001Please to order Amy. >> Vice President Duckworth, we have a quorum present. >> Uh just so you know, I am sitting here because uh our friend and president Karen Raglin is ill this evening. So, we'll wish her the best. I hope she's listening and she knows that we uh care about her and we want her to get better. So, uh next in the agenda is our pledge of allegiance. Please uh join me in the pledge. 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. >> Thank you. At this time, we'll move forward in the agenda uh to good news. Jason, >> thank you very much. Vice President Duckworth, members of the board, Superintendent Hoover
002for good news this evening. Um, I know Vice President Duckworth just said that President Raglin could not be with us, but we did want to lift the fact that she recently served as a school corporation's voting delegate at the uh this year's delegate assembly of the Indiana School Boards Association. So, we're very proud, always great to see our trustees represented outside of our community. So kudos to President Raglin for that. Speaking of trustees, we want to say congratulations to Trustee Moore. Uh she was named and announced as a two as their the Junior League of Evansville's 2025 woman of empowerment. So congratulations. [Applause] >> So she is featured in this issue of Evansville Living. We also took an ad out to celebrate that. I think you all have seen by now your pieces of education
003campaign. Luckily, it's cooler now than it was when you took that picture with about 125 to that. But, uh, but very much congratulations, Trusty Moore. We're proud of you for that. Uh, also, uh, talking about trustees, first of all, we've been promoting and will continue to promote PTA membership. such a uh important role for parents and other family members to play and thank you always to Trusty Hollingsworth for making that your passion and lifting that and so we've put together a video to promote that and Trusty Hollingsworth is part of that video. So we appreciate that. Uh we had another episode of what's happening with Dr. Hoover. this time really focusing on not just fall sports, fall athletics, but the preparation that goes into that. These student athletes and their coaches are so committed. When
004you talk to these young athletes about how much work they're putting in, it really is amazing. Uh this has been viewed now, I think, over 32,000 times. Even uh got to show her arm strength with throwing the football around. didn't realize that was a requirement for a superintendent, but she certainly showed that she was able to do that very, very well. But it was great to feature these students. You can see on the right, that's Dean Underwood, the son of Dr. Underwood over there. So, they all did a great job and we're always happy to feature these students. Uh, community partnerships always something we're talking about in EBSC and United Way is certainly a great partner for us and One Main Financial uh was working with us. We actually did two things as part of
005this year's United Way Day of Caring. Uh Fairlon uh elementary school and Plaza Park Middle School in conjunction had an activity with the Girl Scouts of Southwestern Indiana. So uh but the project in particular at Fairlon looked great. Uh you can see Mr. Mc Williams down the bottom right corner. I don't know if he's working or posing, but he was active with that. But yes, always appreciate working with the United Way and thanks to all of the business and community partners that were a part of this year's event. And last but not least, we continue to uh feature all of our student athletes and band members as part of uh athletics going on here during the fall. Also recently we were able to feature a game with high school out at Wrights High School at
006the bowl and uh you can see the athletes, the football players, the band members, the cheerleaders, just so many students involved with that to make that a great experience for all of our students and their families. And that is good news. >> A lot of good news, a lot of good things going on in our schools. And of course, the work that we do with our business and community partners is so very important. Thank you for that, Jason. Next on the agenda is um our public comment. Yeah, >> Vice President Duckworth, we only have one speaker tonight who absolutely needs no introduction. In fact, if we could entertain a motion to rename this a few minutes with Larry Larry, >> I like that. >> Don't take that to heart. That's a few minutes. It's still
007two minutes. may go a little long there. I got a few extra things here. But uh uh North graduate John Mamey, 62 graduate of North passed away in late August. Uh he had quite a career involved in several activities. I'll mention some of them. But his obituary in the courier took half a page. So shows you what all he did. He was Mike Madriaga's buddy at North playing football. Madriaga played football at North Rain track. set some records that still stand today. His picture's on the wall at North in the Hall of Fame. Uh after North uh had a degree in fine arts at the University of Evansville. Uh while he was there, he worked for the Courier as a sports writer. Then he went to SIU at Carbondale for his masters in fine arts.
008Uh after that, he owned a picture framing business on on Webachot next to Forgive Me Not in called the Frame House. A gifted musician was in a band called the Four Brothers. a singer, played guitar, played banjo, harmonica. Uh they played locally. They also was a opening act for some national acts that came through. Uh taught art at the university level, SIU at Carbondale, UV, Austin P. Uh in 1980, he joined the uh University of Wisconsin Platville as the artisan residence and the uh uh was the manager of the gallery. I'm going to read this one uh paragraph from his obituary. Shows you what all he did. As a professional artist, John specialized in monor prints that were sold nationwide in major corporate and institution collections such as Johnson Wax, Price Waterhouse, Oscar Meyer, Miller
009Brewing Company, University of Wisconsin Madison, as well as numerous hotels, hospitals, restaurants. In 2012, his contributions to the arts were noted in the book 100 artists of the Midwest. Uh two other interests, he uh he was an extra in the movie A Field of Dreams and he uh like to travel made several trips to Europe. So quite a distinguished career for that univers. >> Thank you, Larry. Appreciate it very much. Next on the agenda, consent items. Dr. Good evening, Vice President Duckworth, members of the board of school trustees. We have 10 consent items for your consideration tonight. They are 3.01, consideration of the minutes of the September 8th, 2025 executive session and regular board meeting. 3.02, consideration of the allowance of payments invoices uh net payroll payroll obligations for a total allowance of payments of
010$14,158,889.90. 3.03 03 Consideration to approve grant proposals. 3.04 Consideration to approve the resolution to donate a vehicle to the Henderson, Kentucky Educational Foundation. 3.05 Consideration to approve change order number one for the Perry Heights Middle School flooring renovations project 2025. 3.06 Consideration to approve change order number one for the Bossy Baseball and Softball Field Lighting Project 2025. 3.07 Consideration to approve the ADTE agreement for the funding year 2026. 3.08 consideration to approve the contract driver agreement. 3.09 consideration to approve change order number one for the Wrights High School domestic water upgrade project 2025 and 3.10 consideration to approve a pilot program with Brisk Labs Incorporated. >> These consent items. Yep. Thank you. These consent items are presented for your approval. >> Sounds like we got a >> We're ready. >> We got a motion and
011a second. Is there any other comments or discussion? I I have a couple comments or questions rather. Um 3.0 uh4 which is the fire truck. We we discussed this a little bit this afternoon. Um my concern was that u Alcoa had donated this truck to EBSC which I thank them still thank them. It was uh 2015. The kids have climbed all over it. were back there a lot and they have done a lot of work to it and they it it served its purpose. Thank you to Alcoa. Alcoa is an Indiana company that pays Indiana taxes which fund our schools. Uh we're giving this fire truck to another state. Money's tight. Um I I'm wondering and you you assured me and I believe you absolutely that um it was I don't know marketed or offered
012to Indiana companies and Indiana corporations in nobody in the state wanted it. Is that correct? >> So our CT director Robin Whipenberg now but her um the previous CT director David Sinclair who retired in the spring >> they have a list serve and email um that they can ask for teachers. We need this, we need that. He talked to the state CT director. That person asked other regional CT directors in Indiana if anyone in Indiana, any Indiana schools had a need for that. They did not get anybody any interest. And so the at the time the the gentleman who used to teach public safety, it's now switched to criminal justice. That teacher was trying to Yes. um was trying to see if he could find a taker and he knew that Henderson County was starting
013a fire safety program specifically and so Henderson expressed interest in it so it could be a value to their schools and they've come over and looked at it a couple times and said it can meet their needs for that program. >> That's perfect. And and my concern again is that if an Indiana company with Indiana taxpayers money donated it, I want it to stay in Indiana. And if no one wants it, whoever does can have it, especially if it benefits some kids, some children. So, thank you for that. I have another question on uh 3.10 um the pilot program for Brisk Labs. Can can you >> Yeah. So, and Joe, you can help me wherever Joe is. Oh, he can he can chime in if I don't get this right. But so you're familiar with
014a chat GPT. >> I have it on my phone. >> Okay. So we have we want to invest in things that save teachers time. And so Brisk AI is a specific version that is used by educators. So what we would like to do is do this pilot um purchase it so that about 180 teachers we have teachers at Bossy McCutchenville and there's an AI group that's been meeting that has teachers on it. They'll all get access and we're going to give them a chance to play around with it. It should be able to help with lesson plannings with you can put in a data set and it's protected data. It's not sold to to anywhere like chat is kind of unprotected. So, this has some safety features to it, but the idea is to give
015teachers a chance to see how they like it. This group of 180 people, and if they find it valuable, likely will come back with a request to purchase it so that all teachers can use it. Something else that I learned today about it when Joe and I were talking, which is cool. Um, there's a Brisk Boost that will allow a teacher to assign like a paper and while the student is working on a paper in Google Docs, Brisk becomes their AI tool instead of a chat and so the teacher can monitor what the kids asking. Brisk won't just they can't type in do this essay for me. >> It will and give teachers feedback on how kids are using AI as well. So, some real benefits. We think teachers will like it, but we want
016to know. >> And the cost is only4500. >> $4,500 for the >> And so what would be the end cost with this if we bought the program? >> You say in the seven like >> $70,000 is what we're looking at if we do enterprisewide for all teachers in the organization. So it's still one of the cheaper ones we've been looking at. >> So the pilot program is for what grades? I mean, sorry. >> It's so it's 180 teachers. any teacher who's in the AI workg group, which is probably all grade levels, but then specifically Bossy High School's been doing some things with AI. So, they're going to look at it across all grades, all content areas, and McCutchenville, same thing. So, K6. So, we'll have a pretty good sampling of what teachers think at the
017end of that. >> And we picked these schools. Sorry, I didn't jump. >> You're good. >> We picked these two schools because they were already using this product. So, it was kind of grassroots up. They were already using it. Much had reached out and they wanted to purchase for their school itself. So we thought let's do a proof of concept, open it up a little larger. Let's build some data and see if how teachers use it and see if we can go from there. >> Okay. So if we buy this program, it's it's pretty cheap and it'll help teachers obviously it'll help with planning lessons and stuff. Okay. >> That's what we're that's what we're hoping for. The goal would be to save teachers time. We want to give give them back some time for
018some other things. >> Before we buy this, I want to say one word or two words. I don't know. Power school. I know I don't need to I I don't need to say anything more. You know what I'm talking about. So, I you guys I I hope you take it for a test drive. And I mean, it's like buying a new car. And I use this analogy a lot because you kick the tires, you take it home, you drive it home, you drive it out on the highway, it runs good, and a month later your check engine lights come on and there's a wrench symbol, which I I've had one pop up. I've never seen one before. It took Ford literally to tell me what it meant. And and so we're kicking the tires and
019we're taking it for a spin. and and I hope that we remember Power School when we uh purchase this and I trust you. >> That's why we're doing a three-month pilot so we can really get a good idea how well it works. >> We'll give you guys a big report on it. >> Yeah. >> And if we purchase it and a teacher just doesn't feel comfortable, this is just a resource I think about as another tool in their toolbox. It's an AI tool. Some teachers will love it likely and want to use it. And there may be even after we purchase it, there may be teachers that don't feel comfortable and don't want it. And that's perfectly okay, too. >> Yeah. >> It's not for everybody, but it is a aware. I mean, >> for
020everybody. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussions at this point in regards to consent items? All those in favor do so signify by saying I. I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the personnel recommendations by Michelle Williams. Good evening. >> Good evening, Vice President Duckworth, members of the board, Dr. Hoover. Tonight's personnel recommendations include the following: resignations, termination, regular appointments, position reassignment, leave of absence, resignations from extra duty, appointments to extra duty, reassignments to extra duty, transfers, after school appointments, and the following classified addendum, regular appointment. These recommendations are presented for your approval. >> So move. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further uh discussion? >> I do. Um so we're losing a teacher to Warick
021and um you'll have an exit interview. Correct. >> Correct. >> What's that? >> So I'm a teacher. I'm leaving for Warrick. What do you say to me? What what are the some of the questions? What do and the reason being is teachers are at a premium. I love our teachers. I want to I want to know why they're leaving and I hear from them a lot. Um and I know but what what do you ask what would you what are you going to say to that teacher to me or what? >> Yeah. We have a basically a standard list of questions that we're going to ask everybody regardless of what they're leaving to go to. Um we focus a lot on their experiences. We want to hear both the good and the bad that they've
022had with us. Um, and then we also ask them about the benefits in the salary, especially if they're leaving to go to another district. Is that what attracted you? Um, so that we can kind of see trends over time that are arising from all exit interviews across a school year. >> And are those available for schoolboard members? How how hard would it be for a schoolboard member to read something like that? >> Put together a trend report. >> Sure. Y >> Yeah. It's all data we have access to. you and you look at this trend report obviously and make recommendations of course and everything. >> Okay. Any other issues or comments regarding personnel? >> Hearing none. All those in favor do so signify by saying I >> I opposed. >> That carries. Next is our
023district spotlight with Dr. Tonight I am excited to welcome the principal of McGary Christine Eiffel and teacher Sarah Eubank who are here to talk about if you all recall last year you they asked permission to use title funds to enter into a contract with Franklin CVY. Am I pronouncing that right? >> That's correct. >> And um part of that process was helping Gary identify their wildly important goal that they were going to um focus on. So, I'm excited to have both here so that we can give an update. >> Okay. Good evening, Dr. Hoover, Vice President Duckworth, and members of the board. I am pleased to highlight the progress happening at McGary Middle School. Thanks to the dedication of our incredible staff and students. This work began when Dr. Merryweather introduced us to the four
024disciplines of execution. We quickly developed our own 40X team and set a wildly important goal to raise the reading proficiency scores of all grades by at least 1.5 grade levels by the end of the year. This means that students have to grow at least 150 points by the end of the year, which breaks down to about 15 points per month. With PD provided by Dr. from Mlen. Every teacher from PE to math is teaching reading strategies every week. So students are learning how to use these strategies in every class. In addition, students spend 40 minutes a day building literacy skills through independent reading, excel skills, and progress checks while setting and tracking their own goals. To ensure our students achieve their goals, teachers meet every Friday at 2:45 to review data, share reteing ideas, and
025improve the wig process. I'm elated to share that in just three weeks, our sixth and seventh graders have doubled their expected growth and our eighth graders have tripled it. >> Wow. Amen. >> Now, I'd like to turn it over to Sarah Eubank, one of our outstanding mound teachers who is helping lead this transformational work at McGary. >> Thank you. I had to do this. Uh to preface, I have an eighth grade intervention class. So, um all 22 of my students have shown growth since we've started, which I just think is so amazing. Some small growth and some large growth. To be specific, I have 10 students total who have grown anywhere between 10 and 50 points on EXL, keeping in mind we started on August 22nd, so it hasn't even been a month since our
026data. And then six students have grown between 60 and 100 points. And then six more students have grown from 100 to 300 points. And remember, our uh goal is just 150 points. So most people are a third of the way there, if not already where they need to be. So, in August, tiny typo, our average was 448 and we had 590 points of growth in August total as our class. In September, our average grew to 496 and we've already had 530 points of growth so far in September. So, I'm super excited to see what October average will look like. So, in total, we had 1,120 points, which is about 51 points on average for each student. The classroom data is more so about our reading strategies that we've been doing. We focused so far on
027paragraph shrinking, just trying to learn how to summarize. The first week we did it wasn't too hot for students. It was just like 31% were able to correctly do it. Um, but then we rettaught them. We identified where students were wrong and helped them. Week two, they jumped to a 79%. So, my picture, which is like the most important thing to me, I asked everyone in my wig class. I said, "Just how does wig make you feel?" Very chill. Interpret it how you want to. And those are all the words that they told me. They said it was fun. They liked the growth. They thought it was peaceful. They liked to learn. They liked how personalized it was. And it was just really nice to hear the things they had to say. U. My favorite
028quote was this girl and she said, "Every time I go to intervention, I just feel so on top of things." And I was like, that's so good. >> So, are you reading are are you reading books or I mean are you getting the are they giving are you getting the books or is this out of the manuals that you already have? >> Yes, they are reading. We have a really tight schedule of how we run things, which I love because it's consistent. They know what to expect. They know every kid is doing the same thing. So when they first come into intervention for 10 minutes they're reading their own book. It could be they bought it. It could be from the library. We even have like little personalized libraries in each classroom that they can
029pick if they forgot their book or finished their book. And then they have 20 minutes of skills or diagnostic or small grouping or working on the paragraph shrinking something else to um help with their reading strategies. I'm with the PTA. That's one one of my favorite things. And we um get uh first grade down books. And um we drive to to get them. And it's the EVSC rents the truck, but I pay for half the gas. Uh PTA's pay for the other half. It's a collaborative effort. Is there anything we would like to We I've talked to the principal there at Washington Middle School. Um is there anything we can do to get you some books? We will drive within reason. I'll >> drive wherever it takes to get them. Do you have any publishers
030that would be willing to donate books? If you know of anything, will you please get in contact with me? We would love to expand our operation. >> Do that. Will you beat the bushes a little bit and see what you can find out? >> Sure. Absolutely. >> We would love to help them get some books. PTAs would love to donate that. >> Thank you. That's really nice. They love the books. They're really sad when I say our 10 minutes are up and we have to move on. >> We We would like to see them have books to take home permanently and for summer and stuff like that. >> We would I'm willing to go get them and if the cost if I can afford the cost, I I'll buy them. We'll do whatever it takes
031to help children read. That is a critical skill and it's it you can measure that by that measures a lot of things. Too many to even discuss, but we would love to help you out with that. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for all that you do also. And I I saw you just light up. It's exciting because I know when somebody is doing really good by the way they beam, you know that that's that's a winner, right? That's somebody that's winning the game right there and you're winning the game. Thank you so much for what you're doing. >> So guys Oh, I'm sorry. Amy, go ahead. >> So are the students participating in 40X? Is are they a part of the you are they establishing a wildly important goal or is
032that for you guys or are they a part of it too? >> So they are a part of it as well. So we have a schoolwide goal and then we have goals for our grade levels and then our students also have their individual goals that they have and they have what's called a leadership binder and that >> I know I have one in my car but they said two minutes so I thought don't bring the binder but >> but the binder has a lot of wonderful things in it and part of it is the students are able to see like they have a bar graph in there and they track um you know their their scores and then they also have a sheet where they track their reading each day because we're asking students to
033read at least 10 minutes every day and we have that time >> that might be their commitment >> and then we have them also making commitments to read at home and even on the weekends and then we have a reward system set up for them as well. >> That's great. Fantastic. So, first just one comment and I just I love what you did here with um getting quotes from the students. Smarter, peaceful. Wow. Don't we all need that in environment? And uh enjoy reading on the weekend, reads on Saturday. >> Yeah. >> Um chill. I I really, you know, I just I just love that um as a person who loves reading and um knows the importance of reading from, you know, I >> I read to my granddaughters talking to my daughter-in-law's tummy. So,
034you know, I mean, it's just kind of like um pre-birth, you know, forward is so important. And for those who might not be uh so familiar with your interventions, can you explain just a little bit of your guidelines for getting kids into intervention? >> For us, every student has an intervention class. So we do have just words and we have you have other reading interventions that students may also have, but every student in our building um even if they're reading, you know, on a on a high school level because we want them, it's, you know, 1.5 years or more. We want all of our students to be wildly successful. We want we know that if they can be great readers, they can be great at anything. And so every single person in the building, teachers
035are also required to read during this time. So everybody has to be reading. Teachers have to be modeling. And then >> Sarah has this wonderful way that she will connect with kids. It builds community. She'll ask them what they're reading about during their data chats. And they'll tell her what they're reading about. she'll share what she's reading about. So, it brings community, it brings calmness, and it brings success for our students. >> They love to hear about my book. I'm reading How to Love Better, How to Love Your Friends or Your Partner or Your Family, whatever. And like I'll be walking around and they're like, "Let me see your book, Mark." Or like they want, they just want to be a part of it, you know? And I think that there was a lot of
036resistance at first. They're not used to reading. They're not even used to going to the library or picking up a book or reading. What is this book about? Let me find one that's for me. And so, at first, a lot of kids were just like, "Oh, I'll just get this one. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to do this." And then they started reading and they were like, "Hold on. I need a book I like. Like, this isn't working for me." And now they're so excited. They're like, "It's time to go to the library. It's time to check out a book." Like, they are very invested into it. I want to say thank you so so much. As Trusty uh Dere even pointed out, I I loved all the quotes, but the two that really stood
037out to me because I love books. I love reading. Such a bookworm was reads on Saturday and then enjoys reading on the weekend. >> And I I literally had to write this down like they're taking ownership like all of these like literally affirmations, the quotes, all these things, right? They're taking ownership of it. But we know that if I can read it, I can understand it and whatever the it is even in their season, right? Um whether it's a recipe, cooking or something like that. So, as we know, reading will open many doors for other things. So, thank you >> so much. I I am a bookworm. I love the library. I'm a huge advocate for Hey, I I think I said this before in a meeting. You don't have to have that standard $25
038for a hard copy at one of our bookstores, right? you can just go to the library until dot dot dot. So I love it. Thank you. Thank you both so much. >> Thank you. >> That's wonderful. >> Any other questions or comments? >> One one more comment. You said that that the kids weren't used to reading. If you're a parent and you're listening to me, if you've got a baby, read to that baby. Children, they they know you read from left to right. They they know that those little symbols when you sound them out, they mean something. They learn. They're learning from getgo. And that's that's where it starts. Even when you don't think they learn, they're learning. They're really learning. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate your passion. >> Very, very nice
039job. >> Okay. [Applause] Next we go to our action items. Uh first is 6.01 uh Mr. Cameron. Consideration to approve policy 4320 student attendance visual trans and try prevention. >> Good evening Vice President Duckworth, members of the board and Dr. Hoover. Uh, Senate Enrolled Act 482 approved during the recent legislative session directed the IDOE to establish guidance on chronic absenteeism. As part of a statewide effort to promote better student attendance based on that guidance from the Indiana School Board Association and recommendations from their legal council, the Office of Chief of Staff recommends uh the adoption of policy 4320. Uh this is the second update and I think this is the third time this has now come to you. Uh and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have as you consider a motion. >>
040Approval. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> We have a question. Mr. Can I jump ahead of anyone? I'm sorry, Mr. Cameron. I do have a question. Okay. Um and I hope I'm wording this right. What if there is a student who has an ongoing medical condition that requires maybe infusions or something right at a doctor's office every six to eight weeks? Um try to get the last appointment of the day, but as we know, we know how that goes. Um what does that look like in the area of this now? If that makes sense. Is this something that you all would need or I should say we would need to have on record? you know, is there a I don't know if there's like a a benchmark that would
041be highlighted on this person, you know, on the child's um record, it's a doctor's appointment and >> expert. I would imagine that sounds like a 504 situation. me. But but specifically going around this policy, a student who has to go to the doctor that often will bring back like doctor's offices give you, you know, they'll say to the student to the parent, >> okay, >> the doctor's note, they bring that back to school, it'll be marked as an excused absence. That's the kind of situation that if we know they're going and they bring those back, nothing happens. And we, you know, the family sometimes you just have to go during the day and you know, kids with those kind of issues just will do that. So nothing really. They could go the route of a
042504 if there were other issues at school that were impacting, but not just because of attendance. Like they wouldn't be put that one in there. But thank you very much. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Hearing none. All those in favor do so signify by saying I. >> I. >> That carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda, consideration to approve the resolution regarding the sale of a portion of Eagle Valley. Dr. Hoover. >> Yes. On February 24th, 2025, the board of school trustees held a public hearing and approved a resolution to begin the process for the sale of approximately 60 acres at 10 350 Petersburg Road, which is a portion of the Old Eagle Valley Golf Course. Following the publication of that notice and the required bidding process, there were no bids. Indiana code 36114
043G2 allows us to now move to the use of a broker to facilitate the sale to a qualified nonprofit organization. EVSC will not incur broker fees doing this, but it is my recommendation that we move that direction. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I think this is a move in the right direction. We've maintained this property for several years now and uh it's time to move forward and make good things happen. And I from all indications that's going to happen. So any other comments? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> opposed that carries. >> 6.03 3 hearing regarding additional hearing regarding additional appropriation in the debt service fund. Dr. Underwood, good evening. Good evening, Vice President Dunford, members of the board, and Dr. Hoover. Uh
044we begin with a public hearing on an additional appropriation for the debt service fund. Notice of the hearing was published in accordance with Indiana statute in the Evansville Courier Press. This request does not require additional funding as we already have sufficient cash on hand in the debt service fund. At this time, I would turn the meeting over to Mr. Schers. Thank you, Dr. Underwood, members of the board. As you know, before uh you consider the next item on the agenda, and that is the approval of that resolution. Indiana law gives members of the public an opportunity to voice their opinion or comments relative to that proposal. So, at this time, we'll call that hearing to order and ask if there is any member present. Who would like to speak on the additional appropriation resolution? No
045one approaching the microphone. Once again, is there anyone who would like to be heard on the additional appropriation in the debt service fund resolution? Seeing no one, Dr. Underwood, we will adjourn the hearing. >> Thank you, Miss Shers. At this time, I move the board approve the additional appropriation in the debt service fund for 2025 as presented. >> So move second motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, do you so signify by saying I. >> I. Those opposed. Thank you. >> I think the next three are yours. The next one is consideration to approve the resolution for additional appropriation and debt service fund. >> I've just approved that one. So we are now on the school budget. >> Thank you. >> Option of the 2026 school budget. >> This
046is the final. Dr. Hoover is pleased to hear this is the final motion for the 2026 budget. At this time, I request the adoption of the 2026 budget, including the resolution of appropriations tax rates form four as required by the Department of Local Government Finance. Uh this is um a protected uh tax rate as we advertised high to protect our budget. This also includes a $22 million transfer from the education fund to the operations fund, which would be about 12% of the education fund as allowed in the code. At this time, I request your approval. move approval. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second to approve the 2026 school budget. Um, under discussion. I would just like to say that so much of our budget is based now on what happens in the
047legislature and in Indianapolis. And when school districts uh started sending our entire tax revenue to Indianapolis, it's my feeling that not only did they uh take over the funding, they wanted to take over the governance. And u I'm not sure that's a good thing. So, we're going to work with them. We're going to work right alongside. that, you know, school districts and local governments can only take so many cuts and the last thing we want to do is hurt employees and programs and things that serve our community and our and our kids. And so, uh, I'm going to ask this board to, uh, have a a real involvement with our area legislators to make sure our voice is heard so that they understand the pain that this causes so we can move forward in the
048years to come with good programs as we've always been able to provide as opposed to slashing and cutting. Um, because of of whatever the state's agenda might be. So that's my two cents. Any other comments or questions? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor do so signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed. >> Passes. Next is the adoption of the 26 to 28 capital projects plan. Dr. Underwood. >> Yes. >> Again, this is a three-year plan as uh in statute. At this time, I move the board adopt the 2026 through 2028 capital projects plan as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. One additional comment I would say this is a three-year plan >> and it can be changed after the first year. Is that correct? >>
049That is correct. >> Just so that's clear. Um and as with other budgetary issues, um our our facilities are older. We have kept a very good um account of them. We've we've improved them. We've we've done so many things to them. And that is an ongoing task that we have. And Steve, you do a great job and we hope that you will keep us informed that the if next year's needs to be changed at at any point. So, any other comments or questions? just I I know we have a lot of older buildings and they need continual upkeep, you know, and I know that that you're that the like a roof and Dr. Hoover and I talked about this today. I I did run this by her, but like a roof leaking you if your
050roof leaks, there's big problems because everything underneath it, water is the devil. It it like drywall insulation, something like that. If it isn't kept up on it, it creates not just fixing the roof, but you fix everything underneath it. Flooring, then you got mold. Then I mean, working construction as long as I did, I saw a lot of bad stuff. And I'm just so glad that you guys keep up with that and keep our buildings safe and dry. There's also another element that that technologywise, you know, I hope you guys are looking at this. This is way above my pay grade, of course, but are we set up for for solar panels? Do we do we do something while we've knocked a wall down? Do we beef it up for solar panels? I hope you
051keep that in mind. I know that things thinking way ahead think things need to I hope and I know you do. You guys are well on your way to doing a great job. So, I appreciate it. Just >> any Did you any other comments? >> All right. Hearing none. All those in favor do so signify by saying I. >> Those opposed. >> That carries. >> Next. 6.07 adoption of the 2026 to 2030 bus replacement plan. Dr. Underwood. >> This is the final uh motion for the bus replacement plan. Again, this is a 5-year plan as in uh state statute. At this time, I move the board accept this 2026 through 2030 bus replacement plan. >> Moved to approve. >> Second. Have a motion and a second. >> Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those
052in favor do so signify by saying I. >> I. Those opposed? >> That carries. Thank you, Dr. Underwood. We appreciate all your hard work and your staff and putting this budget together. It's not an easy task. It's uh it's kind of like my home budget. You got to juggle a little bit and get things done. But I think um we're in good shape and to move forward. We got a lot ahead of us. So turning >> is there um next I think on is our continued business. Dr. Hoover and board members. Dr. Hoover. >> I just have a couple of things. Uh on September 11th, Trusty Dere uh President Raglin, State Senator Ver, State Representative Alex Burton and I were on a panel um at the NAACP. They hosted a legislative town hall and so
053had really good questions about what does this mean for our school corporation? What does it mean for their students? What does it mean for their student? So appreciated uh Amy and Karen both going for that. I thought it was it was very well attended. Um and lots of good feedback after that. So it was a good evening. Secondly, um President Raglin and I attended the Indiana School Board Association and the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendent conference. It's a joint conference that's held uh annually. And uh the keynote one of the days was Katie Jenner who talked about state priorities, financial landscapes, and it was a typical conference style where you could go uh to breakout sessions. Lots of them were on capital projects and the new normal in Indiana and school communications. So glad
054to have that opportunity with her to um have some professional learning and she was a delegate which allowed her to be a voting member of the IA ISBA when we were there. So thankful to her. That's it for me. >> Okay. Any other board members comments at this time? Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you so much for taking out the ad. Um truly means a lot. My father would always tell me people do not have to be nice to you, but when they do, you say thank you. >> So, thank you very very much. Thank you. >> Um have some students. If you're a student in the corporation, it asks you to come to the mic, identify yourself, tell us your name, and you attend. >> Hello, my name is Corey Hudson. I'm here on
055the business of a government requirement, >> Evansville North High School. >> Thank you. My name is Wyatt Emerson and I am also here for a government requirement and a teen advisory council. Uh the requirement as well. I go to North. >> Uh my name is Zachary Bethl. I also go to North and I'm also here for a government requirement. >> My name is Lance Smith. I am also here for government requirement. I also as >> Thank you for being here. Um, and our artwork as you >> I think we have four more >> hiding from me. Hop up there. >> Sneak out of here, didn't you? >> My name is Maggie Raven and I'm here for the teen advisory council, but I go to Memorial. So, >> Hi, my name is Alicia Willlet and I
056go to Harrison High School and I'm here for teen advisory council. >> My name is Elena Aken. I go to Harrison and I'm also here for attack. Hi, my name is Olivia Hollander and I get a signature and I'm here for tackling. >> My name is Robert Hughes. I go to North and I'm here for the teen advisory council. >> Did I miss anymore? >> Okay. >> Thank you all for being here. We appreciate your time. Um the artwork is from Plaza Park. So take a look at that on your way out. Is any other business come before the board? Motion to adjurnn. >> This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.