001Um, probably a little little bumpy, but hey, we made it, right? Pretty rusty. >> Everybody a little rusty today. Uh, just a few opening comments as we get going this evening. Uh, this is a meeting the school board and 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 as indicated on agenda item number two for agenda and non-aggenda uh items. Our mission uh is the mission of go community schools is to inspire innovation, empowering potential and enriching our world. And our vision go community schools Elkart County School District of choice. Uh agenda approval of tonight's agenda. Do we have any revisions, Mr. Voice? >> No, Mr. President, we do not. >> Right. The agenda is approved as presented
002and approval of the minutes from our October 13, 2025 regular meeting. Board members, do we have any revisions to those minutes? Seeing no head moving, so I will say they are approved as presented. So with that, we will now move on to the uh public comment on agenda or non-aggenda items. And um I believe uh Rick Stiffy, sir, >> you sign in to speak during the public meeting. >> No, I didn't intend to. >> Okay. Do you have any comments? >> Do you have any comments? You This is your option if you would like to, sir. >> Not to put you on the spot. You don't have to. >> Obviously signed the wrong sheet of paper, but uh yeah, I'm a citizen of Goan and my kids went through public schools here, elementary and middle
003school, and I know Jim. I actually believe in public education for the common good. So, I'm here as a cheerleader. I want a really good public school and I trust really competent staff [snorts] and faculty. One of the great joys of my life is reading to elementary kids in West Gan. I'm one of those old farts who shows up and reads stories to kids. We need great public schools. You guys are part of that. I'm a cheerleader. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate it, sir. >> All right. So, That will conclude our uh public comment time this evening. So we will now go on to superintendent reports. >> Yes. Uh Mr. President and the rest of the board. Couple things. Uh Bob, as you know, is overseas right now on vacation. Uh so uh tonight
004we'll have our geo bond uh hearing and finalize that process. Uh we have guests here tonight from well, we have Carl Cinder and we have um Potters. Chris and so thanks for being here from working point. So uh and also uh wanted to mention that uh we are working on actually with Carlson looking at refinancing some of our bonds. You all as a board voted to allow the school system to refinance the 2013 and 2014 bond should it be advantageous to the school corporation. And it looks like it might be looking advantageous for us to do that. So maybe as interest rates come down, we're working towards that. So I just want to let the board know if you have any questions in that regard. Uh please ask at some point now or later. Uh
005but we're we're moving in that direction. So that concludes our financial commitment uh uh updates for the board. Uh second thing is our student achievement commitment. Jav. >> Yes. Uh good afternoon everybody. Uh we'll we'll have um a a pretty I I guess upgraded report of our first quarter uh like uh you know we want to show you uh how our data is looking in regards to the ABCs and so we'll be ready to present that to you uh at the next board meeting on November 10th. So yeah, thanks. Uh we have several operational excellence uh commitment reports and I think we're going to start out with Dr. Medaf. Uh Allen, uh >> sure. >> Update Nola and some things. >> Uh last Friday, you should have received a link or if not before then
006to the um and instructions on how to look at the uh revised Neola policies that hopefully we'll be voting on here in December would be where we'd like to do it. Tonight in the discussion, you we'll we'll talk just briefly about it. Um and then hopefully we'll we'll move forward and have the second reading in November and voting in December. Okay. >> And uh >> policy stuff. >> I thought it came from Terry. >> That came from Terry McCle. >> She sent it >> and I can forward those. I looked at that this morning, her email. So I can look at it and forward that if we can find >> I have the agenda. >> We'll get it to you. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah, we'll we'll get that to you. >> Yeah, we'll resend
007that. >> Here it is. >> She sent out 10:15. Yeah. >> I just forwarded it to him. Okay. It's already done. Momentarily, >> sorry about that. >> Um, >> thanks for asking a question. Sorry. All the other board members been able to see it at least in the email. Okay. And then Okay. Um, any other questions for about the Neola? This is kind of our first up looking at it and we'd like to get it done by the end of the year which means uh this October 27th kind of first reading first goound looking at asking questions. Uh the second reading uh we do November 10th and then we're looking at a final approval December 8th uh to do the switch over and Alan you tell them the rationale or the logic model we applied
008to approving. So we we read through every single one of those um policies um and when there were choices presented by the lawyers at Nyola, we referred to our current policies and policies that the board has had in place and u mirrored those as often as possible. So that was always and then when um when there were some that maybe we didn't have specific policies for example you'll see that mola has a classified and a certified person personnel um roster because um there are different um standards and different policies that apply. Uh we we consulted with our HR department based on p past practice um and and interpretation of our current board policies to try to mirror as many of those as possible. I'm going to ask it now. I was gonna ask it later.
009What is our I guess legal because honestly every one of them may have changed in some fashion. >> Yeah, there are some that were still the same, right? That were identical. Yes. >> But, you know, if if if there were what's called a thousand unique policies, Yeah. >> which may have not been that may be accurate. >> Probably was. Um, you know, I don't know the law behind it if we have to review everyone that has been changed openly. >> That that that's my bigger I guess. >> Yeah, I see what you're saying. >> How do we have to make sure that we I mean because no offense there will be a lot for us all to digest. And if you remember the way it used to be long time ago, we used to have
010to have a public reading of all the changes and then it it kind of it changed to doesn't have to necessarily go to a public reading. You you could have your >> the board could just take action on that and just summarize the changes. Um Jim um Jim McDermott, no Jim Dermaty um our Neiola representative um he has assured us that it it is legal to do it this way. Um and without having to >> publicly go through every single change. Um uh so we are to be honest we are kind of based on his recommendation this is how it's the most efficient way to do it in in such a short period of time >> and be because I have not dove into them in great detail yet the only way am I going
011to be able to know if a change was made if I have current policy to proposed policy side by side version >> there is there is not a red line version >> yeah [clears throat] >> is not a red line I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, >> right? >> I'd say for us to do our proper due diligence, >> we're going to have to invest some some time. >> Yeah. >> As I look to to the other board members, I mean, there's I I would always also say that policy is your policy as a board that guides corporation. >> So, we're here and the attorneys at Neil are here to make recommendations and then in the end, we already from the updates that you will be addressing as soon as we get this
012done. Um, I would think of it in terms of uh those policies are always in play to be changed based on consistency with court cases and state law and changes uh in the Indiana code. Um, so you could change the policies whenever you want. >> Correct. And so even There is this work we were trying to get done for the end of the year because we said that we you know a year ago we said we're going to work on this and and it's coming up on our year kind of anniversary that we've been shooting for. Uh my recommendation and it's purely up to the comfort of the board that we take you know we we only made decisions either based on uh the Neola recommended policies. We had choices between a couple things on
013on these policies. The amount of that Dr. Metaf, myself, Javi, Tracy, uh, and, uh, Terry Digging, you know, working on, uh, getting those up to date is immense. There's just, there would be no way for all of you to be that involved in doing each and every one of those. So, I do believe though every time, twice a year minimum, we'll be bringing those updates to you. You should be very involved in every one of those new updates. and you know asking questions and working on each one of those. But for pragmatic purposes, I would say here's the here's the batch. Yeah. And I get what you're saying and and >> it's one of the core responsibilities of the board. >> Yes. >> So I I I guess I I I'm not I'm not drawing
014criticism on on any of the team that worked on it, >> right? >> Uh a point I'm making to my fellow board members is this is one of our three core responsibil that we need to make sure we have the comfort level before we would vote on any one of them. >> Is there a way to get it as a PDF of the new and the old because then you can just do a automatic red line and say, "Hey, here's where the policies changed." >> I find extremely difficult other for basic searching to actually navigate and compare things because you can only see >> like you can't do any comparison if there is a PDF version of it. >> Yeah, we were not we also were not given a PDF. We had to work within
015board docs and pull it up and actually work within the program. So I do not know that there is um that not to say that um >> is there intellectual property? >> We yeah we we could we can inquire about that though. Yeah, seems like an inside. It's just compare the two documents and it'll show you every change that's been made. So when you go through it, we can look at the changes >> and say, okay, we know what's been done because I don't want to spend time necessarily studying every detail of the ones that haven't been changed. >> And to be honest with you, there's a there's quite a quite a bit difference. Um I mean Niola has I think um n 9,000 and even though we went to 9,000 on the in in
016our current policies we did not necessarily have a 7,000 I mean we we had um the course like we do have the we have a students we have Mola has student program classified personnel certified personnel personnel I mean so there's um >> yeah I's I just >> like I said, this is not no criticism of the team. I just think each of us board members need to have the comfort level of what is there before we vote on it. Um, and I'm not saying we slow the process down at all, but I encourage us that you need to block some time over the next month just to because there or I'll even throw this out there or we we assign groups to different board members and you know someone's going to take the zero, someone
017will take the follow. I mean, you know, we have to figure out how we have the comfort level that we have identified and in good faith have signed off on the policies. That's all I'm saying. So, I it's think about it. It's a it's a discussion item here in about 20 minutes. So, um >> yeah, and I think those those are some of the questions I think we were kind of anticipating during the discussion. Yeah. >> You just jump the gun. >> Thank you. [laughter] I'll shut up. >> Okay. U definitely want you comfortably before you have to vote though and feel good about it. >> Uh rather than go to the district website, we're going to hold off on one minute for that and we're going to go to Ellen talked about disc golf.
018>> Okay. [clears throat] So, we've been approached by um Daniel Lancor in his his classroom. Um, disc golf is becoming a huge huge thing uh nationwide and there's hundreds of courses around the country. Um, so they his course his class has been investigating could a disc golf course a 9-hole disc I believe it's nine-hole disc golf course full 9hole uh be uh placed at JGIS through um and as kind of a class project. Um could that happen? So, um, I met with him and Don Ritter from facilities. We met with him this morning and said, "Well, the first thing we want to do is bring it to the board just kind of, hey, we're thinking about this." Um, he would he would do some leg work with the city and his class would do some
019leg work um preparing, you know, some some questions for the city. Um, and then have him do have have him do a presentation on the November board meeting. Um just further tonight was just building awareness um because one of the things they'd like to do is uh get out there and set up like if we set up a practice course and measure it all off, get it all set up. Um they'd like to do that, but I also said we also don't want to get ahead of the board because this is a this would be a change because they would anticipate this being after on weekends a public a public course. So um we'll be hearing more from him in November at the November board meeting. a lot of things for us to even evaluate
020to give recommendation before we get too far. >> Thanks for the update. >> Um, and then we'll finish with the website under operations. But I wanted to talk for a second about or uh on October 8th, it was announced, we found out about a week before that that uh as you know board, we have this uh Elcart County Special Education Cooperative, excuse me, where we collaborate and work with um the other [clears throat] county school districts and of programs that we collaborate and work with is very low incident, but we have a deaf heart of hearing program that's been located at Concord. It's part of the cooperative with [clears throat] Concord pulling out of the cooperative and BAGO pulling out of the cooperative. Uh the remaining school districts, there's four of us, Fairfield, Mberry, and
021uh uh we were working with them trying to see if there's a way that they would keep that program there. They've chosen not to do that and asked our students uh told our students and families that they were not allowed they're not going to be allowed to go to school there next year. And same thing with the Elcart students. So the Elcart def heart of hearing program was has been there as well. And so Elcart has kids and we have kids that have been in that program. They've been notified that they won't be there. So they'll be back in our home district which as you know that's kind of a lonely existence if you're a de part of hearing student and we have uh I'm very sad for families and so we're looking at how
022we can best program for those kids in the county without working with concord since they've chosen not to work with kids. So, um, just want to update you on that. [clears throat] And, uh, so we're working with the families and working with our programming to try to decide. This is kind of sprung on us in late September. We found out about a week or two before that this was going to happen. Um, now any questions on any of that? And then we're going to transition website. Okay. Website, please. Andrew, uh, you and So, last Friday, I think uh Jim forwarded you a link to the new website. Andrew is here is going to bring it up for us. Have Dirk bring it up for us. The the new website. Um or maybe I'm sorry, they
023bring up the old one first. >> Bring up the old. >> Okay. The old one and then the new one. And then he'll just answer some any kind of questions, talk a little bit about some of the choices we've made um while programming this. So, I'll turn it over to you, Andrew. >> Okay. So yeah, um the this our new website has been in the works since before I started here. Um so um excited to get this pretty close to finishing. Um if you guys didn't know, um the plan to go live with our new website is November 17th. So that's coming up soon. Um what I wanted to show you first was some the major issue on our current website which is up on the screen now. Um the big issue even for me
024um when I'm sitting in meetings and trying to find something because I I can't find anything. It's very hard to navigate the website. Um so as you as you'll notice we have we have two menus on on the home screen in the header. We have one at the very top here and then we have one down here. Um, from my experience, having two different menus is very uncommon and it makes it more difficult. And then if you click on the about us uh page up here, you get a whole new menu down here. Um, so that that's that's really in my mind the main issue that we were trying to tackle here. Um, so Here is our our new website. Um the bones are there. The meat is mostly there. Um I'm kind of just
025working on putting the makeup on it now. Um finalizing some some things and having some final meetings these last two weeks. So as I just talked about um navigating the website was a big issue on for our current website. Um and so every page on this current or on this new website um you'll be able to from our homepage. So, the the page we're on right now, this is our homepage. Um, pretty general stuff here. Welcome to Ocean Schools, latest news. Um, so these are all the press releases uh that go out to the media as well as some some other news u upcoming events. So, this is linked to a district calendar that I manage. Just a little section about what makes us great. Um, and that's the home page there. But say you
026you hover over the our district um button there and you'll see an about us page, a contact us page. Uh if you hover over enroll today, you'll see options for kindergarten transferring students. Um information that you'll need u for for registering. Um you'll have information on our central registration. Uh that really goes for for all these buttons here at the top. So our athletics department uh you're you're given the option for the high school or the junior high. Uh curriculum and learning department, we have current adopted curriculum, English learner program, high ability program. So so there's no hidden hidden pages on this new website and that was something I was really wanting to address. Um, the other thing I want to mention is, uh, when we talked about this a couple months ago, uh, with
027you guys, um, it came up as a concern that we weren't necessarily [snorts] getting some of the public's opinion on this. And so, uh, I met with Lori, um, and her parent engagement group, um, and kind of had a focus group meeting with them. Um, Lori kind of combined all the feedback we got from them and I sat down with her and Allan and a couple other administrators and we made sure all those boxes were checked on the feedback that we received. Um, so yeah, the we're we're cutting a lot of unnecessary information that's on the current website. Um, and really honing into what people our parents and our students will need on this current Any questions from the board members or certainly an upgrade? >> Yeah, I'll say I look through it. It's much
028easier to navigate, which is nice. >> And the other thing I'll mention is right now we we have five different websites. We have a district website, the high school has a website, the junior high has a website, the foundation has a website, and Goan High School Athletics has a website. With this new site, we're going from five websites down to two. So, it'll just be this website and uh the high school athletics will have their own website. So, as you can see, the foundation, they'll have pages here. Um I pretty much just looked over what their current website is and uh created some pages here. Um and then the high school and the junior high will be here under our schools. >> Andrew, the on on a phone too is much improved as well. Is
029that >> Yep. And that's like I said, I'm still working through some some things with that. Uh there's some images on the mobile view that don't appear as well as on a laptop. So, still working through some things in the next two weeks, but yeah, it's it's a lot better, >> which is wise because less people have computers, >> right? >> Just the reality. So yeah, we were looking for a mobile solution. Again, this is all, you know, um we have the translation button up in the corner that Andrew just navigated to where the the website can then be um totally translated into whatever languages are available. Um as you can see, there's quite a few. There's there's many, many, many. >> Yeah. On on our current website, I think there's seven or eight different
030languages. >> And here, I mean, you have hundreds, dozens. The schools all have social media pages. >> Uh yeah. So every every building has a Facebook and Instagram and then once you get to like the junior high level and up uh we have X accounts and then the district we have a LinkedIn account. So yeah, if for example um go to Waterford at the very bottom you'll you'll see Facebook and Instagram and that's going to be on every school's page. Um and then in the footer here is our our district Facebook all of our district social media accounts there. So we are we have Andrew has been working on kind of also um bringing our social media kind of under his umbrella um just so we don't um overwhelm people with postings, but also so
031that we make sure that the postings that are that are going are are um are postings that represent the school district in in the best way possible. >> Thanks, Andrew. >> Good work. Uh finally, um our people commitments. Uh Crazy quick update on collective bargaining. >> Yeah. So through the collective bargaining um process, we have come to a tentative agreement with the Gian Education Association. Um we have three big steps left to finalize. Um Wednesday, GA will hold their um ratification or their possible ratification of that tenative agreement. Um that will be followed by the public meeting on Monday, November 3rd at 8 o'clock a.m. So that's the uh meeting open to the public for any input and then um finalized hopefully the board meeting on November 10th um during our regular scheduled board meetings.
032We'll finish that up then. >> Thank you, Tracy. Okay. Um that concludes our reports for the board. >> All right. Thank you. Uh we will now go to item four which are board committee reports to my fellow board members. Anything to report? >> No, we didn't have a meeting but uh I do know the Crimson are performing uh tomorrow night. Uh it's also the uh trivia night and I wondered the last few years and I keep forgetting to bring it up. Is there a way to to not do that? Like maybe talk to the foundation about having a trivia on a night for the arch school events. That's tough to do. You know, talking about Wednesday probably, but um it it was a conflict for me because my daughter was in that and I think
033just in the interest of students I could mention that. >> Thank you. >> Yes. So the biggest update from the foundation is just that their trivia night is tomorrow night. community county community center at the county fairgrounds. Uh they are going to have a taco bar dinner >> and we have a table board members. So six of us will be there still. >> I [clears throat] think they're setting up tonight till 9:30 if you want to stop in. So, and and we've very legally have recruited Andrew to be on our team this year. >> Very legally. [laughter] >> Well, we're swapping him out. My wife can't make it, so she's >> So, Andrew is gonna be our team. This is the trophy, by the way, if you remember from last year when uh the our
034administrative team won this. Uh it was very we were very proud. It's >> like he broke it. We thought we thought there could be different ways of marching it in and presenting it. But uh we will gladly give this to you uh if you guys were to beat us uh tomorrow night. So, but if not, we'll keep it again and we'll we'll keep track of who won it when on the bottom of this. We'll make this our traveling trophy. So there will be another trophy for the community, but [laughter] this will be one that just goes between administration and the board based upon >> if not winning the whole thing, >> who who scores better at the end. >> Okay, >> there's a lot of early trash talk here. You know, >> we there might
035be a sense of urgency to get it in while we still can [laughter] >> because there might be a different story. >> Um, anything else? any other committees reports currently I think also uh marching band is going to >> yes semiate >> semi-region yeah semi-state on Saturday so it's coming up and a lot of winter sports have kicked off >> I think girls basketball has begun girls swimming has begun wrestling I think so >> we still have cross country kids running >> football sectional this week section this Friday night. >> Yeah, we have few boys and girls going to cross country state this weekend. >> False sports are still there. >> Yep. >> Any other committee reports? All right. Uh we will now move on to item five, which is our consent agenda items. We'll
036start with item 5.1, approval of accounts payable dated October 27th, 2025 and payroll dated October 17th, 2025. 5.2 Gan High School German classes out of state field trip to Chris Kindle Market Chicago and 5.3 personnel. Any items to highlight, sir? >> No, we do not. >> Okay, just making sure. Um, so with that, the consent agenda items are approved as presented. So item six uh is now our public hearing. Uh, so uh just to set the stage here. So the next agenda, the next item on the agenda is for the board to hold an additional appropriation hearing on proposed geo bond proceeds. Uh if you are interested in speaking at the hearing, please make sure you have signed in while I have the signin sheet. So if you would like to speak, I'll just let
037you come up and just introduce yourself. Uh we will limit your comments to three minutes this evening and they need to be specific to the topic of the proposed appropriation of the bond proceeds pursuant to the Indiana code. Before school corporation can appropriate any dollars it directly receives as a geo bond proceeds, it must conduct a hearing on those proceeds for the additional appropriation of those funds. The notice of this additional appropriation hearing was published as legally required. Um so now we'll have a quick summary of of what the the proceeds will be funded towards. Are you going to do that for us tonight, Mr. Cinder? >> Good evening. These are the last few steps that uh we need to take uh for before we move forward with the general obligation bond sale. The total
038amount is 8,400,000. The projects consist of um for cost of renovation, improvements to school facilities, including heating, venting, air conditioning improvements, roofing repairs, site improvements, purchase of technology, vehicles and equipment. So, it's kind of encompassing of a lot of different projects at our various school facilities. So, um I think you've summarized everything else well before we can we like to have the public hearing and adopt the resolution um before we sell the bonds and that allows us then to spend the bond. >> Thank you, sir. So, with that, we will now officially open the public hearing. So, uh, any members of the public that would like to come forward and speak on that, this is your opportunity. All right. And with that, I will officially close the public hearing. So, thank you all very much.
039Uh, so with that, uh, we will now move forward. So, uh, Carl, if you would, just one more time, could you please summarize the additional appropriation resolution, sir? >> Yeah. Again, this just allows us to move forward to um conduct the bond sale as well, doesn't really conduct the bond sale, but allows us to spend the money for these projects that I previously um summarized at our various school facilities. And this does require approval of the resolution which is in your packet. All right. So, thank you. So with that, could I have a motion and a second to adopt the additional appropriation resolution? >> I'll move. >> Okay. So that's >> that's approve that's resolution 833. >> Resolution 83. Okay. I'll move to approve resolution 833. The additional appropriation resolution. >> Moved by Mr. Glick,
040seconded by Mr. Goodman. So, board members, uh, questions about, uh, the resolution, comments on it. All right. Hearing none, we have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor, uh, please say I by and raise your hand. >> I >> oppose. Same sign. That passes 70. And, and Carl, could you please now summarize uh Uh resolution 834. >> Yes. So this is the final bond resolution that contains the project costs, maximum interest rate, and other financial terms such as the first interest payment date, maturity dates of the bonds, all with respect to the issuance of the general obligation bonds. This resolution also approves the register and paying agent for the repayment of the bonds and the to maximum amount of the bonds is 8,400,000. And this will be a relatively short
041envisioning probably be paid off within three years. >> Thank you, sir. So, uh, with that explanation, could I have a motion and a second to adopt the final bond resolution for the geo bonds, which is resolution 834. >> I move for the passage of or for the approval of resolution 834, final bond resolution. >> Second move by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Goodman. Board members, questions, comments on resolution 834, the final bond resolution. All right, seeing none, we have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say I. I. >> Same sign for no. That passes 70. >> All right. Thank you. I think that concludes all the steps. [clears throat] Now, we'll get ready uh to hopefully have the bond sold, have a sale before
042Thanksgiving, and close in December. >> Well, thank you very much for coming this evening, Carl. It's always good to see you. >> Thank you, Carl. >> Thanks, Chris, too. >> We don't want to forget you. >> All right. And so, with that, uh we will now move on to uh item seven, which is our action items. And we have item 7.1, approval of resolution 835, a resolution establishing school board member compensation and PD as uh board members. Uh if you look at that resolution, it's what we've been talking about was option two. Um pull that up. The idea is um $5,000 is the recommended amount for the for the stipen. >> Yes. Um and which is well within the 10% of the the lowest starting teacher salary. Um also there's a perdm of $100 per
043meeting. Um up to 30 meetings annually. Uh So if we have executive sessions on other nights other than a board meeting night that would include otherwise uh $100 for a board meeting with an executive session attached to it would be considered the same meeting and then we would uh uh work sessions etc would be part of that pdium as well up to 30 per year. Um and again you recall we did dig into and look at uh how many meetings does a board typically have in a year and uh there was a one one year when you hired an inter you had 30 plus meetings but other than that it should be well within range. Um so that's pretty much uh that's the plan. That's what we're uh making the recommendation to the board and
044so we would uh like to have the board approve that if if you're willing. Okay. Thank you for that explanation. So with that um I would ask for a motion and a second to open the item up for discussion and potential voting. >> I move for the passage of item 7.1 approval of resolution 835 resolution establishing school board member compensation and >> second move by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Goodman. Uh, so board members, this is, I think, the fourth time we've looked at this. Um, new questions. I mean, this is the first time we've seen the full resolution. So, Roie, >> this Yep. Ryan said asked me the same thing at the start of the meeting. So, it does not have an effective date right now. Yes. So, the law says it starts January
0451st and it's currently ready to be implemented immedately, but there's peril between now and so I was going to make a motion to amend item five due to that. >> I think so. >> I could tell if it was uh and then I did have one question too with the $100 for attendance at each board meeting. We said we're going to make clear that as you said if there's an executive session the same day as a regular meeting, it does not count as two, but because it's written as as each board meeting, it doesn't I think there's a little bit of ambiguity >> right in that maybe we should make that more clear since it is going to be the actual policy going forward. Um, so I'm going to at least talk out loud in
046concept. So the the first item about the effective date when the time is right, we'll need someone to take uh make an amendment to, you know, modify it. So it says taking effect January 1st, 2026. We can add that at the very end. Um, So just we'll make note of that. Someone will have to make that official amendment. And then to your other point for item number two, we just have to figure out what wording someone may propose uh to see if that could and we'll have to take each one independently um just in case one would not get passed. It's my uh my belief. So I don't know if you have suggestions about alternative wording. So, I want to make sure we say it right so that we can get it in the notes
047so that we can have the resolution rewritten so we can sign it. I'm just throwing this out to board members per DM means per day. Am I correct? >> So, it does >> I think it's taken care of >> by the by the Yeah, Chris, I'm gonna put you on the spot. Uddm, you know, Thank you for [laughter] >> I've not seen a copy of this resolution, but um I think it might be helpful and clarify for everybody if you just added a sentence in there that said uh in the event there is more than one board meeting held on a single day that there's only one perium amount that is paid to each board member. Something along those lines. >> So you you would >> I think it's it' be helpful to clarify this.
048It says in addition to the annual amount of section one, board members are authorized per DM of $100 for attendance. But it does say at each board meeting not to exceed in the total of we could just strike at each board meeting and just go each >> can be added if an executive session and a regular or special meeting. for that day for that set of meetings. >> I think make it abundantly clear what's being meant so there's no [clears throat] >> So let's write this down. >> Yeah. So I'm trying to get that language read and then >> just read it again. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> If an executive session and a regular or special public meeting occur on the same day, compensation shall be limited to one per day. If an executive
049session or special meeting occur on the same day as a regular session and a regular or special public meeting occur on the Sunday. >> So I assume that would be like if you have a meeting and session on the same time. It covers that as well as a regular executive session. >> Do you want me to text it to you? >> Yeah, please. [laughter] >> I know it's where's he at? Chris, I should have warned you. Chris, >> we should message him saying, "Geez, Tim, [clears throat] >> we did have uh another attorney at work going look at it, help us with the language." I should have probably been asked for clarity on that one though because we did know in advance that that might be I I'll take responsibility for that. I'm not going
050to blame our attorneys on that. [laughter] >> Although blame he's not here. >> Yeah, exactly. It was a a lady and I draw a blanker knew one of your new attorneys. >> Did you get that? It's the last sentence. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I'll just send you a motion for the date just so you have it as well. Okay. >> Um, so well I mean so I will ask um that we take if if an individual is going to make an amendment for one or both these items, we take them separately. uh so we can discuss each one and then we will vote on the ultimate final version of it. That way they each have their own track record paper trail. >> I can give a motion if you like. >> Yeah, somebody's got to
051make an amendment. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to amend section two to include the language if an executive session and a regular or special public meeting occur on the same day. Compensation should be limited to one per day. >> Okay. So, we have an amendment for item two. Is there a second for that? >> Been seconded by Mr. Goodman. So, it was amended by Mr. Glick. So, we'll first discuss that item. Does anyone need it to be read again? Any questions on it? I do. >> Yes. >> So, the goal is that if you have a regular meeting plus an executive meeting that you would count it as a regular meeting, there's not going to be $100 additional to that. >> If it's on the same day, correct? >> On the same day. >>
052Yes. >> Right. So, the deal is that $100. >> Correct. Yes. So when you talk about having an executive meeting, regular meeting or a special meeting, you should take it as one per deal, you're asking the $100, >> correct? >> So you're so you're getting $100. >> So yeah. So if if we had an executive session tonight after our regular meeting, we would only be entitled to $100 for this date of us meeting. >> That that's how it's being proposed >> and the same as if it was a work session. >> Yeah. With >> Okay. Well, my my the way I was thinking is that you would not get a perium the $100 if you have a regular meeting executive meeting. You just take it as No, not receiving. That's not what you're saying. >>
053You don't get Yeah. You don't you won't get two. >> Well, I don't we don't get we don't get we get the Yeah, we get >> Yeah. So, yeah. So, >> it's part of the 5,000. >> Correct. >> You know, the the regular meetings 30 or whatever. It's it's it's part of the 5,000. >> But when you're saying >> No, it's not. So, so you >> So, you're 5,000 plus. Okay. >> Yes. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't miss. >> So, Okay. So, in that case, then it makes sense. >> Okay. Good. Other questions? Good question. Yep. Thanks. >> All right. So, we have an amendment for item number two, and I'm gonna I'm going to read it here just one more time for the record. So, uh the intent is to add uh the language at
054the end. If an executive session and a regular or special meeting occur on the same day, compensation shall be limited to one pdium for that day. Uh so all those in favor of amending item number two, please raise your hand and state I. >> I. Same sign proposed. All right. So that amendment passes 70. Are there any other amendments to be proposed? >> I'll move to amend I'm sorry just a second. Uh item number five to include the language. This compensation structure shall take effect on January 1st, 2026 consistent with amendments to Indiana code 202647 enacted in 2024. >> Okay, we have a second for that amendment. Second uh it was amended by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Goodman. Uh so that's just to clarify it's adding the language that this will take effect obviously
055January instead of immediately. Any [clears throat] other clarifications on that? >> Because the losses it can't be. >> There we go. >> Yep. So all right. So, just to repeat, the compensation structure shall take effect on January 1st, 2026, consistent with amendments to Indiana code 20-26-4-7 enacted in Was it enact in 2024? >> Enacted in 2025. >> Was it passed? >> It was passed in 2025. >> It was 25. Okay. how to write it. >> Reread it then. >> Well, I mean, >> or maybe it doesn't even need that. Do you just want to make it shorter? >> It's the same dates here. >> Yeah, it's just the Yeah, it's the exact same dates. Yeah. So, I mean, I would say the compensation structure shall take effect on January 1st, 20, 2026, consistent with amendments
056to Indiana code 20-26-4-7 enacted in 2025. Okay. All right. So, it's been amendment amended and seconded. All those in favors in revising item number five, please raise your hand, say I. >> I oppose. Same sign passes 70. [clears throat] Do we have any additional discussion, amendments, uh discuss? We're getting our work out of this one tonight. >> Yeah, this is good board work. I'm impressed. >> Don't challenge if we're doing Robert's rules order correctly. All right, so um we have a motion and a second the floor. We have made two amendments uh amending item two, item five. Any further are we ready to vote on resolution 835. Okay. So with that, um all those in favor of resolution 835 as amended, please raise your hand and state I. I oppose. Same sign. That passes 70.
057Thank you and thank you for your patience working through that. All right, going to discussion items. Uh we discussed this a little bit earlier, but Dr. Metaf, please discuss 8.1 board policy first reading. >> Okay. Um as as we talked about earlier, um you now everyone should have access to the you actually have to go in through board docs um to the draft policies. Um and within that you'll see the um first it's called the uh policy manual. first draft clean. Um when and under that under with with uh within that you'll then see the different chapters open up one uh zero through 9,000. Um again the real the main difference um really is that professional and support staff are broken out in se separately within this um and property and um operations were uh
058combined in the old one also. they're separated within the new the new policy. When we looked at this and when offered choices, we always referred back to the we we had the old policy and the new policy um side by side. Um we talked it talked it over which one currently matches. And to be honest with you, a lot of times it was actually the some of the same language because I think uh the ISBA one probably adopted some of theirs from Miola. Uh, so the ones that you might see the most differences in would be the differences in the personnel. It used to be personnel for us, but now it's professional and support staff under this one. And then it used to be property and operations for us. It's now property and operations with
059two separate separate areas for us. Um, those might you'll probably see the differences. Um most of the other changes were a lot of a lot of um who administers the policy for example personnel we had to put insert that goes to the executive director for human resources it's based upon the superintendent so a lot of definition of who the who oversees the policy or make sure the policy is implemented correctly also um other than that um it was it is very thorough Um and so there were policies and this is where uh we there are policies in ULA that were combined into one or two policies sometimes in under our old um policy handbook. Um so they've separated them out and that actually um has led to some clarity as we talked about it. >>
060So that's kind of a summary of just the without being able to actually pull up or show side by side. That's kind of as clear as I can be on how we how choices were made and um and the differences between the two. >> And I know you touched on it earlier. >> Tell us again the timing that we would like to have this proceed so that we can get to the end of the year. >> Uh so this was sent out to you to kind of look at for tonight. So, this would be considered the first kind of the first reading, the first first kind of overview qu general questions if you've had time to look at it or or or read it. Um, we only have one board meeting in November. So, uh
061on November the 10th would be kind of an opportunity for you between now and then to ask questions if or or or or um look at it. uh we would come back on November the 10th and have a what we'd call a second reading where we you know answer try to answer any questions. If you have questions along the way, Terry and I are more than happy to answer them. Um and then on December the and Jim also and uh uh December the what is the board meeting in December the 8th? >> Uh it is December the 8th. >> December the 8th would be [clears throat] the hopefully the adoption would be the ideal adoption. So you we really have about a month and a little over a month a month month and a week
062or so to actually look at this and um answer questions about those. So I know we talked a little bit about earlier um I'm going to say it again. You know it's one of our core responsibilities as a board to to set policy for the district. Um, so you know, if we choose to divide and conquer or if we all want to read every policy, I'm not swayed one way or the other. But I I do think it is important that we take the the time and the effort to, you know, confirm the the good work that was done by the team that put this together for us. So, you know, there's 10 sections as I counted. Some will be much more brief than others, but um you know, we want to have confidence that
063uh these uh meet the standards that we expect as as leaders of this district. So, what one thing you might do is as you go to one of the as you go to one when you're in the clean um f first draft clean, when you actually hit the plus on the section, it will then list every policy under it. So, you can get a quick overview just by scrolling through of what the policies pertain to. They're very specific. Um, so that might give you a kind of a head start if there's some things you're curious about or looking for um that have been policy issues in the past to make sure they're addressed. Um, that is one way to quickly go through it. It is not available, I think, right now through the search function
064on board docs. So, it is only available within this folder. As I'm looking for other thoughts from board members, >> I think it's good to break it up. I like piece here. Quite a lot of material. Um I think it's good for divied up. So maybe however that may some of these sections are bigger than others. >> Yeah. And and some of the the the policies are like a few sentences, >> right? >> It'll take you more time to expand it than to to read it sometimes. >> So >> to some extent it's like a bell curve. Um, if you when you're looking at the policies, the zeros and 1000s kind of there's not a lot. And then as you get into the staff, students, finances, property, and then as you go back to towards
065operations and relations, it goes down. So the majority of policies, you're going to find the the largest sections are going to be under the staff, the professional, and the support. And I will say that um a lot of those policies are almost word for word the same. they just are, you know, making sure they're differentiated based upon the position of the employee. Um, students and finances will be fairly bulky. Property kind of starts going, but you know, if I were you, I I'd jump on zero zero and 10,000 real fast. Those are those those can be done in like 10 minutes. Even even if we divide it, if I didn't conquer and read them, I mean, I still going to struggle with knowing whether I like it or not, whether it's right or wrong, if
066I don't have >> Well, I think >> the changes from the previous >> policies. Yeah. And I think my my way I will do it, I will look at both of them. >> Um, you know, and and determine from my perspective if the intent of the old policy is still there or there was meaningful difference. Well, there might have been good reason for that because the law changed >> or something. I mean, >> yeah, I mean, >> and we can investigate to see if there's a way. I know you can print them off one page at a time, PDF uh in board docs, but we can when Miss McCrenindle gets back, we can see if uh she might be able to find out if there's way to be able to, like you said, print them
067out in bulk as a PDF or some kind of hard copy document or even electronic version of it. >> Am I understanding correctly that you did uh change like some of them there's more >> detail broken out based on who it's referred to between the two. So sometimes it's going to be hard to Oh, that's the direct correlation necessarily between the two. >> Yeah. Yes. There. And there will be some where the where they have revised the the you you'll be able to see the revision of the intent based upon like changes in the Indiana code or thing or pieces like that. But um yeah, you'll be able to see difference differences in I think the old one pretty much referred to the superintendent for the most part as the you know any kind of
068issue here. the superintendent where in in we in finance we start we define all the way down to treasurer this is who will deal with this issue this this is who deals with this um f um CFO um executive director of H of HR associate superintendents and some of like the harassment policies and how how those are how those go through we had to name those people in specifically or those positions specifically so those are probably some of the changes you are real obvious changes >> and so the process we went through was Terry was on the changing she was the word processor kind of person Allen had open the current policies and then the rest of us and we would project on the screen uh would go through and look at okay here's what
069Nola says we can do here's the three different options that we can pick we said which one's closest to what we And then I'll read that and then we decide which ones are closest. Wherever we had choices, the choices are all uh the attorneys for have said that these choices are you can pick any one of those. So whenever we had that option, we tried picking consistent with what we've always done and or how our board policy was written, what the intent of that was to try that new change. So we would select according to that. We try being consistent the whole way through on that. So, I mean, if they follow the law, which is what they were hired to do, there should be no personal opinion, right, of what a policy should say,
070right? It's just like, well, you can do it this way or that way or this way. And sometimes there's no option. It's just like, here's a lot of times here's the new language for that policy. And so I I would look at it too in terms of the board has an obligation on policy that policy drives the work that we do. We've been working on our administrative guidelines that we follow. We're taking a lot of the recommendations and doing the same thing. What what have we done? And then what forms do we need to fill out like a field trip and then how does this get approved? So know that we've done that and I believe part of your due diligence is we have hired Neola as attorneys as a group to put these board
071policies together for Indiana or to follow be consistent with the Indiana codes and Indiana policy. So I believe that is should prove in your due diligence rather than the board just deciding we're going to do it on our own and not have any attorneys that support us. >> [clears throat] >> as we get into really specific areas that we would have questions on we would always go to like war and boy helps us um with the difficult ones [cough] or if we want to change something from the we wouldn't do that in a vacuum we would be calling or going and say hey the board and or for us we feel like we need to change this policy what's your thoughts and what would you do it's very sensitive because if we could get challenged
072on any one of those [cough] [clears throat] on any policy that we have, but when we know Neola is behind us and that work is behind us helping support that, that to me is your due diligence as much as anything. You need to be familiar with the policies and you study them, look at them, it's just going to be pretty overwhelming, I tell you. And so if you split it up and do some of that, that's okay. But um just know that it's not on your shoulders is what I was encouraging you to think about. Uh it's really on uh we are hiring that through NEO to help us get this batch of policies put together [clears throat] and that's proving due diligence and your part to do to be serious about the work that
073you have to do on policy and then it's just going to be better. We'll have it twice a year. We'll have updates that you guys will then can dig into and really discuss and think through but they'll will give us options on what we can choose there as well. We just can't do it the way we want either unless we go to work and boy and say, "Hey, we really don't like what you came up with. We want to do something different." [clears throat and cough] >> What percentage of the policies that we had before were dramatically changed. Not where we made it more detailed, but like where the policy >> maybe was in conflict with the law. Was it a lot of them or was it just were we mostly good before and we
074just weren't as detailed as we could have been? What was >> I I would let Alen kind of give this >> I would say it wasn't it wasn't a lot of I I would say there have been updates that for some reason ISBA we didn't we either didn't get them or they I mean there were some that we've done but I think the last time we actually had meaningful ones was probably two years ago I think. Um, so I think there were some small ones along the way that that probably didn't make a lot of differences. So it's probably 20% of them had some kind of tweak that needed to be made um based upon they weren't as not not that they weren't as detailed or didn't go into specifics. They just to be honest
075with you, there were a couple that were just missing um that were that were combined into one or um or that once we read them, we could say, "Okay, I see where they addressed it here in policy 8,425." And in our other one, it was policy, you know, 8,420, but now it's 8,425. And there's also policy 8,426 that addresses both issues. So there, so yeah, it was they were just um they felt incomplete when we started really looking at the old. They were I mean they were they were they were good legal policies but um there there were some room for interpretation on some of them >> on our part from from administrative as administr administrators and so >> and the old policies and >> yes >> and we don't have administrative guidelines per se
076for all >> we do not currently >> we will on these new policies now that's just for us and how we operate and how our principles do their work they'll know what those administrative guidelines and what forms they should use and what the process is to be able to do stuff with kids this way or that way. But the vast majority of the policies had um clear connections. The choices had clear connections. Um and a lot of times some of them were even word for word what we currently had. >> Well, for my part, I don't I wouldn't take the old and the new to see the [clears throat] change. I I don't know that that's necessary. Assuming that the people were hired to do the work were doing it the right way and you've
077made the decisions based on what we needed to do. I think it's an opportunity for us to look at the policies and see how we write things, how things are worded, be familiar with all the things that are in there. Um, I don't think we need to recite policy. It's going to get complicated. But I think uh I agree with Mr. Deo. you know, part of part of our due diligence is what we've done, but it's important that we're familiar with with how this process works. And I think we want to be able to respond intelligently when people are asking us how do we do these things or how do we come up with this or what's the process that we can answer those things confidently that yes there is a process and if there
078are discrepancies we look at those and make changes as needed as the law you know asks us to and I think we are doing those things. So I look at this as an opportunity look at how we do these things. I don't know if anybody's gone through the policies before. I had a lot of time or last four years to read policies. So I I was part of that at least for part of the time. And so uh yeah it's it's uh it's a little dry but we need to be familiar. It is one of the one of the three things that we are really responsible for and I think it's important that um the public trusts us to have some part of this. Um there will be times when even after we approve these
079policies, there'll be a new court case that comes out that work and boy will notify us. They'll say, "Hey, here's the language we're recommending to all school districts that are work under work and boy and we would bring that to all of you and have you consider this as a change in our policy of which then we would change the policy our policy. So that's like our second tier of here's kind of a group of attorneys that really dig into and have a wellbalanced very comprehensive plan. That's the Neola that almost every school district in Indiana uses. And then in addition, we have attorneys that are looking more quickly, more [cough] [clears throat] more uh thoughtfully about really specific issue that has come up maybe in a recent court case that helps us. Anything else
080you want to add to that as far as work going how you would help us with policy Chris? >> [cough] >> No, not much beyond already said [cough] [clears throat] something So I guess my suggestion to the board is take some time. It's it's trust but verify. So, I mean, I think we all owe it to ourselves to poke around and see what's out there and we can make some adjustments if we need to at our November 10th discussion if we want to get much more detailed with it. But I would say ahead of that, let's spend some time see if anything jumps out and if if we feel we found something that doesn't feel good to us, then we can dive much deeper into it. Is that a fair starting point? >> And again,
081I a lot of thanks to a lot of team members that got through this. So >> we pretty much everybody around the table here and others have been drawn into some of these meetings where we've gone through these and I will say the the two consistent have been Allen and Terry at all those so a lot of time so work >> all right so great discussion this evening uh but that does bring us to closing items tonight so uh Mr. your voice. We We'll turn it over to you for a moment. >> Good luck tomorrow night every mute him now. >> Um we do have uh an ISBA regional meeting on October 29th at Swan Lake. Uh I have it down for starting at 5:45. We might need Terry to do some verification on that.
082If you have questions, reach out, please. [cough] [clears throat] Uh public meeting on Monday, November 3rd. It's open to the public. Alan, can you tell them what that's about? >> That is about the public meeting for about Sorry, public meeting for the contract. [clears throat] >> That is the public meeting for the uh contract uh the tenative agreement once ratification by the association takes place. >> We need to have four board members there. >> It takes place here. Great. >> 8 a.m. in the board meet boardroom 8 a.m. >> And then we have Uh, next board meeting is Monday, uh, November 10th at 6 PM here. And I will say I been requested to bring things to my daughter in Atlanta who bought a house and needs stuff. So, I'm taking load down. I hope
083that's okay. And Dr. Metaf is going to run that meeting on my behalf unless board you have any concerns about that. Let me know, please. Otherwise, I'll be driving That's the first meeting after after we w >> he's not going to be there. >> So this little trophy might be in your your hands, but it might not. >> This is the big competition tomorrow night. [clears throat] >> All right. Anything else? >> That's it. >> Okay. Uh we'll go to the board members. Any items to bring up this evening? >> All right. So with that I will entertain a motion for adjournment. >> Motion for adjourn. >> A motion. >> Second. >> So Goodman and Glick. All those in favor please say I. I. We are adjourned. Thank you all very much.