001from Oaklandon Elementary and their principal to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Good evening, everyone. I am the proud principal of Oaklandon Elementary and I have two of my students with me here today. I have Mia Weatherly who is a first grade, part of our dual language program, and then I have her brother Bryce Weatherly who is a second grader with us. So, please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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, Oaklandon Eagles. And now we will turn this over to Ms. Carla Johnson for an enjoyable part of the evening with our Superintendent's Award and student recognitions. Good evening, Madam President, Dr.
002Smith, and members of our school board. We are proud to present our Above and Beyond Awards this evening. Coming up from Winding Ridge Elementary with their principal, Mrs. Graham, we have Melanie Izaguirre Alamandarez, and we have Deja Joiner. If they could join me up front. Congratulations to Melanie, multilingual instructional assistant to at Winding Ridge for being selected to receive the Above and Beyond Award. Ms. Melanie is instrumental in supporting our scholars, teachers, and families. She consistently brings positivity, enthusiasm, and professionalism throughout the building. Always ready to assist with small groups, interpretation, or routine tasks. Her dependability and flexibility shine in the most unexpected moments. Ms. Alamandarez cares about scholars' success and models empathy, responsibility, and respect. Her genuine love for learning is evident and contagious. She celebrates scholars' growth and transformative aha moments with infectious
003joy. The Phoenix community appreciates her for her commitment and dedication to going above and beyond for the scholars and teachers. We're honored to present Melanie Izaguirre Alamandarez with the Above and Beyond Award. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Congratulations to Deja Joiner, third grade teacher at Winding Ridge for being selected to receive the Above and Beyond Award. Ms. Joiner is dedicated, a creative teacher who fosters curiosity, rigor, and joy. She differentiates instructions, supports multilingual learners, and builds a safe, inclusive classroom where scholars collaborate, show resilience, and grow academically and socially. Her intentional routines, positive relationships, and calm leadership create a strong learning community. As a reliable and supportive colleague and reflective practitioner, she shares resources, models problem-solving, and mentors both scholars and her peers. She's also been recognized as a Teacher of the Year nominee. We are
004honored to present Deja Joiner with the Above and Beyond Award. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> And next to present some very important elementary awards, we have Dr. Emily Hass Brown, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. Good evening, President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board. I'm so pleased to bring to you some elementary winners tonight. And for the a very amazing feat, we have one school that won both the girls and boys basketball championship. And that proud principal is here to introduce you to those students, and that is Dr. Carl Blythe from Mary Castle Elementary. >> [applause] >> Good evening. We'll start with our boys team. We have our coach, Brandon Munsey. We have Kevin Brown. Easton Corkwell. Terrence Denny. Detrell Harvey. Tyrian Horace Horace. Anthony Pile. Nazir Self. Jordan Tun. And Michael
005Hicks and Zion Randle could not be here, but this is our sixth grade boys basketball team champions. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, for our girls team, we have Haley Bacon. Ariel Brown. Zoe Duty. Kimberly Scout Hoffman. Ariah Holloway. Isabella King Mercado. Aubrey Smith. And Jakaria Turn Tine and Chasity Wellington couldn't be here, but they were coached by Joshua Weed. >> [applause] [applause] >> Also tonight, we're very proud to have students from two different elementaries who qualified for our honor choir. And to introduce the uh students from the first school, we have Mr. Jared Pennington from Amy Beverly Elementary. >> [applause] >> Thank you very much. Uh first and foremost, I would like to uh recognize the fact that there were eight possible slots and we had eight students selected, so very proud of that.
006First up, Ms. Curry Keller. >> [applause] >> Daniel Curran. Preston Remmel >> [applause] >> Fritz Van Hoff and our music and choir teacher, Mrs. Andrea Van Hoff. >> [applause] [applause] >> Congratulations, stars. Now, our second elementary, uh we have the proud principal from Winding Ridge Elementary, Ms. Rose Graham. >> [applause] >> Good evening. I'd like to recognize Ivy Wright, >> [applause] >> Leah Green, who could not be with us this evening, Caitlin McConnell, who could not be with us, Delaney Cannon, >> [applause] >> and Khalil Jefferson, who could not be with us this evening. Very proud of my scholars. >> [applause] [applause] >> And now, to continue the celebration, Dr. Crystal Thorpe, our chief of secondary education. >> [applause] >> Good evening, board president Mrs. Amy Norman, superintendent Dr. Smith, and members of the board.
007MSD Lawrence Township has a tradition of excellence, and tonight, I am excited to recognize our winter sports champions. Our secondary schools will honor our wrestlers, our swimmers, our divers, our basketball players, and yes, our cornhole and bowling student winners. A huge thank you to our students for their hard work and dedication, to our coaches for teaching and leading our students, and to our wonderful parents for all that you do to support and encourage our students. We will begin with Belzer Middle School, Mrs. Kendra Randall, followed by Fall Creek Valley, principal Mr. Corey McGarrell, Lawrence Central principal Mr. Franklin Bush, and then followed by that, Mr. Jason Floyd, principal of Lawrence North High School. So, Ms. Randall, come on up. Good evening, everyone. Super excited to highlight two of our awesome and amazing winter sport uh
008students. So, I will bring up our athletic director, Dr. Batt, so that he can present our wonderful students. See you all this evening. >> [applause] >> Our wrestling head coach, uh Antonio Jefferson, MIC champion, and Jay Hypes, undefeated season MIC champion. >> [applause] >> Swimming and diving head coach, Juan Salazar, swimming and diving assistant coach, Christopher Robinson, and Deja Burns, MIC champion and school record breaker in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. >> [applause] [applause] >> Good evening, Dr. Smith and Lawrence Township school board. On behalf of Fall Creek Valley, I'm proud to celebrate our winter sports athletes. I'm going to introduce our athletic director, Ms. Robin Lewis, who will introduce you to our teams that had a tremendous season leading Fall Creek Valley to an unprecedented number of wins and championships through the season.
009>> [applause] >> Boys and girls MIC swim and dive champions, head coach Jazzy Kitten coach Alex, Quinn Kemper, >> [applause] >> Henry Plaster, Lila Drake, Dylan Drake, Harper Pritchard, Stella Pritchard, Zoe McConaughey, Lex Johnson, Penelope Holtz, Lillian Coringle, Katie Stevens, Hattie Stevens, Jacob Meglin, Elliot Humphrey, Jude Uthrich, Scout Hoffman, Sadie Hoffman, Lucy Flanary, Steven Zacharias Flores, Gavin Stinson, Cat Carlson, Abrielle Andrew Jetski, Hattie Tatum, Ellie Hoover, Nellie Franklin, Emrick Roberts, Elias Andres, Alexander Ratchford, Max Pouch, Denver Drake, Aiden Kitt, Graham Courtney, Tayomi Henson, Jackson Macaloon, and Alex Stanich. >> [applause] [applause] >> Next, we'll have our girls undefeated seventh grade MIC and Marion County champions. >> [applause] >> Head coach, Katie Stevenson, assisted by Austin Sanders, Kalia Sanders, Alexis Talley, Anaya Harris, Kenya Harris, Maya Heise, Savannah Brown, Grace Lobe, Cadence Ramey, Kenzie Bean, Myla
010Ash, Isabelle Gaydou, and Kenzie Bean. >> [applause] [applause] >> Last but not least, our eighth grade Mick boys basketball champions coached by Byron Davis, DeWhite Bowen, Highthorp Beard, Demone Newbank, Desmond Rhodes, Kevon Sargent, Dylan Wise, Darren Boyd, Zion Miller, Levin Robinson, Justin Richardson, Corey Simmons, Dominic Hollowell, and Brian Lazo. We also have a wrestling Mick champ in Cameron Carter. >> [applause] [applause] >> My name is Mosey Barnes, athletic director Lawrence Central High School, and I'm here to recognize our winter sport athletes amazing accomplishments starting with girls wrestling. Girls wrestling was back-to-back sectional champions this starting headed by our coach Nick Haddix. >> [applause] >> Milan Smith, Ziva Brown, Ziva Brown was also individual champion academic all-state, Katie Hernandez, state qualifier, Sanai Broden, academic all-state, Yvette Veliece, Delilah Contreras, Angel Moller, Adriana Hugley, Georgiana Wallace, Ryla
011Arilla, Rene Bellamy, Ashley Flores, Marta Gutierrez, Amaya McIntosh, Zoe Ramirez, Nadia Urias, Carolina Garcia, Jasmine Lee, Harmony Lovelace, and Toniece Stigler. Also coach Brian Obel too is here. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, ladies. Next is boys wrestling. Lamont Moss was all Mick champion. Casey Beeler academic all-state, Earl Kearns the third all Mick semi-state qualifier academic all-state, Donovan Twyman academic all-state, and Greg Smith all Mick. >> [applause] >> Move along to boys and girls swim. Jessica Rayb all Mick, Gabriella Freeman academic all-state, Isabella Murphy academic all-state, Dayana Stallion academic all-state, Brittany Mendoza academic all-state, KJ Harris all Mick, Leo Acevedo academic all-state, Aiden Uziana academic all-state, and Sam Paffenberger academic all-state. >> [applause] >> Yep, we do we do a picture with them. >> [applause] >> I want to give a shout-out to our unified
012program. They competed in bowling and cornhole this winter. Braylon Pullings academic all-state, Brandon Beaver academic all-state, LeBron Brown academic all-state, Haley Walton academic all-state. They couldn't make it but I just wanted to name their names for the record. >> [applause] >> Next is girls basketball. Our head coach had a scheduling conflict and couldn't be here. Our girls basketball team won sectional this past year and a regional. So give them a round of applause, please. >> [applause] >> Lola Lambley, she was also all Marion County Mick player of the year, McDonald's All-American, and I just recently named to the Indiana All-Star team. >> [applause] >> Kiki Butler all Marion County and all Mick, Aniya McKenzie all Marion County and all Mick, Aubrey Ingram, Lariya Wyatt, Lily Hyatt, Nivea Garwin, Amilah Williams is here, Jabre Bond, Amilah
013Sewell, Sanai Atwater, Christina Hollowell who she's here, Chastity Balance, Maya Burns, and Amilah Palmer. And Bright Stone is here to represent our program. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our boys basketball team also won sectional this year as well. Duran Harris all Mick. I'm sorry. Okay, got you. Yep. Okay, got you. >> [applause] >> Our boys basketball team won sectional this year headed by our head coach Phil Washington, starting with Deron Harris, all MIC, Gavin Petty, all MIC, Caleb Wells, all MIC, Jeremiah Bellamy, DJ Summers, Albert Gooden III, Cayden Doolin was also academic all-state, Dylan Wright, Ty Ferguson, Dayton Stevens, Santana Allen, Zyaire Berryhill, Jayden Madison, Anthony Smith, also here is LJ Owens, and our other coach coach Albert Gooden. >> [applause] [applause] >> Good evening. I'm Jason Floyd, proud principal of Lawrence North High School,
014and we're here to recognize our wonderful athletes this year. And to do that, I have our athletic director, Mr. Mike Penrose. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Floyd. Uh school board, Dr. Smith, and cabinet, it's my pleasure to recognize our winter athletes tonight. We're going to first start with our boys basketball team. They were Marion County champions for the 13th time in school history. So, we're going to start with our head coach, Mr. Chris Giffin. >> [applause] >> I'd also like to recognize coaches Brandon Surrell, Jared Good, Rick Thomas. Coach Brandon Muncy is here. Coach Dwight Brown Jr., Patrick Williams, uh team mom and assistant coach Antoinette Welch. And our team members, uh first off, Cameron Webster, Marion County champion. All these kids are Marion County champions, but uh Cameron was all MIC, all Marion
015County, IBCA large school all-state, and he was voted to the Indiana All-Star team this year. >> [applause] >> Mr. Brennan Mill- Miller was the uh he was all MIC, he was the MIC player of the year, all Marion County, IBCA supreme 15 all-state, and he was also voted an Indiana All-Star this year. >> [applause] >> Also, we have Mr. Cameron Bell, Vincent Harper, Trey Cunningham, Duke Carnes, Davis Baker, Koran Nelson, Chandon Gilbert, Britain Thomas, and Darion Prather. Once again, the 2025-26 Marion County champion basketball team. >> [applause] >> Yeah, we'll just do one big picture. Yep. Next, we'll have our girls basketball players that received postseason recognition. First up, Miss Khalia Bentley was named all-county and all MIC. And Miss Jordan Suggs, all MIC. >> [applause] >> Next, our boys swimming and diving team won
016the MIC conference championship for the second year in a row. First, we have head coach Thomas Moore. Uh we have uh assistant coaches Jacob Penrose, Jazzy Kidd, and Morgan Meeksner. Um our boys, Gibson Wellage, Silas Petrovsky is here. He was uh all MIC, Marion County champion, and an IHSAA state qualifier. Um Wesley Drake, Liam Welty is here. He was also all MIC. Ashton Burns, uh Dylan Clark, David Sullivan is here. He was all MIC and also an IHSAA state qualifier. Corbin Donald, Brody Deckard, Stephen Senseny, and Devin Kelly. Uh also, Rich Austendorf, Jason Flores, Anderson Slocum, Jace Russell, Mason McFarland. That's our boys swimming and diving MIC championship team. Our girls receiving postseason accolades include Lydia Quinn, all MIC, as well as Lacy Say it again, Lacy. I like I'm sorry, I thought you said
017Leah. What's your last name? Nebrija. Okay. Leah Nebrija, I wanted to say it correctly. Next, we have our boys wrestling team. Uh we have uh Stephen Hunter, Ollie Miller, Eric Grady uh were all named all MIC, and Stephen Hunter was an IHSAA qualifier. Michael White is here, and I'm going to spend some time on Michael. Michael was the Marion County champion, MIC champion, IHSAA state champion going 47 and 0 this year. He was named to the all-state team. He was named the Indiana wrestler of the year. He was named the Indy Star wrestler of the year, All-American, and he's going to be going to practice right after this because he's qualif- he is wrestling to qualify for the world championship team later this summer. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael White. >> [applause] >> Next, we have
018Ace Grayson. Uh Ace actually founded our girls wrestling team, and I wanted to point that out. >> [applause] >> And because of her and her uh her diligence with with us, we we started something special, and I wanted to make sure that people knew that. Ace, she was named to the all MIC team. Ace Grayson. >> [applause] >> That's it. Yep. Also, coach Jacob Aven is here supporting our wrestlers, as well as coach Stephen Thomas. >> [applause] [applause] >> Congratulations. You, too. Good work, sir. Congrats, guys. Congratulations. Great job, coach. Congratulations, guys. Thanks, coach. Congrats, guys. Thank you. Congratulations, sir. I assume the crowd's been out there for a little while. Yeah, let's get them out. Great to see you, but can I give you a You okay? Yeah. Thank you again and congratulations to
019all of our award winners, parents, coaches, teachers. Um we always enjoy this night. Moving into our information items. Just a point of clarification, you'll notice the screen looks a little different tonight. BoardDocs, our platform provider, is out. This is across the country. But thankfully we can pivot and we're good to go. We have all the information we need. So I will turn it over to Dr. Nesbitt, 3.1 with the blue ribbon update. Thank you, President Norman, members of the board, Dr. Smith. Let's take a look at blue ribbon phase two. Here's a update for you. It's been about a month. Uh our overview's going to look the same. We are doing a lot of design work on McKenzie. We've been meeting about two to three times a week with different departments in the morning before
020school as we meet with those teachers and the instructors make sure we get it right. Uh Craig Academy's cruising along real well and then our classroom additions uh continue on. We'll take take a look at some pictures to those. And then on our next slide I got to tell you energy savings uh winding ridge is underway uh on the roughing we have a it's about oh a third torn off and uh we're working real early and real late to dodge uh statewide testing and then once that ends here in the after next week we'll we'll get into it full days there. Uh Crestview Elementary, here's a look at the outside and then you can't quite tell but that that picture on the right there that's the playground. We've we've fenced off half of it and
021we we've demoed half as we work across the playground renovations. And then you'll take a look at the inside. There's a corridor and then there's this one of our standard classrooms glasses in. This this building's mainly CMU or block walls and so it's a little further along than it might look uh and all the all the overhead work is done. And then at Forest Glen you can see over spring break uh we got a lot of work done. All the drywalling is done now. We've moved on to painting uh since I took that picture middle last week. And then there's some more. There's a picture inside a a pair of classrooms there. And then Mary Castle you've seen that. It's pretty well done. We wrapped it up President's Day weekend. So I just thought I'd
022get a picture. We are doing work on a little bit outside and then we'll be doing some playground work there as soon as school's out as well. Craig High, so this is a neat look. So uh this is the top floor of the building and they we have a big corridor up there and that's kind of a grand corridor and then it leads to those gathering stairs they call them in the stairway and then you can look down through the windows into the gymnasium. Um and then our next slide uh that is the kitchen uh there on the left and then the cafeteria on the right. The kitchen uh we had to cut out all the flooring and it's all new piping and electric work and of course we have to know exactly what's going
023where, drains and everything. So that kitchen's completely it looks huge right now cuz there's no walls and then the cafeteria there is is looking nice too. So that takes you through blue ribbon phase two. Happy to field any questions for you. Thank you, Dr. Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments? Looks very good. Uh we had the privilege of having our um Indiana School Board Association regional dinner recently and several of the vendors and construction and architecture companies were there that we work with and they were very excited to see everything coming together at the elementary schools. So thank you for that. We will continue on with Dr. Nesbitt for 3.2, results of the RFP bid for custodial services. Sure. Uh uh again continuing on here. This a little history of what we're doing here. So
024in in fall '22 is when we contracted out maintenance and custodial services. And then we transitioned uh not quite a year ago, 10 months ago we transitioned maintenance services to a new provider and then just RJB for custodial services with the intent to have an RFP come out this spring cuz that contract ends May 31st. And so that's what we just did. And then our next slide will show the our timeline of what we did and of course you gave us permission on the 16th and so on and then we're all the way to the 27th. And we had a lot of interest. So 25 people came through our pre-bid walk-through, 17 companies. 12 ended up submitting bids and very competitive. We are very very pleased with the uh cost savings that we're going to
025be seeing uh and we ended up RJB Properties was our lowest bidder and that is who we will recommend. That is our current provider that we're going to we're recommending they continue to be our provider and again a nice cost savings to the district. That's that's the uh RFP recap for custodial services. Happy to field any questions on that. Thank you, Dr. Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments on the RFP for custodial? I do have one quick question. >> I couldn't see it doesn't say up there what the cost savings is. Do we know what the estimated cost savings >> Sure. Uh 1.65 million dollars per year from what we're paying right now. So pushing 1.7 million dollars a year in savings. I love it and thank you for your due diligence in getting these
026bids done. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? I did have one additional question on RJB is I see they have the lowest bid. Is there also an additional cost savings by retaining the same provider by not having staff any difference The way we uh the way we drafted the RFP, no, not necessarily. We we told them we wanted a flat rate, no surprises, no trick a lot of math about the transition cost and you know and we said, "Nope, just give us your price." Uh we we want we want to be able to budget and know exactly what it is. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes, Ms. Lawrence. >> I apologize. I should have asked this when I was talking about cost savings, but it it just for clarification, we're not giving
027up anything in order to Right. I know. It's a It's the exact same services that they were offering us previously, but we're just so great that they wanted to stick around and be with us for even less money this time. Correct. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? All right. Moving on to Dr. Nesbitt again, 3.3, results of the RFP bids for the security services. Thank you, President Norman. That was a quick slideshow there. So I'll go ahead and uh freelance here. So the security bids very similar timeline that went out. Uh and so we had three uh bidders come in for security services. There it is up. Thank you, Sheila. So uh again this this is not replacing our SROs. Our SROs continue. This is support staff for the SROs.
028This is the sentries that are out in front of the high schools and marked vehicles and then the people that do our metal detecting at large events uh essentially. Uh so that's what we're looking for. Again, our SROs are all first responders. That's all firemen uh firewomen, police officers retired or or still active. And there is our timeline. Same timeline that we had for our custodial services. There was no pre-bid walk-through on this. That's the only difference on the custo- than the custodial. And you'll see we had three bids submitted. We did have a fourth come in but it was after the deadline so we left that unopened. Uh very competitive. They each beat each other in different categories as far as pricing went. Uh they were pretty much all cost neutral for us. Uh
029we did we will be making a change here. We'll be moving from our current provider to Eclipse Staffing. We are very impressed with their proposal and it's noted they have some pretty big clients in a comparable district in Wayne Township and then of course Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If anyone goes to the track they know that's a pretty big uh big company there to be able to staff that. So that's our recommendation for Eclipse Security and Staffing. Thank you, Dr. Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments on the RFP for security services? >> I do have one >> Ms. Lawrence. Um Dr. Nesbitt, will we be able to retain some of our current staff or will they all be replaced as a result of the fact that we're switching vendors? That will be up to the vendor.
030You if someone works for our current provider, perhaps they would apply uh to Eclipse, but that would be up to the the provider. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? I do. Yes, Ms. Puckett. With the current provider and then with us switching over, what is is there a cost savings or cost increase? What are we looking at as far as >> It'll be cost neutral. Again, we think we'll be getting a little better service. Uh we did have a few hiccups with our current provider and so we were that was one of the reasons I wanted to RFP to see what else was out there. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Thank you. If there are no other questions or comments, we'll move to 3.4, curriculum advisory committee recommendations with Mr. Kusznick. Good
031evening, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. It's that time of year for our curriculum updates. Up first we have our curriculum advisory council which meets each semester and I'll turn it over to our director of secondary education, Mr. Brett Grous. President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board, I bring to you recommendations of the group that meets each semester to look at our curriculum and look at our course offerings. If you look at the background there, the Curriculum Advisory Council has been around for years in which we just review courses, make recommendations, and then building to make a decision as to whether they're going to offer that course or not. Committee members were wonderful. We had an outstanding group that truly went back to the buildings each time to talk through different offerings
032and what we could potentially do as we move forward with this new Indiana diploma, pathways, and other things that are coming about with A to F accountability. The first course that we would like to recommend is printmaking. What this course is going to allow us to do is align with the new diploma and A to F accountability. It allows us to expand with our fine arts diploma and and offerings when we ask that each student completes two fine arts credits by graduation. So again, printmaking will help with that. The next course I bring to you is a recommendation of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. This recommendation is actually for the 2027-2028 school year. We currently offer the Civil Air Patrol program. What this course will allow us to do is to work with Fort
033Knox and the 7th Brigade and grow much like our area schools, our surrounding schools, who offer the JROTC program. So again, this will go through a recommendation. We will do an application with the 7th Brigade and then hopefully be recommended to offer the course. Happy to field any questions. Thank you, Mr. Krouse. We'd also like to recognize if we have anybody in this audience >> Absolutely. That participated in Curriculum Advisory Council, if you'd stand and be recognized, we appreciate your work on this council. Yes. >> [applause] >> And we're happy to answer any questions you may have. Yeah, thank you to everybody involved. Board, are there any questions or comments? Yes, Ms. Lawrence. Dr. Smith, I ask this every time we have a curriculum recommendation that comes before the board. For anyone who has questions
034about curriculum, can you explain how that works and what the power of this board is in terms of recommending and or approving courses to be executed in our class? Well, as Mr. Kuznic and Mr. Krouse eloquently presented to you, these course recommendations start with the state of Indiana. They have to be approved by the State Board of Education. If we want to create any curriculum beyond that, we have the right to do that through petition to the state and they they give us some flexibility, but that's where it starts for high school curriculum. So what that does is unify the curriculum throughout the state of Indiana so that courses are similar across all high schools. So we're doing our due diligence. Mr. Kuznic, there's a little history here. The Board of Education is probably wondering,
035why are we just now presenting a JROTC program when this community was rich with military? At one time, we had a military base here and we did not have JROTC programs. What's the history behind that, Mr. Kuznic? >> bit of the history is they were only allowed to have so many brigades across the county and at one time all the spots were taken. So I know when we looked into it several years ago before my time even here in Lawrence Township, it was not an option for Lawrence Township. >> Right. Right. And I'm quite sure there were some generals and soldiers, which we had during that time, that did not want their kids to participate. So it doesn't mean our kids don't exist enlist. They enlist in large numbers, but this will be an opportunity
036of a great opportunity for us. It'll take us a year to work with the government to get the program here, but we have a lot of students that would benefit from this program. It's also a pathway, guys. So it gives us another option for our high school kids. Yes. Okay. I just have a quick question. First of all, thank you to all of those individuals who have spent countless hours on ensuring that our students have such robust opportunities. I do know some of the pathways given our students and the demographics of the students that we serve, sometimes when we think about things like the military, um they may not be eligible. So just curious as to how we support students in understanding their eligibility um long-term for something of this nature. Yeah, our counselors would
037work with our students to make sure they understand the long-term decisions they're making and oftentimes they can get the diploma and in this case it'd be an honors seal on an enlistment honors seal that they can get with us even if they're not able to move on any further after that. And I want to make sure that I am very clear that this is not a Lawrence Township issue. This is an issue that is pervasive across the state as well as the country. And so I just appreciate Lawrence Township allowing our students to participate regardless if they aren't able to fulfill um a duty in the military. So thank you. Yes. Thank you, Board. Any other questions or comments? All right, can Okay, continuing with Mr. Kuznic, 3.5 curriculum update, K through 12 English language
038arts recommendations. Good evening again, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. After a year-long robust K-12 ELA process, we are here this evening to present you with information and a recommendation on our K-12 English language arts recommendation. Up first, our director of elementary, Ms. Natalie Schneider. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, I bring to you the K-5 ELA recommendations. So we'll first go through just a little bit of history cuz it's a little messy with the history with K-5. In 2019-2020, we did a K-3 ELA review and you can see that we adopted in K1 in third grade we adopted Benchmark. That was for a six-year adoption. Second grade adopted Ready Gen. That was a six-year adoption. And then we began in that year to roll out phonics resources in grades K
039through K through two. In 21-22, we did another review for four through six. That year we adopted for four and five Amplify CKLA second edition. That was for a four-year adoption. And sixth grade adopted SpringBoard. That was also a four-year adoption. But that was also the year that the K-3 high-quality curriculum materials list was released by the Department of Education, which required schools that were below 70% on the IREAD assessment to adopt a IDOE-approved science of reading-aligned resource. So that caused us to have to go back and relook at the resources that we had for K through three because the resources that we had were not on that list. So we started doing pilots in K3 with CKLA and those have been in place for about two to four years. And then we also started
040and we started with the schools that were below that 70% range to make sure that we were providing the right curricular resources, the IDOE-approved resources for those schools. And then that year we also started a full implementation of phonics resources. It's been a combination of resources. We've tried different ones. We Some schools really latched on to UFLI. Some are doing CKLA skills and Orton-Gillingham, all science of reading-based though. And then in 24-25, we adopted Caminos for K-5 and that was for a six-year adoption. So our current reality, this year was our adoption year and currently our building knowledge curriculum in five is Amplify CKLA second edition. Our foundations curriculum continues to be K2, Orton-Gillingham, UFLI, and CKLA skills depending on the school. In third grade, we have 95% Group, which is 95% Core Phonics and
041we're doing a pilot this year in all of our elementary schools. We did a pilot the year before in one school, had really great results with IREAD, so wanted to continue that and take a look at the data for this school year. And then in four and five, we did a 95% Core Curriculum pilot just at a few schools that wanted to try this out. So as far as interventions, we have not had a formal adoption. We've been piloting up to this point. So the review process, we had 70 participants representing all 15 schools with a combination of administrators, reading specialists, ML teachers, our exceptional learner teachers, classroom teachers, parents. We had two teams with those 70 participants. We broke them up into the building knowledge side and then also foundations and interventions. So each
042group reviewed different curricular materials. The criteria that we used, we only looked at the high-quality curriculum advisory lists released by the IDOE. We identified nine priorities that we wanted to prioritize for selecting that ELA resource. We did lots of research with EdReports, The Reading League, and then each team selected their top three resources for a deeper review. The review process, we met monthly August through March. We use a standardized evaluation um rubric to assess and then we made our final recommendations based off of those priorities. So, our final recommendations for K5 for building knowledge, um we recommend Amplify CKLA third edition. For K5 Foundations 95% phonics core program and then for our K5 interventions, we are looking at a new product which is a 95% phonics lesson library which coincides with the core program. And
043then to maintain the targeted interventions that we've been using and piloting which are the 95% comprehension SRA U-Fly visualizing and verbalizing step up to writing. Each one of those is very specific to the needs of the students. And then we are recommending um a pilot of a writing um framework. Um, just to be clear that it's not a separate resource. It's a writing framework just trying to make sure that um we have the structures needed to use with our um core curriculum. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Crouser who's going to present the 6th through 12 resources. Thank you. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, I bring to you the 6th through 12 recommendation. As you can see in '19-'20, we chose SpringBoard with College Board a College Board resource.
044College Board discontinued that work with SpringBoard, so we needed to look at something new. So, through this process this year, we were able to again, as with the K-3 group, go ahead and look at several different resources. Uh over 50 members joined us. Uh students, high school students, uh parents, teachers, um and administrators all took part in this process, so it was outstanding. Um, but as you can see there, uh again, as Ms. Schneider brought up, the Department of Education has a recommendation for resources grades K through eight. So, for us, we needed to look at also what would be available 9 through 12 that aligned. And so, that was really a word that that stuck with us was alignment um with groups. So, in that, we went ahead and recognized the differences with it
045while the teams met. So, in 6th through 8th teams, we heard from Savvas, Lavinia, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. And then in 9th through 12, we took a look at Carnegie Learning, McGraw Hill who has now since moved into SpringBoard, and then the HMH Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Uh we also though had a tier three group which we had not had at the secondary level. So, we wanted to look at those supports that we could provide to students who needed tier three support knowing where we are at with reading and how the arrangements are made right now with grade three and the expectations for grade three. We are serving grades six through 12. Not all those students had that direct instruction with the science of reading when they were in third grade. So, we needed to take a
046look at interventions that we need right now 6th grade through 12th grade. Ms. Noter did a great job with that group. As you can see, our recommendations 6th grade shows that alignment mattered. And so, Amplify does science. They do ELA in grade six. So, we felt it would be great to have the same resource in our elementary schools. Again, alignment. And then choosing to be aligned 7th through 12 with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt into literature. Again, maintaining some of our previous interventions with SRA, visualizing verbalizing, and language live with a new adoption of 95% phonics and rewards to again assist with our students. As you're aware, honors level courses, advanced placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual credit through IU, those resources are generally dictated by the universities or by AP and IB as to what we can
047choose. So, we chose then to go through that HMH model in grades 7 through 12. So, again, you will see alignment with our ELA curriculum. Again, we'd like to recognize some audience members that I believe are here that participated in our K-12 ELA review. If you'd stand and be recognized. >> [applause] >> And we're happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you and thank you again to everyone involved. I know it was a labor of love. Um board, are there any questions or comments? I do have a couple of questions. Um first of all, thank you. Thank you, thank you. I know what a curveball the state gave us when we had to choose from um the list of their required um ELA resources. And so, just again, kudos to Lawrence Township
048for being on top of it. Um I know this is ELA, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask about SLA. And so, my assumption is that we'll continue CKLA because of Caminos that that will continue as the SLA curriculum. That's that's correct. That the plan is for those two to be in alignment with each other. >> is amazing. Outstanding. Um and then in terms of for middle school, what does that look like in the middle school space if you're doing HMH? Do they have a companion SLA text as well? Yes, that was a part of our rubric. We wanted to make sure that everybody made sure that we had the um dual language component. Excellent. And then just out of curiosity, I am very pleased to see that to the point that you
049made um Mr. Crouser is that we know that some of our students, especially with COVID and so many other things, um perhaps their reading skills are not where they need to be um based on their their peers. Um tier three instruction, when is that occurring? Is that occurring is there a separate time in the secondary school space or is that occurring like in small group instruction within an ELA block? If you don't mind just kind of sharing a little bit. >> and yes. So, [laughter] it will occur during the school day embedded into the curriculum, but then also pull outs into small group instruction. Outstanding. Thank you. You guys did an outstanding job. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Dunn. Board, any other questions or comments? Dr. Mulholland. Yeah, I have more of a
050comment. Thank you, Ms. Schneider and Mr. Crouser for your presentation today. The thoughtful and extensive work of the committee. Um I just appreciate being um educated and learning about the process from how you made alignment to the previous interventions and foundational work to the new expectations um placed on the district and um just appreciate again all the time and thoughtfulness into this work. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, we will continue with Mr. Kusnik 3.6 on the CTE recommendations. Good evening again, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. We're not done yet. We got one more. Uh we bring to you this time of year another curriculum update on our CTE recommendations. CTE covers a wide range of things. Obviously tonight we're talking about business and FACS. Again, I'll turn
051it over to Mr. Crouser. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, gives me pleasure to bring to you the career and tech education recommendations for business and family and consumer science. The our business program led by Mr. John Dawson, our department chair, and with the entire business staff at all three campuses, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, and McKenzie Center for Innovation and Technology. We developed a system to offer many different um course looking at different courses that we offered. So, really this was also a program review. As we move through being aligned with this new diploma, we need to be prepared. And so, with the new diploma and our credentials of value, we needed to make sure we were aligned with both our university partners and with our coursework. And so, Mr. Dawson led with
052that group looking at uh Learning Cengage, McGraw Hill, and Goodheart-Willcox. Um they select selected the option, as you can see there, that meets with works with the skills to enter the workforce or post-secondary education pathway now. And this is an ever-changing world when we say the world of business and the curriculum in in business. So, as you can see there, different pathways within the business department. McGraw Hill, we look at for principles of business management, accounting, business administration, marketing, entrepreneurship, strategic marketing. And we're looking at classroom and text um textbooks and online resources. Cengage is our accounting fundamentals, advanced accounting, accounting capstone, and management fundamentals along with business law. And then QuickBooks, Intuit, and Certiport. That's with our advanced accounting pathway. Our Family Consumer Science program, led by Ms. Naima Collins, our department chair, who
053she serves for all three buildings also. We did the same thing. I made a formal recommendation to you in the fall with the community service pathway that came out of this group. Ms. Collins, along with members of the FACTS department at MCIT, LNA, and NLC, reviewed resources for early childhood education, Ed Professions, which is provided by Indiana State, Fashion and Textiles, Interior Design, Social and Community Services, Hospitality Management, and Culinary Arts. As you can see there, we offer a wide range of pathways within our current tech ed programs. The recommendation for Family Consumer Science, Goodheart-Willcox Publisher with Early Childhood Education, Fashion and Textiles, Interior Design, Social and Community Services, and Hospitality Management. And then ServSafe will help us with the National Restaurant Association within our Culinary program. Again, I can't see that far back, so
054I apologize. I'd like to recognize anyone who's in the audience that helped with our CTE review. Is anybody there? >> Ms. Collins couldn't be here. They're at home already, but that's okay. They were They may have been here earlier. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay, thank you. Board, any questions on the CTE? I do have a question. And this is more about just holistically about our adoption and the cost. Um we know that the state of Indiana has moved to um reimbursing us for textbook adoption. We also know that that um is not nearly enough to cover the cost. And so, I am curious as to do we have the money to pay for these adoptions, or do we need to go out for another GE loan Board, we will have
055the money. How we will pay for that, uh you will instruct your superintendent. We'll work with you. We can say as of right now, we're not making any recommendations that we cannot afford to do. We will have to do that. Uh as textbooks as um our board member is explaining, the textbooks are technically free. Parents don't pay for it. Uh the state of Indiana funds us up to a certain point. And then as a community, we have to decide on what we're going to do to pay for that. We have paid for all of our resources without charging our parents since that law has been passed. It is our hope to continue to do that. Okay? And I want again say that this is not a Lawrence Township issue. This is a state issue that
056we are not getting the funding that we need in order to actually provide the bare minimum for our students, which are curricular resources. In a township like Lawrence Township, we have expectations that our students have very high quality resources. And I appreciate that this board, as well as our superintendent and those that work with us, um ensure that our students have the highest quality materials. And so, I just want to go on record to state that, Superintendent. >> board member. And if that is something the board will have to look at or advance, we will have deep conversation as a board as to how we're going to pay our bills. But as of right now, we're making it work. Thank you, Mr. Miles. Thank you. Um good question. Board, any other questions or comments? I
057do. As we are acquiring um different pathways now, what does it look like for our partnerships? Are we seeing more partnerships coming in from businesses? Have we had those combos concerning some of the changes and and some of the things being brought in? What does that look like? Yes, we are dependent on partnerships. With With all of this, there's also going to be an expansion of work-based learning with the new Indiana diploma. Exactly. >> So, we are working right now with partners to help us provide opportunities for all of our students as they enter into these different pathways. Most of them will enter into an opportunity within their pathway. Others will go work and learn those skills on a job that may not necessarily align directly with their pathway, but we are getting them out
058there achieving those skills that are called for with the new diploma. That's awesome. Okay, that's I just wanted to know if we were going to have or if we were seeing the expansion in these partnerships with the changes. So, that's good to hear. Thank you. Madam Vice President, one thing we like to do when we talk to our partners is when they say they're willing to take one of our students, we say, "Hey, how about five? How about How about 10?" You know, >> [laughter] >> we have 1,200 in each grade. So, we like to remind our community that we have a lot of students who are looking for work-based opportunities. Very good. Any other questions or comments, Board? Um I appreciate the information on the business pathway. I know that our students can earn
059dual credits through the post-secondary partnerships, which as we know, the cost of college has gone up quite a bit. And so, um I just wanted to point that out that we're very grateful that they can earn college credits at really no charge to the families. Um and then to tie into business, just a final point, our traditional public schools are the market leader in Indiana. And so, since we serve 90% of the student population in Indiana, um getting that ROI is a return on investment for our future workforce. Yep. Thank you, Board. Thank you to the team as well. Moving to 3.7, Before and After Care updates, the 2026-2027 recommendations with Ms. LaPlant. Thank you, Dr. Smith, President Norman. Tonight, I come with an update on our Before and After Care programming for the district.
060To recap this school year, um as a provider with Lawrence Township, we serve close to 1,000 students each week. Last year, you approved that we would try out some other partners. And so, for this school year, Indian Creek um had Champions After Care, which is a part of KinderCare. Oaklandon had At Your School, and Winding Ridge had the YMCA. It was successful in that we were able to decrease or eliminate wait lists at almost every building. So, that was wonderful. As we look at a review of our partners, uh we did do um a survey in November to ask for parent feedback. Only one site had consistent positive feedback. Most parents continue to choose MSDLT programming for any of the breaks um with fall break and winter break. And we have had requests from parents
061that um they would like MSDLT to be the provider again. The ultimate goal was to have one of those three partner take over the three partner sites, but that has not come to fruition. And so, tonight I'll be seeking approval to allow the contracts to expire and not move forward with renewal. So, that means we have to think differently and get innovative for next year's programming. So, as we look at um the progress we made this year, our largest sites, Amy Beverland, Forest Glen, Mary Castle, we were able to fully staff those and to ensure that families were able to receive care. All three of those sites are over 150 students with Amy Beverland and Forest Glen at almost 200 students in after care. So, in a way to make sure that we are continuing
062to offer services to our families, we are proposing and asking for permission to look at implementing cluster sites for next year. This will allow our families to still have the programming that they want, but help us to maximize our staffing efficiency so that we don't have to go back to wait lists. So, the proposed plan for next year would be that Amy Beverland, Forest Glen, and Mary Castle would stay as single sites due to their numbers. And then, we would look to cluster our sites that have less than 60 students. So, all of these are around 50 to 60 students. So, Brook Park and Harrison Hill with our host site being Brook Park. Crestview and Skiles Test with Skiles Test being the host. Oaklandon and Sunnyside with Oaklandon being the host site. And Indian Creek
063and Winding Ridge with Winding Ridge being the host site. So, tonight I will ask approval to try that plan out for next school year, and I would be happy to take any questions you might have. Thank you, Ms. LaPlant. Um board questions or comments? I do. Um question concerning the cluster sites and transportation. >> Yes. Well, Ms. LaPlant, I was going to say that that the students are not going to walk. Ms. LaPlant is talking that to the board. >> No. They They are not. And we have worked in close collaboration uh with transportation and Mr. White um to find the best solution. And so, right now, for an example, um when you look at Brook Park-Harrison Hill, a Brook Park bus will go to Harrison Hill at 2:20 to load the children and then
064go to Brook Park. Those children will be unloaded at Brook Park when the other children get on then to go home. Perfect. Thank you. That was my question, too. So, thank you. Yes. First of all, thank you for being so innovative. I really appreciate the fact that if families have said that they choose MSDLT as their after and before school provider, that we're making it work. My wondering is, are parents aware of the clusters, and how do they feel about that? We have not made them aware yet because we wanted to do this tonight. Um one of the things that I do have to say, part of the reason I think that our families prefer us is because of the amazing site leaders we have. And um our families have made connections. And um luckily,
065when I was talking to the site leaders to get their input I learned that years ago before my time this was tried out and Brook Park and Harrison Hill had done that and so you know unfortunately this has been a challenging year for child care in the state and I think most families will be just happy that we are working to make sure everybody can have care because it is so crucial. I would assume that as well. Thank you very much. >> what if the numbers grow and we for some reason out of school get a hundred show up? Could we stay at that site? Could that be a possibility? We would stay home. So really we're creating this but if the families have the demand we will keep them at their school. >> Yes,
066yes, absolutely. I I do have one Yeah, Miss Lawrence. question. And thank you so much as a parent who has availed myself of both before and after care it is critically important to be able to offer these services for our families. I I noticed that this just says after care. Have we eliminated before care? >> No, we have not. Right now the plan is that before care would be at every building. At every building. Yes. That we would still offer before care for all of our families in the morning and this would just be for after care. >> And before care remind me again is that staffed by the same people? I remember it being staffed by the same people but I don't know if that's changed. >> it is. Quite a few of the
067before and after care staff work split shifts. Okay. Um and just one additional follow-up question. I know at some of these sites we've offered Spanish language as our students you know are are in bilingual classrooms. Is that going to continue especially for those those sites that may not have a Spanish language focus but you know so help me understand that a little bit. I know it's super helpful for homework for example and and that sort of thing where where we have Yes. Well and we've really worked to make sure that we have bilingual caregivers at every site when possible for the homework help. So yes, that would continue. Thank you. And I am assuming CCDF is still an option for families and that has been expanded so our families are aware that that is an
068option. Oh, absolutely. Yes. Thank you board. Any other questions or comments? I know this is a great service to have for our families. All right. Thank you Miss Leplant. 3.8 the 27-28 and 28-29 proposed school calendar plus an amendment of the 26-27 school calendar. Dr. Haas-Brown and Dr. Thorp. Thank you Board President Norman, Superintendent Dr. Smith and members of the board. Tonight Dr. Haas-Brown and I would like to present the proposed academic district calendars for the school years of 2027 to 28 and 2028 to 2029. But first I'd like to thank our calendar committee representing school board members, the LECC staff, elementary and secondary staff, school leaders and our performing arts teachers. So if we have anyone here tonight who served on the committee please stand and be recognized. >> [applause] >> Thank you. We
069have a long history with our community of honoring certain parameters so that our families can plan year to year for their school year and we have this listed here. Of course 180 student days and 185 certified staff days as per our CBA. We do not start in July. We do not do that. We start in August and we try to always end before Memorial Day. Of course this year is an exception. Every Mr. Kuznik's going to have to six to seven years we the way the holiday falls we go past like this year but otherwise we prefer before Memorial Day and we honor staff professional development days. We try to keep our parent teacher conferences on the same fourth Thursday of September. We observe federal holidays. We no longer have snow days but instead do
070e-learning days and as you've probably heard we we are an election site often and so on even years we look to have the election day be an e-learning day asynchronous. That is for safety and to allow our staff to vote. We try to be consistent in our fall break weeks. That assist all of our extracurriculars. Whether that be performing arts, athletics, robotics, you name it. They all count on us having that fall break, spring break on a certain week for by weeks and whatnot and we have our graduation scheduled in June. So these are our parameters. Thank you. Board any questions or comments? Oh, I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. >> [laughter] >> So based on the the parameters that were set forth we have two calendars that we'd like to share out with you based
071upon the 2027-2028 school year. So as you can see it's it's a pretty good time for us for 2027. One of the things I'd like to highlight or a couple of things I'd like to highlight is that for one we have an earlier return for the second semester but we also will be able to have two days that are recognized for President's Day in February. So just a couple of things that I'd like to highlight there. And then if you take a look at the second calendar we have the same thing as well there in terms of the two days for President's Day but this is also a an election year so we do have in there for the election on November 7th that we would have an e-learning day there down at the bottom
072and and another thing about this particular calendar is that it's very well balanced. We really worked hard to try to make sure we have as close to to number of days for both semesters. Also I'm sorry. Also I just like to say that this calendar committee was exceptional in that we had the highest participation rate that we have had since I have been in this position of our committee members submitting feedback to us and overall they were just very very pleased. So we were pleased that they were pleased with the drafts we had for them. But also this evening we would like to bring forth to you a calendar you previously approved and that is the 26-27 calendar. If you would look with us now. Previously we brought this calendar to you for your approval
073without an e-learning day on election day. And and at that point we were only bringing forth the election day e-learning on presidential years. However with the increased traffic and use of our buildings it is we believe in our best just for safety, for collaboration with our community to do this on our all even years and so we are submitting this as an amendment to you tonight for your review and approval. That's the only change November 3rd. And again we would like to thank our committee. We're happy to take any questions. Yes, thank you to the committee. Dr. Smith to go along with that. I believe we've added a couple schools correct to our voting sites. >> Yeah. Dr. Nesbitt would you share with the board um you know the election board contacts us and obviously
074being one of the larger owners of buildings public buildings in the in the district we've agreed to allow which schools Right. We have seven sites. Five of them we knew about up in previously then about two weeks ago we learned online that Amy Beverland been selected through a Facebook post and then they called us emailed us this past Saturday so nine days ago to ask if Crestview could do it. That that that site used to be Nine Methodist Church there and Sydney First Street they had dropped out of Nature School so they did it but then they reneged and so call Lawrence Township Schools public schools we will help you. We'll host. And so we're hosting at seven sites. Amy Beverland, Crestview those are the new sites. Lawrence North, Fall Creek um uh Pardon me?
075Yeah, Mary Castle. Yeah, thanks. And Winding Ridge. Yeah. So um And you said that begins for the primary, correct? Yes, that's for the upcoming primary here just early May. Yeah. Okay. Week away. Thank you. Board any questions regarding the calendars? >> I just have a clear a point of clarification. First of all thank you so much. I love the parameters that we hold tight to. Could you just explain I see here it says professional day elementary and ELCs then professional half day secondary and then in January professional day secondary but a records professional day. What is the distinguishing distinguish what distinguishes those? Sure. In our last calendar review as a as a committee one change that our committee members asked for us which we've implemented since then revolved around the secondary professional development day. Previously
076in calendars past secondary folks would have one day prior to the school year and then a whole records day prior to winter break. And what we did is we found it would have been a better use of time to do a half records day before winter break and put the other half to the front so they have a day and a half prior to students coming in. Elementary and ELCs have always had the two days. We don't have the records day and then everyone comes back the day after winter break prior to students for professional development as well as time in their classrooms to prep one day before the children come back. So it's the same number, we're just split differently for the ELC and elementary versus the secondary. We have two at the beginning,
077they have 1.5 and then a 0.5. Ms. Lawrence. Yeah, I just have one quick question cuz I know we weren't scrolling all the way to the bottom for the graduation. Yeah, graduation is still in June for I'm asking both for personal and >> [laughter] >> You're preparing, aren't you? You're preparing, board member. We're trying to prep. We've got a couple graduations. Also, board, my secondary team, Dr. Thorpe, Mr. Kuzmic can also refer to this. We work in advance on location and we do have secure the location, which dictates our dates. Okay? And it will be at the fairgrounds, Martha, just so you will know. We're not changing venues. All right. Thank you for that. Any other questions on the calendar? Okay. Well, thank you again to the team. We will move to 3.9. 26-27 proposed
078Board of Education meetings calendars. Dr. Mulholland. Madam President, I present the calendar for the proposed Board of Education meetings for the 2026-2027 year. Thank you, Dr. Mulholland. Board, any questions or comments? Once it's approved, I it'll go up on the website. It'll be official. Okay, thank you for that. 3.10, amendment of cancellation of outstanding checks, Mr. Miles. Thank you, Madam President. Dr. Smith, members of the board, you may recall back in our March 16th meeting, you priorly approved cancellation of checks. There was one check that was missed from that that we bring back to you tonight as an addendum to that approval. Again, these must be canceled per statute after 2 years post 12/31. So this one check, it has been paid and cleared, more of a clerical issue than anything and we'll just ask
079your permission later this evening to cancel that check. Thank you, Mr. Miles, and I know we do have that in a board policy as well, although we can't access it right now. But we appreciate you following along and updating us. Any questions, board, on the outstanding checks? Okay. Mr. Miles again, 3.11, financial update. Yes, Madam President. In front of you, we will start with the looks like we're going to start with the transportation fund. So the transportation fund as of the end of March, March 31st, in a in a good place and very close with our original projections. Again, as a reminder, revenue comes in twice a year, so we're still really waiting on uh the vast majority of our revenue. We did get some a little bit of revenue in and expenses are trending
080just a little behind our projections, so we'll take that, leaving our cash balance in a little better position than originally projected. And similarly, as we move to the general fund, akin to our education fund, but we'll call it general fund for purposes of our report. Again, 3/31 balance, revenue trending in a good place, a little ahead of original projections, but but fairly for the most part in line, as well as our expenses. Expenses just a little ahead and if you look there at the very bottom line there, I don't crazy crazy close to where we had originally projected as far as our balance today. I'm pretty sure we won't do that every month, but it is pretty well in line with what we predicted. All right, thank you, Mr. Miles. Board, any questions or comments?
081Yes, Ms. Lawrence. First, how are we going to make up that dollar, Mr. Miles? >> I we're going to work hard at it, I promise you. Second, well and well done. This it's I know it's a lot of hard work to get there. The question I have is more a macro question as it relates to the current economy and some of the increases I know that we're all feeling in terms of cost. So have we considered adjusting any of our budgetary items? Are are we getting hit? Are we seeing a lot of that? I know maybe in construction, but Yeah, we it's a great question and and yes, certainly we are seeing some impacts. Some of our contracts long-term, we've we're locked in and so we're protected on some of those things. We purchased, you
082know, some of that we've talked about before, fuel and some other things that way. But there's others, utilities, things that are more variable costs. Certainly we're seeing we are seeing some impact in that. You know, our budget is set by the state once a year, so we're we're really kind of locked into that and certainly we don't have we don't have we have very little control of our revenue sources. So ADM's critical. Recruit, recruit, recruit, retain, retain, retain. And and so we're watching those things closely. Our ADM will be critical. Certainly our June tax collections, when those come in, we'll be watching those closely as well to see just to see kind of how we what the rubber meets the road in terms of our collections versus projections. But yeah, it's something we're going to
083need to watch and we'll keep this board apprised of where we're at. You know, our goals are going to be a little tougher maybe to meet than what we have in the past, but we will we'll continue to do our due diligence. And and I thank you for that. I know it's a very difficult time to to project anything, let alone a budget the size of ours. As it relates to fuel, cuz that that likely is part of the the biggest influx in the summertime, I assume that we have very we have a lot fewer buses on the road. So as we're nearing that, do we anticipate kind of making up any of the gap? So typically our fuel contracts account for that. So we we we predict and and have a pretty good idea
084of how much fuel we're going to go through per month. So when we purchase when we set our contracts up, that is factored in. So really don't see we do see savings cuz we're spending less money during those months. Um but it's it's it's kind of factored into where our budget is. Thank you, that's all. >> Also, we do transport an incredible number of students during the summer because we do offer summer school. Not for the high school to transport them because they do their online classes, some high school students, Dr. Thorpe. But our elementary schools will be teeming with kids this summer as we have our summer learning academy taking place, Mr. Kuzmic. So we still transport kids. >> Yeah, I I just anticipated it being fewer kids. Nope. Okay, good questions and just
085a point of clarification for the public. I like many of you received my property tax bill and I saw some complaints online saying blaming the schools and I would venture to say, and you can affirm this, that it is not because of the schools. We have the third lowest tax rate in Marion County. It is because our assessed property value went up. I I would absolutely affirm that. Also, I just happy to report to the general public and also a tool on our website, we have a calculator there for the referendum, the capital referendum that was passed back in 2019. There's they want to look at that, they can always see current tax rate on that and and continue to watch how that drops. I get an email from one of our community members every
086year and always happy to confirm where those numbers are today versus where they were originally passed. And do you know, is that on the finance page or is it on >> I believe it is. Yeah, it's on the business page and anyone Okay, a tab on our finance page. Okay. Okay, thank you for sharing that. Those tools are always very helpful to share when there is some mis you know, understanding. Absolutely. >> But we are in a in a great spot. So Doing all we can. I think it's important to note, too, for our constituents that we are one of the few districts across the state, especially in Center Township, that has not gone out for >> [cough] >> an operating referendum. Yes. And so fiscally, Lawrence Township is in a very good place. Yes,
087thank you for that. Thank you. All right. If there are no other questions or comments regarding the financial updates, we'll move into our board committee reports. I will start first with policy, Ms. Puckett. >> All right, all right. The policy committee is eagerly awaiting the release of NEOLA revision packet number 38. Um number two, this is an an important policy because the update includes SEA 78, which is also known as a wireless communication device policy, which requires Indiana school corporations to to adopt a stricter cell phone policy. And lastly, the policy committee anticipates the first reading of volume 38, number two, at our June 8th work session. So it's going to looking forward to that, plenty of cups of coffee and Yeah. Thank you for that update and I know it was timely as well
088because I believe it has to be adopted by July 1st for the state. Okay. Yep, and all of our friends across the state are working on that right now. It's a hot topic. Yes. All right, well thank you for that. Lawrence Parks and Recreation, Ms. Dutton. Oh, yes, we had a very successful Earth Day. We also had a very successful Spring Fling. Um, don't forget the Forever Young Clubs. We've got Thursday games from 11:00 to 1:00, Friday fitness from 10:00 to 11:00, and then a craft evening. Um, from 6:00 to 7:00 on Fridays. Um, also mark your calendars, May 9th is the Lawrence um, the International Day and that will be at Lawrence Village Parkway from 12:00 to 4:00. And then our Fort Ben Market opens up very soon in June. It'll be here before
089we know it. Yes, exciting times for the parks. Thank you for sharing that. And pickleball. Mr. Crossor. Yes, and every other enthusiast like us. All right. We're doing some rehab to the pickleball courts, just so you know, there is going to be some serious repaving and getting them so that they will be in tip-top shape. They said specifically for you, Mr. Vest said specifically for Mr. Crossor. All right. Um, thank you for those updates. Now we'll move to Foundation, Dr. Mulholland. All right. Well, on Saturday, May 16th, uh, Lawrence Township School Foundation will have their Prairie Dash, the 5K, and that is on a Saturday, 9:00 to 11:00. There's a registration fee of $25, but um, students from Lawrence Township are going to be running and family and community members are all welcome to participate.
090And all the funds go to Lawrence Township. So. And then also June 1st is the For the Kids Golf Tournament. Yes, thank you for that. All right, we'll move into our action items. Thank you everyone for staying with us. This is a full schedule tonight, but we did combine our work session and monthly board meeting. 4.1, approval of the RFP bid for custodial services, Dr. Nesbitt. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Uh, we submit to you the RFP for custodial services and recommend RGB Services for that contract as submitted. All right, board. Um, all in favor Oh, yeah, I'll take a motion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Dunn, and seconded, Ms. Puckett. If there are no questions or final comments, um, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right.
091We have approved the RFP for custodial services. 4.2, approval of the RFP bids for security services, Dr. Nesbitt. Thank you again, Madam President and board. We would recommend Eclipse Staffing and Secure Staffing and Security for the security RFP. Okay. Entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Prop- properly moved, Ms. Lawrence, and seconded, Ms. Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments on the security services, all all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. The RFP for security services has been approved. 4.3, approval of the curriculum um, committee recommendations, Mr. Kusznick. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, recommend the board approve the recommendations of the Curriculum Advisory Council as submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Puckett, and seconded, Ms. Lawrence. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor
092say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right, we have approved the the curriculum committee recommendations. Moving on to Mr. Kusznick again, approval of the K through 12 English Language Arts recommendations. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the K-12 English Language Arts recommendations as submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Dunn, and seconded, Dr. Mulholland. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the CTE Wait a minute. Am I on the English language? Okay, I jumped ahead. English Language Arts recommendations, say I. I. I. All right. The language English Language Arts recommendations have been approved. 4.5, approval of the CTE recommendations, Mr. Kusznick. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the CTE recommendations as submitted. So
093moved. Second. Properly moved, Dr. Mulholland, and seconded, Ms. Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the CTE recommendations say I. I. Any opposed? The CTE recommendations have been approved. 4.6, approval of the before and aftercare recommendations, Ms. LaPlant. Thank you, Dr. Smith, President Norman, members of the board. Tonight I gave an update on before and aftercare programming, and I recommend that you approve the changes that were discussed. All right. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. All right, properly moved, Ms. Dunn, and seconded, Ms. Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of before and aftercare recommendations say I. I. Any opposed? The before and aftercare recommendations have been approved. 4.7, approval of the 27-28-28-29 proposed school calendars, plus
094the amendment of the 26-27 school calendar, Dr. Haas-Brown and Dr. Thorpe. President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board, Dr. Thorpe and I recommend that the board approve the proposed 27-28 and 28-29 school calendars, plus the amendment to the 26-27 school calendar as submitted. All entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Lawrence, and seconded, Dr. Mulholland. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of approving the 27-28-28-29 and the amended 26-27 school calendars say I. I. Any opposed? The school calendars have been approved. Thank you. 4.8, approval of the 26-27 proposed Board of Education meetings, Dr. Mulholland. I recommend the board approve the proposed Board of Education meetings calendar for the 2026-2027 year as submitted. All entertain a motion. Moved. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Puckett, and seconded, Ms.
095Dunn. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the 26-27 proposed Board of Education meetings calendar say I. I. Any opposed? Our 26-27 proposed Board of Education meetings calendar is approved. Thank you. 4.9, approval of the amendment of the cancellation of outstanding checks, Mr. Miles. Thank you, Madam President. I recommend the board approve the amended cancellation of checks as submitted. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Lawrence, and seconded, Ms. Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the amendment of cancellation of checks outstanding say I. I. Any opposed? All right, the outstanding check cancellation has been approved. All right, 4.10, approval of the board Oh, did I jump ahead of you? No, you're good. Nope, Madam
096President, I move that we treat action items 4.10 and through 4.15 as consent agenda. All right, do we have a second? Second. All right, all in favor of treating action items 4 points Sorry, 10 10 to 4.15 as consent agenda. Say I. I. Any opposed? All right. I move approval of consent agenda. Second. All right, moved by Ms. Puckett and seconded by Ms. Lawrence. All in favor of the approval of the consent agenda for 4.10 to 4.15 say I. I. I. Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. And now we will move on. Thank you, board, to our administrator and board comments. Would somebody like to volunteer to go first tonight? I know there's been a lot going on since we last met. I'm happy to go. Uh, I'll I'll make this really brief
097because I know all of us want to get home. Um, but I just I had the opportunity over the weekend to attend uh, some some music competitions, and I know many of our students in performing arts have been uh, very diligent as they've gone into their ISMA season. So I just wanted to congratulate all of those individuals. I also uh, this week had the opportunity I guess last week had the opportunity to attend a Communities in Schools program at Fall Creek Valley Middle School where our site uh, leader uh, Ms. Carmisha Leary um, Siddique, sorry. I've known her a very long time and I'm still getting used to the addition to the last name. Um, presented on behalf of Fall Creek Valley in in this school district, and I just want to say how impressive
098the programming has been at Fall Creek Valley, at all of our schools. Uh, but it was really nice to see our students there um, supporting uh, and able to answer questions very articulately, um, and to just to see our schools highlighted in that way. Thank you for that. Would anyone else like to go? Just real quick, um, a reminder of Teacher Appreciation Week. So make sure to love on our teachers. They change generations, so. Just a reminder. Yes, thank you for that. Dr. Mulholland. Well, I I think there's just so much to celebrate as we can see and uh, I had a chance to attend a activity at my son's school and just in conversation with the principal just was reminded and reflecting on you know, we have so much to celebrate and it's not
099just those big wins and the milestones and the achievements but also just getting through and working hard the resilience and and pushing through in the growth, right? So just remembering to celebrate both what we what we push through together and what we accomplished and our resilience and just just awesome to see all the celebrations take place in this last month as we wrap up. Yeah, thank you. I I just appreciate Dana. Thank you for always ensuring that we remember our assistant principals and principals. I know we had assistant principal recognition as well as principal recognition and so would be remiss if we did not thank the tremendous leaders that we have in this Township for all the work that they do and also just for those individuals who are working after hours on various committees
100to ensure that they are giving their input. It is so critical to ensure that we have teacher student family all the voices at the table and then I saw too that we have teacher leadership Academy. Again, thank you to Facebook for allowing us to see the next generation of leaders. It is looks like a really good group and so thank you for your continued work on behalf of our district superintendent Smith. Well said board. Thank you for that. To go along with that good luck to our students taking Ilearn this week. Thank you to our staff. I'm being a mom go to bed early get you know, make sure you're there. But no, I I know it's a big week and it's a big push to the end of the year. So thank you to
101everyone involved. Couple housekeeping things that's a reminder to myself as well as other fellow parents in the district. The online RSVP is active now. So if you plan to return to Lawrence which we hope you do go ahead and fill that out and then also early voting is going on as a point of clarification. It is not at the old LECC right now Craig middle school. >> would you chime in on that and board understand that is not by our choice. The early voting center has moved. Yeah, as you might have gathered with the We find out a lot of things later and they asked us they they gave us a heads up that they might move the site to the library on 56th Street and we said we really do like hosting that and
102we think our patrons do. They're they're familiar with the site. They know to come back but they made that choice and that's out of our control. So. And that's done by the Marion County election board. Now is there a possibility they could switch it back in November Dr. Nesmith, have you heard anything? Yeah, they they might switch it back in late October based on the current track record here. So yeah, it's certainly possible. I think they're going to have some hiccups with parking and we have a nice new parking lot new facility there at Craig. So we're hoping they'll move it back. Okay. Well, we have the building ready for them should they change their mind. Yeah, I just wanted to bring that up. It's the early voting is at the Fort Ben library. The
103hours this week are 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. I'm saying that to encourage our residents to get out and vote especially our fellow parents. It's a big primary going on and also May 2nd and 3rd the early voting is available from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. If you need time accessibility to due to work schedules. So thank you again and if that's it, I will turn it to Dr. Smith. >> My comments will be short. Board pay close attention to your calendars. It is the end of year and it is time to celebrate. This weekend we will be at Lawrence Central High School for our distinguished graduation program. We'll we'll be there to honor those youngsters. Meet me there Sunday at 12:00 p.m. And then of course Carla Johnson around the corner is our retirement
104our end of year celebration. Just watch your calendar board. We're busy celebrating our staff and our students and of course culminating with the crash on June 3rd and 4th with graduation at Lawrence Central Lawrence North High School at the fairgrounds. Okay. Don't be late. And the 6th grade science fair is here, right? >> Yeah, the 6th grade science fair will be here in this building Saturday. Dr. Brown, you just want to chime in real quick. Just real quick. We're very excited to host the top three winners from each of the 11 elementary for a science bloodbath or science fair, whatever you'd like to call it. We like competition. >> We do like competition. We'll be announcing the winners between 11:00 and 11:30. If you'd like to join us then come a little bit earlier if
105you'd like to walk around and look at some of the projects. Scientists, yes. We will have a packed house board in this building celebrating students and I can just feel the academia and all the brainpower already. It's going to be packed Saturday morning. And the competition. >> Yep, and the competition. That's all I have board. >> All right, thank you. With that our next meeting will be our well, it's going to be a combined work session and board meeting on Monday, May 18th at 5:30 p.m. here. Thank you again everybody for doing the hard work today and I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All right, properly moved Miss Puckett and seconded Dr. Mulholland.