully in the
039program. When we compare that to our cosmetology program, it's at a much higher percentage. Um cosmetology we usually are coming in right around about 30 to 40% of our students finish that program with the lensure. And that's a product of first hitting the hours, the 1500 hours that they have to accumulate over the two years, the skills that they have to be able to check off on, and then the two elements of the test, which is the written portion and then the hands-on portion. >> Okay. All right. Excellent. That answers my question. Thank you very much. So, it proves the value of the program. >> Yeah. >> All right. That's what I'm looking for. >> Any other questions? >> All in favor of the contracts as presented. >> I >> opposed. Contracts pass unanimously. Thank
040you, >> Mr. Thorne. Board policy 26231, test administration and security. >> Thank you. The administration tonight is presenting that proposed policy revision to policy for final consideration. >> I have a motion uh for this policy. >> Motion second. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussion from the board regarding regarding test administration and security? Seeing or hearing none. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Mr. Thorne, new business contracts. >> Uh, the administration presents the following contracts for preliminary consideration. Uh, on behalf of food services, a proposed agreement with standardized food service systems, Inc. DBA smart systems for uh, their safety management technology. Uh, on behalf of adult education program, a proposed agreement with LIP components. This agreement provides the opportunity for employees of lipid
041components to have access to adult education program opportunities both at Hawthorne and at IvyTech. On behalf of the career center, a proposed agreement with Marty Dwire, who will be supporting the career cent's public safety program and on behalf of Elcart High School, a proposed agreement with Startup Moxy of Elcart County. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh the administration presents for your initial consideration a contract with Stacy Vanek, school psychologist. Um Stacy Vanek provides services, school psychology services. These are services required to um evaluate students with potential disabilities to qualify them um in one of the 13 disability categories. Stacy has covered our non-public schools uh over the last several years and we have added an elementary school for her this year due to some vacancies within our school psychologist positions. Good evening again. The
042administration presents the following contracts for initial consideration. NWA, a division of Hotton Mifflin Hardcourt Publishing Company for high ability K through2 and Maisy Education to oversee our title grants uh for this coming school year. I believe that is all the contracts under new business. Do I have any questions or discussion from the board regarding these contracts? >> Yeah. Um, startup Moxy is this the first year for that proposed? >> No, I think this is the the either the second or the third year that this program has been in place. >> According to Mr. Anderson, longer than that. >> Okay. And so this has to do with entrepreneurship. >> Yes, sir. And so uh why are we not with our business school teaching that internally? >> This is a partnership between the district and the chamber
043in terms of doing that. So I would say it's happening both through the school of business but in addition giving students the opportunity for example to do pitches to industry leaders and those types of things >> is if I read the contract it didn't mention the chamber of commerce. I don't think >> when I first developed this agreement, it wasn't with in partnership with the chamber. The chamber >> my youngest daughter went through the program with the chamber of commerce, hence my question. You know, we've changed to our schools of studies and we have a business school and stuff like that. And it seems to me like this should be a natural fit within that and also having the uh coursework be applicable to credits at IvyTech. And so, you know, we're paying money to
044other people to do what maybe we should be doing internally now at this point is my question. So, anyhow, but I won't be here next week to vote on it. So, you don't have to worry about that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All right, Mr. Thorne. Under new business, we have board policy 0166.1, the consent agenda. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board. Dr. Huff, the administration presents proposed new board policy 01661, which relates to the consent agenda. The proposed addition to your bylaws, provides a listing of the items the board has generally included on its consent agenda, and adds the ability to make technical corrections, for example, correction of a typographical or numbering error in a policy or a misspelled name in the minutes as part of the consent agenda.
045We talked about this a couple of weeks ago when we had >> community member who had some questions about policy. >> Bringing this to you tonight for your preliminary consideration. >> You uh board, do we have any questions regarding the consent agenda uh board policy? Hearing or seeing none, we'll move on. Uh Mr. Thorne, uh resolution um authorized by Senate Enrolled Act 249. >> Thank you. and House Enrolled Act 1000. >> Yes. Uh legislation enacted during the 2025 session of the Indiana General Assembly provides authority to make adjustments to the revenue available for collective bargaining related to both supplemental payments such as those that were approved by the board earlier this year as well as to exclude from the amount of educational fund revenue available for collective bargaining those funds allocated this school year for
046curriculum materials. this proposed resolution. If approved, we'll make those adjustments and we're seeking your approval this evening of that resolution. >> Thank you. Uh do I have a motion? >> Move. >> Do I have a second? >> I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussions from the board regarding this resolution? Seeing or hearing none. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Uh next uh resolution uh um well with regarding Chartwells. >> Thank you. The administration seeks approval of a proposed resolution authorizing and approving the payment of a hiring incentive to food food service employees who are now employed by Chartwells and an adjustment to paid leave benefits for those food service staff members who will remain in the employee of Elkart Community Schools. seeking your approval of that
047proposed resolution this evening. >> Thank you. Uh on this uh particular uh resolution um upon discussion with the board, I'd like to motion um that uh this resolution um be removed from the agenda tonight and placed on the agenda for the next board meeting to allow uh a slight adjustment to the verbiage. All right. >> Do I have a a second? >> Okay. I have a motion. I have a second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Thank you. Next, we have uh the re a resolution for accepting the transfer of real property from the city of Elkcart redevelopment commission. The >> administration is seeking approval of a resolution accepting the transfer of real property from the city of Elcart redevelopment commission. This property will be used by the Elkard Air Career Center building trades
048program for the construction of new homes. This project will benefit our community through the addition of new housing within the city of Alcart and within the boundaries of Elcart Community Schools. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I have a motion and I have a second. Any comments or questions from the board regarding regarding this resolution hearing or seeing none? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. >> Very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Thorne. Dr. Hoff, the floor is yours, >> President Scott. U members of the board community. Um I just wanted to echo again um really outstanding presentation by the Monger and Monger team. Um many of you don't know actually last year they were u their school wanted to
049be visited by the IDOE for the outstanding practices and the things that they do for children. Um, so Doug, when you were talking about selling things to other schools, which I would not recommend, um, what I do recommend is that we share openly and lovingly with our colleagues around the state. And so, again, um, they're they're making a lot of magic down there. So, I just want to tell you, hats off to to to your squad and outstanding educators. Um, and also to your building custodian in your building. Um, April, look at your face. You can literally eat off the floor at that school. It is it is magnificent. Um the um the way that the school is taken care of. So hats off to your team in that as well. Um I also want
050to give a huge shout out to um our um u building maintenance team. They've been moving books around our district at a phenomenal pace. Um if Mr. Pollson, if you're watching you and your team, I know Dr. Roush has been emailing them every single day to get things shipped from here to there. um as we receive um a lot of our textbooks in from our um vendors um as um in our district. So I know that's not been an easy task. So thank you Dr. Ash for coordinating on this end. But it does take someone to actually move things from here to there. So I just want to say thank you to Mr. Fawson and his team. Um this on September 11th this week, there's a couple things that are happening. I have the pleasure
051of speaking at the chamber superintendent of breakfast this week with um our colleagues from Concord and from Bago. Um, so I look forward to sharing all the great things are happening in Elcart, but also to talk about some of the challenges that we are facing, not just here in our district, but every other district around the state of Indiana. If you're watching um other new news or wherever you received your information, uh I still cannot comprehend about all the things that are tied up in Senate uh enrolled act one. um superintendent and and their staff leadership, building teachers, all of us know that that is some of the most devastating legislation that um has impacted Indiana and will shape us for years. And so I look forward to speaking to our legislators who will be
052there to to advocate on the behalf of Elcart Community Schools, but also to really talk about the reality of how this impacts kids and the and the way the way that we do work. So I'm look forward to that on September 11th. Um, and then that on that evening we have a resource fair in our community. I know you spoke about it, Mrs. Wood at the beginning, but I want to give a huge thanks to Regina Robinson um for for putting that together. Over 60 vendors are going to be joining us that evening um just to talk about how our community comes alongside of our schools to make things work um for our kids. Um they all of us need something a little bit different to be successful. So I'm glad that there's so many
053people who want to work alongside of our schools. Um, and so the the beginning of the year is flying by. I can't believe we're almost at the the middle of September. Um, and so I just want to tell you, um, thank you to our staff, our community, anyone who touches the lives of the kids. Um, someone reminded me that the words that you say to children will matter. They matter. They matter for a long time. Um, they might be the only thing that they hear positive that day. So remember, whether it's a child, whether it's yourself, whether it's colleague, you you can never praise someone more than you think or think somebody else has it or they got it. That's not typically how that works. So I just want to say again, thank you to
054everyone who's trying to make a difference in the life of a kid. So appreciate it. I'm going to turn it back over to you, President Scott. >> Thank you, Dr. Huff. Uh anything uh from the board? >> Yes. Um, this afternoon I was over at the diesel technology building and it's impressive to see a facility that has 16 doors to it and stuff like that. I mean, that's 8 plus 8. That's huge. Uh, they're still working on filling out the other eight doors there. And also, I walked through the uh, construction building, the new classrooms that they have up there, and uh, all that is going to be absolutely huge. Um, last but not least, I'd like to give a shout out to the city of Elcart for the awesome concert that they had on
055uh Saturday evening with the Commodores and Cool and the Gang. And so the evening finished with Cool and the Gang doing celebration and the mayor and uh his wife Regina cutting a rug on the stage uh doing their best of 80s moves or something like that. I'm not sure, but it was very impressive. and the city of Elcart, uh, you know, they're coming back as are we. Uh, so it's a good message for our city, it's a good message for our school, and it's also a good message in the fact that, you know, how much music determines the culture, you know, within our community here. So, thank you very much. >> And I'd like to um highlight um some things that I think, you know, we're so focused on English language arts and math. Um
056but we also know that science and social studies are important as well um for the development of our kids and specifically for science. Um science really is the application of what they're learning in language arts and what they're learning in math and being able to put that um in using that in realistic ways to help them learn and make those connections. And one of the things we haven't talked about um was our science um results from the from the last iLearn exam. So, I just wanted to give a big shout out to Mary Feeser and their fourth grade um science um fourth grade team of teachers beat the state average um for science and so that's a huge deal. They improved their scores over 20%. [Applause] And I don't think many people um realize that.
057So, I wanted to highlight them. I also wanted to highlight um Eastwood, Bristol, and Woodland. They also had some big g big gains in fourth grade. Um and Cleveland had big gains in sixth grade. And so I think as as the world we live in with the technology and the STEM careers, having that science piece is really important um for our kids to make those connections. So, just a highlight to the staff um and and what they're doing to help um increase those numbers and making science fun and realistic and making connections to the pathways um of the jobs of today and tomorrow. >> Thank you, Hen. Anyone else? >> Coming to you with another episode of Kelly's Corner. This is a new podcast that I created inside of this little board meeting and to
058it's going to feature different aspects of our school system. And tonight I am going to feature our payroll department, a department that many people very much appreciate every other week, but they often forget about how hard they work. And recently they have really been working overtime. And I want to give a special shout out to Chris and the superintendent's office that has also jumped over there and Maggie and her department. But our payroll department as they go through the eb and flows of everything that we hear about finances has just really stepped up to do some remarkable things. So inside of this building know that you are recognized, you are appreciated and you are applauded payroll department. And I felt like it was kind of like one of those commercials that we celebrate you payroll
059department. So I'll see you in two weeks with our next department of celebration. >> Thank you Kelly. >> You're welcome. Kelly's Corner. >> Thank you Kelly. I'm sorry. Thank you Kelly's Corner. Thank you. >> Too late. Now back to uh our regularly scheduled program. >> Yes, sir. >> Do we have >> we need a we have a commercial break. >> Yes. It's it's called adjournment. So if uh if nothing else, I now adjourn the meeting. Thank you everyone.