001e e e righty I'm Mr Allen here Mr mclen here Mr meler thank you Mrs Gray go to A5 revision of the agenda Mr trout we have any reion yes we have one revision of the agenda which we will place in section D the new agenda items two um which will be a Washington DC trip we have a presentation by Mrs baram and we'll be asking for your approval thank you Mr trout would anybody like to make a motion to change the agenda motion to approve the revision to the agenda and a second thank you Aaron any questions or comments before we vote hearing none let's vote on the revision go to sleep maybe go to sleep maybe vote passes unanimously move on to B1 core values discussion this is always an exciting time of
002our board meeting where we can honor uh individuals and staff members for their outstanding contributions and good evening uh tonight is no different uh we're excited to recognize uh several outstanding IND individuals whose accomplishments exemplify the core values of Huntington County Community Schools these honores have demonstrated Excellence perseverance and dedication and it's a privilege for us to celebrate their achievements tonight let's meet our core value honores when I call your name please come up front for a photo opportunity family members please step out of your seats and feel free to join in and and you're welcome to come up and and take a photo at this time as well our first Honore is Huntington North senior Marissa tra out Marissa has earned her place in the prestigious 1,000 Point Club for basketball scoring her Milestone
003point during the January 4th game against Noblesville Marissa joins an elite group of former Huntington North athletes including Jenny eert Nancy Hoover Abby Wilson Lisa witer and Taylor double Beyond her achievements on the court Marissa is continuing her academic and athletic career at Taylor University next year I have to add no one knows this and I've shared this with Marissa back December the 8th 2021 I asked for Marissa's autograph because I wanted to be the first one to receive her autograph because I knew this day was going to happen for her and that she would be signing a scholarship opportunity to go and play at that next level so Marissa congratulations we are so so proud of you best wishes Marissa trout [Applause] oh hold still congratulations Marissa our next honor I don't believe is
004here but let me just do a little highlight and maybe we can bring him to the next next board meeting if we could uh in person but on January the 11th Ethan zh set a new single game scoring record with 42 points during a game against Southwood uh he had five rebounds five assists five steals uh leading the Vikes to Victory his 42 points broke a previous record of 4 points which was shared by Adam Thompson and Hunter Hollowell and so big congratulations uh coach there was never a shot I didn't like boy I'm telling you what probably ice his elbow after that game was over with but that's uh what a feat and congratulations to Ethan and hopefully we can bring him back to the next board meeting and uh recognize him in person
005I'm not sure where you'd hang that but yeah okay all right okay okay next up uh Alex B Burgess hccs Food Service uh director last but certainly not least we recognize the hccs director of food services for passing the school nutrition Association credentialing exam this nationally recognized designation highlights expertise in the USDA Professional Standards for school nutrition Personnel this achievement scores their commitment to providing exceptional service to our students congratulations Alex well done and that concludes our core values for for this evening thank you Mr Peters moving on to C1 public comment no one has signed up to speak this evening if someone would like to come up and speak um we just ask that you leave your give your name when you when you come up and we'll have you sign the paper no
006one come forward we will move move on to D1 special presentation student data Mr Allen board and Community uh tonight's data presentation is uh some general information uh that I find uh intriguing in terms of an era uh for schools of school choice we know that uh kids can uh choose what school they go to they have a wide variety of options and so what we have put together for your review and for our community is a chart that basically shows the percentage of kids that live within your school settlement and in layman's terms basically that live in your school district and what percentage of those kids that live in your school district attend uh another Avenue those Avenues might be um online school they might be a school of religious choice or it could
007be another public school and so uh one of the interesting facts when I see this era is I'm always very uh um aware of where our kids go to school and it's something Mr trout and Mr Peters and I and Mr mlin speak about but if you look uh Huntington Community Schools uh has about 15% of the kids that live within our legal settlement our School boundaries that attend another option if you compare that to some of the area schools I think it's very interesting data to see how maybe our school district does our community does uh in the percentages compared to some of the the surrounding ones I will tell you that the um when I look at Statewide uh we are doing quite well uh Mr trouton Schoolboard in terms of comparison analysis
008it's super important to understand what we're looking at here um we want every kid to attend Huntington schools that live in our district I assure we think we are absolutely the best game in town and in the area and we're super proud of our school district our teachers and our culture and our academic achievements when I see 15% and I see some of the area ones around it gives us uh an analysis that we can say yeah we we're doing pretty well considering we always want to look to improve in a continuous Improvement model and we always want to be aware of that 15% and where it's going in the future um an interesting data point is um our Jay and I's Administrative Assistant Tanya lchm and I were looking through this school distri districts
009that also have uh other options within its boundaries for instance um 141 of our kids that are in that 15% go to Huntington Catholic that makes sense due to religious preference that might be something a family might choose I say that because of that 15% uh where do our kids go and 241 of them choose a school like that that is um a a data piece so when you say 15% there's three three Avenues they go to will 241 of those kids choose a religious school due to church preference or due to family preference I understand that group um a percentage of that 15% also choose online school you will see some data in an upcoming work session about the number of kids we currently have on online school uh the different buckets that we
010will present to you for online schools in the future for our kids and you'll also see a percentage of that that choose just other public schools that might be the primary reason is relative location to home sometimes not just in Huntington but in other districts so if a school is maybe right across the border sometimes those children choose a closer school so interesting data for us to consider we monitor this closely and I will tell you that these kinds of data points come up as we look at Future programming um I'm looking forward to one of our presentations when you see our our um data that I'll bring forward to Mr trout and the board on our virtual education program that we're currently running a couple of different avenues that we're considering and also uh
011kids that go to other public schools and maybe what programs we have that they don't have and are they going there for another reason or a program that we might consider so I want you to have this uh Mr Allen School Board and our community so you can see we do very well we're always looking to improve so if you have questions on that data I'm glad to to take them if not um I'm glad that Mr trout let us have a data presentation just to continually let you look at what we talk about regularly yeah this is straight from the idoe this is not data that we put together but this is straight from the IND Department of Ed um many times when I'm out and about in different parts of the county the
012perception is is that we are doing so far worse than so many of our neighbors in regards to where children are attending school and now as a school board you have the most recent data in front of you that paints the picture I agree with Mr brimberry wholeheartedly that we need uh we want to do a better job on our 15% but when you compare that with Southern Wells with 19% wbas County 29% wico 31% um Norwell's two points higher than us uh in regards to students transferring out of their District um and so I'm just letting you see some of a lot of the data that Chuck and Jay and I uh look at on a consistent basis now um we'll be coming to you in the spring telling you how do we what
013do we do with that 15% and we have some plans in place um before the start of the next school year uh within that but we just wanted to share with you some data that we are looking at and this is going to become common practice at our school board meetings because um we live in this and now we want to do a better job of sharing it uh so that we're all working from the same points so thank you Chuck you bet thank you Mr trout Mr brimberry anybody have any comments before we move on appreciate that data I think it does paint a very nice picture for us um and I'm not surprised so appreciate that uh moving on to E the consent agenda items one through nine we got one more D
014to Mr I'm sorry right we had theion my fault we're going to have to log out and log back in to to see the update I figured that out yeah okay thanks Gary if Gary figured this out we better hang on let's not rush into this okay Mandy while we're figuring you and Holly while we're figuring this out uh so we can see this I do appreciate both of you coming today uh to present um board what we're going to do tonight is uh seek your approval of the Crest View trip to Washington DC in June of 2026 yes so not this June but June of 2026 we will uh be um looking forward to this trip so ladies we'll turn it over to you and we'll begin from there then okay okay so I'm
015Andy Barnum this is Holly Harris teachers at Crestview this trip to Washington DC will be my seventh I think that I've taken with students um but surprised there was a change like kind of a snafu in the way that they're doing things so traditionally we take the trip um we leave on a Friday evening drive all night and we start touring first thing Saturday morning and that's that's how it goes and we get a full day Saturday a full day Sunday and then a full day Monday and then we drive through the night to get home and we come back Tuesday morning apparently this is brand new news to us which was why there was a lot of scrambling on my part but apparently the rules for the coaches have changed and they no longer
016want to do the drive through the night so when we signed up this year unbeknownst to us the format was different so our students are now going to arrive Friday morning drive during the day on Friday because coach buses will longer go overnight because I guess accidents and issues with that liability insurance got expensive I mean and that is completely Fair um so now it will be in the we'll leave in the morning and then we would get there that evening no touring would happen on Friday we would go right to the hotel and then we would get up we'd Tour all day Saturday Hotel all day Sunday now that's a third night in a hotel so there's an added cost because we have three nights in the hotel and then on Monday we only
017get three hours in and then we have to leave to make it back that same day I did not like this option because it's more expensive for our families and it's cutting the time short like we don't get a full third day so I pushed back at the company and said I don't like this so we've been scrambling trying to get them to give us something different literally today what time did I get that like 4 p.m. today this came through so this is this is brand new I emailed the parents or parents squared the parents before I came I have six people have signed up so far so I parent squared them to give them this as an option so one of these two options would be what we go with the second option
018is to fly I've never considered that in the past because it is typically more expensive but they guaranteed me that if people were already signed up that the price would stay the same because they would offer a $100 discount for for signing up before June and then $75 for signing up within seven days of a parent meeting uh so they're going to offer that when I have another parent meeting they would offer that to incoming people too at least for those first seven days for that extra $75 um we would get to the airport it could be Friday or Saturday I prefer I think Saturday so parents wouldn't have issues with getting their children to the airport or getting their children to where I don't it's so new we have haven't decided would we meet
019at Crestview and take everybody to the airport I don't know yet um but meeting wherever so it would be pretty early we would get a pretty early flight we would get in midm morning we'd have all day on Satur Friday or Saturday whichever day it was we'd have the hotel night we get up the next day Tour all day that day one more Hotel night so we're back to two Hotel nights tour almost all day the next day take a late flight and get back we'd be flying out of Fort Wayne so that's pretty convenient um so that is an option I put that out to the six who have signed up so far I've heard back from one parent who likes the flying idea better I have never taken students to the airport I
020have lots of feelings about this but I'm sure it'll be fine um uh so so there are kind of two options on the table right now because I really don't like jipping them that third day I think it's really important you're only there a limited amount of time they need to get as much time in as they can so I don't have definitive like everything super nailed down right now because of that issue so Mandy if if we had approved this tonight and when you do get it all solidified and whatever else if you could send it to myself or Mr brimberry then we can get that back out uh to the board but yeah we just want to make sure you can keep moving here yes okay yes absolutely go ahead okay uh Cindy
021can you go to the next slide for me please thank you okay so right now the price is potentially right around $1,500 for a student again the adverti price will be about $175 more than that um but with those discounts they're able to bring the price right back down um so people who would sign up like let's say next school year they would pay that more expensive price um adults have a higher price again it's going to stay the same um even with flying now as long as they're signed up within those parameters uh their price is higher because uh with students it's quad occupancy with adults we thought it would be weird to tell them to share a bed with somebody they've never met it's just weird so they're only two um occupants and
022like like I said as of right now we have six people signed up um it really all of those numbers also depend on how many people go I've never had trouble meeting the minimum number but the prices are going up exponentially I think it I mean it was only like maybe five years ago ago like right before covid people were paying not even $ thousand dollar for their students so yeah it's just so I I don't know I don't know how how well this will go but um so that's that's where we are right now included in the price all their meals all the transportation including their flights if we fly uh all the hotel accommodations there are course leaders so depending on how many kids we have if I we have two buses which
023I have had in the past F we get two course leaders so there's one course leader per bus of students and they're the people who have all the knowledge uh we have on call doctors which I have used before um and generally speaking it's worked really well we have on call emergency support there are night shapon who sit out in the halls and their job is just to watch the rooms all night um so that's really nice all admission fees if that if those if like Mount Vernon places like that that charge that um there is limited accident in health insurance ins next slide um so yeah current participants we have two chaperon from Crestview we have one adult chaperone right now who signed up and then we have five students so potential itinerary we
024typically make it to the National Archives we go to pretty much all the memorials I would say maybe like sometimes we don't go to um Thomas Jeff the Jefferson Memorial um but like generally speaking we hit all of them uh sometimes we go to Ford's Theater we at least get a picture opportunity outside we always get the picture outside the white house uh they'll see the capital building we don't take the tour anymore because the kids it's not very engaging for kids uh we go to the Holocaust Memorial the Spy Museum is a favorite so fun this is my favorite when it happens in my classroom we will go to Mount Vernon uh we do the Pentagon 911 memorial which is really good um we see some of the Smithsonian so typically they'll do um
025the American history and um uh sometimes we'll do the art Smithsonian sometimes that's a little risky uh we do air and space but not normally the one that's on the mall we go to the udvar hazy air in space which has like actual like space shuttles and all kinds of cool planes like that's the one to go to uh we did the National Cathedral last time we didn't end up actually getting our tour though because they were super behind so we had kind of an abbreviated time in there I would like to go back we'll do Arlington for sure um so the history is Matt Groves began this about 11-ish years ago he took a trip with only eighth graders he had a hard time getting enough students to go and I think they actually
026incurred additional costs because he didn't eat that meet that minimum threshold uh we when I took it over I did seventh and eighth grade made it every other year and then I was taking in the beginning I was taking anywhere between 60 and 70 students pretty much every time we went um this last time again the prices were higher this last time I took 35 people so not nearly as many so we'll see how it goes this time um but throughout the course of the time we've been doing this more than 300 students have traveled um so Holly will be taking over for me because I I am doing too many things and I need to let some things go so this would be it so yeah so what's you're looking for this evening is
027approval yes uh for you to continue to plan continue to move forward as you can see um there are some details that we're still putting together but that's just uh necessary for all the uh two of you want to do this with them and so it's something that's a they'll never forget it's quite an experience so thank you so Mr Allen I think what we're looking for is a motion in a second some discussion and see if the board will approve their request is would anybody like to make a mtion motion uh about this uh trip thank you Mrs Miller a second second thank you Mr Carl any discussion questions I would just say yeah this is a really nice program um I mean I can't imagine how much fun it' be to go to
028DC when you're that age um as long as Mom and Dad don't go you know of course um but uh thank you and this is June of 2026 just to be confirmed okay all righty um oh go ahead I was just gonna say I actually took the trip I'm hearing a delay sorry about thatp when I took the trip when I was in eth grade and and truly enjoyed the trip truly enjoyed the trip at crvw so I'm full for it that's good stuff Mr wall thank you um any other questions or comments then let's vote on the motion motion passes 70 move on to item e consent agenda one through nine Mr trout yes I'll draw your attention uh if you want to uh scroll down to number eight uh this evening um again
029I want to thank our community for continuing to support us tonight we have we asking for donations uh for $ 6,069 you can see um a variety of those um that are there uh and so I continue just to want to say thank you uh to our community for their continued support um of of our schools um you'll also see number nine the accounts payable and payroll voucher registers that are also there so I'm just seeking your approval of the consent related agenda items thank you Mr trout would anyone like to make a motion about the consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda is presented thank you Mr meler in a second second thank you Mrs Heim sorry Gary any questions or comments before we vote hearing none we'll vote on the motion for
030the consent agenda motion passes 70 move on to F Finance F1 request to dispose of obsolete materials Tiffany Drummond uh the principal at our Learning Center is here to present this agenda item for you this evening good evening as we continue to modernize our chop spaces make them the best that we can be for our students sometimes we need to let go of equipment that's no longer working or that we no longer need so this memo just outlines two pieces of equipment in our construction shop that we would like to dispose of and our plan would be to include that in an auction and then put the profit back into that construction program do you have any questions uh we're going to take a motion first if that's okay anybody like to make a motion
031for this motion to approve the disposal of disposal of obsolete materials thank you Mr Melcher and do we have a second thank you Gary any questions or comments from Mr just um not really matters but how do you price these is there I saw there was prices on them is this just a eBay thing or I I don't know yeah our instructors um structures watch the auctions pretty closely so they kind of look at market value okay thank you any other questions thank you Mrs drumond we will vote on the motion motion passes 70 move on to F2 2025 mileage reimbursement yes the Internal Revenue Service has increased the rate of mileage reimbursement for tra business travel this year of 2025 to 70 cents per mile so we are seeking your approval of that rate
032change thank you Mr trout would anyone like to make a motion about the change in business mileage I make a motion to approve the 2025 business mileage reimbursement rate thank you Mrs Heim is there anyone want wish to second second thank you Mr Melcher any questions or comments before we vote hearing none we'll vote on the motion motion passes 70 move on to F3 2024 year end transfer resolution M Smith good evening can you hear me good evening president Allen members of the board Mr trout um I bring to you this evening um a year-end resolution and wanted to give you um a little bit of background uh for this resolution and other resolutions that might um be coming in the future uh just a reminder during our budget Workshop we talk about um the
033past of when new funds were established for instance we used to have what's called general fund we had a a capital projects fund a transportation operating fund and a bus replacement Fund in 2019 the general fund used to be um comprised of four categories two of those categories of the four moved into the new education fund the other two categories moved into the operations fund new operations fund which then absorbed those two categories the old capital projects fund the old Transportation fund and the bus replacement fund all into that one so those three old funds along with two categories the funding that we used to receive from our old general fund 100% of that mostly 99.9% of that came from um tuition support the basic Grant which um is comprised of Factor times our ADM
034our average daily membership all of that um Revenue used to go on our old general fund when they created these two new funds in 2019 they separated those categories but they did not separate the funding so kind of wanted to go over that so when you see that um education to operations transfer that I do during the budget year process that is because the legislative session um created those two new funds but the funding still goes only in the One Fund so we are allowed up to 15% each year to transfer from those dollars that they did not separate why not we don't know that would have made life a lot easier and less complicated um to transfer 15% from our education fund to our operations fund to um cover those two categories that moved
035over so it isn't a lot of perception might come from the public thinking oh wait a minute you guys can't even fund your operations fund because you're always having to do these transfers it has nothing to about do about funding it it was the the change in the categories that uh the legislative session moved and created these new funds so I kind of wanted to give some of that background um and then also our debt service fund as you know we've been talking the last couple years during the budget session also um our debt service f fund is our main fund that we use for construction projects it consists of bonds that we sell that are up to a certain threshold usually around between five and six um million dollars and then anything over that
036amount that is needed is um a lease it's like a mortgage that we take out on one of our buildings so those two types of financing um make up our debt service fund that um like I said helps with all of our major construction projects our other fund or operations fund also helps with construction projects and can um but it has a different type of threshold because like I just indicated it has all those other aspects that it has to pay so you usually you build in money in our um operations fund to help with General Repair and maintenance for instance it could be for Paving lighting Roofing those type of repairs and maintenance and that's what you build in your regular operations fund for that if you recall during the budget process we have
037a capital projects plan that all that goes into so our capital projects plan supports whatever we want to pay out of our operations fund the capital projects plan does not um list things that are done from The Debt Service that are um a bigger construction so um while doing that of course we have our operations fund um at the end of the year we look at our operations fund and our education fund and if we have any you know money in our rainy day fund we look at all those dollars at the end of the year and we want to um keep those stable so to speak we want to make sure that we're paying our teachers and our staff the best that we can pay them and market value all those type of things
038and then if we have excess then districts customarily move some of that money from those major funds into our r day so our rainy day is just like it sounds it's for a rainy day most districts um usually have a normal of 10 to 15% in their rainy day in case the wheels come off the bus during a legislative session and you have two years and you don't have extra money then that will help you limp along so that's usually why that's a customary um percentage to have in our education and operations fund um it is good to have 15 to 20% as a minimum we here at um uh Huntington have um very nice balances in our um in our finances and our cash balance by Design now we are taking some of those
039cash balance just like you knew um the last two years when we had our two-year agreement to be able to provide higher salaries for our teachers now on the other side our operations fund now we are looking at that facility study that was done several years ago and we are starting to chip away at that facility study between the two funds that I talked about our debt service fund and our operations fund So currently um we have over 30% balance in our operations fund been working with u Mr trout and other administrators to um work that facility study all of those things into um spending some of that cash balance um down to be able to do that in conjunction with our debt service so all of that just to give you a little history
040um with this transfer we are asking for um $1.88 million to be transferred from our operations fund um to our rainy day fund one thing that I did neglect to say is we did end up with slightly higher balance in our operations fund due to if you recall our Esser our Esser grants that we had during the pandemic it was a threeyear grant that we had we had cares one Sr 2 Sr three for sr2 and sr3 when you have grants you usually have to use the restricted indirect cost rate which usually average in the 2% two to three% during this time the federal government decided that we could use the unrestricted rate which then ranges from 13 to 15% big difference of Revenue that that brings into the district so the the higher amount
041this year is due to that excess that we received from that difference of that percentage that we were able to put in our operations fund therefore that's why we're asking for this amount to be transferred into our rainy day after this transfer um if board approves uh it would still leave over 33% cash balance in our operations fund and a six% cash balance in our rainy day still not up to that 10 to 15% that is usually the norm but we're getting there so we're making strides on both sides um to get to our um goals here at Huntington now I know that's a lot of information but you do have the resolution in your packet and I'd be happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time for this res for
042this year end transfer resolution thank you Mrs Smith would anybody like to make a motion reference approval of the 2024 year end transfer resolution make a motion to approve the make a motion to approve the 202 go ahead Ryan go ahead Matt go ahead Ryan you got it go ahead Matt motion to approve the 202 transfer resolution as presented thank you Mr melt Mr wall would you like thank you thank you Mr wall any questions or comments for Mrs Smith I just want to thank Becky for I just want to thank Becky for trying to have have fun with thisiz I want to thank Becky for explaining this because it was a little confusing when we came outs a lot better definitely explains a lot better and makes more understandable basically she's getting us basically
043she's getting us final better Financial place by doing this yes we are we are incredibly blessed to be just candid with you of where we sit financially with this and Becky you play a large role in that but as does the board and pass boards along the way I need I need to add to too Becky uh shared with you some of the goals what we're going to be working with you by the summer is in our strategic plan she hit on a few of the goals we have and so how are we going to reach those how we going to obtain those financially and so um she gave you the brief history lesson but this is more of this was forthcoming um this summer along the way so um Becky I continue to appreciate
044your guidance and Direction but this puts us in a really good spot so thank thank you any other questions and comments thank you Mrs Smith we will hearing none will vote on the motion qu I'll pass it I also want to add while you're um voting that reminder that next month I'll be doing the year presentation so a lot of the stuff might come up then and also um updated cash balances how we ended up the um calendar year remember these funds are calendar year budgets January through December so we'll be giving a a nice highlight to that next month thank you Mrs Smith Mr wall will be excited okay moving on we'll go to that's not that's not fair facility G facilities G1 request to award request to award requests for proposal for Crest
045View serving line project uh Mr Alex Burgess our director of Food Service uh has this presentation for you and recommendation thank you Alex thank you thank you for having me this evening I'm very excited to be here tonight um I know you guys have uh the nuts and bolts of all the information in your packets I want to give you a little bit of background on the information that you have in front of you five years ago when I came on to Huntington schools I started working with previous director Ken Akens uh we had a goal to replace all of the serving lines in our secondary schools we started with Riverview Middle School where which is where I was kitchen manager at the time uh it was definitely in dire need uh of an upgrade
046and we took on that project and completed it within that first year when I was there obviously the room that you're in and the commons down the hall uh we took a few years on that project it was the next one that made sense with the construction projects going on here uh I think you can see with your eyes and hear the feedback that we have from the student staff and community that it's really come to fruition and been amazing uh the final piece in the puzzle is a Crestfield middle school project um so what we've done then what I've done then in the LA past few months is I put together a request for proposal we published it um as we need to for a project of this size we received four bids uh
047we put together a grading scale and we received um like I said the four bids and the company that uh gave us the most desirable bid is a company called CNT design and Equipment um they're actually the company that did the project at Riverview Middle School I worked closely with them before they did a great job any uh issues that we had with the equipment that came from manufacturer they were very quick to help uh resolve very quickly follow through they still work with us to this day uh the project manager that that proposed this is the same project manager at that time uh as far as funds for the project uh the their bid that they came through with was $192,000 during my time as assistant uh director two years ago I was able
048to procure a grant from action for healthy kids in the amount of $139,000 specifically for this project so the majority of the project actually is going to be funded by a grant um that will uh expire in July of this year they are saying that they will likely be able to have this project done by spring break if not definitely for sure by June of this year so it looks like it will be able to come through fruition by then uh we're hoping that we can show the kids this year this uh by the end of spring break when they come back a new serving line but if not then for sure when the kids come back in the fall so the the recommendation is to award the bid to CNT design and equipment for
049the project itself thank you Mr Burgess would anyone like to make a motion uh recommending the award of the Crestview serving line project make a motion to award the Crestview serving line project um requested request for proposal as presented to CNT thank you Mrs Heim and anybody want a second second thank you Mr mclen any questions or comments from Mr Burgess I just want to say that's amazing like the timeline the the grant the being able to pull all of that together and one it's like you just handed it to us as a gift in a nice little bow I can tell you that it it gives me chills yeah it really does um not just that it did kind of to say it came together uh it did not um it was a lot
050of hard work not on my own but with with the team that I work with and the help that I have in my office uh with my kitchen manager in in the district the fact that they do such a great job every day um that I know that I can lean on them and know that when I walk into the kitchens whether it's at any of our elementary middle and high schools that they're doing their jobs every day I don't have to worry about it you know I walk in it's they're just doing their jobs and so it allows me the freedom to be able to go in and spend time in the office to look at a grant and I mean $140,000 that's a lot of money and not everyone has the time to
051do that and I'm blessed to have a team that is so strong in our district that takes care of our kids so well to be able to do that so I'm blessed to have that and to be able to support my team in that way that is um I'll Echo what Mrs Heim said that is just almost too good to be true honestly um fantastic news it's part of the reason our finances are so good to be honest with you um because of stuff like that um just thank you so much for your work on this any other comments or questions quick question on the the construction timing since this is going to be during the school year how will that affect the the students going through the lunch line it won't the uh the
052the serving themselves are pretty much just a drop and go there's not going to be any kind of construction that will affect the building itself the the current serving lines that are there can literally be wheeled out of the building um you and I could do it ourselves in an hour um the guys are coming in the only the only concern would be is if there was an electrical plugin that does not match up but they should know that ahead of time going into it and it's just a matter of them bringing it in setting the equipment and the the plugins and making sure everything works so it should really just be a matter of an afternoon uh even if it isn't something that they that they can do over spring break they could do
053it after school in one day that's a great question um anything further from Mr burges hearing none we'll vote on the motion Alex thank you I'm really grateful for you um with the award that you won earlier tonight and with this you're doing incredible work for our kids and so I just want to say thank you it's very much my pleasure you know it motion passes 70 moving on to G3 thank you Mr Burgess um moving on to G3 I'm sorry G2 request award bid for h&hs restroom renovation project yes Mr Allen uh Terry thornsbury from veran is here to talk about the proposals um and awarding the bid for the high school renovation project all right um appreciate the board uh give me the opportunity tonight to present these um this bid tab to
054you so the restroom renovation project for hunt North High School um started in October um and so we uh came in and met um with previous uh principal um Pat and he gave us some guidelines on what he wanted to see we also got some input from uh staff and and other administrators so the project consists of the four main student restrooms or eight if you count each one separately uh various staff restrooms throughout the building and the auditorium and Arena restrooms and then two additional new additions uh to the building which would be single use restrooms um in most cases they all going to be now ada8 compliant we are actually taking some walls down to open things up make them ada8 compliant construction schedule would start as soon as possible and the timeline
055for uh completion of construction would be in November of this year 2025 it would be a phased project in which we'd work with the contractor to close restrooms down one at a time as they work their way through the building uh saving the uh restrooms uh down the hallway toward the commons uh for summer definitely and the additions to the building would also be done during the summer um funding for this project came from the most recent Geo bond that was secured in December and that's why the next agenda item is there because we went ahead and worked ahead uh because that's what Huntington schools taught me was work ahead and get your stuff done so so we got everything done we send you a proposal after we're finished so um we received four bids
056from Allen County Builders G&L uh Corporation JG Bowers and shinkle construction JG Bowers came in the low bidder at 1,20,000 and that did did come in actually just a little under our budget so that was great um so tonight I do recommend that we accept an award the bid to JG Bowers in the amount of 1,20,000 thank you Mr thornsbury would anyone like to make a motion regarding the award of the bid motion to accept the bid for the Huntington North High School restroom renovation project from JG Bowers thank you Mr Melcher anyone wish to Second thank you Mr mlen any questions or comments for Mr thornsbury so no more bathtub urals and all that good stuff no we're g to moize they lasted a long time you g to put those up for sale
057for vintage can if you're [Laughter] interested uh any further comments uh let's vote on the motion motion passes 70 moving on to G3 hccs and Verdan architectural design restroom renovation proposal go ahead Mr Allen Mr thornsbury's also here to talk about the proposal between the conditions for the project for the restroom between hccs and in architecture and design yeah I don't have it in front of me I didn't print off a copy but um our proposal is based off construction cost it's a percentage of the fee it's an indry standard and in this case since you didn't have funding uh we waited till January to put it together we already had the bid so that's the number and uh we're just going to play u get things moving as soon as we can based on
058uh the previous item we'll get the contractor moving and and uh get the ball rolling on some middles and hopefully get in here pretty soon thank you Mr thornsbury would anyone like to make a motion reference the proposal motion to approve the Huntington North High School restroom terms and conditions between hccs and vidiian Architectural Design Inc as presented thank you Mr Melcher anyone wish to second second thank you Mrs Heim any comments or questions for Mr thornsbury hearing none let's vote on the motion it's not like we're going to see you here uh Mr thornsberry between now and the fall right every day every day that's what I thought thank you Mr thornsbury motion passes 70 moving on to G4 h&hs and hccs administrative center community open house yes this is just information for you
059this evening uh we have set the date for an open house for March the 6th of this year from 5: to 7 um with for the cafeteria here the family consumer science areas here at Huntington North High School and the science areas at Huntington North High School um in addition uh we'll be having an open house over at the new administrative Center U we've been talking about this a long time and it's coming to fruition uh at 1415 Flex Mill Road we will also be doing that at this point I'll take the opportunity to tell you that we are super close on having that done probably as early as this week uh mostly uh within that and so we are planning we we we're in one big nice happy central office right now we are
060all going to move together happily uh on February the 20th and 21st uh coming up so um the next time we have a board meeting we will be actually uh all in the new administrative Center by that time so it's just informational only that's great news I know we were excited about it and looking forward to it and um certainly is seems like it happened really quick but I know it didn't any questions or comments for Mr trout all right moving on to H1 policies policy 6250 requiring ADM counts for the purpose of State funding and verification of residency for membership yes this is the second reading we're just recommending your approval of policy 6250 um this is required ADM count for the purpose of State funding and verification of residency for membership Um this
061can be really confusing with open enrollment um the amount of man hours we put in every year for residency requirements we shared a chart with you you know just earlier today but this uh Schoolboard policy uh brings us up to current with that so I'm just recommending your approval thank you Mr trout would anyone like to make a motion reference this approval I recommend the approval of policy 6250 required ADM counts for the purpose of State funding and verification of residency for membership as presented thank you Mrs Miller anyone have a second second thank you Mrs Heim any questions or comments prior to voting hearing none let's vote on the motion motion passes 70 moving on to H2 volume 34 number two poly poliy packet uh we had one of our members um had some
062questions about a few of the policies in the packet and to give Mr trout some time to answer those questions we are going I'm going to ask for some of our motion to table this um item until next meeting until the meeting in February can I get a motion for tabling a motion to table uh item H2 34 number two policy packet thank you Mr Carl can I get a second second thank you Mr Melcher any questions or comments let's vote on tbling this policy just to be clear this will come back at the February 24th 2025 meeting you know the time in between this meeting and the 25th I'll make sure I answer those questions and send it back out to all of you and then if you have any additional ones we could
063I'll give us plenty of time then okay thank you Mr trout uh motion passes 70 moving on to H3 this evening I bring to you policy 5410 promotion replacement and retention and I want to highlight uh retention um for the fact of keeping us in compliance with the Senate and World act 1 2024 uh in compliance obviously with the doe regarding uh third grade students that can be retained if they do not pass uh the I3 test it's now I read um but based on the ACT it's it's I 3 and so uh I draw your attention this is a first reading but I draw your attention to in the policy if you'll look to good cause exemptions that may be considered because a corporation shall consider retention of third graders who do not pass
064I read 3 but they give uh five examples there of good cause exemptions that would exempt a student from being retained so this could have some major impl implications uh for us as a district um but in compliance with the Senate enr act one and the id id our policy needs to State this to be in compliance that window we'll do a first reading tonight second reading will be February 24th and then our IAD window opens March 3rd through the 14th and this need to be completed prior to us doing that test testing so uh just wanted to keep you posted again in compliance with the doe uh prior to October 1st uh we sent a letter to all K3 parents letting them know the importance of their children reading or our kids reading at
065uh above at above grade level by the time they leave third grade but also sharing with them what we're going to be doing as a district to support their children and it also puts in there uh the good cause exemptions uh the fact that they could be retained and a part of Senate r act one uh requires us as a district to have summer school for grades students in grades 2 and grades three that were either at risk or did not pass the I3 test so uh some serious implications um for us all as a district uh but making sure that our kids are successful and they're learning to read prior to leaving third grade very important so just want to update you a first read we'll do a second read February 24th but I
066I draw your attention to the good cause exemptions of how students could exempt from being retained thank you thank you Mr Peters uh just to be clear this is happening this year or is this correct yes yes any questions or comments for Mr Peters before we move on yeah so Mr Peters this is also why we are allowed to test our second graders as well so that we can you know do early intervention and help those students that are struggling in second grade move on and pass the the I read yes and if you remember two years ago it was a pilot that you could pilot you could opt in to test your second graders and so we have opted in but now it's mandatory that all second graders will be tested so they'll have
067two opportunities to take it in second grade they'll have two opportunities to take it in third grade and in that summer retest their third grade year if they do not pass and they do not qualify for one of these good cause exemptions they will be retained understood now those tests they take in second grade are the same exact tests as third graders okay yes yes so if they pass in second grade they don't have to take don't have to understood okay all right thank you Mr Peters moving on to H4 volume 35 number one policy packet um yes this is our first reading tonight and so you'll see that there are a variety of Schoolboard policies that is for your perusal um for reading uh just so you know we have new board members here
068so it's just got to take advantage of this time uh to tell you about this we use uh an organization called Neola um a lot of school districts across the state of Indiana use this organization to help them with their Schoolboard policies you will notice when I give you the first reading I include all the markups so you can see um how those you know what we chose what we didn't choose now what's important to know that Neola has a group of uh lawyers and attorneys that this is what they do for fun is they help us put all of this together um now when I have questions about any of this sometimes I will talk to our local Council Mr Wy get his thoughts and opinions and suggestions in on this too uh sometimes
069these are new board uh uh items that you have not had before in the past sometimes they're revisions of what you've had before in the past so for example this whole group that I give you if you would click on any of those um what you will see is the markups you can see what we selected what we didn't select um and you please understand that uh if also if I have any questions Neola has reps that that I can call and talk to all these reps are retired uh superintendents um that have been in the field and so at our previous District name from the past from here is Dr Spalding um when I had questions uh he would walk me through this along with our Schoolboard attorney and so just please know I
070it dawned on me when we were put putting us all together that for Aaron and for Deb we're throwing a lot of these Schoolboard policies at you but this is a process behind the scenes um that we do do I would also be incredibly remiss if I did not say a huge thank you to Mrs Gray who has the patience to help me through this process uh with the technology um which can be challenging at times and so Cindy thank you um she is a true colleague and a team member in this and a great support with that now when you have these and I know that when you read these in your spare time if you have any questions uh don't hesitate to reach out to me to let me know but there's a
071reason that we do a two- reading process is that you have time to digest this to call to ask questions if not me amongst yourselves uh just to seek some clarification along the way because it can be quite confusing the last part of this there are administrative guidelines that go with this so if you look on your board docs um I want to draw your attention to that under policy okay and if you'll see that you can see the um I just lost my train of thought administrative guidelines um within that and if you need some help with that please call Cindy or myself and we'll be glad to do that administr of guidelines are um we' update those then is that uh once you approve these then the administrative guidelines are also updated in
072that process and so if a building principle comes along one of these situations how are they supposed to handle it then you can read all of the administrative guidelines that go with the Schoolboard policies okay so there are hours upon hours upon hours upon hours of work uh that goes into this and um my goal is to have us completely caught up by this summer there may be somebody at the table who disagrees with that but I keep reminding her we're going to meet that goal in that timeline as we're going to be uh doing that but no in all seriousness we have we've had worked a lot with this and if you do at any point in time have any questions please let us know but I want to take this opport especially with
073a couple of you being brand new that this is what this is how this whole process works okay thank you Mr trout yep any questions or comments for Mr trout before we move on hearing none we'll move on to I items of discussion by board members i1 Tiff District repres Representatives um Mr wall you have some maybe some information about this yeah so uh it's been my little it's been my little uh project to try to understand a little bit more about Tiff districts and our representation on those as school board members uh in that process I identified the fact that Huntington County has four districts they are located in the City of Huntington hton County has one R has one and in that I also found current active members on those Tim Allen is
074representing Count's representing Warren and we had two open spots with the departure of Mr Roth Huntington City and roke um those areed by those are appointed by the individual City of Huntington actually reached out to me uh today I believe and request asked if I would be interested in serving on that uh on that on that tip board and I have so the city will be hopefully soon or may doing that but that still leaves us an open position in my communications with them they were wondering if any board member would be interested in serving on that board with them in those Communications they say they meet not very often but I believe they said last year they met six different times so I was just going to bring it to the board to see
075if anyone was interested in representing the school those positions are non members but it gives us an opportunity as a school corporation to represent the interest of school corporation on those boards uh if needed thank you Mr wall H do we have anyone from Rono that be willing to do this thank you Mr meler thank you Mr melter Mr melter said he would be willing to serve on the Rono Tiff District um representative um do we need to then have have a motion for accepting the appointments of Mr wall as Huntington City I I would say that if uh Mr wall is willing to serve even though he hasn't been appointed yet if you'd want to take a action item to that and then since uh Mr meler enthusiastically um volunteered to serve for ronoke
076then uh what's that I think we do all four at once yes so uh Tim what I would suggest would be a motion to accept Mr walls as C Huntington City yourself as Huntington County Mr Melcher with Ron Oak and Warren with Mrs Heim and so that would be that would be my recommendation now understanding that Huntington's appointed so we're a little ahead of the game but just when that happens then we're ready to go but it it's all kidding asight it's essential that you understand what's occurring in those districts okay along the way so thank you would anyone like to make a motion supporting Mr Trout's appointments I make a mo make a motion to uh she's already done it faster I she's already done it f sorry I'll second it thanks Mr wall
077any questions or comments for the uh Representatives hearing let's vote on the motion sorry about the delay Mr wall motion passes 70 move on to I2 items of discussion by board members does anybody have anything they like to share I do actually I would say I would just say that we are in I believe week four of the legislative session to this point there have been 1,232 bills filed at the State House 68 689 of those in the house and 543 of those of those 13232 bills 191 of those are currently being tracked byba having something to do with uh schools so there is a lot going on down the state should you should be getting a weekly update from terryland the exective director ofba I encourage you to read that a lot of stuff
078is going on right now with a lot of interesting things associated education so keep an eye on that and I'll try to bring back stuff as I see it coming through make sure we're all aware thank you Mr wall and he is right isba has a lot of stuff going on right now um the email that they that goes to all of us is very informative make sure you check that out Miss s yes um I wanted to publicly uh thank Mr Peters for all the work that he did uh along with Mr trout um just to make the the day for the Flint Springs um teachers possible uh to go in and um just remember their coworker I notic you didn't ask me to sub yeah um you know it was really a sad
079day um um Jay and I went to the went to the viewing that day and the family was so enormously grateful uh for the support from the school district um and when you have somebody has impacted kids for that long in such a positive manner um I was amazed at the outpouring of support even from the kids and the staff that day so um not easy decisions but the right decisions by far and so thank you Carrie um Jay was instrumental in working with the state uh on that day so I'm grateful for also his leadership in that process amen anything else from the board if not I'll take a motion to adjourn thank you Mrs Heim in a second thank you Mr Carl all those in favor say I I I