001At this time, I will turn the mic over to Miss Carla Johnson. Good afternoon, early evening. Welcome and thank you for being here. We would like to bring forward the Amy Beverlin Allstars to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. So if you come forward with your principal, Dr. Smith, Madame President, members of the board, thank you for having us here this evening. I'd like to introduce to you three of our shining stars. One is Zolo Ross, Jensen El Rod, and Noah Ross. I aliance 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, Amy Beverland. We greatly appreciated that. And at this time, we will move into our information items. We will go
002into the blue ribbon update with Dr. Grant Nesbbit. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Smith. Uh let's jump right in. Blue ribbon 2. Uh overview, Fall Creek and Belzer. Those are wrapping up right now. We do have students there, but uh we'll be completely done with punch list and whatnot by fall break. And really, most most everything's done there. uh Craig Academy phase two. We do currently have nine classrooms going there. Uh seven and and uh LAA and other activities and then the bottom level is being converted. Um so it's gutted right now. You'll see some pictures of that. Our classroom additions are moving along. And then of course we know this building we did our ribbon cutting yesterday. We officially turned the building over today. We got that certification. And uh
003we do still have some punch list things here just like the middle schools that we'll be doing over the next weeks, perhaps months on some uh supply items, but we're wrapping that up as well. And then our guaranteed energy savings uh that's moving along well. All the HVAC work is completed on those four schools. Roofing is uh complete at SkyL and then getting near complete at other buildings. Uh the Lawrence North roof band is mobilized. That will finish up in late September. And then, believe it or not, we're already walking with contractors as we look at next summer because in June, we'll go hit the ground running as we hit Brook Park, Forest Glenn, Winding Ridge, and Wineing Ridge ELC for HVAC work in those buildings. Let's take some picture looks pictures. Last time we
004showed you one of the courtyards of Belzer. Here's the other one. And then there's that beautiful cafeteria with the logo tables and wall and full of students. Now, Craig Academy, that's my old office. Uh, believe it or not, that was just days after we moved out. They, uh, started demolition. So, that's what Craig, that's why if you walk in there, there's plastic barriers up so you don't get into that area. You don't want to be there. And then there's Craig Academy. This is on the south side of the building. We're making that ADA accessible. Uh, that area there. And then upstairs there, that picture is taken right uh, just a few days before classes started. That's the new flooring and the walls painted and whatnot. Fall Creek Valley Middle School, like Belzer, welcoming students back.
005New cafeteria tables and flooring throughout. Nice bright commons area there. And then hey, here we are. Looks a little better than it did last week at this time. Believe it or not, that picture is less than a week ago. Uh but here we are. Crest View Academy. There's a new uh storm storm drain going across. And then we refreshed their gym with our school colors. Uh Crestville Enter roughing work still ongoing. Harrison Hill, more roughing work ongoing. Indian in Creek and we're taking that uh chimney down much lower and doing more roofing work while we're up there. Forest Glenn Elementary, we uh with our con building addition, we are short bus spaces there. So, we added uh three bus spaces. We had to add some new sidewalks. So, that's what that's a picture of. And
006then there's the area that we're going to be putting the six classrooms. Mary Castle Elementary, visited that again today. The footers are in and uh that's coming right along. And that's it. So, I'm be happy to entertain any questions for you. >> Thank you, Dr. Nesbet. There is a lot going on in Lawrence board. Any questions or comments? Miss Lawrence, >> congratulations. Whoa, look at us. I'm gonna sit all the way back here and try to >> new more powerful microphones here at the new LACC. >> Um, congratulations on a really incredible start to the school year. Lots to celebrate with both this building and the middle schools coming along so well. Um I do have a couple of questions related to and you have already answered the question around asbestous removal in the LACC.
007That was a question that was um asked of me from members of the public. Um Dr. Nesbet, could you please address um some of the concerns that were raised by members of the public? >> Sure. In most all of our construction projects, we do always look at that if there's anything. And sometimes as is the case we happened at Craig when we pulled up carpet, there was old tile below that was a best tile. So, that's not necessarily unusual. Um, a little bit unusual for Lawrence because we have newer buildings, but we did do all the appropriate mitigation factors. We have a special company come in to block off the area and do everything. There's a lot of very stringent code to take that out, but we could have taken the easy way out and
008just covered it up again, but we wanted to take it out and just have it gone. >> I'm very happy to know we're doing right by um by the by the township. Um, another question that I had uh since I am a mother of a Paul Creek Valley soccer player. I get a lot of questions around the soccer fields at Paul Creek Valley. Um some some parents have raised some concerns with the fence line being so close to the field itself. Um because there's not enough space for benches and an AR to run up and down the field. I I just wanted to voice that here. Not necessarily, you know, I I'm just doing my due diligence because otherwise I'm going to go to soccer game right after this and I'm going to get a
009bunch more questions. So, I wanted to to flag this as a potential um challenge that we might have over there. Certainly something we leave to your discretion, but I wanted to raise that concern that was voiced to me. >> Sure. Just so you know, when we spec those out, we look at the National Federation of High Schools has guidelines. Even though they're middle school, we still use those same guidelines and have the same restrictions and we make sure we're in those parameters that are laid out for us for safety and and uh we're going to do it right. I I know that you will. I just wanted to have that on the record so that I can reference it in about an hour when I'm out of that field. Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Any
010other questions? >> Yeah, board. Any other questions or comments? Um I did have one. It's it's kind of student related, but it's has to do with the blue ribbon. I know that we were working on remodeling the first level of Craig. Um, will the Lawrence Advance Academy students be on the second floor again this year or is there are they moving down this year? >> They're moving down this year. Yeah, they'll move down over winter break. So, that phase right now where you saw the demolition going on, that will wrap up in late December, we'll move those those students downstairs. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And just for the public to know, we do have students already in Craig Academy or Yep. that as part of the Lawrence Advance and the special education services. So,
011thank you. >> All right, board. If there are no other questions uh regarding that, we will move on to our next item. Um request for permission to advertise the 2026 budget. Mr. Matt Miles. >> Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Dr. Smith, as we follow along our advertise our excuse me, our budget calendar, our next step in the process is to advertise the budget. This is again the 2026 budget. And in order to do so, the board must grant permission uh for us to do that. The budget does need to be advertised at least 10 days before the budget hearing, which is uh again according to our calendar on September the 15th. So, this will allow us to do that. We will advertise it as required by statute uh both on our district
012website and with the DLGF um who then advertises it from there. So, um, it's information at this time. I'll bring back to you later this evening permission to, um, have this approved to advertise. >> Thank you, Mr. Miles. Board, I know we received our reading assignment to get ready for the budget, but do you have any questions or comments at this time? Okay. I'm sure that they will come up as we get into it. Thank you, Mr. Miles. >> Thank you. >> Now, we will move on to 2.3, the 2526 lunch fees. Mr. miles. >> So, annually we bring to you for board uh an update in our student lunch fees. Uh we have to wait on information um that guides those rates, how we set those rates from the Department of Education and we
013just recently got that. So, typically we would present this just before school starts. This year we're just a little after. Uh, as you may recall, board, uh, all of our students are, we're thankful that they're able to all receive free breakfast and lunch districtwide. We've we're on our third year of that program. So, we have this year and next where that will still u apply. Then we will go through an application process to renew that, which we have full intentions of doing so. Um, so that's great news. There is no change in student breakfast or lunch uh prices for our adults. We have to follow a formula that is also set uh by the state and that will result in an increase slight increase for adult breakfast to $3. It's a 15 increase and adult
014lunch to $5.25 a 25 increase. So uh information at this time and then we will bring this back later for approval. >> Thank you Mr. Miles. That's me board. Any questions or comments regarding the Um I know as a parent it's a blessing to have free lunch for the kids. So very grateful. Yes, very grateful for that. So thank you. We'll move on to 2.4 student achievement part three with Mr. Troy Not. >> Thank you Madame President, Dr. Smith, and members of the board. It is my pleasure to bring to you this evening the third installment of our student achievement data from last school year 2425 and this is the I read 3 data. Just as a reminder our board goal around i3 for last year was by June of 2025 we would increase the
015i3 prof proficiency percentage of third grade students who've been enrolled in LT for two or more years by 10%. So 10% was the metric we were looking at. There's a lot of data on this slide going back to the baseline year of 2021. Uh so five years worth of data. And the part that I want to draw your attention to are the last two columns. You'll notice LT growth from 24 to 25. That's our one-year growth. And then LT growth from 21 to 25. Um all green. Um most double digits. Um I do want to point out that our largest growing subgroup uh both in one year as well as the five-year growth is our black student group. And so we're really really pleased with the growth that we're seeing this past year and then
016of course the growth that we're seeing over the the last five years as well. On the next slide is specifically our students who've been in uh LT for two years. So this is your your board goal measurement here. Um you'll notice an increase of 13%. So we certainly met and exceeded the board goal. Um some highlights here. Um notice that our special education subgroup uh grew the most. U students who had been with us for two years received services for two years in Lawrence Township grew 19% uh this past school year. Notice our African-American students again uh very large growth if they've been with us for two or more years. A couple notes from the uh third grade NLT for two years data. Uh we have narrowed the gap in every subgroup. Uh we narrowed
017the gap significantly for our African-American subgroup by 15%. We narrowed the gap for our Hispanic subgroup by 11%. So really really pleased with that growth and narrowing our achievement gap. I do think it's important for us to look at our second grade data as well. Um our second graders have taken I read three for the last several years. Uh we opted into that um as a school district early uh this year was required for all second graders. We have a 48% pass rate in our second graders this year. Uh the state of Indiana has a 48% pass rate. So we are exactly at the state average. So a growth of 20% from last year. So the work that we're doing in our early grades and that we've been doing in our early grades, we are
018seeing the fruition of that effort. So just some next steps um because we always want to continue to improve. We have considerable professional development and coaching support around the science of reading. Uh we have full-time literacy coaches that are funded in part by the department of education at several of our schools. Um we will continue our focus on the framework and co-eing support. We believe that co-eing um is a significant factor in the increase in our scores for special education students as well as our multilingual students. Um we have scheduled walks to support the implementation of our master schedule. Um really clearing out that master schedule so that all we're focused on um during that part of the day is our ELA for instruction. We have continued training and support for reading specialists uh because
019they're the the leaders along with their principles of the professional development in our our schools. Uh we have added this year second and third grade reading assistants to support reading instruction. Uh this is part of the Lily grant phase two that we've been able to implement. Um and really pleased with bringing them on and they've already se received their first round of of training. In addition, we've got professional development to support the implementation of core phonics instruction for all third grade students uh using the 95% phonics resource. I think it's important also that we build on the lessons that we learned last year. Um replicate those processes that have produced gains in 2025. And the number one is the urgency and priority for third grade. Um the progress meetings, the support meetings that we had
020as a school district to support our schools, the urgency that our schools had to make sure that our third graders were passing and also our second graders. We want to continue that. Um, we also will have formalized reading plans for all of our students who in second grade uh scored at risk on IE3. We will also have reading plans for our grades four through six students who are yet to pass I read. So, we want to make sure that we don't forget about those students and that we have very specific plans for them. Um, another lesson learned for this year is our data monitoring. Um, our schools could speak to every single student, every single third grader. They knew the story of that student. They knew what that student needed in order to be able
021to pass I read. And so, it was so personalized and individualized that we've got to continue that that process as well. We also gave our second and third graders opportunities to practice multiplechoice type assessments. uh for many of our second graders, um this is new to them and so they need that that practice and so setting aside that time and we also want to continue our additional tutoring support that we get from uh not only our teachers but from the community as well. So a couple of examples are retired teachers uh bringing them back uh this year to continue to support as well as our partnership with Huntington Tutoring. be happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Noter. That's a lot of great information, a lot of good data. Board, any questions or
022comments? >> Okay, Dr. Mhalland, >> you mentioned the co-eing to support the implementation of tier one instruction. Could you talk a little bit about that for uh parents and families who might want to know just what you mean by co-eing? >> Sure. the the um approach is two teachers, two licensed teachers in one classroom. And so um it may be a general education teacher paired with a special education teacher that are both serving the same set of students for core instructional time. It might be a general education teacher paired with an ML multilingual learner teacher again to serve the same students for core instructional time. So instead of a pull out where we're we're taking students out of the classroom. Um we're pushing teachers in to give them support within the general education classroom. >>
023Florence, first congratulations because these are incredibly impressive results and demonstrate not just all of you sitting up here on the deis but many many many people who are sitting with our kids and helping them become better readers. As we all know, especially in the third grade, reading is such a predictor for success in life at that point. Um, so congratulations. I did have one question that I meant to ask you when we were in exec session the other day. um do we and and obviously many of the interventions that we're doing are working and they're doing a really incredible job and I know that we have um we have interventions in place across all of our elementary schools and they're very consistent across all of our elementary schools. But with this precipitous jump, do we
024attribute any of that to the fact that these kids have gone through our school system without the disruption of the pandemic? Because obviously students who you know the fourth grade now at least had one year or could have had one year in the pandemic and it was not super easy after that. So, do we think we're also seeing a little bit of a pandemic rebound in this data or maybe it's not obvious but I just curious about it. >> It's certainly a possibility. However, we've had such a transformation in our instruction, such a transformation in our professional development, our data monitoring. Um, I wouldn't want to take anything away from >> No. And I'm not trying to I do that either. I just >> Yeah. So, I think it's a possibility, but I really believe
025the changes that we've made as a school district have resulted in in what you've seen this evening. >> It's incredible. I look forward to next year's results as well. Thanks. >> Okay. Questions. Uh, Miss Dun, >> I want to echo Miss Lawrence's just kudos to you, your team, as well as all of those that I know. It starts with our early learning centers and just it is truly impressive, especially looking at those students who've been in our district for two years. Very impressive. And that achievement gap, you all know that's where my heart lies and seeing those just it just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. Um, I did also just want to put a plug in because I, um, you know, just in my line of work, um, have the opportunity
026to talk with a lot of different individuals, especially our ENL teachers and just the amount when you talk about the intentionality. I think it's really important to talk about that co- teaching is also that co-planning that's going into that and the intentionality of making sure that the high quality resources such as CKLA that is being utilize is accessible by all language learners and that is truly something that this district does extraordinarily well and so just kudos to everybody but just wanted to name that because we um actually are um modeling some of the work that we're doing after the great work that's happening here. So >> thanks. >> Thank you board. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Um yeah, once again thank you. The one that stood out to me of course was the in
027the special education group. >> Absolutely. >> And you had mentioned the code teaching model and I remember you addressing that as the plan and the plan worked. >> Yes, absolutely. >> So, thank you for that. Um, I did want to um say too when we're talking about early literacy um just you you speak well to the value of the um investment at the front end. And so I know that Indiana is one of 31 states that does not mandate kindergarten, but Truly your team would know better than anyone the value of enrolling your child in kindergarten. Correct. >> Yes. I didn't include that data point this evening, but there's a approximately a 20% difference between students who attended kindergarten with us past that over an 85% rate versus students who didn't attend kindergarten. >> Thank
028you for that. And I won't get um further but I mean how getting this is a talk at the state house but getting additional resources for expanded prek is also valuable too as we look holistically future forward. >> Yes. Yes definitely. So thank you all for for the work you've done and that leads into our next point 2.5 the proposed 25 26 year board goals. Mr. Knick and Dr. Hos Brown >> President Norman Dr. Members of the board, we're pleased to bring to you tonight the proposed 2526 board goals and we'll begin with Mr. Noter and student achievement. >> So the proposed board goals that um I'm presenting this evening for student achievement are modeled after what we know currently about the A tof school accountability. We know that we will receive letter G letter
029grades based on the 2526 performance of our schools. Um we're still in the rules making progress process as a state. So this is the best knowledge that we have as of today. So the first goal is around I learn. It's one of the key academic mastery indicators for the new accountability formula. Um, I'm recommending that we keep the same board goal as we've had in the past that we would increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching at or above proficiency on the annual iLearn assessment and you can see our baseline there. Uh, another academic mastery indicator um that is new this year is 9th grade on track. So each of our sophomores will be evaluated on whether they were on track at the end of their nth grade year. I'm recommending that
030we increase by 5% the number of students designated as ninth grade on track. And to be considered on track, a student needs to have 10 or more credits, two in English, two in math, two science or social studies, and then the other four can come from other areas. Um, our baseline for nth grade on track currently is 80%. The 12th grade academic mastery assessment is the SAT. I'm recommending that we increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching or at proficiency on the annual SAT exam. And you can see our baseline data there. On the next slide, um, we have what are considered success indicators. Um student attendance is throughout the entire uh formula uh for A to F and I'm recommending that we uh adopt the the goal of reach 75% or
031increase by 10% the number of students attending 94% of school days enrolled. So 94% is the uh attendance target that has been set by the state. Our baseline from last year was 62% of our students were here 94% of of the school days. The next one is what we just discussed i3 uh by June of 2026. So this takes in all of the administrations of i3 increasing by 10% or reaching a proficiency rate of 95% on the i3 assessment. Our district baseline is 78% but this goal is written in this way because we have several schools now that have less than 10% to go to make it to 95. So it's written with the with the entire district in mind. And the last goal uh is bringing uh WEDA to the for forefront and WEDA
032is the annual language assessment that our multilingual stu students take. uh recommending that we increase by 10% the number of students reaching their language proficiency target as measured by the annual WEDA assessment and our baseline is 24%. And and WEDA is there uh because that is a success indicator uh for uh grades 4 through 12 in the new accountability formula. >> Next, Mr. Miles will go over our finance goals. >> From a finance standpoint, uh we've got two goals that we would recommend for this year. The first of which uh is a reflection of our cash balance. Maintaining a cash balance is certainly important for the district. We've had this goal in place um over the years and it's we've just moved the benchmark. We recommend that a cash balance goal in the education fund
033uh be set at $14 million and we would measure that at the end of the year. from a the second finance goal is that we want to maintain a positive cash balance at the end of the year and all of our local taxing funds. So, uh the funds that are um that are funded by local property tax dollars is what we're talking about here, our operations funds, our debt service funds, uh we want to make sure that we have a positive balance in those and that is a goal that we've maintained for several years as well. All right, thank you for that report. Um, board, any questions or discussion points regarding the proposed goals? Miss Dunn, >> I just would like to say number one, I appreciate so much the way in which we are
034looking at state accountability and aligning our board goals with the proposed new stand state accountability system. So, thank you um for your leadership, for your leadership um because I truly believe that it is going to position us out our district in a way that will continue to show the people of Marian County and the people of Indianapolis, Indiana, just everybody that this truly is the district of destination and also um it helps our teachers to know how we are being held accountable so that there's alignment. So, it just the alignment is so intentional and it's going to great student outcomes for kids, which is what we're all about. >> Thank you, Miss Dun aboard. Any other questions? >> I do have a question actually. It stems from um a parent question. So, that's that's a
035really awesome question. Um I know that we have certain apps like I know math, go math. I had a parent ask, are there any apps that they can have access to to kind of help their kids supplement and help um at home? >> Yes. So, I Ready Math is a good example. We have the I Ready program for both math and reading. And so, that's an excellent resource that parents can use with their children. >> Thank you for that. >> And that's free. They have access to it. It's not that they have to >> That's correct. Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss board. Any other questions or comments regarding the board goals? Um, I just wanted to to make a comment. Um, for people who've read our previous board goals, this is paired down
036and more laser focused. However, it is not there is nothing lacking because in the previous um board goals from last year, we had an operations goal and safety and security and all of that is being addressed within our three-year strategic plan. So, you to compare and contrast. Um it is still being covered but through the strategic plan and this again once again when the state sets the law then we are following you know in line and that's what's driving the um I guess the the target for our students. So any other questions or comments? Can >> I follow back up for the Ready Math app? Is that for a certain grade level? What's the range for that one? >> U K8 >> K through eight. And then are there any other apps for maybe the
037literacy portion of it? >> It's both reading and >> reading. Yes. >> Thank you. I got it. >> All right. Thank you board. Any other questions? All right. We Thank you, Mr. Noter. Thank you everyone for that um information. Now we will move on. It feels like But it is a different packet. Dr. Harshburgger with the Neola policy updates 2.6. Oh yes. >> Madame President, you're taking all my policy jokes. U Madame President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, it's an honor tonight to present to you Neola Special Update 2025. The package consists of 16 policies, one technical update, 13 administrative guidelines, and four forms. As always, these revisions are in response to recent legislation and subsequent updates to Indiana code. I now bring to you this evening the revision packet for first reading as
038submitted. >> Thank you, Dr. Harshburgger. Board, any questions regarding the the first packet, the first reading of the packet? >> No, sir. Just thank you. It's always a pleasure working with you. Thank you for >> And then a point of clarification, I believe we will have the second reading at the September uh work session. Okay. Just wanted to clarify because um just um to be honest, I need to dig into some of the uh policy a little bit more and I know some of our questions will come forth as we're working through them. But thank you for bringing that to us. >> Absolutely. My pleasure. We will move on now to Mr. Miles with our financial update. >> Thank you once again, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Tonight, we bring to you
039our July 31st uh month in financials for both the general fund and the transportation fund. And first, we'll look at the general fund. U starting with the ending balance of just over $16 million, we're exceeding what we had projected by this time. um going into the year, which is a great thing. Um our state support exceeds projections as well and expenses just a little under where we had projected uh going into the year. From transportation standpoint, again, uh ending balance in a good place, almost $2 million, $1.9 million. Uh our expenses um trending under projection and revenue just a little ahead of projection. We We've talked in the past seeing some of those increases in contractor services and some of our supplies both on on both reports tonight. We just continue to monitor those moving
040forward. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Miles. Board. Any questions or comments? I know we have our budget to dig into for next year, but any questions or comments regarding the updates? Green is good. So, thank you, Mr. Miles. >> Thank you. >> Now, we'll move on to our board committee chair reports. foundation. Dr. Mole Holland. So, Lawrence Township School Foundation. Um, just want to make a thank you to the foundation for their presence yesterday. It was nice to be able to stop in their new office and um have some I know the kids appreciated the treats and and wonderful to meet the staff. Um, but they will be having a their bob their uh golf outing on September 26. So, it's a little got about a month and a week. Um, just wanted to
041mention that. And um, more information is on their website. >> Thank you. Lawrence Parks and Recreation, Miss Dunn. We still got the Forever Young Club that goes on every Thursday from 11 to 1 at Community Park. We also have the Fort Ben Farmers Market which is right over here at our cultural campus. So, um if you are here working later in the afternoon, hop on over and get some corn or some no popcorn. Never know what's over there. Just listen to some music. Uh this weekend we have Community Safety Day. Um it's this Saturday from 10 to 2. Also just a hop, skip, and a jump from where we are at 9530 East 59th Street. Um and then some other events that are happening at our cultural campus. Um there on Otis is the Barbecues
042and Blues Festival on September 13th and September 20th, Leggers and Lawrence. So just lots of things happening here at Fort Ben. It's the place to be. >> It is. Thank you, Miss Dunn. Um, and the other thing that's interesting too, I know it's hard to think about Christmas time because it's so hot out, but um, at Christmas time, right out from our view here is the civic plaza where they will have the ice skating a lot events then. >> Yes. >> And the lighting of the Christmas tree with the Grinch. >> Oh, very good. Yes. Very fun. All right. Well, and I know we just spoke to it, but I will go to Miss Pucket if you have anything additional to add about polic. If not, Dr. Harshburgger presented the first reading and we can
043look forward to another packet volume 38 number two in October if I'm correct. Yep, October. I'm correct. >> All right. Thank you for the updates, board. There's a lot going on. All good. We'll move on to our action items. 3.1 approval to advertise the 2026 budget. Mr. Miles. >> Thank you, Madam President. Dr. Smith, members of the board. Uh earlier this evening I presented to you the next step in our budget process which would be uh to advertise and at this time I would request your uh approval to advertise the budget as submitted. >> Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. >> So move second. >> Properly moved. Miss Pucket seconded Miss Lawrence. Um board any questions or comments before we move to vote? All right. All in favor? >> I Any opposed? All right, the
044eyes have it. 3.2 approval of the 2526 lunch fees. Mr. Miles, >> thank you once again. At this time, uh, board, we would seek your approval to advert uh to approve the 2526 school lunch fees as submitted earlier this evening. >> I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the lunch fees. >> So moved. >> Second. Who wants to take it? >> Okay. All right. Um, properly moved, Miss Dunn and seconded, Dr. Mahal. Any questions or comments before we move to votes? >> Just one quick comment on that. Um, our, uh, school, our lunch program is actually very self- sustainable and something that I know Dr. Smith, you are quite proud of. And so, uh, these fees going up make a lot of sense. And I don't know anywhere that you can buy a cup
045of coffee for $3. So that you can get breakfast for that is pretty pretty cool. >> Yes. Very good. All right. Then we will move to vote. All in favor of the lunch fees. >> I Any opposed? All right. The eyes have it. 3.3 approval of the proposed 2526 board goals. Doc or Dr. Hos Brown and Mr. Kusnik. >> Madam President, Dr. Members of the board, I recommend the board approve the proposed 2025 2026 board goals as submitted. >> I'll entertain a motion for approval of the proposed 2526 board goals. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Properly moved, Miss um Lawrence and seconded Miss Pucket. All right. Any other comments before we move to a vote? All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. the eyes have it for the 2526
046board goals which will be posted shortly. Correct. All right. All right. Um action item 3.4 approval of our board minutes. Dr. Maholland. >> I present the I present the July 21st uh 2025 board meeting minutes for the board's approval. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the July board minutes. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Properly moved. Miss Dun, seconded, Miss Pucket. Um, any comments? >> Oh, yes. And also to include the executive session minutes for August 15, 2025. >> All right. So, I will entertain a motion for approval of the executive session minutes as well. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Properly moved for the executive session. Miss and seconded by Miss Lawrence. >> Are we packaging both of these votes as one vote or we voting on them separately since
047we moved two separate items? >> That's a good Okay. >> Okay. Yeah. So, we're all part of three. >> So, one vote. >> Yes. One vote. >> Okay. Yes. My apologies. All right. Um, any other comments? All right. We'll move to the vote on 3.4 approval of the board minutes for both July and the executive session. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Madam President, I move that we treat action item 3.51 as a >> I'll entertain a motion for the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Seconded. Properly moved. Miss Lawrence and seconded Dr. Mahaland. Any comments? All in favor? >> I appro. >> All right. Um I do we have a second for the approval. >> All right. Properly moved. Miss Pucket seconded. Miss Dunn. >> Any other comments? If
048not, all in favor of the approval of the consent agenda? >> I. Any opposed? All right. The eyes have it. All right. At this time, I would like to turn it over to Miss Carla Johnson. Good evening once again, Madame President, Dr. Smith, and members of the school board. This evening, the school board approved the appointment of Mr. Ian Yearwood as the principal of Forest Glenn Elementary, effective immediately. [Applause] Mr. Yearwood brings 16 years of educational experience to this new role, most recently serving as assistant principal of Sky Test Elementary. He's honored to join Forest Glenn Elementary as the principal and to partner with our dedicated staff and engaged families and wonderful students. together will build on the school's strong foundation, creating a nurturing academic environment where every student knows they are both valued and
049well equipped to thrive in a dual language environment. According to Superintendent Dr. Sha Smith, after a very thorough search and interview process, we have found a leader for both today and the future of Forest Glenn Elementary School. Mr. Yearwood's loyalty to our district combined with his proven track record of a strong instructional and community leader makes him the right fit. Mr. Yearwood began his teaching career in 2009 teaching grades four and six in both at Aendal Aendelle Meadows and later in Washington Township. His previous administrative experience includes assistant director of Aendelle Meadows. He was the founding principal at Vision Academy Riverside and assistant principal at Indianapolis public schools number 84. Yearwood holds a master of education in public school leadership from Columbia University 2012, a master of arts in teaching from Marian University in 2011
050and a bachelor of arts and education studies from Depal University in 2009. He is a Spanish speaker having spent time abroad during his undergraduate studies in Argentina. He and his wife Charlotte are district residents and the parents of two children in the dual language program. Let's welcome Mr. Yearwood. [Applause] Congratulations, Mr. Yearwood. Congratulations, Mr. Yearwood. [Applause] And I believe your family's with you, correct? Okay. Hi. All right. Well, we will move on now to our administrator and board comments. Um, would anyone like to go first? >> Well, mine is a comment slash not really a comment, it's a question and speaking with some parents and reading our board notes, a wonderful program was mentioned called the healing hearts program. The parent had shared what a benefit that it was to her family and she asked
051me um if it was still going on and I really didn't answer her then and then it just so happened in my board notes this program popped up and so um I was wondering if it's possible to um elaborate a little more on it because I feel it's a great tool and resource for our schools. Thank you. >> Yes. Okay. Healing hearts. Um We've had healing hearts through community health network I believe at least 10 years for for a number of years we've had the program and it is it serves students who have uh lost a loved one it can be a family member a friend and it you have to have five students in order for a group to start at a school. Um but it is managed basically by the family liaison are
052the main people who kind of um keep track of how many students we have that need that support and then as we get enough students to run the program the program starts in each school. It's an eight-week program. It's a psychoeducational grief support group and it is of great benefit to our students. They can go twice, but um families are just made aware that if if we have other students that haven't been through the program, they take take priority. Uh but it it's been wonderful a wonderful service to the community. It was great to hear her just speaking of it and the beauty of speaking to your neighbors and speaking to people. So I thank you for that and I just wanted just as a point to clarify. So it's not at every school. It's
053on a point of need. So if you have enough students that um have this need at the school then that's then there's this program is >> correct. Okay. Just want to make sure that correct. So if every school needed it then every school could utilize it. Well, it >> dependent on capacity. >> So that we do have some periods of time where we have to kind of hold and wait either for more students to >> to need the program or for a group to finish before another group can start. But we do have multiple programs going at multiple schools if that makes sense. >> Okay, that does. And I have one more question for you. Yes. Um because the question was I'm not going to get into her story, but looking for supports to help
054to help your uh neighbor. And so I mentioned the help me app to her. Are there any other resources that our schools have to help with um clothing, shelter, food, emotional since schools are kind of a social services hub now. Um yeah. Is there anything that Elsa you can add to that possibly? family. >> Get to know Yes. Get to know your family liaison. Um refer that person to the family liaison at the school and we can there are so many different connections that we can make and if we can't take care of that need inhouse through the school, we certainly know of a referral source. >> Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> Thank you both. Board, any who would like to go next? Miss Dunn, >> I just wanted to say kudos
055on an exceptional start to the 2526 school year. Have heard nothing but really positive, amazing um things. I know there's some shuffling. You know, we don't know who exactly is going to be show up in schools and so just gratitude to families as counselors work. I live right next door to one or very close to one who um works diligently especially at the high school level to balance And so I think the name of the game too is um grace and understanding that everybody is working diligently to continue that this is a great start to the year. So um thank you for everybody for making that happen. Everybody and especially while you were moving and getting all this done. >> It's pretty impressive. >> Well said. Um Miss Lawrence, >> no real comments for me.
056Dr. Smith, were you running around with the paint can before the before it happened? appreciate all the all the work uh that went into getting this building done. It's it was a beautiful start as as Miss Dunn said to the school year. Very excited. Um I'm going to exit here in just a moment and go watch Pike play Fall Creek Valley in the middle the very first >> Well, I don't which one I'm I'm assuming it's Fall Creek Valley, but you do you were a Pike for a minute. >> Yeah, he knows where his paycheck comes from. Yes, >> well, good luck to them. Dr. Mahaland. >> Yeah, very excited about the first two weeks. I just want to extend my thanks um especially in the area of the transportation. I know that I made
057a few phone calls, you know, to check on the status of, you know, the app and arrival times and I always got quick responses. I appreciate everyone. Um so, so thankful to have the the bus service for my kids and uh for our district. Thank you. >> Very good. I wanted to second my board colleagues um just for the public to know all of us on the board are Lawrence Township parents. So, we're switching hats. When I switched to the mom hat, we the Norman family did have a very uh smooth and successful start to the school year. Uh transportation, everything. So, kudos to the team on that. Um I also wanted to tie into what Miss Pucket shared about um we challenge ourselves as a board and challenged by um ISBA and other groups
058to always center everything back to student outcomes. And so a lot of the business pieces that we speak to um I really do a lot believe a lot of it ties back to student outcomes. Having a safe and bright learning space, having quality nutrition and transportation, also the wraparound services is so crucial because so many people are dealing with unique challenges and that can impact student achievement. So I Just wanted to thank our township and our community for the supports that they provide. So that is all I have. I held off on talking about the game to let Dr. Smith do his thing. >> Okay, Madame President, members of the board, Dr. NZ, it's that time of the year. >> Friday night, we have our annual tradition. I'd like for you to speak to it.
059Give the board in the community a little bit of direction. >> Sure. Uh both Lawrence Central and Lawrence North football teams are currently undefeated. Season opens up Friday night, August 22nd, 7802 Heg, the place to be. 700 p.m. kickoff. Uh the rivalry game of the week. It's uh and it's going to be a big big game. Uh get your tickets early, get there early. Uh our our board, we will have refreshments for you in the end zone as per usual. And uh we'd like to see everyone there for a great night for Lawrence. >> Right. And then madam president, if I could just have a point of privilege, I'd like for the board and the cabinet to stay in place. Dr. Almire, this is history. This is our first meeting the year. It's 2025. Will
060you take a picture to make sure we keep it in the history books in the new building of the board and the cabinet and the superintendent at the deis? And Miss Blankenship, I want to capture the secretary also. Yep. Let's do that. And then madam president, we'll turn it back over to you to adjourn. Smile everyone. >> Right. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um board at this Well, actually one more thing. Our next monthly meeting will be here Monday, September 15th. It will be a 5:30 work session. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Properly Oh, I'm waiting on a second. I jumped the gun. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Properly moved. Miss Pucket and seconded Dr. Mahalid. We are done.