001Mhm. >> session's public hearing of the Huntington County Community School Board of Trustees. We're going to start uh the special session with a call to order. Mrs. Gray. Roll call. Mr. Allen. Here. Mr. McLellan. >> Here. Mr. Melcher. Here. Mr. Wall. Here. Mr. Carl. Here. Mrs. Miller. Here. Mr. Thompson. Here. Thank you, Mrs. Gray. Moving on to B1 public hearing on superintendent contract for 2026 through 2029. The uh contract has been available for viewing since uh I think about a week ago Friday. And um so I hope everybody had a chance to take a look. Uh at this time uh we're going to move on to public comment on the proposed superintendent contract. Anyone wishing to address the board may do so. I'll go down the list of those that have signed up and call
002you to microphone to speak. You'll be given 3 minutes to speak and we will have a timer. If I you get down to about 30 seconds or so, I'll just remind you how close we are. Um we do ask those addressing the board that if the questions that you wish to ask are the same as the ones to the of a prior speaker that uh you leave those out. Um we like fresh stuff. If anyone was not able to sign up um then I will certainly let them address the board if they wish. We currently have no one signed up uh to address the board reference the teacher's contract. Um would anyone like to come forward? I do have uh something I just want to talk about a little bit um cuz there has been
003some discussion in the community about the contract. Uh and talk a little bit about the decision and how we come about um what pay is really based on and and for the superintendent it's based on a lot of considerations and a lot of responsibilities. Uh HCCS is the largest employer of Huntington County with over 800 employees in charge of the education of over 4,700 kids and has to manage an annual annual budget of over $77 million dollars maintain nine schools plus learning grounds plus learning center and the grounds that they sit on manages two administrative buildings and their grounds maintains over 100 vehicles used by HCCS is a steward for the stakeholders and taxpayer dollars maintenance and supervision of HCCS athletics and extracurricular activities They have to answer to 1,650 plus pages of laws and
004regulations that school corporations are required to follow. And finally um since all school corporations are looking for someone that has these specialized qualifications and experience specific to a successful superintendent the demand for someone like that is very high and the cost of someone with those qualities has increased over the last several years. Finally, I would add that we use feedback from our Chief Financial Officer Michelle Bro- Babcock and comparison charts of pay for surrounding corporations and those like size to HCCS to build a fair, affordable and sustainable contract for our superintendent. This has been quite a process, everybody, and um I will take a motion to adjourn this hearing. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. McLellan. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. We
005are adjourned. Give us 2 seconds. We're going to need to reboot our computers and get on the right uh hearing here. Thank >> Thank you guys. Move on to A3. Call this meeting to order for March 23rd, 2026. And number four is roll call, Mrs. Gray. Mr. Allen. Here. Mr. McLellan. >> Here. Mr. Melcher. Here. Mr. Wall. Here. Mr. Carl. Here. Mrs. Miller. Here. Mr. Thompson. Here. Thank you, Mrs. Gray. Move on to A5. Are there any revisions to the agenda, Mr. Brimberry? Uh yes, Mr. Allen. I would like the board to remove consent agenda item H14, summer technology interns. We plan to bring this item back uh to the board on April 27th. Thank you, Mr. Brimberry. I will entertain a motion reference to change in the agenda. Motion to revise the agenda. Thank
006you, Mr. Melcher. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Carl. Any questions or discussion before we vote? Let's vote on the motion. Oh. Okay. Motion passes 7-0. Thought I hit the wrong button. Move on to B1, items from visitors public comment. I don't have anyone signed up to speak uh address the board this morning. That's this morning. This evening. If anyone would like to come on up and address the board, they certainly can. I just uh come up to the podium, uh give us your name and your address, and you can talk about what you need to talk about. No one having come forward, we will move on to C1, financial reports for February 2026. I believe this is going to be Mrs. Babcock. Yes. Hello, everyone. Um so, um on your packet is
007the February financial reports. Um and so, we'll cover that first, which is the education fund is the first one. And you can see that for for February was a much smoother lower expenditure month um as we did not have three pays in February. Um so, we were right on target with where we should be for February by month end. Um and so, we're ending balance there at a little over 14 million. Moving on to the um debt service fund, no activity in that um as we will see activity in that in June and December. And then moving on to the operations fund, this one is much better than it was last month um as we had a large expenditure come through last month. Um so, for this month, we ended um with about 1.7 million
008um in the fund balance. Um however, we did make a transfer from the education fund to the operations fund to help offset some of that that large expenditure from last month, um which is part of our approved transfer that was done during the budget process. Um still something we need to watch in the operations fund, but it is still um fine. We will see that revenue come in in June um as anticipated with property taxes. Mrs. Babcock. Yes. So, just if I were to like forecast out some stuff here a little bit, the salary items for this month for both the education fund and the operations fund would be a good barometer to look at the rest of the year cuz that would we should be seeing on a monthly basis. Is that correct? For
009February, yes, that would be a good snapshot to take a look at um other than in July when they'll be three pays again. Yeah, I will be prepared for that shock this time. Thank you. Yes. And then moving on to the rainy day, there is absolutely no activity whatsoever for the rainy day. So, we're still holding strong at 3.9 million in that fund. Moving on to the comparison reports um for the education fund, you can see we're at 14 a little over 14 million in cash balance in that. Um still a very strong healthy cash balance for the education fund. As compared to the previous year, there was more of a cash balance at that point, but 14 million is still a healthy balance for the education fund um as compared to our peers. Um
010also moving on to the operations fund for February, um you will see that we're at 1.7 million. It is still an okay mark. Uh it's not ideal um to be at that, but it is still okay. Um as you can see, last year we were just a little bit uh little over 2 million. Um so, there's something that I will be watching closely as well as the team business department team, and I have to thank them for all of their great detail and work in helping in preparing these items as well. So, um that is the financial reports for the district for February. Are there any questions? Thank you, Mrs. Babcock. Any questions for Mrs. Babcock? Then I'll entertain a motion uh reference approval of these. Uh Mr. President, I recommend approval of the February
0112026 financial reports as presented. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ken. Any questions or discussion prior to voting? Hearing none, let's vote on the motion. Motion passes 7-0. Move on to C2, award of E-rate bids for category two network refresh, Mr. Clausing. Thank you. Before you guys, you have two contracts to award uh for the category two network refresh. This refresh is part of the E-rate program, and so we get to qualify for a discount uh through the FCC. This year, we are in an 80% discount. So, this is a great opportunity for us to replace in mass most of our networking equipment um and save the district quite a bit of money. Um these bids before you, they come out to about 113,000 spend out of pocket. Um MSRP
012is well over a quarter or over half of a million dollars. And so, we really want to be able to take advantage of this opportunity and uh this cycle of E-rate, which comes up every five years. And we really uh hope to award this and be able to move forward this summer to get it all installed before the fall of next year. Thank you, Mr. Clausing. Any thing for Mr. Clausing to ask before we move on? These are E-rates through reduced billing, correct? Correct. These are the reduced billing. Cool. I'll entertain a motion reference this request. Make a motion to approve the award letter award of E-rate bids for category two networking refresh as presented. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Any further questions for Russ Foley? Like
013bells on us. Hearing none, let's vote on that motion. Motion passes 7-0. Moving on to D1, recommendation for superintendent. Mr. President, I make a motion that we appoint uh Chuck Brimberry as the new superintendent for Hardin County schools. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. >> I second that. Thank you, Mr. McLellan. Any comments or discussion prior to voting? I just want to thank the board for going through this process. Um it was a lot of meetings, a lot of time together, but I think as we went through this process, we all learned a little bit of something about each other and about the process and about our candidates. I think we did a really good job of thoroughly reviewing the process. I know Mr. Allen's going to talk a little bit more
014about that, but I just want to commend each and every one of you on this board for doing the work that is needed for this community and this corporation. And I can't I I look forward to where we're going in the future. Uh it's been a great time. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Anyone else? I do have a statement. Um the the community's been very patient with us. Um during our search for a permanent superintendent, the board used an exhaustive process to review all the candidates. There were 14 total candidates and ultimately we narrowed the list down to five for the interview part of the search. We scheduled that uh interview part begin the week of February 16th through the 20th. After the first interviews were completed, the board met executive session near the end of
015that week and discussed who we felt qualified for a second interview. Three candidates stood out and we were and were invited back for second interviews the week of February 23rd through the 27th. The second interviews were more intensive. Uh we all thought if one of these lifelong educators were going to be asked to be the next leader of our schools, then we needed to dig a little deeper to learn what their plans would be for HCCS. Those three remaining candidates all held out had outstanding interviews, which made the choice very difficult. As we have mentioned before, the selection evaluation of superintendent for HCCS is one of the most important responsibilities for our school board. Accordingly, the board spent over 1,000 hours combined to assess the experience and abilities of all the candidates. There's a lot
016to consider. Like what experiences have prepared them to lead our corporation. What is their background in supporting school administrators, teachers, and support staff? What are their experiences on the financial side Having only one school corporation in our entire county, how will they connect with this county? And honestly, at this point in time for HCCS, who can best lead us into the foreseeable future? These questions and several others helped us determine who best defined what we needed in a superintendent. I do want to congratulate all the candidates for their efforts during the search. We were flattered that so many applied for our open position. Obviously, for school leaders from all over the United States, HCCS was high on the list of great opportunities. The staff at HCCS should be very proud of the work they do
017and the standard they set because it is noticed. Additionally, we need to thank Steve Horton and the ISBA for their guidance as we worked through this extensive selection process. In particular, Steve's background in assisting boards during their work to hire a new leader of the schools was very helpful. We also want to thank the teachers for their input in what they hope to see in a permanent superintendent. The community that participated in the survey should understand that we used their answers to help guide us as well. Also, we cannot forget to thank Joe Wiley, counsel for the board. Joe has vast experience over the past few okay, several decades working with HCCS as trusted legal advisor and he correctly would remind us what need what needed to remain as our focus. We'd be remiss if
018we didn't thank Cindy Gray. Your patience is truly appreciated. We asked for a lot and you provide assistance with sincere kindness. Plus, I personally want to thank and congratulate the rest of the board for their tireless work during the search for our next superintendent. With a little special recognition for Mr. Wall, your background at ISBA and your connections were important and really helpful. Finally, during a process like this, it's a vital to maintain a high level of confidentiality. Several times in the last 2 months, members of the community asked me how the search was going saying that they had not heard a name or even how how many applicants we had. As I shared that we were excited because we had some great candidates, it was a really proud moment for me because it's a
019testament to good governance that we were diligent in doing the job we were elected or appointed to do without sharing information that might complicate our decision. So, thank you all very much. Well done. Anything Anyone else would like to add before we vote? We should probably thank Deb for the snacks to keep us nourished. Thank you, Deb. I did forget about that. Deb, you kept us alive for like several weeks uh during all those meetings. Didn't want anybody to get hangry on us. I think it helped. I just want to I just want to echo what you said about Cindy and Joe. I don't know how we would have gotten through that process without their help. Um Cindy, you did all the back end things to make us successful and we we truly appreciate that.
020Anything else, guys? Then let's vote on our motion. Motion passes 6-1. Congratulations, Mr. Brimberry. You're the new superintendent. I've got uh several things I want to acknowledge tonight on this process, but number one, I want to thank Mr. Allen and the school board for this opportunity. Um I am honored to become the 10th superintendent in Huntington um at HCCS history. Um this is a proud history of success at Huntington schools. I'm not walking into a position um that is not used to being highly successful. We have great schools in Huntington. We have outstanding teachers. We have a great community and most importantly, we have an unbelievable uh student body. And so I'm honored to sit up here and I'll uh I'll try to keep this together, but I have a few people to thank. Uh
021number one, I see uh some familiar faces. Uh I'm I'm a little caught off why team Brimberry hasn't been here more often, but uh I see them there tonight. I want to thank my wife, Michelle. Uh she understands uh the sacrifice that comes with this position. Dog gone it. Uh thank team Brimberry. I've even listed you tonight. I'll save the best for last on this. Uh Nolan, Adriana, Nathan, Elise, uh Maddie, who is not here cuz she's diligently in class at Indiana State, uh Libby, and most importantly, the uh my favorite person in the audience tonight, uh Brooks is here, my grandson. So, I want to thank that group. Uh their support uh in different corporations, but uh in the last 4 years is been invaluable to me. Uh my administrative team, uh they're the
022best in the state. It's not close. I want to uh thank them for being here. Uh we have leadership different positions at HC um CS. Um I want to thank Mandy Barnum and HCTA leadership. I rely on them in their positions and we talk uh frequently and that respect is mutual uh both ways. That will continue in this district. Teachers, staff, I have heard from so many during this process. Um they've asked um and your your questions to the community, Mr. Allen, were echoed every time I go to a building as what's the decision going to be? Have they made a decision? Mr. Brimberry, are you going to be involved? Did you apply? And we've kept confidentiality during this process. This board's professional approach to this is unmatched in my 30-some year career. I have
023been a superintendent before. I've been through this process. I have been in every leadership position in a school district. At no time for our community have I seen a process more professional, more thorough, and more in-depth in terms of the hiring of the superintendent in this case, myself. I thank you for your confidentiality as well. It helped us greatly in our district. Um community leaders that have reached out, our parents, I've heard from every key leader in this community about they hope the board makes a decision in the best interest of these children. I'm giving you my word you have. Um I'm proud to lead these kids. For our kids in our community and our parents that are listening, let me assure you um my past history, the greatest indicator of future behavior is one's
024past history. My past history says that I'm a believer in students at a high level. Um I believe Huntington uh in a few years will go from uh I believe our former leader said good to great. We're in that process. You will have the best school corporation in the state of Indiana academically very soon. Those progresses are being made as we speak. Uh as we climb that ladder, know this, the culture is more important for kids than anything we do. It will be a safe haven for children to be themselves, to sometimes uh drop the ball and us be there to help them back up. Let me assure you there's high expectations for excellence in this community and in the school corporation. Our key stakeholders expect excellence. That's a lot of different prongs of excellence
025that I demand as the superintendent. I assure you I lock arms with those who are in uh the business of helping children be highly successful, not average. And in closing, I'd like to tell you that uh Jay Peters and our team the last 3 and 1/2 months have been exceptional, have been extraordinary. Cindy Gray, Tanya, Jay, my administrative office, and our building level leaders, we have been very, very short-staffed and we continue to be right now. The motto was, it will not affect our children, and it will not affect our schools. Um I am uh grateful for their leadership of some of the people to my left and some of the people out there. Uh you will get a great effort from Chuck Brimberry, and I promise uh the Huntington community I am a advocate
026of all children, and we will see that type of leadership in this community from this point forward. We will continue what the previous superintendents with a slight twist. Everyone does this slightly differently, but it doesn't mean they weren't highly successful in our past. I appreciate and I'm honored to be your superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Allen and school board. Thank you very much, Mr. Brimberry. Congratulations. We're going to move on to E1 special presentation Elementary Unite. Jay Peters. In my career, I have had the opportunity to work with some extraordinary people. Uh tonight is no exception. You've known uh we've introduced Lauren Hogue to you uh on March the 9th, and so she is no stranger. Uh but tonight she's going to share a glimpse, a little snapshot, into what is happening in the elementary world
027in her first year as our elementary PD coordinator. So, Lauren, it's great to have you here. Thank you for being here. Thanks. Thanks for having me back. Not to Is your mic on, Lauren? Make sure that >> It is. I need to lean in. Okay. All right. Thanks for having me back. Um Mrs. Gray, will you advance that slide? Uh so, when I started uh something that Mr. Peters said from day one and continues to say is it's a new day in Huntington County Community Schools. Uh and so, for me that was what does this role look like? Um how does it take shape uh based on what everyone at central office would like to see, what you all would like to see, uh what I would like to see, and coming from, you know,
028straight from a classroom, what did I feel like maybe we needed moving forward. So, um these three words are have been at the top of my mind as I've gone through this school year. Uh visibility, transparency, and differentiated support. Um those are things that I think that we needed um as classroom teachers, and that I've uh again, kept in the back of my mind as I've gone through and and tried to lead um these PD sessions and and teachers and and principals this year. Next slide, please. Uh so, I won't bore you with all these things. We've been very busy this year. Uh so, I'm just going to go through and highlight some um of moments that um I'm probably the most proud of from this year. Uh so, starting in the summer, uh before
029my job really officially started, I guess, uh for me in this role, we had summer PD days, and one of the days we really spent time working on master maps. Uh so, we had a lot of teacher involvement, which was so wonderful to see. I don't think I've ever seen as many people show up to these um as we did, um which was wonderful. We had some great discussions, and people worked really hard, and our big focus was getting those master maps aligned. Uh we found that there were some standards that were on the maps at all. Um and with the checkpoints that Mrs. Brown and I um explained to you 2 weeks ago now, uh we found that we really needed some realignment. So, K2 had a much easier job because they were able
030to kind of make some shifts based on their professional um discretion and what needed to be taught when. Uh where grades 3 through 5 really had to align to those checkpoints. And so, we did that. Uh we even stopped calling uh places on our uh master map quarter 1, quarter 2, quarter 3, and we would just went with checkpoint 1, checkpoint 2, checkpoint 3. So, we really wanted to make sure that our students were set up for success, and that we knew exactly what they needed to encounter before those tests. Um but you can see a a small glimpse of what one of those master maps look like. Um the math and the reading look the exact same. Um we have green, which are our essential standards, white are our non-essential standards. Um but the
031biggest improvement, in my opinion, to these um was the usability of of these documents. Um teachers need to plan, and we need to use our resources, but the DOE is very cumbersome. Uh the site the website to get to all of our um information that is very useful for us to use. So, um all of those uh blue words are all hyperlinks. So, they're linked to the frameworks we shared with you a couple weeks ago. They're linked to the specifications, which are exact sample questions, so teachers know exactly uh the level that students need to be working at, and then all the resources are on the right-hand side. We also went through Do you see those bulleted points? Those are scaffolds of instruction uh starting at those below levels that of proficiency that which we
032explained uh 2 weeks ago, up to um those above levels. So, teachers can really see that progression of of how they're supposed to or should be uh teaching their lessons. So, that was a big key point um that we started the school year with these. Uh there is not a week that has gone by that someone doesn't mention how useful those are and how much they help them teach and how much more successful they feel having those um kind of revamped. So, that was a really big really big process. Uh so, starting in the school year, uh I was at every building um almost every week around some uh meetings, of course, but my goal in that being visible was being out and being around. Uh so, you can see some of the other things
033that I was doing and working on. Modeled a lot of uh lessons in classrooms, really starting in August. Uh so, I was very thankful that people and teachers were willing to ask me in. I believe that was their choice and not by principals. Um so, it was nice that they trusted me to come in and and share some ideas with them. Uh but again, with that being visible, every time I was in a building, someone stopped me and said, "Oh, I was going to email you, and I just didn't get to it." That actually happened today as well. Uh I was at Flint Springs, and someone said, "Oh, I was going to send you this email on Friday. I really need some help brainstorming. Do you have a minute?" So, we sat down, and we
034brainstormed, and it was great. Uh so, you know, life happens. Teaching is hard. We're very busy uh from day to day. So, just being around and being available uh was really important, and I think that helped build a lot of relationships and trust. So, that was important. Uh we also continued our work with Smekens Education this year for writing. So, last year they came in and really were in classrooms and modeled. This year they came uh almost everyone has had four sessions so far uh already this year, and they started with a little bit of new information this year, but the big goal was for teachers to feel empowered to gather those skills uh with the lessons that they were learning about last year and put them together to create a scope and sequence so
035we can have not only the reading and the math that we have now, which I showed you before, but we will also then have a writing document that we can follow for some consistency. So, that's been really nice. As we got into October and December, now we're in uh testing time with checkpoints. Uh so, I was still in classrooms. Uh I started sending monthly newsletters, where I, you know, of course, give important information, but my favorite part is the second page with that has staff spotlights. So, there's at least one person, if not multiple, um for each building, where I just highlight and share something that I've witnessed uh within that month of being around uh just to let everyone know how awesome everybody is because everyone's working really hard. Uh so, you know, lifting
036people up uh is really important, and we don't get enough of that. So, um trying to do that for people as well. Um and when the with those checkpoints, since last year was a pilot year, and we did not have very much data, as we shared before, um having a lot of new data, not too many people knew um what that looked like. So, it started with me going to every school and meeting with third grade team, and then I met again with the fourth grade team, and then again with the fifth grade team, and that seemed very inefficient uh for one person, and um then we started testing, and we got the data. And so, what we moved to or what we are now lovingly called Unite meetings. And so, Unite stands for using
037numbers, teamwork insights, and insights for excellence. Thank you, Melissa Ross, for that. It She did a nice job coming up with a a grand name for this. Um but what we did where we created these PLCs, these learning communities, where we brought all the third grade uh teachers in the district, all the fourth grade, and all the fifth grade on three different um three different days. Now, we've done that twice, and the teachers were able to come together and bring the data. So, yes, we looked at data. Yes, we looked at checkpoints um and the percentage passing, and that's important, but we really moved into why are we needing so much intervention and remediation? Let's look at our standards. Do we know the exact standards we're supposed to be teaching? Uh do we know the
038standards at the level of complexity and depth? Um and often times we found that we didn't know that um and that we're kind of teaching at that below level, and so maybe that's why we're not seeing as much progress as we feel like we're working really hard, but are we working hard at the right things? Um so, that's what these meetings really came to be, and it uh became a place of a lot of encouragement and empowerment for people to share some great ideas. Um as always, the best parts of these meetings were never things that I planned. It was always from the discussions um that people really wanted to know from someone else um what you're doing or how to make this better. And I'll share a story on some of these pictures uh
039everyone had a math activity they had to do, hands-on math activity at at this high high level. Um and in our fifth grade session it was a three-stage. Um we were doing area of triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids. Very difficult. And hands-on. And so we got through the part one and one of the teachers said, "Oh man, that was really hard." I said, "Oh man, that was a below-level proficiency. We're not even there yet." Uh and so that was a really great place to be in that moment, just you know, haphazardly uh feeling like our students feel, right? And how do how do we move them through kind of this challenge and and keep pushing them to to what we know they can do. So these have been really really great. Uh this checkpoint data, I
040know checkpoint one you all have seen. Not sure if you've seen checkpoint two. Uh but Mr. Bramberry talked uh 2 weeks ago about not just seeing percentages like let's talk about students in this too and what does that really mean. So I did break that down, so if you will allow me here, just on average because obviously math and ELA are a little different. But on average, uh and this would be remediation within a 2 to 3-week time period. Uh one school actually only had 4 days because of a turnaround and uh cancellations with snow and everything. Um so we had 21 for checkpoint one, I'm sorry. Uh 21 third graders on average that grew and moved into a passing um either at or above. Uh 41 fourth graders, 43 fifth graders. And for checkpoint
041two, we have growth for fourth and fifth because of I-Ready for third grade. We didn't want to overtest them in that uh in that instance. So for fourth grade, about 40 students who moved into the passing at or above um and 24 fifth graders. So next year, taking these things into account and really looking at trying to allow a bigger time span for the remediation between those is something we'll be looking at. Into January and February, uh a lot less modeling, being in classrooms, especially with cancellations, but trying to support from home. Uh we had a lot of different ways to keep students engaged online. And uh my favorite part of this was I sent out maybe 2 days' worth of different ways that you could engage students and try new things. And then teachers
042started sending me things that they are doing, and so then the next time we closed, I was able to send out their ideas um and give them credit for that. So that was really cool to see the collaboration even from afar that everyone was really joining in for the benefit of all the students. So lots more planning specifically with teachers instead of me modeling to help, you know, release our responsibility and gradually help them as we go. And then of course, actual professional development as we think of it. Uh not that planning and meeting with teachers isn't professional development, certainly is. But me presenting and showing you all these things, right? So uh there were two buildings that I was able to go into um and present some different ideas about differentiation and engagement, but
043also with principals at the admin teams meeting. Uh that bottom picture is principals meeting and talking about kindergarten writing. What does that look like? What could it look like? What should it look like? How are your teachers getting students there? And so professional development at all levels is is really important and being able to do that as well. So as we look ahead to the summer, um some really exciting things that are coming. Uh first, with Ms. Brown's um wonderful idea of resident expert. She told me about this, man, I think I don't even know that I we were started a month into school and she was talking about this and I said, "Yes, we have to do this." So I've been helping her with this um idea of resident expert. So we have about
04455 sessions, and these are teachers in our district that are going to be presenting um to any other teachers that have signed up and would like to come. Um and we have a mixture from we have impact being covered. Um a lot of art happening. We also have some management, some ways to stay um distressed. Um we have um some, you know, good for everyone, um but also we have elementary and secondary. So lots of different choices. Um that's on May 28th. Um and then we're also bringing Get Your Teach On, which is a nationally recognized conference for teachers. Um they're coming to us in Huntington. I'm very excited for that. Uh I've had a lot of teachers who are excited. Uh this is a big conference that a lot of people would like to
045go to, um but its funding is really difficult to get there. So the fact that we're bringing them to us is wonderful. Uh our focus will be on tier one instruction. So at our Unite meetings, we really focused on the what am I supposed to be teaching? And so this tier one instructional strategies will be how do I do that? And how can we be consistent um in our district. So the elementary teachers are getting that on June 3rd uh for those that choose to attend. And then the principals are going down to the national conference to hear what that looks like from the admin side to be able to lead and continue that uh next year as well. So as you can see, the next year obviously tier one instruction is going to be
046really important. Um we want consistent practices. Uh I'd like to continue gathering um PLCs in the district. Um but also keep our writing consistent, keep our phonics instruction at the primary levels um consistent as well, and continue to move forward. All right, that's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Hoag. Um I appreciate very much you guys coming to us with the updates and keeping us posted on on how this is all going because it is I think important for us to be able to help share some of this good news. Um the more people that hear about it, the better. Um I think I'm I'm certainly excited. I think the board is too to to see what kind of progress we're we're doing and and and trying to uh keep people informed, you know, because
047I think we take a lot we make a lot of assumptions, and to hear it firsthand is really important. I think at least it is to me, so. Mr. Wall, are you ready? Ready. So a little bird told me today that I now have the second longest school board tenure. So being on here so long, statistics don't lie. Your statistics are great. We are headed the right direction. You've done great. So I I want to thank you for that. It looks really good. I mean, I'm statistics don't lie. I'm a statistics guy, and what you what you're showing us here tonight is we're way above the state average. We're headed there. I mean, that's good, so. Thank you. >> Is there anything in particular you need from the board? You know, I guess that's always
048the thing that we never ask is when you come up here and tell us all the cool stuff that's happening, um we probably should ask more often. Don't be afraid to come and ask us for things that we don't have any idea what they do until you tell us. Well, I appreciate that. Um off the top of my head, nothing specific, but I appreciate knowing that we can come to you. Um but your support is really um the biggest, and so I appreciate and I have felt that for me, so thank you. Thank you again. Mr. Allen, uh Mrs. Hoag has done an awesome job, but I know when we she first took over the position, uh we talked about a number of different things, but we talked about visibility, being transparent, being accessible, uh
049that support, be a great listener. Um and she has done all that and and more because she comes from a highly successful classroom where her data year after year after year was strong. And so that is so important in the role that she is in because she knows what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Uh and that's highly important. So she's done a great job, truly a blessing uh to work with her and uh just a great person in this position. Excited for what the future holds for Huntington schools. Thank you, Mr. Peters. Anything further from Mrs. Hoag? Mrs. Hoag, I just like to tell you uh amazing job in year one. Um I you know I feel that way, but I will also tell you the growth that we continue to bring
050is uh the key element here. Achievement is expected one day after enough growth. And uh the system in place that you and Ms. Brown have been working on with our principals, our teachers, our paras, and our and basically our school community is is about each student each day and the growth they can make and the interventions that we put in place that will become successful for them over time. And so really appreciate your efforts. Your presentations are always excellent, and I would tell you we are excited when you show up and Ms. Brown shows up because it's all about students. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much. We don't have any action on this item, so we'll move on to F1, science curriculum adoption. Mr. Peters. Thank you, Mr. Allen. We brought to your
051attention on the March 9th um uh board work session uh our K-12 science adoption. Uh you have a listing of what those materials are. We're we're asking you tonight uh for a uh a motion uh to approve um our K-12 science adoption for the 2026-2027 school year. If you remember, I came to you with an estimated cost of just under 500,000, 498,699.50. And I told you that I was going to come back with a different cost. And so the team allowed me one phone call to the vendors. Just one phone call. And then I turned it over to Tanya Lochmyer, my administrative assistant, Lynn Brown, who they then picked up the pieces and took it from there. And I'm happy to report, exciting, if there's a drum roll, somebody do it, that now the total
052cost is going to be 449,409.50. Total savings of 49,290. The statement you have to use is I don't have any money and I can't afford the price that you just quoted us. And that usually wins about every single time. So, happy, excited, we need the K-12 curriculum again. Lynn's here. Thank you, Lynn, for your negotiation power, as well. Tanya Lochmyer. And so tonight, I need an approval that we can move forward. We'll order these materials after we get your approval, and then we'll get these in teachers' hands, hopefully before uh end of summer. Thank you, Mr. Peters. I think allowing you only one phone call was a wise decision. I'll entertain a motion. I'll reference this item. Since the price got reduced, I'll make a motion to adopt the science curriculum as presented. Thank you,
053Mr. Melcher. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr. McLellan. Any further comments or discussion before we vote? Mr. Peters, I know we've we've talked about this, but I think it's a good time, as we go to adopt this, that can you give us a timeline on when this should have been done a long time ago, and why we have taken so long to get to this point of adopting that? >> Good question. The state pauses. You remember, we've been on pause mode for about 3 years uh with science adoption, as well as social studies. Uh right now, the DOE is still not released our social studies vendors that's out there, and that should be well, that should have been 2 years ago. So, we're backing that up, and we're in desperate need of
054those social studies materials. And so, moving forward, you're going to have social studies, language arts needs to be in there someplace, reading for elementary needs to be in there. So, we've been on pause mode for about 3 years with this science um adoption. Yeah, I I think that's just a good call out that we had to move at at this pace the DOE we put it, and if they put a pause on it, we can't update until they release that. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah. Thank you. Mr. Wall, again, how much was put back for that? Do you remember? It's almost $2 million. I know we got some money. Miss Babcock, I don't think she's on there anymore, would be able to tell us that, but uh we did call it out. I remember
055Mrs. Smith when when we had to combine those funds. I specifically said we need to keep that and kind of have that earmarked, and I think Mr. Bremberry is going to come off mute here in a minute. Yeah, I I believe at the time, I and I want to thank the board and Mr. Peters and several people, but we were right around 2.3, and that got rolled in, and so to to adopt an entire um group, if you will, K-12, for the price that Mr. Peters and his team just did, is not only good stewards of the money, but uh we as a board and as school community have done a wonderful job of preparing for this. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Bremberry. Yeah, and just one more comment, too. I know I made it during
056the work session, but I think it's something that we need to continue to have the conversations with. With the state picking up textbook uh rental fees now for us and giving uh free textbooks to the students, which I think is a tremendous service to this community and everything we're doing that, they have not been funding it, but because they also have paused it. I think it's very important anytime we interact now with any of our state uh legislative bodies to remind them that now that they're going into the next biennium of their budget, that if they're going to open these up, they need to make sure and help us fund that, because while we have some funds that's set aside, other corporations don't, and I think we would not be the only ones, and I
057think it's just good policy and good governance that when we have a chance to have that and advocate for our students, that we want to have, you know, good material from them and be able to afford it and be able to do that. So, just I want to call that out for us. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Anything further before we vote? Let's vote on the motion. The motion passes 7-0. Move on to G1 through 16 minus number 14, the consent agenda. Mr. Bremberry. Board action item tonight for your consideration. Um I'll draw attention to a couple of the items. Uh field trip request, the Huntington North FFA livestock judging team is headed to Central Illinois on April 10th. I understand uh Mr. Peters is always looking for chaperones, so I know that's right up your
058your expertise alley. Uh draw attention, as well, to donations. Um want to thank the Knights of Columbus, $597.20 to Huntington North Special Education Department. And uh Verizon, $400 donation, as well. Uh I believe to Lincoln. And the rest of it uh I know you've seen on your executive content. So, for your action item, Mr. Allen and board. Thank you, Mr. Bremberry. I'll entertain a motion. I'll reference the consent agenda. Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. McLellan. Any questions or discussion before we vote? Hearing none, let's vote on the consent agenda. I do have one quick question on on the consent agenda. The request to approve to hire three summer interns. Is there what's the age limit on that? Pardon? There's a
059request to hire three summer interns for the technology department. What is the Do you know the age limit? Um Yeah. The item that was removed, is that the one you're at requesting item 14? Yeah. Yeah, each year, and you'll bring it back on the 27th, but each year we hire at around $15 an hour summer interns that will uh do a multitude of things with device collection and um What ages? I'm going to guess high school uh has been in the past. I'll bring the details back then on the 27th. You bet. The motion passes 7-0. Moving on to H1, HCCS exterior building maintenance award of bid. Mr. Thornsberry. Nice to see you, as well. Uh I always miss you guys. Thank you. Um okay, so this evening, I'm going to present a few different
060things. The first is the exterior building maintenance uh for various buildings project that we put out to bid. That includes the triplets, Andrews, Flint Springs, and Lincoln, as well as Crestview and Riverview. So, it's exterior building maintenance. It's to try to tackle as much as we can during a summer, rather than Rich and his team trying to contract it out uh over a period of time. So, with this project, we received four bids. Uh Allen County uh Builders, or ACB General Contractor, uh they were the low bid at $1,325,000. Um and so, my recommendation is that we do accept their bid in that amount for $1,325,000. And um the plan is to start construction as soon as school is out in May, and hope to be done with most of it during the summer months,
061and then it could carry into the fall a little bit, if uh if need be, depending on weather. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Thornsberry. Questions for Mr. Thornsberry? This is the stuff that we talked about during the the bonding and stuff that we kind of went over a couple I don't remember when the work session was, but it was several months ago, about all that uh where this is finally coming around and getting it done. >> We're finally Yeah, finally getting to that point, correct? Cool. Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. I'll reference this item. Make a motion to approve the HCCS exterior building maintenance project award uh bids as presented to Allen County Builders. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Any further questions or comments before we
062vote? Hearing none, let's vote on that motion. I know Allen County Builders is in the name, but aren't they based in Huntington? So, we're using local Yeah, that's what I thought. They go by ACB. I'm so used to them as Allen County Builders from over the years, but yes. They're here in town. >> That motion passes 7-0. Move on to H2 Verdian Architecture Design Incorporated proposal and terms and conditions HCCS exterior building maintenance project. Right. So, this is my proposal to do the design work for the bids that I just presented to you. And the reason that they're flip-flopped in this case, we actually needed to start design on this prior to you getting funding for the bond in order to get it done in time to get it out to bid in time for
063summer construction. So, we take that risk on our end, try to get ahead of it. Um so, I'm presenting this to you tonight. We're complete with most of what's listed in my proposal. We're down to construction administration and uh and that's it. So, uh any questions in regard to any of that information? As you can see, it's all based upon the bid as well, our our amount. So, um So, it's like I said, it's just how we have to get things done based on uh timing. And otherwise, we'd be pushing everything into the following summer of '26, and we didn't want to do that. Thank you, Mr. Thornsberry. We appreciate the good faith. I'll entertain a motion. Reference is item. Motion to approve the proposal and terms and conditions for HCCS exterior building maintenance project
064as presented. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. McLelland. Any further comments or discussion? I just want to again thank you for being a great partner in this process. Um your ability to go out and do some of this work before we get everything done and then come to us after the fact, I don't know that we would have a better partner in this. Uh the working with you has been a pleasure. Just from a board perspective, I know talking with the Mr. Brimberry and and all the maintenance people, they are so very happy to continue working with you. And again, thank you for being such a great partner in getting this and helping out. I appreciate it. Thank you. Anything further? Let's vote on the motion. Motion passes 7-0.
065Move on to H3 H&HS Arena ceiling repaint project award of bid. Okay. So, this is for the arena here at the high school for the ceiling repaint. And I'm going to be as transparent as possible on this one. So, this is actually a rebid. We bid it once. Uh numbers came in pretty high, and we learned a few things through the contractor, the subcontractors uh in the process of that of that initial bid. Um We learned that there was no way it was getting done in one summer. It's 42,000 square feet of ceiling space. Um and we learned in the process of of removing the paint that's up there uh alone would take 6 weeks. Uh setting up scaffolding in the entire arena would take a month and a half. So, there's no way it
066was getting done during the summer. So, we learned some lessons through that initial bid. Um and then we rebid it, adjusted our drawings, and changed the project to a two-phase project, which would be two summers. So, phase one, that this coming summer would be the upper level. So, if you're going up on the old running track, it's basically everything above that area. Phase two would be the following summer in '27, and that would be basically above the court. Uh or if you stare up at it, look at the primary steel structure, and that's where the dividing line is. So, this includes the removal of all the paint of the existing steel deck, all of the steel structure, primary and secondary, and all of the duct work. Um and most people don't look up there because
067they're focused on the court, but if you spend enough time in there, you'll see there's quite a bit of paint peeling. And in the process, we learned that it was originally painted uh back back in '75, painted again in the '90s at some point. Uh but most of the peeling and and um delamination issues are due to the fact that that original paint would have been an oil-based paint. A latex paint would have been put on it in the '90s. And so, we can't put another layer layer of latex paint on top of that. It would just be a disaster. So, we got to peel it down as far as we can, get down to some raw metal, repaint reprime it, repaint it, and um and redo everything. So, with all that said, uh our
068bids that we got for the second time in the rebid uh was from ACB General Contractors the low bid at $2,052,000. And to be honest and transparent, the original bid was a million dollars higher than that. So, going through the process, taking the time to rebid it, phase it out, got that number down by a million dollars. So, it's money obviously we need for other projects. So, um So, it was worth the time. It was worth the effort. It was learn the lessons uh that we all learned. Even the contractors learned some things in the process. Um so, So, my recommendation is to accept uh ACB General Contractors uh bid at $2,052,000. Uh as you see, there there also is an alternate uh there, and that was for potential lead-based paint abatement. We during the
069bidding process, we had it tested, and it came back negative uh for abatement purposes. So, we are not going to accept that alternate. We only need to accept the base bid at $2,052,000. Thank you, Mr. Brimberry Mr. Brimberry Mr. Thornsberry. It's close. Thanks. A- Any uh I'll entertain a motion reference is item. Make a motion to approve the H&HS ceiling rebid project as presented to Allen County Builders. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. McLelland. Any questions or comments before we vote? Anybody look behind me? Only reason I looked is I'm just being honest. You try to sit through a fifth grade elementary volleyball tournament on a Saturday? So, I did go in and look. It is pretty bad. But when you go up there and look, it's pretty rough.
070I was going to say, it's like there are lots of gifts sitting on the board. One of the curses is that when you hear about something like that, you never stop looking at it. >> Right. I just went to the sectional game, and I mean, I'm just it it's it's hanging off of a few places. It just you just can't not look at it now. >> It's awful. Right. I'm so excited this is getting done. So, thank you. And again, thank you for going through that rebid in process. I know that all caught us off guard, and I the savings of a million dollars on this project is so helpful. So, appreciate that. You're welcome. Amen. Anything further? Let's vote on this motion. The motion passes 7-0. We move on to H4 Verdian Architecture Design
071proposal and terms and conditions H&HS ceiling repaint. Okay. So, same as before, this is our proposal for the design work that we've completed. Uh we're down to construction administration, but it's going to be over two summers. Uh so, that does take a little more effort, a little more time, and and logistics to get through that. But um we're looking forward to it. It's going to look interesting to have half of it done and the other half not. But >> So, I'm assuming that this will begin immediately after graduation type of a thing. Uh correct. As soon as the chairs are cleared out from graduation, uh scaffolding will start going up. All right. I'll entertain a motion. Reference is item. Motion to approve the terms and conditions for the Huntington North High School ceiling repaint project
072as presented. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Any other comments or suggestions, comments, questions? Hearing none, let's vote. Motion passes 7-0. Move on to I one, items of discussion by board members. Anybody got something they'd like to share? Uh Yeah, I I had the privilege uh to attend the COSB National Convention, which is the I had to look this up, Consortium of State School Board Associations National Convention. Uh some of you may be actually familiar with the National School Board Association. This is this is the newer version of that. NSBA is still out there, but uh COSB is is the the new one, and what most Indiana uh corporations are now participating in. Um It was a very exciting time to be there, to to interact with other
073school board members and administrators from around the United States, to hear how things are done, and to see some of the same things and hear some of the same things that are saying are best practices, and know that we're doing those here. But I did want to come back with three big rocks that I that I took from that conference that I think are important. Um and and challenge the administration on a couple of them. The biggest one out there uh during this conversation was AI. Um It's coming whether we want it or not. And and there are now studies out there to say that we should actually be starting this and doing it K-12 and getting them involved with AI early and often and regularly. Um they've got proposals out there on what should
074be done, and the biggest one that I hadn't even thought about, but I think it's important for our students to understand, is AI ethics. Starting that down at kindergarten, getting them to understand the ethics of how to use AI properly, and how to use it as a tool, and going from there. Um I've got some information I'll share with Mr. Brumbaugh and Mr. Peters about that, but that's one of those things that, you know, I was thinking, oh, we we need to probably start that middle school, but even thinking all the way down to the elementary level and starting it in kindergarten, and just figuring out that and showing that what's possible I think is an important thing, and I think I can't wait to have that conversation and how we can enroll that in
075here. And again, to Mr. Brumbaugh's point, that's how we become one of the best corporations in the area if we can start doing some of this stuff early and often and be the model for other people to do that. So, I can't look for that. The other big rock I really enjoyed, and there were jokes part of the meeting, I'm a rural guy, but governance on a board and some of the things associated with that, and I think one of the biggest takeaways that I took from this conference, I had heard this I'd heard this concept, but it really gelled for me, and I want to try to figure out how we can bring this to our board, is a norms and protocols document. I I've heard about it in Indiana as a compact, but
076norms and protocols to me is a better conversation. And the idea behind this is we as a board come together and we all agree on how we're going to do things and the protocols we associated with that. So, how do we add things to the agenda? How do that? How do we work with the superintendent? How do we communicate? And we make that a living public document, so everyone knows what's going on. Not only the community, but us as all, and we we we make it a living document because as new members join the board, we may have to adjust it. We may do that. As we have a new superintendent, we may want to adjust it and have those conversations, and I think I would really push us to do that. And when you
077hear other corporations talk about it and why it's important is because and this very case happened, both Deb and Ken are brand new board members. If you had this document when you joined the board, you'd understand what you need to do, how you would go about doing things. I think it would just be such a great document to help any new board member as they come on, and just remind other board members as we're here how we do things. I think it's just a such a great idea, and I'd love to continue that conversation. I have conversations uh the state of Virginia actually has this almost mandated that every school corporation in the state of Virginia has one. They're published on their websites, and it's great, and they're wonderful documents to read, and I'm like,
078oh, that's cool. I understand they do stuff differently than Virginia than what we do, but I think there's a lot of that we can take, and I would love to have that conversation and start working on that document as a group in here at maybe a work session at some point. Uh and maybe even with the help of Mr. Uh Horton from ISBA or some other one to have him come in and really have that conversation. That's one of the hugest best takeaways I took away from that. It's something that I think really be important. Uh the other nugget, two more nuggets that I took away from the governance piece is the concept of having a student school board member. This is something new that is not in the state of Indiana, but other count-
079other states do this. Um and it's a board decision. It doesn't have to I don't believe it has to change law, but it's just having a member, not so much a voting member, but just someone that can have a student voice on your board. There's actually a student school board member association uh out there for students that actually helps them train them as well to be a stu- school board member. And the way some count- some uh school boards do that is they have a uh a school board member in waiting, and then they have the active school board member, so they can learn from each other and understand doing that. A lot of times it's juniors and seniors at the high school, and they even get credit for doing this as part of an
080internship to being part of that. They're not involved in everything in that, but I think it's just an interesting concept that I would love to, you know, again, have conversations with the board, have a conversation with the public, have conversations with the students at the high school and Mr. Doggett to say, is there there is an interest to do that? Would that be something interesting? And the additional insights that we would get from the people that we're actually helping educate in our facilities. I think it'd just be a great conversation to have. I actually have the card from the the students that's in charge of the national school the student school board association that I would love to share and have the her have a conversation with some people at some point. I just think
081it's another cool thing. And then the last rock that I really talked about was we had there were several sessions on hiring a new school board but a new superintendent, which I enjoyed. I was love and love sitting through and seeing the stuff that we were already doing, and then what needs to happen after you hire that school board member because they said the job's not done once you name the new superintendent. You as a board need to get We as a board need to get together with the new superintendent, work on that norm work on that norms and protocols document, understand how we're going to work together, so we can be successful into the future with that superintendent and go. Um I just want to say too, if you ever have the opportunity to
082to go to that conference, it was a it was an invigorating time, and I I enjoyed coming back. I know I was texting both Tim and Deb and during that conference saying, oh, you wouldn't believe this. Uh it was just a great time and and really fun time. Uh the next conference next year is in Dallas, but in the year after that is in Columbus, Ohio. Um so, if you want to be able to have an opportunity to do that, it's a great thing. The reason I was most interested in going to the one this year is because the president of CASB this year is actually a fellow Indiana school board member from Lafayette, Dr. Bob Swalley. Uh he was a past president of Indiana School Board Association, so I've gotten to know him in
083that shape. It was a pleasure to go down and celebrate his tenure as CASB's national uh uh president, and it was great time, to wait to share some other information with the rest of the board. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Anyone else? I would just like to um pass along on behalf of the board um prayers and blessings to the family of Wendell Jackson. Uh Mr. Jackson passed away. He was a former HCCS C school board member in the '80s and early '90s. Um Uh all prayers to his family. Uh he has services I believe later this week. So, um anything then else for the board? I would also mention that we lost Van Bailey as well. I know we haven't seen we haven't met since the last time he left, but former principal here at
084Huntington North High School. I think he was actually principal when I was here at the high school. He was a uh uh a rock here for a long time, and his his passing will be missed as well. Good catch. Thank you. I will take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Wall. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned.