001Is everybody here? >> I think it's hilarious. >> Woman, right woman. >> All right. All right. I'd like to thank everybody for uh coming out to our August 12th uh 2025 Elkart Community School Board meeting. At this time, I'd like to call the board meeting to order. You please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Miss Davis, the Elcart Promise. >> Every student is known by name, challenged, and supported by highly effective staff, and in partnership with the community will graduate college, career, and life ready. >> Thank you, Miss Davis. Our invitation to speak protocol. Each of you received uh a
002pamphlet when you uh sat down. There's a little sheet here to fill out. Please fill that out and give that to Dora. If you'd like to speak when your name is called, please come to the podium. Uh you'll have three minutes. Uh please state your name and your relationship uh uh to the school district. Uh you can speak on any agenda or non-aggendum it uh item. Um because of the Family Rights and Privacy Act, boards cannot publicly discuss personal or personnel or personal student issues. So, please do not uh uh bring those uh forward. Thank you. Public comment. Thank you, Angela Whit. Good evening. Welcome back to a new school year. Um, I noticed today in your policy or that you had a whole bunch of policies going on. Um, so I didn't unfortunately get
003through all of them because there was a lot. Um, I'm about 50 pages shy. So hopefully you guys have all read them because I I saw that you uh are trying to do approval with the first reading on all of them. So here's just a few. These are um grammical or uh >> Grammatical. Thank you. >> It's been a while since I've been up here. Get a little nervous. Um policy mandatory curriculum. Um letter O is removed. The corresponding letters need to be fixed. The same thing with policy 2416, student privacy and parent access. Um letter H is removed. Corresponding letters need fixed. Policy number 5111, uh, determination of legal settlement. Um, letter I in the second paragraph. This, I know this sounds like foreign language to everybody, but hopefully it can be a little
004understood by the board. Um, letter I in the second paragraph. The student um, the word the student is repeated twice. Should it state something else or just be removed altogether? Um, and then here are some policies that I went over that I had a couple concerns about. Um, policy 2410, audio, video, and digital recordings of meetings. Um, I like that you guys are giving the parents the opportunity to record um, it being denied by the district. Um, I don't like the time restraints, the two days in advance for parents to give a notice and then the one day for the superintendent to be able to reply um, yes or no that they can record, that seems a little rushed. um especially when if a parent does not give the two-day notice. Um also I'm wondering
005it states in there that the district can also record but it doesn't state and give parents the option of saying yes or no and opting out of that recording. So if the district if the parents have to ask I feel like the district needs to ask as well. um policy 2416 which I noticed earlier with the air um student privacy and parent access. What is the procedure for distribution of written consent forms that has been developed by the superintendent? Where do parents find this kind of info when it states in your policies where other procedures would be? Um same thing with policy 2461.18 recordings of IEP. you're not giving the parents um or the district isn't letting parents know that um it's being recorded. So parents need to be aware if the district records as
006well. Um and then I have a whole bunch more. There's so much. But policy 5517 is the anti-harassment. It's so much better than what it was before, but it still needs some uh some tweaking in my opinion. Um, obviously I'm out of time, but I've got about two pages of of discrepancies with your policies. Um, unfortunately I wasn't able to email them to you guys like I normally do, but hopefully you guys will maybe consider looking over and reviewing some of your policies before you approve every single one tonight. >> That that would be my ask. Would Could you email your list? >> Yeah, absolutely. I in a car. >> Good evening. I'm Diana Curry, former food service employee. I'm back to continue the previous discussion regarding the banked PB days. While I was not
007able to attend the last meeting, I assume you've all received the correspondence um sent through the board secretary. On June 30th, I submitted a right to know request for information so that I could present to you accurate numbers, but have not received anything back yet. Um my request may not have been worded properly to receive the information needed as the lawyer informed me that they are not required to create any reports to satisfy my request. However, I was simply requesting the total amount of banked PB days for the employees. Although that should should be easily obtained considering at the meeting on June 12th, an employee from payroll was in attendance and able to provide any employee or require inquiring about their balance with an exact number of days that they were owed. Through conversations that
008I've had, I am led to believe that there is approximately only three to four employees who are not going with Chartwell that are owed bank PB days. From what I can gather, um, the highest number of days is 14. Um, so we're disputing about $5 to $8,000. Um, I understand that might seem like a lot of money. Um but we earned those days and uh we deserve to be paid out just like the people who are going to Chartwells. So I just want to ask that you take into consideration that we've requested to be paid out for our bankked PB days just like the employees that are going to Chartwells are being paid out theirs. And we're not asking for any more than you've offered them. Thank you. >> Angela Schwarm. Good afternoon board. Thank
009you for taking this time to hear us one more time. Um we're hoping that a resolution will be, you know, come soon and that um we'll both kind of come to a meeting and understanding of what we're requesting and what the district can do for us. Um and me and Diana together sent the email. So I really thank you guys for taking the time to read that. I know your days are busy and you have a lot of emails you're reading. So, we appreciate even just having that conversation again about our bank PB time. But today, what I was here to address is a letter that Diana received from um Doug Thorne. And in that letter, I quote, it says, "I would note, however, that a number of your requests would require creation of records
010that do not currently exist." And I just wanted to let you know that I was the staff who asked Tara that day what my banked B be time was. And I was expecting her to say, "Just email me. I'll get it to you later." But I will tell you there was a ready list right away and she could tell me Angela you have 10.5 days banked. So that list is currently available as well as I was also the food service secretary and I was a part of the person calling the staff to ask them were they going with chartwells or were they going to continue with Elcart if they were um within that two-year time or were they resigning. So I do know all those lists are in creation. Um and the part of it
011where it said um the number of food service staff before the transition, I absolutely had that list as well as it was my position to keep record of the staff and you know I paid bonuses and I did a lot of things with the um attendance and things like that. So I 100% could get that information if that is part of the hangup. But I feel like and I know HR did an amazing job at um keeping record of who was going with which chart was and who wasn't as their emails were very clear and explicit. This staff is moving on to chart roles or this staff is not. So I know the data is there. It's just about a matter of meshing it together and just to see how many of us are there
012really. I mean there probably really is only three or four of us. So, we're kind of arguing about very small numbers. And I feel like that little bit of people, it's just the right step to just make us whole and make us receive the same thing that Chartwells received. So, thank you for your time and I really just um really appreciate it. And I just want to tell you how much I do love Elcart. I miss it. I miss the people. I miss the staff. It was very special to me. I was here 18 years. So this outsource may have outsourced me but I just want you to know how amazing of people you guys have here. So thank you very much for your time. Have a good evening. >> You all right uh all
013the public comment. Uh next on the agenda, excellence of Elcart Wendy Wood. 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. Maybe I don't know what's going on up there. Well, while preparing for >> while preparing for the school year, educators, administrators, and support staff were hard at work engaging in professional development centered on student success. From welcome back sessions to keynote speakers and leadership gatherings, those experiences ensure that when students return, they are met with knowledgeable, empowered, and motivated staff ready to support and inspire the excellence of Elcart. This past week, our elementary staff welcomed incoming kindergarteners to their school buildings for kindergarten readiness. The program gave our newest students time to explore their school,
014learn classroom routines, and get a head start on the school year. In the area of arts, last week marked the final days of summer band and orchestra practice for our incoming sixth and seventh graders. They celebrated their hard work. Students in both programs held a recital showcase the progress they've made over the past month. In athletics, over the summer, middle school girls volleyball players practiced with their respective schools before coming together for the first time to train and grow as athletes. From incoming sixth graders to rising eighth grade leaders, they h they headed to tryyous with new skills, confidence, and momentum. Our athletic department kicked off the first ever Elcart Lions football night by bringing together football athletes from across the district, including elementary, middle school, high school, girls flag football. The night offered opportunities
015to build skills, connect across age groups, and grow as united football community with mentorship and teamwork at the heart of the experience. Future happening. Tonight was our open houses. August 14th will be the first day of school. The 14th is also our first girls flag football game and the 26th will be homecoming. >> Thank you, Wendy. Next on the agenda, we have a human resources report. Missano, >> hello. Good evening. All right. Um, first of all, uh, good evening, uh, President Scott, members of the board, and Dr. Huff. It's a pleasure to be here today and given the opportunity to provide an update as to where we are with staffing right now as we're getting prepared to start the school year. And so, I thank you for that opportunity. So, in March, I presented just
016some information in regards to where we were with staffing as we wrapped up the school year in the spring. And I brought this chart back just so that we can see some trends. And the purpose for this is just to show where the district is trending uh as we start the school year when we look at student enrollment and how we are addressing staffing to ensure that we're aligning it with student enrollment and staffing needs. And so for that reason, I brought this chart back just to uh help us as a reminder where we left off. All right. So there we go. We are looking at a span of maybe six, seven years including the 26 uh 25 26 school year. And as we're looking at the trends of student uh enrollment declining but our
017staffing levels being constant while that is a positive indicator of uh staff retention. It also help highlight the need to do a targeted focus in regards to how do we align staffing to meet the student enrollment needs. And those are some of the contributing factors that we have seen as to the reason for that staff levels being consistent the last few years. And some of the examples for those contributing factors that I just want to point out would be positions that were uh created that were funded through ESER. When we had those funds available, there were needs that were identified that the district needed to provide supports such as EL family specialist position. We had a couple of social worker positions that were also funded through ESR funds as well as a need for translator
018interpreter that we added positions at a couple of the middle schools. So that was one of the factors. The other factor factor is that as we continued to have needs in special education, uh there was the need to uh provide one-on-one support which often uh translated in um RBTs, which were the uh registered behavior technician positions, and many of those were one-on-one supports for students. With that uh position, we have since re-evaluated those positions. They have been reclassified and properly aligned. Um but through the uh trending charts that we're looking at, that was one of those factors where we saw an increase in staffing as well. The other factor um that we looked at would be the reclassification of social workers. Historically, social worker positions were classified or support positions and those positions have since
019been reclassified to certified. So now they're part of the bargaining unit. So what that uh did was that it increased the FTE aotments for the certified staff. And then uh most recently we also found the need to um have literacy codra coaches at the elementary level and that was as a result of a need to support the requirement for the science of reading. And in order to do so, we needed to ensure that we secured literacy codra coaches to provide those supports, which then translated to 11 FTEEs at the elementary level. And then towards the end of the school year, we were also working on the transition of sixth grade from elementary to middle school, which also required some additional supports to ensure the transition went well and students and staff were pro uh supported.
020So to that end, we added a counselor to each building uh making that a total of three counselors per building as well as assistant principal at two of our middle schools. We added the elective of computer science positions uh three at each school in addition to a section of language arts and math. So those were some of the additions that we are noticing in the trends uh from the uh start of the 201920 until now. And so with that being said, as we're looking at staffing, we want to ensure that we are trending in the right direction where the district needs to be. And so to do that, we are looking at staffing in a a aspect in which it's driven by enrollment versus in the past we had staff based on projected enrollment. We're
021looking now at actual enrollment and registration to drive those decisions. In addition to that to ensure that we are focused on that goal, it's also we have implemented a tool to help with the FTE systems control. And what that has allow us to do over the summer as we've been looking at staffing is also provide transparency in regards to what staffing what positions we have available as well as to ensure that we're properly tracking those FTEEs to ensure that we're minimizing over staffing. It also enables us to do accurate reporting as well as make shifts if we need to do so based on those enrollment needs. The tool that we have implemented for the FTE control system will also then be integrated with our personal management system that will allow us to use that tool
022that currently is not in our system which has been also one of the uh challenges. But with this FT tool that we have uh utilized over the summer, it will then uh be implemented to continue again to ensure transparency with the positions and ensure adequately staff. We continue the efforts in aligning the lensure with the positions that are needed to ensure that they're properly licensed and certificated. And we also looked at our substitute compensation policy. And so over the summer, the board approved an adjustment to the substitute policy which aligned to be able to be where the district needs to be in in those roles. I do want to mention that the staffing work didn't just start this summer. We did begin that work as a district uh creating that targeted focus with aligning staff
023to student enrollment in spring of 2025. So we started early on looking at our staffing needs for this coming school year. And that entailed uh looking at uh having a thorough review of all the positions district-wide. We looked at all groups such as administrator positions uh certified. We also looked at um we the elimination of deemed positions which were housed in the certified employee group. We reviewed all of the support staff positions. So every single position was reviewed to ensure that we were aligning it to the student need. Also, a part of those discussions, we collaborated with building principles to ensure that we also uh got their feedback and their input as we were looking at staffing needs so that they had what they need to support students at the buildings so that every decision
024that is being made as it pertains to staffing is data driven and those decisions are made ultimately with student enrollment and student focused need. The other um graph that I want to bring back from March and this is primarily just to provide a comparison where we left off in 2024 25 and where we're heading 2526 when we ended the school year. I had reported back in March that we were ending the school year with 835 certified positions. At the moment we are at 756. Now, I want to mention that the numbers that are on the spreadsheet are based as of August 8th. Um, currently it is a bit fluid as we continue to staff for some of the positions, but I did want to show how we're trending. Also, when it comes to the certified,
025I'm sorry, the classified staff, we ended the school year with 9008. At the moment, we're at 703. And I want to pause there to explain the reason for the difference because that is a significant uh difference. And that is primarily as a result of a transition that we did uh from a food service employee being in house to being transitioned to Chartwells. In addition to that through attrition as we have received resignations and retirements those positions have also been re-evaluated. When positions are vacated they're not automatically posted. They go through a vetting process to ensure that they're aligning with our district goals. Uh so for that reason uh we have those differences and then I also wanted to highlight our substitute uh employee group. They are a very important employee group in the district because
026they provide a support in the absence of our teachers. So we ended up the school year with 247 substitute teachers. Every year we have an annual meeting in which it's required for them to attend so that they receive the training and information necessary. Once they attend the meeting then their accounts are reactivated. This year we held one meeting and not everyone was able to attend the meeting. So based on those who were able to attend 144 uh are reactivated and those that were not in attendance we have been bringing them in one at a time to get the information necessary to ensure that they are ready to start the school year. I also want to highlight that with our substitute pool uh as the school year progresses, we will continue to increase that pool and
027the goal is to have a pool of substitute teachers that will be available to cover in the absence of a teacher or a support role that requires that absence at any given time. Um so I also wanted to u make mention of that important employee group. Also, I want to share just as a point of comparison, again staying on the topic of ensuring that we're aligning staffing to student enrollment. In 2024, the district hired 110 certified staff as we have been aligning our decision making process to student enrollment. At the moment, as of August 8th, we were at 41. With that said, I want to just make a note that it's fluid because there's still a few positions that we are currently processing and needing to fill, but I wanted to be transparent in the
028sense that while it's 41, it's not going to stay at 41, but in comparison to last year, you can see a significant difference. So, on that note, as we look at our ongoing needs, uh in the spring, I also shared these same three different contents in which we were in need of support. I am happy to report that since this report was put together, we have filled some of the math positions uh where we were at 7 on the 8th, we are currently at 4 and uh signs from 9 to 6. So over the summer, the school board approved a resolution to be able to uh provide a bonus or an incentive through a stipen to those that are in those content areas. Uh so we continue to make progress to uh fill those needs.
029I also want to just um focus that the those needs continue to be high needs and hard to fill positions. So we continue those efforts. What are those efforts? Some of them include uh open interviews. last week and this week as a district, we've been holding open interviews in which candidates have been coming into the building here and also at at the middle schools to have those open interviews to be able to fill some of those roles as well as as I mentioned we had our annual substitute meeting and through that meeting we did uh get a list of substitute teachers that are seasoned substitute teachers that have been able to provide um that um notification that they're ready to fill those roles if need be for long-term sub assignments. And as I mentioned, um
030we continue to evaluate staffing. We have staffing meetings every day. We look at enrollment numbers. We look at staffing needs to be able to pivot and adjust where we see the need merits that. So in a nutshell, that is some of the work that has been going on over the summer, not just in HR, but just through the district level. um because it is a team effort and requires input from many stakeholders. So with that being said, uh that concludes the presentation on the uh human resources department. If there are any questions, I'll be more than happy to assist. >> Maggie, do we have a board? Do you have any questions? The only thing I I was wondering like in the past we've had questions about how we go through with the background checks and
031that like it seems like for us we struggle with that a little bit like and I love this. I think this is positive and wonderful and I think the changes that we've made are great but like in just talking to like peers at other districts their background checks seem to move a little bit quicker and I know we've talked about this before. Have we rectified that? Are we able to move much more efficiently with our background checks or are we still kind of like stuck with employees waiting to get hired with us because our background check has not happened? >> Excellent question. Uh the turnaround time that we have been seeing has been anywhere from 1 to two 3 days maximum if they have lived in other states. So as we have been bringing staff
032on board our average turnaround is two days. With that being said, there is a part that the district plays in processing those. The other part is based on the applicant. It depends on how quickly the applicant acts on that length that we provide to them. It also depends on where they have lived. If there are counties in which uh they have to send somebody personally to check records. So, it really it has a couple of factors embedded in that, but for the most part, I can confidently say that our turnaround time has been averaging two days. You're welcome. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Thank you very much. >> Great report. >> Yeah, it was good. >> Mr. Thorne, legal report. >> Thank you. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board. Dr.
033Huff while Jake gets the slides to move to the next set here. Um, as you're well aware, uh, legislation enacted this year, uh, has brought significant changes to tradition to traditional public education. Many of these changes have resulted in a substantial number of policy revisions that will be presented for your consideration and approval this evening that I know all of you have spent a great deal of time over the last week uh reviewing as well. I'd like to take a moment to highlight uh four major topics that have resulted from this year's legislative session. Uh the first topic looks like I can now advance. Great. uh focused on uh human sexuality instruction uh and changes to state law related to delivery of that instruction by our by our teaching staff. Beginning this year, Indiana school
034boards must actually approve all of the curricular materials utilized for this instruction. Uh in addition, the districts must actually post those materials on the website and state law also requires that the instruction include both an ultrasound video of the early fetal development and a computerenerated video showing the process of fertilization and fetal development. uh our instructional staff has been working diligently to to uh develop these materials uh for your review later this year as again uh the board will actually have to act to approve the curricular materials under these changes to Indiana law. Uh actually took us a while to to locate these materials. Uh the state department of education did not have any of these materials for us. So, we had to work uh with a number of different districts uh to locate some
035of these instructional materials, but we now have them all in place. In addition to those obligations, the law creates uh continues some of the obligations that began last year in terms of providing a great deal of opportunity of notice and consent to parents before that instruction is provided. And those measures have been in place for over a year and continue to be utilized by the district. Uh, another area of focus for the general assembly really has centered on parental rights. Uh, and clearly establishing under Indiana law some parental rights. Uh, number one would be, uh, emphasizing the rights of parents to be actively involved in their child's education. Uh, including establishing by Indiana law the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, education, andor health care of their children. uh and House Enrolled Act
036uh 1285 specifically addresses those uh some of those issues under I'm sorry under House Enrolled Act 442. House Enroll Act um 1285 uh affirms a parent's right to record an IEP meeting uh as was discussed earlier this evening. Uh it also includes a provision that uh establishes the parents right to to collect a child's property after the child is no longer enrolled in school. Uh and then Senate rule uh 143 as we already talked about speaks to the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing religious education uh instruction, education, healthc care of their children, but also prohibits a staff member from advising a child to withhold information from a parent. Another change is the continued focus of the general assembly on the issues of both absenteeism and discipline. Uh the absenteeism statute really expanded
037this year beyond just our elementary schools to really cover students from grades K through grade 12. Uh so the procedures that we put in place last year just to address issues for our elementary students now apply as well. with secondary students. As you'll note, the amount of time that a school corporation has to h hold that attendance cont conference with parents has been expanded from 5 days to 10 instructional days. Uh, another interesting provision that was included in the statute. Uh, is in place for just this year prohibitions against suspension or expulsion that are solely based upon either a chronic absence or habitual truency. uh so those changes have also come into play uh with some of the changes from the general assembly. The final issue that we want to talk a little bit about
038in terms of statutory changes really focuses on the issue of child protection laws and actions by the Indiana General Assembly to strengthen those laws. House enrolled 41 1412 requires law enforcement to investigate when an alleged abuser is a staff member, a youth coach, or a volunteer of a school, an agency, or an organization, and to determine whether or not that institution was aware of the abuse and failed to report it. This legislation really reinforces the need for schools and other institutions to thoroughly document uh reports of inappropriate behavior and ensure that all of our employees understand that process. As you know, uh, over the last couple of years, we've worked pretty aggressively to make sure we have a thorough process of documenting anytime a report is mailed to child protective services, whether it be related
039to an employee or just a general uh, report of abuse or neglect that we might receive and how we document. So, I think that will help us in terms of being able to show uh, full compliance with this statute. In addition to that, uh we continue to very thoroughly make sure that our employees are well trained uh to understand the importance of reporting these incidents properly, promptly uh and appropriately. So I think those are several of the issues that led to many of the policies that you are going to be considering later on this evening. Be happy to answer any other questions you might have related to uh these statutory changes. Thank you, Doug. I've got a quick question regarding House RO Act 1412. Um, what what other conditions can be met for an individual's
040duty to be waved and delegated to somebody else for reporting? >> For example, it would be if that individual knew that the report had already been made by another employee, but you'd have to have actual knowledge of that. uh many years ago the statute actually required that even if the principal was in the same room with the employee when they made the report that they had to make a separate report. So the only way it could be waved is if you have actual knowledge that the report had been made and so really that perfect example of uh prior law in that area uh really comes into play there. >> Thank you. Are these u policies straight out of Niola or >> they the policies were preliminarily drafted by Niola but then uh administrators reviewed those
041policies and made changes to make sure that they very clearly mesh with the practices and the needs of Elkart Community Schools in terms of the development of the policies. >> These policies have been reviewed by administrators before they make it to our desk here. >> Absolutely. uh Dr. Roush, Dr. Huff, Lindseay Brander, uh Michelle Ree, many of us have reviewed these policies before they came to you. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Thornne. Next on the agenda, we have the consent items. Do I have a motion? So move. Do I have a second? Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Um, any comments? >> Sure. >> So So we have $6,300 donated from our community. And on behalf of Bailey's Butterflies, a wonderful organization, we received $3,500 to complement our Elcart
042High School volleyball and all three of our middle schools. CTS Corporation has started the role with $1,500. You'll hear a lot about our robotics. They did a wonderful job last year receiving all the donations and we had them here speaking to us. So, we're looking forward to that. Again, the International Union of Operating Engineers donated $300 for our Skills National that represents our Elcar area career center and also our diesel service tech. So, we'll hear a lot about that as we move on. And then an anonymous donator gave to our swim and dive team $1,000. So, as we begin this school year, we have $6,300 from our local community. And we say um welcome to Rob Freeze, who will be our new principal over at um Mary Feeser. So, that's a great addition. And then
043we had retirement of four employees that equaled 75 years. So, Nancy Baker at Mary Dailyaly was our fifth grade uh teacher. Ted Keeler, North Side Career Readiness, he had three years. Val Mullins at Beardsley, second grade, 32 years. And Stephanie Shyman at Elcart High Academy, 16 years. Well, Elcart High, but so we had 75 years of retirement. So, we say thank you for everything. And that, of course, we always say they're welcome back as substitutes. I might have the Do I have that wrong on Stephanie, Jessica? Do I have that wrong on what I said? Okay, good. All right. Fantastic. So, 75 years of retirement. welcome back as substitutes and thank you to our community. >> Thank you, Miss Mullins. Do I have any other discussion or uh from the board regarding the consent items?
044>> I do. Okay. So, when we talked about like um different things that might need correction as we move forward voting on all of these policies as a whole and Doug Doug reviewed the fact that we've gone over these, we've had staff go over these. So, these come presented to us, corrected and ready to go. How do you once we approve it, do you just go in and revise that like corrections and then it comes back to us? I'm just curious as to like what Angela said when we have those. How does that work? >> Oh, hey Doug. >> Yeah. Thank you. we can actually address uh through bylaws how we deal with technical technical corrections like those so that we can make sure that the actual policies are clear in terms of that particular
045issue. So I will actually be presenting during the next board meeting a resolution that specifically addresses our ability to make technical corrections like that without having to go through a thorough board review. And then I want to affirm that as you bring these policies to us, this happens yearly and when we have to change these, so you've made additions because of things that have come down from the state and up here, but these are policies that existed that we're just updating and making sure that we happen. So it's not it's not abnormal to put all of these in one large, not a second reading. Go ahead and vote. >> I I would say it's let me be careful how I phrase that. The legislaturator's actions this year really prompted this significant number of policy changes
046right before the beginning of the school year. Now, we always have some policy changes, but the amount of legislation that addressed these particular issues was pretty overwhelming. So, I think that's why you're seeing that many changes coming in this short of a time frame. >> Good. >> Yeah. Thank you. I just thought we should have that out there before we go ahead and move forward. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, I I'm just going to clean up the the agenda here. So, uh the conversation we just had related back to the legal report and new business down the road. What we do have on the table is a consent item motion and a second that we need to vote on. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Yep. Thanks. >> Just want to make
047sure everybody's on the the same page. >> Okay. All in favor of the consent items. >> Opposed. That motion passes. Now we'll go to old business. Mr. Thorne. Contracts. >> Old business is back. Uh thank you, President Scott, members of the board. Dr. Huff. Uh this evening the administration is presenting nine contracts for final consideration and approval. [Applause] Do I have a motion for the contracts uh for approval as presented? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I I have a second. Do I have any discussions or questions from the board regarding these contracts that were in our board packets? >> Um I do. Uh we're under old business right now. Correct. >> Correct, sir. >> Okay. And it doesn't list any contracts there, but it goes automatically
048to new business. And you mentioned nine contracts. Those contracts are all listed, Mr. Weaver, in the contract memo, which was included in the board packet, but we didn't identify in the agenda each one of those contracts. >> Okay. But historically, don't weize them here under the old business? actually, you know, it's very new that we've taken the contracts out of the consent agenda and I think that's why we're we're dealing with that. That's certainly an adjustment we could make moving forward in the agenda, but all those contracts were listed in the packet, Mr. or Mr. Weer, would you want to list them out for the record or >> I think it'd be good to list them. I'd be happy to do that. there people who are on Facebook or Google. >> Yes, I'd be happy
049to do that. >> They would have if they read the board packet. >> Yes. Um I'll go ahead and read the ones that are for final consideration here. Uh we have a proposed contract uh from FiveStar Life for uh innovative learning grant which is actually part of a grant that we received from the county community foundation. a contract with no red inc uh which is uh a subscription what is used by our high ability program uh a contract with a healthc care staffing uh which would allow us to to have working for Elkcart through Ammeris uh a registered nurse and an LPN in our schools uh a contract with instructure uh which will allow us to continue to use uh Canvas as our learning management system uh for our secondary schools, a contract with the
050Northern Indiana Workforce Board uh which relates to uh work that the career center does through adult education uh through our adult and community education program to deal specifically with workforce development and people who may not be currently employed uh who uh could utilize ize our adult education services to improve their ability to be successful in terms of obtaining a position. >> I'd like to add that this execution of this agreement other than the other ones does not obligate uh Elkart Community Schools to any financial commitment. >> That's correct. >> Which is always a plus. >> Uh yes. Uh thank you. an agreement with Pristine Rehab Care LLC which relates to the delivery of uh speech language pathology services to many of our students through our special education for our special education program. An agreement with
051Seesaw Learning uh Seesaw is the learning management platform that is used in our elementary schools. uh an agreement with Salantiant Health which again relates to speech pathology services and finally an agreement with Certaort uh which is a uh new certification for some courses that will be offered at Alcart High School. >> You're welcome. >> Great. So, did I have a motion in a second? I had a motion in a second. Okay. All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Now we go to um >> new business. uh contracts under new business. >> Thank you. The administration this evening presents uh 12 contracts for preliminary consideration by the board. >> I have any questions regarding the contracts uh for initial consideration from the board? >> I would um like to make a a motion to
052request that we um approve we wave um second reading for the ethos contract. um and um approve that tonight. >> And the reason to to wave second reading so we can get it uh in place >> so we get in place in the curriculum can be ordered and into the buildings quickly. >> Second. >> I have a motion and I have a second uh to uh wave second reading on the ethos contract. Uh do I have any other discussion or questions from the board? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? I >> opposed. That motion passes and the other uh contracts will be brought back to us uh for uh final reading. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Thorne, the podium and the floor is still yours. Updates on the board policy. >> Right.
053This evening, the administration is presenting 17 recommended board policy updates to ensure that we are in compliance with legislation recently enacted by the Indiana General Assembly and signed into law by the governor. We are going to request a waiver of second reading to allow time timely implementation of these policies before the student first student attendance day. Mr. Mr. Scott, do you want me to read the policy titles and numbers or just have the board act based upon the recommendation? >> Um, I I I think we do need the detail. >> Okay, be happy to provide that. The first item would be board policy 221, which is mandatory curriculum. Uh, next would be board policy 2410, which deals with audio, video, video, and digital recording of meetings. Board policy 2414, which we spoke about earlier this
054evening, which is reproductive health and family planning and human sexuality instruction. Board policy 2416, which is student privacy and parental access to information. Board policy 2461.18, which relates to recording of IEP team meetings and case conferences. Board policy 6323, student assessment. Board policy 3220.02, which is supplemental payments for teachers. Board policy 511, determination of legal settlement and eligibility for enrollment of students without legal settlement in the corporation along with proof of Indiana residency. Board policy 5200, attendance. Board policy 5223, absences for religious instruction. Board policy 5517, anti-harassment. Board policy 5517.01, which is bullying prevention. Board policy 5600.01, student discipline. Board policy 5605, suspension and expulsion of students with disability. Board policy 5610, suspension and expulsion of students. Board policy 5611, due process rights, and board policy 5771, search and seizure. >> Thank you for the
055detail. I have a motion and I have a second. Uh do we have any further discussion from the board regarding uh these updates on the board policy? I have a question about uh policy 2221 mandatory curriculum. >> Yes. >> Uh under diseases um it speaks to uh principles. I don't want to lose any principles here but it says principal may direct classroom teachers in their buildings to provide such instruction. The next sentence says it is a class C infraction for a school official to fail to comply with this requirement. And so principles may direct in a class C infraction seem to be at odds with each other a little bit. Seemed like a principal said you will do this as opposed to you may do this and somebody incur class >> class infraction. I don't
056want to see any of those happen. >> Do I Mr. Weaver? >> And so if you would oblige us with making that one correction I would be more than happy to approve that policy. >> I would be happy to make that one correction and change that made to a shell. I think all of our principles will appreciate your desire not to have them be charged with an infraction. >> Principles are hard to come by. >> Yes. >> And as discussed, um any numbering errors or uh grammatical errors that need to be cleaned up, >> but we'll make sure those corrections take place. I appreciate uh those being brought to our attention. >> I would say that um Carolyn Morris would be highly impressed with Miss Whitllo. Don't you think? >> Carolyn would be impressed. >>
057Very much so. she would be highly impressed. >> Any further questions or discussion from the board regarding the uh update to the board policies? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh next, updates to administrative guidelines. >> Again, the administration this evening also presents updates to 11 administrative guidelines to ensure compliance with recently enacted legislation. We're also going to request a waiver of second review to allow these guidelines also to be in place before the first student attendance day. Uh if you would prefer, I can point to those guidelines as well. They are administrative guideline 2221, which again addresses mandatory curriculum. Uh administrative guideline 2414, which speaks to reproductive health and family planning and human sexuality instruction. uh and a fly who wants to participate in this
058discussion. Administrative guideline 2416 which includes the procedures for distribution of written consent forms and inspection of materials used in connection with certain surveys, analyses or evaluations. Administrative guideline 2623 testing program. Administrative guideline 5600.01 student discipline 5605.01 01 discip disciplining special education students administrative guideline 5605.02 discipline in the section 504 student administrative guideline 5610 suspension and expulsion of students administrative guideline 5610.02 02 in school suspend discipline administrative guideline 5611 due process and administrative guideline search and seizure. >> Thank you Mr. Thornton for uh going over those individually and giving us the uh the detail. Do I have a motion to wave second reading? >> Motion. >> Do I have a second? I have a motion and I have a second. Uh wave second reading approve these tonight. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. >> Thank
059you. >> All right. Still you're >> a little bit more policy. >> A little more policy tonight. It's a big policy night. >> It's a big policy night. Both of these policies, however, presented for preliminary consideration. Uh the first would be board policy 6320 which is our purchasing policy. The proposed revisions to this policy which govern uh purchase of materials and supplies will provide further detail as to the procedures that we utilize when purchasing materials and supplies uh for the district as well as services for the district. uh and include some additional language uh related to making sure that we're on a regular basis evaluating service providers so that we're sure that they're providing a good level of service uh to the school corporation. Uh this policy has received a significant level of review uh
060from the business office and I also appreciate the input I got both from Miss Davis and Mr. Weaver related to this particular policy as they reviewed this over the last couple of months. Again, bringing this to you for preliminary consideration this evening. There any questions related to that policy? I'd be happy to answer them. >> Any questions or discussion? >> Um, I reviewed the policy and that particular one. I don't think that one's ready for prime time yet and uh I've uh given some input uh to that effect and um I'd like to see a uh you know it overhauled and maybe more customized to Elcart Community Schools. Uh it um as a as a purchasing guy myself um um that would not fly anywhere else. Um since it's on first reading, it will give
061us more opportunity to address those particular is concerns. >> Yes. >> Further questions or discussion from the board? >> All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Thorne. >> One more. >> He's got another one. then I will send you down. >> Yeah. >> Electronic monitoring and recording. >> Uh thank you. Uh the proposed revisions to this policy will address our use of surveillance cameras throughout the district and also the smart sensor technology which is utilized by the district for example for our vape detectors which are in our secondary schools. Bringing you this again for preliminary consideration this evening. >> Questions or discussion regarding that? >> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss Bradner. >> Good evening. We have agreements for residential and non-residential services. >> Uh good evening, Board President Scott, members of the board. Uh Dr.
062Huff, uh this evening, the administration recommends board approval for five agreements for non-residential services for Elkcart Community School students. Do I have a motion uh for the non-residential services agreement? >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any board questions or discussion regarding uh set agreements? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Roush. the 2025 2026 school calendar which I had to access today to figure out when fall break was. >> President Scott, school board of trustees, Dr. Huff, the administration presents proposed revisions to the 2526 school calendar. The administration would like to add October 1st and November 4th as synchronous learning days so that we
063can prepare ourselves for hopefully no bad weather, but just in case we have some weather days in the in the uh future, uh we will be very well prepared to um teach synch synchronously. >> Do I uh have a motion? >> I have a motion and I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussion regarding the school calendar? >> Dr. Roush, can you just explain to people who may not be aware the differences between synchronous and asynchronous and what will the expectations be for each one? >> Yes. So, asynchronous learning, we have three of those built in. And that's where uh teachers just post assignments to either Seesaw or Canvas and the students just work through um assignments and and if they you know have questions or anything they could email uh teachers
064synchronous learning h we have to do 50% of the school day needs to be taught live uh to students and so um we you know we would we have a um a schedule that would be set up so that um students would know when they would meet with their their teachers. Is that helpful? >> Probably a little better than I did uh this morning with my son. So, >> okay. >> So, thank you. Any other questions or comments? I have a motion. I have a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Dr. Hoff, the floor is yours, sir. Uh, >> thank you, President Scott and Mr. Board Community. Very busy week here in Elcart Community Schools. It was nice on Monday to uh welcome back our teachers over at the
065high school and our administrators. Um, they have been working tirelessly to make sure that, um, our kids who are running around the district tonight, you visiting their classrooms and in our schools, we're it it's it's the energy is nice. um Woodland. It was if you next door, it was if you saw that school, you couldn't even get up the street. So, I just want to say thank you for all the hard work that our staff have done, teachers, uh secretaries, our custodians, all the people who work behind the scenes to make sure that families get to experience the greatness of Elcart Community Schools. Um, and these nights are just reminders. Kids will always appreciate you being ready for them. They'll forget about what happened last year when they walk through those doors. It's a fresh
066start for them and it's a fresh start for you. And you know what they're entering a great spaces with great educators who are ready for them. So it was great uh great turnouts um both at the elementary the middle school and at the high school level. So I just want to say thank you to everybody um who helped to make the day great for kids and for families. Um also additionally I want to thank our transportation team, our um our IT team, all our behind our custodial staff, all the people who kind of are behind the scenes a little bit. they have been really working diligently to make sure that our district is ready to to go. Um I I do want to add a little bit to uh the enrollment. Over the last time
067I was here, I said that we were at roughly around 7,000 officially 7,500 officially enrolled. I was actually pretty worried. As of today, we are at 10,086. So over that 3-week period, Mrs. Brander, uh, those phones upstairs have not stopped ringing from what I understand. Correct. Um, hats off to you and your team and to our secretary of staff. Um, they've been working to really make sure that those families, those relationships matter. So, when they call, they come in. When those principles call, those families came in. So, I just want to say thank you um for for that. I believe our registration will actually be higher this year than it was last year. I was actually concerned a few weeks ago. Um, now I'm concerned for other reasons. So, um, and these are what we
068call Doug, you brought that up here. These are what we call good problems. Um, ladies and gentlemen, so just want to say thank you. Um, look forward to sending out that communication to our, um, school community this week. Um, another thing, um, school starts in on Thursday. So, kids, if you're watching this, and we know you are, um, watching our board meeting, u, please make sure that you're practicing to go to bed early. We need you ready to go bright and early on Thursday morning. I'm excited. It's almost like the preeason is over and and and really I I need the kids back. Um we're not the same without the kids being here. So families, we look forward to seeing you on this Thursday. Um but then I also want to share um we read
069every week of something called the Elcart Promise. And the Elcart Promise states that kids will have well I'll say the meaning of it. I won't say the actual promise. It says that, you know, kids will have opportunities and they'll be better because they are in our school district. You know what I think it's sometimes we need to make sure that the community knows that there's real proof in the pudding. Tomorrow I have the privilege along with one of our literacy cadre coaches to go down to the um Indianapolis area to be recognized for our work that we've done um in the area related to iid um one of our schools. And again, this information is an embargo, but you're more than welcome to watch at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Um, this is a huge deal
070for our school community. Um, one of our schools have will ranked inside the top 10 in the state of Indiana and not only proficiency, but as far as growth. This cannot happen without the skillful art of teaching from our educators. This cannot help with strong leadership from our building principles. this cannot help from the investment from the board what you did last year with by investing in um letters and all the PD the training there is a payoff kids win and it wasn't just one school I again the information is an embargo so I can't get into specific wexed um our performance I believe that we had the highest um growth as far as a large urban school district actually I'm being nosy over here I'm actually looking and comparing yeah we're doing pretty Well,
071so tomorrow, if you have an opportunity, please uh make sure that you look at the state board of education. I will send that email out tonight to our entire district. Please watch that. Honor um your classmate, not classmates, your your colleagues. Um hats off to them. But it's a huge feather in the cap in Elcart Community Schools. We should be known for excellence because that's what we do on a daily basis. So, this is just another um affirmation of that. I can't overstate that enough. Matter of fact, once this board meeting is over, I'm driving down to Indie to make sure that I'm there bright and early um to be ready to go because now I have to do a presentation as well while we're down there. So, um I just want to say thank
072you to those educators for the belief that you have in our children and I also want to thank you the board for the belief you have in our educators and our administrators as well. Um so, I'm pretty sure that you will all be diligently watching at 9:00 a.m., but I actually expect our administration team to do so. you sometimes will need to refer back to a reminder why we do this work. It's not for the accolades. It's sometimes for the reminder that hey, I've already done hard things. I've already done great great things with and for children. So, um that's a huge honor for us and I can't find if we've ever done that, but I know that we will have done that and we will do better this year as well. Um so, um
073I think that's it. I'm also want to ask Mr. Gus, I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. We talked a little bit about um the area up at Pinewood and up at Eastwood and up at Oslo. Can you come up and just share with the community what things we have in place for um so our kids can make sure that they are safe as school begins on Thursday? >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. So, we've been working very closely with the city to ensure that we maintain our our traffic flow, our vehicular traffic flow in in and around Pinewood. So, our parents will still be able to come in off of Genewood to come in for parent drop off and pickup. They'll also be able to
074come in off of Bristol Street to access the front office because, of course, we want all visitors to go through the front office. Our buses will still be able to access the front of Pinewood from Bristol Street. It's kind of a mess if you've been out there east, but we were able to work with them to maintain traffic flow in both directions in front of the school. As far as Eastwood, Eastwood will be fine in front of the school. It's going to be the neighborhoods that are right off of Bristol Street that are most disrupted. And unfortunately, that is something just because of the nature of the construction, but we're trying to help parents to understand that work around those those detours, follow those detours. The city's been very active in getting the message out
075as well. So, >> we'll have extra presence there as well on those days. Correct. >> We will. We actually the uh and I apologize, I can't remember the term. They are the believe they call them the traffic mitigation company has so uh uh advised us that they will have uh people that will be out there to help direct traffic in front of the school and along Pinewood as well. So we are going to be out there ourselves as well uh to make sure that um you know it's it's going as well as possible. The other piece, if you don't mind me adding, is that our our uh railroad system decided that August 4th was a great day to start the reconstruction of the Blazer Waterfall State Division Street intersection. And so they, if we're lucky,
076will be done tomorrow, but they're telling us worst case is Friday. So, I'm not a cross my fingers type of guy. Um but uh I'm certainly hopeful that they'll be done tomorrow. So our buses and our won't be impacted. Uh vehicular traffic will be walkers. They have a a safe zone for them to walk from the neighborhood to the west. So we're okay with that. But it it certainly does impact the start of school in both places. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. And there will be communication going out to families regarding what they can expect um on those first couple days of school. >> We're working on that to get it in your hands to well obviously we have a little bit of a situation. We will get it out to parents tomorrow. >>
077I was hoping to get it in your hands so you could see it first, but you don't mean that literally though. Correct. >> Correct. All right. All right. I'll be watching at 9:00 though. >> Yeah, we do. We do. It's It's a big deal. Thank you, Mr. GS. Appreciate it. >> All right. Well, um Mr. Scott, that is all I have. Uh lots of good things happening around our school district and uh I can't wait for the school year to begin. >> Thank you. Board, we have any uh closing comments from our board this evening? >> For sure. Um I so I like to like always celebrate something, but as you were talking about how Mrs. Brander's team was calling. I was thinking about Cindy Bonner Garcia and how her team like literally reached out
078to our Spanish-speaking community to make sure that they knew how to use the computers, how they knew how to sign in. And I talked to some of her, you know, people that work work with and around her and I was just in awe of how hard they worked and I thought that that was just wonderful, especially that one- on-one touch with our community. So, I want to celebrate her and her staff also because I think they did a phenomenal job. Um, and I want to say that um I I do want to talk about like that neighborhood and that traffic. I I really think that I'm so proud, Tony, of the work that you're doing in our community. I just really hope that we could spread the word to just slow down. Slow down in
079those areas and be careful. We have kids that are walking with no sidewalks. >> We have kids riding their bikes. They are flying through the neighborhoods. The neighborhood has taken it upon themselves to really be protective and it's already a lot um going to Pinewood and Eastwood, but I want to celebrate the people that are working on the road. They're really working hard to communicate with the the kids and the staff. So, like be careful on that. But I went to North Side today and I saw the excitement in our sixth grade teachers and they were through the roof and it looks amazing. I know there's still things to tidy up there. The bathrooms look great, but it was pretty impressive when I got upstairs and looked at where they were. And I I didn't
080know really what to expect when I went to talk to the sixth grade teachers, but but Dr. Huff, they were on fire and ready to go and very excited with the way they had the room set up. And I thought, you know, kudos to CORE and everybody that worked there. And um just driving by all of our elementarymentaries on the way here, I kind of pivoted around. It was just bustling today from 1 to 3. and then the line was crazy for all the elementary schools. So, congratulations to your team celebrating Miss Bonner and looking forward to a great year. >> Yeah, that's it. I'm done. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Anyone else? >> I I I would like to say and then and you know, one, thank the community for you know, student registration
081this year. It was new. Um it was different. Uh you know, a lot of people say, you know, you know, that's that's a big ask. I think last year 2500 at this time. >> 2,300 at this time were officially registered which makes it just a guessing game on what you're doing. And >> yeah, it it makes the the administration jobs very difficult and and trying to figure out how many kids are going to show up on the first day. And uh you know you uh you know one thing I keep saying about this community is like you ask them they will come through and they did. I mean well well over 10,000 and it you know it was the community getting online coming through the buildings. It was building principles. It was a team effort
082across the board. So, I want to just salute everybody from the parents to the uh uh building leaders to the administration for pulling this off uh in his first year. It was I I did not expect it uh to run this smoothly. So, so great job there and uh um I'm excited for the first day. Like you said, it's kind of got through preseason and uh we're ready for the uh uh kickoff for for the season. So, it's always an exciting time. Uh I still have one more left in school. I just remembered that when I had to register him. Um but uh uh he's uh he's excited like u many other students. So I I I am looking forward to a great uh uh year this year. So with that said, meeting adjourned.