001Okay, this time we will go ahead and begin our meeting. I will turn it over to our school board president, Mr. David Wright. Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for joining. If you could please stand, we'll start with the pledge. I 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. Thank you for that. There were no sign-ups for public comments. Uh at this time, I will turn it over to Dr. Krippler. All right. Thank you, Mr. Wright. Good evening, everyone. At this time, we're going to call upon our Hamilton family, Hamilton Elementary School, that give them the opportunity to make presentation, tell us about Hamilton Elementary School, and one of the things we as a board
002and as administrators we like to brag. We like to brag about our students and their good works and their accomplishments, and give them the limelight a little bit for all of their hard work and everything that they're doing here at Hamilton Elementary School. So, at this time, I'm going to call upon the principal at Hamilton Elementary School, Ms. Jennifer Havens, to present some good things about Hamilton School for us. Good evening, welcome everyone. Um love love love seeing the full house tonight, so this is awesome. Thank you, Mrs. Hayes, for the idea of personal invites, so I appreciate it. Um tonight I want to highlight all of our club offerings and our academic goals. So, we're going to start with Girls on the Run. So, Miss Sorenson, if you want to come up and help
003me with this one. I'm just going to read a little blurb here. Thank you. So, Girls on the Run is coached by Miss Sorenson as well as Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker was not able to be here tonight. Uh but Miss Walker said that the Girls on the Run program is for girls in grades third through fifth grade. It helps students build confidence, friendships, and healthy habits through fun lessons and physical activity. They meet twice a week during the season where participants take part in interactive discussions, team building activities, and running or movement exercises. As part of the program, participants also compete complete a community impact project where they work together to identify a need and give back such as organizing a donation drive or creating messages of kindness for others. We are especially proud of
004our participants' growth in self-confidence and teamwork, as well as their accomplishments of completing the end of the season non-competitive 5K. Uh many of our students achieve personal goals they never thought possible, making it a truly rewarding experience for everyone involved. When is that 5K this year? So, May 16th is the 5K in Highland. So, come out and support our girls as they run in that non-competitive 5K. All right, we have Katia Llanas. I don't know if she's here tonight. Uh Gabriella Cunningham. I feel like I saw her. Come on Miss Gabby. Sophia de Jesus. Isabelle Garber. Aeristan. Here. Uh Angelina Guy. Miss Maria Molden. Raven Andac Harley Peculius Julia Seabolt Eileen Serna Radhika Shivley Elise Whitaker Uh Nila Yasin Cadence Milsap Yep, and that's it. Thank you, everyone. You can stay up here. Yeah. Ms.
005Sorenson also sponsors our student council. Student council meets every 2 weeks on Wednesdays. The goal of student council is to help out the school in any way they can. Student council has done a coat drive and a food drive, uh which has been donated to local places to help those in need. Uh student council also does morning meetings for our social emotional topics for each month. This consists of going into all the classrooms in the school and presenting to the class about the SEL topic. Student council also does fundraisers to raise money, such as selling goodie bags, raffle baskets, and gratitude grams. With the that money that is raised, student council has bought snacks for the second and third graders taking I-Read, bought gifts for teachers for teacher appreciation week, and made cards thanking staff
006for all the hard work they do. All right. Uh Zeke Framboise, Ezekiel Isabelle Garber Madelyn Gilmer Luna Sandoval Odin Kubiak Destiny Gutierrez Iris Merlos Sophia De Jesus Kayla Marroquin Audriana Young Harley Peculius Alec Earl Cadence Milsap Is that right? And that's all of our student council. All right, we also have art club with Ms. Marcinkowski. Art club is a creative space for fourth and fifth graders who love art and want to explore new materials and ideas. They meet every other Thursday to try hands-on projects like clay, shrinky dinks, print making, and painting. Um Ms. Marcinkowski focuses on helping students feel comfortable expressing their own ideas and experimenting with different techniques. Their first project was clay bobbleheads painted with tempera and finished with a gloss spray to mimic a glazed effect. Do you want to show
007those? It's up to you. You can just kind of hold them Kind of hard to hold up cuz it is detached but it's like a separate head. Good job. All right, first up is Iris Lopez. Madeleine Gilman Destiny Gutierrez Isabelle Garber Alec Earl Derek Antu Mr. B J Tara Parrott Luna Sandoval Maribel Flores Giovanni Mendoza Veronica Shively Sophia Cornejo Odin Kubiak Noah Hoy Evie Rosario Hayden Smelcer And that's it for art club. All right. next one Arley Bryan as Capitan was not able to be here tonight, but she does run book club. This was a new club for us this year. She says that they had two sessions of book club this year. Did a fall session that ran for 7 weeks and a spring session for 5. In the fall they read a book
008that she chose called I know your secret. It's a realistic fiction and mystery about kids not much older than the kids attending book club. The fall session had about nine students from fourth and fifth grade. Those students she said took her ideas for book club and really ran with it. They showed up to meetings with thoughts and ideas about each character. Theories for how the books issues would be resolved and who the blackmailer from our story was. Two of the students discovered that this book and author were their new favorite so much so that when we voted on a book for the spring session the students unanimously chose a different book by the same author set in the same world as the first. She said the club has doubled in size from the first session
009to the second. She now has 18 students. They meet every other week to discuss their new book I know you're lying. She said her goal in book club is to get students thinking about books in a space where they get to lead the discussion. The students have absolutely nailed that goal this year and she's incredibly proud of them. Maribel Flores DJ Destiny Luna Sandoval Here. Milo Hagel No, thank you. Radhika Shively Andre Sanaya Noah Hoy >> Owen Kubiak Julian Romero Sophia De Jesus Chris Foster Kegan Carryon Jesus Ruiz Isabelle Garber Isaac Jackson Madeleine Gilmer Giovanni Mendoza and James Ard. All right, next up we have Spell Bowl. Ms. Derek had a little mishap today, so she's not here today. Um, however, she said she's a proud of her amazing hardworking students for their effort in
010the 2025 Indiana Academic Spell Bowl that took place on November 17th. After weeks of dedicated practice, they gave it their all and showed perseverance even with the small team. They truly finished strong, and she couldn't be more proud of everything they accomplished. James Ard Braden Hall Caden Smelcer Julian Romero Veronica Shively All right, next up is Science Bowl. Mrs. Quick is our Science Bowl sponsor or coach every year. She does an amazing job. She said Science Bowl had a very small window in the school calendar. It's scheduled between November and January. Uh students have good behavior and grades four and five get to participate um and her goal is to foster the love of science. Uh she said while we would truly love to be in the top 10 of the state, her goal is
011to have students learn to love and appreciate science. The greatest joy is to hear parents say, "My child loved learning science." Uh this year's competition was on Earth Science with an emphasis on the water cycle. We were less than 10 points from placing in the top 10 this year in the red division. Their best round in the competition this year was the experiment round. Her team received 36 out of 40 points. Uh she's truly proud of her students. They practiced experiments multiple times to see how the water cycle model related to what they were learning. Uh they had a closing day celebration to end Science Bowl where students got together and tried additional experiments and I got to witness some of those and it was absolutely amazing to see how excited the kids were. So,
012good job to you. All right, Odin Kubiak. Maribel Flores. Keegan Carrion. Ella Girl. James Ard. And Julian Romero. >> All right, and coming off a fresh competition just last night, we have Math Bowl. Uh Miss Laden is our Math Bowl coach. She said this year's team consisted of three fifth graders and five fourth graders who did an amazing job at practice and at the competition. Uh from the end of January through April, they dove right into learning and relearning about data analysis, statistics, probability, number sense, and computation. Some of these skills were a challenge, but as a team, we were able to sharpen our skills and have fun with math. She said, "I'm so proud of everyone and can't wait to see our team continue to grow next year." Okay. All right, Andres. Isaac Jackson.
013Zimani Guy. Logan Gilman. Maribel Flores. Tyler Campbell. Chris Foster. Jesus Ruiz. And that's And that's it. Thank you, everyone. Well, thank you, Miss Havens, for presenting all of those outstanding students and recognizing them and giving them their time in the limelight for their hard work and everything that they did. They really did a super job. And I want to congratulate all of our students that participated this evening in either the Art Club, Student Council, Girls on the Run, book club, and as a former English teacher, I'm so proud, book club. Uh spell bowl, science bowl, and also the math bowl. So, congratulations to all of them for their hard work. One round of applause, please. Okay, at this time, we are going to deviate a little bit from our regular board meeting. I know it
014is coming upon 7:00. Some students may have homework, some may have dinner plans that they need to get to and get ready for school for tomorrow. You can give me just a minute. Oh. Uh but before I finish that statement, I'll give it over to President Wright, who would like to say something. Uh usually we we release you guys, and I believe that's where Dr. Kriplever was getting, but the board never gets to actually speak to the students because the parents get up and head home. So, we're going to delay that just a second. I'm going to give the board an option to speak if they if they choose to do so. Mr. Broeske? Hello, I want to thank everybody for attending tonight. I want to congratulate all you students on working so hard to
015achieve your goals. Um continue to keep working hard. It's greatly appreciated. We're all very proud of you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Music? Yeah, uh I just want to thank everyone for coming out. This is one of the probably the biggest group for sure since I've been on the school board, so I really like seeing everybody out here. Um I do want to thank our sponsors for those clubs as well for doing everything they do. I know it's a lot of work to try to wrangle all those kids and get them focused on the same task at the same time. So, I appreciate all the hard work that you put in. And uh congratulations to all the kids, and I hope you keep on working on those uh different clubs and activities. Thank you,
016Mr. Music. Mr. Tanaria? I'll say the same thing that Mr. Music said. Um congratulations to all the award recipients today. I thank you for participating in the clubs and representing Hammond Central School at the Science Spell Bowls and Math Bowls and Science Bowls. Um the Girls on the Run, I am very impressed with the 5K run. I really like to see who finished. That's What is that like? 3 miles? >> it's 3.1 and 3.1. >> way. That's a long way. The army we had to run 2 miles to qualify. That's That's a long way. I And uh I can't wait to see how many you finish and my granddaughter's on the in the at Bailey, too. So, I know it's a great program and uh So, So, just prove that good things are happening here
017at Lake Station and thank everybody for coming. Thank you, sir. Uh by the time it gets to me, it's kind of repetitive, but uh congratulations to all the kiddos. Um for me specifically, and I know that my other board members and our our superintendent and assistant superintendent, this is exactly why I enjoy sitting in this chair. Seeing you guys be successful and get rewarded for it, um it makes every time we sit up here and go through the meetings and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that we do, 100% worth it. So, um thank you for making me feel like we're doing some good up here. I I really do appreciate it. Uh keep up the good work. All right, Dr. Clipper Clipper Liver, you can have it back. Okay, thank you. At this time, we're going
018to deviate a little bit from our regular school board meeting agenda to conduct a public hearing. But before we get to that public hearing, as I was saying, there are people that need to do some homework, perhaps, uh yet to have dinner and get theirself ready to go for tomorrow morning at school. So, although we invite you to stay for our school board meeting, it won't be very long. We do understand those other commitments and if at this time you need to leave, we will pause for a few minutes for you to gather your things and go ahead and leave. But once again, we're not kicking you out. We invite you to stay. Our meetings will start shortly. Continue on with our meeting this evening. We at this time are going to call for a
019public hearing. And the purpose of the public hearing is to take comment from the public on the new superintendent's contract that is up for consideration by our school board later on this evening as well as the new superintendent. So at this time we will pause and open it up for community and public comment in regards to the new superintendent's contract. Is there anyone that's in making a public comment this evening, both pro or con? Going once, twice, I feel like an auctioneer. Three times. All right, thank you. With then the conclusion of the public hearing, we will go into the regular business of the school board. The first item on the agenda is our consent agenda. And items under the consent agenda are approval of the minutes, financial fiscal, extracurricular resignations, as well as extracurricular
020hirings. At this time, I would recommend to the board that they approve the items under the consent agenda as presented this evening. Hearing the recommendation, I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. I'll second the motion to approve the consent agenda. And a motion and a second, do I have any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Paleski. I. Mr. Music. I. Mr. Tenario. I. And I vote I. Moving on to items under personnel, I would recommend to the board this evening that they approve to hire Arselly Serna as our district nurse effective March 30th, 2026. Hearing the recommendation, So moved. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Paleski. I. Mr. Music. I. Mr. Tenario. I. And I vote I. The next item under personnel, I would recommend this evening that the board accept the resignation from Arselly
021Mengash, fourth grade teacher here at Hamilton Elementary School, effective at the end of the school year. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second the motion to approve. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Poleszuk? Aye. Mr. Music? Aye. Mr. Tenario? Aye. And I vote aye. The next item under personnel, Board of School Trustees, it is my privilege and honor to make the following recommendation to you for your consideration. I recommend to the board that they approve to hire Christine Pease as the Superintendent of Schools effective July 1st, 2026. Make a motion to approve. Second it. Motion and a second, any discussion? Um yeah, I'd like to say a quick little something on this. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about this later, but I just want to point out that at a time where
022a lot of uh administrative positions across the state are going unfilled, we are very fortunate to have a a current successor in place to fill that gap. We we won't have uh difficult of a transition as some other school districts may have, because we've taken the time to set all this up in advance. So, I want to thank Dr. Lever and of course Ms. Pease for all the hard work they put in to prepare for this transition. So, I just really look forward to everything that's going to continue to happen here and all the new things this may Thank you, sir. All right, Mr. Poleszuk? Aye. Mr. Music? >> Aye. Mr. Tenario? Aye. And I vote aye. Congratulations. >> Congratulations, Ms. Pease. Thank you. And just just to throw it out there, um member Billups
023unfortunately could not be here, but he did send a message that he 100% supports you as well. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. We'll begin with our agenda under facilities request. Edison's athletic department is going to host a fundraiser basketball game at Edison Junior Senior High School between the administrators and the SROs versus the Harlem Wizards. And as I have been told that is the JV team of the Harlem Globetrot Trotters. So, that'll be an interesting experience. That's going to be held on Saturday, May 2nd in the high school gym starting at 4:00. And I for one I'm looking forward to that. That'll be very interesting to see how they do. I'm recommending to the board that they approve this facility request. Hearing the recommendation. I'll make a motion to approve the facility request.
024Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Mr. Poleszka. Aye. Mr. Music. Aye. Mr. Tenario. Aye. And I vote aye. And with that, Mr. President, I have no more business to come before the board this evening except to remind everyone that our next regularly scheduled monthly meeting is Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 and that meeting will be held at Bailey Elementary School starting at 6:30. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Mr. Poleszka, any parting comments? Yes, I once again want to thank everybody that attended. Uh thank you everybody that watched from home. And once again, congrat- congratulations to our students, our principals, and our teachers, everybody who has supported and helped the the students. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Music. Uh pretty much what I said earlier. I just want I know we're
025down to kind of mostly staff and some family members here and things like that, but uh thank you so so for all the hard work you put in for these clubs. It really means a lot to see more of these activities going on in our schools. I know I appreciate it quite a bit. Um and I want to uh just do a quick shout-out to Dr. Krivickas and Ms. Pippa as well, as they spent some time hosting uh a group uh for a meeting about the Habitat for Humanity houses that are being, you know, built as we speak here in Lake Station. Uh we had a really good turnout for that meeting. And I think this was uh very informative and helpful, so I just want to thank you for, you know, putting in the
026extra time to be there to help uh host that meeting. That's all? I'm going to start making you go last cuz you steal everything. Mr. Tanerio. Well, again, congratulations to all the students, but I really like to take the opportunity to let Ms. Pippa know how how glad that we finally got to this spot. It's been It's been a journey for us. But um I have 100% no problem that you're going to do an amazing job. And I can't wait to work with you as a superintendent. And congratulations. I know Tom's hard shoes to fill, but uh I think you're going to be amazing. I can't wait to work with you as a superintendent. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Um everything they said with a little extra, right? Um thanks for being here uh online,
027in person. All the kiddos again, uh if you watch this again, congratulations. Um peeps. And uh I've been I've worked with Ms. Pippa for uh 2015 is when I started doing SROs at Lake Station schools. Um we hit it off pretty well. We worked really well together right off the bat. And I've called her peeps ever since then, so it's not a disrespect thing. Um I've supported you and backed you up 100% since you were principal in our building and I was the new guy walking in trying to figure out what is going on. Uh from that time, I I talked to you and Dr. Kriplever and stepped out from the SRO to run for school board. And, um, haven't regretted it since working next to you, with you, bringing you on as the assistant,
028and now bringing you as our superintendent. I see a bright future for you and our district. And, uh, I'm here to back you up 100%. So, thank you. That's all. Peeps, do you have anything? I do. I want to say congratulations to all the students. Um, it's always such a joy to be able to celebrate the accomplishments that our students have made. And I want to thank the parents because it also takes a lot of effort on your part to make sure they get to the clubs and that extra time after school to to get them to and from the activities. So, thank you very much. And lastly, I'd like to, um, thank the school board for having confidence in me. And, uh, I am truly honored to be appointed the new superintendent and to
029continue the legacy that Dr. Kriplever has, uh, put into place. Uh, making decisions every day with the mindset of what's best for our students. So, thank you, Dr. Kriplever, for the excellent mentoring that I've had for over a decade. And I am very excited, uh, for our future. So, thank you very much. Well, first of all, I want to congratulate the superintendent what? Gee, I like that term. Thank you. Uh, she, uh, has been, as she had mentioned, for a decade working in our district, working with our families and our students over at Edison Junior Senior High School. And up at the superintendent's office, has worked very, very hard up in the superintendent's office. And also has maintained those connections with our community, with our families, and and with our students. So, I couldn't be
030more pleased that uh, she will become the next superintendent here at Lake Station schools. We're all in good hands. I do have a few more announcements that I'd like to make this evening. First of all, we want to congratulate and say good luck to the following Edison Junior Senior High School students. Kaylin Springer who was chosen for publication in The Beautiful Truth for the article The Power of Expression. We also want to say congratulations and good luck to Isis Scales was chosen for publication in Unsolved Hidden Secrets and Shay Coffee was selected as our first place entrant in the Young Authors Contest. And Isis, by the way, was chosen as honorable mention. The selection was made by a panel of teachers, staff members, and administrators. And these ladies will represent Edison Junior Senior High School
031at the Young Authors Conference at Indiana University April 18th, which would be this Saturday. So, that's coming up. We wish them all the best. Uh the Eagles Education Foundation is having a fundraiser this Saturday, April 18th, at the VFW here in Lake Station from 4:00 to 5:30. And this fundraiser is themed of hummingbirds. So, we have worked with Gail Rockwell, who is the artist. She will be coming to that event to kind of help us as we paint hummingbirds that she has sketched out and drawn on canvas. So, all the materials, all the supplies that you need are going to be provided for you. We want you to come, paint your hummingbird, take it home with you, uh and that is a fundraiser for the foundation. That is a $25 fee, that's the contribution to
032the Eagles Foundation, but you also get to take home your masterpiece when you're finished with that. Also, the Eagles Education Foundation Committee is looking for new members to serve with the current members that are on that committee. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 28th in the community room at Edison Junior Senior High School. Now, some people may wonder, what is this Foundation Committee? Well, the committee was formed about three well, four years ago, counting this year, and the purpose of this committee is to work with our teachers, to work with our students, and provide them additional or extra academic experiences that current tax dollars provided to our district by the state is simply not able to do. It's not adequate for everything that we would like to do for our teachers and students,
033to expand their academics, to expand their academic experiences, and that's why the Eagles Education Foundation was formed four years ago. So, we would appreciate you considering being coming a member of our education foundation. The elementary school, the 59th annual North American Games are coming up. They will be held at Edison Junior Senior High School in the big gym on Friday, May 15th. So, I know our Hamilton and Bailey student athletes have been preparing for the North American Games. So, they are excited. They are ready to go. And the honor of winning the North American Games is the North American Games Golden Bell. That Bailey has. So, we look forward to that event. That's always fun to see our students participate in those relay races and in good, clean, fair, and lots of fun competition for
034the bell. On Friday, April 24th, Lake Station Schools will take on our rival River Forest in our baseball game that is annually held at RailCats Baseball Stadium in Gary. That will be held on Friday, April 24th. It's a 7:00 game. Tickets are $5, and we encourage you to take your family out to the RailCats game for a friendly game between well, a game between River Forest and Lake Station uh as they play on the RailCats Baseball Field. And Mr. President, that concludes my announcements for this evening. Thank you. Anything else? Thanks for coming.