001All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer and no person may address or question board members individually. The provide the presiding officer may number one prohibit public comments which are harassing. Number two, interrupt, warn, or terminate a person's statement when the statement is too lengthy, personally directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant. Number three, request any individual to leave the meeting when that person behaves in a manner that is disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting. Number four, request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a person who is willfully disruptive or when that person's behavior interferes with the orally conducted um conduct of the meeting. And number five, call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of
002the meeting as to warrant such action. And finally, number six, wave these rules with the approval of the board when necessary for the protection of privacy or the administration of the board's business. And finally, the portion of the meeting during which oral public comment is held shall be limited to a total of 30 minutes unless extended by a vote of the board. Provided, however, that every person who is physically present and has followed the reasonable rules set forth by the board um shall be permitted an opportunity to provide oral public comment by dividing the total time for oral comment. Public comment by the number of persons providing oral public comment. All of this is covered under the board policy miola po [Music] 0167.3 and that's available on the board's website if you have questions. I
003believe it was also handed out. Um next I'll ask if um there's anyone present who would like to speak to any items on the agenda or any other topic and I believe we have several in attendance who are planning to speak. So if it's okay we'll just go right down the and we'll start at the top. Um some of the um handwriting is a little bit difficult to read. So we'll again ask that you state your name, your address, and if applicable group affiliation. We'll start with Nikki Rosbottom. If you would stand up at the podium. Thank you. Hi, my name is Nikki Rosbot. Um address 200 South County Road, 150 West. Um, I am with the Tabitha Brock Foundation. I created the Taba Brock Foundation in 2012 after the murder of my sister. Um,
004I'm an advocate against domestic and sexual violence. And as a parent and as a community member, I've been very concerned about what is happening in the Jennings County school system right now. Um, as all of us are aware of what happened to a child on the school bus. I think that's why the majority of us are here. Um, because we're concerned parents and we're scared to have our children go to school, frankly. I am a survivor myself of childhood sexual abuse. I was seven years old the first time that I was raped and molested and that continued from the time that I was seven until I was 12. And I have advocated for schools for a very long time to teach sexual abuse awareness trainings in the schools. And I wanted to ask if is
005anyone aware of Aaron's law in Indiana? Have you ever heard of Aaron's law? Okay. law was passed in 2008 or 2018 which requires every public school to teach sexual abuse awareness trainings to both the school staff and also to students. So the question that I have um is what policies and trainings has the Jennings County School implemented since 2018 on a yearly basis that is compliant with the law to teach children about sexual abuse. So again, as we read before, this isn't a time of discussion. It's really a time of public comment. So what I would like to suggest is that if you have those questions, we can get you in contact with Nikki and we can follow up with you and make sure that you get all of that information. Okay. Um I guess
006for me as a parent, you know, I'm very concerned because part of the law states that the parents are supposed to have materials that are sent home to them. And I have a child that is leaving first grade and I we've not one time in kindergarten or first grade ever had anything sent home to us about sexual abuse um about teaching. I'm very I have taught my own children, but I know that there's a lot of parents out there that are not aware about sexual abuse. They're not comfortable with that. And as a school system, I believe that it's the school's job as well to teach those policies. Um I don't want it feel like anyone is being attacked. Um I just want it to seem like it's proactive on what we can do from
007here and to fix the issues that are happening. Um we have such an issue with bullying that's happening. You know, my daughter in first grade has already come home once this year saying that another first grader was telling her that she was going to commit suicide. And within 10 minutes of finding out that I contacted the school and I got a hold of them. And my concern is is that if there's so many children in the school that are in elementary school looking to end their life, then something is wrong. Like we're doing something wrong. And I say that as we as the community as a whole, you know, we need to figure out what we need to be doing. Um so I would just like to offer my services. If you guys would ever
008like for me to, I would be more than glad to come into the schools and speak to the children about sexual abuse as someone who has went through it myself. so that maybe more children would come forward. Thank you, Nikki. Next on the list, Tim Phelps. Is there a Tim Phelps that would like to speak? No. Okay. Um, we'll move down to the next um Gita Hadley. Wow, three minutes. Gosh, I'm talk fast. Um, Gita Hadley, address 231 High Street. I am the substance misuse coordinator for Jennings County, but I'm here as a parent. So, um, I am a mom and stepmom of five kids, which means I've seen everything from teaching to teen drama, school projects to school suspensions. But tonight, I'm standing in front of you only as a parent who has been
009watching her suffer and one who can no longer be quiet. Oh gosh, I mixed up my stuff. My paper, we're just going to wing it. Um, so February, um, I've watched my son ever since the start of the school year, um, be bullied to the point where he eventually snapped in February where he made homicidal ideations. At that time, the school requested I bring him in next day. if if it wasn't for the training that I have knowing that nine times out of 10 homicidal ideiations are also have suicidal ideiations in which he did um I had to call NVPD myself to make sure that my son was safe and if it wasn't for off by several people behind me um my son wouldn't have been honest and he was but after then he was
010then put on remote learning for nine weeks we took a kid who was mental health crisis and we 100% isolated him which furthered his mental health and then I have another child. Um and we're still unpacking everything that she's gone through. Um she she's watched her friends struggle with mental health. Some of those friends told her that self harm wasn't the answer and some of those friends are no longer present because of self harm. I've watched the school try to work with me and try to do the right thing only by making it worse. We sat down with a meeting with an SRO who wasn't trained in mental health and my daughter went in wanting to help and she left defeated. And I mean that she left furthering that ideation in her head that her
011friend's death was her fault because of the comments that SRO made. My daughter has been in an acute mental health facility twice and she's there right now. How can we help? How can we change policies? How can we teach these kids it's okay to share and not portray their friends, which is how she feels, right? She's 12. Um, I have a lot more, but time's up. Um, so I have a friend with me, Alexa Boyd, and I think she's gonna pick up where I left off. Alexa, so my name is Alexa Boyd, 1187 North County Road, Andre Spel. Um, I'm part of the Mental Health Matters Initiative, but I'm also a native here to um, Jennings County. I despite everything on. I still take deep pride in this county. Um I'm also a recent college
012graduate in the psychology field. So um I've experienced a little bit of the gaps um in the school support in terms of mental health. It can be a hard thing to talk about with the younger generations and just the youth in general. So um I'm interested in helping to fill those gaps. I know I'm young and I'm not any part of the school system, but I'm here to kind of propose a few ideas. So, first is a summer wellness event that shares resources and support. Um it'll be kind of like a vigil as well for those that we've lost to suicide and those that have struggled with mental health themselves to come forward and share their stories. Um all of this is in partnership with the mental health matters initiative in Bartholomew County trying to
013um get some more outreach into the surrounding counties. Um, regarding support within the school system, I proposed a couple ideas. Um, walk-in or scheduled mental health support options within the school regardless of income or Medicaid status. I don't know how all of that works, the legality of it. So, it's just having those discussions and partnering with different um affiliations within the um community and also from certified peers or mental health professionals, having youth ambassadors and same age support. with demonstrated ability because sometimes kids don't want to talk to adults. I've been there myself when I was in middle school and started struggling myself with mental health. I was kind of scared to seek that adult support because I didn't really know how to go about it. So, if we have selected peers that go through
014training, high schoolers, whatever the case may be, that could help as well. Um, and growing partnership with the Boys and Girls Club to provide pro-social activities closer to the school. um we can start to plan for a better next school year now and hopefully we'll be able to utilize some of the resources here in our community and surrounding communities. So, thank you. Next, um again, it's a little bit difficult to read the handwriting. Is there Mur McCur? Can you just your name? Jedi McCory. Jedi, thank you. Sorry, I difficult to read. Jedi, I'm just looking at it from a um moral and values aspect. What I've noticed, I own two businesses in town. And I've had to actually pull my kids out of the public school system because of stuff they were dealing with when
015it came to sexuality stuff and uh kind of I guess bullying you would call it. But really it's it's just things they wouldn't be subjected to in everyday life. And it doesn't seem like the kids are being conditioned to come into society and be able to handle have good like conflict resolution skills to handle everyday troubles. And um I would just like to some suggestions. Short on time, but um I'm not sure how much power you guys have been given back on being able to uh control your own curriculum, but if we could start, it seems like too simple of a solution, but just teaching the history of our nation in an accurate manner, it would um I understand people will throw up the separation of church and state. We understand that religion is a
016regulating factor for the base of morals and values for society. It would force the hand in bringing God back into conversation on um and it would kind of plant a seed in the kids' heads to give them an avenue in which they could they could navigate through life and be able to lean on that. And um there's so much to say and such in so little time, but um I see it pretty regularly at the smoothie shop in town. Kids seem to be more incompetent, depressed, and anxious than anything I could have ever have imagined to see in my life. And it's reaffirmed to me on almost a daily basis. There are excellent kids that I see that come in that are part of the public school system, but there's this large swath. I know
017it sounds crazy, but it it it set into me um it became really relevant when Trump was the assassination attempt. I know that I don't mean to bring politics into it, but I was at JC. There was four high school students working behind the counter and in older John and I heard the news, told them, "Hey guys, Trump just got shot." And without hesitation, all five of them laughed at the same time. And I mean it's it it shocked me because I come from a day and age where that's not the way that we would think. And um a suggestion just with a little time left is that if we could start depicting the way they can control the way our youth thinks about our society is how we teach them about our history. And
018if we can get that back under lock and stop with the divisions and understand how God was the regulating force for this free trade, open speech, you know, free speech right to bear arms society that Christianity is the basis of that and it's the most important thing and that's just a suggestion. Thank you. It looks like the next line just says anonymous citizen there. Do you mind giving your name? Yeah. I just want to stay anonymous. Okay. I want to take the first two minutes and just take a moment of silence for all the the child that got taken advantage of and u the bullying the children get bullied. I'm going to take two minutes in the last minute. I'll I'll give my opinion. Okay, we're down to last minute. Reason why I let you
019do that is because that's what it feels like for these uh people that these children that get bullied and the little child that got taken advantage of. They had no voice. That's why I wanted to be a voice. Take a moment of silence for them. We are adults. We can do better. You guys know your leadership. Not saying you guys don't do your job, but we can do better. Learn from our mistakes. We all make mistakes. We're human beings. But I'm just speaking for the children. That's for all of us because we all got children. We want the best for them and we want safe communities. So, what protocols going forward are we going to take safety protocols so that the children won't be bullied for the the uh incident that happened? Not going into
020detail. I'm not putting nobody down or creating discrimination against one person or treating somebody different, but that's that's that's the whole point. We can do better. That's the whole reason for the silence to be a voice for the ones that ain't here and that's the children. Thank you. The last um individual that signed up to speak is Sarah Thomas. Sarah Thomas 76. I'm really here today as a former student of James County and a parent who has children in the schools. Um I would like to start off by saying that I feel like that we need to have better communication from schools to our us as parents. Um whether it's a big incident or something small, I do not believe that we have a good line of communication. Uh we have parent square, we have,
021you know, communication by text, phone call, things like that. Um but when big things happen, especially I do not believe that just a mass email or something like that should be as effective as a personal phone call. Um I also would like to say that, you know, again, as some people have said, it takes a community and there's no one to put single blame on. However, as a community, we're all to blame. every single one of us. We're all parents. It starts at home. We have to teach better. We have to do better. Um and then we go into our schools. You know, kids go into school right after home. So, school is a big part of us and our children's future and their lives. Um for instance, just for example, my child was kicked
022out of school recently for something that was very serious. However, it could have been more of a learning lesson than something that's going to be on his permanent record. And I feel as a It is my opinion that due to some of the major things that have been happening like the suicide and um the sexual misconduct that sometimes after a big event like that they try to crack down on smaller things. I just feel that if we would take those things head on first and deal with it as a whole versus wait till something big happens and then do something that we would probably be more successful with our children and their future. Um, so I just, you know, offer my help. Um, if there's anything as a parent that I can do to do
023better in my home with my children to help other parents or other children or you guys as the school board, please, you know, um, I'm all for it. I think most of us, especially now, coming to see all the things that are bringing to light. Um, you know, we're here for our kids. We love our children in this community. I think we're a very tight-knit community, and I love our community, but there's a lot of things that I do not love about our community. in the past couple months that have been happening. Um, so thank you for your time. Just to go back up to make sure Tim Phelps is not in the room and does not wish to say anything. Um, well, that's all of the individuals who signed up for public participation. And
024I want to just say very quickly, thank you. Um, thank you for stepping up. Nikki, Galita, Alexa, Jedadia, Anonymous, and Sarah. Thank you all for stepping up. um mostly to say we love our community and we want to help. And that's what I heard. That's the communication that I heard tonight is that you want to be part of the solution. And um we as a a school board, I think if you talked with each one of us individually, um that that feels really good. It feels like community. And so I just want to say thank you. Thank you for that. Um I do want to remind I would be remiss if it if I did not remind here with a larger group in the room. Um also with um probably a larger group live live
025streaming as well. Um I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't remind you all um how to report events or how to communicate. We talked a little bit about communication. So we we talked a bit about this um at the last um school board meeting. Um but I want to just go over the ways um that you can report bullying or events or issues. It takes I think someone said it takes an entire community. It takes all of us um reporting and talking and having open communication. So we would um just review these items. If you see a problem, if you hear a problem, please ask for help. have your child ask for help, you ask for help. Um, this includes talking to adults, um, includes teachers, counsel counselors, administrators, um, working with
026school principles to resolve any, um, issues that you don't feel have been um, resolved. Um, you can communicate concerns via email. Um, Parent Square, I think that was brought up. Um there's an anonymous um bullying report form that's on the school's website. Um that form is linked on all of the school's website, not only the corporate um website, but also every single school um to make sure that that can be rep anything can be reported anonymously. Um I will tell you we've been sharing that information, but we have not been getting reports. So we need to speak up. We need everybody's help to speak up. You can also contra contact contact the central office, Dr. Johnson, Carrie Manowitz, um Todd Ebinger, um Mandy Sullivan, um can all be reached here at the corporate office, that's
0273464483 duro 812. Um if you feel like that you've tried to bring something forward, you haven't gotten resolutions, these individuals are your people. Um please come, please have a conversation with them. Maybe you want to do it via text or email. Schedule an appointment, come in, sit down. That's what we want. We want to have a conversation. Um so please um let us know um if you are experiencing any issues. Um any students suspected of bullying behavior in our schools um may be placed on a bullying agreement or a safety plan. We do have processes in place to address these things. These plans are involve decisive monitoring actions to ensure that the behavior is stopped. Um actions could also include a variety of options. Other options such as increased supervision um changes in schedule up
028to um and including suspension or expulsion from the school. Obviously, that's not where we want this to go, but we have to address the concerns and the issues. If inst instances of mutual conflict between students are occurring, we can also use safety plans to support maintaining a positive learning environment. We know that discipline is critical. It's a critical part to stop bullying and unkind behavior. Please know um and help your student to understand that we will take disciplinary steps as appropriate. We want all of our students to be successful. Having a school environment that is free from bullying is step one in that process in making sure that our kids are successful. upholding our shared commitment to a community and I truly do believe this is about community. Um commitment to a community where unkind
029words and actions are not accepted will remain a focus of our schools each and every day. So I thank you again for coming. Thank you again for being willing to step up and participate in public comment. So we'll move on down the um board agenda now that that part of the meeting is over. So we do have some old business. We have some Neiola approvals. Yes. Asking for approval of this group of miola policies. Again, these are the ones centered around AI. I have a motion by Pat. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Chelsea. Really? Um any discussion? All those in favor? 7 Um, next under old business we have summer school update and this is an inform. This is just an inform just a reminder that we will have summer school for
030the high school um credit it's a credit recovery like we have for many years and then um new this year second graders um third graders did it last year but second and third graders um who did not pass IE will have the opportunity to mediation through um summer school this year. Again, this item isn't in form. Next, under old business property, we have Halo smart sensors. Yes, you have a flyer in your packet that looks like this. Um, you we are continuing on in the long-term project, we've been working with vaping prevention. So, using those dollars from that class action lawsuit against vape manufacturers and our recent safety bond, we are going to purchase the Halo smart sensors to install in high school, middle school, and JCEC bathrooms for next school year. Um, these sensors
031are uh pretty pretty neat. They not only detect vaping um but they also have other built-in safety features. uh they can alert administrators when there's large crowds gathering um in a restroom, fights in restroom, requests for help. There's a lot of other safety features embedded in the monitors and so those will go in all the secondary school bathrooms um and JC. Again, that item wasn't informed. Now we move under new business. We have some recommendations. Please asking for the following recommendations to be approved, please. Casey, Mississippi Elementary summer school teacher. Aaron Green, Hayden Elementary summer school teacher. Crystal Hammond, Jennings County High School summer school teacher. Toby Harold, Jennings County High School summer school teacher. Ashley Heindel, Hayden Elementary summer custodial support. Christian Yan, Grant Creek Elementary summer school teacher. John Kelly, Jennings County High
032School volunteer girls golf coach. Paige Kelly, Brush Creek Elementary summer school teacher. That that would be on a part-time basis. Jennifer Layman, S Creek Elementary summer school teacher. Stephanie Pucket, uh, Brush Creek Elementary summer school teacher, part-time basis. Derek Stewart, Jennings County High School summer school teacher. Don Turner, S Creek Elementary summer school teacher. And Kobe Vogel, Jennings County High School summer school teacher. Entertain a motion to approve those. I have a motion by Mary Lynn. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Cheryl. Any discussion? All those in favor? Seven. Next, we'll move down under support staff. Um, yes. Asking permission, please, to post a transportation administrative assistant position. I have a motion by Travis. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Pat. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Next recommendations. Yes.
033Asking for the following recommendations to be approved, please. Scott Alhorn, Jennings County, Jennings County School Corporation bus driver administrative leave. Scott Alcorn, Jennings County School Corporation bus driver termination. Christina Alexander, Jennings County High School summer meal program cook. Emily K, Jennings County High School summer meal program cook. Shelley Driver, Brush Creek summer school um parah. Kenneth Eaton, Jennings County High School summer custodial support. That would be on a part-time basis. Ellie Garinger, Jennings County High School summer school parah. McKenna Hootton, Jennings County High School summer custodial support. Noah Statettler, Jennings County High School summer meal program. Cheyenne Love it, North Elementary uh summer custodial support. Dan Mouser, Jennings County High School summer custodial support part-time basis. Tanya Perry, Jennings County School Corporation bus aid administrative leave. Tanya Perry, Janice County School Corporation bus aid termination.
034Sarah Pay, S Creek Elementary summer custodial support. Julia Robertson, S Creek Elementary summer school parapro. And Melanie Smith, Grand Creek Elementary summer school parro. I have a motion by Earl. Do I have a second? Second by Mary Lynn. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Next, we'll move down to finances. We have some donations for approval. asking for approval of these donations for Brush Creek Elementary student snacks. Butlerville Grocery, $100. Candy Miller, $100. Linda England, $100. Lowe's Indiana Regional Distribution, $300. Uh, Cheryl and Dave Miller, $100. First United Methodist Church, $100 for student needs. Hayden Elementary School Library in memory of Becky Bogs. Pat and Michelle Sullivan, $100. Rodney and Haida Garrett, $30. Ron and K. Bloomer, $50. Lorie Kendrick, $40. Tom and Sandy Smith, $20. Wanda Machino, $20. Mike Wasam, $1,24.64 for sound desk
035tables and DJ facads for the musical. uh NBIC $250 grant money to the fourth grade classes for STEM day on May 6th for the Jennings County High School donation. Uh City of North Vernon, $1,000 to the music department's countywide arts festival. ETC Systems, $300 to junior class for prom and after prom supplies. Jennings County Middle School donations. Layman Hmel Insurance of North Vernon, $50 to be used for VIP recognition breakfast. JCSC donations, giving grace, $5,000 to all Jennings County schools for unpaid school lunch balances. Jennifer Hughes, six children's books that she wrote to each elementary school, a value of about $120. North Vernon Elementary, uh, NBIC grant, $250 for donor's choose funding, asking for approval of those donations. So, I have a motion by Pat. Do I have a second? Second by Chelsea. Any discussion?
036All those in favor? Seven. Next, we're down under relations. Asking for approval of agreement with Grateful Care ABA. Uh this would be for um parentally placed uh ABA center that uh the staff would come in and help work with our students in the classroom. You can entertain a motion to approve of that agreement. Mary Lynn, I have a motion by Mary Lyn. Do I have a second? Second by Cheryl. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Which brings us to the end of our agenda. Anything under other? Nothing under hearing. Nothing under other. We'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Have a motion by Travis. Do I have a second? Second by Pat. All those in favor? 70. Meeting adjourned.