001Yep. Good. All right. Uh good evening everyone. Uh welcome to our work session this evening. Um glad to see all of you especially the students uh here this evening. Nice to see all of you. I just learned the prom is a week from Saturday. No, it's a week from Saturday, right? Yeah. Sorry, Mr. Allen, you're getting old. So, that's how fast the school year is coming to a close here. So, congratulations, especially to you seniors. We're thrilled that you're here. Uh, Mr. Park, um, Mr. Carl on our school board has been instrumental as well. Mr. WY has uh probably knows more about that strip of land uh than anybody in Huntington at this point and I appreciate his assistance during this process. Dr. Dots has been our meetings, Mayor Strick, and most importantly our students
002uh that are here tonight. Uh we've been in your classroom a few times talking about your vision. So I appreciate uh everybody being here tonight. Uh board tonight is literally to talk a little bit. I'm going to have Mr. Wally talk about the process of that strip of land and uh the acquisition thereof. Um we're hopefully to bring that to you on the 28th. Uh Mr. Carl uh will not he's trying to tell me not he doesn't want any credit but I will tell you he's been instrumental in this process and I'm super appreciative of his expertise. And so I'm going to start with Mr. Wy and I'll ask Mr. Carl to chime in as we can. Um then I'm going to have Mr. Park and the students come up and show you a visual
003of what it might look like. So Joe, thank you again for all your work during this process and Mr. Carl as well. Okay, thank you. The hopefully I can make this very very short. You would look on the screen. You will see uh what has three different colors on it. Uh this is popular street extended. Uh the green part is the current driveway as you come off man and come into the parking lot. The yellow and purple is is the area in question which is the grass the grassy area. Uh through looking at deed records, city council minutes, plats, uh street vacations, board minutes, um we wish everything was was very clean and neat and it is not 100% that way. However, what we're doing in order to get all of this land in the
004hands of the school corporation, we already own the purple part. Um, and if you'd want our dissertation on how we got that, we can give you that. The the city has claim to the yellow part. Now again there's there's contradictory records but for today's purposes we're accepting or we're going to allow for the city to say okay they have that yellow part. uh they will want they want to give that to us by Indiana statute to governmental agencies can can transfer property for uh any consideration deemed appropriate. Um the city is going to quit claim that property to the school corporation. So the end result will be that the school corporation will own the yellow and the purple. The green will remain uh belonging to the city of Huntington. They will continue to maintain that.
005It's a street, extension of a street. They will snowplow it. They will do all those things. We will own everything north of that. Now, that cleans up another problem. There's a sign there that there were some issues with. Once we own that, that will help take care of that. And then the yellow and purple's all what Mr. parks uh uh class will uh pursue and give you give you ideas on. So the the process from this point is that on I believe it's April 25th this the board of works meets we meet we meet April 28th we will pass parallel resolutions uh that say we're excha we're they're transferring quit claiming this property to the school corporation once those parallel resolutions are recorded, authorized, they will sign a quit claim deed saying that they no
006longer have any interest in that property. Those words quit claim mean exactly that they are quitting their claim on the access to the to the property. Uh once that's done, it will be uh entirely in the school corporation's name and we can do with it as we will except on the easternmost 20 ft of that property. Uh there is a utility easement for the water. There's a water line that runs from Viking Lane. And if you start at Viking Lane at the top and you go along the east 20 ft all the way down all the way through the green, there is a utility easement that is retained by the city. So since they're quitting their claim on the on the uh yellow part, we're going to in turn give them an a utility easement
007back. And that really is not an optional choice. Utilities always have priority and uh the right to uh to repair those lines. We hope they never have to be repaired, but in the event they do, um they have to have access to that. And I think Mr. Park's plan is aware of that. And so they're not going to be planting big oak trees or big retaining walls or anything like that that would could be potentially disturbed. So that's it in a nutshell. I I know you're more interested in the the uh what the project's going to look like, but from the legal side of it, it's it's uh the city quit claiming the yellow to us and then we will have full title, us giving an easement back then over the east 20 ft. One
008more thing uh actually right now because it's a part of the bond the lease bond purple is actually in the name of the building corporation. Again this is very very technical but that's that's the the school corporation. So uh yellow will become ours, purple's already ours and that's it. Any questions about that? So, I know you said uh um about you can't put anything, you know, trees or anything like that there, but uh what are the restrictions in that 20 foot? You know, there we can put all kinds of things, but if the city needs to get into to repair the line, they can they can knock down, tear down, move, whatever to repair the the utility line. I think statistically the chance of that needing to be done is slim and none. But we
009you can't run that run that chance. What is the width of that strip? 20 foot. No. Oh, the whole the whole thing. Aaron, do you know what's the how wide? It's 66 feet. Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. Become 66 mentally thinking, you know, if it's 40 foot and here you just got 20 foot that you you know, running a chance. So, and I think the kids will show you they've designed um Aaron met with uh the class and Dr. Digs in here of what types of things to plant and where and they're going to show a visual here of some things they're thinking, but understanding that 20 foot is in place. So, we don't want that to be torn up later. So, you'll see that what their thoughts are on that shortly. Great question. Other questions
010for Joe or Aaron? They were intricate in this process before we have Mr. Park and the kids come up. Thank you, Joe. Aaron, before I come up, are we good? Good. I'd like to uh introduce Mr. Park and some of his students that'll come up here. And I know he doesn't want me to say this, but congratulations to our Huntington North teacher of the year. Uh for Mr. Park, very welld deserved. and uh and it was an honor to sit in your uh recognition with the rest of the staff. Mr. Park and kids, thank you guys for being here tonight. There's a lot of things you could do. Looks like you might have just got out of practice, maybe one or two of you. So, it's not it is nice of Coach Brimberry to let
011you get here. That's super nice. Well, thank you. Go ahead uh and tell us a little bit about uh maybe what you hope this uh strip of land to become. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank a number of individuals. Um, Mr. Brimberry, Mr. Carl, Mr. Wy. This is a very popular acre of land we found out. And, um, so that all of you have just a little little piece of background. Um, our part of this started what, two, three months ago. And Mr. Brimberry said this is going to be a long process. Um, and it has been invaluable for our kids to see how the legal ease works, how the planning works, how you can cooperate and work with the city. Um, get the lawyers involved behind the scenes uh just so that
012um we hopefully can do the right thing. And so, thank you to all of you who participated in that. And I want to uh go on record as saying that I, you know, get the opportunity to sit back and watch these folks just kind of do their thing. Um, and Max is a good example of how he ran over, literally ran over from baseball. These are busy kids. Um, and uh, I appreciate all of their hard work that they put into that. I also want to recognize we have some other members um, all the way. uh we've got um every grade level represented now because one of the one of the concerns that we had at the beginning as you know in one of our meetings was uh the sustainability of it. Yep. Um and
013so our goal was to to recruit and recruit and recruit because we want to keep getting uh new members involved in that. And so um let me start by saying that um we're aware of uh the the 20T marker and uh Mr. Carl um did a uh did a did did a great job of filling us in on some of those options and opportunities that we have with that. Uh certainly certainly not a hindrance. Um and also uh what you're going to see is probably a uh 2 to 10year results uh up here on the screen. And going forward uh after uh the acquisition on the 28th, our goal is to um we feel like we we have the funding right now um to put down a what we what we're calling the base. And
014uh basically what that means is we would like this fall um after the heat of the summer um to begin the process of putting nutrients back into the soil. And um one of the first things we're going to do is use a non-invasive uh rye uh kind of like a a winter weed essentially that's um that's a that's a non-invasive and uh for to sequester soil as well as uh to start putting th those nitrates back in in to in preparation for some of the things that you'll see here. And so, um, it would be nice if all of us just ran out there tonight and it looked like some of these things. That would just be like the most beautiful thing. Be like, "Oh, it's done." Um, but, um, you know, these seniors, they'll
015probably have to come back from college, honestly, to to see some of the fruits of their labor. And I think that's kind of the beauty of it as well. So, um, so I just wanted to prep with that. Um, and then I'll just let them um, have their way. Make sure your button's green over here. Who's up first? Um, so this is a picture example of what we're looking for. And so as you can see, there's flowers, which Jesse's going to touch on the importance of that, but I'm going to start with the importance of including other students. So there's a path in that picture and that's something that we think is crucial to include in our plan because we want this to not just be a beautifification project. We also want it to involve
016other students. So we want to promote the involvement of multiple classes and all kinds of students. We don't want it to just be about science or green team kids. So we've envisioned several paths or sitting areas. And then later on you'll see some pictures that Max created with some benches and sitting areas. And we think that that's crucial to promote awareness of what we're doing. Yeah, that's a good picture example. Um, and it'll give kids a place to sit outside and enjoy the weather and learn. And it's not just, you know, science classes that can go out there, math classes, art classes, whatever. It's just a pretty place outside that all students can go and enjoy. Yeah, that's the benches that we were talking about. But yeah, This picture we have in this picture we
017have what some native grass would look like. And the importance of this is if you could imagine you're building a house and in the living room you put nothing up except drywall, no paint, and then you just cover it with family pictures. And I'm sure all of you have lovely families and lovely family pictures. But eventually that would be too many family pictures. Um, so it's the same thing with this. We're going to plant trees, but we can't only plant trees. There's got to be something below that because we don't want the custodians to have to come back and mow the grass that's currently there. So, at some point, we're going to have to till this all up um after the rye and after the nutrients are back in the soil, till this all back
018up and plant some native grasses. And um yeah, from there on then we can plant the other things and add the trails and move forward. So this is an example of like some of the native grasses and wild flowers that we were thinking of with the paths. But the wild flowers, I think, is a really good idea because it's more aesthetically pleasing. People can see the bright colors when they drive down into our school parking lot. So, if there's a sporting event and people are coming to watch the sporting event, they're going to want to see if we keep our school very nice and clean and they don't want to see the big lots behind. And so, the trees will cover that. And then the grass in the flowers is definitely a good add-on to
019that. And I think wild flowers is especially important because it's good for pollinators. So, we're going to want bees and butterflies and hummingbirds to come back to this area so it keeps on being more diverse and have more animals and just be more naturelike, I guess. And then also going back to what Isaac said, we won't have to mow it. And that's a really good thing is it's less maintenance and it will be less cost overall, too. That's fine. Um, so I created these just on an app, very, very cheap. It was a free app that I used. Um, so basically what it is, you have a path down the middle. The where the trees are at is not the exact place they'll be. I kind of just put it up there in a way
020that looked good. It's not exactly where they're going to be. So where the easement is, it may not be where that is. I couldn't um measure it out very well just doing it digitally. I'll have to do that in person once we get that far. But we have a couple different stages that we're wanting. Obviously, Mr. Park and Isaac touched on this first was year one do the ry grass or in the fall I should say and then maybe next time or next year in the spring or the fall we plant wild flowers in one strip the it's 82 feet long and 532 82 feet wide 532 feet long so you can do like 12 to 15 foot sections of whatever you want you can do a path wild flowers perennials um oak trees down
021the middle of where there or like white oaks or another version of trees that's really good to soak up water in the middle I don't know where that all will work. Right now, at least with all the utilities and stuff like that, we'll have to mark those out and make sure the roots, whether that's a tap route or whether that's a sprawl, it just depends where it's going to be and where the utilities are. And so one of the the next steps that we're looking at um once we uh hopefully get this acquired uh at the next board meeting um I've been in contact with um Duke Energy and they really like the idea that that's their power lines over there because they're ready to give us money uh from their foundation. And uh so
022one of the things that um they are going to ask of us all um is number one uh do we own the property? Okay, you know, does the school corporation have that? And then um is this a boardup supported project? Um so uh we're not going to be able to acquire any money from Duke at a school level, but we can at a corporation level. That's the way their foundation works. And so, um, I really hate to come back to another school board meeting, but, um, I just want you to keep the in the loop, um, because once the funding starts coming in, um, and our plan gets laid out, um, we would like to see next spring, um, that particular land, um, sewed in native Indiana grasses. That's going to be our our number
023one step. Um, big blue stem, little blue stem. Uh, and that's going to, as Isaac said, kind of create that ba base layer that we can work around. Then, um, you know, like I said, uh, to go out there now, um, and kind of see this essentially a a blank canvas, uh, uh, is pretty exciting to us and, uh, so it's been exciting to, uh, to work with these kids and, um, hopefully getting this to fruition. So, we would like to Oh, and one other thing I wanted to mention is that um Katherine, who's I think she's still here. Yeah, she's still back there. Um Katherine has been working tirelessly as our lays on to the city and uh the environmental stewardship people there and they they're they're ready to um support and they they
024they basically just need to say, "Okay, the project is ready to go." Um we've got um native plant specialists ready. We got some arborists ready. Uh, and I'm excited about that because those are the folks that are going to come in and and teach these kids about, you know, what's the proper res restoration uh for this this particular property. Uh, speaking of that, um I would be remiss if I didn't go back to uh Mr. Carl's um drawings and um one thing that uh he definitely much more expert than I am. Do you want to talk about this or is that something? Um, one of the things that, um, we were excited about is when Mr. Carl came into class and talked to us about, um, some energy dissipation and how we could help to
025control some of the sediment that comes off of the parking lot. And so, um, he just scaled all this, uh, as some ideas for us as we're going forward about how we can, um, mitigate some of those items that are coming off the parking lot. Um, last time I was out there, um, the the amount of paint chips, uh, for example, um, coming off the parking lot is is phenomenal. It looks like somebody just took confetti and put it out there. And that's not a bad thing, but it can easily be mitigated in a project like this. So, Um, so we would like to take any questions for uh anybody who might have any questions. Um, I don't know that this is this is necessarily a question. Um, just you once again uh stunned how
026how about the funding that they the grants could only supply the corporation. Um, is that every year type of a thing or is that just to get started? Um, I've contacted about three or four different foundations and people who might show an interest in that. Um, and Duke Energy was the most obvious one because they've got a vested interest in this. And um, publicity wise, it looks amazing for them to to have their name in the front of this. Um, and so she was on board right away. They have two different funding opportunities. One is a $2 to $5,000 one. The other one's a $10 to $15,000 one. um we wouldn't be able to apply for the larger one until next year because it's a year-long cycle. Um the one that um the $2 to5,000
027one uh she said on April 29th to submit paperwork if it gets approved. So um and she said that those are the types of partnerships that they just love to create. Um it's uh it's going to impact the whole community. It impacts these students. Um, and so it looks obviously very good for them as well too. Well, and it it sounds fantastic. So is u as far as you guys have thought this out, I'm guessing you've thought past the the concerns about funding in five years, 10 years and things like that. So yeah, and um those of us and Isaac might be able to address this as well because um on his property they've um gone back to some native. Ideally once you get to that three or four year mark um it becomes more
028of a hands-off thing and I know our um our wild flowers at home um I I mow uh every five years and and that that's about it. And so there's that I would venture to say big initial cost obviously. Um and then once once that takes place place it's it's more of a a maintenance at the at the classroom level not really the school corporation level. Um the last thing that we want even on that 20 foot easement the last thing we want is it to be mowed. Um and Mr. Carl with his profession um really enlightened us on um because when we think of EAS we think you know you can't do anything on that it's got to be bare ground. No um he was even talking about certain circumstances in his job where
029um they they plant things just just like it normally goes and then uh like Mr. Brim or Mr. Wy said if they got to dig it up they got to dig it up. Um but you know those that's the price you pay I suppose. So board what will happen here is at the next uh school board meeting on the 28th what we will do is place this item on the consent in the consent agenda since we discussed it tonight. Um in the meantime if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get a hold of myself or Mr. Brimberry. Yep. Um and we in turn will do that. But you will see this in the consent agenda uh on the 28th meeting. I just want to say uh thank you um it's quite impressive
030um what's all has happened here with the support of Mr. Wy, Mr. Carl, Mr. Brimberry, uh your whole team um students, it is just it's just exciting to see this evolve into what it could possibly potentially be one day. So um thank you and I mean that in all sincerity. We are so so grateful uh for all of you. Uh in closing with this um I think you all are seniors sitting here at the table, right? Junior, sorry. Uh if you're a senior and you're sitting here, Mr. Grog, I'll start with you because we don't we don't hear this a lot. What are you doing in the fall? I'm going to IU Bloomington to stud study at this Kelly School of Business. you know how incredibly difficult it is to get in there. [Laughter] We're
031very proud of you. That's that's incredible. Um I'm I'm really interested to hearing from the two of you. What are you going to do in the fall? Um I'm also going to I Bloomington, but I'm going to study biology. Congratulations. Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you. Yes. I'm going to Huntington University to study environmental sciences and marketing and play baseball as well. Oh, good. So, we can just go down the street and watch you play baseball then. Pretty much. Oh, pretty much. Well, that's pretty awesome. Mr. Park, uh I said today to my team in the central office, um if you don't if you don't continue to come to schoolboard meetings, we're not going to know what to do. Uh so, we enjoy having you and on behalf and publicly saying this to you. Seriously,
032congratulations on teacher of the year at the high school. So, so richly deserved. You are an incredible educator. These kids will never forget you. They never will. So, thank you, guys. Awesome. How about a nice round of applause for our [Applause] kids? Okay. Uh Mr. uh Brimberry, you got the second one, I guess. Also, I'll I'll pitch hit for Mr. Brimberry. Uh next, what we're going to do is uh we're going to talk about new high school diploma requirements um that we got. Um so, well, Dr. Deets, uh, thank you for coming. Um, and he's going to discuss with all of you board about the new requirements for the, uh, high school diploma. So, Russ, we'll turn it over to you. Thank you. Thank you. And appreciate the opportunity to come and just share. Um,
033this will be a highle view, um, of something that we could spend a lot of time on, but I think I would be remiss if I didn't say uh, in light of students like that, we don't have to worry about these new requirements. We just have to be aware of them. students are going to take care of it as long as we give them the the opportunities to succeed and excel. So, um with that said, in December, just this past December, December of 2024, uh the state of Indiana did pass new diploma requirements. um you'll see a lot of similarities and some synergy from previous uh elements that you know to be true about diploma requirements, but there certainly are some nuanced differences that we want you as board members to be aware of. Um
034I would also want to express deep deep appreciation for the high school team that has just really uh dug into this process and understood what these requirements are. Uh probably at the forefront of that would be our guidance counselors. The five of them are at the tip of the spear as it relates to making sure that our students check every box literally um as they prepare to walk across the graduation stage. And so for them, this shift is something that they have to be keenly aware of and we have invested a lot of time and energy to make sure that we're able to not only do that but also do it well. So Cindy, do you mind clicking this? So, this just gives a real quick uh fundamental view um of what has not changed
035and then a real quick introduction to a couple of other things. Uh first and foremost, uh the state of Indiana obviously has to make sure that our state complies with the federal level as it relates to um some of the diploma requirements. So, as the federal level dictates, Indiana will continue to have just one base diploma. there will continue to be a standard diploma for all students to have access to regardless of what their time after graduation may entail. Um, this process along with some seals that we'll talk about here in a few minutes were really collaboratively um determined through three main entities in the state of Indiana. You'll notice that they fit nicely into the three areas that the students focus areas uh will align with as well. And those three entities would be
036the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, and the Indiana National Guard. So, you'll hear a theme of employment, enlistment, and enrollment. All three of those entities had a seat at the table as it came to discussing and planning the new diploma requirements. I also want you to be aware that a few kind of key words arose throughout the discussion of this and as the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana Department of Education were finalizing things. They really wanted to place a premium on things like flexibility, on options for students and really student customization. You'll see a lot of um student choice and opportunities and experiences with what they'll be able to experience in their four years. So as our next slide comes up, one of the things I'm wishfully challenging it
037to come up. Uh the next two slides will actually be a handout that I can provide to the board at a later date if helpful or if needed. Um I mentioned I think there should be one before that Cindy. I mentioned that there's one base or standard diploma and while that's true, the state of Indiana has tailored additional options really to the tune of six options for our students. So there is the base diploma still um but then there is also a level up for honors seal opportunities for our students and those honors seal opportunities would come within the areas of enlistment enrollment and employment and then there's the highest level an honors plus seal also in the areas of enlistment enrollment and employment. So you really could look at this as seven diploma options
038for any incoming uh freshman student. So I should have should have mentioned this at the beginning. This starts with the class of 2029. So this will be current eighth graders next year's freshman. So they literally will have a menu of options on what best suits um their post high school um agenda. Again, seven options, a standard diploma and then an honors seal or honors plus seal in any of those three areas. Um, be a lot of options to consider. Eighth grade parents received this information as we did a meeting with them this past winter. So, they've been exposed to the information and have a basic level of understanding with this. Um, you'll also notice as we dig in, and I won't go into granular detail tonight, but there are a lot of experiences that will
039be pushed beyond the walls of the classroom and beyond the walls of the high school here. Things like work-based learning opportunities, things like internships, things like externships. Um, we really will need to lean on more than ever before partners in our greater Huntington community. um because our students will need some of those hours to achieve either an honors seal or an honors plus seal level. Plus, it will be an option for students to move through these diploma requirements, not quickly, but quicker than previously. And so, we want to enrich that experience by giving them great work-based options, internships, and things that will enrich their high school experience. Couple of other notes as it relates to honors seal and honors plus seal. First and foremost, Huntington North High School is going to take the posture that
040we will use the default as the honors seal for our students. We want to give them the honors seal as the default because should they fall just a little bit short, they'll still be positioned extremely well to earn a standard diploma. Our students that are high achievers, our top 25 caliber, our top 10% students definitely will be be positioned well to earn an honors plus seal and they will be able to elect that as they start meeting with their guidance counselors for student scheduling. But again, we want to position our students well to have success at the honors seal level. Um, I would say if you're familiar with the previous levels um and previous diploma requirements, the honors plus seal will be similar to the academic honors diploma which our students have been able to
041achieve extremely well before. Um, two other notes that have been recently um kind of batted around some uh communications at the state level. First, there's no final determination or final decision on it. Um but there is kind of a scuttlebutt out there that um there could be some financial incentives for schools and districts tied to um seal levels. So it's not out there yet, but it could be such similar to how CTE funding works that schools and school districts could be um rewarded so to speak for students that achieve um diplomas at these additional SEAL levels. The other thing, and this is really hot off the press, I think it broke over spring break. Um, and we'll have a a large number of our students that are able to achieve this. The state released a
042a media release that said that any student that earns an honors plus seal diploma within the enrollment category will be guaranteed admission to any public Indiana University or college. So, that's guaranteed admission to the likes of what we heard tonight. um an Indiana university, a Purdue University, etc. It's suspected that private universities and colleges will follow suit because they won't want to lose out on that recruiting edge. Um but that's a huge deal. So any student that achieves at that level will gain automatic admission. Um and again, that was just released last week. Uh Cindy, if you don't mind to the next one. This next one gives a sidebyside comparison. Again, I'll be happy to afford uh the board members and anybody interested um this handout. It's really a front and a back that was
043provided to the state um high schools and central office administrators when the new diploma requirements were approved and agreed upon. Um this comparison I won't again go line by line or item by item but uh will show you the comparison. And so on the left side are the diploma requirements for students to achieve a core 40 diploma currently through our current freshmen. On the right you'll see those new diploma requirements starting with the class of 2029. A couple of highlights you'll notice um towards the bottom I mentioned flexibility and a little bit of autonomy as it relates to students electing what their four-year experience look like. the personalized electives go from six credits to 12. That's double. It will behoove us to really get creative and provide um elective credits and courses that students are
044interested in that add value to their experience that prepare them for life beyond high school. Um and so we will be digging into that as a high school with our teachers and vetting those through um our policy committee. You'll also notice a couple of the fundamental areas such as math and English even though there are similar numbers of required courses and credits. There's a lot more flexibility on what those look like. For example, as it relates to math, there's actually one more credit from six to seven, but there's really only three required credits, two algebra and one personal finance. The rest have a lot more flexibility. I think our collegebound students will continue to follow the typical pathway of a a two algebra one sequence, two geometry and two algebra 2 sequence, but they don't
045have to. Um I think what you'll find is um the autonomy there depending on what a student's um plans are beyond high school graduation. And finally, Cindy, if you don't mind this slide, I I want to kind of land the plane a little bit by sharing what Huntington North High School is looking at currently, what we've been looking at over the course of the last three months, and then where our focus will be moving forward. Um, I'll start by saying we plan to obviously align ourselves with what the state of Indiana has um prompted us to do, uh, which is to make sure our students can earn their diplomas um, in a in a good time frame and make sure that we equip them well. Our counselors, like I mentioned at the beginning, will be
046at the tip of the spear on this. So, show them love. If you see a guidance counselor at the high school, thank them. Um, show your appreciation for them because they've already done some heavy lifting. And I think we'll continue to do that the next two, three, four years that we continue to evolve and meet what these new diploma requirements entail. Um, and and just know that our aim and focus will be to maximize our strengths. We have a ton of them, but also shore up the opportunities to to gain improvements and to and to fill in our gaps. I will tell you, I'm biased as the principal at Huntington North, but our high school may be positioned as well or better than any single high school in the state of Indiana as it relates
047to these new diploma requirements. And I say that because we meet all of the buckets in enrollment, employment, and enlistment. And we actually have for some time. Uh seven years ago, Huntington North High School adopted um the concept of true north, which is kind of a motto to think about preparing our students in those areas of the three E. If you walk around Huntington North, posters have been up for a while that show enrollment, enlistment, and employment. That focus started seven years ago. So that's not a new concept for us. things that we have done uh to help build that out and already position us well for these diploma requirements. You might remember the addition of our JOTC program that checks off the enlistment box for us under our own roof. We don't have to
048farm that out to another entity, another partner. We have autonomy of that underneath our high school roof. You'll know uh obviously as board members that we have an incredible CTE program under Principal Drummond and the learning center. Um that's our autonomy uh to be able to offer that. We are our own area now as recently approved by the board. So when other schools uh particularly those that are smaller in nature are looking at other partners to send their kids across county boundaries to meet the employment uh bucket. We have that here in our own building and across the street. And finally, as it relates to enrollment, um we are positioned with a number of dual credit and advanced placement offerings um as well as anyone. But again, I don't think any high school has all
049three of those like we do under uh their own umbrella. We not only have them, but we've built that out and will continue to do so. And so our focus will be to make sure that we meet our students needs and interests. Um, but right now as it sits, it's more a matter of fitting the pieces together instead of trying to create them and build them. We already have them here. And so that's a quick overview set of highlights. There'll continue to be discussion along the way. Uh, but definitely want to thank Mr. Brimberry, Mr. Trout, uh, Mr. Mclofflin for paving the trail on this, being supportive from a central office level. Um, but um, we are positioned well and we'll continue to build this out. So, Mr. Mr. Brimberry. Yeah, I would just add
050Thank you, Dr. Digits. Um I would tell you that um I continue to say that progressive school corporations have a vision that allow for multiple buckets for multiple sets of kids. The new diploma types are fitting our vision. It's not This has been in place here. This although they'll how many credits you get here or there I will just continue to echo Dr. Dr. Digot's uh words and and Pats earlier, we are ahead of the game. Um we have data to prove that. I can't wait for our academic uh portion uh coming up in the near future when some of our testing results uh come in. You will find out that we believe we are one of the best high schools. We believe we're one of the best school corporations and we have data to
051to prove that we're making those um um we're climbing those mountains. This diploma type fits a vision at Huntington North. that fits the vision of the board before the last several years and we're in really good position to have that uh 1440 dual credits last year. Uh that's just one little prong of this. We're already in those work-based learning. We do that. We'll expand that. We have those relationships. We have people uh between some of the people sitting at this table. We have an opportunity to build relationships with our community to allow our kids to have externships all over our county. and we look forward to expanding those. So, you'll you'll hear about those as we as we bring those back. Um just because kids have more options does not mean that the um that
052it ever gets watered down. They will still have a high expectation for performance here. Uh the SAT prep, the PSAT, the dual credits, and the uh the college preparation are in place here, but they're thriving here right now. And I'll show you that data in the very near future at one of the board meetings. Uh Dr. Deets, I know that you have went through a lot of work on this to explain something sometimes the state makes a little bit complicated, but I really appreciate your time tonight. You did a wonderful job and I know he'll take questions from the board or or anybody who has those for him. Honestly, it's just a relief that the state changes didn't uh handstring us. Um really really proud of the work that we've done over the last my
053goodness um these opportunities for our students. I've got grandkids that are in school here in this corporation. I'm excited for them and so thank you guys. Yeah. Very well done, Russ. Thank you for being here. All right. Uh, next, our third item tonight is uh from the HCC learning uh center update. I believe Principal Drummond is here. Um, I will tell you that uh there is nobody busier in terms of the building than what Principal Drummond does. She has a lot of the relationships in our community. Uh, highly organized. We don't ever want to take for granted the excellent work that you do in this corporation. So, welcome back, Tiffany, to our meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me here again. Um I have just a brief presentation to give you an
054update um on where we're at. Um so just as a quick recap um where we kind of started was almost a year ago. So it was in May of 2024 that I came and did a participation analysis for the board. Um in July of last year we gave our intent to withdraw from the area 18 CT cooperative. Um, last fall we did two appraisals of our Perkins um, funded equipment. In January we took those appraisals to the area 18 governing board and in February you voted to um, purchase that Perkins funded equipment. So since I was here last that was kind of our recap. Um, in on March 12th we were notified by the Commission for Higher Education that we did meet the size, scope and quant or quality to form our own district. And
055um on March 31st, we sent our payment for our Perkins funded equipment. So that was accepted by the AR18 governing board. So we now own all of our own equipment outright. So that was March. It was a busy month. Um we kind of were doing two things at once. So we were going through that process of purchasing equipment, but we were also writing our local application for the federal Perkins grant. Um and we submitted that on March 27th to the state. So, um, we are completely caught up with everything that we can possibly do at this point. Um, and I'd like to share with you a little bit about that Perkins grant so you kind of know what's coming. Um, so we had anticipated this would happen and last fall we conducted a comprehensive local
056needs assessment. Um, that's done with a variety of feedback from our community, our teachers, our administrators. And as part of that process that which is a formal process from the state, we identified four goals. So that was what was outlined in our basic application. Our first goal was to increase enrollment in our high demand skilled trades programs. Um specifically um precision machining, welding, and construction. Um and we look to use some of our local resources, our community partnerships. Um that activity isn't funded solely from the grant. It's something that we were already started the work on um previously. Um some of those activities look like our eighth grade visits and our tours and our marketing materials that we're already putting out. So we identified that as a goal and that's how we'll support it. Our
057second goal was to increase the number of students participating in work-based learning programs um aligned to their program of study um which we're very proud of that program. It has grown significantly in the last few years. We anticipate it will continue to grow um and from that budget we are hoping to support our career fair which we've been doing for a while. Um but we've written different grants to help pay for that. Um, we are lucky that we have such great facilities here at Huntington North, but I'm very cognitive that that's additional work for our custodial staff. Um, so my hope is we can use this grant to support some of the setup and tear down um so that it's not more on their regular duties. Our third goal um is to increase the percentage
058of students earning state recognized certifications by um by the end of that next year. um we would look to fund that from our basic Perkins grant and this is the area that we utilized area 18 the most for in the past. That's our equipment, our software, our technology, things like that. Um what's exciting though is when I turned in this grant in March, I actually turned in the budget for next year. Um which doesn't sound like a big deal, but what that means is if this gets approved from the state, we'll order in July. Like we will order our equipment for next school year in July and our teachers will come back and have the tools they need and they can update their shops like day one. um the past time like as part of
059a co-op, you know, there are nine high schools in that one. Um we wouldn't know until we we'd apply for things like in August. We might find out in December, maybe order in January. It was a very lengthy process, but because we're our own district and we set our own budget, we can order as soon as um that grant period starts so that our teachers have it when they come back so they can use it in the school year that they need it. Um which is huge. So we're excited about that opportunity. Um we did give priority to our highv value programs. programs are designated high value for the state. Um and so we would be looking at our um welding, computer integrated manufacturing, which is a pathway we're looking to expand. And then engineering
060and construction. So we hope to fund other programs as well, but those will be the um priorities that were given and budgets were submitted. So teachers have already put in like what they would like to see to grow those programs and that's part of the application. Our fourth goal is to increase the numbers of teachers attending state and national conferences and summer professional development offerings. I know in the 10 years that I've been here, I've never been able to take a teacher to a national conference. I've been fortunate enough to go um but that just isn't something we've ever had in the budget for our teachers. And so we're looking specifically at the ACT Vision Conference in December um so that they can go and network with their peers and see. And I think what
061they'll find is what I found. Um we're in a really good position locally. um we're doing some very neat things that are um really ahead of the curve and so for them to get to see that and bring back new ideas um to share with the staff I think would be really exciting and so um this budget would support that so it wouldn't be additional cost to the district the great take care of it so um that is what that basic grant application looks like we know in the past um typically we would receive notification in Mayish from the state um we don't know what that will look like with kind of the changes at the federal level but we would anticipate a similar timeline Typically, when we are given our award, we're given our
062budget. So, we base that off of what our budget would have been last year, but we know there's going to be some tweaks to that. Um, and then once approved, we would get started as soon as we come back in July getting that grant items ordered. So, are there any questions? Tiffany, this is a thank you for the update. Um, we are so proud of learning center and all the the improvements, the advancements. um question. How challenging is it to add a new class? Um is it about space? Is it about So when we talk about adding a new program, I look for three things. Um first I look at our students. Is it something that they want to learn? Um then I look at our community. Is it something that's going to be able
063to support our local economy? And then I look for a teacher. And it's kind of a trifecta, right? You've got to have those three things. Space is the last thing I worry about. We've always figured it out, right? Um but that's where I look at is student interest. I look at what the community needs and then what we can afford to staff. Um we have like two rooms we could use. Um we're down to two, but that's okay. Um we we do use those flex, but yeah, we would definitely work it out if there was something that we wanted. Um so that the board knows kind of the next things on our horizon that I'm looking at. Um we are looking at formalizing our culinary program. So right now we have an intro program, but
064we just built an awesome kitchen. And so we would move that from an intro program to a full-fledged half-day culinary. Um so that is in the works. And then also early childhood education. Um that is something that we offered for years. We have a strong history of that. Um when the teacher retired, we were unable to replace her. And so that is something our community is crying for. They crying out for because they need it so badly. So that is something we'll continue to see what we can build. Um but those are the next two. And then apprenticeship is always something that's very important to us. We look at how we can do that through the programs we currently have. Principal Drummond, could you talk? We've been in a lot of meetings looking at master
065schedule for 2526. Maybe you could talk to the board in generalities about uh the student interest for next year in terms of your courses, your numbers, what do they look like? For sure. Um all of our numbers are up. Um which is a really good problem to have. Um we've had lots of really good conversations with our teachers. Um we have several that are taking more than they've ever taken before in a half day. So they are cautiously optimistic because again it's a very good problem to have. Um but we of course look at our shops, we look at safety, we look at how many can we really have in that space. Um so we are excited about that. But we we are very full within our programs. So we're excited. So how close are
066we? Numbers are climbing for these people that like to make budgets. Um How close are we to be? Yeah. You know, I just told my staff today between now and um Labor Day is when I'm the most nervous. Um because especially with this legislative session and all the cuts that are on the table. Um I just peaked my email before I came in here uh just to see where we're at in the process. the you know um our student population is hugely important as you know last year we were able to start turning that tide for the first time. Um I have no doubt that we can't continue that momentum along the way and where it starts is really what we've been talking about the last two presentations. I mean, if you look um about
067the opportunities that our students have that not many around us can provide, it puts us in a very unique situation. I became aware and I'll just share one story with you. I I became aware um last week um of a student who started attending our school district this year um from a neighboring smaller school district. And the reason for their them attending here was the last two presentations the opportunities that they have here that they could not get somewhere else um was that so now with Mr. Butler and the marketing and the communications and everything that we're doing um you know the branding that we have done it all ties in together. Uh but where it happens is what these last two presentations were not done backtoback accidentally. Um because um not only do we
068want to provide the best opportunities for our students that we currently have, but we also want to be an attractive option for those around us. And so whether it's the online education that we have been working very hard with or whether it's the preschool you're going to be hearing about here just momentarily. I mean it's prek through uh 12. When I can have a student sit there and say they've been accepted the IU to the IU Kelly business school. I beam because that means we can we can meet kids needs across a variety of of places. You and I both know that we have some students that are going to graduate this year, go immediately in the workforce and do incredibly well. I mean, just incredibly well. What Tiffany didn't say, but I know why
069some of those students are signing up in droves because those teachers are really good. Um, I hear when I'm in those classes, how grateful. Um, look what Mr. Park does. Incredible. And we have so many, many teachers in here who are doing the same thing. So when you wrap great teaching around great programming around great leadership, I think you can ask for some really positive things to happen here. Gary, is there anything else? Tiffany Drummond, you are awesome. Thank you. You are too. Russ Digots, you're awesome. Thank you. Um I appreciate both of you. We're so fortunate to have you and your leadership in our district. Mr. Peters, I will turn it. You've been sitting there so quietly this. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. I appreciate the uh the opportunity. Um
070board, in my career, I have been truly blessed to work with some amazing people that have allowed me to come alongside of them. And tonight, three of them will be presenting about our preschool program for HCCS. Their vision and passion and enthusiasm was here long before J. Peter's arrived back in Huntington schools in 2019 and they're going to share with you uh about our preschool program, what it looks like, uh sounds like, feels like in our district. Um they're going to share kind of the past, the present, future of our programming and hopes to give you a snapshot in how it's evolved and also to to show you financially where we're at with this program. And uh so I'm going to turn it over. Let me share and let me introduce uh these ladies. Beth
071Husband has been our director of special ed for I since 2016. Beth I put down. Okay. Uh Laura Lar uh in 2010 was a parah at Lincoln. In 2011 she was a preschool teacher at horse man. In 2016 she was our coordinator of preschool programs. And now in 2023 to current she's our director of our preschool programming. Christy Fischer in 2023 was a preschool teacher at uh Flint Springs. In 2024 Christie you were phenomenal. you started the preschool program at Andrews and you rocked and rolled that and got that going to where it is today. She's now currently coordinator of our preschool programming. Um and so we appreciate um all that these three ladies do and thanks for allowing me to team up with you and so um I'm going to let them share out
072our preschool program for Huntington Schools. Okay. So just starting off with a little bit of Oh, sorry. Sorry. Better. Better better, better. Okay. Um, so just a background, past, present, future. So our preschool is a developmental preschool program and we service students ages three through five. So when students um have first step services, they come to us before they turn three. So, I meet up with the First Steps coordinator as well as the family um and begin that process to see if they need an evaluation um to continue those special services that they've been receiving through First Steps. Uh if they do the evaluation and end up qualifying on their third birthday, then they would become um one of our students and we continue those services. Um generally they are through developmental delay, speech impairment,
073language impairment. We service all students. Um have some students with autism. We've got some behavior, um non-verbal, you name it, we take it. They're they're our kids. Um so we aim to have a 50-50 ratio for class lists um with students with special needs as well as typically developing peers. Um those typically developing peers pay a monthly tuition. So today we want to inform you of how that process is going for us. Um background 2004 uh we started with 38 students and we only had five year olds at that time. So they were their last year before kindergarten. Um with 26 identified 12 typically developing peers. I won't go through all of the numbers that they are all right here. Um up until 2013 tuition was free to all anyone that attended. So, like I
074stated before, the special education services, um, those students do attend our preschool program for free. Um, but if you're a typically developing peer, then you do pay a monthly, uh, tuition charge, and that started in 2013. Uh, that's also when we started with a two-day option, a three-day, and a five-day option. Um, so two-day was generally three-year-olds, 3-day was four year olds, and five-day was four turning five. Uh at that time in 2013, we offered um tuition assistance which was through United Way. It was a grant program um and we followed the free and reduced eligibility criteria for families to complete that um to be eligible for those. Uh 2015 uh tuition was required then for um all students and the tuition assistance was eliminated. Also in the past um from 2004 to 2015 transportation
075was provided for typically developing peers throughout the district. So our buses went and picked them up wherever they were on a half-day program. Um picked them up and took them back to wherever that was daycare, home, whichever. Um that was eliminated in 2015. Um and we all moved to Flint Springs at that time. So we had been at Lincoln. Sorry, go back to the other one. Um, we started at Lincoln, then we were at Lincoln and Horseman. Um, then in 2019, we added one at Andrews as well. 2011, we all went to the Horseman Education Center. We had the privilege of sharing that building with the administration at that time. Um, so we were in our own wing and then got to spend our time with them. And then we all went to back where
076I was 2015, we all went to Flint Springs. So at that time there were three classes um of all mixed. So we had 64 identified students, 36 typically developing peers and as I stated before tuition was required. Um in 2016 we had four classes at Flint Springs with 99 students, 60 identified and 39 typically developing peers. 2019 uh we split and two classes went to Flint Springs, two classes went to Lincoln. Um, and all of the students attended five days a week. We eliminated that 2-day, 3-day, 5day, and provided that opportunity for all of the students to come five days a week. Um, tuition was then uh changed to $100 a month. Um, in 2013, then Flint Springs, Lincoln, and Andrews, we started that in January with Christy. She started that classroom, and we had
077120 students in our program. Our goal is to have a preschool in every elementary building. We are so close. Um so Flint Springs, Lincoln, Andrews, Salimony, we just opened this year as well. And in August of 2025, we will be opening a preschool at Ronoke. So we will be so close. Horseman is our last one. We are working through the kinks to figure that out. But just because their your students home school is horse man doesn't mean you don't have an opportunity to attend. Um those students still have the opportunity to attend at Lincoln or Andrews just depending on spaces and availability. Um so for 2025 I right now it's projected that we will have 137 students um that will be enrolled in the preschool program. 102 typically developing peers will be attending as well
078as 35 identified students. Um, right now we are working through the process of vouchers and Christie will go through that in just a little bit, but we are asking that we have permission to raise our tuition price to $200 a month um just to compete with the area preschools that we do have. Um, right here I have a couple examples of some other programming around. Uh, 3-day programming is 115 a month, 5day 200, and 5day 175. just depends on where you go. Um, but these are half day programs as well. So depending on what school you go to, um, everyone attends two and a half hours, AM or PM. And next, I believe we have vouchers. Before we go on, does anybody have any questions about what has taken place in the past with preschool?
079So, just so the board knows is that um at the and again another consent agenda item is I'll be recommending that rate increase to $200. It's still um quite affordable with what you see that we're offering on a full day experience versus some of those that you see budget can continue to support some of the pieces that we're doing. So, we've got to more and more make this self-funded uh to make this to make this work just for the sheer fact of of financial um reasons. I'm not trying to scare you, but uh I've been um if you want to come over to my house on the weekends and sit at the kitchen table and try to pencil all this out, it makes for an interesting math uh problem. Um, we cannot uh be subsidizing
080uh programming like we have been doing before. It's just a it's just a reality. Not trying to be defeist. I'm not trying to say anything else. It's just the facts where we're in. So, I appreciate um the three of you and your leadership with doing. But now's the time to ask those questions or call me or Jay and ask those in the meantime. But otherwise, that's going to be another consent agenda item on the 28th. Then Jay, did I say that? You did. And I'd like to say, and maybe this is not the time, but maybe at the end, um, Mr. Trout, I appreciate your leadership because my goal has always been to have a preschool in every elementary school. Being an elementary administrator for 32 years, man, when you've got those preschoolers and you
081can get them in, uh, and you know that, hey, you're going to have 16 or 18 or 20 kids that are going to join you in kindergarten, um, it's just it's amazing. And so, Mr. Trout, thank you for your leadership. Um, we're almost there. Um, we're very, very close and and horse man, as the ladies have said, we're working through uh that. Um, but um what a dream come true. But again, it takes an awesome group here and these three ladies are awesome to work with and u kudos to them. So, Christie, let's talk about vouchers. Okay, so um this year we started with the voucher program. So what I do, one of my main roles is getting the vouchers and helping the families get those um applications sent in. So there are two different
082types of vouchers. There's the childcare development fund voucher which is the CCDF and families can apply for that if they're under the 150% of the federal poverty level. There is that is for three-year-old students. So then the on myway prek voucher, the OMW, is also based upon a federal poverty level, just their income, and it has to be under 185%. So, and that's for four-year-old students who are going on to kindergarten the following year. So, in order to help them get set up with those, I have four events coming up in the next couple of weeks and one at Lincoln, one at Flint Springs, one at Camony, one at Rono, and we're having Sarah Anderson, who is the on my way project manager. She'll be the one that is there helping them. She will help
083them with all their paperwork. She'll help them apply. She will upload their documents for them. She'll make sure they're eligible. Uh she'll tell them if they're not eligible. Um, so that's that's what she's going to do. She answers any questions that they might have, she's going to be perfect for helping us to get more vouchers for next year. So the vouchers, if they do not qualify for the vouchers, everybody is going to apply so that that way we can get as much of those dollars as we can. So, she is going to help them apply and then if not then they will have a self-pay rate. If they are on the wait list because there is a wait list right now for the vouchers. If they are on the wait list waiting to get those
084funds then their self-pay will be reduced. It'll be at a reduced rate because $200. So, they'll will reduce that rate for them while they're waiting. Uh those who are ineligible then will have the self-pay rate. Uh students who qualify as identified students receiving special services will not pay a tuition, but we're hoping to get some of those voucher dollars for them. So again, the benefits of the voucher is the families don't have to pay a tuition if they qualify and receive those funds and it'll help us become self-funded in the future. Uh so an example if just half of the 137 students that um that we have planned for next year was to get the on my way voucher that's $379,000 if just half of them get it. So, um, just so you kind of
085understand the budget behind preschool, it's kind of we pull from lots of different places. Okay. Um, so currently, uh, I have two special education grants that that fund part of, um, preschool salaries and benefits for teachers. Um, my one grant is about 1.3 million every year, give or take, just a little bit, but that's pretty standard. Um, and then the other actual preschool grant is about $50,000. Um, so that preschool grant, of course, goes straight to preschool. Um, the special ed grant that I'm talking about, um, we try to do 50% um, salaries and benefits for preschool teachers from there. um as well as then what I'll talk about with education funds. Um the rest of my pres or the rest of my special ed grant pretty much goes to salaries and benefits of other
086special education programming and teachers. Um and so uh that portion is there. Um and then as far as from the education fund um we do pull money from there but I I need you to understand kind of what that looks like. Um, we have a membership count every October one. Everybody knows about a membership count where we get uh a defined amount of money for each student that's enrolled with us. But on the special ed side, there's also a count day and that's the December one count where we get additional funds for um and it's all a tier based um system. We get additional funds for students with special education services. Um, preschoolers are kind of a flat fee. All of them, if they're special education, get um, for a long time it was about
087$3,000. It's moved up to about $3,600 per student. So, all of that money after the December one count, depending on what that number is for preschool, special ed at December one, all gets trickled into the the education fund. Um, and so that money can be used for preschool students. uh we have tuition um that our typically developing peers, those parents pay tuition, that $100 a month. Um and then just this year we started the voucher system and trying to pull some of those funds. And so these are really I mean kind of good numbers, but rough I mean kind of rough estimates of things. um just so you can see kind of what we spend on on preschool from the 2022 2023 school year and then kind of what we're hoping projected the next two
088years. So you can see tuition doesn't really pull in a whole lot of money for us by the time we pay for some things. You know, we pay for snacks out of there. We pay um a little bit of staffing out of tuition as well. um we get about, you know, 35 $40,000. Just by increasing it to $200 a month, it allows us to pull in about $130,000. Um and that's still paying for all estimating all those other costs of still paying um snacks and those kinds of things out of there. um as far as the education fund and that those APC dollars or that December one count um and that all depends on kind of what that number is on December one. So you can see in 2023 we had fewer special ed students
089on that count than what we did in 2024 2025. Um and so that kind of fluctuates. Um but generally speaking, um we're going to look at and project that we have about $370,000 from that December one count. Um and just know that that all depends on that number. Um and then as far as vouchers, so we didn't haven't done vouchers before this year. Um there was a lot of stuff that was tied to pulling voucher money. Um like a lot of requirements that they lessened um this last year. So, we were able to start doing that um a little easier. Um and so this year so far we have about 32,000 um that we have pulled from there. But as Christie said, if we could get half of the half of our families to do
090it, you're looking at, you know, 370,000 or $380,000 um approximately in voucher money that we could could get. Um, and then as far as part B special ed grant, um, I'm just showing you kind of the numbers of what that 5050 ratio is for me. Um, and that's pretty standard. That's as we add teachers, we're going to have to add a little bit more out of that special ed grant. Um, and so our goal is to always pay kind of 5050 for teachers out of that. Um, and so you can kind of see what all of our expenses are and we've been in the red with our expenses. Um, and I for the current year I kind of have some asterisks there because we're of course still spending that money out. Um, but our goal
091is that we can be self-funded. Um, and so when I you look at the projected numbers and I have kind of an estimated of a revenue by the end of $360,000, that doesn't mean we're going to pocket 30 $360,000 and just hold that into preschool. What that means is that allows us then to look at that special ed part B grant or look at the education fund and where can re re where can we reallocate those funds to other programming because we don't need it in in preschool, right? We our our goal is to kind of break even in that total just through vouchers and tuition and those APC dollars for in the education fund. questions. My two things is my two things is I know you don't think I look at the stuff that
092comes from the state but actually enough room at all the elementary schools for this or are we getting starting to get crowded that's that we're crowded that's a great question Gary because right now as we have set and we've brainstormed and we brainstormed with Mr. trout um horse man there's no room in the end okay in the building and that's why you have them split I take okay currently right now and so what are those other options that we have out there in our community possibly that we could begin a preschool program at Horseman again we start in the fall at Ron Oak excited about that uh happening and so Horseman's the last one and so um again through planning through discussion um what's that look like um that would be our next steps Well,
093that's a that was going to be my question too is um there's a lot of focus on early childhood now and so what is the max? I mean, how do you handle the parents that say, "What do you mean I'm not I'm one one too late, one day too late?" I mean, you look at you look at the state statistics and it's black and white. kids that are in your own school preschool when they get to kindergarten, they're night and day to kids that are coming out of another preschool going into your kindergarten. So, I'm all we just got to figure out now where we're putting. Right. And you guys have done great with the preschool and I'm all for growing it. But us as a board now, I got to figure out where we're
094growing it. Right. Right. And I will tell you that I am full. I That's one thing. I don't have a cap, but when I get these numbers from from first steps, I have projected numbers until about December. So, I have to I always say I do a puzzle with like 25% of the pieces because I don't have I don't know how many kids are coming down the pipeline yet. Um, but I have to leave those spots. So, my goal is to have eight typically developing peers and eight identified students. Now, they may get a little bit higher than that. I try not to do that. Um, but right now when parents are calling to enroll their kids in preschool and I tell them that they're full, I have to explain that process of that we
095accept, you know, student I have to keep those spots open for those students as well. I do have a couple spots left in the afternoon class at Salomony, but other than that, we are full with typically developing peer spots. So, super excited about that. I think you're only going to get bigger. Yes. So, I do have a weight list that have started and as positive things from your guys at preschool. Yeah. as parents have changed their mind or whatever in a first come first serve. It's going to be a bad it's going to be a good problem if you're going to have a problem. So, this is a multiaceted um conversation that we're going to have with you um because it ties in to the work that we're doing with uh Vidian Architectural Firm. It
096ties into your planning that you're going to do with bonds coming off. Um the way that we set up tonight's meeting was not done accidentally. Um because we're have if you see what's happening is um we're going to end up having the same problems at CTE programming at the learning center because we just by going to our own leaving the area 18. You just heard how the timelines ex, you know, expediate here and now more kids are taking advantage of those opportunities. This is the first time I've ever said this. I've never said it to anybody around the table or in the community. Nothing would make me any happier than giving every student an opportunity for preschool that wants to have it in this community. And um I think we have to dare to be
097great and dare to think that way. And if the numbers make me smile, but those numbers will not get me to where I want to be until every student, every preschooler in this community that wants to have a preschool opportunity can have one. And so we're just trying to figure out how to get one in every uh building. But for us to continue to grow and to continue to do what we're going to do, we're going to have to look at other alternatives on top of that uh to do that because the statistic research is crystal clear on this piece is that when you can get a three-year-old in, a four-year-old in and start that process, they are so ready for kindergarten. Um it's incredible. I went into a preschool classroom today and what those
098children were doing blew me away. It's typically what we were doing with our kindergarteners and they're ready. I mean, they are they're ready. And so that's that's good. The last thing, and this is not why we do it, but we were being taken advantage of by other school districts that had preschool programs that and we didn't have one and they were offering it. And that's how if you can get these kids in your school, they'll stay, right? And so behind the scenes, I think some of the again to tie back to what your earlier question about enrollment, I think this plays a factor in that. I mean, I think it it really does uh do that. But let me say this in closing with this. It's one thing to have a preschool program. It's one
099thing to have dynamite people running it and teaching it. And um if you don't have the right teachers, it doesn't work. And we have been really blessed in that area to have people who are child- centered uh research-based practitioners who understand how a three and four and 5year-old learn, right? And so we have been blessed. The leadership's good. It's great. They have um I thought I could stay out ahead of them and I'm pedaling as hard as I can to stay up with them at this point. And so I I'm encouraged by what we're doing and what we're seeing with that. So, thank you. I had a mom tell me kid went through preschool. They had four kids. The one in preschool, went through your preschool, was ready for kindergarten versus the other three weren't
100because they was already in your building. So, she said the one going three had already been ready to go to kindergarten because he been through having him in your building made a big difference. Any other questions? Ladies, thank you so much. Appreciate each one of you and the skill and expertise that you bring each day. And it's been fun working with you. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Thank you, Mr. Meltchure. And a second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Wall. All those in favor say I. I those enclosed.