001[Music] We'll call the meeting to order and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I think that is the best ever done the pledge. So, I want to thank all of you, everyone that's in the room. So, um we'll start the meeting by taking a motion for consent agenda items. Have a motion by Earl. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Travis. Any discussion? Lots of discussion. That's okay. That's all right. You keep sharing. Um hearing no discussion, um we'll um vote. How about that? All those in favor? Seven. Um, so next we have um some community non-aggenda items, which I think is why the room is
002full. And so we're super excited about that. Um, do you want to introduce? Yes. So, we're starting off with Brush Creek PreK. And thank you for closing the door because they were told it was magic door um for their big entrance. So, if if we could move so that they'll face the parents. Um they're so cute. I know we all want to see them. Yes. Um yeah, I really wanted to say I had a lot to be um proud of and wanted to share and I know we have just a limited amount of time and I thought about the thing I was most thankful for this year and it's having four-year-olds in the building. So I really want to say thank you to the board. I know that came with approval last year. I'm really
003thankful for your support with prek. So without further ado, I'm ready for some Rush Creek preschoolers. Here comes Bobby. Here comes Bobby. [Applause] They have just a few songs and um skills that they want to share with our families and the the community here tonight. So, we're going to let them do their thing. B C D E F C H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z. Now I know my ABC. Next time, won't you sing with me? [Applause] Itsybitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsybitsy spider went up the water. [Applause] We're going to do some rhying words now. So, let's
004sing our rhyming words. Are these two words and words and words? Are these two words? So, show me thumbs up or hat cat. Mop can. Okay. Red bed. Walk. Jeep leg. Jeep leg. Okay, last one. Him. Him. [Music] We're going to do our blending words. So, I'm going to say two parts of a word and we're can combine them and make one whole word. So, get your two hands out. Okay. In. Put them together. Into back. play ground. Tooth brush toothbrush toothbrush. Light house. Okay, now we're going to blend syllables. It count wishful [Music] number. Okay, last one is [Music] ste. All right, our last thing. We're going to sing our finger play. Are you ready? 1 2 3 4 [Music] 5 6 7 8 9 10. Then I let it go again. Why did
005you let it go? Because it bit my finger. Which finger did it bite? This little finger on my right. [Applause] Great job. You did so good. All right. Well, picture. Yes, you can get a picture. You can get a picture with with your teacher. And how about your principal, too? Stay right there. I'm going to get a picture. Okay, parents, now's the time to get your cameras out and take your picture. We'll allow time if you need to move to the front. That's completely fine. There you go. Good job. Oh my goodness. [Music] Okay, if you need to move up and get pictures, go ahead. Yes, please. Let me get out of the way. Cheese. And parents, that will be posted online. We had them stand so they were inside of the camera. So, it'll
006be on the the YouTube. So, if you want to show a family member, My goodness. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] That was wonderful. Come on. [Music] We understand that prek has a very special bedtime. So, if prek parents need to step out and um grab their babies so that they can get to bed, that would be fine. Before you all leave, really quickly before you all leave, we just want to say thank you for sharing your kids with us this evening. Um we just are so proud of them and we just want to thank you all. We know you have a lot to do with that. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Brush Creek's been working also on literacy. So, I brought my literacy coach Christy Rice. really really thankful to have her um
007at Brush Creek. I wanted her to briefly be able to share um some of the things that she's doing at our building. All right, we're ready to go. Okay, thank you so much. Well, good evening. Thank you for having us tonight. I want I'm just really excited to share some progress happening at Rush Creek Elementary School in primary literature. You saw a little bit with that preschool, so thank you so much. that gives them such an early head start on that explicit systematic instruction especially in phmic awareness we just saw. So that was wonderful. So I want to explain to you a little bit about um the cadre. They're giving us so much um research and information that's really best practices. So there are two things that I want to highlight that is especially good
008in our school this year. um and that is shifting to best practices in literacy and also using data to drive instruction. So the first thing is that we're using science of reading which is just the whole body of research that tells us what the best practices are in reading and you guys really set us up this year being able to have the OG training right at the beginning of the year and our entire primary team so kindergarten through third grade took that training. Our special education teacher Britney Raymond took it. myself and we were able to just hit the ground running at the beginning of the year. A little scary because it's all new, but it but they've just done phenomenal. So OG is um or Orton Gillingham is a phononics-based instruction and it is
009good for all students, but it also really works for our kids who have dyslexia, um who have any kind of reading issues. And so it's been able to give our teachers clarity and um consistency across grade levels. So they've been able to talk to each other and say, "Hey, I'm seeing this or this is working or this is not working." Um and have actually a common language about things. So that's been really beneficial. More importantly, it's been and what we've seen is it's been really beneficial for our students and that's the goal. So we have really much stronger decoders they can read, they can decode the English language and encoders which is what we used to call spelling. They they can write and they're doing a much better job and they're becoming more confident in
010that. So the second thing is data and looking at data in a meaningful way. So and and really in a student focused way. So the training from cadre and uh the dibbles assessment and the core phonics screener that we've adopted this year has really been helpful. progress monitoring has just really shifted our mindset into um teachers. They might not always admit it, but they're starting to really enjoy the data. They're smiling and happy as they see students improving and they're progress monitoring so often that they're able to shift very quickly and not leave students in um an intervention that maybe is not too easy, is not right for them. We're shifting it really fast and we're seeing progress. So, thank you for the dibbles and the core and allowing us to do that. Um um
011but uh we are starting to get really excited about our end of the year. So, we can't share all of that yet. It's not all in, but we are very excited to be able to share that with you. So, thank you so much. And finally, I know I told you I have a lot to be proud of. So um I have one more thing that I really want to share with you and that's about our intermediate readers. So our second through sixth grade students, they uh participate in our AR point clubs. Um is through the program accelerated reader. We began it last year as a way to recognize and motivate students to read independently. Um we we have lots of prizes that um from trinkets, candy bars, sodas launch from town, privileges around the school.
012Um, the top prize is a $50 gift card sponsored by our PTO. Um, and that's when you reach 250 points in a school year. But I have some over overachieving kiddos. Um, and when we got past 250 points, we were like scratching our heads like how do we recognize that they're really really awesome readers? They're they're going up beyond our highest um goal that we even thought we could set. So, I wanted to recognize those students tonight. Some of them don't even know they're being recognized for that. Um, I wanted to recognize those students tonight with an award to acknowledge how proud we are and the joy that we have um that they have found that in reading. So, um again, 250 points. I know you don't know the program. It's a really ambitious goal.
013Like a 100 points is like something to be really proud of. 250 is phenomenal. Um Miss Maggie [Applause] Miss um she achieved that goal last year. She's achieved that goal this year. And we are super proud of you, Maggie. Really proud of you. To be able to shake her. You should go around the table. She's done an amazing job. And we'll want a picture with everybody. Congratulations. We have several students here to recognize. Congratulations. Do you want to be a nurse? If you think about it, let me know. It's never too early. You want to be a teacher? [Laughter] [Music] Good job. We have another student, Miss Haya King. [Applause] 2.8 points as of this afternoon. Well done. [Applause] Well, m you want to be a cop. Earl, she likes me better. [Music] And one
014more to recognize tonight, Miss Hannah Moy, 410. Isn't that incredible? It's amazing. 100 points really is like a super super really You should be proud of 100 points. And these kiddos are just I don't even know what to do with them. I love that she brought She brought a bookmark. That's a good picture. All right, we'll go right over here and we'll grab a picture. Look at Tracy's first because that one's more important. Good deal. Good job. How proud I am of her. Mrs. Lens and Mrs. Rice, I just want to say thank you to you and all of your staff. I see Mrs. Hill in here, too. Um, for all your efforts for literacy. Brush Creek has just grown leaps and bounds in literacy. And I know that there's embargo test scores we can't
015even talk about, but we want them. But thank you for all your for our kids. Thank you so much. How fun was that, right? Well done. Well done. And we have more fun. We do. While our middle schoolers are coming in, I will just remind everyone after that wonderful prek presentation, we are enrolling right now for prek um for next year across the district and we have certified level four preschools throughout the county. So if anyone is interested, they can call central office um 8123464483. We'll move on. If we get done with softball, we'll be here. Very impressive. Why does she not? No. Okay. All right, everyone. So, uh, we are from the middle school. I'm, uh, Kevin Schultz. I'm the principal there, and I've got Mrs. Garrett, one of our social studies teachers. Whitney
016Barber, eighth grade student, and Aiden Chen, eighth grade student. Um, earlier in the seme or in the school year, Mrs. Garrett had asked me if our kiddos would be able to compete in what they called National History Day. Um, we started competing at the regional level at handover college. Uh, for anyone wanting to know what National History Day is, think of a science fair but for history. So, our kiddos were able to dive a little bit deeper into a lot of different uh, historical topics as well as so they they've conducted their own research and they had to figure out how are they going to present that research and so we have a couple kiddos here to share with you what they brought up. So it's kind of like set the scene because Whitney's gonna
017explain what she did, but they have choices and every year's a like theme. So rights and responsibilities in history was a theme this year. So the challenge for the kids is to like find something that they're passionate about that fits within that theme. So no matter what they did, it had to be an event earn a person that fits within rights and responsibilities within history, but it would be world history. They have awards for Indiana history. They um have then US history of course. So um they could do several different things. They could do a documentary, which is what Winnie did, but she's not going to hold her laptop up for all of you to do her documentary, but she had to make a 9-minute documentary. Um, Aiden did a paper, which was a very
018long paper. It has to be like seven pages at least. Um, and then we also have the exhibit right here. The girls who did this one are all playing softball right now. They're very involved people. Um, and then they also could have done like you can do put on a show like do a play or something. We're like, "Okay, we're not gonna dabble in that just yet. I don't know if we're ready for that." Um, but they all kind of did these different things and they could do a website. So, it was really cool to see them dig into the research and try to make these historical arguments. Um, and so then they go on from the regional level at handover to state. And so, we have several kids going to state. Um, and that's
019later on this month. And so, that's at Maran University. So, that's going to be really cool. So, Whitney's going to tell you what she got out of her project because she did an excellent job. Thank you. Um, the first step in any research project is obviously choosing a topic. So, I did mine by researching women's history and then picking out a specific, uh, role model, you would say, um, from those great candidates. And I chose Elizabeth Katie Stanton. She was a really good activist. She did a ton of work in the field. And I gained a lot of skills throughout the project, like how to write a thesis statement, how to write a process paper, and also a ton of editing skills that I used inside of my documentary. And I will definitely use all
020of these skills in high school and other research projects that I will come across this year. She's like a tiny Kin Burns. You guys ever see those documentaries? Slowly zooming in and she's narrating over the whole thing. So this is just like beyond anything we've ever done. And we started with the honors classes um kind of getting them into that and then hopefully we can expand into this and it's just a great way for them to get those presentation skills too because they had judges that weren't me that had they had to like present to and they asked them questions and they give them feedback. Um, and so it's just a cool way for them to expand outside of the county and and see the colleges. That week they went to three different colleges at
021Jennings County Middle School. Yeah. National Junior Honor Society went to IU Bloomington. These guys went to Handover. And then you guys also went to IU Columbus that week, didn't you? It was a busy week for the eighth graders that week. So, it's pretty awesome. I think we need to get some black and gold involved. Oh, come on. Oh jeez. But yeah, I think Aiden, you have anything to add? Um um one of the uh skills I learned was micromanaging because I had like three split screens going at a time just for my project alone. So that was um something. Yeah, you put the work into a long paper and that's that's a lot for them to do at this age. So that was pretty cool. So they did an awesome job. So I say a
022hand for these guys. Have a picture first. Take a picture like this. Thank you guys. We'll let him know it was well received. They did a good job. When state April 26th. April 26th. Yep. Yeah. We still have some people with athletic comp like conflicts. We're hoping to get early in the morning because you can like choose your time and so they can still do it. Do that all together. So good. Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming and presenting. Thank you. It's one of the favorite parts of the board meeting is to see all of the great things that we're doing here at Jennis County School. So, just want to thank everybody again for um sharing and taking time out of their evenings to come here. Um we're done with presentations, right? To go.
023Just wanted to make sure. So, next we'll ask if there's anyone present who would like to speak on any item on the agenda or any other topic. Yeah, I would. Um I don't have a lot to say. I was just there was a good um I'm part of a Facebook crew group called Parents United and it's about bullying in the school and um I have a several parents who have specifically mentioned bullying in um fifth grade at Northland and Vernon Elementary and I know we obviously can't talk about specific cases here at all but um I didn't see bullying on the agenda at all and uh there are a lot of us that are concerned for obvious reasons Um, I'm not a parent of a I I was a parent of um of a North
024Elementary student and um I'm obviously not a parent now, but um when something happens like happened in our community, it affects everyone. No matter if you have a child in the school or not. And so what I want, you know, I'm here representing those parents and um and you know what we want to know is what's being done to address bullying. I you know I especially want to know we want to support those who are being bullied but especially um what happens to the bullies. Um and and I don't I find parents are going to the administration and they're not getting satisfactory answers. Um let me I think I have a couple more minutes. So there was something very positive that was in um this group. So um let me see if I can find
025that. I'll just I'll just sit down. Let me see. Okay. I don't miss. Hey, can you mind sharing your name? Oh, I'm sorry. My my name is Marcia Boardman and my address is 529 Daniel Drive. Okay. Um, so first of all, I I want to say thank you. Um, it's never easy, number one, to come to a a board meeting, a public um event like this, and to speak out. I think it's obvious that you're passionate about that um about the topic. And so, I want to just say thank you for for coming and sharing. Um I will um also just kind of quickly share um of course Jennings County School Corporation is committed to um making sure that we have a safe and supportive learning environment for all kids um in the fifth grade
026at every school in every grade and that's extremely important to us. Um we take any al allegations of bullying or any concerns like that extremely seriously. Um, what we would want to say is if any student or any adult has information about those concerns that is actionable, something that we can if you have names, if you have situations, we want to know about those. Nikki, I know wants to know about those and we have a process for addressing and dealing with every single concern. But if we don't know those things are being said or going on, um there there's no way for us to act on that. As as you can imagine, um our teachers, our counselors, our administrators, um we have a variety of resources that we can provide um not only to students,
027but also to parents, um also to other adults, community members. I think that's extremely important. Um if a student feels that an issue has not been addressed um or resolved, um we want them of course with not only their teacher but their principal of the school, administration in the school. There are a lot of different ways that um individuals can report bullying events. Um and this is one of the um things that I want to share is so that you and others if they're watching this streamline or if they're reading it in the newspaper so that they know how to share those events because sometimes they don't want to share those events face to face. They want it to be more anonymous but we need that information in order to be able to investigate those
028items. So, so there are several ways that you can report. Um, of course, you can email it directly to a principal or here at the um central office any of the administrators. Parent Square, if parents are using parent square, there's a way that they can communicate with teachers and and again principles through parent square. That's another avenue. Um they do we also do have a um a reporting site on the website where you can report anonymously any bullying events. Um so that would be an um as an option for again students or parents or any individual in the community. If you believe that you've reported something and that you don't feel like you got the satisfaction of or resolution um of that event, we would encourage you to reach out to central office. Um the
029individuals in this room um here at the central office again we are dedicated to making sure that these um opportunities or issues are addressed. So Nikki and Carrie um so any any of the um Mandy I know Um, all of them will be you can reach out here at the central office and I believe Nikki left some business cards at the table just outside of the doors. Pick up those business cards and just reach out to us and let us know what you've heard so that we can investigate it. Um, the office number here, I think we shared it earlier, but um, you may not have written it down. The office phone number to the central office here is 812 3464483. Um, also any of their email addresses are available on the website and again
030on their business cards. Um, and again those are out on the table just outside the doors. Um, direct contact and open communication of course is vital. We have to work together to provide these um, this safe environment to make sure that it we're supportive to the students um, to the staff um, and in our school corporation. So, um, again, I would say that I appreciate very much you coming. I've given a lot of information. Happy to, um, you know, if you missed any of that, I'm happy to go over it again with you after the board meeting. Um, if if you're a member of a Facebook group, it's um, social media is something that we struggle with because not always is that information identified where we can act on it, right? The information is is
031just not detailed enough. So have if you know those individuals and you're um you know you are representing them and you know information reach out and let us know so that we can investigate it. Okay that that sounds good and I will post this information on see if I can get it so it's posted at the top of the the web of that Facebook page. Please do and the the individuals where we know of an incident say they are reaching out right so I'm trying to stay in touch and and I would I would also say I I think you understand you know um when investigations are going on especially when involving children we can't share that information um you know very much in the like in the healthcare setting we're limited in what we
032can share but what I want to assure you is that the Jennings County School Corporation has processes in case um to do full and thorough investigation and respond as appropriate. So hopefully what you'll hear um if you're again in a group with some of those individuals is you you'll hear um that that process is working. Very good. Is there anyone else who um wanted to speak to something not on the agenda? Great. Then we'll move right on down um the agenda. We'll start with old bu I'm sorry old business. We have some meal policies. Yes. This is a second reading. So asking for approval of this group of policies, please. We'll take this as a um a group. Do I have a motion to I have a motion by Pat. Do I have a second?
033Second by Cheryl. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Um next we have under new business programs. Yes. um bringing it in form tonight and would like to bring it back for an approve an approval later. This is a say something program. So this is put out by Sandy Hook promise and we became aware of this group when Warsville school district had a school safety concern um that was a reported before an incident happened and this group was attributed to stopping um that concern. This is created by um the families from Sandy Hook and they have found funding so this is to any school that would like to join. So, I have the information here for you tonight um about what the program is. It is basically an anonymous reporting system, but I feel like
034it takes the types of things that we've had used in the past like we named tonight um anonymous uh reporting forms, email, and it combines it all into one streamline system. So, it is an app and it is a website that families can go to, students can go to to report um any school safety threat, any type of bullying concern, um any type of selfharm concern for students um or even a concern that someone needs to be checked on um for a self harm type of issue that they might be cutting, for example. Um it includes within the app and the program the ability this is is innovative and new for social media. So, someone can take a screenshot of a post online and attach it to the report um very easily through their phone.
035All of this is free. And in addition to this, you'll see it goes to a national crisis center. So, instead of being um manned by um only our own internal staff, this national crisis center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. and they are fluent in multiple languages. Um, if someone wants to speak to someone directly, they can reach out and help connect them to resources and they also will put in a call directly to the local law enforcement if it is an urgent concern and they can't reach a follow-up contact. So, it is an added layer of safety for school safety and student safety. So, what I'd like to do is and um bring back anou what our next steps would be if we're interested um would have to
036get anou agreement in place and then they would work with us free to onboard the system so that we would have it up and available for next school year. It takes them a while to get all the pieces and components in place. Um but it would be an option then that we would have in place for next school year. They also do have some training and programming and evidence evidence-based research um that's available but that is a second part that we do not have to be a part of to take advantage of the app. um and we would review that and see if it's something we're interested in going forward if it fits what our curriculum guidelines are in our um we would bring that for approval. So the only part we're asking for approval
037for is the app, not the associated curriculum right now. Um but for the reporting app. So I'd like to bring back anou for you if you're interested in that um at the next meeting. So I just Nikki I I know I don't usually throw this on you so I apologize if I am um the reason that we can't go ahead and approve this tonight just in l of the conversations is really because we don't have theou yet correct and that has to come from the staffing program so um once I can confirm our interest then they will send me theou I'll get that to our legal team make sure we have everything ironed out and then they told us that it takes six to n weeks for on boarding Does anybody have questions? Thank you.
038Um, so next we have again another program. Yes, I am asking requesting an official approval um to apply to the IDOE for a separate school number for our online new virtual online school. Um, this will be separate from all of our numbers just like a new school we're adding so that we can track how students are doing in this school just like we do every other school. So, I'm just asking for approval to apply for that number. Okay. Okay. Motion by Travis. Do I have a second? Second by Earl. Sorry. I got a second by Earl. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Um, so great. Now we'll move down under support staff. It looks like we have permission to post. Yes, please. Asking for approval um or permission to post um summer support positions,
039four technology positions, eight custodian positions, three grounds worker positions, and one central office assistant position. Um these are positions you you probably are remembering that I usually come to you and ask for approval. um they are ones that we're hoping that employees that might want to um seek summer employment would be able to apply for or other community members like our college students. So motion by Mary Lyn. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Pat. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Next we have some recommendations. Yes, please. Asking approval for the following recommendations. Jennifer Campbell as Jennings County School Corp permanent floating sub cookook. Damen Dixon as a middle school volunteer track and field coach and James High Day as a Jennings County High School custodian with the second shift. Okay. Entertain a
040motion to approve those recommendations as read. I have a motion by Cheryl. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Travis. Any discussion? All those in favor? Seven. Next, we have some down finance. We have some donations. Yes. I'm asking board approval to accept the following donations. Brush Creek Elementary PTO, $35 to the sixth grade celebration. Liz Cummins, $100 for student snacks. At the high school, we've got Beey Family Dentistry, 400 toothbrushes and 400 toothpaste for the kindergarten roundup for all elementaryaries. Estimated value of $1,450. And expert eye care, 400 coloring book pamphlets for the kindergarten roundup all elementaryaries, estimated $1,200. and Jenny's County Health Department. Stop the bleed kits estimated $3,825 for all schools. And another ask all corporation donations, the high school donation. Cheryl Teddorovich weighed $1,000 to the touch of class end
041of school year party. San Creek Elementary, the Jennings County retired teacher classroom teacher grant. Kate Gray, $400 and Leslie Peacock, $140. NBIC $200 for the Escape Room Club and Cippio Elementary Janice County retired teachers classroom grant to Casey Ernst 57189. Entertain a motion to approve donations. I have a motion by Mary Lynn. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Pat. Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Next, we have an IDE rule. Um, we are we are excited that we are going to be able to offer a potential new program this year and that is to feed students in the summer. And so it is the IDOE rule non- congregate summer meal food program. Um, and what that does is by applying um, and with their approval, we would be allowed to feed all
042children 18 years of age and younger. Um, so once a week in June and July, they would come to the school and pick up five days of meals to take home and have for the summer. Um, while we're out of school and kids may not have access to food opportunities. So, um, we would like your approval to proceed with the paperwork and and getting that started. There would be an associated staffing position, um, a couple positions, but those are covered through the program itself. So, it's it's a wonderful opportunity, and I want to say thank you to Stacy Green. aggressively seeking this out and working through it so that we have a chance for this. That's wonderful. Make sure the paper gets a hold of that one. That's a big deal. We entertain a motion
043to accept program. Motion by Pat. Do I have a second by Carol? Any discussion? All those in favor? Seven. Next, we're down under other. Do you have anything? So, just so that everyone knows, we did have um it was a an individual that was here. I'm not sure if they're still here or not, but didn't want to speak, but dropped off some um basically some resource material. Um resources in my backyard. It's Jennings County. Um has a list of all kind of resources for community members. Um we have a few copies here. Um Nikki has them. Appreciate always appreciate getting resources espec especially for community members. So just want to thank them for that. If you need that information again, we have several copies that'll be available here. Anything else? Um Nikki hearing nothing. We'll
044entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Motion by Pat. Do I have a second? Earl. All those in favor? 7 meeting.