001for 6 p.m. on Monday, December 8th, 2025. Please stand with me and recite the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation, indivisibley andice for all. As we start this evening, uh, we want to pause to remember Liam McCulla, an eighth grade student at Aran Junior High School who passed away on November the 20th. Liam was an honoral student, spelling B winner, and a young person who made a meaningful impact on everyone he knew. He loved the outdoors, animals, and spending time with his family. His sense of humor and kindness made it easy for others to call him a friend. We extend our deepest condolences to his parents, siblings, extended family, friends, and the students and staff who are
002grieving his loss. At this time, I ask everyone to please join me in a moment of silence to honor Liam's life and the many people who loved him. Thank you. Liam will be deeply missed and we want to hold his family and our school in our thoughts and our prayers. Just a few additional opening remarks tonight. Uh this meeting is a meeting of the school board uh for the in this is a meeting of the school board in public for the purpose of conducting the school corporation's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is time for public participation for agenda and non-aggenda items as indicated by item number two. The mission of go schools is to inspire innovation, empowering potential and enriching our world and our vision. Go community schools
003Elcart County School District of choice. Uh item 1.4 is approval of our agenda tonight. Do we have any revisions to the agenda? >> No, we do not. Mr. hearing that the agenda is approved as presented. Uh and board members, item 1.5 is approval of the minutes from our November 10th, 2025 regular meeting. Anything to comment on those minutes looking around. I don't see anything. So, uh the minutes are approved as presented. Uh next is uh public comment. And Miss McRiddle, do we have anyone that signed up? All right. Okay. So, I will ask real quickly if anyone does want to speak, this is your opportunity. All right. I will take that as we are good. So, we will continue to move on here. Uh we will start with superintendence reports. >> Thank you, Mr. President.
004We're going to start out with our uh financial uh commitments and Dr. Evans uh take it away. >> I thought I'd give you just a quick update on our health self insurance health insurance. Uh we are tracking positive on our cash flow. I imagine that we will end up with an additional $480,000 uh ahead of where we were when the year started. So that's a good thing. Uh but more importantly to our employees, there is will be a 4.6% health insurance increase. Uh 60% of that increase will be taken over by the school district or 2.7% and then 40% would be to the employees which is a 1.8% % increase on average depending upon what plan that you use. >> Any questions for Bob? >> I don't know if it's the right time to ask.
005I was just curious uh in reference to our snow budget. I know we're kind of starting off strong this year and in past years we've been like really light on snow. How are we looking as >> well? Uh >> what's your thoughts on it? >> I certainly hope the rest of the doesn't doesn't uh continue that way. So, yeah, we would we would be over budget uh on snow removal if we have to continue to pick up this much snow, but we're hanging in there. Any other questions? >> All right, next up, uh I know Lori had a couple things to mention and I know she talked to you on the phone because she's a little emergency. She couldn't be here. So, uh Javier, please take it on the student achievement commitments. >> Yeah. So,
006first of all, uh wanted to say that this is the time of year where we get to see where things are going. Uh so, checkpoints, uh checkpoint number two, uh started last week and it will go hopefully will be finished before the end of uh next week. Uh and that's two out of three before I learn. We are also in the middle of the year when it comes to Aadians, which is our reading uh assessment for kindergarten, second grade. And uh we're also doing a middle of the year kind of just to check to see the progress that our students are making in EXL. So all things assessments in the middle of the year. Uh the other thing that we wanted to uh kind of bring to your attention a little bit is that we
007will be uh in conversations with great minds who is the uh authors the company that sells our curriculum for ELA wooden wisdom. Uh they have come up with a more integrated curriculum uh to like at wooden wisdom 2.0, but they're calling it arts and letters. And so we will be having a discussion with them uh next week to see what a pilot might look like for us. Uh there seems to be some interest from our teachers and principles in investigating that further. So just wanted to bring that to your attention. >> I think their curriculum is pretty old. >> Uh wind wisdom is I think this is your fight for us in the ocean, right? >> Yeah. Seventh and eighth grade and eighth grade. >> Yeah, seventh and eighth grade will is also looking and
008so this will be if we were to proceed with this will be a K to8 pilot. Um and depending on cost and all of that we'll see what we can do with that but yeah so letters is a more integrated shorter more condensed uh curriculum. One of the things that we hear from our teachers is that with wisdom is uh it takes a perhaps longer than they would like uh every day, especially in the younger grades when it comes to uh having to navigate between the foundational skills and Wilson foundations with wind wisdom and so this could be an option for us and just wanted to bring that to your attention. >> Thanks. Y um next up Dr. a couple of things on operation our operational excellent commitment. >> Uh first off tonight I believe
009you will hopefully will approve uh the new policies. Uh once uh that has happened we will have an update for you in January uh with some u late policies that have been changed based upon legislation last year. Uh one thing that uh you will notice is that when we bring policies forward, there are some policies that uh can be done uh in consent agenda and those are uh policies um that are coming up because of technical corrections such as not a period no period uh doubling a word and there's a there is a policy in our board policy that hopefully you will adopt tonight which is uh 0131.2 which talks about being able to do technical uh corrections and consent agenda instead of having to bring them to action. So that's it for that. Uh
010building trades uh we have heard from um our building trades adjunct teacher uh that he will be having to step back a little bit. Um so we are going to be advertising for another adjunct teacher uh to take over the building trades actual construction of the of the house to kind of and finish up and and take over the program. Um so we are looking to replace eventually place an adjunct teacher with another adjunct teacher. So um that is required by law to be brought up in a board meeting. I've discussed it with the uh exclusive the GA um and so they are they understand that also. And then finally uh the tag grant is coming up the teacher appreciation grant which changed because of legislation last year. We will be doing presentations this week
011to the staff uh just in how we have determined how we how we have determined how teachers will be eligible for it. Um the state has put limits on that. One of the biggest pieces is uh in the past any teacher who was high effective or highly effective received a stipen from the state. If you were highly effective you received at least 25% more than an effective teacher. Uh however now they are just saying only 20% of your teachers can be eligible. So out of our out of our 400 and right around 412 teachers uh they have determined uh 66 would be our number of eligible our number eligible. However, they have only funded enough to have 54 of those at the at the first tier of the recognition. So we will be going through
012a process of application. Um and then to be honest if we get more than 54 teachers applying it will be done. It will be a there will be a lottery for those positions that we feel that that is the fairest way. >> Thank you, Dr. Maf. Uh last up, our people commitment and Tracy Noey, please take that over. >> Yeah. Um just to give you an update on the transportation job fair we conducted last week. Um we did a pre-registration. We had 12 people pre-register. um ended up having six of those 12 show up um to meet the transportation department, the HR department. Um as of yeah, Friday, the one of those had applied, but we expect a couple more to come in. Um so we were pretty pleased. you know, you never know when
013you have a a employee fair like that if you'll you'll get individuals, but um we feel like we we got some news out there and it'll spread a little bit to help that transportation department who is still in desperate need of some bus drivers. So, um we may try it again. Um Andrew Liger did a great job advertising for us and um the HR staff did a nice job of just putting it together and and it was a it was a nice nice morning. nice time to try to get people in and meet our transportation department. So, transportation department is following up with phone calls for all 12 of people that did register um just to see if they have any further questions or things like that that they can possibly answer and try to
014continue that recruiting process. Um, second on the list is the Gallot poll went out just last week. Um, so it is in the hands of employees. So, they will be um taking that survey and taking that poll and we'll get the results back to you all soon. Um best time of the year right now is the time when our schools give back to the community. It is the holiday giving time. Um and our counselors are busy at work giving um to the community. uh Prairie View, Model, Waterford, Parkside, Chamberlain, West Scotian, all of them have um had canned good fairs and things like that to bring in um food for families. Um to to note, Chamberlain is sponsoring 30 families this year to give um clothes and toys and food to their families and their
015homes. Um West Scotian has adopted 39 families this year. So, there's a lot of need out there and and our our our community is stepping up along with our school and and the students that are able to give. Um, some other things that are happening, um, uh, Parkside is making cards for residents of long-term care facilities and getting those in in the buildings for those those individuals that are in those kind of facilities. Um they are making blankets for first light light mission and pet beds for the humane society and they are also assembling cookie kits for the windows in their first and fourth grades. So they are busy just giving back. Um West Ocean will be ringing bells for the S Salvation Army the last week before Christmas break and that is an annual
016tradition for them and so they will be back out ringing those bells. Uh we've had lots of churches involved with that giving time to help us and um just always exciting to see the kids shine a little bit to give back. Um GIS is also um had a a concession stand for First Light Mission um and they are also adopting families with the assistance of their restored church and the community churches that sponsor them. So just a lot of giving happening out there this time of year. I am next and uh I'm happy to report uh so on November 15th we had our first uh competition for our robotics teams and we had uh two of our teams that are advancing to the semi-state this coming weekend in Fort Wayne. So we have a team
017from GIS that moved on and we have uh Chamberlain that will be participating in the semi-state. Uh the team from model uh qualified as an alternate and as last week. Everybody's going, so they won't have the chance, but uh Goan was well represented in Southbend a couple weekends ago with our Lego and um if you want to learn more about that um it's it's awesome to see the kids talking like experts and um it's not awesome to see them struggle, but as an educator, I enjoy the struggle and so it was it was fun. It was a fun day. The kids were excited, the parents were nervous, the coaches were really nervous. So it was it was fun. >> Good experience. Also have the board get over the high school CTE bought some robotics equipment
018and kids are engaged in doing robotics as part of the curriculum there for their semester. Great. So there's some cool stuff with robotics in the high school. Good job. I think that Oh, take that back. So, sophomore Spencer Elliot uh has been named NLC allconerence football team. He's the only sophomore, I believe, that was selected um for either the team or on the honor will mention list. Um he was also um the 2025 IFCA Junior Allstate team as a sophomore. Uh Spencer is the first Red Hawk to be named to the JR All State the Junior All State team since uh Steven Worlds in 2016. Um, and then, uh, Junior Carter Diaz was named to the NLC allconerence football honorable mention list. So, we want to congratulate those two individuals. Good things to come. >>
019Fantastic. >> Now, we can switch. So, I'll turn it back >> to you, Mr. President. >> We appreciate those uh, updates this evening. Uh, we will now move on to item four, which is our committee reports. I will look to my board members and our student advisor. Uh anything to report on tonight? >> Um we having our December meeting this Thursday and then we are planning on having Last year we had a hot chocolate drive where we sold hot chocolate out for free if you wanted to free and then we donated our earnings. So we're planning on having it again most likely in February or January. Thank you. >> The uh building trades uh did have a board meeting uh last week. Uh the house uh is sealed for winter. Uh they're getting ready for
020winter break and they'll have some activity in there as far as heating system installation, etc. during that time. And just a reminder everyone that uh this year is the 50th house and so there are are events planned for uh the house is done to to introduce that to the community and have a chance for the kids to show what they're doing. >> Thank you. under this isn't new information under the the legisl legislation changed last year with the school accountability u grading system they're going to bring back kind of swept under the rug I kind of forgot about it have they has the state given us a rubric yet for that accountability >> Wednesday I think that there's the state board uh meeting and they're finalizing it I think So it' be a real it'd
021be taking place next next maybe historically they don't always follow what would make sense to do that way. They'll just retroactively apply it toever whatever So I I suspect they're going to retroactively give us a grade even though it won't start January. They'll go back year for this year. My guess >> so the foundation met on November 12th last month. They have a general fund at $20,000 with 12,000 available for grants. They approved two grants, 2,200 for chop saws at the junior high and 525 for career quest busing. They were looking at a book vending machine that somebody requested a grant for and that's been tabled. They had 47 tables at the trivia night and next year's event is set for October 27th. And they also approved a new board member, Lisa Jordan. Uh and
022they also had uh a pickup ball fundraiser that they're sign in for April. >> Other committees, >> uh, music council met last week. Um, went over some budget, um, some numbers, uh, a lot of fundraising happening, um, focused on the the New York trip um, this spring. Um, and then a lot of things coming up, uh, holiday concerts. Um, I got an email um about the Go High School band department uh getting an award. Did anybody else get that? Yes. >> Email. >> And so uh just wanted to bring it up. I know we'll probably do more about this later, but uh yeah, the go high school band um is it the Irons Award? >> Yes. >> And uh yeah, one of two uh two awards in the United States and Go High School is
023one of them. So um yeah, just wanted to bring that to your attention. Next meeting uh end of January for the music council. Thank you. Um and then lastly, uh tomorrow is the last redevelopment commission meeting for the year. Uh the big thing on the agenda is the annual review. So we will have to full review for the year. That will take majority of the time. So no major new business coming. All right. So with that, uh we will continue forward with our consent agenda items. We'll start with item 5.1. Approval of accounts payable dated December 8th, 2025 and payrolls dated November 14th, 2025, November 21st, 2025, and November 28th, 2025. Item 5.2, Gifts and Donations. 5.3, NASP Convention for School Psychologists. 5.4, Obsolete Vehicle. 5.5, Personnel. Anything we need to highlight on the consent
024agenda items tonight? Uh, so with that, the consent agenda items are approved as >> Oh, wait a minute. I do have some retirements. I My bad. >> I thought Well, you can still get you can still talk >> start thinking about those consent items other than this, but we have three retirements this year and I've been practicing one of the names. So, Teresa Eldridge, uh, she's EXAC employee, assistant director. Uh, she's been with Xeek and our through the co-op for 20 years. Uh, and Shelley Miller, exec preschool teacher. Uh, she's been with us 21 years. Uh, preschool co-op teacher. And Tatiana Sakatinski Sakinskaya. >> Did I get close? >> My apologies. T. Um she's a goan junior high school interventionist and she's been with us 24 years. So >> a lot of great years. >>
025Lot of great years there. >> Wonderful. I'll say it again. Consent and Jen items are approved as presented in case you didn't hear. All right. We are moving forward then uh to action items. Um we have seven of them this evening. And we will start with item 6.1 approval of the 2026 board meetings. >> Voice. >> Yes. Uh Nothing major there. Uh we've stuck to our typical script that we've been doing. So I would submit it as written to the board for approval. >> All right. Uh so with that, board members, I would ask for a motion and a second for item 6.1. >> I'll move for the passage of item 6.1, approval of 2026 board meetings. >> It's moved by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Goodman. Uh these were presented to us at the
026last meeting. Um, I don't think there was much discussion on it. So, I guess I'll look to the board members again. Any concerns with the dates that are proposed. >> I would mention we were a little clear on the explanation of executive. >> I appreciate that I saw the change. >> Okay. So, with that, we have a motion and a second on the floor. I'll ask everyone uh those in favor please raise your hand and say I >> post same sign. It passes six to zero. Um I sorry item 6.2 approval of Neiola policies. Dr. Metaf >> uh the Neola policies have come to you after uh our review and um adjustments to meet uh Ocean Community Schools needs. Um you've had them u we've had them the last two month months as discussion items.
027Tonight we're asking for your approval on those. >> Thank you, sir. Uh so with that, I'll ask for a motion and a second for item 6.2. I'll move for the approval of Neil policies. >> Second move by Mr. Garvis, seconded by Mr. Glick. Um, so these have been on front of us for the better part of two months. We've all read them at this point. >> Tried to read most of them. I spent hours trying to read most. >> That's good. There's a lot there. Um, but as we said, um, there's a lot there trust but verify. And so that's what we've tried to do. So, we'll continue to look at them. But, yeah, I think we've put a great path forward here and positioned ourselves to have the right support we need as as
028our policies needed to evolve a little bit. So, we're very excited as a leadership team uh to help work with our principles to guide some of their work. I know Jen Yoders even put together uh some work on our handbook referencing board policies on those and Indiana code. So, it's been very helpful for us already. even though we're not ready to go live with that one yet, but next year that's what we'll have available. And we'll constantly at least twice a year be bringing updates to the board. And um we're very hopeful on helping us be consistent with our uh policy enforcement. >> Any other comments, questions from the board? >> Yes. >> And just looking through it, there were a couple items that I felt like I think down the road it' be nice
029to add into the policy. But one of them I'll just mention as an example when you were first selected as superintendent there was confusion over what types of communication were expected between the superintendent and the board and how updates were going to be done and there's been recommendations. I've seen some model policies about defining what you want the superintendent and board communication to look like. There is a policy for communication. I think I think it's for the the public or staff to the board through the superintendent, but not the other direction. I don't know. I feel like that would maybe be a policy that we could develop and add so that the next superintendent there's not the confusion we had right at the beginning of what people expected. Just something like that. You know, that's
030just an example of one that I saw that wasn't in the new policies. >> We can have those conversations too as we go. But my recommendation was there's something that comes up that you guys have questions on. We should start out typically we say here's what the policy says, here's how, you know, administrative guidelines, how we're operating at this time. And then those administrative guidelines can be changed by the administrative staff, but you all need to change the policies if you want to change policies. Any other comments, questions on item 6.2? All right, hearing none. We have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say, "I." >> I. >> Same side against. Passes 6. Item 6.3, approval of transfers within funds. Dr. Evans. >> Thank
031you. We're at that time of year again where we need to wrap up our finances. One of the things we do is we transfer within funds just so we balance out. We don't have any negative balances. You might have a negative balance in a fund if your your health insurance was higher than you anticipated. So we'd have to spend more money on health insurance and maybe less money on some other category maybe payroll within that fund. Example of that might be if we allocated money for say electric school buses but we spent it for something else within that fund. Those would be separate line items. so that I would need to balance them out so that they would be zero. So with your permission, I would like to be able to wrap up our funds
032by being able to transfer within the funds. It's the same budget within the funds. Nothing changes as far as allocation to spend. >> Thank you for that explanation. With that, I'll ask for a motion and a second for item 6.3. >> Second. Moved by Mr. Goodman, seconded by Mr. Blick. Questions comments on this pretty pretty standard every year is a season. All right, we're good. All right, motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say I. >> I. Same sign against passes 6. >> Item 6.4, approval of transfer between funds. Thank you. This would be the second order of business to wrap things up. We would like to move uh funds between funds and create subcategories. I've made a list of several on here that would be
033an example of that. Our past practice has been to create separate funds for things like the pool, for child care, for the alumni plaza, for safety grants. We create a separate fund for each one of those which is good because that lets us track all the expenditures and revenue within each fund. But we can do the same thing by creating a an index for each fund. So if it's operations to be 0300 and then we just put a point 05 or whatever indices we want. So we would maintain the same amount of accountability and the same amount of control as far as what's being spent. But when we report it to the state board of accounts, it's all within the same funds and it just looks a lot tighter. So, uh, with that in mind,
034I've given you a list of funds that I would like to work on. Almost all of them except for the CPR training, which is $759 uh, in the negative currently. I'd like to move that one to the education fund, but the rest of them I would like to move to the operations fund with with separate indices for each one of those funds. Thank you for that explanation. Um, I will ask for a motion and a second for item 6.4. >> I'll move for the passage of item 6.4, approval of transfer between funds. >> Moved by Mr. Click, seconded by Mr. Goodman. Questions on these items? Pretty straightforward. So going forward, these will always stay as an index, not as a separate fund, >> right? Uh they would be out of the on the operations fund
035as an index. I haven't set the funds up yet, but it would be like I said 0.0300.12.3.4 so on and so forth. Other questions, comments from board members? ready to vote. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor for item 6.4. All those in favor, please raise your hand, say I. >> I. Same sign against that passes 6. Moving on to item 6.5, resolution to change credit card vendor. Dr. Evans. So, uh, we've gotten a better deal with, um, for our credit cards, uh, with than we have with Harris Bank. We're able to generate more monies than we were with our previous vendor, and we feel like this would generate more money, as I said, maybe 5,000 more dollars per year by switching to these credit cards. So, we are asking for
036your permission to switch from uh US Bank to I'm sorry, from to I said that right the first time backwards. We would like to replace our current US bank purchasing cards with cards under Harris Bank. >> All right. With that, I'll ask for a motion and a second for item 6.5. Second >> moved by Mr. Gib, seconded by Mr. >> Garber. Questions from the board. We ask local banks. >> Yes, we've given uh all banks the opportunity to bid. We're offering the the best deal for schools. >> I one question I had think the the quantity of people or the quantity of cards that we have in the district, which seems high. I mean, what what is the parameters for an individual that would be able to have a corporate card? >> Well, they're a
037little different, but certainly each building would have an administrator with a card. Uh you may find this hard to believe, but I cut about 80% of the cards out when I got here. Um, so we have each building administrator and some of the coaches would also need to have cards as well. Directors for transportation and maintenance facilities would would need cards as well. >> Appreciate that. >> It was mentioned in there we didn't meet the $1 million threshold. What happens when you don't meet it? >> We just don't get any We don't generate any money from that. >> Got it. Oh, >> that was for the old card, I thought. Yes, that's for the old card. I was just curious, did they find us or what happens if you don't hit it? >> Well, that
038was what I was saying is that so yes, we had that threshold. We never met that threshold ever. So that we never got any funds for this. But with the under the new system, we I'm estimating we would save$2 to $5,000 annually uh by switching to the new >> you get Yeah. the in the old card, you got hit with a membership fee if you didn't hit that. Right. Yes. How many cards you had? Yeah. >> That was an annual fee. So it's not $12 a month. It was $12 for each card. Right. >> But nevertheless, when you have the cards that we have, we were spending money. >> Yeah. >> The credit cards. Makes sense. Any other questions, comments on item 6.5? Hearing? None. We have a motion and a second on the floor.
039All in favor, please raise your hand and say, "I." I >> I post same sign passes 6. Moving on. Item 6.6 approval of resolution 836- resolution to elect Matthew R. Fiser as director of GCS school building corp 1. Dr. Evans. >> So, uh, we would like to petition, uh, Matthew Fischer to be the director of our building corp. Our building corp is an organization that's funded when we acquire debt by leasing our schools. And so we have several of those out right now. When when we're going to do that, they meet once a year and uh it's a three-year term and Mr. Fischer has agreed to take the next round for three years. Okay. Uh so with that, I will ask for a motion and a second item 6.6. motion for 6.6 director GCS. >>
040Second move by Mr. Gri, second by Mr. Blick. Questions on the reappoint Mr. Fisher. I have served on that board. >> I was curious just what does that rule look like? What what does he do other than lead a meeting? >> Just leads a meeting. >> They meet a couple times a year >> just once more if there's other debt. >> Mr. Fisher is currently serving as the vice president, but the president is is not going to serve in that capacity today anymore. So, he would just move up to president. Any other questions or comments? All right. Motion to a second on the floor for item 6.6. All in favor, please raise a hand and say I. >> I. >> Same sign against passes 6. And finally, we are moving to item 6.7 which Approval
041of resolution 837- resolution to express interest in purchasing real estate 1715 East Lincoln Avenue. Dr. Evans, you >> uh Indiana code requires uh schools to pass a resolution expressing an interest in p purchasing real estate property uh before they can even consider purchasing it. Uh so the real estate property we're we're considering is at 1715 East Lincoln Avenue in Goan. What we're asking for is the ability to express that interest and that would be done with your vote and then giving me the authority to obtain appraisals on that property. If there is any action further, it would be brought back to you before there is any purchases done. This just gives me the authority to get appraisals. Okay, thank you for that. Uh, with that, I'll ask for a motion and a second on item
0426.7. >> I move for the passage of item 6.7, approval of resolution 837A, resolution to express interest in purchasing real estate 1715 East Lincoln Avenue. >> Second move by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Garver. >> Questions, concerns uh, with these exploratory this property? It has no fire suppression system that have to be updated. You are correct. I did not notice any I went and looked at the property and I did not notice any fire suppression system. I believe it was a mechanic's garage for heavy trucks. Trucks. Yes. >> We take our buses there a couple times. I used to do some in house. Yes. By's garage. Are there any concerns? >> Not yet. I think through the due diligence we'll find out what we've got. We've talked to our attorneys and we're putting together one
043of the things that they were supposed to help us whatever that is through the process of making sure I did ask the realtor if there are any environmental concerns and he said there were not. So that those would have to be disclosed. We can certainly do our due diligence to look into it further. Do we have kind of a a preliminary budget going into it saying here's what we're willing to spend, here's how we would fund prepping it for what we're >> state lawend. >> Well, what I guess what I mean by that is >> yes, >> you got the purchase price, but then you also have all the other costs that go into determining whether it's good and then uh do you got to what updates you have to do like you was talking
044about with the fire suppression system? Like is it just a nebulous thing out there or do we have a say this is how much we'd be willing to spend on that property before it's too expensive for what it's worth. How does that get determined? >> So, obviously that's not in my field, but we did go out and look at it. It seemed promising. Uh at this point, I wanted to see if we even in the same ballpark with the appraisals, but if um if the appraisals come back much less than what the asking price is, that's that there's a problem there as well. We're not going to be able to purchase it. So, that seemed to be reasonable first step. But I think after that then we should do um we should at least put
045forth the amount of money that would need to be put into the structure to make it usable for us and that would be a consideration that would be part of any recommendation that I would bring back to you. I think we would have to benchmark it against if we had to start from scratch, >> right? what the investment would be if we had to find property, construct a facility, uh what that cost would be versus what this I mean, so there's different angles for the good of the public. Currently, we don't have space to you might notice that we wash our buses out in the alley. Uh we have three mechanics bays. There's no we don't have place for our buses to park next to our shops and so anytime we need to get a
046bus we need to go over to the other lot across the street drive it in uh if we have space for it. Uh Dr. Metaf you work with transportation on a day in and dayout basis. Can you offer any other >> Yeah there uh it also ties into our long range plan for this for this campus. If you remember when that was presented to us a couple months ago by Bart and Co, um some of the some of the visioning was how what might happen to this campus if we could do if we could do things in phases. And one of the big lynch pins was that we were trying to think about is how what do we do with transportation because you need to have your garage, you need to have your offices, you
047need to have parking for the buses if we were to expand um and then we would have to purchase. So this coming this coming in and I you know doc Mr. Graves our transportation director and I went over with um with Bob to take a look at it. Um and we feel that it has adequate space right now for for the offices. It comes we have actually four drive-thru bays. Uh we could actually get eight buses in at any one time. Uh the the the height is such that we can lift our buses much higher and be able to do that. Maybe maybe eventually put in a floor which would allow which was is a much would allow us to do a lot more of the um heavy work that right now we have to
048take to garages to do just because we don't have the space. Um it has built-in storage um for it has built-in storage for like our tires, our inventory, our our parts and things. And and the other piece of it is one of the things is because this was used by what was Pensky Star Rentals who they service their buses over there or their their vehicles over there last. Um one of the other things it has it actually has a um diesel tank and and up to-ate pump. So, we would also be able to save money by um having diesel fuel delivered directly to the hopefully what would be the bus lot, which could save us some time and money there. So, there's a number of reasons why this property checks a lot of boxes. Does
049it check every box? Um was pretty close to be honest with you. >> It was nine acres, right? >> Yes. >> Is there thought of some lights in the parking cameras. There are I mean there are definitely some upgrades that would need to happen. Um just some insulation in some of the office areas, some some things like that. But um the bones of it are pretty are pretty solid. And >> this would be the central hub for all transport. >> You guys were talking about potentially moving the bus parking at some point. Is that an idea of that property being actual full parking lot, too? >> It would be great to have It would be ideal to have all in one. That would then open up space across the street near the JV field if
050we were to if we have need for >> for some other things other things. >> Um we would have at least some space to to work with. >> I know I've been down there a lot, but I haven't ever thought about with buses. Uh if you have that many buses leaving in the morning to park there, is it easy to get in and out for people or is it going to get clogged up? Uh we would definitely have we would definitely have to put some some um I mean we'd have to probably have two gates instead of where we have one where we probably have an in gate and an out gate um as people come in and out. It is on County Lincoln or State Road 4. So it's um it's with the upgrades
051the city did it would be pretty easy to get in and out of we believe. >> What about the side of the track it's on? >> It is on the north side of the track. Um so uh I mean Yeah, >> most of your buses are going south of the trans. >> Most of our buses are going south. It it is right around a mile from where we currently are. So, it's not that that far. Um, some of our buses, there are like two buses that head up to Chamberlain and some over to down by the U Blackport um over by the fairgrounds to pick up there. But most of most of them would be probably coming either through town up to um you know up to 33 or have to figure that out. But
052there are a number of ways to get to get get there. >> I know if you get stuck in a line of buses, it gets very annoying when they all stop at the tracks. >> Yeah. >> Then if you put a train in there and you're waiting on the train and the buses and it can become there was talk of legislation happening this year that would eliminate the need for buses to stop at at tracks. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that is part of the legislation that is outcome. Um our first bus leaves the compound currently at 520. Um, so I mean they they kind of stagger out as they as they go. >> It's not it's not all at once. Um, so yeah. >> So this resolution is just to allow permission
053to >> investigate, right? >> Good questions. >> A few dollars, not a lot for the >> appraisals. Appraisals. Thank you. >> Just just the cost of appraisals that the board Any additional questions or comments? All right, with that we have a motion and a second on the floor for item 6.7. All those in favor uh please raise your hand and say I >> oppose. Same sign. That passes 6. All right, that does conclude our action items tonight. Uh so now we will go on to a few a couple discussion items and we will start with 7.1 default schedule. >> So thank you. Um we've been working with um Mr. Meer and her staff and her counselors um and our CTE um also administrators looking at um what it might be what it might mean to
054um create a schedule where as a freshman if you're basically it's kind of telling you what your pathway is and what you have to take and win. Um and so Kathy Mrs. Deer has been working on this with her staff so I'll just turn it over to her. >> Okay. Um, so we're taking a look at how Goian High School is implementing our new diploma, Indiana's new diploma model, and uh an interest in having a clear, equitable advising system that helps all students start out strong. Um, and kind of taking in mind some things that have been shared with us in the past regarding pathways. And so in this model, we want our students to be able to make informed choices by mid 10th grade. And so if we take a look at this slide,
055um I would like to think that this diploma model allows us to include readiness for uh college career enlistment, which uh basically is the the seal options at this point. U we feel this model captures the heart of our approach our readiness whether they choose students choose college employment or enlistment coming from the rigor of any diploma they choose honors ICC AP and dual credit coursework experiential learning CTE work-based learning flight paths and internships but that these are not competing priorities that in fact they can be blended and this diploma template will allow us to blend those and show parents parents and students that before they need to make a choice. And so if you think of it as ninth and tth grade sharing a common experience, um that means our ninth and tth graders
056don't have to choose a pathway yet. And so that's something that has been a concern in the past, right? Kind of choosing something maybe in eighth grade and and feeling a little stuck. And so with this model, they don't have to do that. Um ninth and tth grade will be nearly identical. And I'll I'll show you a slide that'll be a little dizzying, but you'll be able to see that. Um, and then it builds a strong liberal arts foundation where we can explore academic and CTE opportunities and learn about the different diplomas without any pressure. Also, this model allows us to maintain NCAA eligibility if we have students who are um we saw a couple of those on a slide tonight that would be eligible for a division one and two um scholarships. There are
057some pretty specific things. One key point, you've got to have your second language taken care of to be eligible. And if by chance you dropped that in freshman year and didn't think about it again until you're being offered something senior year, maybe you didn't know you were going to have that talent kick in, what have you, you're out of luck. And so we want to make sure that does not occur. Um in mid year of our 10th grade, after advising with counselors and families, students can then select um the direction they want to go. So for enrollment, employment or service, there is an honors seal plus with associates and CTE, honors seal plus with associates, honors seal plus, and honors seal. We have really mapped out specifically enrollment at this time for you to look
058at and see what you think. Um, I will say this is probably my fault because I didn't upload it correctly. So, >> and Derk's so nice that he was really sweet about it. Okay, so I realize this is a lot to look at. I'm going to let you kind of take this in for a minute. Um, the idea here is we will initially, so we have four templates here. We have the the honors seal plus with an associates and a CTE option at the top. Okay, that's pretty specific. Then we have the honors seal plus with an associates and then we have the honor seal plus and we have the honors seal. And so what this does is it allows us to start pretty strong and initially advise based on whatever um that student's strengths
059are. So kind of starting out big knowing that we can always back off rather than starting out small and trying to add and not have enough time. And so if you take a look a couple things I want to really point out. I tried to tried all kinds of iterations here and tried to not do too much color coding, but you'll notice music is listed there in blue. There is the ability to take music every year in all of these options and in fact to double up in depending on what a student would choose to do. Okay. Uh, I did choose to just show you one per year, but every student starting in eighth grade can be scheduled for music and elective. Also, in eighth grade, we would take care of a world language option,
060health, and PE. So, that's over on the left. No matter what diploma they end up choosing, that is the same for eighth grade. Then, you'll notice we really don't have a difference for ninth grade in all four of those options. Um there's a key piece here that um if they're going for the associates, so we have two options with associates. We have the honors with and then we have the associates plus CTE. They a student would need to take some world language in the summer and that would be through IVTech. We already advise students who are interested in that. We already have students doing that. Um, I would imagine we would have more as we would use this template and and that way it isn't someone maybe approaching us, but rather we're advertising that. Um,
061but that helps make a little bit of room in that schedule because right now, um, what we're looking at is really trying to fit lots of options in for kids that want a lot of options. And it does require getting some things out of the way in the summer or we need to be creative and maybe come up with a way to offer some credits before or after school. And we have some ideas for that if if we would want to go that direction. And then in purple, uh, in hindsight, I should have chosen maybe more of a contrast between that light blue and purple, but those are all signifying dual credit. So instead of spelling out every single class option that a a counselor could go through with your student in general, I have
062their English, math, science, social studies, but the purple is dual credit. Um, and then we see that there is space for CTE, which remember we have 11 half-day programs that we offer in addition to the options that exist at the Elcart Career Center, um, the Pathways program for WC and the um, Fairfield Career Center or work-based learning, which we have um, many students taking advantage of now, getting out and working. And then um this can also be replaced if you take a look at that honor seal plus with an associates. You know, maybe a student doesn't go the CTE workbased option. So it' be second from the top. Uh we're filling that time with dual credit. And so that's really where that um associates comes in. So probably the most robust option that takes the
063most planning is at the top there. And what we're thinking is as we're working with a student, uh, we want them to be prepared for this. So freshman, again, freshman and sophomore year looks pretty much the same, we would absolutely advise for getting that language taken care of in the summer. And then if a student opts to move away from that and actually move down, which all of these are amazing amazing diplomas, okay? So there's there's no ranking them. It's really more about what are you interested in doing? Um, as you move down, we would have some things in place where if you're opting to move down, that happens through a discussion with your parent or guardian and the student, the counselor. We are now paired um we're really truly pairing this year counselor and
064admin per grade level. So often that h that conversations happens with the admin as well. and then we would record that and put a note in your cumulative file. Um, we also have an electronic record that we use that helps us when we get ready for graduation. There are some situations, for instance, we have someone that's an athlete and they are adamant they're dropping the language piece and we know that is going to make them ineligible if they have the talent and the grades for that NCAA. We're going to have an opt out where we have a meeting and things are signed with our parents. We just want to make sure there's a full understanding of what you're giving up so that we don't again get two three years in and realize uh oh, you
065know, it's too late. We can back down as we go. And so, um, this was just a visual that I thought would help us see we want to start strong. We want to start everyone out the same. This helps us with equity, clarity, goals. We can make that decision then in 10th grade as we're scheduling for 11th, so about January of 10th grade year. And then we're making a choice toward enrollment, employment, enlistment. Um, but by the way, depending if they were to go with that um, honors seal plus or the honors seal, they could do one pathway in 11th grade, and I know u, Mr. Deoce has said this before, and maybe do another pathway their senior year. So, we're really opening up uh options for our kids uh with the idea that we
066want clarity for students and families so they see their full four-year plan before they even schedule. We want equity. We want all of our students to be ready for the top and then uh move them and shift them as we discover their interests. We want to offer opportunities for them to explore and choose with some guidance and help from their parent and the experts at school also with their own interest. And then we want to preserve that eligibility in the event that we would have a student who has that eligibility. Um so our goal every graduate uh graduates prepared with a plan purpose and meaningful opportunities. Um don't know if you have questions tonight. I'd be happy to help or try to answer. Um, >> so are we looking to implement this beginning next school
067year? What's what's the >> So, the current freshmen are on the new diploma. >> Um, so in a way, we're we're on the right path with them. Um, but yes, we well, what we'd really like to do, we start scheduling in January for next year. We'll use the template for that. Um, and I also have to give a plug and shout out to our um, department chair for our counseling department, David Post, designed what you saw there that had all the options. Um, he's really really gifted in that way. And so I can't take that credit at all. I want I want you to know I couldn't get him to do this. So I'm doing it, but it it's to his credit. Kathy, will we need to I don't know how robust our summer school
068programs are at this point. Do you envision we'll have to maybe add on to those summer programs with this adoption? The only thing we have to offer in the summer assuming every student in you know choosing these options all the way to associates and CTE doesn't fail any classes is them taking the language through IvyTech which we have not offered language during the summer ever because it just you need that speaking piece and that face toface. Um, I know that we have students in music that would that have a strong desire to get ahead in their programming so they can take two music classes a year and that is that's what would require being a little creative. Um, we have some ideas that would not >> say are we okay with that? Okay. Kind of
069concept. >> Yeah. So, an idea that I've had is if we were to offer uh let's say I come in and teach zero to sixth period, I'm still on a contract that is the same pay as if I was teaching one through seven or I might teach two through eight. So, we could offer a before school zero hour or an afterchool 8th period. It would need to be through admentum online. we would only allow certain classes to be taken that way, but we could have we know what those are actually now. Um, we have students who could get ahead in those areas and that way they could have an another opening for two musics because we do have our crimson ears who also are in choir. We have many of our band and orchestra who
070are in both. Um, we have quite a few students now doing two, but we have more who would really love to. I would say, you know, when asked Kathy and her team to put this together and Dr. Metaf um digging into this, the idea is that this is our competitive advantage. Other schools may or may not be tackling this. Larger schools have a little better opportunity to do some uh great things for kids. And with our CTE focus and what we're doing, it's not as robust of a career center as the career center, but we have our own kind of career center as well. So kids can join the co-op which is part of a WBC co-op. They can go to the career center that after they free to do those two things. But we've
071also created many many opportunities including entrepreneurship uh that are is now um provided here on campus. So when you look at what we're able to do compared to a smaller school district that I may or may not have come from, uh there's not many pathways you can have at a school like that. You might get business pathway and hope they can get into one of these other programs outside your school, but we have the opportunity to do that. We think it's going to be a big attractive thing. We want to make it the schedule can get in the way and that was the big challenge. We can't let the schedule get in the way. We can't get kids to graduation and go, "Well, I don't have enough credits to play NCA sports or I don't
072have enough credits to finish my TC, which is a technical certificate from IvyTech, so I can get a year of college out of my way for 30 credit hours." We don't want kids finishing that way. So, we have the came kind of came with this idea. We call it default schedule. I don't like it, but it's like this is where you start and then through your performance and or your willingness to work hard and achieve, you can this route or that route and and uh but if you choose to go take a path that maybe was lower there uh it's perfectly fine if that's what you and your parents want to do. We want to make sure somehow communicate with the student and the family that this is what you're choosing now and you're going
073to still have to work hard to do that as well. But uh we want to make sure we have great opportunities for our kids at all levels and all interests. Two things I just thought of that I I meant to point out. Um, this fits very well with Alcart County. You know, with all of our manufacturing and beyond manufacturing, we know that the DOE helped design or at least they say they helped design this new diploma with places like Goan in mind in Alcart County Schools. Um, also if if students do earn that associates, so either of the two options that include the associates, it comes with an automatic admit to any public Indiana school that they apply to. It doesn't mean they're automatically in all of you have to apply, but it is an
074automatic admit if you've earned that associates in high school. >> And it's technically called technical certificates. So anyway, we'll talk >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any other questions for Kathy? >> Good job. >> Thank you very much. >> Great work you and your team did. Thank you. >> All right. And we will move on now to our last discussion item. Uh 7.2 strategic planning. >> I'm going to pass these out. I've got tried making it one page. It's nothing new that you haven't seen before. I won't stand I just want to go through you all have seen this and board members. Um, our promise is the same. Inspire innovation, empower potential, enrich the world. Our vision is the Elcart County School uh district of choice. I mean, we're tagline is uh learning today leading tomorrow. You
075saw that in what we just did with the default schedule. That's very challenging. We're going to be helping kids achieve amazing things. Our core values we talk about a lot stick with. we want to make sure are uh completely integrated into all the things that we do in the district. But we put students first. We educate the whole child. Uh more than just a growth mindset. We want to instill craftsman mindset with staff and with students and in we want integrity and everybody here uh whether you like it or not get to have the opportunity and uh expectation to work in a team. So then we take that and we go okay what are our commitments? These are kind of our bigger picture four commitments. We have uh this kind of financial stewardship and I
076didn't I we do have a statement there but I didn't put it in here for this document but it is a stable efficient financial system sustaining best-in-class learning. We don't want to be just okay. We want to have the bestin-class. Um and then so some of our key measures we haven't really veered from this but it's a shorter summary of it. uh retire all long-term debt by 2040 unless the board changes that. We're still operating on that. Uh maintain 17.2% uh education fund cash balance and uh we're doing that at this time. maintain a 50% operation fund balance uh January and invest 2% of our property value back into our buildings to make sure they stay uh up to date and and good places for kids to learn. Um we have a couple priorities this
077year we're working on. Uh going to just trying to stay ahead of this capital projects planning uh mentioned like the roof plan etc etc. We have some of those things. We're just going to maybe share them with the board a little more and clean them up. Uh then we have uh secured the 2026 geo bond. We just did a 2025 geo bond and we're starting to work on the 2026 geo bond as part of that 2% back in. Uh so that'll be big some big projects kind of Bob's working on. Uh 2.0 uh student achievement um Jav Lori Allen of course oversees all this stuff as associate superintendent as well. key measures. We are trying to get 1% better. Uh we had this these 1% armbands and speakers at the beginning of the year and
078uh we're still holding true to that. 1% better. If we do a stretch goal, it's a 3% in most these cases. We're trying to say 1%'s our target. We're going for that. We're getting better all the time. Time's on our side. We're going to achieve where we want to be. But the 3% also says, "Hey, we can get 3% or 5%. That's what we want." So we want to do that in attendance behavior and course performance and course performance uh is uh I learn I read kindergarten readiness all those kind of things are uh that's what we're talking about but particularly you want to start looking a little deeper into uh the D and F list in 7 through 12th grade and start managing those uh trying to get fewer fewer kids that have are
079off course because of their We have the Indiana kindergarten readiness. Uh that is something that you think is outside of our control, but through whatever power of persuasion we have for parents and for kids before they get here. We want to help those parents uh and the preschools know what is expected when they walk into kindergarten. I think this year Javier helped me. 23% of our kindergarters were ready for kindergarten. So, we have quite a lift trying to get them up to speed each year they're here. More kids along that dial. Um, and then, uh, I read Acadians is basic reading skills that gets them ready for the reading test in second, third grade. I learn third through 8th grade. And we're trying to continually improve until we get in the top 25% of the
080state. That's our goal. So, um, not really mentioned there, but well, it is mentioned, PSAT, SAT. This is big challenge we've been throwing out there for the high school to start working on getting our students to be uh improving. We do PSAT in 9th grade, 10th grade, and SAT in uh 11th grade. So, we have data and we can look at cohorts of kids and how many of them are where they should be according to being ready for college work. And so, just we'll start pushing that at the high school and get those teams together and see what they can do to help get kids ready for that. Um we also purchase uh name >> yes >> for high school and they're going to start using that to help prep them for SAT. Um last
081but not least is this new accountability that we won't know till Wednesday. We're going to double down on whatever that is. We want to a good grade. So, we're going to be working hard at that, too. Um, then our priorities, uh, I kind of look at these, these are the systems or the engine that's going to drive some of this work, these achievements. You just don't magically improve. Uh, but you improve because you're doing the right things. Those right things are uh, SOIP, which is our cognitive skills, sensory integration, and focusing for younger kids. We're going to continue to work work on our learning science which is the powerful teaching techniques and cognitive science that we know out there about learning and we want to get better at that. We're going to redesign our special
082education. Uh we've got some uh ideas we think are going to help kids u achieve. And then we have our EL learners and high ability students that we're gonna shoot, we hired a consultant that's helped us do some work in those areas. We're kind we're trying to implement those things to get better. Um, and then if you flip it over on the back, we get to operational excellence and of course Dr. Medcap is uh in charge of a lot of things, school operations and operations of the district as a whole. But uh we want to have innovative high performing systems that support student success and then uh the key kind of measures we're looking at there this annual strategic continuous improvement plans that we're doing at each grade and each school. Uh and those we
083want teams to own their incremental improvements. And then the second one there is uh you should have two policy reviews cycle per year for I should have said there. Sorry I left that out. Got too thin. And then all schools meet fidelity framework standards. We haven't really created those yet. They're there. They're implied, but they're not necessarily written down. We want to get those. So, we're making sure we're executing the way we should. It's amazing stuff going on out there. We just got to capture how do we make sure that all the boxes are checked. Okay. So, that's uh then our priorities this year. We want to do two full board policy updates. Thank you board for approving the Neola policies. It's going to help us. And then we're working on handbook updates as well.
084We're going to implement layered reviews once we have the checklist, but that probably will be next fall. Um, culture, people, uh, Tracy Noi kind of this is her area. Uh, everybody works in all these areas, but, uh, student engagement, employee engagement, and parent engagement. And we're, we have a measure we've done parent engagement. I'm not sure it's the kind of thing we want. A lot of businesses do what's called an NPS net promoter score. So, we're looking at we're going to really need parents in that case because you got to have data, you got to have information to make better decisions and measure where you're going. So, we'll have to roll that roll that out. But, we'd like to institute a net promoter score maybe next fall and then define engagement metrics for students. What
085does it mean for student to be engaged at a high school, junior high, elementary, and so on? And working with our benefits, communication, engagement That's that's work. And then those are just some of the general data points you should see coming across your desk as board members when we have these meetings. We'll be sharing information that hopefully gets at some of those targets. So I would say nothing new, just tweaking and getting better at what we've put in place. And it's hey, we're about the grind. We got we're running the play. We're just gonna try to keep better and incrementally move the district forward and amazing things will happen. They've already been happening. So, I'm very excited. The high school stuff, all kinds of good stuff. Teams are working hard at the grade levels all
086through the district. Any questions? I appreciate you continually driving this home with us and I appreciate you keeping it fresh. Yes, you have shown it to us, but it's evolved. I think that's the thing we hope for is that it's just not a something you've established and said it's there on the shelf. We're looking at it often. We're talking about where we need to pivot slightly. Um, and it's it's exciting where we can still go. We appreciate the I absolutely >> it's a fantastic leadership we district that has great leadership across the board and it's amazing when you think about where can we be and where I mean we're making all these changes we're doing all these great things there's talent in this room there's talent and you go to the schools uh it's pretty
087amazing uh what this district has done and can do so I'm so thankful I get to be part of thoughts here on where we're we're heading as a district. >> Okay. Thank you for that, sir. >> All right. And now that does bring us uh to item eight, which are closing items, and we'll send it right back to you for any miscellaneous administrative items tonight. >> Okay. Yes, we do. Thank you, Terry. Uh we have executive session immediately following this meeting. We have the uh administration and schoolboard Christmas party Wednesday at 6 pm. I believe crimson are going to be singing for us. I'm excited for that. And then the next board meeting will be here January 12th at 6 pm. And finally want to wish everybody here uh merry Christmas and happy new year
088and any other holidays you might be celebrating it during this this holiday season. So thank you. Um board members anything to bring up tonight? So as I said we will uh when we do adjourn here we will take about a fivem minute break and we will uh reconvene in executive session. Um but I do appreciate everyone this last year. It's it's uh shocking that we've made it this fast through another year. Feels like we just started here in January. So um thank you to the board for another successful year together. leading this district. Thank you to the entire administration, to all of our building level leaders, our educators, our pair of professionals, our bus drivers, our nutrition specialists, our custodians. Thank you all for for what you do to make our students successful each and
089every day. So, we appreciate all of that. So you guys are the heart of this district and we're happy uh that you're here with us and we are excited for the future holds for us all >> and our basketball team's really good this year too. >> Basketball team looks very promis by Mr. Click. Second by Mr. Griman. All in favor please say I. >> I. We are adjourned. Thank you all so very much. Uh we will reconvene here at about 723 725.