001All right. Call the meeting to order. Rise for the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um before we get into the meeting, I wanted to share some words and then if we could just have a quick moment of silence. We were deeply saddened last week to hear about the passing of Oliver Ball Reed, a student at Hebron Middle School. Our thoughts and sympathies go to Oliver's family and friends and the BMX community. May Oliver forever ride in paradise. Thank you. Okay. Get into roll call, Mrs. Lavalette. Mr. Fransman? Here. Mr. Nelson is not present. Mr. Mihalak? Here. Mr. Cannon? Here. Mrs. Belton? Here. Also present is our superintendent, Dr. Brooks. All
002right. Are there any comments for the agenda? Mrs. D'Errico. D'Errico. Okay. Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? Just what you sent us earlier? Okay. Uh consent agenda. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to accept the consent agenda. I'll second. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor signified by saying I. I. Opposed? All right. Motion passes. Thank you, Dr. Brooks. You have resolution 26-01, the annual 2025 appropriation transfer within our education fund. These are just some accounts that we need to shore up within our education fund. It's transferring money within the same fund Okay. to uh shore those accounts up uh for 2025. I'm going to read this out loud cuz Okay, 2025 appropriation transfer education fund. Resolution 26-01, whereas there is excess in
003funds in the following appropriations in the education fund as of December 31st, 2025. 11050 kindergarten, 11100 elementary, 11200 middle school, 11300 high school, 11400 business, 14300 high school summer school, 17400 special ed co-op, 21200 guidance services, 22100 professional development, 22210 library services, principal administration. And whereas there are insufficient funds in the following appropriations in the education fund as of December 31st, 2025. 11590 vocational, 12220 special ed, 12800 special ed, 17300 career and tech, interlocal, 21800 special ed administration, 22300 instruction related technology, 33400 athletic coaches. Therefore, be it resolved to transfer as follows in the education fund. Um decreases of 888,366 dollars and 13 cents and increases of the same a motion to accept this resolution? Motion for the resolution number 2601 appropriation transfer for education fund. I will second that motion. Is there any other
004discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you for that and sure Bobby will be moving the money. Uh next up is our annual list of outstanding and unpaid checks. There is a list was in the board packet of about five unpaid checks. Um these have been out there for two or more years and we've tried to contact these people. Return to locker in some cases or some of them have just been lost and we sent a replacement. Okay. I'll entertain a motion to um accept the annual list of outstanding and unpaid checks. Make a motion. I second. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Next uh item of new business is a donation and this donation uh
005is for the uh Ball Reed family, the family of Oliver who um just recently passed away in a BMX accident. And uh uh the volleyball game uh middle school volleyball game on February 5th, they drew quite a crowd and uh organically kind of turned into a um kind of a celebration for Oliver. And so, the athletic department would like to donate the proceeds from that game cuz Oliver's brother plays uh on the middle school volleyball team. And so, that donation would be for the $628 from that eighth grade uh middle school boys volleyball game that night. So. I will uh entertain a motion to accept the donation on behalf of the athletic department to the Ballreed family. Make a motion. I'll second that motion. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye.
006Aye. >> Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Last item of new business is our preschool program, the schedule and cost. Our um schedule has changed slightly. We had been offering a full five-day program. Um we're kind of going back to the old model in our first year where we had a three-day uh full day, a three-day half day, and then a program for our threes and fours that are Tuesday-Thursday. And this is the first year that we're actually increasing that we would like to increase prices um as, you know, salaries have gone up and such over these uh few years. So, there's a recommendation in the board packet for the program for for 26 and 27. This still does include an employee discount as well. And there might be a family or two who
007might have twins or siblings that are in the program that we would be able to offer some sort of discount to, but those will come um down the road as we work with families to try to get their child in our preschool. Okay. I'd like to thank Mr. Preikel and preschool team for putting this together. Thank you, Mr. Preikel. All right, I'll entertain a motion for the 2026-27 preschool program schedule and cost. I'll make a motion to accept the preschool program schedule and cost 627. I'll second that motion. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed? Motion passed. Is that all? That's all from the agenda to administrator. The loan administrator, please make your comments. I'll petition to go first. Last week was National School Counselor Week. I'd
008like to join Mr. Beam in thanking Mrs. Timmy Lynn Hunzelman for all she does for both the elementary and middle school, as well as want to recognize Brittany Brittany Fonte on behalf of Miss Kegley for all she does for the high school. We are very thankful for our counselors here and even they do quite for us. We got Valentine's Day parties coming up for our kindergarten through third grade on Thursday. Then the PTO is generously doing an activity for fourth and fifth grade. Valentine's for fourth and fifth graders gets a little dicey at that age, so we're we're going to do an all alternate activity for them with a ice cream bar that the PTO has set up. As Dr. Mintz Dr. Brooks mentioned, Little Hawks, we've changed our structure a little bit, and we're
009already reaping rewards. Um our 4/5 program for next year is full. Uh we were able to limit the number of half-day registrants. Uh and really maximize our time with our preschool staff on the full-day students. Uh so we're full for fours and fives, and we're filling in quite quickly for threes and fours, and our afternoon is actually looking pretty good with threes and fours. Which when we offered that last year, our afternoon did not look so great. So, um hopefully going back to the way that it was done previous years, we we see some success and build some momentum with that program. Uh we do have a waiting list, uh but there's a few things in the works that we hopefully can get all all the kids that want to be in preschool in in
010some way. Um Dr. Brooks and I have been attending recently uh over the course of the year the Porter County Community Foundation and their First Things First Birth to School Alliance that is focusing on reaching the communities of Porter County uh in the birth to age three, which at the point the public school would pick up uh responsibility for kids at age three. Um any kids who would need support prior to being school age at age five. Uh it's really focusing on putting some grant money from the Lilly Foundation into the county and finding ways to um reach these families which are are very difficult to reach. Uh so we have joined the alliance um and been given the opportunity to receive up to $60,000 in funding uh to support reaching birth to three children
011in the community of Hebron. Um the foundation would also like to work with us for some potential additional funding turn Hebron into a Talking is Teaching Community. Um Talking is Teach is Teaching is uh sort of a national initiative that seeks to help parents and and communities understand the importance of talking to kids. With the prevalence of cell phones and screens and the ability to distract young children without having conversations with them, we're really sort of doing them a disservice in getting them the language that they need to be ready for kindergarten and ready for life. So, Talking is Teaching is a national campaign, um, a good partner with the, uh, the First Things First Porter County is, uh, Associated Pediatrics up in Valpo. Uh, they're a big proponent of, uh, the Talking is Teaching.
012They've already started working with the Two Ace Hardware Ace Hardware's down here both in Hebron and Kouts, um, and trying to get them on board with the Talking is Teaching and so that led to the idea, well, Hebron would be a good community, um, based on our compact nature and and the number of businesses we have to try to turn the whole town into a Talking is Teaching town. Um, so there's still more conversations to be had about that and how we could help implement it. Um, one example there's a restaurant up in Chesterton that replaced all of their placemats with Talking is Teaching placemats, um, that has conversation starters and activities for families to do when they sit down, um, either at the restaurant so that it's not just here's a phone, but really
013turning that opportunity into a learning opportunity for the the kids. Um, so that's all very exciting and the the money will be implemented over the course of the 26-27 school year. Uh, kindergarten roundup is coming up on February 27th and then Grandparents Day, which will hopefully be much less eventful than last year, um, is March 19th. Thank you. I have comments from, uh, Ms. Kegley. She left some comments here. Um, you know, last week as Mr. Prickel talked was National Counseling Week and they recognized at the high school Brittany Fonte each day with a variety of small tokens of appreciation for everything she does for students. Um, she wanted to welcome Shanna Collie to the team as the new high school guidance secretary registrar. She was hired tonight in the consent agenda. And uh she's
014kind of hit the ground running in in the guidance office there. Four students were recognized in the month of January for Hawks Pride. And if you follow the Facebook page, you might see some of those students when they are doing uh some things that others might not uh see otherwise. So, uh on Monday, February 16th, which is President's Day, Jesse Hernandez with Region Basketball Club is hosting an open gym benefit for Oliver Ball Reed. We're thankful for Jesse for his willingness to do this for the family. All of the money that is raised during that open gym will go to the Ball Reed family. And uh I think the varsity basketball team will also be there along with some other older students that go to Region Basketball Club to help out. I know I'll be
015there and several other adults will be there as well. That's I think from noon to 2:00 in the elementary and middle school gym on Monday. And then uh on Saturday, February 21st, the Zach Mago Foundation is hosting a cardiac screening event for children ages 10 through 25 in the elementary school gym from 8:00 to noon. The cost per person screened is $25. However, this event will be canceled without a minimum of 30 people registered. So, um there's a registration link out there. Uh I think it was We are on Parent Square or it was sent out. So, I'd have to verify that, but that's coming up. Next, my comments. Yeah. Last Monday, not yesterday, Monday prior, obviously was a very difficult day. Um you know, probably one of the most difficult days I've had as
016uh in education. But, um I don't know if we would have been able to get through the day without the help of the people from First Church, um Heartland Church, Porter Starke, and our school counselors. Um you know, the the week the entire week was a difficult week, and um we had to lean on quite a few people. That Sunday I had some conversations with some friends of mine who are also in education and at larger schools, and they've got a lot of counselors that they can lean on. At Hebron, we have two. And so, be able to lean on our faith leaders here in the community, and um you know, also the people at Porter Starke that have just done a phenomenal job with our students over the years. It just helped our school
017counselors be able to deal with uh the many problems that occurred um on Monday and throughout the week. But, um you know, our kids got through that. I think we still have a long road to go with some of our students. And um you know, our teachers did an amazing job with with our kids that day, and you don't sometimes think about the adults and how it you know, affects them as well. So, um but it's it's great to know that we have a caring community and people that you can call on and they're there at 7:00 in the morning the next day when you know that we're going to have um some grieving people. So, thank you. Um anything that you want to share from your end of the elementary? No, it was just
018nice to have the support, you know, I think down here was a lot of teachers you know, dealing with their their emotions through it and they did a great job. Um and a few younger siblings who might have had siblings in Oliver's class, but you know, um it was just great support from the community, great support from Porter Spartan as well and that's one of the benefits of being in Hebron just that tight-knit family community all around. Um Next on my agenda is to talk a little bit here about our athletic Hall of Fame that happened on January 16th. If you were not there, it um was kind of like a a reunion of sorts for people that grew up here in Hebron and knew some some of the folks that were out on the
019floor. Um you know, I was a part of the planning of that, but it was such an enjoyable night to be able to kind of have conversations with the Hall of Famers and one conversation that came up that I happened to run into was uh Bill Smock talking with Chad Patrick about why Bill never made it in in uh baseball and you know, his story is just like a lot of people in the late '60s. He was a a a great athlete, but because he got a draft number that was high, nobody wanted him because they knew he was going to war. And so, um you know, it was just conversations like that with with some of them that it was um I enjoyed the night thoroughly with our Hall of Famers. And so, that's
020going to be an every year event that we'll be uh inducting some new people each year, and it's just it was just um it was a great night, fun night to be a Hebron Hawk. Um we've got our Winter Ball coming up February 28th here at the elementary with our Education Foundation. Very uh excited to have that happen again. It's a pretty big fundraiser for our Education Foundation. And then finally, a field house update. Uh Chad and I sat in on a meeting with Veregy last week, and um groundbreaking is set to be towards the end of March. Uh we're planning on a groundbreaking ceremony, and we still have the date that we have to figure out, but the groundbreaking will truly happen over spring break as long as the weather's fine, uh and and
021they're able to break ground. So, that's exciting to know, but it's also going to get really messy out there, and there will be some traffic hiccups here and there that we'll have to deal with, but we've tried to plan for that as much as possible. Um looking forward to having that project start that we've talked about now for 3 years. So. That's all I have. All right. Is there any public comments? Mrs. We do you have anything? Can I share something that I didn't make the I don't think you Mr. Francis time for attending our home on that Monday morning that meeting for having our three teachers. We appreciate your presence and just being part of the community in that way as well. So, thank you very much. Absolutely. All right. Is there any board
022comments? That I was going to say the same as Ms. Wood say thank you thank you you know you and Jenna for representing us and we appreciate it take the time out of your day and you know just appreciate you guys being there for them. So. Thank you. Yep. Yep. I as well was going to say that I promise I'm not just jumped on the thank you guys. We all wanted to be here and I know you you guys woke up that you were going to be here and I couldn't obviously but kind of reaffirms you know my thoughts and like my heart why we're all here you know as you know for the community and thank you for bringing bringing reinforcements with you Jenna which kind of reaffirms you know why I belong with
023you and you and um I was lucky enough to dip into the volleyball game was at the girls basketball game with my nieces and we ran upstairs to and I'm really fighting back tears. Um got to see Oliver or Oliver's brother uh you know play and everybody swimming but so but it was uh just seeing the community come together like that. So, sorry guys. But thank you guys for uh representing us and what you guys did so. All right. Anything else? All right. That will entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. Second. All right. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Ellen, do we have to sign?