001due to some family uh uh loss situation, extended family. So, I wish him uh our best and prayers with his family, but I will tell you um Len Brown's an awful competent second if you know Miss Brown pretty well. So, I would say tonight's [snorts] subject um I talked about three years ago. I talked about it two years ago and uh last year. This is a big deal in Huntington. And so bear with me as I um I tried to make sure our community and our board understand there are so many dual credits. When I first got here, we were around 1,400 dual credits cumulatively in the high school. Some kids receiving maybe as much as a year's worth, others [snorts] sporadic. And we started talking um with John and I in the high school
002about how do we how do we streamline this a little more effective? My previous district had anywhere from 8% one year to 16% that kids would go through and would end up with an associates degree in high school through IvyTech. Not all of their courses were from IvyTech. And so this process we were very wide in Huntington with a lot of different options. And the the key to this is to get very streamlined on what do you teach, when do you teach it, how do they know when to take this with your students and parents, but then also which relationship do you have and with which university? Because you have to have a primary and then you have to have a few secondary. And I say that because we had a whole bunch of secondary
003relationships in my opinion. We worked hard uh a year ago um with Huntington University in a oneplus 3. You guys saw a couple of presentations on that. We had things in place at PFW. We had things in place with IU and etc. and Vincens and so on. But when you have all secondary, the kids can end up with a lot of credits, but maybe not sure which ones go where and also which universities must accept them. And so the task here was a little different than my previous experience which is how do you take what we're already doing well with 1400 and some credits and get [snorts] in the weeds of okay if I'm an incoming freshman sophomore etc. How would I know what gets me to a one year of college and what gets
004me to an associates degree and is that possible? Well it becomes possible when you expand your primary relationship with a university. So tonight you'll hear a little bit about IvyTech. [snorts] IvyTech has been is housed uh part of the time in our learning center has been for years here. Uh but they become the primary of these courses are offered. Well, there's a lot of things that take place to get that. And so what I'm proud of Dr. Degots and his team. Some of our teachers that were certified dual credit at one university are now in the process of getting certified through IvyTech for a purpose. It benefits our students and our families to have that all funneling towards one. I happened to be a part of a group uh many years ago that was a
005little bit frustrated with well you have these credits but these universities don't accept them and so you end up with 144 credits getting a bachelor's degree versus what you want at 124 or 128 depending on the university and so that group has seven public universities that says if they comes through this area and you'll see that tonight one of them being IvyTech they must accept these credits as exactly what they're intended dual credits for college purpose accepted by all public universities in Indiana. Uh you'll hear a little bit about that. Well, how does it happen that you get all of these teachers ready for dual credit? I can tell you in my past they've got to go through dual credit uh certification, which is Huntington has many of them already, but now you need them
006also at IvyTech. So, you got to go through the process. We're going through those now. I talked to one happens to be in the business department. He said, "Hey, I'm getting certified in the adjunct professor with IvyTech." He was already certified at another university. So, he'll have both. Now, it's important for our kids and families that that funnel towards one even though you're certified in others. for the purpose of when kids walk across this stage in the future um in the next two to three years with an associates degree [snorts] that has to be in place in your high school. You can't just do the um shotgun approach, if you will, and I've got a little bit from a lot. It doesn't funnel as well towards one degree. Who's responsible for the associates degree? Well,
007in our case, it will be IvyTech. That's well known in our state. Huntington had it all, but we needed to get ourselves organized a little bit differently here. [snorts] Um, I am really, really excited for this board and our community to understand as our teachers get this in place, as Dr. Deets and Len and Jared and Taylor Herrenine get this in place, what it's going to come to is welcome to the best high school in the area. uh you can get one year of college and associates degree before as you walk across the stage and be recognized statewide. What it's going to come to is the majority in my past of the IvyTech credits will be free to our kids. Some we didn't have in place at a previous district and so the kids had
008to complete uh in summer just like they were working for us in summer. They would take it online through IvyTech but they had scholarships in place to offset the cost. And so those things become important as okay well not everyone can afford that. How's these kids going to be able to afford that? So you get those things in place for your families. What will happen in our near future is what we'll talk about the process today. It will save tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of dollars. And kids will leave Huntington North with the highest degree you can get and a diploma simultaneously as they leave this uh high school. And there's not a ton of high schools that do this. And I am so [snorts] excited for our kids and parents in our
009school district to say, but Huntington North's going to be one that you can do this in. And it is not only good for kids, families, but it is a difference maker and a competitive um how to attract kids to a school system. This is a primary difference maker. Can you get this at almost no cost in the future? And the answer at Huntington North is going to be absolutely we can. Let me show you how. Here's your handout. Here's it on the website. Here's the classes you would take. Here's ones that you would take on your own. here's these scholarships available to help you as you get those in place to our board. It is a difference maker um for multiple levels. I heard when I got here, well, we don't want our degree from
010there. We want it from another one. I understand that and that'll still be a choice. You won't get an associates degree from another one. You can still get dual credits from them. But once parents understand that that degree transfers to IU, Purdue, all of these places, Ball State, Indiana State, and so on, they will understand that two years of college at no cost is the biggest differencemaker of investment you can personally give a kid coming out of high school. It shows I can do this. I've already achieved my atrisisk population of my former um district. What I would tell you is they couldn't have done it without that. They could not have achieved that. But what it showed him is not only I walk out with the ability to have an associates degree, I walk
011out with the knowledge, as Len Brown always reminds that I can do this academically. I can be successful. I am already doing it. And that says a whole lot in terms of your attitude as you enter the workforce or you enter college in other ways. You have a different mindset. So, I'm going to let Lynn take you through the slides, but this has been a lot of work and a long time coming here, and this will be a gamecher uh for kids and families. So, of all the things we bring to you, there are a lot of wonderful parts to different programs that we have. You will see kids benefit from this for years to come. It'll long after this board's gone, long after Chuck, John, and Jay are doing something else. This is a
012program changer that for the rest of Huntington North in the years to come, you can say, "Hey, I remember when that went in and boy, every time I'm at graduation now, watch, earning their honors diploma, earning their core, earning their plus and their associates degree from Huntington North. It it's a game changer in the district forever and I'm really excited about it. Uh [snorts] Len, if you want to talk a little bit in the weeds about the process pinch hitting tonight, but I really want the community and board to understand. Not every school does it. When I keep telling you all that Huntington North and Huntington Schools is one of the best districts, this is another bucket that fulfills that promise of what we say. There's data to what we say. And the data is
013that if you struggle in school, we have programs for you. If you want to go one of the finest learning centers on the planet, you can go to Huntington North. They have it. If you want um differentiation instruction, we have that. If you want virtual education, we have that. If you want to earn an associates degree, we got you, too. These are what progressive high schools around the nations do for the different audiences that feed in here. And this one's a big one. And I wanted to preface that before we turn Len loose. So, Len, now they're yours. I've taken I've taken the excitement part. Now you get to tell them how we do it. >> Did all the fun parts. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Dets. He made all these beautiful
014slides and did so much work. And you get the B team instead of the A team, but I'll do my best to to [snorts] do him justice tonight. And Taylor Herending is just a genius and she's worked really hard um to make these things happen. So, as Mr. Brimberry said, for years we have had dual credit here at Huntington North High School as well as AP classes. We probably have as many, and I say probably, I actually know this to be the case, we have as many as local schools that we compete with for certain. Um, what we didn't have though was a structure to it. So, kids were walking out sometimes with a year, sometimes close to two years with the college credits, but they were random and they were all based upon the
015good-heartedness and the extra effort specific teachers gave to a course. And so as an opportunity came, lots of teachers took advantage of that. So we have IU and we have HU and we have Vincent's and we have PFW and we there's a list of schools that we've been working with for a very long time. That didn't make a clean transcript for kids who are leaving. So we began to work on that when Mr. Brimberry came and especially when Dr. Deets came. And then the state did us a favor. Even though sometimes we don't look at the new laws as favors, in this case it was a favor. Cindy, if you'd advance just one slide for us, please. So, um, the state created something called a 30 credit guaranteed transfer, which meant that if you got
016the right 30 credits from the right university, every public university or college in the state has to accept you to their college. and most of the private ones are beginning to because it's a free market kind of situation and if they don't that's going to put them in a difficult place. Um we already had way more than 30 credits of actually we have more than 60 college credits available to our students right now on in our program of study. Cindy, can you advance one more slide? So the state created a law and that law said that the public schools and over 40 campuses in the state of Indiana had to accept this proposition if a high school allowed for it. And one of the schools that um was at the forefront was IvyTech Community College.
017We already have a large number of teachers that are working with IvyTech both here during the school day to get kids school credits and in the evenings and on the weekends and as virtual teachers at IvyTech. They also have an office right across the highway in the learning center. So kids can actually just walk into the office and talk to IvyTech registers pretty much all the time and certainly by appointment. So that made it a nice connection with us and a pretty we want to do. Send one more slide for us, please. So, what this allows for our kids is free dual credit offerings for high schools. Part of that new law says that pretty much any credit they would get from IvyTech in this core 30 group of credits are going to be absolutely
018free to the student. They're also physically the closest um college and university physically for us to work with since they're actually in our building every single day. They're also listed on that list of state institutions and we are very close to offering it in the 2027 28 school year. This close. Cindy, would you advance one more time for us? So, here's what is unique about Huntington North Univers High School. We have all of these things locked up for the new honors seal. Every single one of those pieces is completely locked up right now while I'm sitting here. There's nothing that we need to add. We are good to go. Can I brag for just a minute? So, there's Miss Brown and then there's Lynn who graduated from here in 1985. You're going to have to
019drive a long way to find a high school. right now in the state of Indiana have all three of those things right this minute. We go to meetings all the time both for how do we deal with the the new diploma laws and the new accountability laws and we sit in rooms with principles and superintendents who are a little freaked out about a lot of this. We're next to people who will brag about their enrollment. Occasionally they're able to brag about their employment. of course, almost always because they're part of a co-op, not because they have their own co-op situation within their school. And rarely do they have enlistment unless they're right next to one of the military bases in the state of Indiana. That's just true facts that we are like, you can brag
020about this. All right. So, what this does for us even better is if you'll advance one more slide for me, please, Cindy. Whoops. There should be another There we go. Um, so the next one is what if we want an honors plus seal? And we sat in the room and we double checked everything to make sure our kids would be good to go. And to our surprise, the one thing that we were like, we have almost everything that that kid would need, including the Indiana core, college core. What we did not have was an associates degree. And so we are able to check everything off in all three categories if we add this associates degree. So a kid can, and notice they only have to do one of the following in those top bullets, earn
021an associates degree or an Indiana college core or an AP scholar of distinction. Once we have this associates degree in place, a kid can do all of those plus the things below for enlistment. right now in this moment, they can do all of those to earn an honors plus seal. And for employment, you'll notice again that the associates degree is one of the things that we could check off. And so they'll be able to do all of those things, which means, and I'm not suggesting this is a good idea. So parents who want their child to be like the best and brightest, please please understand that if you actually encourage your kid to do this, this is a giant step, but you actually once we have this associates degree could earn all three of these
022seals. Like it could could walk out of here with all three of these seals. Now that would mean they would have to take the associates degree. They'd have to be involved with our CT programs, which is really common for kids to do both. and they would also have to be part of JOTC, which occasionally happens. So, I'm not saying that most of our kids are going to walk across the stage with all three honors plus seals, but it's actually a possibility. And we went to great lengths to lay everything out and double triple check so that we'd be able to do that for our kids. Again, you're going to be hardressed to find another high school where that's the case this quickly after this new law has been enacted. If a kid wants to take
023advantage of these things, we're absolutely ready to help them do it. So, we've put in some things. Mr. Brimberry likes to talk about buckets of kids, which always kind of cracks me up because I visually see him putting kids in buckets, but we've done things to help um those kids who struggle in this school system. We've done things to help kids who are ready for employment. We've done things for JOTC. We've always had a strong academic piece, but now we're going to take it to the next level, and we will do everything that the state encourages, not some of the things. Kids won't have to choose. They can do whatever they want to be able to be successful once they walk out of here. I want you to realize that to get this associates degree,
024really, it's signing agreement with Ivory Tech and having two teachers change the schools that they work with. one that's currently working with IU and one that was currently working with Vincense. Like that's literally what we had to do to get the associates degree here. That's how close we were. So then some organization and some sweet talk with IvyTech and some forms to be signed and a an agreement that you guys will be presented with and we're there. It's not a huge step. We were really really close. It would be insane not to step through and give the kids this additional opportunity. Um, I am ready to answer any questions andor tell you that Dr. Dates will get back with you if you ask me too hard of a question. >> Thanks for the information. Uh,
025Lynn, and you talked about the law change, but in reality, we started this prior to that. that was the that was the true north program that can you just talk about a little bit about that because in reality it encompasses that and how we were able to get there so quickly because of that true north program. >> So we have had college classes credits here since the 80s I think certainly from the 90s um they were just random and all over the place and now we're organizing that in um Dr. gets first tour duty here. He created something called true north. And the idea was that we would try to find a way for every single kid to find their true north, to find the thing that was going to set them on the pathway
026for success in adulthood. And as a part of that, we began to talk about how do we support every single kid so that they can be successful because people aren't all the same, right? That put us ahead of the curve of all the changes that the state has made in the last couple of years. We didn't actually know that we were positioning oursel for the crazy that was about to come, but we uniquely did. Uh I was so excited when Dr. Dates, it's hard for me to call him that because he did his student teaching in my classroom. Like I remember him as a 21 year old. I'd be like, "Yeah, don't say that in class." But um he he came back with that passion and because of his experience when he was at HU
027he was uniquely qualified to help us go there quickly because of Tiffany Drummond and her brilliant vision and the things that she's done in CTE which is unmatched in the state. I can say that because I'm super proud of her. She doesn't need me to be proud of her but I am. She's also a former student of mine. Um she got us ready for CT in ways that nobody else in the state had a vision for. We were super blessed because one day, Chief Blair came and sat in Russ's office in his first tour duty and said, "I'm a Green Beret who doesn't have a mission. I need a mission. I think my mission is here at Huntington North High School. Can we get JRTC to be a piece of what happens?" And Russ immediately
028jumped on that and began to work with Chief Blair. And Bobby has done a brilliant job. We're going to miss him truly. He has a great replacement. But it was all kinds of fun to We have a green beret walking up and down the hallways here at the high school. His vision also included we just became a purple school, a school that supports our veterans and our veterans family. And that's a great honor. State just gave that to us last week. And so because we put those pieces in place each time knowing that we have kids who will benefit from it, right? Like JOTC, they handle some of our really squirly kids who just need someone to give them direction. And we also have kids who walk out of here full ride scholarships to college
029because of it, right? Like both ends of those pieces. Um, CTE, once upon a time, we thought that's where you put the squirrely kids got to like touch something, but most of those kids are walking out of school with at least a year's worth of credits and sometimes two years worth of college credits. And oftent times kids who are across the road are also in our top 25, right? We used to have a lot of kids who earned both an academic honors and a technical honors. This slide that's on the screen, I predict we'll have some kids who will earn a enrollment plus seal and an employment plus seal or an enlistment plus seal and an enrollment plus seal almost immediately. And so that vision that Russ began several years ago has has really paid
030off because as we will go around the state, people are scrambling to find one of these three and we were uniquely ready to help kids wherever their path might take them. >> As a former student of yours too, I am impressed by what's going on. So, um, the other part that I like about the True North program that you did talked about was the fact that we're finding something for everyone, which is when I had a child going through here, that was a problem because he he needed he needed that. So, I commend you and the staff of Huntington North for for looking at everyone and as as our motto says, every child every day. I think you guys are leading that and I I just want to commend you and I will tell Dr.
031Duggets that when I see him next. Thank you. >> Um, thank you for all this. Um, it's as a parent that had two daughters that both went to college um, and had college credits, it was a huge savings on my pocket, their pocket um, and and to go the next step to the associates degree. I mean, that's huge. I mean, depending on where you go, 10, $30,000, you just saved me. So, thank you for all this. I really appreciate it. And I also had a son that wanted to he went down the get me the heck out of here path and, you know, he's he's done very well. Um, and so I the CTE part of it is is a huge thing, too. So, thank you. It's absolutely amazing how many of our kids leave
032here and and local businesses are in bidding wars for them, right? Like the amount of money that they can make at 18 is just mindboggling sometimes. I'll soap box just for a minute because this is a favorite part of my speech and I I give it a lot. But I don't want a kid to leave Huntington North High School upon graduation and not have a sense that they can accomplish anything that they want to accomplish. I don't want them because of a test score or because they haven't taken a college class yet to go to work and our kids are great and they're hardworking and they're kind and they're polite and have an opportunity and because we didn't serve them well enough, they're afraid to walk through that open door. I want every one of
033our kids to leave here fully expecting to walk through whatever door that's open for them. And and Mr. Wall said something brilliant today in in my office which you know I take I take pride that he said something really. He said you know what if they have the associates degree right out of high school and they go to work they still have an associates degree right out of high school and they go to work. And I said that's exactly that open door that I want kids to have. Right? Like which business in town's going to be like yeah you have an associates degree. I don't think we're just pass on you. Like that's not going to happen. And so this is a piece that will help our kids who are collegebound and it'll help our
034kids who don't know if they're collegebound, right? And so I'm I could not be more excited to present this to you tonight. >> You know, um as if um we weren't doing a lot already. Um I think we have to at least acknowledge one common denominator besides M. Mr. Dots is Lynn Brown. um just over and over and over we hear about the great things happening here in Hunt Community Schools and um you are really something special. Um it means a lot I know to to the schools that you are doing what you do. The trust and um dedication and the things that uh are created it's it's it's impactful. It is uh inspirational. Um thanks. >> Will make me cry and my makeup will run. >> You know what? Here here's the thing. We
035work with amazing people. We just do. Like I watch the the cafeteria staff support our kids and wait like they sneak food to kids and they they ask them how they did on their Spanish test and they all kind like every single day or they a kid will be upset and they won't speak to someone the way I would hope that they would always speak to them and instead of growling back at them, they ask them what's wrong and what they can do for him. Right. Um the custodians like they run every time a locker in this building's jammed. They were I saw one at a middle school, get kids some shoes, they're like, "Oh, don't worry. You forgot your gym shoes. There's some over here. Let me help you out." Like the bus drivers,
036bring kids coats and like crazy things happen around here. And it has been my absolute blessing and pleasure to serve people who work that hard. And it's also a pleasure. I this to Ryan earlier today. The school board has not always been as supportive of everyone as the school board is currently. And I cannot tell you how much that means to the the staff, the teachers, the bus drivers when they know that the school board has everyone's best interest at heart and takes the extra mile and are standing on the football field with me on a Friday night in the wind and the rain. So, thank you guys. I can't I couldn't do anything that I do without you. I'd like to say that uh earlier you made a statement that Russ was the A
037team and you were the B team. I'm going to say you were the A+ team. >> A >> uh I will also say as far as the college credit goes, I've got a son in college right now who graduated from here. Uh the program that he's in refuses to let him do it in less than four years. So because of the credits he has here, he will be graduating with four degrees rather than one. So thank you. >> That's right. There there's some schools that do those kind of things or they won't necessarily count the credits the way we hope but they won't let them Notre Dame is an example that they won't let them in if they haven't done these things right that the only way to jump that hoop and so even though
038sometimes it's not a onetoone sometimes it's better than a oneto one and you're exactly right >> and um I talked to a parent uh the other day and they were a little I'm I'm just cannot get over how important this will be to them, but I they they were a little bit doubting that we were able to do this. And I said, um, I'm telling you for fact, and they said, well, I hear you, but what are your facts, Mr. Brimberry? And I said, well, um, my daughter graduated with this, uh, at a previous place, and she walked right in as a junior at Indiana State University and [snorts] applied for graduation after one year, uh, waiting for two semesters out. So, I know this to be true and if it's good enough for one
039kid, it's good enough for all those kids. And um we have worked hard to make sure that this truly will do what we tell people it will do. I don't want them to have 180 credits, but [snorts] um I want them to be able to get done um if they choose to with their second degree in two years. And that was the goal when we first started looking at this. And I know from my own house uh from little girl that's applied for graduation has the exact same program as this from my previous district and it does work and uh you can if you choose four years you'll end up with a master's degree or multiple uh certifications and things and so um I'm looking forward to when you see the first one at Huntington
040North at graduation in a year or two. Um it's a big deal. So, you want to see parents get emotional, wait till you see that one because it's a powerful day. >> Well, uh, Mr. Brimberry, Miss Brown, thank you. Um, this is really exciting. I mean, I mean this when you think about the benefits to children, um, I commend you, your entire staff up here for what you're doing each and every day. Um, I feel like our kids are blessed to be here and for all what you guys are doing. Thank you. And I mean that. I mean, thank you. Thank you, Lynn. Next up is uh Mr. Butler. Mr. Butler does a tremendous amount of great work for us. It's always uh fun for me when Kenny gets to be at the mic once
041in a while. Um he's behind the camera here a lot at board meetings and such. >> Somebody get a picture of this guy while he's up here. [laughter] >> Yeah, somebody do that because he's always taking pictures of other people. Um you know, uh Kenny came on a couple years ago. Was it two or three now? Kenny, how many years has it been? >> July 23 was my first Okay. month. So, >> so uh Kenny is our um is in charge of our directing director of our uh marketing and communications. He's been responsible for so much in the district. But today, what you don't know is he has been working tirelessly for a long time. uh several months that's probably turned into more than a year at this point in time with a brand new
042web page. Okay. And so tonight is really the first time that we're going to start showing you uh his work. Um he is going to be very humble about this, but my goodness has he spent an enormous amount of time uh putting this together. Um, so Kenny, I'm going to turn it over to you so you can showcase uh where we're going with our web page. Okay. >> Yeah. Uh, so just to preface this a little bit before we jump in, uh, the goal with this transition was to create more of a robust um, platform, not only for staff and uh, students, teachers uh, to use, but the community to use as a hub uh, for the district. and the county. Uh so that that was the the goal and in uh reflecting on our
043current um and then transitioning to that. Yes, it has been a long road and it and it will be um it's it's not meant to be a stagnant um tool that we use. So um it it is a long road and that's okay. as long as it uh serves the community well, then then that that's that's our goal. So, um just a a quick comparison. I know we've all seen it, but the current website uh this is what it looks like in that desktop view. And I'll I'll show um what it a sample of that in in mobile. Uh that would be the I would say the secondary goal at least for me. is probably a primary for John but a secondary for me in making the website function on mobile. Um the current it
044it's there um but it's it's pretty limited to what we can do beyond what it is currently. Um and it is quite a pain to try to >> to get it to work um on on mobile especially. So that's just a quick preview. we've all seen it. Uh but you you'll see that um in transitioning to the new one, I didn't want to go too crazy um as far as the general layout uh just to make that transition a little bit smoother hopefully uh for new users or uh for those that are familiar trying to um navigate and find information. Um, with that we try to uh create an an a header that stays true for all the the websites. So John says website, but technically it's websites. Um, so we have a website for
045every school. We have one for the district and of course the learning center. So I'm not going to go through all of that. Uh but um I will preview the district and then I'll I'll pop into Andrew's uh given that's the the one that's the most complete at this point. Um once we have that then we can uh work through as we go. What you're seeing here is just a a sample video. Um I have an intern that is working on developing uh new video intros for the district and every school which is pretty exciting. So, um, we'll have student student uh work right on the front as soon as as soon as that is ready and it'll be for the world to see, which will be pretty neat. Um, I'm going to zoom in
046just a little bit so you can see. Um, so we'll have a dedicated staff area. Uh, we will have a dedicated dedicated students area and then parents. Um those are uh our three core groups I would say that are going to navigate this the most. Uh and what this does is allows us to pinpoint specific uh key items uh that are commonly used or needed. Um one additional um component that we're working on right now is to uh develop a more robust uh usage rights uh for staff. Um, currently on the on our on our current website, uh, there are resources for our staff, but it it's essentially open to the public. Uh, so what that means is that there there are links that the public doesn't necessarily need to see, but they currently live
047on the website because it's accessible for the staff. So um with um work working with uh the technology part department this will be a part of our uh 2FA or two two factor authentication where they have to uh securely navigate through that to to essentially access specific items. So it's another barrier to entry that complicates things and makes things more secure for us which is nice. Um I'll just click on a few things give you a preview. Um so you you have different different areas, right? So students most pages will look generally like this where there's a brief introduction and then there are a few few items to navigate through. Um, your more robust pages will be um to highlight certain groups um certain certain clubs and activities, things of that nature. Uh, just to
048just to navigate through a little bit. So, fun stuff there. Just handbooks just cleaned up a little bit and again more dynamic so it actually functions on mobile. Um, which will be really nice. Um, there will still be outsourced links throughout. You can't really help that too much, but a lot of the stuff, what's taking what's taking the longest time, to rephrase that, is that I'm I'm taking active documents that we use that have been put on here via PDF and I'm reformatting those so it actually functions in a more dynamic way on the website. And that just takes takes time. So, uh, in the long run, it will pay off. It we'll just have to be patient as we build. So, um, to the the sub banner, uh, is what it's called here. You'll
049see enroll in our schools and then this little, uh, it's called a hamburger menu. Is that right? That these will also live on every website and it will always stay up top. So, uh your enroll um it gives you information for new students returning and then zoning information. Uh so that will live there forever. Um it will of course need updated as as we need that but it will be on every page which is nice. Um the our schools just to give you a preview of that. Okay. So divided it up by elementary, middle, and high. And then we have CTE and then alternative programming as well. So um again, I'm not going to dig through all of that, but um there's quite a bit there. So again, a bigger goal um was just to
050over time, you just have more and more that's added. And if you have more hands in that uh you have individuals that put things in places with the best intention, but um over time you just need to recollect all of your resources and restructure it. So that's that's uh a big part of this too where we're trying to make um be really intentional with how things are organized so it's it's easier not only to navigate but to search for. Um there's a lot of backend work with that too. SEO, all that. I'm not going to bore you with that. But here's a board page for you just to give you an idea. Again, not trying to reinvent the wheel too much. Um, but just make it cleaner and cleaner and easier to access. You'll see
051a lot of these what are called accordion menus. Uh, that will give you more specifics without filling the page too heavy. Um, let's see what else. The the header or the footer, sorry. That that will look the same uh throughout, right? where your contact information, you'll have a a directory at the bottom and then all the socials for that specific school that are used. In this case, it's a there's a few more there uh given that we're we're active on YouTube with our live stream publications. So, um let's go. I wanted to show you a different school, too. Oh, I'm going to back up real quick. I forgot to show something. It will not work on here just because it's a preview. It's not fully published. But on the right there, you'll see this tab
052that says live stream. That will follow you wherever you go. So, as long as you scroll on the page, that will navigate with you. Um so, in our case, um that that will be there. You'll click that and it'll go right to our live stream uh for the uh board meetings, which will be nice. So in the in the case at the high school, we can do the same with our um HNHS media channel and our live streams will be there on the Reddit. >> Um another thing right off the top, sorry, you have six >> um yeah >> reference live stream like we have several events going on at once. Is there just, you know, is there going to be a choice? Is there different places? >> So you can technically have multiple tabs,
053too. Um it just depends on what what Yeah, it'll depend on what we how we set it up. Um in our case, it'll for the district it'll go straight to the board for but for the high school. >> Um yeah, we'll have to figure that as we navigate. My guess is that we'll have multiple tabs or we'll have one that constantly floats and then there'll be a secondary. >> Do you have as far as updating? It's usually an issue with with sites whether will you be responsible there being >> so I'm I'm working with John on some of the ideas that I have um but there >> there is a more robust way to provide access to specific things um you could be you can have of course like full admin rights and change everything
054on the website or you can be really granular and even just allow even just one content area. Um in that case we could provide even um students access to manage the website with with a fail safe. So they can work on it and it has to go to the person managing the page to approve whether that be me or in this case uh Mr. for Alman if he's updating the live stream or what have you. So there there are more opportunities um there uh to manage and update. >> So >> yeah, these these here uh what what we'll do with these over time is once we collect enough information on what's being accessed uh these will be kind of your hot topics that are accessible. So, those can interchange as we go, but they they
055will constantly live there. Um, and that'll be a one-click kind of deal. Uh, below that, you'll have like this ticker tape. Uh, the cool thing with this website in comparison to our previous is that every the way it was set up is that every website had its own news section. And while that is still true, we can jump throughout all the websites. >> So I can, in this case, if there's something that we want to share at the district level, but it actually happened at Horseman, it can live on both without having to do twice the work. Everything that you do now, if it's on multiple pages, you have to do it that many times. So that'll be really nice. Um, so in your your question there with managing and updating, that's been the intention
056through this process too is to if there's something that could be directly linked to something else that's already updated, um, those those channels are are being worked on, too. So, >> yeah. So, the the general general page there, you have your your highlight reel uh type of video that can be a still image, too. Um, we're going to go for gusto and and make it video. Uh, then you'll have updates through here with um new segments and then an area to highlight specific programs at the school or throughout the district. So, these will change. They'll float uh as new things come and things change, stuff like that. And then of course there's a big enroll um enrollment button at the bottom that will forever live there too. So uh preview another school just to give
057you an idea. Let it load up. So again you can see the look is really consistent and the branding is all in the same spot. Um, and this is you you'll see that it doesn't have the updated news stories there, but just filler right now. >> So, a lot of the same look. Uh, that was the other goal is to make it as consistent as possible from one page to the other. That way, when your your student transitions from from Ronoke to Crest View, it's new branding, but this the information is in the same spot. So, um the the big big uh component now is working on the directory and the the the usage rights >> uh which I have a meeting later this week to really dig into. >> Yeah. I could keep navigating
058through, but I I feel like it's a good spot for if you have questions or >> comments, things like that. >> So, can you uh when do you think you're going to go live? What's kind of the time frame that you've >> ideally we could go live uh right over Christmas break um less engagement at that time we can test test things out um ready to go >> uh for that next semester. So, I would like to get in front of our principles and secretaries since they're the most engaged in this. I would say at the building level, especially our secretaries um so I I can navigate with them. Um so they have a general idea of where things are at. Um another thing just kind of a side note kind of um trying to
059build out a frequently asked question section too. So, I'm getting with uh admin to and secretaries to see what common questions they're receiving um about information that can be found on the website. Uh so, that's another thing we're building out that we don't currently have. So, >> so you you have perfect timing because of the presentation that Lynn just did. I'm trying to figure out how we how we work in that True North stuff in here to start start an advertising campaign. So we can trumpet that on high so everyone knows it because >> I think that's the thing that can help start getting some some other students from other communities to come here. >> Absolutely. >> So is that something that this website can help do? >> Oh, for sure. Yeah. And and that's
060something we can highlight and organically change over time um with the uh the the programming right here at the on the homepage. um focus on those competencies that we're we're hitting our seals. Yeah. >> Being on the phone, being on your phones, uh is what we're really trying to strive for here, too. >> If you think about um how much time you search, you do it mostly on your phone. >> And so, this is a big step forward on from that angle. Um also, >> yep. So just as a preview if you want to see what it would look like >> in that orientation of a phone, right? >> So it it's a little more d it's a lot more dynamic and and how um you can navigate on your phone. >> Um scroll here
061real quick just so you can see it. So again, this is where you could see that uh those specialized programs that could funnel in into in that focus. So >> well, having worked on the original the site that we're currently on now, I know how much work you've already put into this because I can see it. So thank you for doing all the work. It's been a huge task. So keep up the good work. >> Thanks, >> Kenny. Thank you. The UI for this is so much cleaner. The user interface is so much cleaner and easier. I'm watching the screen across the room and I can see it and it's much more intuitive. So I think you know sometimes when you make this kind of shift people really struggle and I don't think that's going
062to be the case here. I think this is much cleaner and much easier. Thank you for all your effort on this. >> Yeah. Thank you. So the high school athletics >> kind of navigates away from I'm g may not but in my eyes it navigates away from our website. >> Will that still be the case and will it be updated like this also? >> So every program, every group will have their own page. So, it allows for the opportunity for them to to stay on our website longer. The complication that we run into with athletics that is that there are third-party sources that a massive majority use. We we have some of the benefit that we use some of the same tools. So, Event Link is is a um scheduling platform that we use mainly
063for athletics for other things too, but its powerhouse is scheduling uh athletics. Um, and the the caveat with that is that you can um we can we can build out as much as we want here, but with with athletics specifically, the way they schedule um officials is directly through Event Link. Uh so we have to hold true to that. I I think uh I think if we did a massive shift, our our ads might come and haunt me for for a long time. So, what we're going to do is try to marry those a little bit more. Uh where we have as much as we can on our on our website, but inevitably, at least at this point with um event link, that's where the scheduling and all that's going to be taking place. Uh
064a preview um of what that can look like. Um Crest View, they embed a lot of their um calendars right inside of each tab for their for their specific sports. So it'll look in some semblance like that where you can actually navigate the schedule on our page. So technically for a quick view, you wouldn't have to leave. Um, but I I think that's that's kind of where we're at. So, um, do I want them to stay on our page? Absolutely. Uh, technically, are they on our page or they can they stay there? Yes. Um, but they they will have a dedicated space on our on our u website where the previous we technically had two different URLs. We had HN athletics and then we had Huntington North. Those are going back together. So, >> okay.
065>> I know they're technically under contract for a little while longer, but it's not being renewed. So, >> is that the hvikings.com? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I think that was a I I'm probably I'm not going to get this entirely correct, but from what I know, it was a it was a thing through Oh, shoot, just lost the word. Um anyway, they they bought a package of some sort and that came with it as a part of that agreement and as a three four year contract, whatever it may be. But >> yep. >> Well, Mr. Butler, thank you. You're an incredibly talented young man. Um you are doing some incredible work. This gives our >> gives our community uh gives that those around us a window into who we are and what we
066do. And um just like what Miss Brown was doing before when we marry this with that this what a great opportunity to share that. I think sometimes uh some of our community thought that the branding was an isolated singular issue and now I think you're beginning to see how we're weaving it in to everyday aspects of what we're doing. Um we had to start there before we could get to here and I know next steps after this will be just as exciting um for what we're doing. But, um, Kenny, thank you. We're, um, I am grateful for you, your talents. Um, you do so much work behind the scenes. It's good to get you out front. Um, >> Sure. That's what I thought I'd get from you as a Sure. Uh, but no, what a
067what an incredibly talented young man. So, Kenny, thank you. Appreciate you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh, the last agenda item uh that we have, um, Mr. Peters, you have just been patiently patiently waiting down there, you know, but we're going to talk about science curriculum and I learn checkpoints. So, Jay, is it to is it to you? >> I'll start this year, but we are hopeful for the 2627 school year that we will go through a social studies adoption that has also been long overdue. So, that's exciting and I wanted to share that with you. But pursuant to the Indiana Code 20-20-5.5-2, the IDOE shall evaluate, approve, and publish a list of highquality curricular materials for science, technology, engineering, and math. There were 13 vendors to choose from. Uh on this list, a science
068committee was developed and right now we have uh three teachers uh from each elementary representing K1, 2, three, four, five. Uh we have the science department from Crest View and Riverview in grades six, seven, and eight of three teachers. And then also our high school science department that consists of three teachers. And so that's our science committee currently. Right now they're in the process of vetting. Uh we're down to now we've got three or four choices. Uh whittleled that 13 down to three or four top choices uh that they're looking at reviewing. uh we provided a list of science standards uh for the grade levels along with an evaluation tool uh that Mrs. Brown put together that we're looking at to evaluate those materials. And so uh we're excited about what that is bringing to
069the district but also excited for the fact to bring you a recommendation and our hope would be that uh in January uh that we we would bring to you a recommendation uh for your approval. Uh this timeline um is the reason for this timeline is so that we could begin once you're you approve we could then purchase those materials and have them here for summer PD which is going to be critical to get them in the hands of teachers and our goal would be that they would have them in hand before they would leave for summer break. Then we could could provide summer PD for them and roll out these uh materials. The teacher has been working hard. We've got a great committee. Uh what is going to be also vitally important is that we
070also have parent input and parent involvement at all levels is going to be key. It's going to be key when we do social studies adoption to have parent involvement to preview those materials and take a look at them. So um again we're excited about that. But again just wanted to bring you an update. Um special thanks Tanya Lockmeer uh has the distinct honor and privilege of working with Mr. Brimberry and I on a daily basis. and she has been ordering those materials, getting those materials from vendors, talking to v vendors, uh establishing relationships, getting those sample copies, and those are going out to the buildings uh as we speak to get eyes on those materials so we can begin to preview uh and really get into the weeds to see what is our best choice.
071I will tell you from an elementary standpoint, one of the top choices is Discovery Education, which Mystery Science is what we're currently using. and mystery science is in that discovery ed. So, not sure if that's going to be our top choice, but at least um that was on the list. So, just wanted to give you an update as to where we're are where we're at. We're excited about it. Again, Lynn is instrumental. Uh Lauren Hog has done an outstanding job. Both of them are instrumental in helping us move this initiative forward. And so, um again, really, really excited. >> Mr. Peters, um first, God bless Tanya. >> Yes. Um uh and um it seems to me that this is was it like right after CO we were trying to figure something out here because I
072know you've been really frustrated and trying to get this taken care of and >> it's just evaded us for so long. So >> congratulations. Well done. Um excited uh that this is we finally get a chance to to see some new material and curriculum. >> Um I can tell by your tone that you're you're pretty jazzed which is important to us. >> Long overdue guys in our district truly. We we certainly trust uh trust your efforts and uh and the fact that you've been so inclusive in involving all the teachers like that. Uh I'm afraid that sometimes that's missed and I I hate it when I hear teachers say, "Well, I just wish we had been that asked us, you know." Um so it's great to hear that uh it's been a a group effort
073and I'm not surprised, but I'm really happy about that. >> Have a great committee of teachers. They're working hard. So excited about that. It's interesting to note as of right now, I do not see a vendor list for our social studies adoption. And again, that's interesting. You can read a lot into that, but that's interesting that that's not published out there yet. So, that may still be in the works. So, uh we'll keep you informed. Thank you. >> So, how does that work with uh I mean, I'm old school textbooks means textbooks. >> Yes. We're not in the textbook era. We are, but we aren't. So, do you get a little bit of both? >> Yes, there's digital resources. Great question, Matt. There are not only textbooks, but there are digital resources available uh through
074these vendors that we >> kind of like a subscription or whatever. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes, Matt, really good question. And uh we started this a couple years ago on exactly what you're talking about and Jay just referred to. Um our business department at the high school is completely digital in terms of all of their resources and it comes with an annual fee which is easy for school districts to budget and so they prefer the electronic version. Um we do have some hard copies if you will different students do still need that. Um we do keep those as well for uh different departments resource and other things but I will tell you their entire curriculum is what you're talking about and it provides us with a multitude of classes and that become an annual
075fee. >> So we're way more advanced than I thought we were >> every once in a while. Matt, we get it right. [laughter] I would just also remind the board that we do have money set aside for this because of the crooked materials fees. If you remember Becky Smith, the end of last year, the state changed the law that moved that separate fund that we used to have a conversation about and they put it in the education fund. So when you look at the $60 million cash balance that we have in the education fund, just as a reminder that about I believe it was like 2.5ish million, I'd have to go back and look, somewhere close to that is set aside specifically for that. So we do have some funds set aside for that because
076as Tim so eloquently put, uh we have been working on this or waiting on this for a while. Uh and to Mr. Peter, that's probably why he has some gray hair in there because he's been waiting so patiently for this. Um but the other question I have for you, Mr. computers is is the the new phrase that I I've learned to grow as a board member is supply chain delays. I know you have a a desire to get those in the hands of the teachers. Do we anticipate any of those supply chain delays? >> So far, we've not heard anything that would delay that. So, we'll keep you posted on that. But that's why getting it to you in in January for approval, that gives us four or five months here of some leeway that
077we can get those materials in. Ideally, I'd love to give them get them in the hands of our teachers before they leave school in May to possibly preview, maybe possibly use that. Um, and then have some summer PD for them >> to be ready to roll in the fall. >> I'm just happy for you that we're finally going to get a good start on this. So, >> it's like a new toy. >> Good job. Good work. >> Thanks. >> Anything further, >> Chuck? >> Board, you also saw on your agenda. It's just a friendly reminder. Um Jay and Lauren and our principles and teachers and Lynn are um are uh to say we're focused in a couple of other areas would be an understatement. Um friendly reminder, the checkpoint one uh data is out there
078for us and our parents and our kids. And I just want to remind the board because we talk about a lot of different things, but let me remind you what a checkpoint really is. um back in John Jay and and mine and Len we would have called those formative assessments except this is at the state level and what that really is this is a non-graded test that leads to the summitive the summitive meaning the iLearn exam at the end of the year and the reason you get snapshots is just to let you know this is what we thought we would teach this is what we agreed to teach and there's what the kids have done and it doesn't it's not a pass fail thing even know you'll get a score on how they did. It's
079a snapshot to say here's where the student is on mastery. And the reason I didn't think we'd ever see it in our careers with John J and I um it allows for systemic reteing. And I say that because you get a score back and I'll use uh middle school math. Uh the state mean average after checkpoint one was up about 5% this year. The state mean average in middle school was up 10% this year. Now, what does that mean? That means about 20% or 25% depending on where you've decided how much you're going to teach has been taught. How did the kids do? Well, they gave you a score. Most of the time they stated it's somewhere between 28 and 37% depends on what checkpoint you're taking at that particular test. Then you see where
080your kids are at and they will mark them as um they're at level, they're approaching level or basically you're in need of more supports or interventions. All of that information is okay for kids. It gives the teachers the ability to say, "Oh, well, we thought we taught that. Uh we thought we had it. They really didn't do as well on that. Let's take a look back." the work that's being done by Lauren, our principles, our teachers, and collaboratively and Lynn allows them to look back and retach systemically. And it's gone on now for two years in Huntington. And uh but it's mandatory this year in the state. If you remember last year, we said, "Hey, we're going to we're going to be on the cutting edge of this and we're going to put this in
081ahead of time to see how we do with this." Well, this year it's mandatory. the whole state's doing it, but what we've noticed is the checkpoints are now systemic. It's not a shock to our kids. One of the things Len uh and and Jay and I and Lauren talk about is the kids are taking the test and it's not a shock that hey, about every nine weeks you take this thing called a checkpoint and it's okay. It gives you information back and then about two to three weeks we retest you on the same standards if you didn't pass to see how you did again. if we've needs more interventions or no, you're back to where we want you. Um, then you do the same thing with the second checkpoint and then you retach it. Third
082checkpoint, same thing. And then your sumitive at the end is your iLearn test is the final exam if you will on how you did. I want to [snorts] remind the board when you hear checkpoints and I parents were getting great calls from them. Hey, uh, you know, my student did this on there. What does that mean to us? That's fantastic. They're talking about their child's first term, first quarter of the year, systemic checkpoint, snapshot, formative assessment. It's all the same stuff. And so when you're you as a board member hear those, hey, they didn't do well or they did great on checkpoint one or 1A. That's just a little snapshot formative about 24 questions sometimes, Len Jay. 25 questions. And it just gives you, hey, these are the standards you thought you'd cover. Here's what
083you actually did on those. And it's not for our parents that are worried that, hey, my child got approaching. My child got this. No time to panic. We still have the rest of the school year to do these interventions to help them get caught up. You'll hear reteing a lot. You're hearing um in one of the schools, they're adding some minutes to some of the kids that maybe just need a little extra, and that's okay. Uh you'll hear some afterchool stuff. You'll hear sometime during the day that certain kids are getting a little bit different intervention. It's honestly what Jay talked about a year ago on when what I need now, you know, what I need and these kids are getting that systemically in Huntington, but I just wanted to do a friendly reminder. When
084parents reach out to you now, checkpoint one and 1 A and two and 2 A and so on. um that is basically a non-graded formative that allows you to say how you doing now still time to teach and so um you're going to hear that and that's a good thing in Huntington that means our parents and kids and teachers are talking about achievement and that's a positive so just want to give you a friendly reminder because you're going to start hearing this I'm hearing it from parents now >> so Chuck being the old school guy that I am it's a it's a it's a a mind shift in how we used to look at those. Is that what I am that that's how I'm hearing you? I just want to make sure that >> Yeah,
085it's a it's a nonpunitive test. So, it's not if you do great that just means you're doing well on those standards that were tested at this time of the year. But if you for some reason didn't do well on that, please know that's just um you know, and from Ryan the old coaching model, you didn't do well that day doesn't mean that's how you're going to play in the sectional. and and the the summitive at the end is the is this is the old sectional. Everything leading up for that is practice basic on how you're doing and how your kids are doing. And uh there's a lot of interventions happening K [snorts] eight right now for those checkpoints um that are happening in each building. But we need to talk about that stuff at board
086level because parents are now talking about this in our community. I've heard it when I'm out. My kid did this on your checkpoint. What's that mean to me? Well, there's a parent portal that I believe Mr. Vicky helped set up, Jay, if I remember for uh for our parents, and they've got information on how to log in and see it. But what I asked for tonight was just a friendly reminder. This is what it means, but it's not punitive. It's not an A or an F. It's just just a little, hey, how you doing test. >> So, we use that coaching analogy because I think this actually works. Is the checkpoint's kind of like the game to see how you're doing. >> Yeah. And then you go back you go back and watch the film
087and figure out what you need to do for the next game to get to that sectional. Right. >> It really is a as a scrimmage along the way to the final to the final game and and the kids are doing better at focusing on test. I heard uh from several of our teachers. My kids this year seemed to take that one more serious. They tried to stay focused longer. Well, last year we were, you know, monitoring how they did because how much effort you put towards a test is usually the value of the test. Well, if you didn't value it because it wasn't really something you knew about, your scores really are aren't really accurate on what the kid knows. Well, they're doing a better job at that focus because systemically we Jay and Lauren
088Lynn and our principles and teachers put this in last year. So, you'll keep hearing about it and we'll bring you data in the future to say here's a snapshot. here's how the kids are doing and we've already got that data and have already examined it. >> Thanks for bringing that because I think that's going to be helpful because I think as everyone learns this new process, it's good to understand what we're seeing. >> Anything else? Thank you all uh for your information tonight. Uh very important for us to hear it and honestly the community to get it good here too. Um I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Mr.