001All right. >> All right. >> Welcome everybody. I'd like to call the meeting ordered with the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Like to stay standing and repeat our mission statement here. Community School Corporation, purpose, strength, and community. >> Thank you. Number four, adoption of the agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda from the November 3rd, 2025 regular meeting as presented. >> Motion, is that Dr. Broner? Dr. >> Kurt, thank you. All in favor? >> I close five. Uh, director update. Uh, Derek. >> Evening everyone. Um, just got a couple updates here share with you guys. The first one, um, is an inspection
002sheet. That's a PDF I sent to you. Um, now this is just an example kind of a screenshot of a spreadsheet. Uh, the last couple board meetings I've attended to. I know the board has asked um kind of about some type of maintenance plan, how we're servicing equipment, how we're kind of tracking that. So, what I did um and we're still adding stuff and kind of making changes to this, but this will cover the admin building. I've got one made for each building. Um there's the tasks that we kind of do per building depending on what is in that building, when they get serviced, how often, and then the expiration date. So for something that has a 2year lifespan, so to say, um we put the date that we service it, but we add 6
003months, a year. So when our current date is greater than the expiration date, that will change colors. Anything greater than 60 days from compliance is green. Anything within 30 to 60 turns yellow. Uh, anything less than 30 turns orange. And if we're past due date, it turns red. Um, so like I said, this is one for each building. This is just kind of a snapshot of one to show you kind of an example. Uh, over the winter, um, I'd like to get with John. We can throw parking lots on there, playground mulch, um, anything else he might have, field dressing. That way we just kind of have stuff to track. And this is a running document. So when we go in and change the date of when we service something, there's a record of when
004somebody changed that date. So we'll have a running log that we can go back on and say, "Okay, well, we changed filters, we did a service, we had our inspections." Um, so it it's really a kind of a good thing. We're kind of bundling quite a few things that the board was looking for and kind of the day-to-day operations all into one document. Um, so that's pretty well covers the inspection sheet. Um, the next topic here, uh, the high school construction. So, Ephus, the outside EPA section is going to be finished up tomorrow or Wednesday. They've just got a little bit left on the north side. So, that's coming along good. Coping, uh, which goes along the top of the roof, kind of where they have the membrane flipped over the top wall. That's arriving
005Wednesday. That's about 3 days to get that put on. And then the roof. Right now, we're 100% dried in. The roof's done. Ephesus is done, but that's just kind of a last finishing touch with that coping. Um, tack boards on the south side are all in. Southside's pretty well done. Just a couple punch list items. The north side, we're waiting on our tack boards to arrive. Um, tack boards, last minute ceiling tiles and stuff like that. We'll be done in the afternoon so we won't disrupt class. Um, all the doors, all the new doors are in. Little bit of wiring still to do on some of the crash bars. Um, so we're we're nearing the end of the project here. Um, so far everything's went smooth. L & D has done a great job with
006working with us and keeping us in the loop on everything. Um, my third one and probably my my biggest one here is our utility cost. Um, so I again I've kind of been exploring in Excel and learning how to make spreadsheets and I might have went a little overboard on this one but um so I compiled and this is a snapshot. I have one for every building. Well actually every meter we have about 16 meters gas and electric throughout the whole campus here. So this is the middle school and what this is um the top the top graph is gas that's our natural gas we're using that's for boilers, kitchen, hot water heaters, all that. The second graph is kilowatts and that's all the electric. Um now this is the middle school and I showed
007the middle school on purpose because last year we got new chillers and new boilers and we said these are going to be more efficient and this graph speaks for itself in 2023. um being the blue kind of set a baseline for 2024. In 2024, we got hit with boilers going down, chillers going down, then the chillers were running at full capacity, at full power, and really weren't meeting the load. So, we were we're using a lot of energy. So, fast forward to 2025, as you can see, our gas usage since the new boilers have went in has been less than the gas every month of last year up to this point. Um, with the exception of July and August. Um, we've seen a lot of savings. Right now, we're 21% less usage this year than
008last year. So, we're we're we're saving quite a bit in gas. Um, going down to the, uh, electric side of this, uh, with the new chillers going in, you know, we were running the chiller a lot more, trying to keep up with the humidity, trying to keep the building cool. Heard leaving lights on to try to help combat some other issues. And then, you know, these dehumidifiers running non-stop. We used a lot of energy last summer. Uh, you can see here this summer we're way down again. Uh we're we're 28 and a half% less energy just in the middle school just this year. So um you know we talked about chillers and the boilers how they were going to be provide more efficiency. I mean that graph speaks for itself right there. So um I'll
009be curious to come up the dollar amount just to see how much it ended up saving us. But you know percentage wise we're we're way ahead. So I'm glad to see that. Um, another thing that I'm kind of doing on my end is I did an assessment at the middle school. Um, and there's about 35 36 exhaust fans over there, give or take. These exhaust fans are running 24/7. Now, these can be for locker rooms that nobody's using, bathrooms, science rooms, cooking rooms, whatever. These were running 24/7 with nobody in the building. So through a long formula I finally found how much and calculated how much each van cost the whole year to run times everything and it was an astounding amount. So these new controllers that we put in at the middle school for
010the Hback actually gives us capability of using these controllers with my computer with a relay and I can actually control the exhaust fan. I can put them on a timer or on a schedule. So, I can shut these fans off at 5:00 and not have them come on till 7 in the morning when we start occupying. Again, that's another energy efficiency thing where the equipment we're putting in and investing into the school to update obsolete parts is further helping us become more efficient with energy. Um, same for classrooms. If classrooms aren't occupied, I can put a schedule in, adjust the set points. That way we're not cooling the room to a set point what a teacher or student would want and we're not heating the room in the winter time. Um so it's all it's
011all good stuff with the energy and where we're going. Um I plan to do more in the other buildings. I like to sit down this winter when I get some open time with some projects dying down and see where we can save on some of these other buildings. Uh, you know, light switches at the middle school would be a good thing with the timers. Sometimes lights get left on. Nobody's in there. You know, we're just wasting energy. Rope lights get left on, neon signs get left on at night. This is just another way we can help save. When we kind of got our hands tied with the electricity. Um, you know, NIPCO who's who is who we use. Nipco sets the price. We kind of just I mean, we got to have energy. We got
012to have electric and gas. We just got to go with what we got. So, fortunately, we're going to try to cut down on that to much as we can so we can provide whatever else we need for the staff and the students. Um, staffing wise on my side, I'm fully staffed right now at all the buildings. Um, good news is I've been able to retain uh quite a few of the new hires that I've hired in the last couple years and that's starting to show. Um, I'm constantly walking vendors, contractors, outsiders through our buildings. And I don't know how many times I get compliments of, you know, your guys' campus looks topnotch. We go to some other places and, you know, they're not kept up as quite as good. Every time I walk through somebody,
013somebody always complimenting the grounds or the building. Um, so just kind of a thank you to my custodial staff, you know, maintenance, Richard and John for keeping up on this place and keeping it clean after doing all these renovations. Um, just keeping up and making everything look nice. Uh, with that, I'm open to any questions or concerns or comments. >> I'll jump in there real quick. You know, we've talked a little bit about that energy savings team. I've talked to the school board about that and with you. Um, and that's something that we're we're continuing to look into. you know, how many of our classrooms, you know, have microwaves in them, have to ovens in them, whatever it may be, have extra lights that we don't need. Uh, so that is an area that we've
014we've talked about to to address, you know, moving forward. >> Have you uh looked at all into like um motion for our parking lot lights? >> Yeah, I have. The problem was the vehicles always constantly going in and out of the parking lot make them come on, they draw off on and off. So the power surge of them lights coming on. That's kind of where it defeats the purpose of coming on and off is that that power surge coming on when they first light up, you know, it's just better to leave them on. we have been. Another thing we can do with these controllers is I can actually put a relay on the timers that control these parking lots and we can put a timer on that as well. Um, you know, right now with
015the time change, we're adjusting the parking lot timers, but then two weeks, 3 weeks ahead, we're going to have to adjust them again for the sun going down sooner. So it's always a constant battle where again this would help us become more efficient is if we can tie them into those controllers just set a program on the computer and it's done and it accommodates for daylight saving time and all that. >> You did that you'd have to leave like a one or two on then probably you know in case >> Yeah. For like a security Yeah. >> Yeah. For a security light. >> Yeah. That's why most [clears throat] of them go motion. >> Yeah. >> Throughout the night if somebody goes into the lots. Okay. Thanks. >> Yeah. All right. >> Thank you for
016all of your work and all of your graphs, data, everything that you've been doing to provide us with that information. >> No problem. >> Appreciate it. >> No problem. >> Thanks. Thanks, guys. >> Mr. L, you want to leave off for the championship moment? >> All right, let's go. >> All right. [clears throat] I love to talk and I love to talk more about our students and great things happening at the high school. So, I wrote it down. So, I won't ramble for you guys. We have great things happening at KHS, and I'm proud to be able to stand up here tonight and present our champion moments. These moments showcase not just student success, but also the character, leadership, and heart that define what it means to be a Tonight, I am honored to highlight
017three of those moments. Our first champion moment is Lily Warren. Lily, come on up here. All right. So, Lillian here is an outstanding senior. Um, Lily truly exemplifies everything that is great about Knox. She is currently a top 10 student, an accomplish accomplished dancer, a volunteer at H Heartland Church, and an active member of the National Honor Society students again against destructive decisions and the pep club. This fall, Lily was named both a Lily Endowment Community Scholarship finalist and a Coca-Cola scholar semi finalist. Coca-Cola semi scholarship is not as known as Lily and um it's also incredibly hard to get. So, um there's very few that get that. So, this is a huge accomplishment for for Lily. Um, the Lily Endowment Scholarship supports Indiana's brightest students, encouraging them to continue their education here in our
018state and ultimately give back to our Indiana communities. It refle reflects the belief that education is vital to the civic and economic health of our state and Lily embodies that mission perfectly. Likewise, the Coca-Cola Scholarship Foundation recognizes exemplar leaders nationwide. Students who just don't dream big, but act boldly to make a difference. Lily is one of those leaders. We are proud of Lily, her accomplishments, and the examples that she set, not only for her classmates at the high school, but for the students at the middle, the elementary school, and the community of Knox. So, thank you, Lily. Are you still taking a picture before you leave? So don't don't leave too soon. >> Where are you at in the process for the Lily? Like is >> um they we did our interview last Friday. There
019were six finalists of the other and >> wow >> they [clears throat] already know after the interviews who the winner is but we won't find out until mid December. Oh, >> and then CocaCola February, right? >> I think so. The semi finalist application because you had to turn in a whole new thing for that. That ends Wednesday and then they're going to go through all of those and pick I think 250 for the finalists um at the beginning of January. Then we're going to have a Zoom meeting if you move on. And then I think you go to Atlanta if you end up getting it. It's incredible. >> Um I know for the Lily it would be a full bride scholarship and I know you're going to Balpo this fall or next fall and then
020hopefully nursing and and go from there. So the sky is definitely the limit for for Lily and all that. So So thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh champion moment number two the key valleyc junior board of directors. Our second champion moment celebrates three exceptional juniors who wish they could have been here tonight. However, um two of them are in stable and of course tonight is their competition. The other um Ava has has worked tonight, but Harbor Hazelton, Taylor Stacy, and Ava Jensen who were recently selected have been recently selected to serve as the KVK valley junior board of directors. This program brings together student leaders from across the region for nine months of hands-on learning, leadership development, and community service. At the end of the program, each part participant will earn a $1,000
021scholarship, but the real value lies in the experiences they'll gain while giving back to their community. Harper is currently the FFA president, a member of our Spellbade Super Bowl, National Honors Society, while also participating in cross country, track, and the upcoming production of Clue. She is a true leader and a role model. Taylor Stacy serves as FFA secretary, uh, participates in the student council, Spellb, National Honor Society, and runs cross country and track a and Ava Jensen contributes both in and outside the class classroom, and she is on the um, a member of the National Honor Society, volunteers at kids closet, plays softball and golf. These three students represent the very best of Knox leadership, service, and pride in both school and community. And finally, our third champion moment, um the Brigade. Um our third
022over the over the course of the season, the Brigade under direction of Craig Fipps with drum majors Serenity King and Arabella Fipps are leading the way. This season the brigade performed at multiple competitions across the state earning top placement and high praise. They received first place and best terminal effect at goan, eighth place at Northwestern in Carol, third place at Penn, second place at Plymouth, sixth place at Isma regionals and which qualified them for semiate at Franklin Community High School. Um last weekend last at semiate this past Saturday I had the privilege of seeing them deliver their best performance of the year. They were locked in. They were passionate and the performance was so polished. Even if you were there at the community event the the week before. Um their their what they did Saturday
023was absolutely beautiful. It was absolutely phenomenal. Um, while they narrowly missed advancing the state, the growth and determination they displayed this season were nothing short of remarkable. From early mornings to late nights, their commitment and teamwork truly represented the spirit of Knox High School. I couldn't be prouder of what they've accomplished, and I'm confident this group will make another strong run next season. These three champion moments are just a snapshot of what's happening every day at Knox High School. Our students continue to impress us just not with their achievements, but with their integrity, leadership, and willingness to serve. And it's an honor to walk us alongside them, to watch them grow, and to celebrate all of their successes together, both to the school and to the community. So, thank you for letting me share our
024champion moments um at Knox High School. If you want to grab a picture, I'll get both of you in there. We got a little t-shirt for you also. Don't forget that. >> Yep. >> Right over here. >> All right. If you just don't mind getting some exercise, [laughter] if you want to make sure, come on up. That >> might be easier from this side. >> You're fine. One, two, and three. Perfect. >> You want to sneak over here or you get there? [laughter] >> Get a good one. Thank you. Great s if you want to lead us off in the principal updates. >> You know what? Things are going absolutely phenomenal at Sherry Hazards. Um phenomenal at the high school. Um this past week we did PSA testing for our freshman, our sophomores, and select
025juniors. um for freshman and sophomores, we achieved just over 93% of our students um in attendance taking the exam uh which is absolutely phenomenal. Of course, I wasn't here last year for the PSAT. However, based on conversations with staff, with parents, um with Mr. Easttock the there was just a different vibe within the building this year. Um we had teachers in the hallways um hyping up the students beforehand. Um they they seem pumped. They seem ready to go. One thing that we did was after the the PSAT we actually took the afternoon and we called it the recharge time. Um, it was one of the times that we we as a as a staff came together and said, you know, we want our kids to make sure that we show we showed them that positivity
026of of working hard in the morning, have some free time in the after afternoon, and it really seemed to be very beneficial to them. Of course, we'll get the data in about a week or so, and then that's when the true work will be to decide how how things went to kind of help get prepped for our juniors taking SAT this um spring and then our sophomores that just took the SAT to get them ready for the SAT next school year. Um, moving into SAT, um, we have done all the pre-work, pre-exams for our SAT work and our we have a couple teachers working now working on getting a course ready for those select students over the course of now through March to get them ready for SAT. But the one thing that we've been
027working from a PLC standpoint at the high school right now is how we can utilize some of our time that we have to help support not only those students but all of our students. And really that time right now is that SRT time. We have 30 minutes during the middle of the day that it's being utilized but we can tighten things up and we can find ways to better support our our students. And it's been really nice within our PLC time to really talk about what that looks like. Um, imagine having 40 adults um have conversations of what they think is best and really trying to take this down to this um is is an interesting task. Um, but I'm we're determined to continue that conversation between now and December. So then January, we January,
028we can actually start putting some things into place and really starting to kind of bring some of our our talks into fruition. So things are going well at the high school. I'm so excited to kind of be there every day with them. And yeah, that's the uh update for the high school. Any questions, comments that I can answer for you guys? Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. startled. Think >> he was up there long enough. He needs a name plate. Maybe [laughter] >> as you know, we're moving forward with writing uh professional development for our staff. Just a little touchback on that. We've been following through with the teachers in um PLC time, after school PD time, um their team meetings, just kind of taking some of these things and and just giving it
029in digestible chunks where they're not so overwhelmed with all the new information. Um but we have another session November 14th with Melissa Gil, who's our our main PD provider on explicit writing, and we're going to start looking at some things called quick writes. Um, that's just a way, you know, when you learn writing or when you're teaching writing, it doesn't always have to be a giant huge piece. It can be quick writes that that we can do a do a lot with. And so, we'll be focusing on those next. Um, I went with Mrs. Feifer and Mr. McCann to an I um I learn PD session last Wednesday. Um, should have picked the one in our time zone. Messed that up a little bit, but we were there early and ready to go. Um, it
030was good. We really had some aha moments and thought we figured out some things like that little pieces that we just add in could make some some big gains. And so that's something you Mr. Condan and I have been collaborating on the I learn PD. So we'll get together to make sure their building knows what we learned. Um, a couple data points to share. Um, I have mentioned before we are really looking at some of our kids that are maybe on some screeners showing they're going to they're struggling a little bit on decoding and things. Um, we tried to figure out and be very specific about what they needed. Um, I I would say about I looked today about 30% of each grade level is probably in these very targeted intervention groups. And we've revamped
031the system for this year. They're they're in it very specifically. We measure it. We figure out if we move them on. We keep them in three weeks later. We measure it again so that we can kind of change up those instructional decisions. We're not we're not making kids wait for the rest of their group. If they're ready to go, let's go. Um, so for those kids, I had third grade that I I of those students in there, 73% I would say made what we would consider significant growth, meaning they started on a skill and they are already past that if not two skills or three skills beyond that. That was great to see. Our second grade, same thing. About 76% of those kids participating made these big leaps. Um our first grade we had a
032little bit which was a good thing. Um we had such good scores in the beginning of the year we brought in kids who you were in were on grade level because let's let's get them moving. So even of those 63% of those um had significant growth but remembering that's kids who are really kind of on level. So that makes sense you know that their their their growth um you know isn't going into the next grade level or anything. Uh a quick thing on our math facts. We're monitoring those like I've shared with you before. Um we have baselines on everything. We're just starting to get into the second round, but fourth grade because they're all over it. All over everything as a matter of fact. But they a lot of them have started doing their
033second data point for that. So multiplication 100 problems five minutes. And their starting data was that 34% of kids could do it. In a month 58% of kids can do it. So, it's just exciting to see all those kinds of things happen. Um, a quick but very heartfelt thank you to the Lions Club. Uh, what a great organization. You all know what a great community we have. Uh, a team of them came today to do vision checks for first grade and third grade. And that used to be a task, you know, with the nurse and there's the letter chart. And these were thorough exams. and um they got through them all in one day with really nice reports that that they'll be able to send home about, you know, possible need for glasses or things
034like that. So, thank you to our nurse Jess Campbell for that. And then I just have one other thank you to give because I'm remiss probably in citing these people because they [clears throat] do so much and and every every role in our building is so important. I mean, just to keep it all going and everyone just really mostly does it with a smile on their face. But I received this letter from a mom around October break and she has a first grade student and the student has celiacs which uh is definitely something that impacts what they can and cannot eat. and she wrote me a note and it said, "I just want you to know the lunch staff has been over the moon amazing with her accommodating with all of her gluten-free." She is
035new to us, by the way. Um her um her do she said her daughter's been trying foods at home now. She's so excited about having lunch at school. In the past at her last location, she had a lot of trouble. Staff didn't listen or or try to help too much. and food became very hard and she was very scared to trust the people who were feeding her. Um the lunch ladies at your school sat down with her, talked to her, made her so comfortable and have gone out of their way to make her pancakes and PBJs and her own personal menu. But it was just it made me realize, you know, I don't highlight them enough. It's so nice when somebody on the outside sees what you see every day, the dedication of these people
036and they're phenomenal. It's it's how they are all the time, whether it be field trips or different things or our teachers have a meeting and they're making snacks for us. But I just want to thank all of them in the kitchen and and our lunch paras because they probably don't get the the um attention they should because that's a tough job being in that cafeteria and kitchen every day. And they do an amazing job. They know those kids. They know what they need. They're on top of those allergies and they're just fun. The kids like to see them. So, just wanted to add that to it. Do you have any questions about the elementary? >> Just thank you for that. We always hear the negative. Yeah, of course. >> Yeah, it was just nice. And
037this mom reached out to me because she wanted to know how many and she brought in the treats for them and you know that was just nice. It's that they were it was welld deserved. >> Good evening. Good evening. How's everybody? Good. So, you might you might hear some redundancy in my week or monthly report because we really approach it from a threepronged uh perspective when we talk about updates on Knox Middle School. We'll talk about academics, we'll talk about professional development, we'll talk about our school culture because we think those are the three uh the three bases that we operate on for growth. Okay. So, in terms of academically, you know, we're one month into our second uh academic quarter now. Um, we are completing checkpoint testing this week. Our sixth graders are finishing
038that up beginning tomorrow. They'll be done by Thursday. Uh, we use that data as we talked about before internally to make decisions. Professional development wise, our focus continues to be on how can we uh provide the system of support that our teachers need to continuously improve as instructors and make datadriven decisions. Uh tomorrow I meet with our guiding coalition which is our professional development development leadership team if that helps you to understand uh what they are who they are and we meet one week prior to each of our faculty meetings or our PLC meetings uh to analyze and reflect on last month's meeting uh what impact did it have what's our next step how are we going to do this who's going to be involved etc. Uh we will continue to work on goal setting
039for individual teachers. Now uh we've established corporate goals. We've established building goals. We ask teachers to come to the table tomorrow with their individual goals which are reflective and supportive of those other two larger goals. Um the key here is to gain as much feedback for each individual teacher in an efficient manner as we can. So tomorrow or [clears throat] next Wednesday, they'll be working in vertical teams. And by vertical teams, we're talking about teachers across grade levels. So you'll have grade five, grade six, grade seven, grade 8 from English. Same thing in math, same thing in science. This will be the first time we've worked in vertical teams since I've been here. Up to this point, most of our work has been horizontal. So you'd have the sixth grade teachers working together, the fifth
040grade teachers working together. So this broaches or opens up that next door for vertical articulation and collaboration which will take us into curriculum development. So we'll start looking at where are we with our curriculum when we end a grade and we start the next grade to make sure we have no gaps in there with what we are teaching and what we should be teaching. So we'll use the goal setting process to open up that door to crack that door open for vertical collaboration. We'll begin our learning walks uh next week. I talked about that the last time I was here. That's giving teachers an opportunity to go in and observe colleagues uh during instruction and to give feedback, immediate feedback to them. Um our next steps uh beyond that as we mentioned will be those
041vertical meetings. Uh as far as our school culture is concerned, we had to do some fun things and take advantage of Halloween last week. So, uh, special thanks to all the people that coordinated the Knox Middle School trunk or treat. Amy White, uh, was strongly behind that. Uh, Sarah Ivarone played a large hand in that, too. Uh, we heard nothing but positives from our our parents and our community about how well it went. And then our Halloween dance was a hit. Wasn't sure how that was going to go. uh didn't have a whole lot of Halloween dances as sec secondary principal over the years, but we [clears throat] had over 200 middle school kids come to our dance and I think they had a blast. I think our superintendent had a blast, too. [laughter] That's
042>> questions, comments, concerns. Okay, thank you for your time. >> Thank you. You >> guys like to excuse yourself? You're more than welcome to. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. All right. Uh, approval of the minutes from the October 20th, 2025 regular board meeting and October 28th, 2025 executive session. >> Wendy, Aaron, >> thank you. Uh, all in favor? >> Post. Uh, there is no public comments this evening. Uh, nine, personnel report. Uh, a new hier resignations. The superintendent recommends the board approve items A and B. >> Motion. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> It's really good to have a couple uh subs. We've been trying to get out and get some more um for our teachers when they're at. So, that is great news. And then also uh this is Peoples. You know, we hired
043her in uh this year. Unfortunately, she took a job that's closer to home. Um, so we will miss her. We're looking at avenues on how to replace her as we're talking. >> She gone now. >> She will be here till December 2nd. >> So, uh, it gives us some time to fill that position. >> All right. All in favor? >> Post. U business. Uh, a claims. Superintendent recommends the board approve the claims is listed on page 11. Wendy seconded Kirk. Thanks. All in favor of the construction update. >> Yeah. So um Mr. Howard provided the majority of the high school uh update. I will tell you this. If you haven't seen the north side now that they've taken all the paper and everything and thing down, it looks amazing. It looks completely different than what
044it did. Uh so if you get a chance, drive by that and check it out. Uh going back to the vertical units over at the middle school, you know, something else to add to yours is, you know, our energy savings should improve once we get these units in also. Uh but we agreed to uh purchase uh our vertical units from um SVL. Uh they saved us $100,000 over the next bid that we had. So that's great. Uh that bid also includes uh storage of the units until we're ready for them and factory startup and also the movers also in that package deal. So um that project keeps keeps moving on. So I think we're going out for bid uh end of this month. Um we will have a uh open up the bids and I
045think it is January 8th if I remember right is when the bid opening will be. So we're doing well. >> Questions? Okay. Um, item C, donations. The superintendent recommends the board approve the following donations. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second, Gary. Right. >> We just like to thank our, you know, the businesses and the community members have donated to support our students uh and our programs. You know, it's really nice to have have that money there available for our students. All right. >> All in favor? Post? E approval of casualty property and liability insurance. The superintendent recommends the board approve Astra Insurance Company first source insurance for casualty property and liability insurance for the corporation. Casey Clark will discuss this item with the board. I have a motion. Motion Kirk. Second. >>
046I'll second. >> Wendy. >> Okay. So, unfortunately insurance has been going up. Um, it was supposed to go up 28% this year. Luckily, our insurance agent did get it down to 22%, which doesn't seem like a lot, but unfortunately, it's still going up around $50,000. Um, it has to do with a lot of the claims around in other areas. The big storms that have hit other areas has driven the cost of insurance across the board up. Uh, she did been out to some other insurance agencies and they're still coming in right around the same. Um, our increase for liability and auto was uh $41,68. And then for workers comp, it went up $8,000. Um, we had quite a few workers comp issued last year. Um, and since that's set by the state, that driving issue
047uh follows us for the next three years and our rate will be up for the next three years on that. That's basically it. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I >> think public comments this evening on items not on the agenda. So public comments questions from the board. Dr. Brown. >> Um I'm would like to compliment all the people that presented tonight. I think they all did a great job and I think great things are happening. I'm particularly proud of success that the student champion moment was here tonight for. She's doing a great job. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Ditto. Thank you to all those presenters that came in and uh shared with us. You know, Derek, fantastic. I mean, thank you. It's a lot of that's great because it's it's super important and obviously that
048takes a lot of your time to do things. So, but thank you for all your efforts. Appreciate it. >> Yes. Thank you. anytime we can talk cost savings and and putting those monies towards, you know, things that are really important, like you said, staff, students, um that is really appreciated. So, thank you. And yes, the champion moments were were excellent. Um congratulations to Lily. Um and the and the band, they really did. They they that was their best performance of the season for sure. They they put it all out there and um I think Mr. else for all his that >> nothing additional same as everyone else. [laughter] >> Gary, >> uh yeah, same here Derek. Uh it sounds like well doesn't sound like I think you are doing a fantastic job and uh principles
049also and uh our football team is moving on but uh I do want to say something about our band because you know this goes back I mean you know our band for years and years has just been phenomenal. Uh and it goes back to you know my oldest daughter being in school and being in band. But uh you know we talk about how athletes uh you know are dedicated and everything and how hard they work but I tell you what you know it takes a special person to be a band member cuz they just non-stop practice all the dedication and hard work they put in. It's just fantastic. So I want to commend our band. >> Thank you. >> Same to everybody else. >> Yeah. Thank you again, Derek, for coming in and uh spreadsheets
050are impressive. Good job. You know, that kind of information that you can share. Everybody loves to see it. So, thank you. And then to the rest, like you said, our public or um principles and uh updates were great again like always. So, that's it. Good luck to the football team. >> Thank you. >> So, I would like to update the board on McKenna Vento. I'm currently going through my annual training for that. I'm the district McKenna Vento liaison zone. Some of you are aware of McKenna Vento. It's the federal act that we must do and every student every year must fill out a residency uh form and from that we identify whether students are considered Mckin Vento or homeless students. And again homeless is a different definition. It's you know I think a lot of
051you understand it's not the kids necessarily out on the sidewalk, right? There are different areas that make them homeless. So, I won't go into all of that unless you have specific questions, but I wanted to update you as the liaison. I'm the one that's that's responsible for this. When we currently have 14 students in our district who are have been identified and they will be that way all school year, even if they get permanent housing back, four are at the elementary. Three of the four though are in the same family. Um, they are doubled up. That means because of economic hardship, they're living with someone else and maybe their conditions are not the best. doesn't mean just because you're doubled up and living with grandpa that you are a McKenna Vento because we have many
052of those students. We have four at the middle school and two of them are in actual shelters. They are not in the same family. So we have two separate families in shelters and then we have six at the high school. Four of those six and they're not related any of them. They're not siblings. Four of those six are first considered homeless and then unaccompanied homeless. That means they are not with a guardian or a parent in any way whether they chose to move out on their own or the parent kicked them out once they turned 18 they're one of our students. So um so my role is of course I work with the counselors at the high school to help these students but we must provide them free food which we do anyway right free
053breakfast and lunch um free materials but we also go out as a as an organization to try to help our students in other ways for example one of my one of my areas I'm able to provide them some food to take home with them in the evenings which I have been able to do through the Northern Indiana Community Foundation as well is another grant that we have. Um, I was able to get a a young lady who has been very sick. I was able to work with an organization to get her a free doctor's appointment and she just went just got on medication. I mean, I'm I'm hoping this will make the difference for this young lady. Um, I've taken one to personally go get clothing because she's only had the same clothes and I
054know because of where she attends school um that she wears the same clothes. But those are the ways in which that's that is my responsibility as a district leazison to help them to be successful and what they need. Um Mr. Mick and I we attended a meeting. I don't even if you remember this in the summer we went to another nonprofit meeting. We were invited to represent the school. I don't know how many of you have heard of the organization Moving Stark County Forward, another nonprofit. Um, since then I've represented us when I can in my schedule and I did a Zoom meeting last month and we set up we're working with them currently to do a blanket drive which I'm I'm rather excited about. It goes through November 9th and we have been inundated
055with blankets which is wonderful. But as the school representative now I will be able to provide that for some of these students uh because I know especially the high school students we call them for better term couch surfing. I have one young man that he is not in the same residence for more than a week at a time. So this has been a real challenge getting him to school. We're working and he's been coming because we want this young man to earn the credits especially. So I feel honored, blessed that I am able to do this. But I wanted you to understand because people in the community might come up and say something to you. Hey, you have homeless kids or you don't. Well, we do according to McKenna Vento. That's named after two men,
056McKenna and Vento. The act and been updated I think it was 2001 and then 2015. So these are students who they do not have a fixed or adequate nighttime residence or stable. That's what identifies them. So just I just wanted to share that I wanted >> and [clears throat] to the band you know the growth that they had over the season was awesome seeing them from day one to I I saw the community event there that night. It was it was really good to see. So great job by them and good luck to the football team. you know, as we're moving forward, we have the sectional championship here at home uh on Friday against uh Mishawaka. Uh so, you know, we're excited for that uh that game to be here and hopefully we come home
057with our sectional championship and keep moving on. Uh two quick updates for you guys. After fall break, um Micher and I wanted to meet with each principal and assistant principal to have like a nineweek check-in with them. Um and and we did that and we kind of focused it on a our goals, you know, those goals that we set here as a school board. Um how are we doing on those? How is the goals that the principles have set up in their buildings going? So we had a great academic uh conversation. Uh but then we also talked about, you know, discipline in their building and culture in their building. How are things going? Uh was there any needs that they had of us? So, it was just a really good um you know 212 conversation
058with uh each one of our buildings. Uh our goal hopefully we're racking up um checkpoint one right now is uh the first meeting in December to be able to have all that information for you um so that we can give you a update on where the schools are at um with our academic performance with our goals. Um so that's our plan. That's all I have. >> All right. Uh, do I have a motion for >> German? Secondary. >> All in favor? >> Didn't think so. All right. >> Thank you. Thank you for making