EVSC School Board Meeting - February 23, 2026

001All right, everybody ready? >> The Monday, February 23rd board meeting of the school board of trustees for Evansville Vanderberg School Corporation to order. Roll call. Amy, >> President Duckworth, we have a full board present. >> Very much. As is a custom, would you all please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance? I aliance 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. >> Uh, next we have good news. Jason, good evening. >> Good evening. Thank you very much, President Duck, Lieutenant Hoover, members of the board. For good news this evening, want to just share these with you. I know, Reverend Gamblin, these may be near and dear to your heart. We uh were able

002to recently post on social media uh the progress being made at the rights bowl. As you know, you approved uh enhancements uh and investing in this great historic structure. So work was is coming along so well that we wanted to just highlight this this evening. Of course, as you all know, work is also going uh very well at Enllo Stadium at Bossy High School. And in the coming weeks, we will also get uh pictures and drone video of Enlow. And we'll come back and show you that. But I did just want to highlight this. If you haven't seen this or didn't notice it on social media, the great thing about just uh watching this at the bowl on the left side of the bowl, you almost get a before and after look because they're working

003their way from right to left around uh the seating area. So when you see the left, you still see kind of that concrete structure that people sat on for decades. When you look all the way on the right, you see the new features, the undercoating, uh the carebacks, and so you really get a feel for what the entire bowl is going to look like. So, just wanted to lift that. That certainly was very popular when we put that out on social media. Yes. >> Go back to that that blue square structure. Is that the Terry Hamlin commemorative wall? >> It could be. I see him shaking his head, so I don't see him disputing that. >> Uh, and then moving on, we'll stay with rights, our theme, one of our great high schools. Uh, congrats

004again. You know, we lifted a lot of athletic success at our last meeting during Good News. Uh the Knights Lady Panthers were the regional champions. Uh they've moved on and lost a tough one in the semi-state, but certainly had a fantastic season. So congratulations to them. And I did want to make sure that I said this uh because last time I'm not sure I shared the name. Speaking of athletics, also if you remember, I lifted swimmers and divers who did so well this year in the postseason. Uh, and congratulations to the two swimmers from North High School, Claire Co, uh, who competed in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, and Gabrielle Urban in the 100 backstroke and 200 meter. They both competed, uh, at the state swimming championship. So, so proud uh, of our athletes.

005Speaking of athletes, segue into our most recent, what's happening with Dr. Hoover as a former high school principal and a parent of an athlete. She is certainly no stranger to spending time in high school gyms. So, uh this was a great way for her and for our video uh to feature just winter sports athletics. Uh and you know, you get to hear these athletes talk. We interviewed athletes from each of our high schools just talking about the commitment and you can already hear them talking about what this is teaching them uh to prepare them for life. Just the hard work, the dedication, collaborating with teammates. So, great to hear their perspective on that. Uh, congratulations again. Just happens to be a rights theme this evening, Reverend. So, I know you're happy with all this. If

006you remember last time during good news, we had a national merit finalist from Wrights High School to share with you. Well, the day after the board meeting, uh, Principal Jeff Beerham received notification that he had a second national merit finalist and that was after the meeting. So, I wanted to lift Cali Tyler. If you remember, this puts you in the top 1% of high school students in the country, which is simply amazing. Callie is at right. She is also at early college. So, uh, great future ahead of her. So, congratulations to her on this incredible achievement. And then last but not least, you may be wondering why you've had cookies sitting at your table. We also passed those out to everyone in attendance this evening. So, if you remember back, I think it was in

007the '9s, we uh had a period of time where this was just a common thing we served during lunches in the pink iced cookies. So, our food nutrition office under the leadership of Norah Burgess uh really does a phenomenal job and from time to time now they are bringing those out not every day but from time to time. So, they also do social media post. We shared their post because as you know we have so many followers on EDSC. Obviously this hit home with a lot of people because once we looked at the reach data when we shared this same picture of pink iced cookies it reached when I checked earlier this morning uh it was 349,000 times. So this is one of the best posts we've had in terms of breach data for a

008while. I think it speaks to the fact people love these pink iced cookies. They have fond memories of them. So, in honor of that and that uh great reach on social media, you get to enjoy one this evening and thanks to Nora and in the food and nutrition department. And that is good news. >> I tell you, I have not heard one complaint about having cookies. >> No, I haven't. Most people when they they started it when I passed them around said, "Uh, maybe not." And then they saw pink ice, they're like, "No, never mind." He's going to >> Well, thank you to them. Very nice. Uh we have our visitor from the south with us this evening. >> He is with us. >> Mr. Jers, uh could you go into public comment, please? >>

009Uh President Dougworth, I don't have a sheet in front of me from Amy. So I don't know if we have anyone signed up. >> That would be because we did not. >> I'm happy to report, President Duckworth, that we have no public comment this evening. Maybe just read from your scorecard cuz I know you've been on the course and I'm not sure you're not wearing short pants with that suit. >> Not standing up. >> He's speechless. >> Yeah. >> How do you How do you make a lawyer speechless? >> There's something wrong there. Okay, we don't have any public comments or any more comments for that regard. We will move right into consent items. Dr. Hoover, good evening. >> Good evening, President Duckworth and members of the board of school trustees. We have five consent

010items for your consideration tonight. They are 3.01, consideration of the minutes from February 9th, 3.02, 02 consideration of the allowance of payments invoices net payroll payroll obligation for a total allowance of payments of 17,135,7742. 3.03 Consideration to approve curricular resources for the 2627 school year. 3.04 Consideration to approve contract contract driver transfers. 3.05 05 consideration to approve the permanent easement of the city of Evansville, Indiana water and sewer utility department on the property of Eagle Valley. These consent items are presented for your approval. >> So move >> second. We have a motion and a second on the floor to approve the consent item. Any questions or comments? >> Hearing none. All those in favor do so by saying I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries. Thank you. Next is personnel recommendations. Michelle Williams. Good evening.

011>> Good evening, President Duckworth, Dr. Hoover, members of the board. Tonight's personal recommendations include the following: retirements, resignations, termination, regular appointments, resignations for extra duty, >> school appointments. These recommendations are presented for your approval. >> So move second. >> Motion and a second regarding the personnel items. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor so signify by saying I. I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries too. Thank you very much. >> Next is our district spotlight with Dr. Hoover. I think we have a special guest this evening. >> We do. Uh Dr. Kenneth Trump is president of National School Safety and Security Services, a national consulting firm specializing in school security and emergency preparedness. With over four decades of K12 experience, Dr. Trump has worked with schools nationwide to improve safety and emergency

012readiness. Tonight, he will provide a glimpse into the work he's doing in EVSC and what our upcoming school safety audit will involve. >> Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, superintendent, and everyone else. Thank you for having us here. My colleague Chuck Hibbert is also uh here with me as well. Uh what I fortunately I'm going to have to start out with a little bit of disappointing news for Jason. Out of those 349,000 I think I was 149,000 views on these just to make sure you didn't stop that expected that your name is Trump. >> No comment moving forward. for conflict reduction, not so um I've had this name for many years, 60 plus. So, uh yeah, it it is good to be here and want to thank you because having spent 40 plus

013years in this field, I started out in Cleveland City School District actually as a student. I used to hang out in the school security office and uh type their reports in the division of safety and security and 40 years in the doctoral degree later I'm still doing school safety and it's certainly I was hired right after I uh shortly after I graduated and their division of safety and security worked in the then junior highs, high schools, elementary. I was an investigator and created and supervised a youth gang unit. There were five of us for 127 schools, 73,000 kids. suburban school security director and then took what was a part-time business into a full-time business working uh doing independent security assessments. We don't sell products, hardware, technology. We have no alliances and hidden agendas there to

014recommend things that uh vendors are are selling. It's strictly independent. We do training and I also do expert witness work. So we've had the chance to work from the Illutian Islands of Alaska with one school and 125 kids to Miami Dade with its own school police and school police SWAT team and many districts and independent schools in in between. Uh so we've seen a great deal and one of the things that we've learned is that if a saying we have in a field is if you've seen one school, you've seen one school. Each school is unique physically and its structure and its culture and a school community relations and the challenges that they face. And that's the importance of trying to look school by school when you're looking at policy decisions and administrative decisions to

015actually get a feel for what the concerns are, what the issues are, what's working well, and what recommendations we make. Uh school safety is a very emotional issue. Many of us if not uh most here have children uh grandchildren and other family members. And it's very easy for all of us when there's an issue or an incident or a concern, a weapon, a a fight, a conflict to become very understandably emotional and want to see something happen immediately. It takes restraint for leaders to take a tactical pause, if you will, and say, "Do a comprehensive assessment and then make good decisions based on data, based on uh an assessment, and try to balance that need of parents in the community to want the emotional instant guarantee that we'd all like to have with also making

016sound decisions where you get the best return on investment for what what you do." And one of the things that we've learned having worked as an expert witness on litigation from the mass shooting high-profile incidents uh from Sandy Hook and Parkland to other high-profile incidents to many things that you won't hear about uh that have happened in in schools uh as far as just many different types of crime and violence is that while the facts of each case vary, the common thread is they involve allegations of failures of human factors, people, policies, procedures, training, communications, systems gaps, not allegations of failures of hardware, products and technology. So any type of hardware, product and technology is a supplement to not a substitute for the people part. It should be there to help school administrators and their

017safety teams to address the concerns that they have. It should not be what often we see is security theater. uh there's a great deal of pressure to do something do something fast do anything and do it now uh to address the emotional security needs and if you do that then often times you do it and then something still happens after that and people are even more frustrated. So the technology, the equipment and products, there's a role for that. We support that, but we want to see where that aligns with what the needs are and that you invest in those resources uh that are there. We also like to see what works well. If it's not broken, don't fix it. So you'll hear from us on the positive things that are going on in your schools

018that make schools safe. And there are certainly many positive things that are going on. It didn't take us long to hear about the great relationship you have with your school police department, with your uh uh local Evansville uh police department and with the sheriff's office and those connectedness, the supports that you provide and work that you do with community agencies and getting supports for kids and families, the social, emotional, mental health supports needs and the challenges that that kids have uh to try to help kids and and families. So we'll be looking at what are the positive things that are in place. What are the concerns and issues? Are there any gaps between what you have in paper I shouldn't say paper digitally now what's in writing? What the big picture is from the district

019and then what's happening in each building and try to make recommendations for those to align. But as we mentioned uh recently uh with talking with one of the local reporters here is as far as expectations, a lot of the things that need to be done to make schools safer may be less visible or even invisible but more impactful on the people. In the number one way we find out about weapons and plots and kids who are going to cause harm to themselves and others is when kids come forward and tell an adult that they trust. And that's hard to show to the community about those relationships, but it's the most impactful thing that we we see. Um, and it's dealing with the people part uh that is deserves equal amount of attention and not just

020focusing on hardware products and technology. So that's why we do a comprehensive approach and we we've looked at what's in writing before we came. We interviewed district leadership by Zoom the last couple of weeks to get a district district perspective and now we're going building to building. So we're in town this week and next to visit the schools. We're doing about three schools a day on average. Uh and uh then we'll be back at the end of March to finish up the rest of the district and also your support sites, administrative, transportation and facilities. And then following that we'll uh do a brief debrief on our last day here just to give a high level uh exit interview and our report will be back to the district we say within eight weeks two months of

021the last day that we're here. >> Will you be dealing with any policy uh issues? So, we'll be looking at those as well as far as what our policies are and and how they uh measure with other districts. Yes. Already done. One of the reasons that we ask for about two different pages of documents, policies, procedures, emergency plans, and my colleague Chuck Hibard uh diligently goes through looking at those so that we can make sure what we want to see is what's in writing, what's your policy say, plans and paper, and then what's happening in a building to look for any potential disconnects between policies and practice. Sometimes what's going on in practice may suggest some updates in policy. Sometimes what's policies are on spot and we need to look at raising up practices to

022what you say in writing. So absolutely and the key thing is the superintendent actually in Maring County told us many many years ago um when we came in she says I need you to find I said what would you like us to look at superintendent? And she said, uh, I'd like you to look at the disconnect, find disconnects between paper and practice. She says, because that's when people get hurt, safety issues arise. And she says, that's when liability also occurs in the district. So, absolutely. >> As as you go through the schools, you'll be looking at the physical security uh issues as well, >> right? What we do when we go to the buildings, we like first to meet with administrators and their safety teams and talk through u a lot of questions, a lot

023of information on various aspects and then do the physical walk through afterwards. So we can see first talk with the people to understand what are the issues, what are the concerns. We like to talk with the diverse group of people. We'll talk with students, we'll talk with uh your school nurses, food services, the transportation people. We try to get as many diverse perspectives because safety's comes in a little piece to everybody. Everybody has a piece of ownership. Your facilities people, your transportation, your bus drivers are the first and last school employees to see kids during many days. Uh your front office staff are on the front lines greeting parents and dealing with security issues at the door to know who do we let in, who might not, who might we not let in. your food

024services teams. We have breakfast, lunch, after school programs. So, we want to look in what's going on in the cafeterias. And sometimes it's a simple thing. Do you have a two-way radio in the cafeteria? So, if your food service staff need some assistance, they can make a call and and and and get do that. Do people know what to do in certain types of drills and everything? So, it's we try to get as many perspectives as possible. And oftentimes the kids give you the best perspective. students. While adults think we need to be doing searches and weapons detection and all this, the kids may say, "Well, the bathroom, if you supervised the bathroom in the back hallway a little bit more, it would just" and kids weren't vaping somewhere that I'd feel a little bit

025safer. So, sometimes it's sometimes it's a little less complicated than sometimes we as adults tend to look at it. I want to open it up to any other board members that had a comment and then and then a question and I actually typed it out but I won't just read it. But thank you for being here Dr. Trump. Really appreciate it. But you know I know all the members of the board are really concerned about safety and security and really about datadriven decisions that generally enhance that safety and security within our school system. uh you know I really am interested in understanding how proposed measure measures including metal detectors including metal detectors fit within a layered security model what measurable impact that will have on actually reducing uh risk within our organization. So kind of

026with that in mind, if you were advising a district our size with limited resources, what three safety investments statistically provide the greatest risk reduction and where would metal detectors rank on that list? >> Let's start with the the last part and work back. And the data is going to depend on each district and in each school. So, one of the things if if we had a template to fit all, uh, we would, you know, we wouldn't be here. The template would already be done. And I think that's the key is looking at the data in the district. Two of our colleagues who are not here now, Dr. Traia Jones and and Bobby Kipper are going to be working with students support staff and looking at discipline data, behavior-based issues to see what that data tells

027us uh that the issues and concerns are that that administrators are facing each building and then make recommendations based upon that and as well as looking at things such as threat assessments uh student uh protocols and and models that you have. But to the weapons detection piece, the the we could there are two arguments that you typically hear on weapons detection. There are some who will people who will say spare no expense. If it saves one life, we should spend hundreds of thousands or millions on on weapons detection systems. Others will say, I don't want my school to be a prison-like environment or my kid to go through that each day. And the question and both you can have legitimate arguments or at least emotional legitimate arguments on both of those. The question is what

028would implementation look like? And what we're finding is it's not that guarantee that people want the little secret here which we'll reveal with TV cameras going is that weapons still get through TSA. Inspector General reports that have where they've tested TSA at airports who do a stellar job at what they do and are highly trained more than you would ever be able to train school staff to do weapons detection. Weapons still get through. You can just do a Google search and see what weapons are confiscated, but there are some where there have been tests where it's going through. So people say, well, if they can do it at TSA, let's do it in in in in the school corporation. And the expectation is sometimes more greater than what it happens. And and it's u we

029there are a couple of what we're seeing around the country is questions of implementation of f fidelity of implementation with weapons detection. You look at your high schools, and we've only been to one high school so far, just today being our first day. But you look at high schools, and they have dozens, sometimes hundreds of doors depending on the on the building. So, if you put all of your staff at the front entrance doing weapon screening, number one, are you going who who would those staff be? Number two, how are you going to train them? Number three, do we really believe that you're going to train them up to the level of the TSA? Number four, if you do, there's still not a 100% guarantee that people understandably won't. And number five, I'm losing track

030of my numbers here. I use my fingers. Um, doctor degree is not math, but but it's uh uh there's just so many issues. But if everybody's there, there's also we're seeing displaced risk. So while there I had an assistant superintendent in one school district out not in the state call and say I need you to come in and do some training with our staff because we've had a dramatic increase in fights. I said why is that? We started talking. What are you doing in your school? We talked for about 45 minutes and she said, "Well, we we a neighboring district went to weapons detection system and they had a we had a task force and even though we didn't have weapons incidents or she said we did somebody decided we should do it and we

031did it and she said I said well who's running them?" Well, we pulled staff who teachers and pair professionals and our administrators up front and our school police officers and monitoring from back and I said and where are your fights occurring? Well, they're occurring over by the cafeteria in the back hallway by the restroom. And I said, "Now, who would normally be supervising those?" And she paused and she says, "Should I just send you the check because the people that they have moved there displaced the risk elsewhere throughout the building because you reduced your supervision there." And one of the number one tools that we find to reduce incidents and to address behaviors is super well, three things. Supervision. Anybody want to guess? >> Supervision >> of of children. So you dis you can displace

032your risk. U and there have been a couple incidents now where first of all on weapons detection systems they have not to get too far in the weeds, but they have multiple levels of settings. So you may have a weapons detection that has six different settings. You have to decide what you're going to do. Do you want to hit the most sensitive setting where you're going to pick up small knives and and other things and you're going to have hundreds or thousands of kids standing outside for hours to get in? Do you want to raise that or adjust that sensitivity where knives will still get through? Maybe a subcompact gun, but you're going to get kids through faster. So, it's your throughput versus the sensitivity. And the vendor is going to tell you and have

033told me that they will tell you. You have to decide that not them. They will sell you that and you have to decide that. So you have to gauge what are we going and and how's that impact and then the new some some of the new technology fault does false hits. Uh you get false alarms on um musical instrument cases, spiral notebooks. Charlotte Meckllinburgg schools in North Carolina just their board just banned spiral notebooks recently because after spending I believe it was $18 million on weapons detection system they realized that these false those false hits were causing disruptions coming in uh student note uh water bottles eyeglass cases an eyeglass case a Chromebook we have and we have musical instrument cases where kids are coming carrying them over the weapons detection system as if somebody

034couldn't put something in a large musical instrument case so that didn't false hit. Um so how does that change your culture? What sensitivity do you end up with security theater perception of increased safety? And then the last thing that we're seeing is that with the new technology and with those dependencies on the settings in Udica, New York, a kid student got a 7in blade through an AI weapons detection system and stabbed a kid in the hallway. And this time in January of last year in Nashville, um they had the AI cam overlays on the camera system and a student pulled out a gun in the cafeteria and shot and killed another student and the system didn't pick it up. Now the vendors and and explanation on the side was well it was person wasn't at

035the right appropriate paraphrase. They get the appropriate space and time and maybe you needed more I but the thing still occurred. So to sum up that though ju just to give you a sample of the fidelity of implementation questions and issues you'd have to consider in a sentence school safety is not a plugandplay. School security is not a plug-and-play sport. You just don't plug and play those things in. You have to think about how would this work when you introduce something new into your system. How does it change your system? How do you adapt that to deal with displacement of risks? What do you tr what are your tradeoffs? And then of course the financial piece and is there a better investment based upon your assessment and your data to put those resources somewhere else.

036>> Thank you. >> Like any consultant, there's no short answer. >> I have a question. Um you mentioned people failure from um instruction that's given and then the people fail. So my first question, I don't know who this would who would feel this. Uh how are our substitute teachers trained on emergency procedures? Because you said you talked about people failure. I would think that that would be a high-risk group maybe. So how would how would our substitute teachers be trained on emergency procedures and our procedures that we're adopting? >> Yeah. So I can start. I don't know if you I don't know if part of the process is to talk to substitute teachers, but um their training involves the different types of lockdown protocols that we have and protocols for natural disasters in addition to

037some training on um classroom management um managing student behaviors. Alice training is part of their their onboarding as well. Then there's also some school specific things like teaching them where to look for things they need to make sure they know about when they get there. School maps specific procedures for that building, dismissal procedures for elementary schools, really important. So beyond the general everyone needs this, there's some school specific look force that they're given. And to piggyback on superintendent's comments, uh, answers, one of the thing, that's one of the standard questions we ask at at each building. Uh, and some of it simple things. Do your substitute teachers have keys to the classroom? And historically in schools, subs don't aren't given keys to classrooms because quite frankly, sometimes the keys don't come back. So, but our

038point today as we've talked with every building administrator and will is if an incident happens and a teacher gets locked out with kids, you need to be able to get back in there. So, we our recommendations are just to make sure little what may seem like a little thing. We've talked with each building administrator and said, you know, do you give your substitute keys, the maps, general instructions on if I'm substituting in this class, what does a lockdown look like here at at this school? What are we expected to do? Doesn't have to be a whole manual that the sub's not going to read, but just doing that. But sometimes the things that we look at are just those what seems simple but that there have been incidents where sub having or not having a

039key made a difference of life or death in certain situations. So substitutes are certainly an important part and the answer to that is as far as getting your key back. We just suggest building administrators remind uh the substitutes that when you come back at the end of the day to sign this paper to get paid, please return the key. And it's a great motivator to get your key back. But one of your building administrators had a great idea today. Just said u they give a lanyard to the substitutes to to ID. They said just we'll just attach the key to the lanyard because the lanyards always get turned back in. >> Having those conversations, practical stuff. So after after this plan is implemented, uh how often will it be reviewed or and scrutinized or updated?

040>> Well, when we submit we our reports broken down into several categories. First part is identifying what works well. If it's not broken, don't fix it. And we don't want to leave here with you as board and administrators thinking that people aren't doing good things because we've never been in a district that doesn't have good things. Second part is we make district recommendations. things that we see that apply consistently across the district. Third area is our will be building specific things that are unique to each building. Fourth part is my colleague Chuck Hibert does a detailed report looking at the policies and procedures reads the things that we ask for. So you'll get about probably a couple dozen a dozen or a dozen the two pages and some of those will just be on line

04112 of this page it says do you really do that on here you may not want to consider that or look at this you may want to update this um section on best practices just some things key points just as a reference point so that that's not mixed in with district specific things and then we recommend that you use that as a strategic IC plan you you know some things you can do quick fixes on on people part of the things. Some things if there is a financial cost to it you may be able to address now or you may want to have to address how that over a period of time but a lot of the things typically cost less money than they do time and people effort and and dealing with those various

042uh pieces of it. So we, you know, it should be something that you can use really quite frankly for the next five years, three to five years. We are always available. Uh we don't build by the hour and not I have superintendents and administrators who will call by at night and go, "Hey, this just came up. What do you think?" >> And we're just there. We build good relationships with people and and and hope to support that. We don't write our assessments trying to build our next gig with you to say you need this and we can provide that. It should be something that you can use and and reach out to us over a period of time. I think the key thing is that it also I mentioned uh to one of the reporters

043for the newspaper here is that there uh what you do with that report is certainly your prerogative not mine. I don't I give the we give the report I give the report to you to to you and you determine uh how that's communicated out but as I mentioned there's some things in the report that are security sensitive that may you may choose not to and I would just say not release to the public in terms of building specific things you don't want to say that a doors locks not working on this door in this back hallway at this school to give put out something that someone with ill intentions might have have an advantage to use, but there's certainly other things, many things that you will be able to communicate out. But just so to

044set expectations, that's why we break the report down that way so that you can use that and make decisions and be see very specifically where there concrete things that that are security sensitive. >> So you go ahead. >> I got several. Uh so you mentioned uh school buses. They are literally school property. So is part of this plan, do you have a plan for that or are are you reviewing best practices for school buses also? >> School bus a couple of things. There's the behavior piece of it. We've talked to the transportation director who is very, you know, very thorough and very engaged professionally, very impressed with the different is issues that we talked about there. There's operational side. We asked building administrators, if you needed to get buses at 10:30 in the morning or

04511:00, how long would you expect to get that if you had to evacuate your building? >> And that's a question because drivers work in the morning, drivers work in the afternoon. Our job is to kind of think and based on what we've seen, those things that happen where building principal may know that needs to know that build buses may not be coming out of the sky in in a couple minutes. It may take an hour depending on the size of your school. So we'll talk about emergency response on that and that type of thing and the role of transportation and we've asked building administrators what's your relationship with transportation and the drivers how do you deal with issues when behavior problems are reported how's that handled and we talk with transportation director and learn about

046actually a pretty thorough system you have for dealing with behavior through the transportation department and a staff member that you have who's actually focuses in on dealing with behavior issues working with kids and parents which isn't necessarily common that we see in all districts. So what what metrics I know there's no way to measure you know how much you prevent but do you have a metric where you can say the schools that we've implemented our plans to are things have gone down I mean do you have any kind of metric where you can >> well really the best data is your own data that you collect >> as long as you're consistent in your data to see where the trends are you can't you know you good policy for a school district's not based on

047what somebody else somewhere else in a region or around the state did in terms of addressing a specific issue. It's what's your data show that you're what's what are the trends and what type of behaviors have you seen an uptick in? Certainly, you can look around at what other others are doing. But really the issue is what are the data trends within your within your own district as far as measuring prevention. Thank you. It's when you talk too much, you know, you need water. Thank you. But I want you to get all the questions answered. >> The you know the the question is how do you measure what you prevent, >> right? >> Know that the number one the number one way we find out about weapons, plots, and kids that are going to cause

048harm to themselves and others is when a kid comes forward and tells an adult that they trust. >> How do you put data on a relationship and connectedness with kids to get them to come forward? How do you track what you prevented? I know that you're uh the police officers were talking from EPD today. One of the officers talking about tracking data with the number of contacts that he has with kids and trying to put some type of numbers to to the contacts that you have. I don't know that you can put numbers and qualify the relationships that you that you build with kids. So, uh it's there's not a perfect science on it, but I think that it's particularly the soft side of school safety. Can I interject something there real quick because it

049was a question I had and this is what it's about. Some districts I think use tip lines in regards to see see something say something kind of a situation. Have you seen those to be effective? >> They can be an extra tool and we certainly support it. The key is if you integrate it into your school's culture and regularly promote it. If you have it and it's a one one and done or maybe a poster that's put up somewhere, it may help. There's nothing I I we certainly support it. The key is to give multiple ways for people to report. If the kids have a relationship, they'll come forward and tell you the things that people are usually surprised about. Very surprised. I mean, back in my early early days, including the schools, I created

050and supervised a youth gang unit. There were five of us for 127 schools, 73,000 kids within the school district safety division. And when I was at uh at the my alma mater working there, kids got we had the tough about six of the roughest gangs in the city of Cleveland on one school and we've had the leaders would get off and walk past me and go Trump so and so's got a gun and it was based on the connectedness with the kid. Some kids may not feel comfortable. So I have a tip line. Some of it's a little more there's text to tip. Now, one of the things that we saw in another school district that it was at a middle school last year was the administrators put up a uh something within the students

051um uh uh I start say information management, their educational uh management system within their Chromebooks and they put a a a tab in there where they could just message the principal with the tip. They didn't have to go in, they didn't have to approach anybody. And the middle school principal told me it just skyrocketed how many tips he got because the kids would just hit that tab in their in their uh on their online platforms, learning platforms, and send a message to him. And he said he said just dozens and dozens of things. So I my answer is just kind of give multiple ways but and promote that he had QR codes up on the on the wall in the school and it didn't cost a dime. >> Thank you, David. I'm sorry. Well, you're

052fun. I got another question. I like Well, first a comment. I like how you said if you've seen one school and you've seen one school. So, obviously you're you're going to train high school kids in emergency procedures different than you will kindergarteners and stuff like that. So, every middle school, every school will have each an individualized plan. Correct. >> Yeah. Age and developmental is key. And that's one of the things when we look at the different issues such as uh Alice training or optionsbased response that quite frankly we'll be giving you some some feedback on with that age and developmentally appropriate. I I was on a panel for the nationalmies of science about a year ago. There's been a strong movement within about not crossing that line of do no harm. That drills don't cause

053more harm than they help with kids in terms especially when you have kids come to school with trauma. A lot of personal experience unique to themselves and their their families and their community. So the school psychology experts have a lot of concerns about the over dramatized, overactive, over dramatic drills actually causing more trauma to kids than they than they help for an incident that's statistically unlikely to happen. Um so how do you strike that balance? Are we going to train uh are you going to train kindergarteners and first graders and second graders to throw things and attack gunmen? No. The answer is no. Or at least my recommendation is no. Let's here's a here's the recommendation before the report. No, we're we're not going not going to to do that. Then the question becomes can

054you really take with proficiency train upper level kids to do that? So the key is what are you saying on paper that your training is? How does that work with fidelity of implementation? Are you doing what you say you're doing? So it it's it's definitely has to be tailored age and developmentally appropriate. Um and uh you know you have children in in a number of your uh schools just a couple that we've been in today at the elementary school that have their self-contained units with uh with kids with variety of learning disabilities and special needs. So if you have you are how how are you going to deal with children with autism and other types of learning disabilities mobility impairment how are we going simple question there is even if you have to evacuate your

055campus how are you going to evacuate what's your plan for evacuating those children that's if you're evac evacuations are something we're we're taking a close look at in emergency planning what's your evacuation site have you been to that site how how are you going to do parents reunification. What would that really look like? These are the pieces that really get into the the weeds of what makes a difference. It's not glamorous and it's not shiny objects, but it's what really makes a difference. It's in and day-to-day stuff. And if a parent wants to reunite with their kid if an incident happens and they they're trying to find out where my kids and you're trying to figure out whose kid went with who, those could be ugly situations and it takes some detailed planning. And that

056was one of my questions was how does this plan address mental health concerns with some some of our students have some mental health issues? And so you're saying that you will address that in this plan also. Correct. >> Dr. Jones and and and Bobby Kipper are really looking at the prevention side looking at threat assessment. We know you've introduced some there's modeled u some different models. One of the things that we talk about well what what are the models for threat assessment? Uh Dr. doing Cornell's Sea Stack model is one we're very familiar with. It's highly researched. But what we have found is fidelity of implementation in that as well. Uh whatever model you address for threat assessment, are you following those practices and protocols? Because what we've happened is seen some of people slip

057through the cracks when those aren't implemented with Fidelity. But looking at social, emotional, mental health, I mean, you have kids that are come to schools and in many schools, I'm sure here within your community, they're hungry. uh that the school is the safest place not only for them from in their communities but maybe in their own homes and and that's a lot to carry. So we the first thing that we ask at each building is what do you have that's working well and tell us about student supports. We'll get to the cameras later. >> So how much of this plan are you going to have a portion of this plan that you'll want us to share with parents? That is totally up to you what you share. My advice to you without overstepping my boundaries

058is if it's security sensitive, I think it that's why I set the expectations, >> but you can tell the slip of the lip >> is a ship, right? So, we don't want to say too much. But will you will you have a recommendation for parents? >> There are going to be many things that you could share to parents. >> Good. That's >> because parents want to know and they should know. I mean I agree one of the things that we talk about is >> what we call my colleague Chuck Hibbert actually in his district his district the district in which he worked as he reminds you it wasn't his district he was Chuck was spent 21 years in Wayne Township schools in Marian County after retiring from Indiana state police and they created what's called

059the fiveminute rule they take five minutes at the end of every faculty meeting and talk about one thing about school safety take five minutes at each departmental meeting. We've even had boards that we've worked with where they adopted five minutes at one portion on the board agenda to talk about one thing at safety. But one of the things that we recommended already to each building administrators and we talked to superintendent and and others at district level is adopt that uh you know if you're commun principles if you're communicating to parents you do newsletters talk about what you're doing that works. We've had consultants come in, look at this. Next one may be parents reminder at arrival and dismissal. We need your help in this because it's unsafe if you drive over in this area. Another

060one, here are the social emotional supports. Here are our counselors. Here are the programs that we offer. Trying to get that out to parents, not just for my report, but the good things that you already do. The challenge is in education, we do these things and we look at it and say, "This is just what we do." And we don't even recognize how important and valuable that is. And parents are uncertain because they don't know what you're doing. They're well, the parent wants to know, okay, are they on top of the things? Do they get it? Is my kids safe? So promote the things that you are doing well in addition to the things that we recommend. >> And the principles like that. They said they said you're doing good things. Are you sharing that

061with the parents? And I don't know who will answer this question either, but a big part of our safety and security in the in Vandenberg County is law enforcement. Who and when will law enforcement be um informed? Who who will I guess? >> Go ahead. >> Yeah, definitely Tim Albert and Katie Elmer. They have um I can't think of what it's called right now, but they're they have their big safety commission that comes together and we have a great partnership with local law enforcement. One of the one of the things that we were talking about was bus drivers like there's an upcoming training with the sheriff department on child trafficking and so they're well aware that we have this safety audit going and we will be sharing that with them. Absolutely. >> I would just

062add that the officers are involved in the process as well. We talked with the chief and we've had officers from the school district uh police and from uh EPD and then we're meeting with the sheriff. So they have been at the buildings. Matter of fact, a couple times the same officers have been we've been three buildings today and saying the same office, they're moving around. They're really engaged and it's just interesting to watch that sometimes while they're with us, they're getting a call and I've got to go. I've got to run over to the ele this elementary school. So, we really can see that there's good connectedness here that also that the different departments. We've heard consistently that the sheriff's department, the uh EPD and the school district's police are on the same page and

063and and uh there aren't any turf territorial ego issues. Everybody really seems to work well together, which is not always common around the country. >> Mr. Trump, I am finished. >> I have just one question for you, Dr. Trump. Thank you so much um for being here because I know that there um there's been some concern in the community and and one thing that um I've heard a lot from you tonight prevention and deterrence. So, in your experience, have you maybe in um just in in interviews afterwards, have you heard from those who had planned to do harm, but they changed their mind about it just because the metal detector was in place? And before I I finish that question, my my I would liken that to my neighbor um believed that putting up a

064sign that said there's a security camera here is going to stop the person from breaking into his shed and it never did. You know, then it was, you know, some folks have the fake um door bear doorbell cameras or security cameras thinking that, oh, I'm not going to hit hit up that house. But in my experience in in my research when I was a community organizer was many times there's a mental illness crisis component um delusions. Um I don't in my experience a metal detector be they're going to find a way to circumvent it if they're in that type of crisis that's put them in the mindset of doing harm to others or themselves. Oh, what and what's your experience? >> I Well, I'll start with the one about the cameras because there when I

065get asked by media a lot about cameras, I my answer is there's a they're deterable to those who can be deterred and if you're lucky, they're evidence to those who can't be if they're in the right place, right? It's a tool on that end. But the camera, it is something that they use in and you know to help administrators investigate disciplinary incidents and things. So, there's a role on that end. if someone's determined to come through the door. I actually have a video from one incident that we had in hi in Ohio and then some other things um where just on kids who a student who decided he wasn't going to participate in didn't even have a weapon but still decided to go in. So that challenge the system but the reality is if someone's

066determined to come in I'll just step it back to you. If we're going you talk about and we're open-minded. There are certain contexts where weapons detection may play a role. We understand you do it at one of the alternative alternative sites and based on specific needs. But um the other thing is if someone's determined to come in, they'll just come in firing through the through right through the front door if they're determined to do that. Right. The other thing is you have to think that people who are looking for that guarantee. You put how many of your children are on buses, your students are on buses. You're not wanding kids at the bus stop, are you? Of course not. So it doesn't give that 100% guarantee that people are asking for. And that's what people

067need to understand about this. And too often around the country, we see school districts under pressure, administrators and boards under pressure who care like you do and want to do the right thing. There's just so much enormous pressure. It's like, okay, we'll just put this up to get, you know, to make the parents feel safer until you have the first incidents where the circumvented. Now the parents are even more angry because they got the illusion which we refer to as security theater that that's going to give some guarantee that nobody can give. The reality is we're in the business our goal would be risk elimination. Our reality is risk reduction to the best that you can do it. There's no 100% security from the schoolhouse to the White House. There's no guarantee. >> I have

068a question. Um, it's a pleasure seeing you again and thank you again for what you do. The question that I have is while you're going through your assessments and having these very sensitive conversations regarding safety and security. What recommendations are you giving to the schools to the administration to effectively maintain um a welcoming environment not only for the students but their families as well who trust us with their stu with their children. >> I think that's important. Our one of my goals is to address the issues that you have as a board and that your constituents are bringing to you >> such as the weapon protection. The other is to look at the district's leadership and say what are they getting at central office and how do you lead and manage this and my key

069thing is how does is to talk to the people at the building level how's this impact the principal and and her his team every day and the officers and how would it really work if we recommend something I'm not going to recommend anything that I don't think would work would cause unintended consequences would cause un would cause problems create more problems. So, we really have deep conversations with the principles about how would it work? And the open-ended question is not just what Ken and Chuck think about weapons detection or whatever the issue is. Question is we start out with is we ask the building ministers, what do you think? What would it look like to you? >> And we've already and we've asked that question of seven building administrators. uh and I appreciate the fact

070they trust us to give us and have been given reinforcement from administration to say be honest and just tell tell it like it is and they have is you know there's been it's a balancing act and what I hear from administrators very early on here and elsewhere is we want par we want to address the parents concerns and we understand that pressure and it puts a little heat on us but I don't want do something that's going to alter the climate, the culture, and the and how kids and families feel when they come into my school. And when you talk, that's why you taking a a tactical pause, as we say, and taking a look rather than making a knee-jerk reaction based on an incident or a couple is what we recommend people do. Because

071when you introduce something new into your system, it changes your whole system. how you operate, not just cost, but how you operate. How does it impact other things? What's a tradeoff? If I've got adults up here doing this, then I'm gonna lose them doing this. And part of that trade-off is climate and culture and connectedness. So, obviously, we're not going to rec not recommend something that we feel strongly about, but we do take that into consideration. You could have one of the differences of having school security consultants come in who specialize in preK through 12, which is all we do. We don't do colleges, universities. We don't do anything but prek through 12 versus corporate is you could come in with a physical security checklist and just sept check, crime prevention through environmental design checklist.

072>> As Chris knows and it's like, yeah, you need this, you need more cameras. Yeah, put some more alarms over here. Do this. Put some weapons detection and you're going to get millions of dollars worth of recommendations that a you don't have the money to spend. And B, it's not going to really address anything other than that. But we look at that balance and that for the 40 years I've been in this is a balance. How do school administrators create a supportive welcoming environment where kids want to come in doors and learn and without feeling additional trauma and stress and anxiety? And how do families feel comfortable with it while at the same time reducing the risks? And it's not a perfect it's it's a tension between those two things. But we're not doing our

073job if you don't look at both of those and try to say what's reasonable. >> Thank you. Is there any other questions or comments with Dr. Hunt this time? I'm sure we'll have other times to meet and discuss and ask questions and I do want to say this. I think it would be very easy for this corporation, like you just said, do a knee-jerk reaction to uh neighboring um corporations and others within the state that put metal detectors in. Our approach is a little more methodical and it is uh for us to to learn about more about that facet of each and every school to utilize our experts out there, our teachers and our administrators and to get the the full picture from them so that we can do a a proper study and and

074then implement what really can be done to mitigate anything that can happen. Like you said, you're not gonna it's not going to be 100%. We we get that, but putting metal protectors up isn't 100% either as you already stated. So, thank you to your associate and we'll I'm sure be meeting uh about other things. Dr. Hoover, did you have anything to conclude? >> I'm just glad that it's that you're here and ready to get started. It was um I feel like we've talked about this for a long while and we're eager to we're eager to see the report when it's finished. >> We appreciate it and I met a lot of good people and uh appreciate the transparency and uh we look at things. I'll leave you with this. People ask when you get in

075the car after you leave a school, what do you what do you guys talk about? You talk about cameras? Do you talk about weapons detection? We look at each other and say no. We just look and say, "Do they get it? Do they get it? Do you have good leadership? Do you have good analysis of issues? Do you have good thinking about this? Because the challenge of today will be different tomorrow. This is not the field I started in 40 years ago. We have more unknown unknowns, things that don't fit in 125 page manuals. And having good leadership and and analysis and thoughts and looking at the balance and taking a big picture and having a board that does that is refreshing compared to some of the other things that we see. and unfortunately some

076of them didn't see in litigation where it was. So, thank you. >> Also understand that this is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It is also something that evolves. What works today may not work tomorrow. And I I look forward to your report so we can share it with each other and implement what we can in our schools. So, thank you. Our message is to focus on the fundamentals first and uh don't jump for a PhD solution until you pass school safety kindergarten. And you're well ahead of school safety kindergarten, that's for sure. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're going to move into action items at this time. Uh 6.01, consideration toward a contract for Heat Elementary School roofing project. Steve Sheller. Good evening. Good evening, President Duckworth, members of the board,

077and Dr. Hoover. He Elementary School roofing project 2026. Notice the bib was advertised on December 5th and December 12th, 2025. A pre-bid meeting was held on December 16th, 2025, and bids were received on January 8th, 2026. Our recommendation is to award the contract to layman roofing for the base bid of $424,400 plus alternate bid number one for $96,500 plus alternate bid number two for $55,900 for a total of $576,800. So move >> second motion and a second. Is there any questions or comments at this time? Hearing none. All those in favor do so signify by saying I. I. >> Those opposed. That passes. Thank you. 6.02. Consideration to award the contract for Lincoln School Roofing Project 2026. Steve Lincoln School Roofing Project 2026. Notice to bid was advertised on December 5th and December 12th, 2025.

078A pre-bid meeting was held on December 16th, 2025. bids were received on January 8th, 2026. Our recommendation is to award the contract to B and S roofing for the base bid of 171,700 plus alternate bid number one for 25,500 plus alternate bid number two for 11,900 plus alternate bid number three for 21,400 for a total of $330,500. >> So moved. >> Second. motion and a second on the floor. Any questions or comments? >> Hearing none. All those in favor do so signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries. Thank you. And next on the agenda, 6.03, consideration to award the contract for Bogle Elementary School roofing project. Steve, >> elementary school roofing project 2026. Notice to bid was advertised on December 5th and December 12th, 2025. A pre- bid meeting was

079held on December 16th, 2025. Bids were received on January 8th, 2026. Our recommendation is to award the contract to Midwest Roofing and sheet metal for the base bid amount of 396,480 plus alternate bid number one for 135,290 plus alternate bid number two for 192,720 for a total of 724,490. >> You second motion and a second. Any questions or comments? >> And all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries. Thank you very much, Steve. >> 6.04. Consideration to approve the renewal charter agreement with Joshua Academy. Dr. Hoover. >> Yes. Good evening, President Dworth, members of the board of school trustees. Tonight, I bring for you consideration to approve the renewal of the charter agreement with Joshua Academy. EVSC and Joshua Academy school officials have met regarding the continuation

080of EBSC sponsorship of the charter. The original charter agreement remains the governing document. The proposed renewal incorporates required updates including revised term dates, current statutory references, and clarification of accountability provisions already required by statute, but not explicitly detailed in the original agreement. The renewal is for a five-year term and will correspond to the next five consecutive school years beginning in August of 2026. The current principal, Arvita McDonald, is here tonight and wishes to address the board. For the record, would you please state your name so we get all the notes? Hello, I'm Arvanita McDonald, um the principal of Joshua Academy Charter School. Um this year we celebrate 20 years of learning, growth, trials, mistakes, resilience, and victory. as we are happy to honor and celebrate this remarkable charter school journey. As we reflect, I am

081honored to share that over the last few years, Joshua Academy Charter School has achieved the highest student enrollment numbers, best staff retention, maintain the highest fund balance, and realize amazing facility improvements. um including our new playground equipment, upgrade upgraded technology in every classroom, two new boilers, which is that's huge. Improved stairwells throughout the entire building, and state-of-the-art audiovisisual auditorium equipment, just to name a few. Last but not least, we acknowledge our academic achievement of 94% proficiency in ire scores. This is the highest I read score in our school's history, placing us as the fourth highest public school in Vanderberg County. We realize that this journey is not done, but we pause to acknowledge our amazing progress. I want to take this time to thank the EVSC board of directors for continuing to be our charter

082authorizer and invite you to join us as we embark on our next great um chapter, the building and development of our new health and sciences learning center with an anticipated date of spring of 2028. So, I passed out to you our annual report for the 202425 school year along with one of our packets that just explains what we are working towards over the next couple of years. And again, thank you and any question that you have, I'd be glad to answer. >> Thank you for being here. Uh this is very impressive. >> Thank you very much. And >> we're here to to help. Okay. So, let us know. >> All right. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Uh, next, Dr. Underwood has plummeted. >> I'm sorry. >> We need a vote on that.

083>> Oh, I think you're right. >> I was trying to slide one through on Okay. In regards to the renewal of the charter agreement with Joshua Academy. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Motion in a second. Any other discussion? I just wanted to uh to make a comment that I have visited um the preschool on a number of occasions. Um and to see the little ones marching along in their uniforms and then going to the program where they have a a motto that they rece that they recite and that you've got babies reading, four year olds reading. Um, and it's uh I'm just really proud um of the 20 years um that Joshua Academy has served at the the community. And um it was my pleasure to offer the second to this motion. >>

084I was just going to say I remember um first of all, good evening, Dr. McDonald. When I um got out of the military, moved back home, I had small children and I heard about Joshua Academy. First of all, heard of it, of course, and then saw where it was located and realize and saw the work that you all are doing in the community for the families. And what I've seen over this 20 years is consistency, not perfection, but consistency. So, thank you so much um really for what you do for the home, for the bright one. So, I just want to say thank you. >> Anything else? All right. We have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor do so signify by saying I. >> I. Passes. >> Thank you

085again. >> All right. Now, Dr. Underwood, preinary determination for the general obligation bonds for 2026. It's in your hands. >> Good evening, President Duckworth, members of the board, and Dr. Hoover. This item was brought to you during the last board meeting as an information item. Tonight is the public uh preliminary determination hearing on a proposed project. Notice of this hearing uh was published in accordance with all applicable legal requirements. Uh pursuant to Indiana code, a school corporation is required to hold two public hearings and adopt a preliminary determination resolution before issuing bonds or entering into a lease project whose total costs exceed certain statutory thresholds. This hearing along with a sub subsequent public hearing and any future consideration on resolutions represents the ve very beginning of the legal process related to this project. Uh at

086this stage no board action is required. The sole purpose of tonight's hearing is to provide the public an opportunity to share or add comment to the board. So, at this time, if there's any member of the public that would wish to approach the microphone, identify uh your name and your address uh to provide testimony to this board on a proposed um project for 2026 general obligation bonds. That would be once again if there's any member of the public that would offer like to offer testimony regarding the general obligation buds of 2025. Now would be the time to approach the microphone. >> Seeing no one approach the microphone, I believe it is safe to close this hearing. Thank you, Mr. Doctor. >> Thank you uh Dr. Underwood. Appreciate it very much. Uh with there not being

087any board action needed, we'll move right along to information item 7.01, consideration to award the contract for Stockwell Elementary School flooring renovation project 2026. Mr. Shelley, you're back on the stand. >> Good evening once again, President Duckworth, members of the board, and Dr. Hoover. The Stockwell Elementary School flooring renovation project 2026. Notice the bid was advertised on January 9th and January 16th, 2026. A pre- bid meeting was held on January 20th, 2026. Bids were received on February 4th, 2026. The board has received a bid tabulation sheet for this project and I will recommend awarding the project to Razer Flooring at the next scheduled schoolboard meeting. Be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Questions from the board. Thank you, Mr. Sheller. Thank you very much. Uh, next information 7.02 consideration to approve purchase

088of line wise services. Joe Henman. Good evening. >> Good evening, President Duckworth, members of the board, Dr. Hoover. The office of technology recommends approval to replace our current goardian services with the linewide platform to further strengthen student safety and classroom engagement. Line wine pro provides real time content filtering, classroom management tools for teachers, proactive student safety, safety monitoring, and optional parent visibility in the student device activity. This allows us to better protect students both during and outside of school hours while helping teachers reduce digital distractions and maximize instructional time. The linewise monitor component adds an additional layer of protection through 24 hours a day, seven days a week, automated and human review to identify potential indicators of cyber bullying, self harm, violence, and other high-risisk behaviors. The total cost of the three-year agreement is $417,7242

089payable in annual installments of $139,234.13. Funding will come from the common school fund. H I'm happy to answer any question you may have. >> Any questions to Mr. Hay? Uh yes, I um uh attended the legislative state house day and uh it was interesting what we're doing because um there's there's a bill in the house because a senator that's a parent saw that his child was on YouTube during the snow days and supposed you know doing work and um was you know proposing a bill in which the filters and you know adult parental involved. So, I sounds like we're kind of ahead of the >> Yes, this would put us at a game. I believe that was Senate Bill 159 uh they're putting forward. Uh and this will uh make us compliant with that if

090that does move forward. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you, Joe. >> Uh 7.03 consideration to approve the curriculum adoption for English language arts. Dr. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Duckworth, members of the board. Now Hoover, the Office of Schools and Instructional CPS recommends LOS My View Literacy K5 and My Perspective 612 as a district's core English language arts reading um curriculum. These programs comply with Indiana code and are featured on Indiana's highquality curriculum advisory list. These curricula integrate uh reading and writing to build deep background knowledge on identified topics and ensure instructional consistency across all grade levels. This unified adoption provides rigorous standards aligned literacy framework for students from kindergarten through graduation. Teachers are provided with instructional supports and resources to differentiate learning for a range of student needs, including scaffolds

091for developing readers and multil- language learner supports. The curricula includes assessment resources, access to the Savas realized digital platform, and opportunities for student collaboration and discussion to strengthen comprehension and communication skills. To ensure successful implementation, the cost includes professional development for administrators and teachers. The total cost for these six-year contracts is $4,857,72.76 funded through the education textbook fund. Happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Originally had a question. I'm not sure if you answered it your setup for this, but um how do we measure if this is working? >> How would we measure if this was working moving forward? >> Are there benchmarks that we look at um testing or or whatever the case may be where we can adjust um where the instruction is going? >> Yes. Um so there are

092a few ways we do that. Um we think about that through the lens of program evaluation. So there are some elements we look at with we're thinking about like um how's it working for our teachers right now. So we do a lot of walkthroughs where we're seeing how instruction is happening. We're talking to students about the work they're doing. What are they learning? Um we also have surveys that we're we're sending out. And in addition to that, something we've done in the past and would continue to do is we have frequent empathy interviews and focus groups. So, we're meeting with groups of people to talk through um what are some of the pain points right now? What are things we need to consider or or supplement to improve? Um on the other side of that,

093we're also always looking to see throughout the year, how are students responding to the curriculum? Um are we seeing we give a cadence in grades K2, we have some other assessments that we're giving in intermediate grades. Do we see that students are successful with this? Is there a specific area where we may see that there needs to be further need? Um, and a lot of times what we'll see is is alignment between what we're seeing in classrooms and what we're hearing from teachers and what we're seeing in student data. We can make adjustments from there. >> Other questions, Dr. G. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate you. >> Um, I think our next four items uh are be handled by Dr. Underwood. Education operations. >> Good evening, President Duckworth, members of the board, and Dr.

094Hoover. Again, we have January month end items for you this evening. The education and operations monthly review as of January 31st. The education fund expended 9.73% leaving a remaining balance of 40,667,513. The operations fund expended at 9.83% 83% leaving a balance of $22,544,3594554. Summary of cash balances by fund. This report provides current cash balances as of January 31st. Debt service, education, exempt debt service and operations funds. Expenditure ledger summary report. This is report provides uh an analysis of expenditures by both function and object code. And revenue ledger summary. This outlines revenue received as of January 31st for the education operations debt service and exempt debt service funds. Happy to answer >> questions for excuse me. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right, that moves us into continued business. Dr. Hoover. >> Sure. I would like

095to start. First, I want to thank the board for the renewal of our um curricular resources tonight. This is it's more than a purchasing decision. It's important to make sure that teachers have what they need and students have what they need. So, these things are expensive, but it's well worth it. To that end, also thinking about um Bethany Goth just came up and thinking about the process to go to get another uh ELA curriculum. Teachers, lots of them participated in this test drive. They gave their time and expertise to make sure that we have something that they believe in that's user friendly, that's standards aligned, that we believe will move outcomes for kids. So again, it's it's really expensive monetarily. It's a big time commitment, but having been in buildings and talked to teachers, this

096was really um a change that was needed for us. So, I'm grateful for the recommendation that came forward tonight and thankful for the teachers and administrators and their leadership making that recommendation. And then lastly tonight, I do want to take a moment to recognize um the passing of Jane Burnernhard. She was a North grad. Uh taught at North for I think 40 years. Um lots of involvement in fine arts. She was a math teacher but also did things for the band for the start of the Musketss. You would go to a show at North and she was running the house. She was the assigning seats and ushering people in. Just a huge supporter of that school and even last week was subbing at North High School. So she's a retiree that stayed involved throughout her

097throughout her retirement. So certainly will be missed by the EBSC and the North community especially. That's it for me. >> Any other comments from the board at this time? >> Yeah, I wanted to give just a short cliff note of u the U Indiana State School board legislative state house day. Um I I honestly for personally I I just feel so burdened by these bills that are in the house and just the magnitude of effect that it's going to have. But um um I'll begin with Senate Bill uh 25 schoolboard candidates and um they instead of just in years past alphabetically being listed is now going to be party affiliated and by and the date that you um basically um signed to run for the office. So um that's that's changed. Um 76 immigration bill

098um if expands state enforcement authority related to federal immigration laws and immigration detainer requests. And um at the time when I first heard this it was they it was going to be a $5,000 fine implemented if it was not followed if it becomes law. And so now um as of today it's like 10,000 per day. you know, in if uh compliance isn't made. Um, Senate Bill 78, the wireless device, and thank god we're ahead of the curve on that one. Uh, Senate Bill 159, technology plans and policy. Um, it is uh to include descripting of the school's plans and appropriate technology devices in the schools. Um, and this is like some of these bills are really like being ramrotted through and want um like implementation and some kind of policy or um guideline by like

099for instance January 1 of 2027. Um the Senate bill 182 gender issue defines the terms male, female, sex, and gender. Um, requires schools to designate multi occupancy restrooms, locker rooms for each sex. Requires individuals to use the restroom locker of their sex. Prohibits requiring students of one sex to share sleeping rooms with students of another sex. Permits civil actions against schools for violation of law. Uh, Senate Bill 199, education matters. Um it's uh establishes provisions relating regulating minors access to social media. Uh Senate Bill 200 public school matters. Um void certain ident identifications provisions in vendor contracts with public schools including charter entering into amending or renewed after June 30th 2026. It prohibits vendor contracts from including choice of law provisions that apply laws other than Indiana law. Um so uh schools are required you

100know certain organizations certain businesses and so on so forth. Um Senate Bill 204 various education matters uh prohibits prohibits use of the academic needs factor for all teachers. Example citing the need to retain teachers as academic need. Um so uh it's it's a discussion about a four day school day, a four day school week rather and uh so that involves um you know teacher contracts um you know wage and >> they don't let the kids vote on that are they? >> I don't think so. But uh you know just about like a lot of um like I said contractual and um u many of the attorneys felt like most majority of this will end up in litigation you know because it is so um borderline to um you know just regular um just you know

101rights and your um so uh house bill 104 various education matters it's another deregulation Um it's a 30 to 40 page mandates um in the second phase of the title 20 K12 education deregulation to move from current regulations focus on inputs to provide greater flexibility with state guidance and local control. Uh House Bill 10004 is currently 168 sections and 165 pages. In October that ISBA submitted a comprehens comprehensive list of 24 recommendation of statutes for repeal and modification. From that initial list, 12 of the ISB recommendations are included in this legislation. So at least 50% um or a change. Um the uh bill 1210, Department of Local Government and Finance. Um basically the local income tax 58 million gone and I think they said in an average of um three years that's 770 um billion

102dollars delayed until like 2029. So, um I think we, you know, talked some about that now with the changes in the, you know, tax structure. Um, we have bill 1242, uh, school corporations and charter school reports. um requires the Indiana Department of Education to prepare a report by 12126 on school corporations and charter schools regarding um the total number of school um the data of academic performance um recommendation uh to increase um or consolidate schools or if schools aren't performing, you know, to close again and consolidate them to, you know, for and they're saying that's for efficiency and um you know structure. Um I think the last two are House Bill 1266 DOE and education matters requires the IDOE to establish a process and strategies to support academically and fiscally underperforming schools and to intervene

103as necessary and submit a report to the general assembly by 12126. Um and again that uh it alo brought out the uh four day school weeks. Um and there was concern because again um formulation for um teacher TRS FICA um paid out of teacher appreciation grant. So um you know a lot of this is just um it it's just a very you know heavy um decisions that have to be made or that after it's majority of these bill will pass. I think it was 38 bills that they're keeping their eye on and u this is the shortest session this assembly and um um >> non session too. So, but some of those things will have impact financially on districts and I do believe that ISBA does a summary uh that they share with districts. So,

104I'm I'm looking forward to seeing that especially on uh House Bill 104. It's 30 to 40 pages. I mean, I don't I don't don't know how effective you can be with spreading things out that that much, but I I think it's unfortunately kind of thing we have to wait and see and keep in contact with our local legislators to uh give them our our thoughts on. >> Yes. and I have um asked um to uh have a way to contact your senator and um so I don't know if you take a picture or what but this is our um representatives and um so it's important they said you know every day to stay in some kind of contact in terms of how you you know how you feel as a taxpaying citizen. students. I'm sorry.

105Is there any other comments from the board at this time? >> Just >> artwork there. >> President Duckworth, I just want to say I know during the Christmas holidays prior to us leaving, we were just giving our Christmas holiday greetings. And the one wish I wanted, I said, I wish Santa would allow more seats to be filled. And though it took two months for Santa to grant my wish, it was really warming to see warm bodies in the seats this evening. Regardless of what was on the agenda, everything is still important from topic one to the end. And so hopefully we'll see more and more families, more and more students, more and more community members just come out um of what's very important as we see there are some heavy heavy changes and conversations that

106are happening. So, uh, hopefully next time we'll see more warm bodies and the seats. >> Thank you. Anything else? Bork students. Any students here? Step through the microphone and tell us who you are and where you from. Come on up. >> We have not had a student that has been bit yet by a board member. >> Hi, my name is Emma Farmer. I go to North High School and I'm a junior. >> Thank you. Hi, I'm Alexa Vera. I go to North High School and I'm also a junior. >> Hello, my name's Alina Seic. I go to North High School as well and I'm also a junior. >> Any other students that I missed back there? >> The artwork is um from Hick Park. We ask you to take a look. Uh I think that's

107artwork in the back or Mr. Kefir um hung his shoes up back there. I don't >> the principal sitting back there too. >> Oh, okay. >> Chamberlain. >> Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. >> Um and just following up to to end the meeting tonight, I I do want to um piggy back on something that Superintendent Hoover said, and that is in regards to Jane Burnernhard. There's so many times when we don't tell folks how much we appreciate what they do and sometimes it's too late. So, please remember there's people all around our schools that go over and above what needs to be done. Just stop them and get them and let them know that you noticed and that everybody's doing well. Jane was all over North High School for years and years

108and years and anyone that knew her knew that that's where her heart was. So, God bless her and thank you all for a good meeting. We've got a lot to work on this year and uh without any other business before uh the board, I entertain a motion.