001Everybody in attendance for today's uh school board meeting. We'll start off with the pledge. We have somebody for the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Good job. >> That was a good pledge. >> Okay. Uh we'll start off today's meeting. Are there any adjustments to the agenda? >> Yep. There are no adjustments uh to the agenda this month. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much for that. Big crowd today. I guess we'll start with recognitions. Who we have up first? >> Yep. Mr. Roberts. >> Well, good evening. I have Miss Amelia Gibbs here. Um, in the month of February, we've been focusing on the character trait of kindness. Um, and so Mrs. Lee,
002her kindergarten teacher, um, has noticed that Amelia shows kindness every single day. She uses polite words. She includes others in activities and is always willing to lend a helping hand. She's a wonderful friend to her classmates and treats all staff members with respect. Her thoughtful actions help make our classroom a happier place. Amelia is a true champion star when it comes to showing kindness. So, congratulations to Amelia. I'm like the luckiest one in the room with these two little cuties. So, we are celebrating um January and February. And so, this is Madison aka Cookie. She uh told me for the first three weeks of school that her name was Cookie and so she has lovingly assumed that nickname. Okay, so we're gonna about Madison first. Um, so Madison was our winner in January and we
003were talking about empathy in January and her teacher said that Madison is a great example of empathy. She is a great friend to everyone and she tries to make everyone feel better about themselves. She is always giving compliments and trying to make everyone feel their best. She is a great student. And then this month we are talking about kindness which fits very well for Miss Nola Hacker. And Nola consistently shows kindness in to the other students in the classroom. She is very thoughtful and caring. She's always looking for ways to help or include someone. She always uses gentle words and has a positive and respectful attitude. She is a great role model in our preschool classroom. So, unfortunately, our student of the month for January couldn't be here, but we are going to go ahead
004and announce our student of the month for February. I'm gonna turn it over to Mrs. Fight. So now I want to tell you these are the words from Mrs. Wolf. Mrs. Wolf and I get to share. So we both agree that these are this definitely describes Natalie. Kindness isn't just something Natalie shows occasionally. It is who she is. She consistently treats all peers around her with the utmost compassion and kindness. Whether she's welcoming someone who feels left out, offering help without being asked, or encouraging a classmate who is struggling, she leads with a genuine and caring heart, Natalie exhibits patience toward all that are around her and keeps a positive attitude which makes our classroom feel like a community. Kindness is a quiet kind of leadership and she models it beautifully every single day. Natalie
005is a bright light in each and every day and we are both so proud of her to have her in our classroom. This is Hunter Hubard. Um this was for January which was empathy. Uh Mr. Hansen states, "Hunter is an excellent student to demonstrate empathy. He is kind to other students and never judges. He is always there to help. I'm proud to be his teacher." Mrs. Reer states, "Hunter is such a kind and caring young man. He works hard in class, participates, and treats everyone with respect." And Mrs. Meyer states that Hunter Hover is an excellent choice for empathy. He displays kindness and acceptance towards any student he encounters. Hunter's natural disposition shows concern for others but also leadership and how he is willing to work with any student at any time. We are proud
006that you are with us at GMS. Thank you. So, our January um student of the month is not able to come, but this month we do have Trevor Long. He was nominated um by two teachers. So, I'll say with one teacher and then I'll let Mr. Doug chime in. So, our student um Trevan that she had chose Trevan over the last several years as a member of has watched him as a member of the ghs baseball team. He's always so nice and polite anytime that I was around, but his actions before the county basketball team is why I nominated him for the award. I was walking into the school at the same time as the team arrived. So, I took the time to offer high fives to all the players for the fun of it.
007Trevan was the last player in line, making sure that everyone had everything that they needed and held the door open for me and would not go in until I entered the building myself. He's not only a good athlete, but he's a better person. And we are lucky to have Trevan in our school. >> So, for me, as an assistant baseball coach, I've got to watch Trevan over the last four years. I've got the pleasure to know him. Um, he is always kind and polite, whether it be at sporting events, in the community, uh, wherever it is. He's always willing to help out, lend a hand. Um, and he doesn't have to be asked to help out. Um, I've watched him stay late, um, work with underassmen, um, help them out in any way possible. He's
008always the last one in the locker room after a road trip getting off the bus, uh, helping unload the bus. Um, as Mrs. Goodpastor said, he's a really great athlete. you watch him perform on the field and he's a great athlete, but deep down he's an even better person and that shows a lot about his personal convictions and um his character in general. I see you. >> All right. Well, I have Miss Clementine here and she was our student of the month from January. Um, which we focused on empathy. And so, Clementine shows empathy to her friends in many ways. She's the first to ask if someone is okay. after getting hurt. She invites others to play at both inside and outside recess. She will make room at the morning circle so that everyone has
009a spot. And she tries to cheer others up if they're feeling down or feeling left out. Clementine truly understands the idea of a classroom family and make sure that everyone feels included. And so, thank you, Clementine, for showing your Congratulations. It's good group this month. >> Really good group. So, it's nice to get in on last month, get in and out, get everybody home safe. Nice to see. >> All right. Uh now the recognitions are over. We'll move to public comments. I have nobody signed in. Is there any public comments? No. Okay. Just checking the back row. All right. We'll move on to the approval of consent agenda to include meeting minutes from last month allowance plan financial report and personnel reports one and two. >> Yes. Hello everyone. Uh last month you asked if
010I could number the finance packet. If you want to go ahead and scroll down to the page on the uh uh to F1, you're going to see that in blue. >> Okay, that's where we're gonna start. It should be pretty easy. Okay, so um two months out of the year, we have three payrolls in those two months. Okay, January 2026 is one of those months. So the very first payroll in January was dated the second total payroll 420 29252. And as usual, we've got um taxes in retirement that we pay on every payroll. Total on that second payroll was uh 125 93342. We'll go ahead and head to page F6. That payroll was dated January 16th for a payroll of 439 to 5059. And along with that came the payroll taxes and retirement total was
01112787977. And then that third and final payroll dated January 30th was4664544. And again we had those taxes in retirement of 146 35837. Did anyone have any questions about any of the payments? >> Okay, we'll go ahead and move on to a list of prepaids for the month of January for 2026. As you went through this list, um did you have any questions about anything? The only thing that I will is that we did have two debt service payments for um bond 2017 and go uh 2017 and that was that 2275125 you're going to see on page F14. If we go ahead and go to the end of those prepays and that um page is F19 total for prepays January 2026 556 898 We're going to go ahead and move on to a list of claims
012as stated today, February 23rd, 2026. That's going to be on page F20. Again, there's nothing unusual on this list, but happy to answer any questions if you had anything. Okay, we're going to go ahead and buzz through to uh page F23, total claims for today, 295,43170, and then we'll move on to the fun report. if you're ready. That's going to be on page F24. Uh education fund balance the end of January 2026 3,476 17647. We're going to go down two lines to fund 300. That's operations balance at the end of January 2026 1,17968.886. And we'll go ahead and go to page F25 balance at all. funds is in that last column 9,42528064. Did anyone have any questions about anything on the fund report? >> No. Okay, we're going to go ahead and move on to
013the depository statement and that is going to be page F26. Uh it says fund to fund balance. Essentially, we're looking for all of our funds to balance with all of our bank balances. And as you can see there, we balance to the penny. That's exactly what we want every single month. And then we'll move on to the fund transfer report. Last month I um uh let the board know that there was an incorrect school lunch transfer report that we were using. It's been updated to include a um state board of accounts uh report. So starting in January, I started using that particular report. But so we balance for fiscal year 2026 on our AFR. I needed to make up for any transfers that we had done since July uh 1st 2025. Okay. So basically I
014needed to make up to make sure that we balance at the end. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. So essentially I took January and I basically didn't make a payment. I didn't do any transfer to to school 800. Okay. We're going to have a minor one in February when when I do the February um uh transfer in March and you'll see that in March and I'll kind of go through this again and then we should be on par moving forward through June 30th 2026. Okay. But in the meantime, we did not have a school lunch transfer uh in January, but we did have that education ops and then we did have a transfer um you give me authorization to make transfer so I can pay bills timely out of certain accounts. So we do that.
015Um the total transfers for January was $689 and $75. And then finally, we'll just go through some bond um expenditures. We did not have any new expenditures for bond 2021, but the last few minutes we have been talking about we are uh uh keeping some money back in bond 22 2022 to pay retainage on pro uh projects. You'll see here that we did make a small payment retainage. Um there will be some more um payoffs that will be coming through, but in the meantime, we did pay uh a little over 26,000. So you'll see our balance there um for total expenditures for bond 2022. >> Just the group that did the way room and that stuff is falling down now. Again, >> yeah. Wonderful. And then finally, we've got the expenditures for bond 2024. And
016as usual, you can just go ahead and look at the very last column, and that's going to be on page F34. You're going to see the balance in GEO bond 2024. I've got it highlighted there, 1951 13779. And just made a note um as a reminder, Mr. brought up last month that we're going to be using that balance for um some parking lot projects over the summer and partially for the safety door projects at the high school and TZ. >> So, pending any questions I'd like to submit for approval. >> I do want to tell you how wonderful it was to have the pages at the bottom. Made it much easier. >> It was hard to do at all. >> Is there anybody got any discussions to be had? All right. Recommendation for approval. I
017move to approve. >> I'll second. Any discussions? All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Thank you. You're welcome. All right. On to reports. Um I'm going to share some information about our sixth through 8th grade ELA adoption that we have on an approval request for you to do in a little bit. Um one of the things that the state is doing is adding some science of reading requirements. Um not just K through five but K through eight now. Um and also one of the goals that Mr. Divy and I have had since I started in this position was getting an aligned curriculum. Um, so these are just steps in that process to make sure that we're aligned. Um, so we went through the adoption process with our middle school ELA team and uh, we
018started that in October and through that they piloted lessons. They were able to work with some of our representatives from Amplified and I'm going to invite Mrs. to come up and just kind of share a little bit about that process um from her perspective as a teacher um and how we came to agree on amplify. Thank you for allowing me to come and have the opportunity to talk to you guys tonight. Um I've been in teaching English language arts since 2004. Um and so Becky filled in a lot of the holes there as far as when the time I started. um and principal clemens and I sat down in August and we talked about the changes that were coming from the state level on approved curriculum. She provided that the team at that time um
019an approved list for us to look through. I had participated as a observer in the adoption process a few years ago when TC and the other schools went through that. Um at the time we decided to kind of table our uh needs and just keep them going with what we hadum and kind of watch how um the implementation went at the elementary. Um so when it came time uh for us to do that, CKLA got on board because we like that alignment between one building to the other. And so mid November is when we first met with Amplify. They got samples examples and our kids and as a team we decided we'd use the time from November to mid January to interact with material and pilot lessons. And as far as our kind of our
020our wants, our our needs we felt were uh to provide this to have a curriculum that would provide both text variety and complexity for fiction and non-fiction. Um strong alignments of course to our Indiana academic standards with both questions that challenge student thinking and learning. We wanted a written component to it as well as differentiation to support all our learners. And I think the final piece was the ability for teacher to balance the digital and print materials allowing students to interact with both control. Um those pieces. >> Was there anything else considered? >> We looked at SAS. Um we didn't do any pilot lessons on that. If we had Denise and I kind of talked if we had a strong opposition to Amplify, we would bring in another one. But we really wanted to try
021and get that page alignment and the feedback from the teachers. I sent out a survey at the beginning of what they really wanted, what they were nervous about with the new curriculum, what they didn't want to seek on. And then I did a survey at the end as well. and all of it was overwhelmingly positive and everyone felt comfortable moving forward with the >> What about training? >> So, what's that look like going forward? >> As soon as we have the approval, um I've already have a date um that we talked with the team about doing right after at the end of school doing a half day training. They've already kind of done training with our Amplify representatives when they've come and done um some work with them on the digital platform. But we have
022a half day plan for that and then they'll also get some additional time in the summer to do curriculum planning. Um and then we have options for next year too to have some like midyear training uh once they really dig into it. >> How the teachers feel about that >> about the training? Yeah, >> I think the experience that we have with the representatives that have come's been very thorough um given lots of examples and we had a parking lot for questions to for him to address our concerns. He's an educator puts pushes into some good hands-on knowledge on how it implements. Um, also been very straightforward about our questions that dig deeper into, you know, how certain things blend, what grammar, language writing. Um, and so he provides the, you know, the support, what's
023what's embedded in the program, but then also, you know, just application. >> You take us to the top, >> I think. So, I would say here's what I would from just having let's see this is I think year three is year three that we're looking to seek. So I'm seeing kids that are stronger in those areas than they were a couple years ago. Like just even the difference from maybe they're our freshman or eighth graders down to um what we have now in sixth grade. I mean, I like that that the numbers are trending in the right direction for our checkpoints um for all grades, but I know like at sixth grade the the need of the CPLA program having that heavy dose of of non-fiction and we see that as a benefit >> vocabulary,
024how is it? >> Vocabulary is is a big one. I like that they have a lot of vocabulary options embedded in this and so every lesson with a vocabulary. So, it's there. It's there. >> As a previous English teacher, as you know, >> yes, I do. >> Vocabulary is huge. >> Has to be. >> Good. Good to hear. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, discussions? >> Okay. Um, I'm also going to share FFA week is this week. Our middle school and high school are celebrating and showing off their FFA pride. We have spirit week going on and a pep session, I believe, on Friday. Is that correct, Mr. Pastor? Yes. Um, I read testing begins next week with our second and third graders. So, they will be working on that. Um, all of our
025principles have worked to create a really good schedule, get the kiddos in small groups so they're focusing. Um, so we are excited to see how they do next week. Um, we also have SAT school day for our juniors on March the 5th. Um, so a lot of wonderful testing happening next week. Um, Kindergarten and prek roundup are happening April 9th. We already have um 58 kindergarten students who have or families who can um filled out our enrollment form that we've been pushing out. And >> what day was that? >> Pardon? >> What day was that? >> April 9th. And then um 67 prek students have already filled out that enrollment piece. So we're hoping to get more in there. Um our is state choir contest with this past weekend and Mr. Hansen shared they had
02621 students participate and all earn silver and golds and we have our band this coming weekend 12 students participating is that correct wins and >> awesome and then we also have our decision coming up um this I think that's like a Monday Tuesday of next week and I think we have 41 students qualify for state who are participating. >> Lots of stuff happening this weekend um for our Milus. >> Oh, sorry. >> So much to celebrate. >> It is a lot to celebrate. >> It's been 19 years since Pat. >> That's awesome. Remember Pat? Pat was awesome. >> He was a good diver, wasn't he? >> Both those boys are good >> fun to watch. >> Thank you. >> Everybody's already taking my >> just a lot of as you can see kind of as
027there is throughout the year a lot of wellrounded opportunities. across the board at Green Castle. I just have a a couple of a couple of things. Um I wanted to on the personnel report tonight two gentlemen done a lot for our school both during the day outside of the day and we'll actually honor them with the rest of our retirees summer. But I did want to mention Mr. Hudson for that. We just hosted a girls basketball semi state. Um I think the gate was like $30,000 or something. Granted that goes to IHSA but um you know when you had the so this was a 2A semi-state but the previous week we had number one Pike who lost to Lawrence Central. I think Lawrence Central is going to the state title but to have two you
028know two teams from the large class and a lot of positive comments about our school community facilities and certainly an opportunity for um those guests to uh to visit restaurants and everything in between games. So, it was a great opportunity to showcase, but it was great. A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into that. Look forward to continue to do those things uh in the future. Um probably the single greatest thing I did to make everyone happy today is I put out a put out a post uh notifying families that don't have to make up first. Yes. Um so, granted a waiver day for that. We are out are out of asynchronous e-learning days. Um so provide it all is clear the calendar looks good without adding any additional days to
029it. Certainly we do have the one makeup day remaining in March or December 12th. I think it was December 12th school. Um so I have that. Um, and then, um, with Mr. Greenley's, uh, retirement, uh, we're going to be announcing a corporation athletic director, uh, position, uh, for that. So, we're going to be doing a little bit of restructuring, uh, with the athletic, uh, department, um, help us structure that, help us offer a little bit of cost savings as we kind of head during these, uh, head into these kind of trying times. Um, just trying to be more efficient as well. Nonetheless, we believe it's a great opportunity and I'm really excited to seek out the next athletic director for Tiger Athletics. That's all I have for this month. So, I was going to say
030something about Doug and Doug because they were recognized at the basketball. Can't say enough about either one of them and the time they put in for Greencastle. Doug Hudson's been here forever and he does so much beyond just the class that he does. I've seen him at speaking engagements all over the state and everything. So, he does a wonderful job and everybody knows that Doug's dreaming is a Hall of Famer. So, looking forward to the uh shoes that'll fill that position and they're going to have to be big shoes. So, looking forward to that. >> Yeah. Another real neat thing with that is the awards are plent. Okay. Uh, moving on. Any old business? >> No old business. >> On to new business. We have a purple request for the second reading of the 2027
0312028 academic school calendar. >> Yeah. So, it's been a couple months in between first reading and second reading part because I wanted to ensure that I got good feedback from our buildings. We have been good feedback from our buildings. Um, so obviously as you can see just with the year the year that we've uh experienced our goal is to add more snow makeup days built or build in more snow makeup days in the future best we can two or three. Um so my recommendation I actually approve uh option B um it's pretty similar uh to to this year's calendar um kind of on certain dates and end dates um of course includes three built-in built-in days um as well but you know important thing to remember is we always have a calendar to resolve part
032it's our goal all the best we can whereas the rest of the county schools are not one year in advance. So we do our best to communicate and collaborate on that. We that's kind of a little bit of background information kind of why we're in the in the lead on that. Um but we don't we don't typically make a lot of major changes still ends before Memorial Day. There's a little bit of a window for graduation. Graduated on Friday night I've been here and I think for for quite some time. So I feel like it it blends the best it can while getting in, you know, 180 student days and 184 student days. >> Any question? >> I don't have questions. I just I just wanted to kind of put forth that I really appreciate
033trying to balance the first semester with the second semester so that the days are fairly uh aligned. I like that both do that. I like the second one much better because of the built-in snow days. I like the fact that it's keeping graduation on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. We have done that forever. And I think as as Megan pointed out earlier, the the first calendar has graduation on the same weekend as depos graduation and that is not not a good thing. >> Yeah. >> So um for those reasons, I will be voting for the second option. >> Any more discussion? I'm glad that we're starting back and back for second. I am in favor of option. >> Okay. >> So, Jeff, no other county schools go out two years in advance. >> Correct.
034>> Do we share our calendar since we're we do? Yeah, we share we share with the other schools and we talk about it certainly share services with >> and you know each school district has some little nuances to the calendar with the date here or there but typically we are so we have a recommendation to accept option B. I need a motion. >> Need a second. >> Second. >> Any discussions? >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? That carries website. >> Wonderful. >> All right. We have an approval request for permission to pay late arriving invoices for February. >> Yep. This is kind of like how we handled handled December. So we just want to make sure our bills >> that allows me to go on vacation. >> You said you wanted to share where
035you're going on vacation. >> I already did go on vacation. No, I will not share. >> All right. I need a motion. >> I need a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> All right, we have an approval request for amplify ELA 6 through 8 curriculum. >> So you heard the rationale earlier shared some of the background information. So it' be my recommendation purchasing delay. ahead of school year, ahead of next school year. >> Remind us again where that funds come from. >> Yep. So 67 the 67,25728 actually comes out of the education fund because there is no longer question. >> All right, I need a motion. >> So move. >> Need a second. Any discussions? Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I opposed carries. >> All right. We have
036an approval request for the new Indiana diploma. >> Yeah. So, technically this is more of an awareness uh type thing. Students already have the opportunity to opt into the new seals earlier. Um, but we thought it would be a good idea to to add it to the board agenda. So, the new diploma takes effect with the class of 2029. It's crazy seeing those members with the freshman class because I'm getting older. So, we're opting in early just so that way other additional opportunities for classes 27 28. We also have students who could earn the recognition. So, it' be our recommendation that the board Do we know how many students in 27 and 28 would >> be eligible? >> It's probably fluid just I can get you information. >> That'd be great. >> Any other questions?
037>> All right, I need a motion. >> Second. Any discussions? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I All right. Next up, we have an approval request for an overnight ghan to St. Louis, Missouri. I believe the date is actually May, right? May 1st, not March, >> May 1st and second. >> May 1st. May 1st until Saturday, May as have the other requests that they're following all policies and procedures. My opportunity for kids. Any questions? >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hear none. All those approved. >> Opposed? Okay. Additionally, we have an approval request for an overnight GHS girls tennis deployed Central High School April 10th and 11th. >> Yep. And those dates are correct. stadium again just another awesome opportunity for our kids get all requirements policy procedure that's my
038recommendation request busy month for you >> all right I need a motion to approve >> move to approve Need a second. >> I'll second. >> Any discussions? Those >> approve. >> Oppos. A couple donation requests. Uh up next, we've got a Pton County Community Foundation to DO's Get Crafty Club for $600. We have an anonymous donor to GCSC for school lunch for $1,000. And we have center toss for $500. I think those organizations that this was here the get get crafty club has met a lot of time and so I think Can you tell us about a little bit? >> Yeah. Each week something different. Next time everythingouble. What grade is this for? >> And also That's awesome. That's great. >> And I spoke to my friend Jenny who works at the community foundation and
039she's very impressed. They were excited about that. So we may get to ask again. >> We may get to ask again. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So on the table we need an approval request for to accept these three a second. >> I'll second. >> Any discussions? All those in favor >> I opposed. Uh and finally other business. business tonight. >> Anybody got anything to add? >> I do. I have a list. Um, the DECA club had some uh interviews where some of our citizens came in and helped with the interview process. Went very well. The sophomore class had interviews where we had lots of different uh people from the community come in and and held interviews. And then this weekend is the art show K through 5 will be at 11:00 awards at the
040Putin County Museum. And then on Sunday at 2:00 will be for 6 through 12. And the artwork is being currently hung and it is wonderful. So I encourage anybody who is around and wants to come out to the museum to please please do some great artwork. >> All right to our last point to >> a second. >> Second. >> Any discussions? All those in favor? I >> adjourn. Thanks for your attendance. Thank you. I am. So