001Allegiance sorry pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I'd like to welcome everyone uh this evening uh just uh have an opening statement and a few opening comments tonight we take a moment to remember and honor Deb riyle our beloved cafeteria man manager at Gan Intermediate School who passed away last evening de was more than just a leader in the cafeteria she was a bright presence in the school always greeting others with a smile and ensuring that every student received not just a meal but also a warm and welcoming experience she took great pride in making sure that cafeteria ran smoothly and her commitment to Excellence was evident in everything she did though
002she had only been with Gis for a short time her impact was immediate and last ing she formed strong relationships with her team School community and she was truly excited to be part of the Red Hawk family her absence will be deeply felt by all who knew her we extend our deepest condolences to dev's family friends and colleagues Dev will be missed but she will always be part of the go Community Schools I would ask that we please observe a small moment with a silence for dead thank you just a few uh additional comments this is a meeting of the school board in public for the purpose of conducting the school corporation's business is not to be considered a public community meeting there'll be time for public participation for agenda and non-agenda items as listed
003by item number three our mission we promis to inspire Innovation empowering potential enriching our world and our vision go commit schools Elkart County School District of choice item 1.4 is approval of tonight's agenda do we have any modifications to the agenda right hear none the agenda is approved as presented and item 1.5 uh review of our minutes from the February 24th 2025 meeting board members do we have any revisions for those minutes hearing none the minutes are approved as pre presented item two student staff recognition M shiner [Music] the [Applause] well congratulations that that was exciting all right so that will conclude our student and staff recognition uh you are happy to stay for the rest of the meeting or if you guys would like to exit stage I guess right or left I don't
004know which way yeah neither am I so my wife is all right we will now move on to public comment and Mr Glenn null Glen Goan um I wasn't here two weeks ago I had personal things I had to take care of anyways I don't know if the electric buses were discussed or not I have a problem buying I don't like the idea of electric buses in general don't like the idea of buying them out outside the US we should be buying us only it's just the way I feel my tax dolls need to stay here and now with the attitude of certain can Canadian people and they don't need my dollars either okay um um Ada doors any of you guys tried that door today going out or in it ain't working you might
005want to make sure that the you guys follow the Ada if that door's unlocked them buttons better work I take that very personally I spend enough time in a wheelchair okay down to the nitty-gritty I guess you would call that the sugar so down state still don't know what our lovely representatives are on do to us how it's going to turn out but it it comes down to looks like we're all don't have to pay more one way or the other referendum is not going to be something that you really want to look at in the past when that was presented couple of superintendent's back to it turned out after the election which was the the the the vot which reprend only one by oh yeah just just a tad bit just a little bit
006it was oh some of our numbers might have been off just a little bit we might have fudged oh them numbers weren't exactly accurate you know for the rest of us we were lied to lied to so some of us actually said so you lied to us we don't have to pay that oh no you still have to pay it the citizens voted it even though it wasn't correct referendums are not going cut it in this town they tried it in other places and they failed there too there's a lot of us that are willing to put it all on the line to to tow the line on that so if if we're going have a big problem with this thing it's going to need to be done down state and they're going to have
007to take care of it they can't ease out of it going well look we we l lowered taxes no they lowered the taxes and dumped them on me that ain't going to happen so don't even think of a referendum thank you Glenn and that will conclude our public comment this evening we go on to item four superintendent reports Mr Deo yes thank you Mr President uh Dr Bob Evans has a couple things to mention to you tonight thank you Roger um I have a couple of things to meet to meet Indiana code uh we one of them is that we are required to have 62% of our compensation uh go towards uh teachers teacher compensation uh I would I'm pleased to report that for us that amount equaled 69% so we're well above the 62%
008threshold the other one is a funding floor where you where it states um that you need to the amount of M money that you're applying towards teacher compensation must be at or greater than the previous year so with us it equates to about 110% so we met both of those metrics there is an out for both of those uh if you have extend rating circumstances such as declining enrollment you can you can apply for that but uh we didn't need to do that thanks for the financial commitment update Dr Evans uh next up is uh our student achievement commitments and Javier Jimenez has a couple things to tell the board yeah uh so standardized assessment season has begun uh this is the Midway point for our first window for I and so most of our
009third graders are done um most of our second graders will be finished uh by the end of this week the window closes on Friday so I think it's going without problems as far far as technology so looking forward to getting those results back and how quickly are those results returned the first uh the rep reporting opened on Monday today for anything that was done last week however they are embargoed as far as becoming public I believe uh cleaning and all of that takes place before April 28th and at that point we'll use follow guidance from the state but uh I think that we are encouraged to communicate with uh our families that did not pass in third grade uh because we have to start intervening as soon as possible so we will be doing that
010as allowed in uh to make sure that we're providing interventions as as needed so thank you any more questions for Abby uh next up is our operational excellence commitments and uh Dr medcafe I think you have a couple things to kind of so as you know we've been working on our with our CTE and John evering ham has kind of been overseeing some overseeing some things and um one of the things we've been looking at is how do we make uh Chandler more efficient uh in doing that we our goal would be to move next start moving classes that are the half day classes over to Chandler instead of trying to transport kids over there for 45 minutes by the time they get over there by the time they get ready to get back um
011it really cuts into the schedule so one of the CL one of the things we are looking at is moving the welding over to the Chandler cap ceria um and we are currently uh looking at what it will take to do that for next year and and that's because we need the space as well it's because we do need the space the welding is pretty crammed into the old um uh it's not the construction area but the other the other part of that that room so yes I think we have six welding bays and we need more yeah and we have access to them we just need to to get them set up and get them it's become a very one of our most popular programs and so we are going to move that over
012to the Chandler um cafeteria and they're going to the advaned manufacturing will still do some welding in there as well so they yes we can use the welding there but it's going to be a full-fledged Training Center over there in the cafeteria so um okay and uh you want do your third one I'll do mine after oh okay yes uh we are we are in transfer transfer season um and so so our transfer window for our district um opened on March 1st and goes through May 31st we are however looking at some of the um class sizes and where we have space that we could absorb without having to add staff and so we at some point uh might be coming back here in the next month or so with some recommendations of limiting transfers
013in some grade levels or some programs thank thank you Dr MF um in addition I wanted to mention to the board I had Christina Peña came to me and Dr M caffin asked how can they change the name of their school uh currently it's the W and that's all there is is a w so they want to be they want a masc it's water for you didn't say water for did you okay so it is water for and it is a w and they want a mascot of some kind so they want the mascot to begin with the letter W too so uh they have some ideas so uh I think we'll have the board if it's okay um I don't know that's required we can probably make a decision internally on that but we
014just have the board vote on it when they come with a representation of what they'd like to do so uh we'll bring that to you in the near future so they can get some things started with a mascot I don't know if they want to uh any maybe a former Waterford uh student can might be on the board would want to wear a the mascot outfit for the first from the board from the board Bo oh didn't you go to Waterford there sorry I might have did you might have okay okay we'll be careful about what we pick so that's completes our operational excellence uh any other questions board are we good on operations okay last up are people commitments and um uh we'll start with Dr metf again so as you know last night
015uh two nights last week we had a teacher recruitment Fair uh and part of the recruitment was not only just trying to find teachers to um hire for next year in positions where we believe we're going to have them but also just to start laying some groundwork with future teachers so for example we had some Goan college students come in who were Juniors uh learning more about our district learning more about our pay our benefits what we can offer um Tuesday night we had our Elementary uh and Thursday night we had the secondary Junior High and High School uh we had a we had had a a nice turnout for our first one for our first ever recruitment Fair here um both nights and so we've gotten the names of a number of people and
016our our goal is to hire about 60% of the ones that that uh showed up thanks Dr MF uh also we've been doing some good work with parent engagement and Lor Shriner would you give the board an update yeah so our Red Hawks Rising parent community group met Tuesday night typically we meet here but because of the recruitment Fair we met off campus and I thought what a great idea or an opportunity to take them to Chandler innovation academy and so we held our meeting there and Mr de Meer was my special guest and she gave the parents a tour um to see all of our CT options and what's happening there and then she did a wonderful job of breaking down the very complex new Indiana um diploma high school diploma um and then
017really talked about all of the opportunities that are available to our young people who graduate from Goan high school and she just did a really nice job of making that very friendly and understandable to our parents our next meeting is April 29th thank you Lori that concludes our reports from the superintendent unless there's any questions that the board would have I just have a general question I saw our Gallop polls that we had done what have we done with I guess groups back at each school from the results from that I know we've we've taken it now the second have we taken it the second time or we've taken it the second time so I guess what is our Pro maybe I'm getting ahead of myself so I apologize but you know I've had some
018people ask me here recent if we're using those do you want so may and December is when we've kind of well or the end of November after Thanksgiving Before Christmas in that range and then uh before the staff leads for the end of the year are second one and we intend to do that every every year um they all have uh a plan at each school and they are carrying that out and I don't know I'm going to put jav on the spot and Lori on the spot here to kind of just generalize kind of what plans might look like the different schools or not each school don't go into each school but maybe just overall the kinds of things that they're doing in the in the buildings yeah so at the elementary levels uh
019I want to say all six buildings uh the the number one area for work uh in teams was around staff recognition uh and so principles and their leadership teams are are working on plans not just to for everybody to feel like a sense of recognition like what they do is important but how how does that translate into a more you know peer-to-peer recognition also where it's not always the leader of the building who is recognizing but where staff take time to recognize each other's work um and and there's wonderful examples of what that looks like dayto day uh from different buildings but that is essentially what it is is that you know that collaborative culture where you know our work is so important right and so making sure that everybody feels like they're key to
020the success of our schools and our kids so yeah and I would just build on that by saying that um again going recognition was a theme in a lot of the buildings but going from like a more surface level understanding of what it means to recognize and going deeper in that what does that look like on a day-to-day kind of interactions um with colleagues and so um just asking you know leaders to not just they're not like hobby said not just responsible for the data but getting the staff to really get into the data and to be generating ideas and doing it collaboratively is a really important piece um and so we just continue to have that vs cycle of feedback um where principles are looking at their data and having peers or colleagues look
021at the data and then create a plan together is the idea um and so we continue to support principles in that um a a bright spot in the data is participation went up particularly for our classified leaders where that's a little bit harder to get that engagement um from maybe bus drivers or cafeteria workers and we've just had some directors that did an excellent job of really trying to make that meaningful to their to their workers and those conversations end up being where the power takes place when you realize that you answer something on a question and the q12 question it says do you feel like you've been recog or you recogniz recognition in your building is good however the questions phrase but the point is that everybody has to understand that we're all responsible
022for recognizing everybody we can't wait there's like at the high school 100 staff people in that building you can't expect the principal to do all the recognition for everybody at all times because I think the question also mentions within the last seven days have you gotten feedback on your performance and like that's a hard thing to do too uh if people are not communicating with each other and supporting each other and giving feedback to each other so those are the kind of things I think are happening it's really powerful with that and it's good data there's no right or wrong it just is and how can we get better so thank you any else on superent reports okay uh we will then move on to item five which is a board committee reports so I'll
023look to the board members anything to highlight this evening yeah Building Trades meets next Thursday have something week from Thursday or this Thursday week from Thursday okay um well high schoolers had sat testing last week on Wednesday day and I believe that went well because we were all very well informed to stay home and do our e-learning except for juniors and also youth caucus is hosting a book drive so ghs students can bring in books and then we'll sort through them and give them to younger students and that's it thank you thank you other things from the board I will say uh Redevelopment meets tomorrow um and I'd say the two main things to highlight on that are two new developments the one is right down here by the old western rubber property so the
024aerial Cycle Works project is officially kicking off so just some final paperwork with that uh and it will be moving forward and then there's another development to the south of the um the Hawks building on the race that they're planning to build some town homes for uh so we'll have that agreement tomorrow in front of the Redevelopment Commission so small slivers of housing continue to come to goti um anything else currently um Council met on the 25th okay all right we will then move on to item six which are our consent agenda items 6.1 approval of accounts payable dated March 10th 2025 and payroll dated February 24 21st 2025 6.2 obsolete library and media materials 6.3 early literacy achievement Grant 6.4 Personnel anything to highlight from the consent agenda caring none uh the cons items
025are approved as presented item seven action items 7.1 proposal for professional development services M Shiner yes so you should have access or should have been able to peruse a contract um that has not yet been finalized uh but if you remember if you remember sever several board meetings ago you were able to look through um this Patricia her um her more comprehensive proposals I think there were three different ones the third being the most comprehensive um and basically um this service would support the need that we've identified for improved communication to better engage parents um and we decided to go with the least comprehensive proposal initially with her um and just have that professional development um done with our principles and so that at that time we can determine with them the effectiveness of that
026professional development and how we might then use that professional development in a more comprehensive way with office staff with our team leaders who are facilitating conversations um about students and should be contacting parents um and school counselors and so with your approval we'd like to move forward with this contract but I'm happy to take any questions you might have about it so with that uh I will ask for a motion and a second to begin discussion on item 7.1 for the passage of item 7.1 proposal for professional development services move by Mr GL second by Mr Goodman questions I guess topics on on the proposal in front of us um it is for $9,800 um Half Day presentation closing the loop books and then up to one hour of virtual coaching correct correct we had
027come in I've met I've met with her but I no she is an outside consultant um and she has not worked with our staff in any capacity I was trying to remember was the price based per person or was that just an overall it's just an overall um well I think maybe she said maximum like 25 to 30 books but she's very flexible so she's not going to give us probably a set number of how many people can be in the room so it's more by hour okay so yeah for the two three hour sessions so if you wanted to add a few other people in there you potentially could and it would reduce the overall correct she she would be she'd be fine with that other questions comments okay are we ready to vote
028hearing some nods all right so we have a motion and a second on the floor for item 7.1 all those in favor uh please raise your hand and say I I oppose same sign passes 70 thank you um item 7.2 approval for change of date for the September 20th 2025 regular school board meeting Mr Deo yes thank you uh board uh uh Terry mccrindle are very astute in uh keeping track of things she found out that the uh isba iapss join conferences on the same time that our board meeting is uh we had our board meeting set before they set their day so I just will say that so um but we do need to change our board meeting uh to the I think it the week later right Terry we're wanting to go from
029September 29th to September 22nd the conference actually was moved up a week than normal thank you and that will help assist us in our budget process so we would like the board to change the originally printed schedule for that board meeting to the new date so so it's it's on the 29th today today it's on the 29th we would like to change it to the 22nd yes sir yeah I'm just making sure yep okay uh do we have a motion and a second uh for item 7.2 I'll move for the passage of item 7.2 for the approval for the change of the date from September 29th to September 22nd move by Mr Glick second by Mr Goodman questions clarifications on that be straightforward if we were first why don't they have to move there I'm
030just Kidd we'll let you go tried to use that with the city they didn't listen either so all right I think pretty straightforward so we have a motion and a second on the floor all those in favor please say I and raise your hand I oppe same signal pass the 70 thank you and item 7.3 soccer dugouts and Press Box Dr Evans we would like to recommend uh Milwood construction for the completion of two soccer dugouts a press box with storage underneath it for the soccer field uh construction would be the goal is to completed by August before the soccer season and um we've been working with several contractors over the last several months and uh waiting on a a couple um and we're going to bring it forth with you now with the lowest
031bid being Milwood all of the specifics are attached and uh this should be contingent upon getting building permits from the from the state but uh we'd like to move forward okay thank you may I have a motion in a second for item 7.3 I'll move for the passage of item 7.3 socer dugouts and Press Box second moov by Mr GL second by uh Mr gber uh comments questions I'm a little curious what's with the price difference because that's pretty dramatic between those two that's it's considerable um I was shocked to see the uh the amount of the WAN bid to be honest with you I think the Milwood bid was um more reasonable and more what I expected it to be we did have another vendor that uh was we were waiting on them which
032is why it was the delay for you guys getting this quote waiting and waiting trying to give him more time and then the last call said well we we're going to wait till we get bu actual building permits before we give you the quote so we decided to go ahead and bring it to you without that third bit can't wait much longer get it done did we have estimates beforehand as to what it was expected I know some of these projects you get an estimate from the AR we did we did uh we had estimat from Garmin Miller um and we had an estimate from another company I forget who it is right now but it was in line of a little bit more than what the Milwood bid is we we're getting estimates of
033300 or maybe just a little shy a little over so this one is lower than those bids I guess my last question would be does there a contract with them um does it protect us from them raising the price after the fact yes yes and uh just as a side note Milwood is currently working at our baseball softball complex they're putting the roofs on the the buildings and the dugouts out there did Barton Co do the design on this or did we work with Barton Co did do some preliminary sketches on this yes we could actually use the same design for the Press Box as we're using at the baseball softball complex and then the dugouts they're just well they're dugouts they're not they're just sitting on the ground so so I guess so so
034Milwood our experience with them is just from what they've done here working for wand at I guess I was unfamiliar with those contractors so I just want to make sure we have a comfort level that they'll be able to perform to our standards uh we have no reason to believe that they won't um the work that they've done so far has been satisfactory other questions any other comments so I mean we can say this has been needed for some time so if you've attended a a soccer game driven past one it's um quite full there's a lot of people I am I'm glad you brought that up we are probably our next board meeting we'll be bringing bids for additional bleachers to be out put on both ends of those so that will that will
035help out that as well yeah SE people line the streets trying to watch watch the game so yeah we definitely need more bleachers okay anything else ready to vote all right there's a motion and a second on the floor all those in favor please raise your hand and say I I oose same pass a 70 thank you all right that takes us through our action items and we will now move to our favorite item8 closing items tonight so 8.1 any miscellaneous uh administrative items Mr check me on this Terry but our next meeting will be Monday March 24th at 6: p.m. with an executive session immediately following that with uh we're going to get have some board education on uh property taxes assess valuation levies and tax rates Etc with stifle will be coming and
036doing that did I say it right b or is it Ste yeah it's spelled stifle but it's pronounced Ste yeah yeah okay and 8.2 any missous items from the board tonight see none I will take a motion for adjournment I have a second second movement seconded all in favor please say I I we are adour thank you very much have a wonderful evening I have no intention