001on the 2526 tenative collective bargaining agreement. At this time, I will turn the microphone o over to Miss Carla Johnson. Good afternoon, Dr. Smith, President, Madame President, and members of the board. Tonight, We are so proud to bring to you the collective bargaining agreement um standing here proudly um for the district with our teachers association that have worked really hard over the last few weeks and we're glad to bring to you formally the tenative agreement. And so this evening I will speak in the public meeting to the collective bargaining agreement and what we are bringing to you to be approved later this week. So, as we begin, I would like to just start with a summary of the teachers raises. Our total package of agreement is 2,931,52. The salary increase that we are recommending to
002the teachers of Lawrence Township is a 2% salary increase for all of our returning teachers. And our new teachers that were employed prior to board approval, they will not have a decrease in their salary. The next area is our teacher retention catchup after receiving our 2% raise. if there is a teacher on our salary schedule that in their cell um we are capping at $220,000 as we're trying to um catch up those salaries of our loyal teachers that have remained with us. So we're excited to bring that to you this afternoon. On our next slide, our early literacy endorsement. The Indiana state law changed in that teachers in K through six have to have an early endorsement by 2027. And so for all of the teachers in Lawrence Township who've already obtained that, we are
003going to be recommending a $250 stipen, not stipen, but a $250 to their base salary. The teacher retirement fund an increase of 6 at a cost of 252,7768. Our health insurance, our employees, we're looking at an increase of 9.3% to both parties for the district and to our teachers to their premiums. and the increase to the 1500 plan, the district will pay the same dollar amount in premiums as the corresponding health savings account. We are offering a second dental plan this year. Um it's at at a neutral cost, but it has some additional features that some of our employees we thought would be interested in, especially for those who don't have children and might not be interested in orthodontia. The next slides of the collective bargaining agreement are more about the language. Our ECAs, the
004extracurricular activities, um those are a lot of our clubs that are led by teachers at 40,000. So, we're simply adding some positions and um looking at some increases to what some of the current salaries are for our ECAs. We are also looking at our classroom coverage compensation the updates. That's when we have as many shortage because we have so many teachers that we've hired. But when we do have that and we have to put a plan in place for teachers to cover other classrooms, um we had a spring pilot and now we've just put all of that language into this collective bargaining agreement. our ancillary duty bilingual support. That is a change from last year in which it was an ECA and the teams together decided to make that an ancillary duty so that for
005our teachers that are bilingual and support their colleagues above and beyond that will be at $1,000 and we'll be able to look at that for 134 teachers. So we're able to spread that out to benefit more teachers. An ancillary duty of dual credit stipen was also added. Um there's no cost there. We're just kind of clarifying the language so that it goes with our AB and our IB teachers. On the next slide, um we're looking at leaves of absences. So that when a teacher in the bargaining unit has an expansion of an immediate family member, we wanted to include a power of attorney, which is the executive to the estate of the sole surviving relative. We also have asked that for our teachers when they have to go to jury duty at a time outside
006of the regular school calendar year such as the summer maybe winter break and it's for jury duty related to a student case a family case that they be paid for their time and our LEA association days um increasing that from 32 to 35. And then our last slide is about the district buyback days. Um we've had this in place for a year or two, but the area that's in bold that we are changing is that um we're going to do this once a year versus twice a year as we've looked at the data and it'll be capped at 40,000. So if a teacher has an excess over a 100red sick days, they're able to sell back at least five days a year if they're looking for that cash at this particular time. And that is
007our total package that we are recommending to the board. Um, and the cost is over a little bit under $3 million. Are there any questions? Thank you, Miss Johnson. Um, first of all, I wanted to acknowledge everyone involved in the bargaining process on the team all around. I know it was a long labor of love and done well to ensure that everyone received a win. So, thank you everyone involved. Um, at this time I will turn it over to the board for any questions or comments. >> Yes. And to clarify, this is only for the collective bargaining agreement on the teachers. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any questions or comments, board? I would like to echo President Norman's um sentiments about the hard work. Thank you very much, M. Johnson, for your efforts. Um Mr. Miles,
008I know that this is not an easy endeavor and we look at those um around us um during a tough budget time and the fact that we are able to compensate our educators in a fair and appropriate way um is very much appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the board on the CBA? All right. At this time, we will also open it up to the public if the public has any comments regarding the CBA for the teachers. Okay. At this time, we will close out uh the public hearing. Um I I also will take another minute recognize the team. So, anybody from the teachers and the administration that served in the collective bargaining process, can you just please stand? >> Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. No, that's fine. I just
009I just wanted to give a shout out to everybody involved. So, thank you. All right. At this time, I'll close it out. All right. And now we are ging into our our monthly work session. We will be receiving a lot of information information items tonight. Dr. Nesbet will be starting us off with 3.01 Blue Ribbon facilities update. >> Well, thank you, Madam President, members of the board and Dr. Smith. My pleasure to take a look at Blue Ribbon 2 update here. Our overview, we've same as we've seen in the past here in McKenzie. Uh you'll see tonight we're going to make a recommendation for our architectural and engineering services as well as get your request your permission for an RFP for construction manager. Uh Craig County continues. We'll see some neat pictures on that. Crest
010View, Forest, Glenn, and Mary Castle. Those are cruising right along. We're right on target to open for next school year. And then you might have noticed some new signage as it came in here at LECC as we're we're punch listing this one out and getting some of that signage wrapped up. So, let's take a look at some pictures. Oh, there there's our guaranteed energy savings. Almost all blue. Uh Indian Creek, we will be wrapped up by the end of the week. Uh I nearly marked it marked it blue, but just not quite there, but we'll be there by the end of the week. And then the rest of those we'll we'll dive into uh in the spring summer. So Bells and Fall Creek that was that that concluded Blue Ribbon phase one. We are happy
011to cut the ribbons on those uh just this past weekend. And Harrison Elementary, we just wrapped up that roof. They finally finished up the painting on the metal. Uh there's the new LEC signage. Then one sign didn't make it, but we have it on three sides of the building there. And Cresby Elementary, uh four classrooms there and a bathroom you can see coming in. Forest Glenn. We even got an aerial shot there. So, you can see the the steel beams are up and uh that's cruising right along. And then, of course, Mary Castle, four classrooms there. And we have walls there and ceiling and we're actually hooking up heat in that. Um so, the the electricity is is running in there so we can have heat for the uh for the rest of the work.
012And then Craig Academy. I I like this. We have viewing windows from uh the second and third floors that look down into the gymnasium now. So, that's a little sneak peek of what the gymnasium is looking like. And you can see the new Craig uh logoing on the far wall there. So, it's really looking neat. That wraps up this work sessions update. Happy to field any questions on Blue Ribbon phase two. >> Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. Um that was exciting to wrap up Blue Rib Blue Ribbon phase one officially. So, thank you everyone board. Any questions or comments regarding the blue ribbon updates for phase two? All right, let's moving along and back to Dr. Nesbbit again for 3.2 request to approve the architect for the McKenzie Center of Innovation and Technology Renovation. >> Thank
013you. Uh if you recall in our October 13th meeting, he gave us permission to advertise for an RFP for architectural and engineering services. We interviewed uh four firms on October 31st and tonight we'll make a recommendation to hire Smitten Associates uh during the action portion of the meeting. Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. Board, any other questions or comments? This is the information part of this. We will go to a vote later. >> All right. Thank you. And finally, Dr. Nesbet again 3.3 request for RFP of the CMC's Mackenzie Center renovations. >> Sure. The next step in this process for the Mackenzie transformation, of course, is hiring a CMC. And so, we'd like to start advertising for those services uh with your approval uh tonight. and we'll advertise for that and and get them on board in
014the coming months. >> Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. Board, any questions or comments on this next phase? >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. >> Now, I'll turn it to Miss Carla Johnson for the 2526 administrative and classified salaries update. >> Madame President, Dr. and members of the board this evening we bring to you the administrative and classified raises. Um we are proposing for our administrators and our classified staff a 2% raise and for health insurance um it's the exact same policy that mirrors the teachers which was at that 9.3% increase premium. Any questions? >> Thank you Miss Johnson. Any questions or comments regarding the classified and administrative salaries? >> Yes, Miss Lawrence. >> Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Miles, um, as I do every year this time, um, I have done a extensive audit
015of our salary information for our administrative staff. um have once again discovered that Township is above most of our peers in the area. It's it's 23% higher. We are 23% higher than most of our peers. Um include and that's also including outliers like Caramel where we're roughly 40% higher HSC 40% higher Zville 40% higher as well. um in looking at the salary information that's available both on our administrative contracts online and um the salary information that's publicly reported in gateway. There is substantial difference between the advertised contract dollar amount and the contracts that are reported in gateway. I know from our conversation last year on this day that that is um likely attributed to benefits and healthcare stipens that are given to our administrative staff. I'm wondering if you could elaborate on what accounts for
016in some cases a $30,000 discrepancy between the advertised contract and the numbers that were reported in Gateway. >> Thank you, madam board member. Um yes um it and it's would mirror the conversation we had uh similarly last year. Uh the difference between gateway and uh our contracts posted online are primarily driven uh for a small a small percentage of our administrators. There are two different administrative packages and one of those packages um includes an allowance for health insurance and so that gets calculated into what we report to gateway which elevates what's reported on gateway. The other piece that's included in gateway um is we have a few administrators that um due to their job description they may drive a a company vehicle and so there may be some personal mileage in there as well that's
017that's by IRS we have to support that as as income. So that also creates an additional gap between gateway and their contract. It's not take home pay per se, but it is a benefit for them. So yeah, that does that does constitute where those differences. >> And the healthare that you referenced before, it's my understanding that that doesn't necessarily need to be used for healthare that is at the discretion of the individual. So if for example there were two uh family members. They would only need one family plan for example and the other would be counted as income for that family member should they decide to use it as >> it's an allowance for them. Um so that allowance can be used to to select any plan, no plan, a more expensive plan, a less
018expensive plan or or if there is if there were two two administrators or two two teachers uh similarly obviously there was just one one cost as far as benefit. >> Thank you. Um, the average for the top 100 earners in Lawrence Township is $154,000, which is 10% higher than IPS, uh, 17% higher than Wayne, and I misspoke before. It's 20% higher than Caramel Clay, 25% higher than Washington, 26% higher than Pike, 29% higher than Nolesville, 30% higher than HSSE, 33 6% higher than Warren, 40% higher than Dec, and 41% higher than >> Yep. board. Any other questions or comments regarding this the classified and or administrator? Dr. Mahal, >> I just had a question about where it says the health insurance. Um what does that include in terms of that as well that mirrors or
019what mirrors? >> The piece that mirrors would be the the 9.3% increase uh goes across uh all divisions all all classified administrator or certified that that is really what mirrors also the additional plans that are going to be offered this year. That was one of the things we detailed out in the uh in the certified piece. Um there's a there's a new plan that'll be coming forward as an option for for all employees as well as that second dental option. So that's what really mirrors um mirrors the teacher. >> Yeah. >> And I want to make sure that the public is aware as well that this slide appears that our classified staff are all receiving health insurance. Can you please clarify exactly who in our staff does receive health insurance because we are not providing
020health insurance? >> Yeah, that's a great question. We have um classified benefit. Uh our we have a benefit sheet for different based on your job description. There are probably 30 different benefit slides for our classified team. U just because we have so many different positions. Um some are 10 months, some are 12. Uh then they vary based on hours that they that they work. Um any full-time classified qualifies uh for health insurance and for benefits. And actually we we define our for purposes of health insurance at 1300 hours which was set by um ACA a few years back. So any any classified staff member over 1300 hours whether even even if their job description um may not normally qualify uh for that they are going to qualify and and they're going to have the opportunity
021to to join it or if um based on their job description and the the benefit package they're under then then they may automatically qualify. >> Thank you for that. >> You're welcome. >> Okay, Miss Lawrence. >> Thank you president. One followup question. As our healthcare has increased by 9% roughly a little over 9% this year, um is the intention to add additional funds to that stipen that administrators receive or is that stipen still going to remain steady at roughly $30,000 additional income for those administrators? >> So that that allow it's an it's an allowance we call it. Um that's what the that's what the benefit sheet calls it. Um it is actually mirrors the HSA 3000 plan. So the amount as as that plan moves it the the allowance would move also. So it would
022go up in conjunction with with that plan. >> Okay. Dr. Is there an industry standard or some kind of data point that you can share with us regarding the allowance that is that is provided in set that we're currently discussing? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um because many school districts report um their gateway amounts uh differently or not to say any uh ill intent or or um but there's there's some there's some different a gray area I guess you could call it for um what is reported you know what's part of the benefits report and the mechanism that you go go through um the way we we through that allowance that we give an employee um that does those those administrators since they do have uh opportunity to select um a certain benefit package
023that gets that gets counted as income in gateway and really the gateway piece um drives retirement funding. Um it doesn't cost the district any more out of pocket necessarily to do it that way. Um except for in the example of of maybe when someone would either not have a plan or being in a less expensive plan, they're they're going to have a little that allowance is going to exceed maybe their cost. Uh but from a district um from a standard standpoint um our the package that we offer, the plans that we offer are very comparable um to what you're seeing u across the market. We want to make sure our insurance package and benefit packages um compete with others. Um just those mechanisms as to you know what's included in their contract, what's included in
024gateway. There is some there there can be some differences there. Thank you, Dr. Mhalland. Any other questions or comments? >> Just to add a bit of history, if I'm correct, years prior to health insurance, we had where it was the dollar paying for admin. And so this was basically put forward to create more balance um so that the teachers in essence weren't paying more for their health insurance um than the admin. So I just wanted to see if that is correct. I don't have the year, but prior knowledge this has we have gone from one model and went to this one for more balance >> thank you madam board member for bringing that up um yes there's a lot of history and some of the history predates me um but but yes where we are
025today um was through an evolution of years ago when administrators and even some you know teachers at times there was the the old $1 insurance package. Um, and for many years, our administrators and for many years our teachers, um, there was, um, a $1 plan that went away several years ago. Um, and and through the evolution of the plan, um, the benefits packages, um, we we are where we are today as a result. Miss done. >> So does the am I I'm trying to understand what Miss Tucket was saying. So does the fact that we're helping the administrators to get an additional compensation for their health insurance to cover it? Does that impact what our teachers are paying? Because I I'm not following that. >> Yeah. So uh no. uh the plan all all individuals
026pay in they're they're paying their fair share regardless regardless of administrator teacher classifier. So there is no there's not one group supporting another. >> So the the benefit is that our administrators the history is is that we used to have a dollar pay. I just want to make sure that we're clear. And now that we're paying them a sip so that they do not have to pay for the health insurance out of their salary, but out of the siphon that we are giving them specifically for health insurance. >> Um, >> if they choose to, again, we call it an allowance. Um, that's what the benefit sheet calls it. Um, and so >> to answer your question, I believe >> the benefit is for them. The benefit is for them alone, not benefiting our teachers. I
027just want to make sure. >> Correct. Yes. >> And I apologize just just to give history of where we had came from. >> Yeah. I think I I understand what you were saying, but I think that in the question it made it seem like there was an advantage to the teachers the administrators getting. So I just wanted to make sure that there was >> one additional question, Mr. Miles. Last year we um had some deficit spending as it related to the healthcare aotment. I believe it was a little over $3 million that we paid down um because there was an individual who had some very expensive medical costs for anybody who's following any of this which probably like four people who are. Um Mr. Miles I wonder if you could just give us a little
028context and A lot of good work has been done. >> Absolutely. Actually, I appreciate you bringing that up, Madam Board member. Um, yes, the last two years actually uh the district um had to dig into our cash balance to to set aside money in what we call a laser uh which is which is a literally a cash set aside to pay for those high cost claims. And so, um it's taken us a bit to get there. Uh but this renewal um that will go into effect uh February 1st on our our new insurance plan does not include any type of laser. So that's that was $3 million last year was $3 million the prior year. Uh so very fortunate to uh to say we don't have to deal with that issue. >> Any other questions
029or comments board? Yes. Yeah. And just so the public knows we will not be taking action on the CBA or the other raises until Friday. Um, thank you, Mr. Miles. I just wanted to close by making um a comment back to our board policy 144.2 um that we are to represent at all times the entire school community. So, I am grateful to the team for looking into the raises and benefits for all of our staff. It truly is a team effort. I am a former athlete. I like to give credence to every position on the team. Bus drivers, custodians, administrators, teachers. You all are Lawrence Township. Um you all are the reason why we have increased our enrollment by over 1,800 students in the last 10 years. Why we just had a 96% graduation rate
030with a 1% waiver. and also we increased our literacy rate by 14% in one year. So I just want to applaud you and I'm thankful that we can can recognize you. Thank you. If there are no other questions or comments regarding the administrative and [clears throat] classified update, I'm going to move on to the request for vehicle disposal. Mr. Miles. >> Thank you, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Uh in front of you, you have information item, a request for vehicle disposal. And unfortunately, from time to time, we have to uh discard of uh some assets. And at this time, we have two old buses uh that are just not salvageable. Um and the information about each is in front of you. We as statutory uh requirements uh set forth before us, we
031need your permission to dispose of those. So tonight, this is information and we will bring this back. I will bring this back to you um at our board meeting later this month for approval. Um but uh it's time to get rid of a couple of old buses. >> Thank you, Mr. Miles. Um I know that we are on a current like a 12-year bus replacement plan. These are in addition or outside of the normal plan due to accidents or other reasons. >> Yeah, one was an accident um and the other is exceeds the 12 years. So it's just it's just old age. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay, board. Any other questions or comments about the bus's disposal? All right, three. Oh, sorry, Miss Dunn. >> I just want as you were sharing about the amazing
032work that all members of our um our community are contributing reading that we were able to use including the engine of the bus that was um in a really bad accident. I just want to give kudos to those individuals that are working in our bus bar because I don't think that people realize the hard work and effort that goes into making sure that our students get to and from school safety safely every single day of the week. And having gone to the bus farm, we truly have a state-of-the-art facility. And so just feel like it's important to acknowledge the hardworking individuals that work there in making sure that they're saving the Lawrence Township taxpayers every single dollar. So, thank you for sharing. >> Thank Thank you. And if I may just add a personal comment,
033I've got some uh some history with those folks over there. They're great. They're experts and and I tell you, it's um when we have these issues where a bus does need to be scrapped, um you know, we're pulling everything off of it that's salvageable that makes sense to spend time, you know, re, you know, repurposing. And so it it it's easy to bring these when it's when it's time to to do so. >> Dr. Nesbizabeth, uh would you share sometimes we work with our partners in the city and our first responders? What do they do with some of those buses? >> Yes. Once we get approval to dispose of the vehicles, we often use those for first responders for training exercises so they can use jaws of life and things like that and uh replicate
034scenarios they might come into, particularly a school bus where you have children on you. That's something they want to practice because that's obviously a high stress situation. Good information. Any other questions or comments about the bus disposal? All right. Thank you, board. We will move on to 3.6 enrollment and demographic update with Dr. Hos Brown and Dr. Thorp. Good evening, President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Dr. Thorp and I are pleased to bring to you our annual report as information uh regarding our enrollment and demographic data. As you might recall from prior years, this is from our October ADN to our October ADN. So, not the first day of school, but what we affectionately call count day. If you'll look at this first slide, you can see um a trend since the 201213
035year of increased uh enrollment. I do want to make a note because you can see from the 2425 to the 2526 a slight dip in number but this is not only ADM. Okay, this is ADM. This is preK. This is grade 13. Uh and as you might recall grade 13 we do have some learners who stay with us until the age of 2122. Um so as we'll um talk about in the presentation, we do have a decrease in prek students this year which is directly related to funding cuts for our families. And so you'll see that as we go through. If you'll go through to the next slide with me, as of our ADM day 10125, you can see by cohort and by building the number of students we have. And [snorts] this page has
036the ELC's and 11 elementaryaries for you. So when we're miss uh when Miss Lant and I are talking about the students we oversee together, it's 9,000 plus. The next slide uh has our secondary numbers, both middle schools and both high schools for a combined total of 7,632. Now this next slide actually two-part slides. Um I I like to look at this um in particular just to look at each cohort as they change over the years. Um so you can follow the trend the five-year trend of a cohort group. Um so if you're looking at the senior group, you can see their cohort number in orange as it goes diagonally down the graphic. And if you'll go with me to the next page, you'll see our younger learners. Now, you might ask Dr. Hos Brown, why
037are there four cells that are blank? Just as a reminder that preK and K are not required, mandatory by the state of Indiana. Also, we don't start counting till we get the five-year as it is a five-year trend. But that also explains the large plus number as you can see there at third grade. And next we'll be looking at demographic data and Dr. Thorp will take us through that information. >> Good evening. >> Thank you. All right. Greetings, President Norman, Dr. Smith, and members of the board. So the next part of the information is the demographic data that we have through 202526. And most of it is just straightforward data. And so the first page is our overall district demographic data for the last 10 years or so. So that you can see the changes
038from 2013 all the way through 2025. Also notice how enrollment has increased. On the next page, it's broken down by each school for the 202526 school year. One thing to note is that the ELC's, they're all combined because they all are under one number. So that would be all of our ELC's together. And then all the other You can see their demographic data and some of the changes that have taken taken place over the years. The next slide, it has the individual school trends and so um for the last five years. So we go through each school along with the ELC's and you can just see some of the changes over time. So we have Amy Beverlin, all of the different schools And then moving on from there, we have our middle schools. You can
039see the differences with Beler Middle School and Creek Valley Middle School. And then both of our high schools. Um you can see the differences between Lawrence Central and Lawrence High School. Turn it back over to Dr. Brown. Our third and final section has our ins and outs. We talk a lot about winning the enrollment battle. So this gives us particulars about where students are going to or coming from. So the first chart we'll look at is within Marian County, the ex the other schools within Marian County. And you can see those schools named on the left, the number of students who have moved in and the number of students who have moved out. I will say to you, this is each entry and withdrawal. It would be possible for a student to be counted more
040than once if they came in, went out, and came back in within this one year time period, October 1 to October 1. Um, I'd like to point out our grand total on the lower right hand corner is plus 335. This is up 119 from last year. nearby districts. These are districts outside of Marian County that are nearby where we have significant numbers or enough to count of ins and outs. And so again, you can see the in the out the school district on the left and the difference. The grand total is in the negative 106, but I would like to highlight that this is a decreased loss. Last year it was negative 192. So we've cut that in half. You can also some school districts who've opened boundaries and that hasn't affected us too terribly
041much. Next, uh charter schools, our charter schools. Um these you can see we list several prominent charter schools and then at the bottom we have a catch all other charters and again the same chart as in and out. This plus 251 is our total is up 91 from last year. So that's positive. Our next slide is our private and parochial schools. Um, oftentimes we know that families who select this select us at the beginning, but we do have some families who come in and out from private or parochial schools to us. Um, so you can see those listed on the left as well as another catch all total other schools with ins and outs. We're up plus two. Now, while that doesn't sound like a lot, this is the first we've seen in the positive.
042In prior years, we've had a loss of last year was negative9. So that's a positive trend for us. And as we move further away from the pandemic, um we see a change in desire for virtual schools. Um in prior years, this was a loss for us. You can see virtual schools on the left as well as the other catch all title for some where we just had one or two, but you can see we're up nine. Again, nine doesn't sound like a lot, but last year we were negative 52. So that is another great positive trend for us. Now thinking about student mobil mobility beyond just our our close neighbors. Um on the left hand side we have other states. Um these are by far not all of our states uh but states where we
043have seen trends and then again the catch all other states at the bottom. um for a grand positive of 123 this year. That is another significant growth for us. Last year we were at negative five net total. And then um on the right hand side you can see uh countries countries uh where students are moving in or going back. Um and then we also have other countries listed as catching the ones that weren't significant enough to put a number on. We are at positive 101. You're going to see in our summary slide, um, this is still very positive. Last year we were over plus 500. So we can see while we're still positive, this trend is slowing somewhat. But if you were keeping up, all are positive plus one. And that's except for one. And
044that that's the best we've seen in several years. This next slide um are is not an in and out but simply the non-resident students who sit with us right now on our ADM day. Where are they coming from? Now these could be students who've been with us several years. These could be new students. These could be students of staff members. Um all of the above. I just find it interesting to see um where folks are coming from our neighbor school and certainly if you look at some that are a little further away a further drive um I know some of the stories myself and that's potentially a a staff member's child or even a parent who is working in Indianapolis so choosing to bring their children with them at their commute and so you see
045the grand total at the end so conclusions what have we just brought you beside a lot of numbers Well, um, we do want to point out that as you look from year to year, we do see the start of a decrease in preK enrollment, which is directly connected to the decrease funding. And so that is of course grave concern to us, especially knowing how our students who begin pre-K with us succeed at such a high rate on the IE test. Um, another sum summary statement conclusion we'd like to highlight is that we do see a continued increase in enrollment student from other countries. Um, but you can you can see that that has slowed down somewhat, though it's still positive. Um, bullet three is my favorite. We have an increase in enrollment from Marian County
046schools, charter schools, virtual schools, and I didn't we didn't list private because it was so small, but also private. And so almost without exception, a positive swing for us um from our neighbors. And finally, we always look at the difference um in free and reduce in our feeder systems. at this for this ADM it was 12%. And that concludes our demographic and enrollment data and we'd be glad to entertain questions. >> Thank you Dr. Hos Brown and Dr. Thor. Are there any questions or comments? >> Miss Dunn, >> I do have several questions. Um, so one of the things that I found to be very interesting and I'm just trying to understand is when looking at the demographic data at two of the elementary schools. So when we dig into slides uh 10 and 11
047and 12 I noticed that two of the elementary schools have significantly increased their number of special education students. Um primarily at Brook Park they went from 13% to 21% and Oakland from 10 to 21. Um increase in special education students. I know 15% is the average population. >> Um good evening. Well, we have a few different things going on. Um at Oakland, we did open academics as well as life skills programming there. Um so that has definitely um created an increase specifically at that school. Um and at Brook Park, we just had an increase um with the needs, but we've also had an increase in our life skills classrooms. Um where before we had one classroom, we now have two classrooms that are um that are full. Um and we've also had an increase in
048our intensive intervention program as well. >> How do we determine which schools have a special education program? Um we do try to keep it even within and around the district. We also always have to consider space at a school. But we also always try to consider the travel time for our families as we do provide bus transportation. So those are all factors that we do consider when um looking at that committee decision. >> I knew about the program. I felt like there had to have been something going on as well. So thank you for that clarification. >> Thank you. Did you have a Yeah. >> Oh, I do. >> Okay. >> That's the only special education. Thank you very much. Um I also I find this to be just fascinating data, especially working in one
049of the school districts um that has a large percentage or a large number of students that are coming um into Lawrence Township. I am curious, do we have a total number of students who um live in the district that are choosing they've never attended our district, but are choosing to attend district or school outside of our district, whether it's charter, private, or um district because I see the ins and outs, but it'd be lovely to see. >> Yes, we do get that information from the Department of Education. It's not yet been released. >> Thank you, Mr. Knick. It's usually December. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> And then the final um it's fascinating to see the number of students that we are receiving from other countries. I find that to be very interesting given
050the current political climate. And so I'm curious how we um determine whether or not students are leaving us or not. Is that their self-reporting and requesting records or could it be that we have students that have left but we don't know necessarily where they have gone? >> So we have an entry and withdrawal report. So, anytime a student enters or withdraws, we do our very best to get paperwork to verify where they are going or coming from. Yes. >> But we may not know like there could be there could be students who are leaving but they're not sharing with the district where they are going. >> Yes. And that could be and it could be a case of an unknown. These are the that we do know. >> Do we know what percentage of students
051that we have any information on? >> I would have to go back. I could get that for you. only because I we are seeing in the district where I work a decrease in our number of English learners in particular and so just would like to see because we do this district I believe is such a welcoming amazing district for our families um especially those who are Spanish speaking so I'm just curious of what percentage we may be losing that we don't know because they're having to leave without reporting to the school hey listen I'm leaving so I think that that's just good information But we also have some very strong systems. Mr. Kick and my graduation team explain how with cohorts we have to have that information. So how do we mitigate that and make
052sure we get that information? Mr. Two things if I might. At the secondary level we have to monitor any kid that leaves otherwise they stay on our graduation rate. So to have a 96% graduation rate we know where the majority of our students are going. Um there's usually just a handful that we sometimes don't know. they're unfortunately counted as a dropout and usually are ding on our graduation rate. You also mentioned English learners or multilingual learners. Um we had about 150 increase from fall to fall on that number and we stayed pretty status quo from spring to fall. So over a year we're about 150 plus status quo from past spring. >> A point of clarification on the cohort they have to be within they have to be in the township for a set number
053of days in order to be part of the cohort. Once they enroll in high school, they're on our cohort. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate that. >> Do you have any further questions? >> No, that is it. Sorry. Fascinated by this demographic data. It's great. It's very very very positive. Wonderful. >> Yes, I agree. It's very positive to see all of the kiddos coming into our district and um as who has three kids enrolled in this school district. It makes my heart so happy to know that my children are getting an experience not just of racial diversity but also socioeconomic diversity not listed on this but certainly one of the big strengths of our district. Um I I do have a question. This is likely for you. Um the decrease in preschool enrollment um especially
054as someone as you know who had my two oldest kids go through the ELC at Mary Castle. Um I'm I'm curious if we are seeing I'm curious one the trend of the the decrease in enrollment and then two are we seeing additional concerns related to the government shutdown and some of the funding that may be associated with uh with those >> for the government shutdown. We're not seeing any other issues with that. That's not causing issues. Um and the trend right now, we are continuing to just slowly lose families. Um the vouchers made a significant cut on October 5th and so um as families are now realizing what their co-pays are, we continue to see that number decrease. I will say as someone who benefited from having my children in this district, a little plug
055for anybody who I don't know randomly watching a YouTube version of the uh board meeting, it is a it is a very reasonable amount that we charge compared to other daycarees in our area. And um the educational experience that my children received as a result of going through that program was second to none. And it also made their transition then, I know we're going to talk about kindergarten a little bit later, but it made that transition to kindergarten a much more seamless experience for them. >> Thank you, Miss Lawrence. Dr. Mahalide number three with the all current non-resident students >> other question. that other meeting like a grouping of districts >> any anytime we have an other that meant it was in our um withdrawals or our entries um but we did not report that
056specific place if that's what you're referring to is all of the categories that have an other um so what we do is we take an in andout report for the entire entire year and sort it and look to see which are significant to report and then the rest we put in that other category so you know every entry in withdrawal even if they're not all specifically named because there would be a lot of plus one minus ones. >> Yes. So you have the totality everything is accounted for though not named. You're welcome. >> Um I had a general question. It was regarding does the state on the inout data does the state track homeschooling students or is that not reportable? >> There is a system for them for them to record it. >> Right. >>
057Okay. Okay. >> We don't have a part in it. >> I just >> I didn't know if there were requirements there around that. Okay. Okay. No, that's great. Um, and then just for my own clarification off Miss Lawrence's question, was the decrease in funding to the OnMyWay PreK program specifically? Miss >> Well, that was the beginning. Yes. on my way prek. Um they defined that benefit and so that was cut so that families um then had a co-ay but there were also cuts to CCDF as well. >> Okay. So um this is gonna I mean we're going to discuss kindergarten soon but um correct me if I'm wrong on the I I read data students who had been with us since preK had an 86% pass rate. >> Close. kindergarten had an 85% on third
058grade. But my favorite data point um is that of the students who went to preschool with us, 65% of them passed I read three in the second grade. >> Yeah, that's amazing. So that that is where the data truly tells the story in the early investment. So thank you board. Any other questions or comments? I was literally going to make that um a point of note because that's been a conversation that we've had with state leaders as it pertains to funding and advocating for our school. So, thank you for going ahead and putting that out there. I think that is noteworthy and speak to our resources and supports. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you everyone. Um if there are no other questions or comments regarding the enrollment and demographic update, thank you again. We will
059move on to our curriculum advisory recommendation for 2627 with Mr. Knik. >> Thank you, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Each semester at the secondary level, we convene the curricular advisory council. This year, that was led by Mr. Brett Krower, our director of secondary education. And I'll turn it over to you. >> Madam President, President, Dr. Members of the board, I bring to you information for an information item on the result of the full curriculum advisory council and ask for your approval later um for the 2627 school year. These courses background is first and foremost be remissed if I did not thank those that serve on this committee and bring courses and review uh the state recommendations to make us stronger here in Lawrence Township and to align us with the new diploma
060as we deploy with the class of 2029. So with that, bring to you course number 7218, technical math. Technical math you will see in blue here uh is a class that will go right with the employment and enlistic seals. So a student would take algebra that have the potential to take technical math and one additional math course to earn that seat. Second course being dual language education. This is a new course offered through the state. We currently use 2304 world language immersion. And so this course will also count for communications credit with the new diploma. Also 4246 theater art history. This is expanding our performing arts. And so right now our students land with our theater classes and take those multiple times. This is going to expand on our current outstanding thespians that we have
061in our high schools. Next courses fall into our increasing and developing our graduation pathways. So what you'll see here is a phenomenal pathway in biotech. What we're adding is the biotech regulatory affairs which is a dual credit course through IP for concentrator B again. expanding those opportunities for our students with dual credit. This will also align with A to F as we expand our dual credit offerings. The next is a full pathway. This is our social services pathway. Again, expanding on what we offer to our students at this level. So, this is the full pathway in three courses. the fundamentals of human services, community health worker, and social and community services capstone. Capstone is where our students are out in our community doing the work with members to again be in the field before they
062graduate high school. And with that, open up any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Crossor. Board, any questions or comments on the curriculum recommendations? done. >> Thank you and your team. It is impressive to see the incredible amount of offerings that the students in township have. Um I was actually getting the other day and talked to a student and she was just raving about all the opportunities that she had um here in just those moments when you talk to former students and then the options are just incredible. So, um, thank you for your hard work and the alignment to the new graduation requirements. >> Thank you, Miss Dunn. Any other questions or comments board? I won't go into depth tonight, but I would love to see um a deeper conversation about our pathways. That's been a
063conversation that has come up from a lot of parents. We had a whole parent meeting that literally talked nothing strictly about pathways. And what I'm hearing is that parents want to know more. And so, I know that we great job of getting that information out, but I would love to see a further conversation on the pathways because a lot of people didn't understand that the students from 23 to 28 are still under the current um diploma standards. You can pick either what is it, academic, technical or you have your general but under the pathways for 29 students and beyond you have the two fields which is the uh Indiana graduation pathways the and you have the plus track and so going more into that. Just wanted to clarify that for parents. Um I look forward
064to maybe having a conversation about that. >> But thank you. >> And Mr. Kraor, do you have anyone here tonight from your committee that you'd like to recognize? >> Okay. Well, tell them thank you. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Now, we will move on to 3.8, our kindergarten update with Miss Lant. >> Thank you, President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board. I'm pleased tonight to share an opportunity to expand kindergarten to some elementary buildings in an effort to better serve our families and our community. And I do want to acknowledge and thank the ELC principles for being here as we continue to tout this wonderful data is definitely due to the hard work that they are putting in in the building. So to share a little bit of the background um
065the immersion preschool is going to be transitioning back to the early learning centers and so as we look at needing to think about space we have the opportunity to expand kindergarten to more elementary schools. As you know we do have kindergarten at Forest Glenn Sunnyside and test. We know that that continues to be popular for our families. And so this was a time we thought that this was something to think about in a way to support our families. Additionally, I don't know if you remember it really only the people who this directly impacted remember, but there were changes to the early entrance law back in 2019. used to be that there was a process for families to come to a school district, request for their child to be tested to start kindergarten at an early
066age if they showed that they had some advanced skills. Um that changed and now it is just strictly a birthday and if you're born before the birthday you can go and if you're not then you can't go. And so every year we always have parents who have had children in preschool for three years who want to know what else can we do and can their child go to first grade and those types of things. So, what we'd like to propose is to bring some innovation to Crest View and Oakland and have two kindergarten sections at each building. We would like to consider piloting these as high ability kindergarten sections in a way to meet the needs of those families who really feel that their children are ready for more. We actually do have um under
067the principles at the ELC's, we do have students who go over to first grade sometimes to get reading or math. And so, we work to meet the needs, but we're thinking that maybe this would be a way to support some of those children. So, students would go through an early identification process in order to be admitted. As we look at just a general timeline, um this fall, we would finalize what that identification process would be if approval is given. We would market to families and then we would gather interest inventories. We'd encourage families to sign up, let us know what it is that they want for their child. And then next semester, starting in January, we bring those children in so that we could um assment and talk to families, complete some checklists, and then
068based on that, we would look at how it works with the sections to finalize staffing and we would like to launch these in August of 2026. >> Thank you, Miss Lant. This is good news. Board, any questions or comments? >> Sorry, I have I do have questions. Um, do we finalizing the identification process, do you know what assessment will be used to determine? >> We have not solidified. We're looking at lots of different ones. I do know for sure we're going to look at checklist options. So, we're looking a little bit more at the Kingore Observation Inventory because we've used planned experiences as a part of what we do. And so, we're looking at some of the other pieces that they have as well. >> And then um will they will that formally identify them
069because I know >> those things for identify them as >> Yes, we would not retest them again. And then what would that trajectory look like? Are we choosing Crest View and Oakland because of the high ability of those schools? So they would seamlessly be able to correct that would be the goal. Yes. Excellent. And I think oh the logistics of testing was the other question. Um, how are we going to make sure that this is an opportunity? Because my fear is >> is that >> families that um are currently have students in preschools or are very well aware of um schooling here will have the ability to come somewhere to go get tested or go to the preschools. I'm concerned about those students, especially going back to those families that may not be as aware
070of programming in Lawrence Township. So, how are we going to cast a really wide net so that this isn't just our affluent families that are taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity? Well, I can't speak about all of the things, but there is a wonderful grant opportunity um that we have entered into with some of our other Maring County districts that will be about providing some preschool support in some of those areas, and that will absolutely be how we build the relationships. >> Excellent. I knew there was already behind us, so thank you so much. Much appreciated. >> Thank you, Miss Dun. I think Miss Pucket, you had did you have a question on the high ability? >> Okay. Yeah, that was my question. I know we test students in kindergarten and going into first grade
071for high ability. So now it would just be pushed up a year earlier. Correct. >> For these families, we'll still do the kindergarten assessment as well. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um other questions or comments board on the kindergarten? Um just so I'm clear. So currently we offer kindergarten at our four ELC's >> and then immersion kindergarten at the three immersion elementaryaries. Sunnyside, Forest Glenn, and Skyles tests. >> Correct. >> Now Skyles test and Forest Glenn also offer preK. >> They do, but we're going to move those back to the early learning. >> Okay. Thank you. I um So this would be adding kindergarten options high ability now to two additional buildings. Yes. And then making sure that our early learning centers are where all of our preschool is. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you for that.
072>> All right. Well, thank you uh board for the questions. [snorts] Thank you, Miss Lant. At this time, we'll move on to our action items 4.1, the approval of the architect for the McKenzie renovation. Dr. Nesbbit. >> Oh, thank you, Madam President. Members of the board, Dr. Smith. Uh, very pleased to recommend Schmidt Associates for our architect architectural engineering services for the McKenzie transformation project. >> Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. Um, board, are there any questions or comments before we go to a vote? All right. Well, thank you for that. Um, I'll entertain a motion. >> So, second, >> properly moved, Miss Pucket, seconded, Miss Dunn to approve uh and Associates as the architect for the Mackenzie Center renovation. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. The eyes have it. Congratulations. >> Thank
073you, Madam President. I'd like to introduce uh our partners. We couldn't do these uh huge uh projects that are so transformative for the district without great business partners. So, I'll introduce they have quite a few of them. Uh for I'll just go left to right. Uh first, Any Burrell, uh principal in charge at Schmidt. Bill Shrewsbury, owner of Shrewsbury Associates. Jarvis Jointer, JQL, owner. Jen Carroll, project manager, along with Ben Carroll, Crest View student. Thanks for coming out, Ben. I know you're excited. Uh, and right behind Anie is Asia Coffee. She's interior design for Schmidt. They also brought the big wigs. I see the CFO, Sarah Hemstead from Schmidt is here along with excuse me, the CEO and then the CFO Brett Quant from Schmidt. Robin Lysing. Robin's been our uh construction manager on many
074of our projects in Lawrence. And of course, we all know Craig Flander um a parent as as well as spouse of an employee in the district uh does landscape architect for Schmidt. Did I miss anyone with our Schmidt team on this? >> You got everybody here. >> Okay, great. Thanks so much. [applause] >> All right. Thank you. We look forward to it. Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. And now, Dr. But again, we will move on to the approval of the request for the RFP for the CMC on the Mackenzie Center. >> Thank you. We request the board's permission to advertise for a CMC as presented. >> All right. Any final questions or comments? >> All right. I'll entertain a motion for the CMC. >> Second. >> Properly moved. Miss Pucket. Seconded. Dr. Mhalland. All in favor
075of the request for RFP on the CMC. >> I. Any opposed? All right. The eyes have it. >> Our final item is action item is 4.3. The approval of the personnel report. Miss Carla Johnson. >> Madame President, Dr. Smith, and members of the board, we ask for approval of the personnel report as submitted. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments before we move? All right. If not, I will entertain a motion for the approval of the personnel reports. >> Seconded >> properly moved, Miss Pucket and seconded, Dr. Mahalland. All in favor of the approval of the personnel report. >> Any opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you, board. We're going to move on to our administrator and board comments tonight. I'll start down here. done. >> Thank you for all the hard work everybody. >>
076Thank you very much, Miss Lawrence. >> Yeah, I I just want to echo some of the um comments that were made earlier on the collective bargaining. I know how difficult it is um every year for our teams to come together. We work many late nights um along with our teacher representatives. Um and I'm just really grateful that we were able to um secure a 2% for our teachers this year. Um it's definitely um definitely earned and I'm grateful that we're able to provide that for them. The other thing that I just wanted to comment on is this weekend um there were many things happening in this district, but not the least of which was the state marching band finals. And as a former marching band mom and as a marching band person, um it was
077really fun to have the opportunity and go to go and see our marching pride um do their thing at Lucas Oil. Uh it for those of you who don't understand just how dedicated these kids are, it is hundreds of hours and also lots and lots of back and forth for parents who are them to late night rehearsals and picking them up and waiting for them outside of these competitions. So, uh, great work, uh, marching pride. Congratulations on a great season. Over to you. >> Thank you, Miss Lawrence, Miss Pucket. >> A lot said today. I don't have a whole lot to say. A little emotional tidbit. So, um, just a reminder to everybody as the world is to take a sacred pause to I've been really cognizant of breathing, but just what that does to
078your frontal cortex when it comes to calmness on just as we're going dayto day. You guys just don't forget to breathe. Well said. Thank you, Dr. Mo. >> Yes, it was a wonderful weekend as Miss Lawrence mentioned uh starting in the morning with the academic teams and then in the evening with the state marching band finals. I go into my excitement as being a former marching band member myself, both front lines, but um really special to see that. I actually I have to admit I teared up watching the marching bands because knowing the the hard work and it's really um um as I don't want to repeat what Marta said, but we all we all see our kids do so many different things over the week and over the weekend we got to see that
079you know them really shining in something that they love. And um we also got to a chance to visit one of our ELC's and see see the work in person um so that when we come to the board meeting we know exactly kind of what you're talking about. So um really grateful for for um all the great work that's happening. >> Thank you Dr. Mahalland. Yes. Um the district the elementary academic competition that was well attended. That was a fun event in Lawrence. Um, the Bears unfortunately lost in the sectional championship. Uh, that ushers in football season. Congrats again. I think the marching pride got was it eight in the state? Yeah, eight. So, well done. Well done. It's been a a big weekend in Lawrence. Um, I just wanted to to take just a
080quick moment um because tomorrow is Veterans Day to recognize our veterans. Also, today is the Marine Corps birthday. I'd be remiss not to recognize my dad and any other simp out there. So, if anyone in the crowd is a um a veteran, please stand. [applause] >> Thank you for your service. >> All right. And I will turn it to Dr. Smith. >> Thank you, Madam President and board. Uh it was a very busy week. A lot of excitement. I attended all the events and it was a long Saturday but it was a joy watching level bring a army of students at our next board meeting as that will be the recognition portion of our board a lot of honors to bring to you session that's all I have today Thank you, Dr. Smith. Um, you
081gave my announcement for me, so I'm good. Our next board meeting will be here Monday the 24th. We will start at 6:30. Look forward to recognizing our students. We also have a special meeting on Friday due to um state statute to go ahead and then vote on the raises for the CBA and for the administrators and classifies. So, at this time, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second properly moved, Miss Stunn and seconded, Miss Pucket. Thank you everyone.