April 28th School Board Meeting

001of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I would like to welcome everyone to our last meeting here in April and we're almost through another month. So, here we go. Right. Uh so this is a meeting of the school board in public are for the purpose of conducting the school's corporation's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. It is time for public participation as indicated by agenda item number two. Our mission we promise to inspire innovation empowering potential and enriching our world and our vision. Go community schools Elkart County School District of choice. Uh approval of tonight's agenda. Uh, do we have any adjustments, modifications, changes to the agenda? No, Mr. President. All right.

002With that, the agenda is approved as presented. And, uh, minutes from our April 14th, 2025 regular school board meeting. Board members, do we have any uh, comments or revisions needed for those minutes? Seeing none, hearing none, they are approved as presented. We will go on to item two which is our public comment. Um and we will start with Lean Bowman. Sir, welcome back. Thank you. I spoke at I think it was the last board meeting uh briefly and I'll keep it even briefer this time um because it was satisfactory the conversation last time that you were obviously uh you know paying attention to the Chandler uh playground. So that's what I'm speaking about again tonight from the perspective of the neighborhood. um that um I was a little confused about locks on gates and what

003I what I heard at the last meeting and it continues to be locked, you know, like even just now. It's not dusk yet, but it's still locked, you know. So, uh I know that there's it's kind of a construction zone in the sense that there's still equipment coming and I see tape around that one area, but there's still basketball courts and places where kids could play or so. Just a question about the locks on the gates. Yeah, we think it's I mean is it every which No, I I'll let me just jump on that if you don't mind. Yeah, I I actually talked to the maintenance director again this morning about it and uh it's a little bit of forgetfulness of the of the person who's assigned to do it. Uh at this point, I'm

004willing to just cut the lock and open it myself and the ser members to do that. So, my apologies, but uh it will be that way. Okay. my bull cutters. You are talking you are talking about the gate on Pearl Street or the gate up by the building. It's locked on cottage and at up at the not the people can drive in but the No, no, no. Uh just to be able to walk onto the the playground. Yeah. So on the eighth street side andor I mean at least one place to be able to get in without climbing over the fence. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. What? Sir, you are plent. Um couple things article in the paper the other day that uh detailed the conviction of Al and I was there for his first

005arraignment. I didn't know he was going to be there or I would have made sure that I would have been there for the end because I thought it was important to me. But as it comes down to, we still have three to go. We will need to resolve that down the line. It's still a sore spot in a lot of people's minds. I'm getting thin skinned as I get older and I don't take as much as I used to, but I do believe that it's time for a clean slate. This is my horse. I'm going to beat it to death. As they say, it's your horse. You can beat it. I'm going to It comes down to I'm telling the board members that know what they should be doing to do it. Get it over

006with so this community can heal and move forward because forever will be a black eye as long as one of them's on the board. Straight out and out. I think everybody knows how I feel about this. Second one is I I I am going to ask the question, why is a resource officer at every one of our meetings, your meetings? Because for some people it could bring back memories of news reports of when Brandon had FBI agents making sure that citizens and parents didn't u criticize local school boards. It could cause uh a uh panic, not panic, uh heartburn, whatever you want to call it, anxiety in people. See a police car out there, maybe there's a problem, maybe we shouldn't go to the meeting. If there's a need for it, yes, if there isn't,

007I don't see the need for it. And the last one was Allan. Thank you for responding to my text on Saturday about a urinal that was running like 100 gallons a minute. I appreciate the fact that you responded because that's cost us big bucks. So, thank you very much. And thank you, Glenn. All right, that will conclude our public comments. Uh we'll move on to superintendent reports. Mr. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh we'd like to talk a little bit to you board about our financial commitments and I know Bob has some stuff he'd like to share with you. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Evans. Yes, just a few quick things. Uh with the legislative session being over, just a quick hit. Um, one of the big things that will affect schools that passed

008was a change to how they're calculating or to the deductions to calculate your net AV. Uh, next year ours are projected for our district to go up 1.37%. Our AV is is expected to go up that. But moving forward from there with the uh new uh laws that went into effect uh in 27 our net ABS expected to go down by 4% then down by 5.59% in 28 down by another 5.18% in 29 down by 6.75% in 30 and down by 13% in 31. So uh that's good news for taxpayers. Uh what that does is if we hold our tax rate the same because the AV is going down by the time we get to 31 we'll uh the revenue will go down by 2.8 million. Um so uh little good news bad news depending

009upon what your point of view is. It'll be difficult for school corporations under this uh new legislation. Money take care of our facilities. Yes. Um, also, uh, food service history. I gave you a report of 2020 to 2025. When, uh, I got here in, uh, late 21, that was one of our our targets. And I'm pleased to say in 24 was the first time we ended up in the black in food service in 5 years. So, that was a good milestone. And we're and we're trending that way in 25 also. So, I wanted to just to give you those numbers and um let you know that we're doing okay in that area. Questions? First one I didn't catch with the tax like that. Um is that assuming that property values stay the same? Well, yeah,

010that's that's include that's assuming that our property values are where they are right now. and given the legislation where they would be with the same value now if the if you know you've experienced over the last 5 10 years where they've just ballooned in our AB but there hasn't been any sort of mechanisms to slow that down there are those mechanisms in place now I know that in my house from 100,000 to 150 from the year before to last last year's tax yeah I I I feel your pain that my AV went up 33% this year. So, uh I I feel that. Yes. Okay. So, if it continue to climb, it could. Yes. If if AV continues to climb, but I I just can't assume where that's going to go. So, I just took the

011assumptions from where they were right now. State dictates the AV that can be used per county, right? And they can put a cap on that for the Yes. And so that's capped at 4%. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say never because they can change it from year to year, but that's where it has been. That's where it is next year, too. Yes. Oh, yeah. It's uh well it was um it's a group effort but I'll give most of the credit to Heather Bontreer our food service director. She's uh she's really tightened it down and her predecessor did as well. So I assume our service hasn't declined and the result of of making our ship tighter. No, I don't think our quality of food has declined at all. Uh the only thing that would have affected that

012would have been would have been federal regulations on food um that happened a while back. I I appreciate that because it shows that we can be principled and still do a good service. So, thank you. Yep. I'll I'll send that along to Heather. Uh and the last thing I have is a report uh for summer foods. Uh just real quick, our summer foods program will start on June the 3rd and go through August the 1st. on June the 19th and 30th through July 4th, there won't be any food service because uh well that would be Junth and then that will be the holidays of June 30th through July 4th. Um the food service will be having summer programs at Twin Pines Mobile Home Park, Wreath Park, Pringle Park, Shanklin Park, Hay Park here at Goan

013High School and at Model Elementary. There are some other non-public service services that are provided, but those would be the free food services for the public. Thank you, Dr. Evans. Uh we'll go on to the next one, Mr. President. Student achievement and commitments. And we're going to start off with Javier's got some good news. Talk us a little bit about Yeah. Uh quickly talk about our uh first round of I read in second grade. Uh and so have a little bit of good news to share here. So uh when compared to last year uh we had about 21 more students that uh passed the first time uh which equates at about 8% uh growth from from the year before. Um and the number of students who are at risk in second grade is not a

014past did not pass. It will turn to that after the summer but it's a past approaching or at risk. So that at risk number went from 55% of kids to 46%. Which I know means lots of work to do yet but uh data is moving in in a really good direction. So it's a good celebration for the hard work of our teams at schools and principles and it's coming together nicely with the literacy coaches and all the things. So uh really good news to share. I mean, and what that means is like we have 164 second graders that do not get to stress about I read next year in third grade, which is awesome. So, and we're shooting for 1%, we got 8%. So, the apples to apples. We're not done yet. We have another

015testing in May, but we didn't test in May last year, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, we I mean the hope is to get as many to pass as we can before third grade, but uh it's it's a great opportunity for our second graders to have the chance to take it a second time. So, that's good. Um were you going to Yep. I learned we're we're in the middle of I learn. That's uh it it is what it is. It's that time of year. So, this is week three of testing uh with one or so left to go. So, things are are going technology seems to be okay. Uh it's it's not perfect, but we're we're working on it. So, crossing our fingers that each cohort group gets 1% better at least. Thank you. All right. Um

016next up is our operational excellence excellence commitment and I think Dr. Evans has a couple upcoming projects they'd like to talk to you about and then we'll go over to Dr. Medcap. Yeah, I just wanted to just briefly say some of the projects we have going on over the next few months that are starting or will be starting. Uh, of course, the junior high HVAC U project that will bring uh address 52 units, 52 rooms and uh and the main air handle. So, that'll be going on this summer. We'll also be working in the high school gym on the HVAC that will also bring, as I said, AC into the gym. The band lot will be reconstructed here just as soon as school's out. Uh it'll be the second week in June and trying to

017finish up before July. Uh putting carpet in model, two more hallways. I think those are the last two hallways that need new carpet, new dust collector at the high school. Uh Chandler play structure and we're going to reseal the parking lot and um repaint it with the hopscotch and such. And we're going to open up those skates, too. Um, the band hallway flooring is going to have a new flooring over there so that it'll be more friendly for kids who are bringing in their food and drinks to the band hallway when they're playing over there. Uh, we have classroom doors model that we've been repaint that we've been replacing. And of course, we're going to bring uh welding stations and ventilation to Chandler. So, all that's going to be starting in the next month or

018so. Thank you, Dr. Evans. Dr. M. Okay. A couple a meeting or so ago, um we talked about the parks department and Shanklin pool being closed for at least to this year, possibly even next year. Um we've been work we've met with the parks department uh to talk about uh times for them to have uh lessons, open swims using our pool. Um so we've got they've just sent us our sk their schedule. So now we are continuing to look at them and and compare it to our own programming because we actually you might not realize it. We have fairly robust programming um starting at like 5:00 in the morning go till about noon um and then club swim late later in the evening. So uh finding time to give them the the the opport the

019time they need in the pool has been um challenging but I think we're working on it. So hopefully we'll have some uh a schedule for you guys to take a look at here uh in the near future. Uh the other piece is something that's coming up in the you'll notice in the action item tonight. We mentioned it about three or four meetings ago with the uncertainty with um with uh the federal grants. We've not been able to res to hear from anyone or contact anyone at the um EPA uh who gave us the the the electric bus grant uh plus tariffs and other things going on. Uh we are recommending uh in the action item you'll see a letter that our attorney has drafted to send to uh Lion Electric which is the bus uh

020um uh builder uh the bus company and we are going to recommend that we uh cancel that order. I have a question about the pool. Sure. So, as you guys are working through the agreement with the schedule and this and that, it will still be our responsibility to supply lifeguards. Are those going to be paid through the city? No, the uh the they will provide their own supervision lifeguards. Um uh aquatic director, we would still want one of our um someone who from the school uh there that knows the equipment. Um the equipment is different than what than like Shanklin um and so we definitely want to make sure that we take care of it in case anything were to happen. So but they are providing and paying for their own lifeguards, water safety instructors,

021um all of that. Um and they we are working out um an agreement where they would compensate us for chemicals and things to help defay that cost. Um so we'll have more of that when it's all finalized. do want to mention that we met today even uh that we are talking about this campus and the site plan for this campus and how traffic moves around and uh what potential you know enhancements might be in the future and uh looking longterm how this campus works and so uh I know u Brad is part of that committee that we're kind of looking into that So just very preliminary having conversation with Barney Coil uh our uh architects uh that are helping us at no charge at this point. So that's where we're at. So um nothing to

022vote on or anything but just know that hopefully we'll have a plan some someday. Um, next up is our people commitments and like to start out with Tracy Noey. Uh, Gallup poll kind of update. Yeah, the Gallup poll will be opening up for staff here in May. Um, this is the final administration of that survey for the year and we'll just be encouraging our staff and our principles to um, take that survey and we'll use the results over the summer to make um, improvements for next year. Thank you, Tracy. And then, uh, Lori Shriner, a couple updates. Yeah. So, as you recall, when we looked at the parent engagement results from the fall, we noticed that there was a gap between how parents and staff felt we were doing with communication and an overall trend

023that although the frequency of our communication is pretty good and the diverse ways that we communicate um is pretty good. There's um improvement needed for um the effectiveness of that communication. And so we have Patricia coming to work with our principles on May 9th and I look forward to bringing back um kind of some summaries of some of those pointers that she gave to our principles to help work with staff um to improve the effectiveness of communication. And then tomorrow night we have our um a family engagement meeting. I'm very excited because there we are presenting the work of teachers um about how to improve in a more strategic way around academics and that was something that our parent group asked for and so we actually have some artifacts and things to bring to them

024and we will get those feedback feedback from them um and then make improvements accordingly. Thank you. Uh I do want to mention to the board, I didn't plan on telling you this, but today on our agenda and the consent agenda item inside of personnel, we're approving a kind of a leader of our behavior uh consultants. So, uh we've interviewed and we have a recommendation. So, um that's part of our disproportionality for our special needs students that we are required to spend certain amount of money in in this area. So we're one of the things we've done is hired a a lead at behavior consultants to work with our school and look at our systems and I'll talk more about that in the discussion about systems. So but I just want to make mention of that

025that we're really excited about uh our new hire here. So all right that concludes the report. All right. Thank you very much. I will now move on to item four which are board committee reports. So I will look around. Well, juniors are campaigning right now for new youth advisor positions and the seniors will be graduating soon and we need people to take over. So, that's going on and then well, the school year is coming to an end. So, this week is senior week for students. So, we get our grad caps and stuff. So, it's pretty much all how much school's left uh for seniors about 19 days. Not that you're counting. No, not that. Other things from board members, uh, legislature, state legislature report. Um, just a couple items. Um, state budget, universal vouchers are

026coming in in 2027. Um, push that back to 2027. Uh, 2% tuition increase per year apparently off of, uh, alcohol and cigarettes. We're going to go up according to this. Um, partisan school boards passed um without a primary um declare a party affiliation. You could be independent or nonpartisan, but that's the school board um law that just passed. And then the other thing, I don't have a lot of clarity on this. It's called a teacher appreciation grant. Um I don't know this is going to replace the current evaluation system for teachers. We're just going to supplement it. Um apparently only 20% of teachers are eligible. It is uh listed as a grant. So, makes me think it may be extra money. I I don't know. I can't uh nail that down quite yet. But, um

027it's a kind of a revamping of the valuation system. So, that's something new to kind of get our hands around as that becomes more uh clear uh what exactly that looks like going forward for our teachers. And and the one thing I'll add to this the thing about the school board uh part part of it was is that pay is now going to be increased for schoolboard members where it has to be a minimum of 10% of the lowest paid teaching position. So that will go into effect as well. I imagine in January I don't know what the date actually is on that but I thought that was isn't it maximum? No I thought it was a minimum. I've got 10% pay of first year teachers lowest paying in the district. Yeah, I have to

028reread that because I thought it was a maximum of that much payment. You could be paid up to 10% of the lowest paid teach. Yeah. Think it wasn't required. Yeah, I think it is. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Yeah, because that that is the intent. So, because they're going to be significantly more campaigning potentially. So that was their compromise is because of that they're going to finally allow school board pay to be raised for the first time since I think 1989. So but that is something that gets budgeted for now. So that actually is a pretty significant increase that line item. It's just an interesting wrinkle in it. But for sure no primary correct. other committee reports. All right. Can I make one mention? There is a uh uh next Tuesday is the meeting of

029the foundation at Coaching Community Schools. Yes. Uh foundation. 7:30 in this room. 7:30 in this room. No, it's not not next Tuesday. It'll be on the 13th of of May. It's the day after the first board meeting of each month. Just throwing that out. Okay. All right. I didn't receive any emails yet. I'll check. Yeah, Terry was hand. I gave her your email address. Did she acknowledge it all? Okay. Okay. All right. Uh we will now move on to consent agenda items. Uh items 5.1 approval of accounts payable dated April 28th, 2025 and payroll dated April 18th, 2025. 5.2 obsolete library and media materials. 5.3 2026 New York City overnight field trip. 5.4 Personnel. Anything to highlight on the consent agenda items? Hearing none, the consent agenda items are approved as presented. Uh we will

030move on to item six, action items. Uh and we'll start with item 6.1, permission to pursue house purchase. Thank you. I'd like your permission to pursue the purchase of a home that's adjacent to our one of our properties, Parkside Elementary School, just south of south south of it. Our intent would be to have a realer assign a market value and then if we can I would negotiate around that and if an acceptable price could be reached then I would bring it back to uh the board for possible action on it. All right. Thank you. Uh with that explanation I have a motion and a second uh to open up the item. I'll move for the passage of item 6.1, permission to pursue house purchase. Second move by Mr. Glick, seconded by Mr. Goodman. I know

031we talked briefly about this in the last meeting. Uh so this is to formally give the permission. Doesn't mean we're going to buy anything yet. It's just gives him the authority to talk. So it do you have a plan if you purchase that building? What's the plan? The plan uh as you know all of our schools are landlocked and and our parking lot is it would be nice to be able to expand our parking. So, uh, our plan would probably be to convert that to parking in the near future. Not not too near, but sometime. Yeah. Not too exciting. But maybe the house could be offered to be relocated if someone so desired. Yes. I I think that that could be part of the process. And if if it was reasonable and feasible for him

032to do that, I think it uh they brought that up that they might look into that. Would it be realistic to have the school building trades involved at any level of if we do go through all this, whatever happens to the home, whether it's destruction or moving the house, I mean, it's just a thought, you know, I think anything could be discussed at that point. Yeah. Any other comments at least for this first phase? All right. We have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say I. I. Opposed. Passes. Uh 6. And moving on to item 6.2, approval to cancel the electric bus order. So, um, as you as I stated earlier, we've, um, not been able to, um, get any kind of guarantees that

033the grant that was originally, um, awarded to us is still there. Uh, we we've reached out to the, uh, EPA a couple different times. Um, we've reached out to the bus the bus provider, Lion, a couple, and no one can no one no one is responding. um those people might not even work at the EPA any longer. So um we feel we would be on the hook for about two two point what bill 2.4 2.4 million if this does not go through. And uh that is not something we are at this point able to take on in the transportation budget or their general budget. And so we feel it's in our best interest to um cancel that order. Thank you for the explanation. I will take a motion and a second to open the item

034for discussion and ultimate voting. I move for the passage of item 6.2, approval to cancel the electric bill. Second. Moved by Mr. Glick, second by Mr. Comments from the board. So, did did we sign a contract? Do we need to make sure that we did a we we did a purchase a purchase agreement a purch and a purchase order was given number was given to the cor to the company. So that is uh technically a contract. Uh we have worked with um uh Warick and Blaine. Our attorney has drafted a letter to send them um explaining this explaining our reasons and cancelling the contract. Um and so he they are taking the lead in this. And so, uh, they have a letter that, um, they will provide Jim once the board approves this this action.

035If the board approves this action, did we have to provide any down payment when we made that? We did not. Okay. And we had put once once things got kind of murky, we put a hold on the installation of the um electricity over at the um bus compound. So, we have not spent um any money for the on this yet. Will we need to revise our bus replacement plan? Uh yes. The the interesting thing about busy replacement plans is you're obligated to if you want to buy more than that, you have to resubmit it. But if you don't buy those, you don't necessarily have to resubmit it again. So, uh, if you would like me to resubmit one with zero purchases because I simply couldn't get one this late in the year. I couldn't order

036one and get it submitted for get it delivered in 25. So, um, we'll likely order some for 26. Didn't we pass two different versions of that though or did we not pass it? I'm trying to remember the there was like a bus replacement plan in case we had electric buses and one So so we had two bus replacement plans um one for electric and one for not electric. Okay. Was that what it was? Um and we chose to adopt the one that was for the electric buses. Okay. Right. But there is there is no penalty if you don't purchase the buses if something comes up. Wasn't wasn't a problem that the company that builds the electric buses went under? Well, they were they were expanding their um their production capability into um vehicles that were

037not um buses and they were going to expand in Illinois and they were creating a factory in Illinois. They pulled out of that and they were they they closed that part of it down. Um and then they so they are just sticking with buses. Um, so that I mean we were also curious about how do our buses get serviced. Now we did find out they do have um regional people that would go out and service it, but we would still without certified funding from the from the government on the grant. Um, it would cost us a lot more than an electric bus would cost more than a than a conventional bus. Am I correct that they were also going to be built in Canada? They potentially have import taxes. Yes, possibly. Yes, they are they

038are a Canadian company. Um, so yes, they're built in Ontario, I believe. Yeah, I think originally they were going to be manufactured in the United States, but then they switched. Yes. And I think also heard there was some issues with their buses technology wise. Did I did I hear that correctly? There were some fires uh in different places that happened all this happened right around the same time and so that we started investigating do we have promises that we're going to have funding. Uh all this was contingent on the funding from the EPA grant and like we said we can't get anyone to talk to us even. So all of that after the first of the year things started changing really quickly and that's when uh also those fires took place. I think there was

039two different places or three different places that uh there were fires on buses on electric buses. Uh, one was a charging station fire, I think. I think they were all charging station fire. So, charging fire. Anything else? We're ready to vote. Okay. Uh, we have a motion and a second on the floor to cancel the electric bus order. All those in favor, please say I and raise your hand. I oppose. Same sign. passes 60. Thank you. All right. Uh we will now move on to discussion items and we will start with 7.1 tier three support program. Okay. So today we wanted to talk to you a little bit about what I I think I've talked to you guys about a strategic plan of how we have you know financial commitments or student education and learning

040commitments and then we had operational excellence in people. This would fall under the um educational achievement part of it for us. So what what is our plan going forward? Last year we put in teams. Our teams are working on uh having two meetings a week and then uh one meeting is more about curriculum instruction and learning for the teachers and how they can get you know make sure they're you know planning well and doing that sort of thing. The second one is on this MTSS which is multi-tered systems of support. So we want to get really clear on I call it the core tier one kind of things that we do for kids. So what's the curriculum that that would be core tier one? So you take any subject area whether it's math, science, social

041studies, whatever. There's a core of what our programming is and we want to teach that with fidelity. Uh and then what happens to kids that are struggling? How do we as teams of educators work together to support kids that are struggling? And so that would be an example of tier 2 uh support. So tier one core and then tier two for kids that are struggling. We also think in terms of kids that are high ability that are doing really well the core curriculum they need more challenge so we can compact the curriculum maybe not spend as much time in that. What would we do above for small groups for kids that way as well. So it goes you know kids are struggling we support kids that are really knocking out of the park. We want

042to give them opportunities and challenges um as well. So then our program uh so that's what our teams are doing. They're having these conversations. They're doing this planning. Then the school as a whole uh looks at supports for kids as well. And then what I want to do next is talk about we have three areas where we focus on. Okay. So area one uh for us I hate to give you all this jargon. I apologize. So we have tiered uh supports above and below the core curriculum. Um but in area one we talk about uh the typical things you think about academic supports uh in each content area. And then um we also talk about cognitive. And then area two is our social, emotional and our behavioral focus. And then we look at what how

043can we support kids are struggling in that area. What can we do for the kids struggling? Tier two, tier three and what can we do to enhance the kids that maybe have leadership abilities etc in that area. Tier three is physical neurological. So we have our core programming we do there and then what do we do with kids that are really struggling? How do we support those? And what do we do with the gifted talented kids above? We don't have all the answers for what we're doing below uh for kids that were struggling yet. We are working on that. We are uh that's the mazi work we're doing as well. Well, if you heard us talk about that on how we support kids that are struggling. So, we're working with a consultant on this to

044to build this out because once we do say here are tier 2 interventions in these three different areas, what do we how can we be consistent across the board that those are available for all kids in all of our schools. So uh having said that I'm going to turn the first part over to area one which is the academic and I'll come back to this to the cognitive thing later but Jav's going to talk to you a little bit just give a quick summary of what that means to him and the work. Yes. for for academics like tier one like you said is a universal curriculum right so in in our world that that will be like our Eureka square for for math and len wisdom uh for for leading right in the lower grades

045then you get foundations and integrity so that universal everybody gets it you know whole group uh and then a tier two would be a small group you know and and it starts in the classroom you know as teachers identify student needs individually or in small groups they do some things you know still maybe a tier 2ish type thing, but they're still in the classroom. Tier two, uh, then, you know, as as the teams meet, it may be where you do something a little bit maybe a little bit different or a little bit more intensive in a small group. So, not for the whole class. Uh, and it's more like individualized to a student or to a small group. and and so it may be working on phonics and phmic awareness things specific to student needs

046or comprehension any strategy in a small group the for tier three then it's even a more intensive and perhaps more individualized uh approach that they would take and so in in some areas you know it may require different curriculum uh and typically you know you have you know if if a small group was maybe one on five or one on six then a tier three, maybe oneonone, one on two, one on three. So, uh, it's it's it's a little bit more frequent and it's a little bit more intensive as well. And so, again, think of core one, everybody curriculum that everybody gets. uh the tier 2 maybe with the same curriculum, maybe with a with a different curriculum resource uh a different program perhaps some sort of intervention uh to to close the gap for

047the students who are below to uh enrich the students who are above uh maybe some experiential things uh for for our higher achievers. And then in tier three on both ends uh it's more in individualized uh and more intense and perhaps more individualized and more project based or you know experiential like I said for for our higher achievers. So uh there's it's almost like a tailor made for either an individual or or small group of students as we go. can't we can't necessarily do that for every content area, but if you think the two areas we're most focused on are English language arts and math through 8th grade probably. So that think of it in terms of that um as for the tiered intervention. So good explanation, Jav. Any questions for Jav real quick? And

048I would say that it's it's data informed, right? Whether it's assessment data or student work data, you know, I mean, our teachers know our kids so well and and and so uh that that's part of, you know, the working teams is to, you know, I I call it our teachers are helping each other to help our kids. So, thanks Heavy. Okay, so area two, social, emotional, and behavior. Uh I'm turn it over to Lori to kind of give you guys an update of the work that we're doing now and where we're at. So that was a great segue because I think about how do we have positive behaviors in our schools and we want to be data driven just like how said throughout the process. So you've heard us talk about PBIS positive behaviors, interventions

049and supports and basically that what that what that means at every school we have administrators and teachers who are explicitly communicating and teaching what those positive behaviors are. Um and so the idea is that all students get that. Um and we reinforce those that communication of those positive behaviors through incentivizing um celebrating and sometimes consequences. So we know consequences don't work with all students, but research does show consequences work for some students. But our ultimate goal is not just to not have negative behaviors, but it is to prepare our students for real life and employability skills. And so when we communicate those positive behaviors, we are wanting students to see their individual impact on the learning community as well as having them learn how to be good team members. Um, and so we really don't

050want to think of as a deficit, but as like a positive in those communication and teaching of positive behaviors and reinforcing that. Research tells us that about 85% of students should respond to that, but we know that sometimes we have a certain percentage of students that no matter what a principal does, no matter what teachers do, they're still going to have some struggles. So that's where then we move to tier two. And like Jav said, just like academics, we can approach that and respond to students who are still struggling um perhaps in small groups. So a school counselor might identify some theme a theme of some students and pull them into a group to address a specific behavior. They need some extra time and skill work to improve. And then finally down to the individual

051level where a student u might need just really intensive support one-on-one. Um and as um student boys mentioned we hired the um intense behavioral coach who will help us with that. Um and so again it's very systematic. It's data driven and um it's a system that's in place so we support all students. As an example, counselors do work with kids. It would be tier two kinds of things. Uh they also go in the classroom and do core instruction like employability skills and that kind of stuff. Um and then uh we I'll talk a little bit at the end here about tier three kinds of interventions in the social emotional realm that we're have been looking into. Uh but that's kind of the typical thing. A tier two example, uh they might do a check-in, check

052out, you find a teacher uh that maybe across the hall from you or someone in the office, a student struggling with behavior, could have their sheets of target behaviors they're trying to hit. And then a classroom teacher might check it off as a day goes on. They have to go in and start the day with someone in the office or maybe start the day with the teacher across the hall. Just check in with them. and then at the end of the day they check out let them know how they're doing and maybe they earn a reward for doing that thinking in terms of the elementary kids. So thank you Lori. Any questions for Lori or some of our social emotional tiered interventions we have? I do. So you know trauma informed care tell us that

053you know bad behavior might be caused through something that a kid has gone through. I give you an example. A kid might have somebody in their family died. They don't know how to deal with that. They come to school and they act out. Absolutely. And our teams are critical when it comes to what we call identifying the root cause, right? And so that's where our teachers know our students best. And so they would be they should know that information, right? And you might have several students who are experiencing that same thing, grief, a loss of a loved one, that kind of thing. And so it's very important that we have our teachers in teams talking about their students because they know them best and identifying what the root cause would be so they can respond

054with appropriate intervention. That's a great example. That's a great example of how a team of teachers working together and say, "Hey, you know what? I have somebody just lost somebody too and pretty soon they realize in the grade level they have like three or four kids and then they would talk to the counselor, make the counselor the counselor for that. The counselor then could put a team or put a a group once a week together for six weeks and then meet with those kids to work through some of those issues and then also potentially make referrals out to something more detailed. It would be tier three example where we work with community resources to support the kids. Great example. So thank you. Any other questions or social emotional stuff? Okay. Um then we have our

055area three which is physical neurological. Uh so we're going to let Alan kind of give you guys an update on what that's all about and and how we do some tiered work there as well in teams. The physical and metacog cognitive pieces are some of the more difficult um to address um within the structures that we have. But we do have some things in place uh through XSAC. We do have OT and PT services for students who do need some support in some of that uh fine motor or physical motor um um development. uh at the thinking about the physical piece of uh of what our students need to be successful such as we do eye exams in first uh that is done all all first graders get that from local optometrists uh in third

056grade our nurses do it in fifth and eighth grade the Lions Club sponsors it um and then we do referrals out to local optometrists who work with us and they are great about helping us make sure that students who need glasses get it no matter no matter the um social no matter the need the ability of the family to to afford that. Uh we also bring in mo them we've been bringing in they're called mobile dentists. Uh we're actually switching over to another company called Dental Smiles. Um basically, um paperwork goes out to all parents and parents can choose if they do not have a dentist at their own to have their their um child um seen and um minor dental work and and hygiene work is done at the actual school during the course

057of the school day. They do that about twice a year. Um and finally, we also offer hearing exams in in all the even grades. So in in grades K 2 4 6 8 um and that is done by our speech and language language pathologists. If they notice something they can then refer them to further to an aiologist or or out to someone who can help them. So we we do some things to address and keep our eye on some of the physical pieces. Um but the but the cognitive the metacognitive piece or the cognitive pieces are a little something that we are lacking in. And so we're looking for how do we bolster our portfolio of interventions for kids who need something more um about than than what we can provide. So I'm here to

058talk to you about two things we're looking at right now. Um and we'll button this up, but we needed to give you that background of kind of where we're at. So, one thing, one of the areas we're looking at area two, tier three, uh, kind of onetoone more intensive work that we have sometimes even depending on what the issue is with the child, we don't they might not need the therapy in school. Uh, so we they might need to go out to uh if there's sexual abuse in the family or something, we wouldn't want them to get that kind of therapy in school. So tier three would be we've worked with another institution to do that kind of tier three stuff. We know we have Oakan that's a partner and we're trying to enhance that,

059massage that, work with that a little bit. Uh we've talked to Maple City Health and they're very willing, they've got some therapists there to do some work with us as well. And the third thing we're trying to kind of poke around and find is uh a potential for uh uh virtual ver trying to virtual kind of uh therapy. So like a teddock except Teddoc for uh social emotional kind of work. So one of the vendors we talked to is cartwheel. uh you know it's it's $60,000 to get that started and then rebuild the parents and and you know we're not sure about that yet. Um but so we just want to stop there if there's any questions you guys have uh about that and then I'll go on to my tier three in the other

060area. So I guess you just threw up there a fee of $60,000. What do we get for that cost? And can that cost be allocated differently? So, it's more local or even we're looking at that. That's a great question. Um we we um the business in that case would and if at all possible they would build the parents so their insurance or build well build the parents insurance is what they would do and so that that would kind of be part of it and the $60,000 would just be to be connected to us as part of that. So we pay then that could we use it for some other kind of local resource etc etc potentially. So 10,000 of that 60,000 is for staff. Um so for students that's for uh we currently have an

061employee assistance program which uh authorizes three um three visits to a to a therapist or counselor. uh this would expand that and and and teachers or staff al staff who um who would who would like to take advantage of that um would be able to do so. I uh we have talked to with some local providers. Uh Oaklan has done some things like this on a similar model. when we had the idea classroom out at Waterford, it was a classroom for uh students who had um behavioral issues, um self-regulation issues, and so Oaklan was kind of our main thing. They had a skills therapist there. They also would then refer out to to Oaklan. It would kind of prioritize referrals to Oakland, got us there really quick. Um and then they what they would do

062is they would then if the student had if the family had insurance, they would then bill that insurance. If not, then that was just kind of part of the doing business with us. Uh I think the one thing that we've we've heard counselors talk about is the need to to get families someplace in this day and age when families are working one two jobs and somebody does need something, how some kind of mental health, how can we um enable them to do that? Um, and that was one of the reasons we I think we were consider we were considering or are considering a kind of someone who can also offer a virtual. Um, I know Mr. Deo and I were talking earlier. Um, is this a is this a is this a uh type of

063therapy that maybe some of our local providers could do. Um, we we don't know. So, we're kind of investigating that also. So, we have some more due diligence to do in and around that, but we're working on that. We think that's an important piece we're missing in that area, too. And I guess the one thing I'd say, just I I think Allan hit it, we experimented with a a company that was at least regionally local, but didn't provide us good results in the end. Now, we're doing something that's obviously not local at all. Are we just going down a path again? setting ourselves up for disappointments. This that that that company actually came to us through the Department of Ed. That was one of the things that the Department of Ed was one of the

064companies the Department of Ed was kind of had thrown out as a virtual option knowing that some of our families sometimes have trouble getting kids to appointments. So, how do you make that easier? And I know we learned about um uh Cartwheel at one of the local service centers um for that. And so um we that was our first um experience with someone who does virtual that it does not mean it has to be our last or only. It does seem that they have a lot of accountability pieces and data built in that can be um verified that it should be verified unlike the other partner I think you're referencing. I mean that's a surface level of my understanding but it does seem like they've built in a lot more ways that we can actually

065track use and effectiveness. Is that fair to say? So, we have some more due diligence. Yeah, we're just we're looking into it and then we'll hopefully come up with some recommendation of what our plan is in that area to to get get kids supported. The virtual component would service K12 or just secondary or K12 and the younger kids who ideally you're going to work with younger kids, you want the parents there. Mhm. So that's that would I think all of the cases parents would be involved otherwise we wouldn't want to work with them to be honest. Uh so uh but we would just want to find the right fit for us. So uh there's got to be other people doing this and and uh we need to work with their local partners as well. Are

066they willing to do that kind of virtual if needed? you know, and obviously they can go into the centers around here that would be fine with that as well, but maybe virtual would help support them as well. So, I guess I have one followup question, please. It says it's grant funded. Is that through a federal grant, through a state grant? And we we have some title two or excuse me, title four money that can be used for this kind of services. We have roughly $75,000 a year. Um, so we, you know, it's like, well, how do we use that to leverage it for our kids as much as possible? So that's right now title four is coming from the federal government. We have no idea. We don't know. We're not sure. I think you see

067where I guess maybe my my question was leading. Do we think that funding would even exist a year from now, two years from now, just with the I guess direction that uh Department of Ed stuff is going. I just throw it out there as a a thing of consideration. So, it's like that's a that's a good question. And I think we're all kind of waiting for a number of the f federal title grants to see where they they they've talked about it being going over to different departments like health and human services might take uh uh title uh title one or or or the um individuals with disability um piece the idea um grant. Um so we haven't really heard a lot about title 4. So um we're not sure at this time. Yeah. I

068I think it's just you know even just using the bus grants as an example that was a grant that was fully approved but yet then the funding was whatever happened to the fun I just see that is that going to be similar scenarios with other types of federal grants different agencies I just point of reference maybe I think we'll get clarification here as the as the departments reorganize hopefully and we'll get some because I know some a lot of our title grants, the planning grants are due were due usually by the end of June and we haven't heard anything about them yet. So, um I know we're kind of all kind of waiting. Okay, so now we haven't talked about our cognitive and I realize time is going a little bit longer than I thought.

069Uh and the physical neurological. So, let me just tell you what we're re what we're looking at and um about ready to bring to the board for for approval. Uh I'm meeting also with the community foundation tomorrow to have some conversations regard to help getting some additional funding for this. We also have this disproportionality grant uh which isn't a grant. It's just us. They make us use our special education money to fund uh we have disproportionality in Allen uh Tracy. Well, it's in it's in our um e student population. I think it's white ed is the subgroup that um are being um over identified qualified at a higher rate than the other groups. So um we're required to set some money aside to spend. So uh this SOIP what happens in that? Let me explain

070now. So it's it would focus on it's a tier 2 intervention for cognitive training and then there's a piece that's physical neurological. So when we think of children and the way they learn uh every student has to be able to organize their sensing system and focus and attend and concentrate on something. Bring it in through their either their vision system or auditorially and then process that information. Do some mental gymnastics. Pull things out of memory. put things back in memory, do classification thinking with it and they output it. That's how we see what kids uh abilities to to do kind of the work in a classroom. That's what we see. Any point along that way, we have kids that struggle. So, we have kids that struggle just to sit still, focus, and concentrate. We have

071kids that struggle to bring in visual information, auditory information. They struggle with that and then to do their to use their memory system, etc. back and forth. so they can output in a classroom. Um I have been around with all of our principles. We've been visiting kindergarten classroom particularly looking at kindergarteners that struggle and the big focus there is if we have uh a kindergarten teacher uh this this is a study that's been done over and over and over again uh and they can replicate it. A kindergarten teacher's rank ordering within the first couple weeks of school where they think their kids are going to graduate in the graduating class. rank order and they're like dead on. They they can almost always predict where a student's going to finish in their graduating class. So, they're

072able we are able to point out some factors that intuitively as an educator we know that the kids are not ready for kindergarten. They're going to come in behind. They're going to get farther behind first grade, second grade, third grade, and they they're going to struggle through school. So, our goal here at Gan Community Schools is to be able to put these tiered interventions in place that are going to help change the trajectory of that. The one piece we're missing, we do do nothing. We we say, "Oh, wow. This student really struggles. They have terrible memory. They can't remember anything. They can't look at the board, bring a chunk of information back." as an example, a kindergarten student uh that Jav and I were in this classroom with the principal sitting there and the student

073was supposed to write a sentence on their paper and then finish it with a word that they wanted to put in. So it's like I know something. So the they were copying this off the board with this clipboard and he was trying so hard. He was studying looking up at the picture and then coming down he made a the K. He drew a line down straight down which is great. That's what he had to go look back up there to see what part of that letter he needed to do next. And then he was studying it and he put a K down. Then he had to go back up and study and study. Then he went down and really concentrated just to finish a K. It took three times back and forth of the board

074studying that and then working really hard at trying to make the marks on his paper. There are uh there are uh fine motor issues there, there's vision issues there, there are memory issues there and if we go about our education the way we always do, that child is going to be very frustrated. The amount of tenacity that that young man had to stick with that was beyond my understanding. I would have quit, you know, early in like I want or I know then whatever it was he was supposed to say something he knew about. uh and he was working on the K when everybody else was back at their seat already finished with that moving on to the next activity. That's kind of a sad thing. So, what can we do to train that students

075abilities uh fine motor build their cognitive their memory system so they can remember things they see and then make sure they're seeing things visually and they can focus near focus far focus near focus far. That's a skill you can learn. Um there's all kinds of other skills I'd like to uh have further conversation with the board on, but for the sake of time I'm going to kind of gloss over this. But the point is we can uh build those into those kids so they don't struggle as much on those kind of activities. Then when they come to the learning situation, they're more ready to learn. uh to be able to focus on a paper, to study that paper, to be able to um you know to read you know we talk about phmic awareness to

076be aware and hear sounds that can be segmented like the word cat and they can hear c at a lot of kids don't hear that they just hear cat and they go like what are you talking about break this apart into sounds separate sounds but that's part of the issue we have to work through some of those issues so long story short we have a lab that two times a week the kids can go down for 30 to 45 minutes. They would work on an individual training program. They would work on let's say 15 minutes uh of a 45 minute session. They would do cognitive skills training, memory training, thinking skills training. Uh paper and pencil, not on a computer, real life kind of in front of their nose with holding the pencil and doing

077the work. Uh the second part of that is they would do some focusing skills. So they practice on focusing near, focusing far, walking a a board, red green glasses to make sure their eyes are working in teams. I can explain all this to you more later. Uh but uh then the third part is sensory integration where they're looking at movement and integrating all their senses so they can uh attend. And I like to use the example of if you think of military training, this is sensory integration example. A lot of young people go into the military and they go in kind of a mess academically. They can't focus. They can't concentrate. They can't they, you know, they they're not a great learner. And then after boot camp, all a sudden they come out and it's

078like magic. They're they're able to focus, concentrate, and attend and uh learn much more efficiently. We are doing boot this program would do boot camp for our young kids to get them through. Now, in the military, you might learn to tear a gun apart, put it back together in certain amount of time, and then you would have to learn to do that in the dark in case you ever had to do clean your gun in the dark. We don't do anything with guns in our program, but the idea is we do these sensory integration fine motor visually, being able to see things in their mind's eye as they do do work. It has been transformational in the in the districts that I've worked with before in uh PHM and then it's been instrumental. It's a

079ground uh first thing they uh put in at BAGO when I went to VGO and it has uh helped make Jimtown Intermediate School Blue Ribbon School. They're still doing it and the principal says this is probably the difference maker for us among other running a really great program. So, uh, it is transformational for kids and I I I'll be coming to you with some more information on this and ask you to vote on it in the future. So, I want to make sure I at least introduce to you anytime you're interested taking a group of principles over a couple weeks from Friday on a Friday to visit uh Jimtown Intermediate School. So, and and in addition to that, the core part of that, our librarians were going to engage in the work. uh our PE

080teachers will be engaged in the core part of this programming and our um music teachers who think of the rhythm and the patterning and all the things that they do in there and then the last area is the art teacher who does a lot of fine motor uh a lot of visual uh integration kind of things. So I get really excited and passionate about this. So, uh, I think when I interviewed with the board, I told you I couldn't be a principal of a school district that didn't have this program. Well, this is the program I was talking about when I said that. So, that concludes our report, but I would entertain questions and sorry it was so long. Just want to put it in perspective. So, yeah. Okay, good setup. Talk more. Okay, appreciate

081it. Um, our next discussion item and I guess will be our second time talking about 7.2 202526 student handbooks. So, the student handbooks you saw last week, uh, I did hear from our, um, head of nursing. She is looking at making some changes to the prescription medication. um some things that h that need to be um firmed up but they're also based on she she had pulled it based upon some nola policies that uh some other districts happen. So uh we are going to have some changes but we want to make sure our what our policies are first to make sure before we do that but some of the some of the changes that she referenced is medication has to come from the in the original bottle. Um a lot of times parents have they

082send medication with to us they also don't they also keep some at home. Uh sometimes we get medication in in bottles that we have to make sure and verify that the dosage and things on the bottle is correct. So that is another thing that we will need doctors we will need doctor's um scripts for prescri for um giving prescription medication um during the school day. Uh we just want to clean that up really really really um really tight. I think at some point here we'll have Miss um nurse Swallow come and um present to to you as a board just about what our nursing services look like and what they entail. Um but other than that I think the change I think the um nothing else has changed or will be changing um between now

083and adoption. Anything else from the board? Few questions I had last time were asked answered. So I appreciate that. So okay. So are we anticipating this one to come back at our next meeting or late May? I think we Well, we only have one meeting in May. So, uh, we would like to have it in we would like to bring it to you in May, um, just so we can get it out there. So, as parents are enrolling, we can give them. What we would probably do is then do an addendum, uh, with the nursing policy, which we would then insert into the the the finished um, the approved handbook once it's once it's done. All right. So, board members, you have two weeks if you have other questions. Otherwise, what we see is basically

084going to be what's going to be brought forward to us with the adjustments. So, fair warning. Mhm. I know you mentioned the NEOA policies. When are we supposed to get those again? Like when when are those going to be finalized? A while. It's going to take us a while. We hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have something to you guys for at least the first draft of one section. Right. We'd like to do that. Honestly, we have a goal. I hate to tell you. We're trying to bring our first section in June. So, we'll see if we can at least bring the first section by June. I made a public statement. Now, we got to do it. That was bold. Okay. Good with that one. All right. 7.3 amendment and restated memorandum of

085understanding between Gan Community Schools and the Goan Community Schools Foundation. I want to clear the air a little bit with the board and I want to engage uh Dr. Evans and I met with uh some of the board members from the Goan Community Schools Foundation. Uh I apologize to this board as I apologize to that group. Uh you know I have take responsibility that I didn't prep you guys well enough and I didn't you know maybe talk to them. Well, I apologize to them because I didn't prep you guys well enough because uh for me uh I what I'm what I'm was came into uh when this all started was we had a situation where the foundation was trying to raise money to help support the um uh alumni plaza. The alumni plaza um you

086know costing us $1.8 8 million and um that was a pretty hefty thing. I think they were trying to raise 1.4. They thought they could do that. They came to board meeting. Some of you that were on the board, remember some of the statements that were made. Um I think some of those were based on some information that that board had from uh maybe previous superintendent and some money that we thought we had coming in that were kind of pledged already that were not. Um, I'm not blaming anybody. These things happen. Maybe there's a little was a little overzealousness in thinking that it was going to be easier to raise the money uh than they thought. But I want to keep in mind that was a state that I talked to. The very first time

087I met with this group, this was a dejected group of awesome people trying to do great things for the school district. And they were just really disappointed they weren't able to raise the money. They had tried, they've worked, they they and they're volunteers. They were out there hitting the streets asking friends and and asking uh business leaders and other folks in the community that they thought had the wherewithal to donate money to help support this. Uh doing what they thought was best. I'm not sure, and I know Roger was on the original uh group and we've had conversation just had a conversation about this a little bit when it was founded. Uh the goal was really to support things like they're they're doing now as well. Uh field trips. So field trips that would be

088hard for the PTO's to raise money and or the school to raise money or parents would have to come up with a lot of money to do field trips. That was more in line with the mission of that group and then somehow they got over in this big project and they were in the original group. The official original plan was not to get involved in these big projects, but they kind of got involved in this big project. So, I just wanted the board to know that's what I felt like I came into. Group of great people trying to do great things. Didn't quite make a goal. It was a little more difficult than uh they they thought, plus some of the big don donations they thought they were going to have coming in weren't. And

089there was even some things uh involved in uh potential kind of promises that the intera donation that was made to the school corporation for naming rights was going to go to that. There's a uh donation we received from a uh uh car wash across the street from the football field that was supposed to in their mind is supposed to go to help offset this, but um that hasn't been sold yet. So these were all the things that were kind of uh around that work and then I asked them I said how can we I honestly was afraid it was just going to dissolve because they were dejected they you know they felt like they were being you know not supported and there was like people were mad at them and so how did this good

090thing we tried to do turn into something people got mad at us for because we didn't hit our goal as volunteers. Um, so my my thought was how do we reorganize this in such a way that they get back to their original mission and they find a win and that the school corporation we've already we had already paid for this uh by this time. So Bob had found the money somewhere and Bob correct me anytime but he found the money I think in leftover geo bonds or something or used a geo bond in lie of something else that we were going to do like or something and he found the money to pay for that because we had to we started the project and and and did that. So well and I want to make

091sure we clarify we didn't find the money we had to pause other projects to do this and and it wasn't sitting around. No. And and and that that's that's a point that I'm going to get hung up on is we pause other projects at other facilities because of the priority of that and and that's going to be unfortunately something that is going to bother me because there are things we still have not done at other schools because we paid for that and and I can name them. We have not redone the track at the junior high. Go walk it. any one of you tell me if that's acceptable for our students that would cost about half of what we spent on the alumni plaza that was in the budget that year I can go back

092and look at the minutes and we chose to pause that so there are things that we have not done at our schools because of that alumni pause now and and I'll say it again I love the way it looks I'm happy we did that but it needed to be planned into our normal capital planning and it was not because they wanted a signature project. The foundation had talked about it. They had wanted to do it prior to co I mean they had been talked about for a long time and and we supported that because we had the confidence that they were going to be able to get even if it was 1.4 million they were going to be able to get to that. Um, so I mean I'm just I'm gonna they're not here tonight

093is disappointing. Okay, I will say this. They are willing to meet with you anytime. They're they have a meeting coming up on what the 13th, Bob, please come to their meeting. Go to their meeting, ask the questions. You know, they're not hiding anything. I don't believe for one minute that this group has done anything nefarious or anything wrong at all. These these are good people trying to do good things. I believe they were hoodwinkedked a little bit into getting involved in a project they had no business being involved in. To be perfectly honest, I would never as superintendent have asked my community found or my foundation uh school foundation to get involved in raising money for a plaza when I knew I could take a geo bond and and pay for that plaza if it

094was that important to school district. I want those that group to raise money to help our kids go on field trips. I don't like the way it turned out. I mean, I came in at the back end of this. People were upset all over the place. It was a lose-lose situation. How could we turn it around? So, um, you know, I've talked to them and they're willing to come in in the future, but they want to work things out. They don't want to come up here and stand up there and be on the video camera and get lamb basted by people making accusations against them. I wouldn't want to do that either. They're reput they have professional reputations. These are all fantastic, wonderful people trying to do wonderful things that got caught up in something.

095Why would you want to come be on the video cameras and and then have it taped and have to be kept for at least six months? I wouldn't want to do that. Your reputation's at risk. So I think as a board we need to take that in consideration. That's the kind of thing that I was talking to them about and then went through reluctance I said I wouldn't want to come either. You know they didn't do anything wrong. They tried helping out a school corporation trying to do something. It didn't work out. And then there's a lot of angry feelings about it. So I wouldn't want to come either. So I understand it. Um but they're willing to answer questions to anybody who wants to sit down with them. Groups of two or whatever as

096a board. You can't go into the full group because you'd have forum. You don't want to do that. But they'll answer questions. Anybody or up to three of you can go to their their meeting and not be your meeting. Just listen to see what's going on, ask questions. Um if you had uh you know, I think they would be willing to come in once they get all the the this kind of worked out. So it's come in to finalize things. I think they'd be willing to do that. And I wouldn't honestly, like I said, I wouldn't come in you know, they're these are people trying to out there in the community professionals trying to do the attorneys and being accountants and things like that. This project didn't work. People felt bad. I I'm going to

097ask a point of order at least. So, we actually had tabled this in the last meeting to this meeting. So, it's not I I hate to I I actually think it should have been an action item unless we were going to table it to a much further meeting. Um because I we we we tabled it to this meeting as an action item, not as a discussion item. So, I think we may be already a little bit out of order here this with where we're at on this. I mean that would have been my I am no parliamentary expert by any realm of the imagination but I I just want to protect with what we did last meeting. So I it's my understanding that it stays tabled until the board votes to bring it up from

098the table which you can do at any time I believe. So basically this isn't bringing it back to the table. It's just making a discussion item out of it. just a discussion, right? Nobody has brought it back up for a vote yet. I think there might be some things that we'd want to tweak in here. It went from 5% to 10% going to the endowment. I asked them about it. They said, "We don't care if it's 5% or 10%." If it's 10% the endowment grows faster. That's all they said. But if it's 5%, they're fine with that. I think they're very willing to change things if there's some issues in there that they want. Can Can I make some comments? So, you and I had a long conversation about this this morning, and I went

099and pulled up all the minutes back to 2019. Uh, as far back as that, it said that it was brought up in 2015. Um, so discrepancies I saw from what they're telling you. Um, it was presented to the board as the foundation's idea, not the school's idea. So, it wasn't like, at least from what Bill Reef said to the board from the podium, um, it was not being presented to them as something the schools wanted to do and they were being asked to join in. um in 2022 when he was describing it says that Bill Rereath presented to the board the Gan Community Schools Foundation next big project the alumni plaza he explained the foundation or what the foundation does for the school and for the students with 16 board members and he said that

100the foundation's dream for a long time has been the alumni plaza as the hundred-year approaches for the high school it's no better time to start the project with the goal of having it completed by the school year of 2023 So for them to try to claim that somehow they were deceived into what they were getting into and therefore they don't want to stand up here and be questioned when they sold it to the board that way. I think that's out of order. Um I'm not buying it and I think they have a duty to appear in public. Their reputation I can't you know that was their fault. Um, as far as if they just wanted to come up here and say, "Hey, you know what? We were way overzealous that we could raise the money."

101It just hasn't been coming in. Uh, we just want to give you guys an update. They have never come back here with a good update. They did come back, I think one time, and it was a wishy-washy update as I recall after they started fundraising. Um there is nothing against the reputation if they couldn't raise all the money, but it is against the reputation if they bail and won't even show their face before us. A second thing that I want to point out is that when it was brought up as anou, it was a consent agenda item. I was a new board member and I didn't realize that I could pull as an individual board member a consent agenda item off that consent agenda. It should never have been a consent agenda item. Thatou should

102have been an action item. However, I did try to amend it. So, the record states um Mr. Glick question go community schools fronting the balance of the plaza if money is not fully raised. Dr. Hope and Mr. Noffzinger explained how a fundraising project works and how the payments work. At that point, Mr. Glick made a motion to amend the understanding to stay a faster fundraising and have it not be open-ended if the funds are not met. There was not a second. The motion died. That is exactly what happened. I could see that happening like the handwriting was on the wall already um all the way back there at the beginning. So I feel like we got li I got lied to at that board meeting and I as a board member representing the public the

103public got lied to. So for them to not come here once again and even just say hey we failed to raise the money we're going to keep you know given the money that's raised for this but are we can we work out according to the terms of theou we can change the agreement? Can we do something different? That's respectable. But not showing up or saying that they'll only meet in private because of their reputation. Mr. Rereath put his reputation on the line when he stood up there and presented that. That's his problem. It's not mine. It's not our board's reputation or problem that they didn't do what they wanted. Second, they're claiming that they were only supposed to raise 1.4 million. I have the exact record here. He shared the goal, this is Rereath again,

104of raising 1.8 million in order to fund the project. There was no claim made publicly. Now, I know what they told you. Well, I maybe I misqued them to details like that sometimes. Exactly. Correct. I just want to point out they expected to raise the full amount. It cost 1.9 million according to the record. Um, they expected to raise that full 1.8 million. They weren't thinking there was money coming from the sale of the car wash or any of these other places that money is being referenced. They said they were going to raise it. As of January 31st, he claimed the amount raised was between 832,000 and 1 or 03 million. 2023, I mean, we're talking two and a half years ago almost. They claim they had more than double what they gave to us.

105So once again, I feel like somebody's not telling the truth here and they need to defend their reputation. They need to come here along with that. A couple of the other things that I noticed um in the the course of how they were selling this to the the community trying to just pull this up here. um they publicly stated that they were the ones responsible to do the fundraising. It wasn't our our problem. Um they said that they were going to do it. They claimed when I questioned their ability to fund raise. They said, you know, we've got the context. We've got all this stuff to be able to do it. They need to just own up that they didn't. I would respect them if they were willing to do that and then turn over

106all the money that they've raised. have no cut off date. If money comes in, you know, part of anou should state that if a donor wants to change the money, they can change the money, but the foundation can't do that without the donor actually explicitly changing their donation. Um, and then anything in that says that we're required, which the the one they want us to vote on, it says we're required to actually market on their behalf for any project they're doing open-ended. Uh, I will not personally vote for an MLOU with them again over this unless they change their leadership because what they're trying to sell us now versus what they publicly sold us in these board meetings, uh, it it is just not the same thing. So, I know we've we've talked about this

107privately, but every time I go back to it, I come back to the same position. Maybe they're not taking money for any of their own stuff, but they're hiding and they have an obligation to the public to come back here and defend what they're doing. That's my personal position. [Applause] So, um, I appreciate you sharing this. So, we just did a little research. So, if a table motion does not get taken up by the next regular meeting, the motion typically dies. So, um, so if we are not going to take action on this tonight, that will mean the originalou is already dead on arrival and that a new one would have to be drafted. So, which I don't think any of us disagree with. Uh, we would not have been able to maybe come to

108an agreement on the one that's even out there today, which is fine. So, it's going to have to continue to be a discussion here um that we need to get resolved. I I believe sooner than later. This is this is just This is going to be raw for a while until we we figure out how we come to terms with product that we have and the intent that was put forth. Yeah. So, so you're saying, let's see if I understand the motion was to table it. We're we're here today. we're not voting on it or it's not a voting item. So the original MOU that contract then dies. Correct. Yes. Yeah. That that's the understanding and and I appreciate the only other the only other piece that could happen is you could refer it to

109a committee um which would take after a table and just refer it to a committee or you could continue to table it time meeting after meeting after meeting. But if it usually if it's not taken up then it's dead. So, the fact that it wasn't a voting item, it it it's it died. Yeah. I I would say the only exception is someone could ask for an amendment to the agenda at this point and we could take it as an action item. Um the originalou the originalou I I I will only speak for myself. Um the way theou is written today, I could not support it. So um I have a very good feeling how some of the others might feel on that. So I mean you know I'd say just let it die personally and

110then we we try to find a resolution. Um do they need to come forward? Right. Right. I like the idea of perhaps creating a committee uh board, you know, maybe two board members and members of the foundation leadership and work on a MOU that is going to meet the needs of them and us and then come back as a MU for an action item. One thing we haven't talked about is the originalou specified how it was supposed to be done. Like there is a way to to break the contract. So does does that idea of a committee does that work within that terms? I don't remember what it actually said. I don't I don't have that one handy. I don't have it right up in front of me. I apologize. I got a committee would

111be appropriate and I would say the old stands correct place. Correct. That's why I'm saying that since it's specified how it's done, we should make sure that we file the original agreement because that is the legal binding contract between us at this point. Yeah. So I mean as it sits today what is in place continue to move forward. Um and I would be happy to at a minimum just sit down and express what I've expressed here with with the leadership of the foundation. I mean I'm not going to sugar coat it any differently. I don't think I've sugar coated here at all either. uh my my belief at least. Now, like I said, I the blessing I wanted to give them the opportunity to defend, you know, where they're at. Um I still believe these

112are really great people. These are important people that we want involved in our school system. So, Do we need a motion for No, there's nothing right now. I mean, yeah, I think it's just I mean, if I if someone has a different opinion, I think that's just where it's at right now. We can facilitate a meeting with a couple board members. I don't think it needs a motion to do that. Just this is a starting point. We we we need to keep the conversation going. I mean, and I don't disagree with Ryan. I I would appreciate them to, you know, they they are here to represent our board and, you know, that does mean maybe coming and talking to us a little bit. So, anything further on that? Nope. I appreciate I appreciate this board

113discussion and thank you for looking up for me. All right. Um, doing okay on time. Uh, so we are at closing items. It's a good time, right? Um, so 8.1 to the voice, any administrative items to highlight? Yes, we have three things. Uh, the week of May 5th is teacher and staff appreciation week. Um, May 7th, uh, Brad, Ryan, Jose, Brandon, Allan, Javier are attending the spring ISBA regional meeting to learn all about the legislation at that meeting. Uh and next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, May 12th. Okay. Uh and then of board items, I I will say I did look up and Ryan, you are accurate. The school board pay is at no greater than 10% of starting pay of teacher salary. So I misspoke when I said that. So I

114just wanted to clarify that. So, but anything else from the board tonight? All right, we'll take a motion for a journal, please. Motion. Second. Moved by Mr. Goodman, seconded by Mr. Glick. All those in favor, please say I. I. We are ajourned. Have a wonderful evening, everybody.