001president Dr Smith members of the ward uh tonight is the second step of our our second public hearing for our 1028 um public hearing this is our Blue Ribbon Phase 2 project that we are um planning to launch which would be our 2025 to 2029 elementary school expansion and renovation and energy conservation Project tonight with us once again is Mr Jeff quackin bush from Barnes & thornberg uh ready to present the legal aspects as well as Mrs Belia gray to speak on the financing aspects and I will at this time turn it over to Mr quakenbush thank you Mr miles Madame President members of the board Dr Smith it's a pleasure to be with you this evening so as uh Mr miles stated this is our second preliminary determination public hearing on these projects and
002financing um as we've done in the past when we've had our second preliminary determination public hearing on projects none of the information that was presented at the November 11th meeting has changed from tonight so you have a choice as a board whether to go through that entire presentation again uh and if you would like us to do that we would do that or you can wave that if no one in the community and the public wishes to have that presentation done at this point we can go directly to public comment so it's it's your pleasure whether you want us to go through that presentation or to just go directly to public comment if no one in the audience wishes to have that presentation board members need a presentation audience members need the presentation on the
0031028 again okay who done I did have one question at the last board meeting IID asked about the overall debt of the district and for public record could you please share what our overall debt is at this time sure sure I believe it's important for the members of the public to know sure yeah good evening um So currently the total outstanding indebtedness of the school corporation is 473 mil8 32,8 44 um to put that into context that is per capita a little under $3,900 per per um the population of the District of 121,000 and as a percent of net assess valuation 6.8% 6.8% and as a percent of gross assess valuation it's 4% thank you very much yep you're welcome so at this point if there are no other questions from the board then you
004should open it up to the public for any questions or comments they would have regarding just this project or this financing and then at the conclusion of that you can close the public hearing and move into your regular action items absolutely do we have any public comment this evening on this presentation there's no public comment we'll go ahead and close um the 1028 hearing now if you would stand with me we'll open our regly sched meeting Al 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 we did have a work session uh on the 11th um this is our first full board meeting since the election so I would like to formerly congratulate um Shayla M
005Holland on being our district one representative um Miss Amy Norman on our District 3 and um Miss Crystal Pucket on being our at large and a great thank you to um Eric Young for the campaign you ran um we will go on now to Blue Ribbon update Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board bills are Middle School serving lines are continue almost finished to reopen uh new hallway there just on the south side of the two serving lines uh new front facade uh entrance way the metal is being uh uh applied to the underneath and around the fascia bells are Middle School tennis courts uh well they look complete not quite we we'll finish the top coating and the painting uh one spring breaks and we get some more temperature uh bser
006Orchestra room is going back together uh it now becomes all ADA Compliant uh Paul Creek Valley a lot of hallway going back in flooring and wall covering small gym is two coats on they're stri in and Logo going on with two more codes fil F Creek Valley front entrance way way the uh metal is starting to go on the front entrance there tennis court same position we have all the concrete walkways in uh Landscaping will follow along with the fencing Walk Valley softball again the sidewalk and Landscaping a little more work to do there soccer scoreboards up and operational new lecc uh the new interior walls are progressing along with the MEP mechanical electrical and plumbing and also the uh more of the interior walls in office space and the exterior has started uh and
007they will continue to walk around the building they continue to do site work that is started this week week and we'll continue on thank you Bard do you have questions about the Blue Ribbon update I just had a question um I wanted to thank you it's it's looking really good will the athletic fields Outdoors be ready at the middle schools for the spring athletic season that's the plan we got the seating Dam grasses started so softball and baseball will be ready to go thank you there any more questions about the Blue Ribbon if there are no more questions about the Blue Ribbon thank you Mr Smith we'll move on to the Neola policy updates Dr harb Madam president Dr Smith members of the board on November 11th at the work session I brought forward uh
008Neola revision packet volume 36 number two for first reading I now bring the revision Vision packet back to you for second reading happy to answer any questions you might have school board do we have any questions on those new policies I did have um a question regarding two policies just for clarification policy 2623 and policy 5410 they're around student assessment and promotion placement and retention um I know that our policies are changed following state law and and I wanted to verify that this was in regards to the third grade retention rate um put out by the state and I did have a clarifying question um so the children are given the test for I at grade two and then if they do not pass how many attempts are they given in third grade to pass
009I know it said a total of three tries okay so they would have their first try and second grade and then two op opportunities in third grade the the March and if they don't pass in March summer assessment okay so there's an assessment in the summer you said okay yes okay and then that will go into effect this spring correct for correct third graders corre okay okay thank you that all I did we give the test to second graders this year yes we did um if there are no more questions on Neola policies we'll move to the financial update Mr miles thank you madam president uh tonight's financial report will include the last two months uh you may recall at our October meeting due to the timing of that meeting we did not have our
010September uh reports prepared so tonight you'll see both September and our October uh transportation and general fund reports first on the screen we've got our general fund um as it has been trending throughout the year again both our Revenue um outpacing our our projection so we're in a good place as well as our expenses less than originally projected so uh leaving a a um a better than expected or better than projected cash balance at the end a little over 17 million there onto the transportation fund likewise transportation fund through September in a good place uh with revenue and expenditures ahead of projection as well as our cash balance at the end of September just under $2 million as we move on to October see much much more of the same ending balance general fund at
011the end of the month is just over 18 million in the general fund and for transportation about $630,000 great Bo do you have a questions Mr miles we heard a moment ago uh the debt that we have incurred um as a district a little over $400 million can you help me reconcile I mean I know that in in business we often run in debt without without Revenue gain I'm not clear on how you balance that at a school corporation level with a debt that's almost half a billion dollars so good question um so our debts our debt debt is structured um and funded by our debt service funds and also by our so the revenue that we take from local taxpayers um collect that twice a year through our property taxes um also funded through
012our referendum so part of that debt that was mentioned earlier was approved um for those you know those larger projects through the high school so those funds completely separate we we submit that with part of our budget each year which was approved um a couple months ago and we will hear back from the state sometime later in December um with our new budget which will uh account for the funds to to fund that those debt payments so pardon my ignorance here um but is that common for other school districts to run a debt that high what we really what I don't I don't know exactly what how to compare our oh sure Belia is here we've got Belia great so hi there that's a very good question before I came here I was also looking
013at some um other districts in the area because Lawrence Township as Mr miles stated um you did approve a a referendum and so your your taxpayers did already approve a larger borrowing outstanding the the district that I looked at um was Washington Township and they would be I think most comparable to you because they also approved a large referendum several years ago and their outstanding debt right now is $413 million and so as I I mentioned the percentages of assess valuation so Lawrence townships is in the 6% range Washington townships is in the 5% range and so for some of our districts where you have growing enrollment the um you have growing enrollment you have a tax base that according to the standard and pores report can support the level of debt it is a
014little bit higher but the um the detail of the report that standard and pores provided said that based upon your growing enrollment and the economics of the school corporation that it felt very comfortable about the level of depth that you're supporting does that help and I I would like to ask what is our audit process every year what process do we use for the audit Mrs Gray ran away on that one so we go through an annual audit that's uh as one of the 10 largest school districts in the state we're subject to uh a gap account accounting audit which um we we because we're one of the largest districts that went into place um about four years ago um and so we go through an annual audit we convert our books from um a
015cash basis over to more of a business type um Gap system so it accounts for payables and receivables and so it gives a very accurate U uh view of where the district is financially um so once again we do that we do that annually each of those um audits has turned out variably and um when we when we do that audit we report our debt I'm sure right so what is our bond rating right now so we have a bond rating and I'm sure Mrs Gray probably is I see her grabbing papers right now we get that updated each time we have a a debt issuance and so standard repor comes up and it's the the rating is is sort of in two pieces and I'm going to let Mrs Greg thatl that yeah the
016so there are two components to the school corporation's ratings there's actually two ratings that you have outstanding one is your what they call the um issuer credit rating which is reflective of the the credit worthiness of the school corporation your current rating is a and it's stable so that means that standard employers thinks that over the next one to threee time frame you're likely to stay at that a level the second rating that the school corporation has is called um a um underlying or uh programmatic rating and that is based upon the school's eligibility for the state intercept program um the state intercept program is a program where if you meet certain criteria basically certain coverage levels you're eligible for like if for some unforeseen reason you were unable to um make your debt payments
017this uh intercept would kick in and make those payments that has happened almost zero times um in history but it does provide a bolstering component to your overall rating and that is a doua plus also stable can I ask a followup question president M president yes of course when was the when at what point was this rating given was that oh just a couple months ago August s so in August okay thank you very much thank you very much you're welcome Matt miles will you formally introduce your friend where does she work and what's her Capac I kind of skipped right over that thank you Dr Smith this is Mrs Belia Gray she's principal at Baker Tilly which is our bond counsel uh Municipal adviser Municipal advisor thank you I'm your Municipal adviser Bond Council
018Jeff Jeff thank you I'm here for all things Finance thank you yes anything else any other questions for me I don't think so thank you very much for your information appreciate it okay so um if there are no more questions from the board um we will go on to um our committee reports and Miss done we just did policy so please help us with this yes so it looks like we have policy revision packet volume 36 number two has been moved to Second reading and is ready for board approval and Publishing should we vote on that this evening moving forward the policy committee will work on administrative guideline revisions packet 36 number two there are 11 guidelines needing revision lastly uh this past Friday Dr harburger received a new revision packet volume 37 number two
019the update includes proposed revisions to seven policy two new proposed policies and proposed revisions to four administrative guidelines um and that will come before the board in the next uh several months thank you again to Dr harburger for your work on this and thank you Miss Dunn for reading and editing it's a lot I got new glasses did you notice yeah okay um Parks and Recreation Miss Pucket yes uh the Parks and Recreation we have the Winter Market taking place um on Thursdays there are numerous Thursday dates so you can visit cityof lawrence.org to see specifically what Thursdays that those are I have them here but that's a very long list um and they are taking place at the at the community center um also we have our Winterfest coming up which my family and
020I look forward to going to um that will be on where did it go hold on it's the whole thing hold on so it's November 30th through January 5th Winterfest hold on you guys let me scroll back through Saturday 30th there we go thank you guys on the 30th and that too will be in Civic Plaza um we also have um the parch board uh we have the golden hour game days on Thursdays from 11: to 12: p.m. for our lovely senior community and that will be at the Lawrence Community Center thank you sorry they were not in order but it's quite all right uh Miss Norman do you have a report for the foundation please yes I do the thanks for giving reception recent ly for donors was a success we enjoyed great performances
021by our own Lawrence Township students uh please consider LT School foundation on giving Tuesday December 3rd the we have set a goal of raising $2500 on that day and a lot of companies match and then finally uh teachers the ne the next edex shopping day is Monday December 9th from 1: to 5:00 p.m. here on the second flooor and that's all I have okay that's all we have for our committee reports we will move on to our action items the first action item is the approval of the 1028 preliminary determination resolution Mr miles please at this time I ask the that the board approve the 1028 resolution as presented so moved second properly moved and second seconded is there any further discussion on the 10 28 all those in favor I I any opposed we
022will move forward to the approval of the early childhood education programming and fees M oh oh I'm sorry you're right curriculums I'm sorry Mr thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board I recommend approval of the curricular advisory recommendations as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded any further conversation all those in oh yes please I do want to say how much it is appreciated I was at an event at Lauren Central the open house and I was talking to um members of the CTE program and they were extraordinarily excited about the new recommendations and so uh just want to give thanks to that committee for the hard work that they put into bringing us such fantastic recommendations and thank you so much for leading that Mr notor so all in favor
023I and any opposed I heard five eyes so I don't think so I guess we passed our curriculum uh we will now we will move on M cl to um the approval of the early childhood education programming and fees thank you president must Dr Smith members of the board tonight I ask for your approval for the presentation that was shared on the 11th so moved second properly moved and seconded any any other discussion all those in favor I I any opposed okay with the eyes have it we will now move on to the approval of the Craig Academy that is uh M Mr KCK and Dr Brown Madam president Dr Smith members of the board at the November 11th work session the team shared information concerning the proposed Craig Academy this included two recommendations one
024approval of the programmatic concepts for the building and two approval of a name change from lecc to Craig Academy recommend the board approve as submitted do have a motion to approve so move second second properly moved and seconded we have um some members of the public that would like to speak to this um so I would like to Now call Mr Eric Young forward please uh Mr Young we we we do know you but state your name and your address and we'll have three minutes for comment and then there we have about uh four people scheduled to speak so I would just ask that once a a point is made just in the interest of time to move forward okay thank you all right good evening um Eric Young 8354 teista Circle um I was
025glad to learn about the future of Craig at the last meeting I would like to bring up a few questions of or points for you to consider um first thank you for adding some estimates around the cost to tonight's presentation that's on the board docs this information is very much needed and I think allows you the board to make an informed decision and fulfill fill your promise of fiscal responsibility there was much discussion at the last meeting about current staff transferring to Craig prep I understand some staff may make this choice but I implore the board to ensure we are backfilling those positions thus the cost of the resulting new hire should still be included in the cost of Craig prep as you know we currently have many open teaching positions and teachers have been
026raising alarms about the current class sizes further signal a need for more teachers the presentation of Craig prep indicates that we need this Academy to compete with Charter and private schools can you please share with us the names of the charter and private schools that are currently offering this type of Academy and what has been their enrollment Trend can you please share the market research you've conducted that shows the strong desire for a school like Craig prep what will be the success criteria of Craig prep could you help me better understand the process of student selection for Craig prep I know you've said it will mirror the current school choice process but how does that work will there be considerations given to ensure there is diverse mix of students at Craig prep meaning all achievement
027levels genders racial groups and socioeconomic levels and if so how are those considerations incorporated as reported at the last meeting we lost 386 students to Charter and private schools how many of these students left for a school that offers what Craig prep will offer we also lost 80 students to HSC and 91 to Mount Vernon why did those students leave I know some students leave because of family move but I also know that we have quite a few families who choose to live within the LT District but send their students to a different school after having having attended an LT school we also have many teachers leing The District in recent months I have talked to many many teachers and families in our community and the repeating theme I've heard is that student behavior is
028a huge problem perhaps our number one problem I was told over and over again that students are not held accountable and do not have consequences this is not only a secondary school problem it's at all levels my request to the board tonight is to postpone your vote on this matter to allow time to make sure this is the absolute best use of this building and the best use of our money we need to have more focus on improving student Behavior perhaps an expanded quote unquote alternative school program that could help with student Behavior would be a good use I would also suggest if you have extra money that needs to be spent maybe we can look at a better funding for our schools so teachers and parents are not funding clinics Expo markers calculators and
029theik thank you for your comments Mr Young uh next I have we appreciate your comments um Miss Amanda [Music] Rose we'll wait till the till the dingy dingy start stuff yeah we'll set we'll wait till we set I was like I don't get five minutes seven you get more than zero we'll get this set for you it's fine can I go ahead and identify myself before absolutely all right um I'm Amanda Rose co-president of the Lawrence Education Association and also a resident of Lawrence Township I live at 852 East 56 Street [Music] Sheila would you like me to do an alarm on all right good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members MERS of the board typically when I address the board it is on behalf of the teacher members that I serve tonight however
030I'm speaking to you on the behalf of the students of Lawrence Township for the data shared at the work session on November 11th our district has over 16,000 students 85% or over 13,000 of whom are students of color and 45% or over 7,000 of whom are African-American it concerns me that we are committing to serving only 200 students initially and up to 400 at full enrollment at Craig Academy with a focus on African-American culture that is only 6% of our African-American students and 3% of our students of color when fully enrolled how is this Equitable to the many students of color in our district in addition with the set enrollment limits this proposal is perpetuating the class- siiz inequity we are already experiencing across the district and that this board has committed to exploring through
031a distri district committee since 2018 our schools have seen a tremendous growth in multilanguage Learners and while I can anticipate the response to that being the increase of our immersion programs I would counter with how does this help the ever growing number of Haitian students who do not speak Spanish but Haitian Creole or French our Spanish speaking students too are not always benefiting from the emerging program when they are working primarily in their home language of Spanish without enough English instruction or English supports we have so many students in our district that would benefit from an environment focused on the African diaspora an environment of small smaller class sizes and environment filled with the Cadence contribution and pride of the African-American culture so why wouldn't this be a focus in all of our schools finally
032I am concerned that this proposal was begun in 2018 but in the last two years as Leo Lea co-president there have been no additional committee meetings involving Lea members even though the November 11th board presentation stated that the committee was reconvened in 2023 once again teachers are expressing frustration that they are not only not being heard but are not even welcome at the table for these reasons I urge you at a minimum postpone this vote on Craig Academy until a more fully inclusive and realized plan can be put into place thank [Music] you thank you so much Miss Rose um next up we have Miss K [Music] oie good evening Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I'm Carrie Obie vice president and member organizer of the Lawrence Education Association I'm going to skip
033I have to ask why it is necessary to vote on the programmatic elements of Craig Prep Academy tonight there are many questions from teachers and community members that have never been answered by District administration across the many times these proposals have been brought forth as an organizer for a teachers union my role is to bring teachers together around an issue when I saw this was on the agenda for a vote i s out a call for input through an anonymous survey to our members like the push back we experienced during contract negotiations our methods and motives were called into question it's disheartening to see that the concern of teachers are often overlooked or dismissed by administrators we know schools met resistance from their principles for asking questions about the proposal and the distribution of the
034survey this contributes to a strain relationship between the two groups ultimately hindering our ability to provide the best possible education for our students we believe that open communication and collaboration between Administration and teachers are essential for creating positive and productive learning environments a Hallmark of a healthy Community is how we handle conflict and have courageous conversations I urge the board the cabinet and each of our administrators to pause and listen our teachers are ready to stand up and fight for all of our schools we want your support in our work moving forward for the 76% of respondents who question this proposal I'm calling for a postponement of this vote and a more robust and detailed plan can be delivered thank you thank you Miss Obie uh Mr Eric Marty please good evening uh I am
035Eric Marty uh co-president of laa addresses 3101 winther Bing uh I am speaking tonight on the topic of the proposed Craig prep academy uh I firmly believe that it is imperative that we provide an inclusive and culturally responsive um curriculum for all students in our district in survey in surveying our membership of over 300 teachers a frequent question asked was why we would want to limit this opportunity to only 100 students at each of two grade levels eventually expanding to four grade levels when we have thousands who could benefit from this proposed curriculum and similar possibilities our bilingual students um students of other uh nationalities and ethnicities our lgbtq students just to name a few other subgroups equally deserve to learn from a curriculum that celebrates their identity and allows them to explore the roots
036of their resp respective cultures this is especially important as some of our national and state leaders in the political Arena have ostracized and targeted some of those very same communities and students incorporating such curriculum into all our schools and providing our staff with the appropriate support and training would truly set our district apart even further as a district of destination within This concerns have also been raised by our members in regards to the admission process um outside of implementing an application and Lottery process not much has been shared about how the district plans to fairly choose which students will have access to this opportunity I think offering more specifics on this process would help address some concerns and create more buyin amongst teachers who can then promote the academy through their own personal networks thank
037you thank you so much Mr Marty we appreciate all of you who have taken the time to come here and speak to us with us tonight um board um Miss Norman do you have questions you you sure sure uh yes yes comment some questions so first of all I don't want to reiterate what comments were made however I do um think that there are some ongoing concerns that I personally have um as a member of the board um I think first and foremost um we've heard tonight about the cost of or the debt that we have um in the district and we know that running another building our new administration building with custodial cost overhead deferred or maintenance over the years plus the maintenance of this building we've not seen a rundown of what that
038cost would be over the years which is concerning we've seen costs such as potential staff um but we also haven't seen the cost of time over time what that would look like in addition when this was first proposed it was in 2018 since the last board meeting as Miss must shared we have had an election an election where we know um that there are going to be potential impacts to members of our community Lawrence Township currently has 25% of our staff who or I'm sorry of our students who are identified as English Learners we do not know how many of those students may choose to stay in Indiana due to unfortunately the election and the results of that election at a recent meeting that I attended from Exodus and Catholic Charities the annual Refugee um
039collaboration it was shared by Cole Varga the executive director of Exodus that we have over 10,000 Haitian members of our community that are on temporary protective status it is the hope of Donald Trump to remove to protective temporary protective status for Haitian immigrants to this country if that happens it will have a massive impact not just on Lawrence Township but also to other districts throughout Marian County we are relying on an increase in enrollment to do the work that we are asking the community to support yet we are not guaranteed that the enrollment will continue to increase I am very very very concerned as not just somebody who sits on this board but also as an education an educator in a neighboring District about the impact that this will have I've also seen how places
040like Logansport that have a very large immigrant population that uh we've had the attorney general that is asking for records for undocumented students it is a scary time and one in which I am very concerned about taking on more debt in a district where we already are over almost a half a billion dollars in debt I also am concerned that there is not a full fleshed out plan for the I 3 we will be passing policy about why or what we have to do um for the retention of students who do not pass I 3 unfortunately that is going to hit home very hard here in Lawrence and throughout Central Indiana and the state as a whole we have not identified what the funding sources are to ensure that we are continuing to educate those
041students who will be retained that is not maybe they will be retained but right now sv1 states that they will be retained and we do not know the financial implications that this has for one year two years three years four years five you get my drift in addition the number of students cons served is of concern um I also agree that the curriculum should be offered across the district I'm also concerned that we don't know that we have Partners it was shared that there are potential partners for the adult education but yet we don't have a fully um there's not a contract in place we don't know if Excel or crystal house doors or another partner is willing to partner with us and finally I believe it is important to listen to our community this
042is the first time I've sat on this board where I've seen a number of people that have spoken on behalf of something inviting us to postpone a decision and I would respectfully request that we listen to members of our community on this and postpone this decision thank you Miss St M Norman yes um thank you for that I think we just need some time for the seeking to understand peace I'm overall very supportive of this I um I did have a question of the the union I know that they had said they already conducted a survey of about 300 teachers is that correct is that only of teachers union members or is that of other teachers around the district because I know we have over 60% teachers who are not in the union so I
043want I didn't know if they were also included in that discussion or if it violates anything I'll speak to that as the Lawrence Education Association we represent all teachers whether they are members or not we speak for our people that respond to our surveys whether they are members or not we speak for teachers yeah and I appreciate that I just didn't know if the survey was actually sent to non-union members as well I just wanted that clarification because we are here we want to seek to understand the entire community and as mentioned students are part of our community um have we sought more input on what the students and even those of us as parents were seeking as well so um th those are the only comments that I had the other questions I had
044have already been asked so thank you done I'm sorry I did that last night Miss Norman I share your similar concerns I think um I think the educational components of this program as was stated before would be incredibly valuable for our community as a whole um limitating to 400 students has me a bit concerned I also am concerned that the uh task force was convened in 2018 and that was a lifetime ago it was a pandemic ago it was a school district that's changed significantly uh and as a member of this board I do feel that while I appreciate having some addition um figures added to the proposal um it was done in a PowerPoint and not necessarily as a as a business proposal and I have concerns um to the piece that Miss dun
045spoke about um the increasing costs that we as a district are bearing as we know um from the last board meeting we have gone into deficit spending to pay down our health insurance for our teachers um and that is of significant concern um my first and uh my first Duty as a board member is to ensure that we use our taxpayer dollars wisely I'm very supportive of having uh you know curriculum that helps support the majority of our community and I think it's critically important that we do so but I feel there needs to be more time and more vetting done with our community members and with other partners to ensure that we uh are actually carrying out the will of our community thank you very much Miss Pucket I have a question I was
046reading through our notes from last meeting um Dr Smith can you elaborate on um the portion where it says uh that utilizing this building as a school would be protecting our building as assets for our district just wanted to can you elaborate on that well I think uh I have something else after that certainly if we don't utilize the building which we already this point of clarification we currently have students that are in this building we have Lawrence Advance Academy which is our high school Alternative Program public and we also have Miss NE Meer several special needs students that are receiving services in the building so we want to make that point of clarification but if the building is not utilized it could become open to Charter Schools if they so choose to take it
047so it is important for us to utilize Craig as a school building and I'm going to continue to recommend that to the Board of Education that we do Place students in this building so that's part of the proposal and that's all I have but they answer your question ma'am oh yes is there a time limit or a time frame on on that like if it's is there a term to that that is there a deadline for that in order to or I'm hoping that I'm phrasing that correctly I I think there is a deadline uh I would have to get more specifics with that if we were not utilizing the building for something that yes a school could come in and asked to take part of the building or take the building and I do
048appreciate every everything that was shared today it is something to think about um but it's it's a continuance of a continued concern of mine of us having these concerns before we get to they asked um I received your questions on Friday we have to continue to have these question or have this dialogue amongst each other also because now this this needs to be processed this needs to be taken in I would love to it is not the what it's the how that I will continue to like to have a part of what you're thinking and these ideas so I could have input and so that I can also have an ability to conversate with that and I that's not a jab I sincerely mean that well and I I I respect that I think a
049lot has happened in the last two weeks especially since the election as I alluded to in the comments that made this happen and especially comments that I've received from the public in the last just over the last 48 hours so this has really been one of those things that has I think a lot of members of the public were um not aware that there would be a vote on this this evening and so I think that that's where I respectfully ask not to vote Yes or no but just like you there's been a lot that we've had to process with the election and other things and how that may impact the District of is there a world where we can just postpone and get more information from the community okay and then the postponement what
050would that affect how would that Dr Smith what would be the if there was a post I work for you guys you guys tell me what's going on right there a lot of things that have been said that I didn't hear tonight for tonight and so I respected the board people have to understand I work for the board and so you tell me what it is this is always important is there a percentage that the school has to be utilized and uh and we don't plan on having students in this proposed program until 2027 so it seems to me as though there is a bit of time we're currently utilizing the building which seems in adherence to State statue in order to protect june5 but it was my understanding that it was about students using
051the building building is being used as Administration that will change in June 2025 because we will take POS understood but I heard you say and correct me if I'm wrong that it needs to be used used for students we have students in the building that's that's right we do have students and and so that's not from my understanding of The Proposal that's not changing in any way so we would still be inherence with still have students in the building but we will be working to we renovate the building to have new school in the building so no one would be able to take the building we're moving in that direction and more than 50% of will be used at that time when we get to know for the go filling so we are protecting our
052asset okay so a few questions is it the 50% is that the mark that you're saying yes it's 60 I don't have laws on yeah 60% um and and would it be reasonable to assume that if we don't have students in but the building is under renovation for classrooms for the children that that would be protected okay don't okay right okay so I had you have a couple questions um regarding custodial and maintenance um Mr Smith we are already paying for custodial and maintenance in this building correct correct they're still under our districtwide maintenance program so that side of it would not change that would not change U but if we put more students in here we may have to add one more person uh to cover the space that it's utilized and that would
053be through a growth as the plan suggests right now we're we're doing all of Upstairs Downstairs in the lower level currently so we're taking care of the building already so that wouldn't be an issue um I would like to say from an historical point of view um that in 2018 we were having this conversation and um like many of the people many of our public who's spoken tonight and the board um we were concerned that um we needed to have a universal program in our school that protected our children um protected them um and so we started our Equity policy and that was not a shortterm um um Endeavor we worked on that for two years uh we had a survey of over 2,000 um respondents and um we have worked very hard with our
054public to create Equity standards to remove barriers for all children because we too felt at the time and still that all of our children need to have barriers removed having said that um I would like um a couple of things questions we began an immersion program in and it started small and because the program was so popular um Mr notor could you kind of give us a background on how that program has grown and built over time because there was such a need for it briefly sure if you can so originally uh began with Force Glenn students from Force Glenn matriculated to Craig Middle School to Lawrence North and I believe there were two classrooms of 25 each so there were 50 children in each classroom yes originally and then um several years later it
055was decided that Forin would become completely dual language so completely Spanish Immersion um by that time Craig had closed and so feeds into F Creek Valley and then Lawrence north um with the um large influx of Spanish speakers as well as the uh Community demand of English speakers to become bilingual um dual language was expanded to Skyles test Elementary to uh Sunnyside Elementary as full dual language two-way schools um one-way dual language was put in place at Harrison Hill Elementary Indian Creek Elementary uh Mary Castle Elementary um with the plan that Skyles test as well as some of the oneway programs would matriculate to Belzer those students are now eighth graders at Belzer and then on to Lawrence Central for next year so that that program has grown exponentially thank you very much um I
056I'll I'll I'll give you the floor in a moment um so um could you also give us a little bit of a background on when you were principal at Belzer and your HonorBound and how we marketed that to our families and what the response was and how what that program is today and what were the results what were the outcomes sure so the the need really um at that time when I was principal was around meeting the needs of a potentially High achieving African-American young men and recognizing that we as a school were greatly underserving that population and so began a program called HonorBound um where students were invited to participate um who really had the potential to excel academically if they were in the right environment where it was cool to be smart where
057it was school to to get good grades and um the students have excelled have excelled uh not only at the middle school but in AP courses at the high school um several have have graduated and and most have gone on to college but that program really and it it's still in existent today so this what we're talking about the evened in terms of Craig prep is not taking the place of any of the programming that we currently have going in in the district but it's about another way to meet students needs in a smaller environment so the the parent input um at that for that program um was really the sentiment that it was long overdue and now we're going on that was almost 15 years ago um that that was was long overdue and
058so really very well received by the community very much appreciated by the community um and again has shown success for for those students and then can you tell me what what you would foresee if the demand for this program exceeds the space we have available here as a district we have always been committed to meeting the needs of our community and as those needs are expressed either through um where students choose to go to school or students on a weight list um that's really how the the um Spanish imersion program expanded was because the weight list had had gotten to be significant we work to provide programming to meet the needs of our families so that there's not weight list that families get what they want and that were able to meet their needs so
059if demand exceeds the space in this building you could foresee um Dr Smith the possibility of expanding this program into more schools okay and I and I um I would like to thank everyone involved in Lawrence Township um particularly Dr Smith when you came to this District um it was a new phase of drilling down to the needs of every individual's child and um that has made all the difference and I think that's why you see and I sound like a broken record but you see this graduation rate of 95% with 1% waivers because we drill down to the needs of every single child um Lawrence Academy Advance Academy was a new program that we um instituted in this building and it has proven to give our high schoolers um an a wonderful chance to
060for credit recovery and um to make that graduation happen for them um I think that's those are my questions those are my comments Miss D do you have thank you so I do have a question U Mr notor um Forest Glenn started in the district as um my understanding a gentrification of dual language of trying to keep primarily white families in the district because they were leaving to go to um the international school is that correct well that was back in 1994 started speak that which I think that that's historically is something that um is very well known um across Central Indiana I also know that the expansion of the programming is a result of the 25% of English Learners that we have who are primarily Spanish speaking and the fact that that uh the
061Dual language is in fact based on Research one of the Premier top tier ways to ensure that students are acquiring English correct as well as becoming bilingual and biliterate tremendous programs for sure I do wonder what research we have on the curriculum that we are wanting to employ does it have the same type of research where have we gotten that research because I think what Miss must is bringing up is a very valid point that there are some programs that we have expanded that research has shown are the right things to do and I guess I'm just curious in in terms of a program that is just in one school that's apocentric what is the research on that is opposed to ensuring that all students across all schools are getting access to that yeah and
062and the research for Afrocentric education is not quite as strong as the Dual language research that you're you're alluding to but really this proposal is about a small school environment with an Afrocentric Focus so it's not about it being Afrocentric it's about it being small um that families have the opportunity to make that choice of I want my students to be part of a class of 100 as a seventh grader or an eighth grader as opposed to a class of 600 or 500 at our larger middle schools so the the small school really is the focus which is great for those students right the small school but it's for those 200 or 300 or 400 students that have access uh small class sizes though we know that research shows that smaller class size show improve
063academic outcomes across the board correct um I'm not familiar with that particular particular research I'm familiar with research that indicates that a range of class size is Optimum for academic needs the class sizes of 33 34 that in some of our class in some of our schools are not conducive necessarily to the best learning environment and I think that that's where my focus is on student outcomes for the whole District um and what those student outcomes are going to look like for all of those students the students who are not part of the small school I also am curious as to how this is a line to the equity work because I did not see this as any of the goals or um any of our metrics of having a school like this with the
064equity audit so I may have missed something in that but I I don't believe that that was part of the equity audit so I just want to make sure this school was not part of theity audit right but it was when we first discussed this school we decided to make our Equity work District what okay does that right but it wasn't necessarily a recommendation nor is it aligned any of our goals our board goals as it pertains to student outcomes just want to make sure I'm not okay thank you board do we have any more questions I'll just have a quick comment um again just from lived experience as having um a young black male within our Township and I have the experience of having a high ability student who's needs were not met in
065education and the byproduct of that is a a smart child who's bored that's in my experience where some in my experience where some of the behavioral concerns came from and became a focus on behavior and not so much on the intellect of my child and so just as a mother who has experienced um and I am grateful and that's and that's one of the reasons why I chose to serve is because I do have some experiences within our Township like I said I am Lawrence for me is like a marriage it's not the things that are great that keep you there it's those things that you e and flow and you choose to grow with and so I'm grateful for the high ability review that makes it to where children um like my son um
066were able to be I identified and and be able to have their needs met I say that to say he was in the third grade when this cycle started his first teacher of color was when he was in the sixth grade and it was his best year representation matters I hear all of the concerns that we are we are expressing there's things that I wish I could say and I can't say at at this day as right now but what I do know is I have a child who's now majoring in engineering as a mother I always saw it there I just needed those I needed the support to push my son and Dr harsh barer you already know you kept me in this District you remember them conversations I had with you so I
067say that to say just from lived experience I know I was a mother that looked at other um other schools for my child CU I wanted my son to have a smaller environment I wanted him to have an environment where he had a cultural awareness um and I saw for for myself and I'm a and I am we are a family that focuses on heart health not on color not on anything else are the heart health of our family are you a decent human being that treats people right but my son noticed and I saw as a parent that my son had a tremendous change in the sixth grade and the only thing that really changed was that he had a teacher of color that recognized and could identify and so and there were cultural
068nuances there were things that made him enjoy learning again so I say that to say that is part my lived experience is part of my why for the Craig Academy yes I do have I have a lot of questions I have a whole onslaught of questions um again I appreciate the dialogue here um but again that's just my experience as a parent and why I do support yes I do continue to want to look forward to be answering these questions and um leaning in to these things but as a parent and as also neighbors friends who have thought about leaving um because this is needed and I'll digress there my comment thank you very much Bo if there are no further comments um the proposal to approve the Craig Academy has been moved been seconded
069um we'll be ready for a vote all those in favor I I I opposed nay I'll be abstaining I don't have the information good accurate this evening all right we have approved the Craig academy uh we will move on to the approval of Neola policies Mr harbart Dr barer I will get it right before my last meeting I'll answer to pretty much anything um Madame President Dr Smith members of the board earlier I brought to you for second reading volume 36 number two Neo revisions I now recommend the board approve those as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded is there any discussion on this Neola policies all in favor of those approvals I I any opposed we have approved the Neola policies Adam president I move we treat action items 5.06 through 5.12
070as consent agenda you have a second second um properly moved and seconded is there any discussion all in favor of the consent agenda I I opposed um and just for our public again we we've said this before but um our um consent agenda um are are not what You' call Big Ticket items our consent agenda uh our minutes from the last meeting approval of personnel reports the approval of claims the approval of service agreements the approval of pay apps and building project payments um the approval of fundraisers and field trips and so are um are the types of of business um approvals we have to we have to take care of once mon um so um I move approval of the consent agenda you have a second second properly moved and seconded all those in
071favor of approving the consent agenda hi hi hi we have approved our consent agenda which brings us to our board comments um we had a lot of comments this evening already but do we have any um concerns or celebrations we haven't discussed congratulations to all the the students we celebrated today I mean that's why we're truly here and to all the staff and parents who drive them to practice and do all the things so that was a a wonderful night um I also want to congratulate everyone at the state and local level on the recent elections uh one of the unique uh I guess tight RPP walks we serve as board members as being nonpartisan and during this election cycle I got to uh interact with both sides of the aisle and it was encouraging
072that there are some people who understand our role um and other people who want us to be very one-sided but I just want to thank the public for um just coming out and sharing their heart too we got to interact with a lot of people in Lawrence who we normally wouldn't get to to meet and just so many wonderful things some feedback we'll have to talk about but um yeah so budget's coming up thank you thank you bucket I share the same sentiment um the caign thank you I thank you to the public for the vote to retain my seat and the con I literally had thousands of conversations and so um some were some sandpaper conversations they rough you up to smooth you out people are very passionate and I can honestly say that
073um it is a it was a blessing to hear everything that I heard 11 meet and greets speaking at churches I had never went that hard and I tell you that it was an absolute blessing to which I'm already out just from the other work that I do but the conversations and the love for our community I saw the secretary from Harrison Hill when I went to Harrison Hill she knew my name and I don't know if that's good or bad but she knew my name I saw Mr major an educator of mine who saw the gold in me as a child and pulled that and actually he literally because I always I mean I often say that um our our leaders who show their leadership skills a little differently that we may call them
074difficult they just need to have those skills cultivated and it was um Mr Majors that saw that Skilling me as a child so I say that to say it was so many conversations that were had that continued to root me in why I'm in Lawrence just born bred and love it here and so I'm grateful and I am I am honored to continue to serve and continue to hear from every point of view that is one thing I am passionate unfortunately I'm not emotional and it's been a blessing to share that passion and hear the passion of others and see how I can continue to serve in this capacity so that's my comment so thank you thank you all um I would like to um congratulate um Mr Ron Davy and Miss Tracy means for
075all the work you've done over the years our Lawrence Advance Academy I see that's a that's a 10year trajectory now we celebrated that a few weeks ago and if you look at our graduation rate from 10 years ago it goes like this thank you thank you thank you for all your hard work we appreciate you very much there are so many celebrations in our district um I'm leaving too many out um we the district got a wonderful award from U the national um n [Music] National Lang English English English language Learners uh the national organizational yes and um Dr Smith was recognized on behalf of the district for the for the incredible work we have done which is huge for in our English language learning and our dual language which is an incredible honor and
076a national recognition um our next meeting will be um December 16th on Monday and we will begin at 5:30 Dr Smith do you have comments for us this evening oh did I I thought they said they had none yeah Happy Thanksgiving everybody has a great break yeah I also no that's okay but I also want to take a moment and congratulate um vice president Norman as well as secretary Pucket um and I'm very excited to work um with Miss mahand so excited for the new year and we've only got one more board meeting so yeah and thank you for your service we'll certainly be celebrating you at the next board meeting president must thank you so much I have no com comments board look at their eyes thank you all for good night everyone meeting
077yeah thank you we are adjourned oh we we need to moved to be adjourned so moved and now we're Jour thanks for um thank you all for really good really good