001Good evening. Welcome to our monthly work session. At this time, we will go into our information items. 2.01, Blue Ribbon Facilities Update. Mr. Roger Smith. moving ahead and uh uh tore up. So, uh we're working around that with summer school. Uh Fall Creek Valley, again, same way with them. Trying to finish up the commons area and the cafe area. Uh the back dock, we tore it out, putting a new one in, and the parking lot is almost done with asphalt. New LACC site work continues on. Uh we're pushing hard trying to get asphalt down there for the big move coming up here. So, uh working with core to see how that works out. A lot of furniture in place in the twotory and a lot of it will be finished up by the end of
002the week. Uh again, more new interior finishes. Craig phase two here. Uh we've been living in the uh the dream as most schools have. Uh but uh we'll soon be out of here and turn the rest of the building over to uh Powers and Suns. Again, just more work on the upstairs. Uh again, roof work HVAC continues with Indian Creek, Harrison Hill, Sky St, and Crestview. Uh you can see driving by some of our sites, we're now moving forward with the classroom additions. So that is being finished off and guarded for that construction uh to start this month. All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. There's a lot going on. Board, any questions regarding the blue ribbon updates? I do have one. Yes, Miss Lawrence. Uh, so Mr. Smith, this came from a member of the
003public. Uh, one Sage Lawrence. And if you can't ask a question of your mother to ask on the deis as a point of privilege for having a mom on the schoolboard, I don't know who can, but I'm also going to take this up for you too, Marissa. Um, so the question that I have, Mr. Smith, pertains to the soccer field at Fall Creek Valley because both Marissa and Sage play on that field and uh, Sage was asking two questions. The first is when will it be painted because they are having practice there this evening. And two, um, why did we decide to put a fence instead of netting around? Because she's really worried that she's going to go have to fish a bunch of balls out of a woods. probably. So, no, it's just a
004safety feature that we try to do of all our sport fields and that'll help secure our kids mainly uh while they're out there. So, and then we got a little bit of sight work around the perimeter of the soccer field and I believe striping zoom with that with uh um we have a a sports company that does our grass fields and they'll pick this field up and do the same. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. Any other questions, board, regarding the blue ribbon updates? Okay. I did want to thank you for the tour. We recently had the opportunity to tour the new LEC and it's very exciting. A lot of boxes, furniture, the new boardroom that's open to the community is very fantastic. So, thank you for that tour. Okay, if there
005are any other questions, we'll move on to 2.02, end of the year update on the 24 and 25 board goals. Mr. Dan Kznik and Dr. Emily Hosbr. Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Tonight, we're bringing you the end of year report for the 2024 245 board goals. I will note that even though the school year has ended, some data cannot quite be shared publicly yet because of embargoed, and you'll see that noted as we go through the presentation. Up first, our chief academic officer, Mr. Troy Noter. Thank you, Mr. Knik, and thank you, Madame President, Dr. Smith, and members of the board. For our student achievement board goal update, um, as you know, we have very ambitious student achievement goals. Um, and I will be able to share some specific data.
006Other data I'll just speak to in generalities until it's lifted from the state. The first one is our graduation rate and our final graduation rate will be available after October 1st, but we are confident that we will reach this goal uh both for the overall graduation rate as well as the honors diploma increases. For our second one, this is an internal goal for our rigor diagnostic measuring our uh instruction. And the board goal is a 9.0 for 24-25. I'm pleased to report that we had eight schools that achieved a 9.0 or higher with 17 of 19 showing improved scores which gave us a district average of 8.5. So almost at that 9.0. In terms of attendance, we have shown great growth this year. Um little under the board goal in terms of our weekly attendance
007of 94%. the model attendee rate. Um, we've shown great improvement. This is a 7% increase to 61.45. And as a reminder, this is the percentage of students that have attended, 94%. Um, we're still in the process of teasing out the enrollment for students who've been with us 162 days. So, this isn't quite final yet, but we are seeing great improvement over last year. On the next slide, uh, this is another internal goal. This is our I Ready benchmark math and reading assessments that we give. Um 15% growth um is the board goal. Um every school met that board goal in both ELA and math with an average increase for English language arts arts at plus 28% and for uh math proficiency plus 32%. The next one is our I read three and we are still
008uh in our final phase of testing for students during the month of June and final results typically um are released by the state in August. But I let me just speak generally to this goal. Um we have given tremendous emphasis as a school district to making sure that we have third grade readers and we have much to honor, much to celebrate. There is no doubt that we will exceed this goal and again in generalities we should certainly have much to celebrate in August when we're able to get into this data specifically um and I learn iLearn goal very similar um embargoed uh typically that data is released in July and there are also definite highlights to celebrate with this data as well. Good evening. In regards to our strategic plan goal, we are finishing up
009year two of the three-year strategic plan. Um, as the goal states, we do give an update to the board twice yearly. As you might recall, we did an update just in May, just last month. And we continue to update the dashboard quarterly uh for the public viewing. human resource people goal. Um as you look at our three areas, our first one was to retain 90% of district effective and highly effective certified teachers. Um that one is still in process um just as we are calculating those that's what our principles are doing the month of June for um their administrative staff as well. implement an anonymous employee survey for all staff to better understand drivers of job satisfaction and increase participation percentage each year. And so in 2024 we had 37.7% um participate. in 2025 um
010it was 33% that participated and so um we did not have as much participation but I think that for a variety of reason but when you look at a survey those that have you know do share that and as we think about looking at how to focus on that schools Our third goal is offer an exit interview to every employee that leaves through resation for retirement. In 2025, we had 21 exit surveys and five employees. In the operations and finance side, we had two board goals to focus on this year. Uh both of which um are actually measured at the end of the calendar year. So, uh December 31 and both of which uh turned out favorably. We are able to meet both goals. The first is our cash balance goal of $16 million at
011year end. Uh which was our actual uh balance. The the goal is 14 million. So, we exceeded that by $2 million. And then all of our local property taxing funds, we want to make sure those have a positive balance at the end of the year, which was also me met. Under safety and security, uh, all buildings were certified this year and completed all their monthly and semester drills. Uh, our annual site and building security assessment was completed and we will start the 2526 assessment July 1. and successfully launched the help me app for safety resources and anonymous report. All right, thank you for those updates. It's it's been a busy year and we appreciate that. Board, do you have any questions regarding the updated board goal updates? Yes, Miss Dunn. First of all, kudos for
012the financial just landscape in this district is um to be applauded especially during this current time. So kudos to you. Thank you for helping us maintain such um fiscal health. I have a question Mr. Notre um regarding attendance. I'm wondering actually I saw um a Lawrence Township administrator post recently about how a student um was supporting their mom who had a new baby and this young gentleman is a student of ours and was leaving school to go help mom get to work. Actually, it was not work. I'm sorry. It was her school because she was working on her high school diploma so she could obtain her high school diploma. And so I know that just in hearing this or reading this um we've got students especially at the secondary level that are pulled in a
013number of different directions. Um so I'm wondering if we've seen any trends in the attendance of students at secondary versus elementary because I know you've said bookends before. Um, so just kind of wondering if we're still seeing that same trend. Um, regarding attendance in in terms of the data, we're certainly seeing the bookends with kindergarten being lower and then our high school numbers being lower as well. So I want to just say on the same post, the administrator talked about how they had worked the schedule once they' talked to the student and seen the trends. Um, so I just I want to applaud Lawrence Township because it is evident that our school leaders are very much in touch with our students and the needs that they have to make those things happen. So just where
014it may not be where it needs to be, this is an absolutely fantastic attendance rate all things considered. So kudos to the district. We have an incredible team. Student services Sean Bush stood up there is a key player behind the scenes working with our schools. Dr. Gaggline on the data side. Those are must done Troy O's backup. That's who helped him out with that data. It is very evident. And so I just I I want to sing the praises of the district because those are things that a lot of times we don't see what goes on behind the scenes and switching a schedule to accommodate. So and this the beautiful story about this was is that the student graduated and so did his mother which is really really awesome. So thank you Lawrence Township. Can
015I ask really quick um to piggy back off the book ends you said so that the attendance rates are lower in kindergarten and lower in high schools. Okay. I do have a follow-up question to that. Um so good job everybody. Everybody has questions on the attendance stuff. Um regarding the attendance rate if I recall and now it's been a while since we did approve the goals but I remember the goal being having to do with prepandemic levels. Um, I know we're looking at an average here across all of the schools. So, are we looking at schools on an individual basis for those schools that are not necessarily meeting the, you know, the pre-andemic levels and those outliers were figuring out a meeting I'm leading the witness. You can talk for yourself, Mr. Noter. Absolutely. That's
016a process that our assistant superintendent and Mrs. plant go through every week in terms of of sharing data with the buildings and then we've wrapped into our school improvement plans and emphasis on um attendance data so that we can get granular with each school. It's been really fun to see the schools celebrating attendance too and the kids getting really into it. It's been really fun to to watch that. I do have a couple of other follow-up questions but I want to make sure no one else has a question about attendance first. I do actually. I do. Um the question is are we noticing any patterns in the chronic absenteeism like certain schools or certain groups that are impacted more than others just with the climate currently and then some of the um things that have
017gone through on the federal and state level. This bush just sat down. You know I think that like Mr. Not said we certainly see the the book ends our early learning centers and our secondary schools have have higher instances of chron chronic absenteeism. And you know, for our littles, it is, you know, if your baby says they don't feel good, you you want to keep them home. You know, you want to keep them close to the close to the house. And then for our older students, um we have students that work. We have students that are taking care of younger siblings. You know, all of the stories. There's is for the number of students we have that we have that number of reasons why uh we have a such a high rate of chronic absenteeism.
018So um I think it runs the gamut. It really does. Have we noticed a trend m have we noticed a trend in our immigrant population, our English learners? Um just with some of the things that's currently we did for a moment but they are really they're showing up. Okay. They're they're here. Yep. They're here. They're here. There's not there's not any difference in when we disagregate that data. Um our immigrant population is showing up. Absolutely. Miss Pucket. Yes. May I piggyback off something real quickly that about because I think it's important, Miss Bush, and correct me if I'm wrong, but preschool and kindergarten are not mandatory in the state of Indiana. However, those demographics are included in our attendance rate. And I think that's Yes. Kindergarten is not preschool. Not preschool. Right. But I think
019that's a really important measure. Like just for folks to understand that whereas kindergarten is not mandatory, they still are included in our data as it pertains to chronic absenteeism and things of that nature. So, when we're looking at the absentee um rate up here, the attendant, sorry, the attendance rate up here, is that with the preschool added in, is that potentially skewing? That's just kindergarten through Okay, thank you. Good questions, board. Are there any other questions regarding attendance? I appreciate the goal being set high. I know it's something we as adults need to continue to strive for even in our professions. So okay um other board goal questions. Yeah I do I had a question related to um the increase which great work all around on the increase of 28% and 32% um in English
020and math respectively. Is there anything that we can attribute that to Mr. Noter? Are there programs that we've implemented or things that we've put in place to really increase those uh those goals? So first of all is our instructional framework. So um our rigorous instructional framework as um represented in our rigor diagnostic goal and the improvement we saw there is a precursor to student achievement uh improvement. Secondly, we've had a tremendous focus this year on data systems and monitoring students learning in the moment and immediately intervening for students. And so that's been a a focus district-wide in support from the curriculum division for each school to develop that system for data monitoring and that's made a tremendous difference as well. That's great. I know that we've also increased support in some schools um for uh
021tutoring and that sort of thing. Um are we thinking we might expand some of those programs just to continue to boost those numbers? We haven't disagregated the data yet for our tutoring program. So, we'll definitely take a look at that based on the data of students who were tutored and what type of growth they saw compared to the average. Great. Thank you. I just have to say one more thing. I'm just all about kudos for Lawrence this evening, but I think one of the things that I also just want to give just such gratitude to you um Miss Johnson as well as to you Mr. Noter because when you go to the end of the or to the retirement celebration and you see that we are actively recruiting the best and the brightest folks that
022have had you know we look up there it's 20 30 years of experience in the district and they're coming back in their tutoring. I've got to think that that plays such a critical role in the tutoring and the results that we're seeing. And so just a really strategic move by the district that I think um just needs to be applauded that the folks just continue to give back to our students and do so in a way that improves student outcomes. The board can see student achievement data, Mr. Noder. We can say that on the record. They already know what we've got on iLearn and I read. We just can't share it with the public. Correct. Because the Department of Education hasn't released it. So they're very aware of the increases that we've had across the
023board. I'm going to use the word Mr. Not uses every day at cabinet. We've been very intentional, haven't we, Mr. Not? And we have to give kudos to all of our leaders and teachers and this team over here. We've been very intentional, everyone in pushing in to help our kids achieve at a higher level. The state says we have to have kids who are literate. We're taking it very seriously in Lawrence Township. We don't care about the excuses. Our kids are going to read. They're going to achieve if given time and the resources that we have. We're going to make sure that they meet the goals. So that's what these goals are back here. It's bold, but it's real. And the kids that are in Lawrence Township, we saw that last Wednesday and Thursday. They
024graduate also board. You have factored that cuz you shook all their hands. And that was a lot of students. Mr. Kousnik over,200 students got one of our high school principles in the back. They're working hard. That takes intentionality. So that's my two cents on Boros. I'll keep my mouth closed. Thank you. I I do have I do have a couple of additional questions. Um can I No, absolutely. I was going to ask if anybody had other academic related stuff. Yes. Um for the first let me first apologize. I got my questions to you late in the day. So I apologize for that. So one of them I really don't feel the need to ask because Miss Lawrence um her question I I I drew my answers from that. Um and so I just wanted to
025publicly say that. I apologize on getting those questions to you late. So, but I have my answer. Thank you from I have my answer from you from her question. I am nothing if not probing. I do have additional questions related to the um to the surveys, the exit surveys. Miss Johnson, um one question that I had related to the not the exit survey, I'm sorry, the anonymized survey. Um, I have heard feedback from several teachers that they were concerned that it wasn't truly an anonymous survey because they were sent specific links that were specific to each individual and therefore felt as though some of their answers might be tracked back to the individual. Can you help me understand what like why that perception exists within our teacher community? part of Panorama was out school. And
026and I also think to just giving people the assurance that no retaliatory steps would be taken at all for them voicing their opinion. I think um obviously that would never be the intention of any of our administrators. that if someone were reluctant to fill out the survey specifically for fear of retaliation, what are some of the things that we can empower our administrators with to ensure that they're carrying that message to the individuals in their building? It's against our board policy. It's against our board policy. I don't have the number in my head, but I know I did read it. It is. Miss Bush, talk about Panorama. We went with an outside company, uh, madam board member, to assure that that wouldn't happen. So go ahead, Miss Bush. So we have assured staff um the
027first time we administered the survey, which was last year, as well as this year, that it was an anonymous survey as they requested and they are getting the link directly from Panorama. We don't we don't even touch it. We're not forwarding it. We're not They get their own link from Panorama and we don't know who said what. So all we can do is tell them that and you know assure them that you know these fears are um there's no need for them. Yes. And I can panorama is a survey that is used across the state of Indiana and across the country and can you know I can assure that you know we see the panorama data from our end as end users there is absolutely zero zero tide because it's not just parents it's al
028or teachers staff members it's students it's any staff and so it is very holistic and there is absolutely no name whatsoever tied to any of it none. and we've seen all the questions. They're very pertinent. I thought it was a really well- constructed survey. So, thank you for doing it. And I think the message is just to continue to carry it forward because I do think it is uh potentially impactful and hopefully provides the buildings the sort of data or an understanding of culture and things that are maybe happening in the building that people may or may not be reluctant to come forward and talk about. And we did try really hard to um the questions are they're exactly the questions that the committee came up with like we Panorama developed that survey for us.
029Now they have questions that they will give to districts um but we decided not to go that route. Our our committee that was made up of probably 50 60 people came up with the exact questions that landed on the survey. So, um, it was all generated by our staff. And so, that percentage we have staff is for all staff. And that would equate to about 800 staff members. Is that correct? Of our 25 845 845 out of 2500 staff members. Uh, as a researcher, I could work with that. I could make a lot of determinations with that level of data coming in. And it's very robust. We would like to have more. We're going to continue to survey and gather more information. the more the better can help us in our decision- making to make
030Lawrence Township an attractive place to work and it does include certified and classified. That was very important. Yeah. Re Remind me, Miss Bush, um in in the survey is it do classified and certified staff receive different questions? I can't remember. Okay. It's the same survey. Okay. Same survey across. Yeah. I have a question. Are we seeing any common themes and why people are leaving and based uh based off of the exit interviews and are we how are we using that info to support the staff that we currently have? So I'll start with the exit interview. Um I would say that this year that 21 people participated we did have some that interview that interview goes to that division. So that and particip regarding any of the board rules. I do have one other question. Sorry,
031I have full of them tonight. This is our work session. The Help Me app, how is it advertised? That's probably a question for you, Mr. Smith. Maybe in support of Stephan the plant, Dr. Altmire. It How do we get that out? Just real quick share. Go ahead, Stephanie. You and Dana know the answer. Absolutely. This was a part of our CIESC stop grant. And so, um, in collaboration with Dr. Altmire, we have information on the website, but then all of the schools were given posters that they could put throughout the building with the QR codes and so that that way they can submit anonymous anonymously through that as well. And is it just students or could parents also submit community members potentially parents? We've had community members submit um yeah, we've had we've had all
032types of submissions. Um, and so it's wonderful to see that it's a way that families really feel that they can connect and and roughly how many people have availed themselves of the Help Me app so far since it's been implemented. I'd have to dig in to get you an exact number. Um, our numbers relatively with the other districts that are participating are very low. Um, which we attribute to the fact that most of we believe that most of our staff and students feel safe going to administration. Um most of the requests have been requests for needing help either with um finances for rent or with clothing or food. Um really not as much about building issues at all board. Any other questions? Well, just to piggyback well that question was going to be I had
033that in the strategic plan portion of the culture, the help me app. And so I'll ask this question. Um then um we are able to track data from the help me app to see if it's actually Oh yes, that was one of my questions. Yes, there great questions. If there are no other questions, um I mean I don't know how I can adequately say thank you. Um, this is a lot lot of heavy lifting done this year and the data shows that and kudos to the staff all around for moving that needle and it's been moving far. So, thank you. At this point, we'll move on to 2.03. Now, our strategic planned end of the year update, Mr. Knik and Dr. Hos Brown, President Norman, Dr. Smith, members of the board, we're very pleased to
034bring to you tonight an update from the end of year 2, our strategic plan. Um, just a quick reminder of our development process as we went through uh the the process of collecting input from community members, from students, and from staff members to creating the strategic plan and now tracking our work. Um, I'd like to remind you before we ask division heads to give updates that these are simply highlights from the last semester that we wanted to bring to your attention and we'll go. There we go. We'll ask Mr. Noter to begin with academic achievement. Thank you, Dr. Hos Brown. And I do want to point out the two metrics that I'm sharing an update on this evening. although they were developed in 2023, um they are becoming increasingly important with the future of school
035accountability in the state of Indiana. So these are metrics that we um are paying very close attention to. Uh the first one is about advanced coursework and earning high school credits prior to 9th grade. So uh middle schools, how many advanced courses are we offering to how many students? Our baseline was 49%. I'm pleased to report that for this past school year, we had 70% of our middle school students enrolled in high school credit courses. And you can see the variety of different courses that we offer. Preparing for college and careers is for all eighth grade students. And so that makes a tremendous difference in terms of of students being able not only to interact with the content that's really important for eighth graders, but earn that high school credit. And you can see the
036other courses that we offer including uh four different CTE courses as well. The next metric is increasing the number of students participating in work-based learning experiences aligned with high wage highdemand pathways. So this year we did increase our enrollment by 285 students. Um we also had a workbased learning committee that met from January of 2024 through March of 2025. So, it was over a year-long committee process that looked at our current data uh virtually visited uh other schools across the country um to learn what was happening at a national level. Of course, attended conferences to stay informed and then developed um the recommendations for action. And those recommendations for 2526 implementation um include a direct one page one pager for our community partners. um what work-based learning is. Um it can really be confusing uh
037for community partners who want to host um students with us, but that one-page communication really will streamline those efforts. Um we're committed to strengthening our existing community partnerships and expanding new ones. And uh community health network is a perfect example where we have a partnership, but there is so much room for expansion with community health. Um, we're also expanding our work-based learning opportunities within our own district and our work at the ELC's with our high school students. Our apprenticeship for early childhood is a perfect example. Um, and we can grow that to other divisions um across the district. And then really important for school accountability is a tracking platform. Um, and so as more and more students are taking advantage of work-based learning, particularly with the new diploma requirements, we've got to have a tracking
038platform. And so we will be piloting a tracking platform for 2526. And in the area of culture, um, we want to increase access to programs that are demonstrated to improve student health and well-being. And the areas that I'm highlighting this evening are areas that are around mental health. So we have active bring change to mind clubs at all of our secondary schools. So both middle schools and both high schools have these clubs that provide a safe space for for students to bring awareness to issues of mental health. Our clubs, especially our club at LN has been recognized around the state for the wonderful things that they've done to bring awareness to uh mental health. We also now as of this spring have 66 educators now certified in the applied educational neuroscience. Um they have that
039certification through Butler University with Dr. Lori Desatel. Dr. Dr. Lori has also co co-taught again for the third consecutive year uh with working alongside students to help teachers help students learn more about their nervous systems. We also have an app, this is also through the CIESC safety grant, an app that's called Starling Minds. It's a mental fitness support app that's available to any township employee. um we don't have the numbers that we would like to have with that, but we have that for a another full year. And I can say from exploring it myself that it's a it's a good resource. Um it's a self-paced um guided app that can it it's it's check it out. It's a it's it's a it's worth your time. We also have a partnership with community Fairbanks to offer
040substance use education and intervention with our prevention liaison. She makes those connections with students and families. And our district crisis support team this year has been trained in a crisis response model that's called prepare. Uh that happened for our crisis team in October. And then actually this week coming up on Thursday, we'll have a group of administrators and a few SRO's that will be joining us for a one-day training um in the prepare model. And there you have another reference to the help me app which is through the safety grant staffing and people in the strategic plan. The highlight that I wanted to share with you this evening is looking at our efforts in reducing the number of started really looking at this when we implemented strategic plan. Um summer of 24 we had 108
041teachers and we worked all year to get it down. has an expired emergency and then the whole cycle starts over again. We have 161 staff members um that have emergency permits and they have to be um and so that's 17.6% of our teachers and so we have principles. They've made contact with these teachers. They're referring them to different pathways of our program. And we're just really trying to help staff that have under facilities. We want to continue to increase the effective use of our space to support the increased academic extracurricular alignment and opportunities. And uh so that put us into a building capacity study looking at all of our buildings and found out that Cresue, Mary Castle, Forest Glenn were uh near or over capacity. And then looking at uh well McKenzie as well is
042under capacity. Uh last uh March I believe the board passed blue ribbon phase two and uh in that uh report there were five priorities and number two addressed the over capacity issues of Crest View, Mary Castle and Forest Glenn uh with additional classrooms. uh these projects that you have seen have started and will uh go throughout the next year and McKenzie's currently under a feasibility study for their future. For technology, we have several projects in the works this spring. We have new devices coming in for the students, excuse me, as part of our regular upgrade for sixth and ninth graders. We have uh phase one of a four-step process to replace devices for our staff. We're making upgrades to the financial software so that we can have an employee self-service portal which will make us
043more efficient in that regard. We have new phones for everybody at their desk throughout the district. And we're moving the software uh the system to the cloud which will help us meet the federal regulations around E911. We won the $650,000 federal cyber security grant. The RFP will is in progress. Mr. Harsha will bring you the results in July. And we also to answer your questions about teasing out the demographics in that about around attendance. We actually uh have the good fortune of having two data dashboard products that we will be piloting so we can tease out those answers in some of the other areas as well. In rounding out the lineup, the finance department goals uh from our strategic priorities, making sure we have our our finances in order to align with the strategic priorities
044of the district. Um got a handful of bullets in front of you. U just touch on a few of those. The first one, u much of that happens last fall, but our classified payraises, as you know, go into effect in January. So that happened this this current semester, this uh previous semester. also working closely uh as Roger talked about, Mr. Smith talked about, our elementary expansion, our guaranteed energy savings, those major construction projects, of course, our middle school projects uh have already uh been underway, but those have continued on and as well as work here at Craig and uh our new LEC. We're continuing to closely uh digest and and look at the impacts of our legislative changes that will impact our world uh very closely. So that will continue to be a um an
045area of focus moving forward. And then again, we've met um worked closely with the other departments here in the district to make sure that we're aligning our financial um priorities in line with the other priorities to meet student needs uh wherever wherever that need uh may present itself. Thank you for all of those updates. Board, I'm sure we have some questions. Anybody? I have more of a comment actually concerning the uh culture. I appreciate our township. I have a kiddo that shared with me a while back that at her school and her class that her peers and her were trained for conflict re conflict resolution and restorative practices. And you know that's my jam. And so just to hear her come back and say that um the students were able to handle certain conflicts amongst
046each other, I thought that was powerful. And so I just wanted to share that and just say thank you as we were going through the culture that I know that each uh school has their own tools and different things. But that's something that for our household that my daughter was excited about and um thank you for that. Thank you. I following up with that, I did have a question about the um bring change to mind. Um wonderful to hear that middle and high school uh students will have that that time together. And I was curious about when that is held um and who facilitates that. So each school has a sponsor. Um that's they're they're all teachers and um one group meets every other Friday afternoon, one group meets um one Wednesday a month. So
047it just depends. Um it's different at every school. I can share with you later if you want details. Great. Thank you. To go along with that, um I wanted to commend you on slide six on that piece because everything we do that you do is tied to improve student outcomes and if you can't address mental health barriers then you can't achieve to your full potential and that also includes the staff too. So I appreciate that there is the app for the staff as well too. Thank you. I I do have a follow-up question related to the bring change to mind. Um first, how wonderful is it that we are destigmatizing the need for mental health just not just within our district but around the country. It's something that um I've seen in my own life
048experience kind of morph and change throughout the years. So, it's really wonderful to see us fully embracing that. Um, I did have a question as it relates to um to the behavioral stuff that happens within our school district. Does this bring change to mind program also address potential behavioral issues or are there other programs in place um related to to student behavior within the classroom? No. Bring change to mind is a student club. Got it. Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. Yeah. Thank you. Student club. It's a student club. It's a studentled club. Um they have a sponsor that helps to facilitate their activities and things, but it is a studentled club. And in terms of any behavior issues we see with students, um we have lots of support staff in the buildings, our um our teachers,
049our counselors, our administrators are wonderful at identifying students that have those needs that might need a little extra. And whether that's a referral to school-based mental health with Galahue or an outside provider or a family liaison, whatever that may be, we have a lot of of different resources depending on the need. So, as it relates to classroom culture and um opportunities, I know that um we are currently working on the climate survey or the not survey but climate assessment with the teachers union. Um, are some of these issues being addressed in in that as well? Behavioral ex and potential overcrowding in classrooms? That's Yeah, probably more. You're in a completely different lane. That's Carla Johnson and Miss Bush also. Um Um, Go ahead, Carla. That's a working condition working condition. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah,
050it just as we were talking through that it was just a question that came to mind is is is that are we addressing behavioral and mental health issues as we're thinking about the the climate um conversation that we're having with the union. And I just want to be careful, Carla, I missed something. I didn't see that as one of their concerns to student discipline or behavior working conditions committee. Go ahead, Carla. Address three pillars. We had three pillars in the working district committee and that was a result after negotiations last fall. So we're focusing on class size periods and our PLC's and professional development more about the teachers timing. Got it. Okay, great. Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, we are still working. I have a followup question to to uh Mrs. Mrs. Lawrence question as
051a community member, what can we do to help support? Because so often behaviors come into schools from outside. There's trauma. There's there's so much. What if, you know, I'm I am a parent. I'm, you know, just what supports could what supports could people come alongside and help with that could help with that? like the process on being um in the process for being able to help in the classroom. Do we need more classroom? Like what can be done that people can help with this as well? You say it all the time, Miss Pucket. It takes a village. It takes a village. So, I think what everybody can do is be a part of that village. not just to the kids in your own house, but to any other youth that you come into contact with
052because um we do have a lot that goes on in our community and it absolutely spills over, you know, into the lives of our students and and therefore into our schools. Um but we have a lot of supports that are available. And so we just we're going to keep wrapping our arms around our kids and and loving them and and providing them with what they need uh whatever that may be. You know, I'm all for the village. I firmly believe that. So, if I'm just an outside, um grandparent, um, you know, just whatever I could come in, get a background check and hey, can I help in the classroom? Hey, can I where do you need help? Is that is that something that somebody could come in to? Okay. We we we can always use
053people who are are interested in in mentoring a young person. to to read with somebody, come just to have lunch, just to build a relationship with a kid that needs somebody. You know, you never know who who you might be that caring adult for. You know, we've heard it how many times that it takes one caring adult and you never know when you're the one. So, just making connections when and wherever we can. I appreciate that. I always hear that. Um, what was it? Uh, everybody needs a soft place to land. And so that person that's able to be that soft place to land. And just to share also they said it's about 30% 30% is the tipping point for um for classrooms that have support for schools. It if 30% of that classroom or
054that school has parental support that tends to push and help for that school to also to succeed. Um, so just wanted just just to put that out there that we all can be a part of that tipping point that could help our schools be even more successful. So, thank you for being a soft place to land. And I want to say one more thing. The other thing is I think letting parents know what a wonderful resource the school can be because sometimes they you know we can't help if we don't know and sometimes um families aren't aware of some of the services we have available and so I think just sharing that sharing you know some of your experiences that you have have shared you know sharing that with the community and letting them know
055how supportive you know we are and and will continue to be. I think that can help. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Dunn. Uh just a couple of questions, comments. Um first of all, again, kudos for the work that's being done already with work-based learning knowing that we have the new graduation requirements. Um it is lovely to know that Lawrence Township is not one or two steps ahead, but uh a mile ahead of many districts um surrounding us. Um, a couple of questions about that. You said that you are exploring a tracking platform. What type of tracking platform are we looking at? So, this would be a a platform that would be accessible to employers. It would be accessible to um our faculty as well to track work-based learning hours. So we would track the partnership
056and the the paperwork, the contract that goes along with it, the employee expectations, the employer expectations, but it would be unique to each partnership that we have. It will also track hours for students as that's going to become really important for the various diploma types. And so we'll be able to use that um to inform our our graduation as well. I feel speaking of feeling a little ahead of the the curve. I have an incoming freshman and so I understand what the new requirements are. However, what are we doing to inform just the general public? Because I I know working especially with immigrant families many times just navigating US schools in general is very complicated and and just unique to the US as opposed to many other countries. So what type of outreach are we
057doing to support the families in understanding the requirements? So, we have a publication that we publish each year um that of course had lots of updates this year because of the new diploma requirements and that publication is um given to each 8th grade student as part of our advisory curriculum in 8th grade and really sets the stage for families to then be able to ask questions and advocate um when they enter the high school. So, we start in 8th grade and then we have our high school counselors that also do that similar outreach, family nights, that sort of thing uh to make sure that our community is engaged. So, students who aren't eth graders in Lawrence Township still have that opportunity to get the information? Yes, they do. And when does that happen? Is that
058before they enroll? When does that occur? So, that would be Mr. Knick with their counselor. Yeah, I would say in combination between the enrollment process, but I would say all throughout the year, whether it's open house, whether it's freshman orientation, all the different orientations that we have, provide this information in addition to the communication that Mr. Noro was talking about. And how is that provided specifically into a language that families understand, especially with our growing Haitian Creole population as well as our Spanish speaking population? So the the publication is um because our our Spanish speaking population is so large is given out in Spanish as well. For our uh Haitian Creole speakers, we do have a staff member designated to support families in Haitian Creole. So that would be more of a one-on-one type of
059conversation. Is there any chance of perhaps having an event specifically for families that maybe have an language other than English or Spanish to support them? because I I just I think about my own personal daughter. She's not going to come tell me, "Oh, mama, let me tell you all about the new graduation requirements and let me let me tell you what I'm doing." And you really, you know, talking about that caring adult and that soft place to land. Really, we want that to be the family. So, how do we how do we ensure that the families have the information that they need to then be the advocate for their child? Yes, absolutely. We have had events that are specific to our Spanish- speaking families. For sure. standing in Haitian Creole though that one in particular
060is and that's the one-on-one conversation with our our staff member sorry tell you lean forward Miss Lawrence so if we could switch um gears a bit to the emergency teacher lensure um I wrote down 17.6% 6% of our um current teacher population um has an emergency license. Um for members of the public, could you help clarify why one of those licenses would be acceptable? And then a follow-up question. This may not you may not know the answer to this, Miss Johnson, but my guess is you might, Dr. Smith, and if not, that's cool, too. But um how does how does that 17.6% compare to other districts um as well? So, and what I don't know, I'll research for you. Um I would say that in general a teacher when they're obaining license area it's It's
061almost I think it's Well, answer. I think as the teacher shortage has happened throughout the country, all districts deal with this issue. This is not something specific to Lawrence Township and unusual. Uh these individuals have degrees. Many times they're recruited because they are very talented individuals and sometime principles ask teachers who are in the wrong lentry area because they have talents to move over and then get the license in the other area. So it could be a reverse situation. very difficult to discuss for each of our teachers because that's specifically at the building level with the principles and HR to hire. What Miss Johnson's presenting to you is that our goal and your goal as a board and it's been previous boards you're standing on the shoulders of was to have licensed teachers in front
062of our kids. So ultimately we want that goal to be zero. We want all those teachers to get licensed in the state of Indiana. not picking on some of the other uh areas, charters and private who can and they do sometime hire non-licensed teachers. That's not our goal. Our ultimate goal is for every teacher to be licensed in the state of Indiana. And that is a bold goal, but we work with our staff members to get licensed and we have recruited some great people who work within our organization to get licensed. They have degrees and that's why you see some emergency permits sometime. Okay. very talented individuals and I would say to all my principles and leaders of schools they're trying to recruit talent and we're also trying to grow talent. Go ahead. Two things
063I can echo exactly what you are talking about because whereas you may not have the exact data it is an epidemic literally across the state of Indiana. Um one question I did have is about the data dashboard that we're piloting. I see that Skyward has um a customizable data dashboard. Wondering if we're using if that's one that we're piloting because I do know that the fewer platforms that we have for educators to have to navigate the better. So kind of wondering if it's Skyward and then what else we're piloting. Well, we began to engage with a company called Aubrey over a year ago and right as we were bringing that one on board, Skyward said, "Hey, look what we've got." So it was this uh divine providence that we have this good opportunity to lay
064them both side by side to say which one meets our needs best and do they is it one or the other or do they complement each other in some way that we can make them both work? Is that a decision that's made by a committee of educators as well as central office staff or how is that done? We did have a group of administrators and some of our uh leaders in the Lattis pro uh system which is our MTSS uh take a look at what Aubrey could do that took a long vetting process. Uh and then again like I said Skyward came along and said we have this would you like to try it? So we're going to just lay them out side by side and let those key folks take a look and give
065us their input and we can make it a good decision. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Just please don't make me remember more passwords. It's so much. Great. Um, excellent. Thank you for that board. Any other questions or comments regarding the strategic plan update? Just a point of clarification for the public. Uh, the strategic plan is a three-year plan. Our board goals we set yearly. Um, so we've been able to cover both. So, excellent. At this point time, we'll move on to 2.0. 04 before and after care expansion update with Miss La Plant. Good evening Dr. Smith, Madame President, members of the board. Tonight I'm going to share some opportunities um in an effort to expand our programming for our families for afterare as we look at our current programming. Just want to share a couple
066of points with you. Um we do serve over a thousand students across our 15 our four early learning centers and our 11 elementary schools each week. Um, since the pandemic, we have really struggled to be able to meet the needs of all families. We've had a wait list every year. Um, and for a variety of reasons. Um, as you know, we're fully licensed and we're very proud of that, but that does present some additional hoops that we have to make sure that we follow. So, for example, ratio is important. So, we can't take every child even if we want to because we are bound by our ratio, which is 20 students to one adult. Um, in addition, when you are licensed, all caregivers must get background checks through the FSSA. So, they don't take anything
067that we do as a district. And so, there are times um when we work to have maybe cafeteria monitors or instructional assistance support and afterare, but unless they're willing to go do the extra, they don't count as a qualified caregiver. And so, that's been a challenge for us as well. And so as we look what we want to do next year is pilot some different options for families. We want to expand services by looking at some different providers for our three smallest sites. And so Indian Creek um we would look at Champions Afterare which is a part of kindergare Oakland and Elementary we would look at at your school which is AYS and Winding Ridge Elementary we would look to partner with the YMCA. So when you look at the expected benefits really and truly
068the the reason we're doing this is it allows us to increase capacity uh those sites as we've continued to talk to them and ask us ask them about what it is that they do. They want to start at a bare minimum with 70 to 80 families. Um which is great because we've never been that big at those three schools. It also allows us to move some of our staff at those schools to our bigger sites, an Amy Beverland, a Mary Castle, a Forest Glenn, where we in the past have had to stop taking students at about 140 due to staffing. And this would allow us to really increase them um up to 200. That's the goal is that we would start the year for 200 at those sites. Um in particular, um enrollment would be
069able to start early. Right now, we start everything on July 7th in an effort to be very fair to families. Um, but that does pose issues because we know that families right now they're wanting to know if they have their students. And then it does allow us some other opportunities for staff of course. They can work for us and we'll move them to one of our larger sites or it allows them to work during the day in their building and then work for a different provider. And so there have been times where we have to watch our hours for our staff and this way they can have as many hours as they want in a day and still be in the building where they already feel like part of the so for the implementation plan
070what we would like to do is start marketing and enrolling um immediately then in August launch um the three different programs and then begin taking stakeholder feedback um in October and in March. We want to hear from our families. What do you think? What's working? What isn't working? Um then at the end of the school year, uh next year, April of 2026, really look and evaluate how did this work? Was there one provider that families seem to like over the others? And then next May, I would come back and share those results with you. And if possible, maybe we would look at just one provider having all three sides. And if the families are really happy, we can keep it different sides. So, we want to do what really works for the families, what they
071feel is going to be a program that works for them. I'm happy to take any questions. Excellent. Board, any questions or comments? Do you think the board will have an opportunity to see some of that uh stakeholder engagement data at midway point? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Any other questions? Yes, Miss Dunn. First of all, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I help support before and after care in my job and one of the commitments that we made is that there would be no wait list because we know again when we think about attendance that before and after care is absolutely critical. So kudos to you and your team. Um I think you answered the question. So the idea is that loving care would still exist at the majority of the sites but we would have partners
072or perhaps a partner at these three sites. The um question about the cost is the cost comparable um to what we are currently offering and do they accept CCDF? Thank you. Good questions. I should mention those. Um they do all take CCDF CCDF and the cost is very close. Their after care is is almost spot on. They're75 for afterare. The difference comes with before care. We are $25 for before care and um if you do both we only charge $5 um for before care. They have separate rates for before care and theirs are anywhere from 25, 35 or 45. So that's really where the difference is is in before care. that all three of them take CCDF. That was a that was a game changer. They had Do we anticipate there to be any grievances
073with families of saying like, "Oh, I've got a kid at, you know, Sunnyside versus Indian Creek." Um, I don't only because we'll work with them. Okay. And all three of the partners were very supportive that they will look at discounts and and they'll look at ways to work with families. It was nice to find out that we do offer the lowest prices for our families. I work hard to have it be that way and so it was nice to have that confirmed. So my assumption is too that they would also offer the break care or Yes. Okay. Yes. And I just have to put a plug. I know that this is this is your shop and you are managing it, but AYS and Justin truly are an incredible organization and so I'm very pleased to
074see that we are piloting with them. So have we explored partnering with the foundation to um provide uh some some funding for those parents who may be, you know, a $20 increase each week could be a significant burden on their family. Have we explored options? I haven't for this in particular, but we have used them in the past. We we definitely have when there's need water, we kind of we kind of work with it. But, uh, Stephanie and her team and our great friends in the community, we have some wonderful partners out there who work with us to try to help families. Just so the board will know, just as a point of clarification, you will not approve this as a um as a whole, the individual contracts that we would have with these three
075organizations would have to come back to the board for approval at a later date. So, we just wanted to share that these are the ideals, but if we enter into a partnership, we will have three separate agreements that the board of education would have to prove as a part of our contracts. So if we give the green light board, it would be obviously vetted through me, your legal counsel and then on to you for formal approval. So it is another opportunity for us. But uh we do want to give kudos to our program which has done very well. But want to point out something our parents want more and that's what Miss Lan is bringing today. The opportunity for us to provide more services for our families for before and after care. Dr. Just a
076question for uh those of us who may be less familiar with Loving Care. So, is Loving Care a program as well like these other three or is it more internal? How does that work? Loving care is is Lawrence Township before and after care. Okay. Um many many years ago there was a loving care that all districts kind of participated in and so the term continues to stick but we're fully our own run our own before and afterare program. Okay. All right. Thank you. Most districts, yeah, I saw loving care for another district, so I was like, is that the same or Okay, thank you. Sounds wonderful. It's always great to be able to expand and meet the needs of the family. So, thank you. Um, any other final questions or comments, board? Great offering. Thank
077you, Miss Lelant. Now, we get to move on to the meat and the potatoes of the night. Neiola policy updates 2.05 first reading. Dr. Harshburgger. Glad you enjoy that as much as I did. Oh yeah. Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, tonight I present to you the volume 37 number two revision packet. This is comprised of 50 50 policies, two new policies, four technical corrections, session of five policies, and two replacement policies. This revision packet is a response to recent legislation. I'll bring this for information. Thank you, Dr. Harshburgger. Board, any questions or comments on our first reading? Yes, Miss Dunn. Okay. I have a question about just one of the policies, policy 6116, which is the time and effort reporting. Are we to read that that we now have to approve stipens
078prior to because I'm a little confused by that one the what and it's okay if we need to answer that later because I I literally I just I was I did not have time to submit because I was looking at this honestly today before I came. Um, but 6116 was one where it it just seems like a lot of time and effort on behalf of the cabinet and staff, especially human resources, if we have to approve stipens, which I'm sure are something that are given to a lot of different folks for a lot of different reasons. So, if we could follow up on that one, we can do that. And as a point of clarification, time and effort would be Karen Eyer. Is that you on that policy? Would be title as well, I believe.
079title and so that would be Troy Ner. We'll come you got do you guys catch it? Everybody's caught it. We'll get an answer for the board. I I do think because I just I just a point of clarification because I know time and effort reporting is usually with the title grants but then it talks about stipens and so Nola usually guides us in the correct direction but we do need to talk about the administrative side of it and the impact like I was thinking more of the impact on you all of like what does that actually mean? Yep. We'll report back on that. Thank you. Okay. It wasn't a trick question. No, no, you're okay, madame president. Back to you. All right, I I do I do just want to call out this is not
080easy work, Miss Pucket. Um, and so thank you all for the work that you do to to make because and you can tell by the giggles on the deis of your fellow uh peers how grateful Mr. Roger Smith is that he doesn't have to read through all that policy all the time either. has policies. He's got he's got plenty of policies, but we we appreciate you. We appreciate the diligence that you take in in looking over these. Yeah. Thank you, Miss Pucket and Dr. Harshburgger. Um and board, if we do have any questions as we're continuing to digest through it, I know they'll be happy to take our emails because it is a lot. Just so the public knows, uh, this packet alone was over 10% of all of our board policies. Yes, a lot
081of trees. So, I carry it with me. Yes, a lot of trees. So, I think that this was the largest packet that I have seen in my time on the board. So, thank you for doing the heavy lifting. That's good. If there are no other questions or comments regarding the policy, um, which we will have a second reading again at our monthly meeting, we'll move on to our action items. All right, we will go to 3.01. Approval of request for resolution authorization naming of Belzer Middle School Auditorium. Madam President, Dr. Smith, pardon me, Madam President, Dr. Smith, members of the board. Uh, as a reminder, last board meeting I brought you a first reading of this board resolution, and tonight I bring it to you for a second reading. As a reminder, Mr. Ron Davyy
082served as dean of students, assistant principal, and principal of Belzer Middle School for 20 years. Additionally, he served as the inaugural principal at Lawrence Advance Academy. Mr. Davyy has positively influenced the lives of thousands of students and staff across the MSD of Lawrence Township and beyond. Through his unwavering dedication, he has brought recognition to the district and exemplifies steadfast loyalty to the community. His distinguished service has made an a lasting impact in education, contributing meaningfully to the pursuit of knowledge, culture enrichment, and academic excellence. The MSD of Lawrence Township Board of Education honors and recognizes Mr. Ron Davey for a career dedicated to the service of the MSD of Lawrence Township and the community at large. Unfortunately, it looks like Mr. Dy was not able to be with us this evening, but we will make
083sure to include him in the planned fall dedication uh at the middle school renovation. Yes. So, at this time, I recommend the board approve the request for resolution authorizing naming of Bzer Middle School auditorium as submitted. Gosh, someone wants to move. Yes. Who would like to make a motion? Second. Okay. Miss Pucket made the motion. Miss Dunn properly seconded. Boards, any questions or comments before we move to the vote? All right. All in favor? I I none opposed. Okay, that has been properly um approved for naming the Bzer Middle School auditorium after Mr. Ron Davyy. Um Dr. Smith, would you like to explain um what we have out out front? And we do we will as we always do we do present the individual uh not only with the name but we also give them
084a copy of the resolution signed by the board of education as a keepsake. And so uh we'll make sure that Mr. Davyy we connect with him. Uh he is retired and does work for us sometime with Miss B Miss Bush but he is definitely retired and um I know Mr. Davey very well. goes back to my days as a principal uh a long time ago working very closely with Ron Davyy as a partner, a highly respected educator in this county and in the state. So, uh we can't wait to honor him in October. We will do that as a part of the dedication and uh so we're excited about it. So, we'll make sure Mr. Davyy receives his resolution. On to the next one, Madam President. All right, Mr. Kznik. Uh 3.02 2 approval of
085request for the authorization naming of Lawrence North High School community room. Madame President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, Dr. Geline is with us this evening and I am as a reminder last board meeting I brought to you a board resolution authorizing the name naming of Lawrence North High School community room. And as a reminder, Dr. Steven L. Gagline served as teacher at Lawrence Central High School and dean of students, assistant athletic director, assistant principal, and principal at Lawrence North High School. Dr. Gagline then served as executive director of secondary education, assistant superintendent, assistant director of systems integration, and chief technology officer for the MSD of Lawrence Township. Dr. Giggline was integral in the creation of the freshman center at Lawrence North High School. Dr. Gagline has imp impacted the lives of thousands of students
086and staff throughout the MSD of Lawrence Township community and beyond. And his efforts have brought a claim to Lawrence North High School and the MSD of Lawrence Township. Over the course of 37 years, Dr. Giggline demonstrated unquestionable loyalty to Lawrence North High School and the MSD of Lawrence Township community. The MSD of Lawrence Township Board of Education honors and recognizes Dr. Steven L. Giggline for a career dedicated to the service of the MSD of Lawrence Township and the community at large. It is my honor to again recommend the board approve the request resolution authorizing naming of Lawrence North High School community room as submitted. I'll entertain a motion. So move that one. I was going to hide. Yes. Doc. All right. Properly uh moved Dr. Mahaland and seconded. Miss Pucket. Yes. Okay. All right. Any
087questions or discussion? We'll move on to a vote then. All in favor of the naming of the Lawrence North High School community room in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right. It's properly moved and seconded and approved. Congratulations Dr. Gagline and board. We will come down front now for a presentation. [Applause] All right, the celebrations are continuing. We are moving on to 3.03. Approval of the personnel report. Miss Carla Johnson. Madame President, Dr. Smith and members of the board, approval is sought for the personnel report. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Miss Lawrence. Uh seconded, Miss Pucket. Any uh questions or comments on the uh personnel report? All right, we'll move to a vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right, the eyes have it. All right, and yes,
088Miss Carla Johnson has some spe some more special presentations to share. Indeed we do. What a night of celebration. This evening we would like to congratulate Mr. Corey McGarill for being named the principal of Fall Creek Valley Middle School. If he could come forward. [Applause] Effective July 1st, Mr. McGarrell brings 23 years of educational experience to this new role, having served as an assistant principal at Lawrence Central High School since 2018. It's an honor to be selected to lead the students, staff, parents, and community of Fall Creek Valley Middle School, says Mr. McGarrell. I look forward to working with the staff and the students and the families to foster a rigorous student centered learning environment where every student can achieve academic excellence and grow as a confident leader learner. According to Superintendent Dr. Sha Smith,
089Mr. McGarl brings a strong instructional background, a clear vision for student achievement, and a deep commitment to creating a positive and engaging school culture. look forward to the future of Fall Creek Valley Middle School under his leadership. Mr. McGarl began his teaching career in 2002 in Lebanon schools and later in Lawrence North High School where he taught social studies in grades 9 through 12 and served as an assistant football coach. After a brief sbatical, he returned to Lawrence Township. He came on home. He knew what to do. We took care of that in 2018 as an assistant principal at Lawrence Central High School. Mr. McGill earned a BS in secondary education and social studies from Indiana University in 2002. He went on to complete his leadership development program in special education at Purdue University prior
090to earning his master's degree in educational leadership at the University of Indianapolis in 2015. He and his wife Amanda, who works at Amy Beverlin Elementary, have two children in Lawrence Township schools. Marissa, she's 13, and Tucker, who's 11. You introduce your family. Let's all congratulate Mr. McGill. Come on down, Mr. McGirl. Come on down. Shake everyone's hands. Mr. McGirl. Thank you. Also, I also want to thank both Marissa and Tucker for enduring a social studies um you know, in a civics class during their summer break. So, thanks for your patience, guys. Congratulations. Congratulations, Cory. Yep. And he even has a green tie on now. He made that switch fast, didn't he? Yeah. And you have with you tonight your Yeah. Thank you again. Um joining me tonight is is my wife, uh Mandy, uh my
091daughter, Marissa, who will be joining I will be joining her now at Fall Creek Valley. Uh, and then my son Tucker who is gonna be in fifth grade at Crest View. Welcome. He's a character boy. [Applause] Next we have Mrs. DZ. If she could come forward this evening, the school board of Lawrence Township approved the appointment of Mrs. Diza Dz to the position of director of dual language. Miss DZ will transition to this new position on July 1st from Sunnyside Elementary where she has served the building as the building principal since 2021. She has previous experience as an assistant principal English as a new language teacher and a kindergarten teacher in the district. According to Superintendent Dr. Smith, Mrs. Stain's experience and intrinsic knowledge of language acquisition make her the ideal candidate to lead the
092district's continually growing and high demand dual language program. I'm confident both her leadership and her unwavering commitment to the families and students of our district. A native of Puerto Rico, Mrs. DZ attended Ball State University where she earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education with a concentration in English as a new language and a Spanish minor. She holds a master's degree in educational leadership from Uppui urban principal program. Regarding her new position, Miss Dana shares, "I look forward to expanding my role supporting bilingual education in Lawrence Township and empowering all dual language learners to thrive academically, socially, and linguistically. Mrs. DZ, her husband are district residents and parents, and they have three children, Maya, Michael, and Maverick in Lawrence Township schools as well. Congratulations [Applause] ulations. Congratulations student. And next we have Mr. Brett Krower
093who was approved this evening as our new director of secondary education. Mr. Krower will transition to this new role effective July 1st, 2025 from the principal at Lawrence North High School, a role he has held since 2011. He has additional previous experience as an associate principal, assistant principal, teacher, and coach at Lawrence North. Having spent all but one year of his professional career in Lawrence Township, Mr. Dr. Krower earned his bachelor of arts in history with a minor in psychology at Wbash College in 1995. He completed his master's degree at Butler University in the experential program for preparing school principles in 2004. Regarding his new position, Kouser shares serving as the principal at Lawrence North has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my career. I'm incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together.
094As I transition into this new role, I'm excited to continue supporting our schools, staff, students on a broader level, ensuring every learner has the opportunity to thrive at the secondary level in Lawrence Township. Dr. Smith shares that in his new role, Mr. Crousel will bring tremendous insight and experience to our district leadership team as we prepare to implement new graduation requirements and enhance workforce development opportunities for future graduates. His deep understanding of high school programming and dedication to student leadership will benefit students and families across the district. Congratulations. Go Wildcats. Well, well, go Lawrence Township. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. He's already got his district blue tie on, but there's some red in it, though. Yeah. Red. Who'd you bring? Go ahead, Carl. And he has with us this evening uh obviously my wife Angie who's
095been with us all 29 years here in Lawrence uh and my son Sam. All right. Thank you. Thank you for being here. All right. Wonderful. Congratulations. All right. What a great uh ending to our meeting. At this time, we'll move on to our final um administrator and board comments. Uh board, does anyone have any final comments they'd like to share? It's done. I um would just like to take a moment again. I feel like I am full of gratitude for the district, but when great things are happening, it's important to celebrate. Um and so I just want to say um thank you to all of those that worked so diligently on the Lily phase 2 grant. Um that is such an incredible incredible gift um from Lily and I know that we are working uh
096or soon to be working on phase three. So I think just huge kudos to this amazing amazing administration for their leadership there. Um and also want to say happy pride month. Miss Lawrence, thank you. I also echo happy pride. Um but also Dr. Smith, we have another state championship team. Dr. Mem Desmith to the microphone make the big announcement. We had a credible spring sports, but Mr. Krower brought another banner to us. You don't need that. How's that? Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, yes, congratulations to Lawrence North Wildcats. You know, there's a lot of about 400 high schools in Indiana and very few of them ever in the history of the school win a state championship, let alone do it at Lawrence North this year and win two in the same year. Uh, it's pretty
097remarkable. I think we take it for granted here. here in Marian County. Lawrence Township has a strong athletic history of state championships. They they are regular, but we really have to step back and look. It's pretty impressive to win two in a year. Uh their boys won it Friday night in boys track and field. Uh that's the fourth state title, I think, in boys or fifth state title in boys track. They won three in a row in the early 2000s. That's number five. I think they won 89. Is that right, Mr. Chris? Yeah, 89. Uh they had 47 points, outlasted Bloomington North 45 points. Uh so here's your interesting backstory. Um, four kids um, for Lawrence North competed and they all did really well. All four of those boys, three of them seniors were on
098the football team. If you might remember, they had the best team in the state, undefeated, running the table, maybe a very questionable horse color called the final waning moments, the regional I'm still upset about. Uh, and they didn't achieve that goal, but they kept pushing and even graduated, but on their way out brought a state title to school. So, pretty neat story. Very happy for coach Mallerie who coaches both the football and track teams and uh excited for the Wildcats win another state championship. Mr. or Dr. Nesbbit, there was also a pulout champion as well. Correct. That's right. We had a uh a girl that uh yeah Jenny had good strategery and um and outlasted the competition and won the pull vault championship. And LN has a long history of good pole vters. uh the
099longtime track coach there who the track is now named after Bob Potter was a pull vault specialist and still helps out the the track teams with their pull vaultters and and it was neat to see him. He worked the pull vault and got a picture with her and uh so that was pretty neat story. She had a record, didn't she? Was it a She did. I think school Yeah. A school record. Yeah. Excellent. Any other comments? Okay. Awesome. All right, Mr. Pucket. I should have added it during policy, but I did receive a few uh questions concerning this from the public, and it's concerning policy 166.1, the consent agenda. We do not go into detail on the consent agenda because of personnel matters and also because of legalities. If you do have questions concerning that,
100you can go to your building principal and they can share uh possibly more. But just wanted to give a overview on that policy and why we do not go into details concerning the consent agenda. Very good. Thank you for that. And Dr. Mahal, I just want to quickly say after such a wonderful week of uh the commencement celebrations for Lawrence North and Lawrence Central, um just to come here today and hear all of the excellent uh work and improvements around reading um um the math and language proficiency. Um and then to hear about the middle school students enrolled in the high school credit courses. I'm just as someone who has both a graduate from high school but now little ones um thinking about how we're just uh all the work we're doing to support students
101along the way. So, thank you so much. Very good. And uh congratulations to the the newly graduated class of 2025. Thank you to the team, to the teachers, all the staff, everyone involved in putting together two great nights. Um, I personally do have a graduate. So, I was thinking of this class as a whole from both high schools, what they've been through the last six years. Um, they were the class who was home the most during the pandemic in middle school and had such a big adjustment when they got to ninth grade. Then when they come into ninth grade, they're um under construction for the majority of their high school career. I mean, truly. But at the same time, I would say this will serve them well in the future. They will have resilience um
102you know that they've already endured and uh I just wanted to um point that out that they'll do great things. I mean all of our kids will but yes so thank you everyone and um I will turn this over to Dr. Smith board. Thank you for your hard work. Just a reminder, uh, we have two gentlemen that will have retirement celebrations over the next two weeks. So remember, you have, uh, a place to join us for that. And, Madam President, I don't have anything else. We have one more meeting for the month. Correct. I will, um, announce that. Uh, we will have our monthly board meeting. We will first start at 6:30 in the PD room for our student celebrations and staff celebrations. The champs are going to be here. Is that correct, team? We're
103bringing the champs here. we will recognize our spring sports winner including our state championship. Excellent. And that again that will be on June 23rd um here. So at that time at this time I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Properly moved. Miss Pucket seconded Miss Dunn. We are out. Thank you.