001There it is. A good blooper. >> Hold on. Let me hit the magic button. >> This. >> Oh, look at that. >> I don't want to be on camera. >> Professional. All right. See what we got here. All right. Welcome everyone. I'd like to call this meeting to order with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all adoption of the agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda for the August. I'm sorry. Um, I'm gonna ask for unanimous approval of the resignation of Dave Miller from the girls golf coach position and Stephan Miller as the boys girls swimming coach and Brit Brittany Kulie as a part-time
002elementary KitchenAid. We would also like a unanimous approval of a discount card sale for the Knox High School football team and a $5,000 donation to the to the athletic department from the athletic boosters for the purchase of a golf cart. going to add those things to the agenda. >> Yes. So, you're asking for a motion to the unanimous by opposed. >> Okay. It'll be added to the agenda then. Thank you. >> Okay. Back to adoption of the agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda for the August 4th, 2025 regular meeting as presented. I have a motion, please. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? I >> post approval of the minutes from the July 21st, 2025 regular board meeting. >> Motion, please. >> Motion. >> Thanks. All in favor?
003>> Post. Uh there's no public comments tonight. So, personnel reports. Uh A, resignations, B new hires, C transfers, D extracurricular appointments. The superintendent recommends the board approve item A, B, C, and D. I have a motion. Motion. >> Second. >> Perfect. You hear? >> Couple things here with the personnel report. Uh, first of all, u Stephan Miller has been with us and our department for I think it was five years, six years. Is that right, Casey? Um, definitely, you know, wish him the best of luck uh in his next next endeavors. That is definitely a loss for us. Um, and as we look at our new hires, you know, this is where we're hiring a lot of our parent professionals right now. This is this is that time. Um, I do want to um here
004we have Ariel Jacobson. She's coming on as a science teacher for us. That's taken Mr. Crom's position. Um, very excited to have her. She got to be a part of our um new teacher orientation. Um, so excited to add her to the team. And then also Mr. Crom, I mentioned him. He is uh staying on as our middle school tennis coach. that's one of his um dreams is he wanted to build that tennis program. So, I'm very excited that he's going to continue to do that here for us. And then also Mr. Talby, uh freshman football coach. Uh very excited to have have him part of our staff. Did I say Beth? Did I say football? >> Beth football coach. Um and I do want to say that, you know, as we do as we
005did amend the agenda tonight, not something I want to get in the routine of doing. you know, I think we get into the beginning of school, there's so many moving parts just like this that that happen right now. Um, that's not something that we are going to continue to do. I don't like to do that. Um, but there are some things that needed our our attention in here in order to hire some new people in here in a in a timely fashion. So, just so we're all on the same page with that. >> All in favor? >> I post. Uh a uh treasures report >> questions on Casey. >> We just recently paid um for bigger payments to Larsson for the new project. We paid our bond payment though. Other than that, that's been our
006most recent claims payments. >> The B vendor usage report. >> Okay. C claims. The superintendent recommends the board approve the claims is listed on page 47. Motion please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I posted right. The Neo policy discussion. The superintendent will discuss with the board numerous revisions to several policies along with new proposed policies and replacement policies. These will be voted on at the next board meeting. >> Numerous revisions. 60 pages of numerous revisions. Um there there's a lot going on there. So one of our goals that we had is that we wanted to really go through our Neola policy and make sure that everything is up to date. Um so this was one of those I mean we had a a three-hour meeting with uh Jared
007um Hammonds, myself and our Neola rep and really went through he had it all planned out of everything that um we needed to update um on top of the current legislation that just occurred. Um, so we basically did an audit of all of our needle policies. So after this round, we feel very confident that we are up to date unless there's any changes that obviously come in in the future. So we're excited about that. Um, some of that stuff is like one small world, some one small word that got changed may to a shell, things like that. And others of them it's the entire policy. Uh, just some highlights for you guys that's important. Um, in there they did talk about the consent agenda, uh, executive sessions. There is a financial updates in there, curriculum
008updates, uh, even as far as the school board electronic, uh, participation. Um, so as you're looking through that, uh, before our second reading, those are some things that, um, you know, you guys can look for. >> All right. Thanks. You want to keep going and give us a construction update? >> Construction update. We are, uh, rocking and rolling on the construction at the high school. We're right on schedule, if not a little bit ahead of schedule. So, on the south side, um, they were supposed to paint those rooms after the kids were already in them. The great news, the rooms are already painted. Um, so really, uh, they are open. The teachers got into them, I think late last week, which is fantastic. They still had to put up the little corkboard, um, on there
009for them to hang hang stuff. Not a big deal. Uh, Derek and his team did a great job of getting back in there, cleaning up after them, getting all the desks arranged. Uh so I'm happy to report that uh they're a little bit ahead of schedule um on that south side which is great. Um they door one and two will be open Wednesday morning for kids to drop off. That that's still closed right now but it will be open for the beginning of school. Um on the north side um they still have half of that torn apart that will be torn apart through the month of August. Uh but they rearranged their fence so that the multi-purpose door is open, which is great because we have some kids that will go in that door. Uh
010we have some staff members that walk their kids to the elementary through that door. So that was really nice of them to adjust that. Um after August is done, those that half of the north side should open up and then they'll be taking down the what is the northeast side of the high school and working on those rooms. Um, so those teachers are aware that they're in their room right now, but in a month they're going to have to move out. So, um, it's they're doing a really nice job over there. I'm really happy with that. I think as we're talking about construction, um, I also want to talk about the middle school a little bit in the AC. It did get Did it cool off, Miss Ringle, as the day went on in there
011or No, >> it it got hot when it filled up with people. >> Did it cool off a little bit >> during the day? >> Yeah. No, this this evening. >> No. No. >> Okay. Um, >> I take Let me say the rooms were cooler than the hallways, correct? So, let's go with that. >> We've been very happy with the chillers at the middle school. They're doing a very nice job for us. We know we still have some work to do over there um in those classroom units. Um, but overall, I I texted Derek um about half hour in. I said, "Hey, bump it down a little bit." And he did. And as we were walking around, we could feel it cooling down some. So, >> it was way better than last year. So, yeah.
012>> Um, so we're we're happy with go what's going on over there. The building held up over the summer um with the amount of heat we had and humidity. So, we're happy with that. Um Derek, our maintenance director, and I we actually did did a podcast today and we're hoping to get that out tomorrow about all of our construction updates so our families and community uh know exactly what's what's going on. So, we can look for that to come out. >> What's left to do over there with the BC units and stuff? Um we so that's what the next bond is for. We're doing the individual units in the classroom. Those those units about 23 25 years old. Um so we're take you know those those are the big units been in there forever, right?
013So we're going to rip those out and put in more efficient um units that been right outside in the classroom you know and increase the um air quality in each classroom by with those units. So that's our plan. Sure. Anything else on construction I can answer? >> Assuming there's already a plan those teachers at the northeast corner, they they know where they're going to end up moving to. >> Yeah. So where where the teachers are displaced right now, they will have to move out. The other guys got to move in. >> Um we have about three to four extra classrooms right now that we can kind of play with. So we're good. They're they're all aware of it. Yeah. Um you know, kudos to to Derek, our maintenance director. He's done a great job of
014almost weekly he'll send a map out to the staff to say this part's open now, this part's still closed so people know where to go. He's done a great job for us. >> Thank you. Uh F uh fundraisers 2526 school year. The superintendent recommends the board approve the fundraisers for the 2526 school year beginning on page 24. I have a motion, please. Motion. Second. Oh, sorry. Kirk, you know, >> I was as I was preparing for the meeting today, I really reflected on our fundraisers, right? When when I first came in, you guys received what, three, four, five pages of all the fundraisers. It was kind of very overwhelming, you know. I think we did a good job of of reworking the fundraisers into groups based upon uh orders, you know. So, what you're seeing
015here uh today is some of these fundraisers are right now. Some of them are actually towards the end of school. You know, um I'm going to go through them real quick just to put it in your mind of where we're at with this. But I've been happy with our fundraiser protocol that we changed. Uh at the middle school, uh the student activities group, they're going to sell spirit items. Student council's going to do donuts and hat days as fundraisers. Social committee is going to do a chili uh dinner before a football game. Fifth grade is going to do some spirit wear for field trips and playground equipment. Middle school choir is going to do some holiday treats uh for the purchase of equipment and entry fees. Uh middle school honor society Valentine's Day carnation sale.
016Middle school student council. Remember the block party at the end of the school year that they did. So they got that on here. That was a great event. High school student council. They had in your packets 11 different items that they're doing throughout the school year. High school bands doing a brochure sale. Um that's go obviously goes to the band. Um FFA um they're going to grow students are going to grow flowers and sell them. I think that that's really cool. Um JAG the high school JAG. Um I was told that we did a very cool haunted trails here back in the day. >> That from what I heard it was a big event that I think with COVID if I got my story right kind of went by the wayside. Is that true? >>
017Yay. >> It was after CO. >> Was it after CO? Whatever reason >> you know but you know. >> Okay. Well, um, they want to bring it back. Um, so I'm excited about that event. I think that that's another great community event that we're going to have. Um, and those funds will go to help support the students that are in JAG. Um, and then also the class of 2029, which we met with today in the auditorium. Uh, they're going to do some game nights for the community and movie nights uh to raise money for their class. So, that's kind of overview of the fundraisers. >> I got a quick question. Um, Amber Clemens, didn't she move to the high school? Correct. So, is she still doing all these or is somebody else? >> Um, she
018was the student counselor, right? >> Council and National Junior Society. >> As far as I know, yes, but I'm honor. >> She's not. >> I spoke with her just at at back to school. She said that um she is going to be kind of bridging it over. I think she said to Sarah Morgan, but going to be definitely helpful and still involved and and making sure that they're well supported. >> Perfect. Well, see you guys more than I did. We got got updated information just as a couple hours ago. >> All right. All in favor? >> Opposed? Item G, Corporationwide employee handbook. The superintendent recommends the board approved the corporationwide employee handbook as listed on page 143. Motion motion. >> Thank you. So, >> you know, this was another thing that we identified that we
019needed. We didn't have one. We we had handbooks at each individual school. They were more student handbooks, but we didn't have like a true employee handbook of all of our rules, regulations, HR things. Um, so this was a pri priority for us here. And I'm happy to report to you that that we got it done. Um this is for all of our employees. It outlines more of the HR side um with our employees. Uh just to give you a couple example of things that are in here. Um you know, life insurance, credit union, um family and medical leave, FMLA, intermittent or reduced leave, healthc care procedures, jury duty, briement leave, right? uh employee ru work rules, harassment, bullying, all of those things that is like an HR type of handbook. We now have um and
020there is a couple tweaks of um some spelling or what we need to tweak though, but we're not going to change any language in it. Um and this is something that we will continue to build on um as the time goes. This is kind of the first one that we're doing of this. So, obviously there will be tweaks um as we go along, but um I'm I'm happy where we're at with it right now for the start school. Questions? All in favor? Item eight. Strategic plan update. Superintendent will give an update on the to the board on the strategic plan for the corporation. >> I'm going to try to do this. I don't know if I can. Okay, we're getting somewhere here. Um, what this is um how many of you are coming to the
021um breakfast tomorrow, >> right? Um this is the same presentation that's going to go out. I'm not going to give you all of our of our >> See, I didn't bring my notes. >> No, you don't have to. I'm not going to show you all of the things that we're going to talk about, but I think this is something you guys really need to be proud of, right? We've done we've been working on this for what now six, seven, eight months, you know. Um, and this is really a feather in our hat to get to to this point. Um, this is just kind of an outline of how we went through the strategic plan, the things that we developed in the time that we did it. Um, we're going to talk about the schoolboard norms
022that we had, right? These are the five things that we created. Um, with the most important one being prioritizing student success. We've had a lot of great conversations about academics and how to push our district forward academically. Um, I'm going to pass that one because that's a spoiler for tomorrow. Um, this one here is our three goals that we have. Uh, these are the ones that we set. These are threeear goals, right, that we want to get. um you know from 33 to 48% in what is this ELA right here's our math from 37 to 52 and then also this is our SAT at grade 11 you know 10 to 20 25%. So tomorrow we're going to talk to the staff and we have that philosophy that we want to from our level set our
023goals for the district, right? And then now it's time to give these to our admin to our teachers and what are the strategies that they're going to use in order to accomplish these goals. Like I said, this is a great um uh thing that you guys have have created here. We've talked about our vision statement, right? We're going to talk about that. That was with your guys' help. We had lots of conversation about that. That was also with the admin's help. Um together we have created that as a vision statement of Knox Community Schools. And then lastly, uh this has been a really fun I I didn't I didn't expect it to be this much fun, but I really feel like we got the the staff's value and input onto our mission statement. uh we
024have what four different revisions if I remember four different Google forms that we sent out and each time it tweaked a little bit and ultimately uh at I believe 70% um of our staff this is what they agreed upon. So I feel very happy that we were able to not only include you guys in this process and you guys leading this process but also being able to get our staff involved in this. Um so this is going to kind of be our new branding that that we're going to have. We will take this um throughout the district as we move forward and um you know promote this for Knox Community Schools. I just want to thank you guys for the process. We're not done yet, but this was that five-step process that we wanted to
025go to to develop a new uh strategic plan. So thoughts that you guys have on this? Thanks for all your hard work. All right. Uh, moving on. Uh, eight, public comments. No comments for items not on the agenda. So, we'll move along to comments and questions from admins and the board. Uh, Dr. Brown. Yes. I'd like to as we start reflecting on things, I'd like to thank I guess everybody u Nick Peg our staff. I started thinking about what probably the last two years and what we've updated kind of what the amount of task and things that have been taken on from handbooks to buildings to um making sure teachers are certified all the just the magnitude of things that have kind of always trickled being on the board for many years. has kind of
026just let go by and it's interesting to hear and and things were getting up we're getting things taken care of up to speed going all right are we you know letting a lot of things slack so um and I think that's a tribute to the board you guys our staff the administrators the teachers everybody in a whole and so I think that's part of the the great things that are happening as well as seeing our success is that that focus of what are we doing you know we got to get things up to date we got to be on top of this make sure we're not being laxical. So, thank you to every >> um I I'm not sure if anyone else was over at the orientations and things. Um the high school definitely is
027a little bit different this year. I'm aware because construction and we had the handing out of all the you know the new computers which just kind of was a lot. But one thing I I wasn't aware of until you know more recently is that the freshman orientation was also tonight. that's always been done separately and they've had a lot of time dedicated just for them four hours. This was like a 30 minute orientation this year for these guys coming in construction change. Was that because of construction that >> it wasn't on purpose? We met um back in the beginning of July even before the 4th. Um we just we it was supposed to be last week on Monday and we were the building just wasn't wasn't ready. there was still too much construction going on.
028So, we couldn't take them on a tour or anything else. And when we met as a team, it was a well just this one year, this is the best we can offer them to do it right before then. So, uh I I am going to talk about that because it was pretty exciting in there when we talked to them. Um but yeah, that's just a one-year thing. We'll we'll get back to our normal. >> Okay. I know. I have a niece that's a freshman coming in. She's super nervous and I thought, "Oh gosh, that's" and then yeah, I did see her walking the halls. It's It's just I know it's nice for them to have dedicated time with their immediate class to be able to do that as opposed to with you know the other
029kids that are >> they so they had other high school students there to give them tours. Okay. That's that was a little bit I want to say different than before, but it's probably hard to do that when you have all the other people in there too. >> Right. Right. Right. >> Yeah. >> And it's harder to talk to the teachers like with the middle school. >> Mr. We really my daughter really wanted to come talk to you and we did. We ran out of time. Your line was so long for your classroom, but so she's excited to see you. >> School night has been like individual. Everybody talk to you now. >> Yeah. So, it's just it's it's interesting the process, but um so for those freshmen, that's a little bit different. And then I
030wanted to ask too, I was um uh about the class sizes. Um the middle schools particularly, we were talking about it. Um you know, with the wanting us, oh, we need to increase those scores and things. I know there's been some changes with the teachers and classes shifting. Has that really affected the class sizes over there? Do we know? >> Um, a little bit. Um, nothing out of the realm though. I still think we're at 25, you know, which is which is ballpark okay where we're at. Um, if we start pushing 30, then I start scratching my head a little bit of okay, how how do we make this happen? Um, I think budget also falls falls into that too. Um, so that's something that, you know, we made that conscious effort to be a
031little more budget conscious um, of what we're doing. Um, but something to definitely keep an eye on, you know, and there there's still so much fluctuation right now, too. We don't know exactly who's coming, who's not. So, there's still that going on. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Our goals are just to increase this, you know, the scores for sure and and really support the students. So, I know smaller class sizes are >> certainly helpful to that. >> I agree. That's all. But thank you. >> Gary, >> uh yeah, a couple things. Uh you talked about uh the principles uh what you did that plan to them uh >> the goals. >> Yeah, the goals. And uh uh after they decide how they're going to do things, are they going to come in and you know, slow
032down? >> Yeah. So, how does that work? Right. We we set these goals from up top. Um we have dedicated uh one meeting a month to academic to those goals. Uh so we will be having those uh and the plan is the principles wanted what the month of August pretty much to kind of get those goals together for their teams get them pushed out to their teams and then yes they're going to come in and we will have an academic focus where they're going to present to you. You know you guys know the big goals what are their individual school goals. Um so that we have that on the uh the plan. >> All right. Good. Good. And uh one other thing too, you were talking about the uh air conditioning in the rooms that
033used to build been here forever. >> They weren't there when I was >> Well, before school >> because we didn't have any. >> Okay. >> I don't get scary, Wendy. >> Um yeah, few things. um the the coaching situations like Brian with um how do we determine if like a coach is needed like if there's not enough kids when is that ever because I know we ran into this last year that it was too late and then we end up with coaches and we don't have any kids to coach. >> So that's a conversation that happens early on. Um, I mean, we start need to start having those conversations now of, um, setting the number. If we don't have X number of kids, we're not going to be able to have a JV at that
034point. Um, and then what does that what does that money look like for that coach, right? So, we we have had those had those discussions with Neil. Um, we'll need to follow back up with that now that the school year has has started and, you know, fall sports are rolling. >> Okay. Yeah, because I know we ran into it with JB, but then now, you know, with freshman, I didn't know if we have the numbers for freshman coaches. >> What sport we talking? >> The basketball. Yeah, I I I don't know. I haven't seen those numbers yet, but >> Okay. To get into the boys, I think >> they're the ones I think only have freshman team. Gotcha. >> Okay. And what some schools have done um is they don't call it freshman team, they
035call it C team, you know, then you get sophomores on on there, too, so that you can still play. I mean, I I don't know the numbers per class off the top of my head, but you know, if you have a large group of sophomores, you take a couple of them and they play down, >> which I think we've done in the past. I'm just saying like is the numbers warranting you know >> four coaches you know so um >> and then uh the other thing is um it's good to see that there's a line to I mean that's that's good that parents and and the kids want to come and I mean the parking lot's full so and it's over right but I mean it was still full out there so that that's exciting
036you can tell that absolutely that people want to want to get in and they're excited for the school year to start Um, well, thank both of you for all your hard work this summer. A lot of like Kirk said, a lot so many things have been done um with with everything. So, thank you again. And Casey, I want to ask real quick, um, are we doing the free lunches again this year? Excellent. >> That that'll go on my video. I'm sending the video out tomorrow. Yeah, he sent a video out once and but we've got to have parents fill out the applications. Um, you know, because we've dropped by 20% in free and reduced. So, we've got to have people fill out their applications. >> And then, have we had any luck with the balance
037on the lunch count? No, it's still there. Okay. >> Can Can I ask something? Can you can you explain again because there's like surrounding schools that they are like how do you guys get free lunch and it's because everyone has to fill it out regardless right or how so >> state right >> so yes partially it's federal money so you have to apply but it goes through the state too so we were at such a high level that we only needed a little bit more of our money out of our 800 fund well we still have quote unquote COVID funds that are technically in there because your 800 fund is only supposed to have like 3 months worth of money in it and we have like eight months, nine months worth of money in it.
038So, we need to spend out some of those dollars. So, that's the reason that we can get free everyone because we're still using like 30,000 of our dollars, but we're at such a high rate, but now we're slowly dropping. So, most likely next year we won't be able to have it because people don't want to apply even though it's free. So then they think, "Oh, because it's free already, I don't have to apply," which is hurting us. >> So it says our rate, she's talking about our rate of free and reduced or poverty. >> Okay? >> Which hinges everything. So we dropped from 62% down to 44%. >> Because our family did not fill out the free and reduced form. >> You send those forms home. Yeah. How do we advertise for the >> So
039a couple things. Um we we pushed it but we didn't get it in front of the people at the right times last year. We sent it out but this year with our inerson registration u Billy and Casey and uh Danielle they were the first people you saw and you sat down you filled that form out um tonight when you were at um the open house back to school night you should have seen it at the tables the elementary staple it onto their schedules. Um, so we made at each building a focus on getting those filled out and turned back in. So I feel much more confident now knowing that next year that will go up. But we did lose some funding because our number dropped 20% solely because we didn't get that form filled out.
040So >> a deadline to fill those forms out. >> Yes. For the Well, as far as the state's concerned, it's by your first count date. >> October 1st. >> Thank you. And so that affects next school year though this year. >> October one will affect next school year. Then that the number that are filling out will affect next year's. Yes. >> They're still filling out now by >> can you ask for? So, does it >> help or hinder like people that probably don't qualify to to fill it out or everyone should >> Everyone should fill it out no matter what because like one of the things we have with bikes for kids this year, >> there was a bunch of people then after they found out, oh, my kids's not on the list. I didn't
041fill it out this year. Well, there's other things that they could possibly qualify for. Free, you know, bikes, free um weekend meals, things like that. I mean, there's so many things that they qualify for, but they don't fill out the forms, then you can't qualify for different things, and it also hinders our our funding. >> Is there any way to tell who has and who has not filled it out? >> It's just sent out the one time, though. Usually, we've sent it out quite a few times before October 1. >> Yeah, we we'll hit another round. >> They can apply online. they're able to apply online at our link which used to be called Titan changed their name to link so now they can apply there and you know there's several places they can apply
042but it's just getting them to apply um we also did find out that it may hurt us this year because of the changes with Medicaid a lot of kids were direct certified with Medicaid prior now with the changes in Medicaid we may not have as many as many direct searchs before because we had over 500 kids that were directly certified, meaning they already had Medicaid TANF or SNAP um and they would be directly certified to free or reduce lunch. Well, that's gone down quite a bit, too. >> So, those people didn't have to. >> They don't have to, but a lot of times they will still >> they should. Yes, they definitely should. >> That's why we're saying everybody should fill one out just in case >> you may qualify for something. >> And you
043guys think it helped a lot by being in person. Fill it out. Absolutely. >> You said at home it doesn't get done. >> We had over like 200 applications that day and that's the most we've had in a long time. >> Good. I I think that that >> has to get that out >> because I think that a lot of people won't fill it out and I think we've gone away from the in-person the you know here it is. >> Well, and the other part is is you can't fill out the new applications until after July 1st. So doing registration before July 1 and doing some of that pre-registration stuff, we can't give them the applications till after July 1. So we can't give them that old application to fill out. The state doesn't release
044it until after July 1. I So that's probably what the people were talking about that I've already filled it out and now they're getting notification that they're not complete. >> Probably thank you answer all the questions. Um, Peggy. >> So, speaking of funding, I think you've probably heard in the news the federal government the federal funding at that level to the states. However, the states have not yet distributed it to any public schools in Indiana. So, we are currently awaiting federal funding, finding out what our distributions will be for title two and title four grants. All indications are that that funding will also be decreased some say considerably. We shall see um what that looks like but we are in a holding pattern. Everything else has been filed but that and then I was just
045going to touch briefly on this morning's meeting unless you were going to >> I wasn't. Go ahead. >> So this morning we had a good meeting with our administration especially the assistant principles dean of students for attendance. Um I don't know how many of you have been hearing in the news the state and the update on the attendance etc but the state has been very quick to point out and since then send out further clarification because many parents are asking that it is still a local decision. So we're here to tell you with our meeting today our policy that we worked really hard on last year. Do you remember Stark County attendance policy? we are in good shape because we actually have a solid plan that we actually think is better than the state plan.
046I don't care if anybody's listening from the state but but you know our accountability is there. It helped to improve our attendance. We saw that last year with that accountability with our parents. So uh our assistant principles and principles were there. They felt better because they were really nervous about the new attendance requirements. but after a meeting better than they felt before because we're good to go. So that's what I wanted to share. >> Good to hear. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Um Chief, thank you for being here tonight. >> Appreciate it. >> Another one of the accolades of something we got to. >> So let's that was the last thing I was going to talk about, but I I'll move in move into that now. It's good good bridge with the attendance. You
047know, I did reflect over the summer about the great things that we have done, right? I think there is an absolute buzz right now about us. We have people wanting to be here, want we people wanting to come back. Um, and I think today we left freshman orientation and the conversation we had was how are we going to relay the excitement and the positivity and the the the awesomeness, if I can use that word, of that freshman orientation because it did. The kids were smiling, they were happy, they were excited. The the atmosphere in the room, right, am I saying anything wrong here? Was great. Um, and we were trying to figure out how to relay that to you guys because it was a really good environment when we were there with them. Um, back
048to school night, jam-packed. I mean, cars parked cars parked in the grass over here. I mean, you you couldn't find it. I had people driving around like I'm almost outside directing traffic. They're like, "Where's the spot? I can't find a spot." Well, I don't know. Drive around to somebody, you know. Um, but there is an absolute great buzz about what we're doing. We have kids wanting to be here, right? And and I'm just I'm really excited about this school year. I think we have really put ourselves in a great um position this school year to be very successful. I think part of that goes back to our work that we've done together as a board to guide that and to push that forward with our academic goals, with the progress that we made on that
049strategic plan. I mean, I I I'm just excited. I'm I'm I'm excited to be here. I'm excited for the school year, you know, and Wednesday is going to be a great day. If you guys can make make that breakfast, um love to have you there >> tomorrow. Sorry, I'm I'm ahead of myself. Wednesday's kids. Uh tomorrow morning, um breakfast is served at 7. Um staff has to be there by 7:30 at the latest. I will start at 7:45. Um we have our whole, as you saw, PowerPoint, um ready to go. We should be done about 10:30ish. If you can stop in there at any point, you're more than welcome to. Um it's a disco theme, so don't be surprised if you see people wearing disco wear tomorrow. The Peggy's all excited about her outfit. Let
050me let me um >> But uh We're going to have a little fun tomorrow morning, you know, with with our with our breakfast. So, and then kids on kids on Wednesday. We're ready. So, it's going to going to be a great school year. We're really excited. >> What kind of food you serving with the disco theme? >> Breakfast if we didn't do that. >> Breakfast. What do you got tomorrow? >> Breakfast casserole, sugar waffles. >> Oh, those are the best. I know. >> And a parfait bar. I don't think there's biscuits. >> Is it? I'm not going. No, don't go. >> I'm going to talk something. >> Can I just about back to school and I >> I have 115 students in eighth grade and I had kids sign in and I believe I was
051over 80 kids who signed in. Wow. >> Um and some students I would forget because I was so busy I would forget to have them sign in. >> So it was the biggest crowd I've had in eighth grade in a long long time. >> Wonderful. >> And it goes back to that buzz there. There's great things that that we are doing that people want to be here. >> I know of at least two or three students who told me I'm new to the district. One was from Jensen, one was from Florida. I can't remember the other one. >> Awesome. We're we're doing good. Thanks. We we really are. So, kudos to you guys and your guys' leadership. >> Okay. Can I have a motion for adjournment? >> Second. All in favor? >> All right. Thank
052you. >> Yes.