001say this Pledge of Allegiance with me thank you Al flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and board we have some above and beyond Bo join me good evening Madame President Dr Smith members of the board and guests we are excited to bring to you tonight our above and beyond recipients could Patrice Carmen please come forward right next to M Johnson congratulations to Mrs Patrice Carman administrative assistant at ELC Amy Berlin for being selected to receive the above and beyond award Mrs Carmen consistently takes care of all staff at ELC Amy Berlin she shows initiative demonstrates excellent customer service with our families and addresses challenges way before they become problems we never have to worry when Miss
002Coleman is leading the office we're honored to present to you the above and beyond award congratulations [Applause] m c yes you come on over a little bit right perfect right here please one two three congratulations do you have family attending that you like to introduce have my mom and my brother all right thank you very next up we have Leonardo carvalo congratulations to Mr Leonardo caral our head custodian at Forest Glenn Elementary School for being selected to receive the above and beyond award Mr carvallo's work ethic is unparalleled and he is an incredible asset to Forest Glenn he often arrives early and stays late to make sure his work is done to the highest level Forest Glenn recently experienced a flood over one weekend Mr carvalo not only returned to the school after his shift
003but also remained until 3:00 a.m. ensuring all the water was cleaned up and fans were set up he then returned to check on the progress the next day this is just one example amazing comes to mind when discussing Mr carvalo thank you so much thank you so much we apprciate Paparazzi here all right right here one two three congratulations your cousin [Applause] this is a combined work session and uh and regular monthly meeting so we will move on to our information items our Blue Ribbon update Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board October 6 was a exciting day for the high school and School District in this community as we dedicated uh both high schools on that Sunday afternoon LC ribbon cut cutting ceremony as well as Ln ribbon cutting ceremony we
004continue on with the blue uh Belzer Middle School serving lines two of the four uh nearing completion hallways uh staff restrooms this is all new facility uh ful Creek Valley we continue uh demoing the hallways and entryways and we're almost done with Fall Creek Valley orchesta room hopefully in the next two weeks uh the auditorium we're putting in a new uh stage floor and also the acoustical panels going up here at LCC the bridge work is nearing completion we have some raing and some cating goes on and that'll wrap this project up continue on with the new LEC uh C work uh steel the erection of the major steel is almost finished uh roof decking and metal stud walls will be next Bo any questions or comments for Mr Smith I just have a comment
005the ribbon cutting ceremony was wonderful highlights were seeing the new pool at Lawrence Central um after I had heard about the um hot tub that had previously been there and also um interacting with alumni who came back and just seeing the excitement on their faces of the changes of both high schools so thank you anyone else oh I do yes um and I this was a question that I had asked earlier in the week so just want to make it public um I was asking I was asked about the wrestling rooms concerning Elsie and Ellen can you um give us an update on the if there's any differences within the wrestling rooms uh they're pretty much same one's a little bit larger than the other but uh three wrestling mats will be hosted in each
006one I believe all right thank you I think rer question is to relocate explain the relocation yes we did have to relocate their existing one which was behind the bleachers uh up above the gymnasium we moved that and put that second floor above the commons area which allowed us to put the uh move the wrestling room out from behind the uh bleachers into their own room more seats well yeah we added a a whole new second uh level in the uh gymnasium that uh as a result of moving the wrestling room we were able to add seating to the gymnasium okay but for both of the school they do mirror as far as amenities and yes thank you if there's no more questions we'll move on to the graduation rate update Mr good evening Madam
007president Dr Smith members of the board even though it was last June when we gathered together at the Indian Fairgrounds for our two High School graduations our high school is actually have till the end of September to help students graduate as of October 1st report that for the second year in a row our graduation rate for La Township is 95% you look at the different diploma types we had 7% of our students received a general diploma 64% received a core 40 and back on% the general 60% received a core 40 and 34% received an honor it's also important to note uh that we had down to only 1% that graduation rate of 95% does reach your board goal of maintaining over a 93% graduation rate the next layer to your to your board goal is
008looking at our different racial subgroups so up first with your black student subgroup graduating at a rate of 95% on this slide i' like to point out the honors diploma rate going from 25% up to 30% whichs that our goal of raising it by 5% next slide is our Hispanic student subgroup graduation rate of 92% up 3% for our honors diplomas from 24 up to 27% that's up 3% just shy your board goal but it's significant increase considering a growing student population next subg group is our white student population 97% graduation rate a 4% honors diploma increase and our last data slide here will be our multi-racial student subgroup at a 93% graduation rate uh the math teacher and me will point out that the percentages are very volatile on a slide like this because
009they're talking about a small subg group so one or two students one way or the other can drastically change your percents so that's a lot of data we always want to provide a summary for you and provide some conclusions over the last decade SL shows you where over a 12E period overall our graduation rate is up 8% across all subgroups pretty consistently across all different racial subgroups there our core 40 diplomas are up 12% overall it's important to note that percent could be even higher however we are pushing in this district for our students to achieve the highest possible for each of them individually that actually affects that number as more students the next category there of our honors diploma overall in our honors diploma we are up 5% overall with the highest increase being
010our black subgroup of plus 15% and it's not an error to have some negative numbers be in green is a good thing for us to be down in waivers down 12% overall over the last decade plus with the largest decreases in our black of 19 and 18% so we are already this year and it's important to talk about our next steps that are already underway we continue to work close that achievement Gap and of students achieving an acemic and for Technical Honors diploma per sub group per year goal one way we're doing that is by increasing the number of graduation pathway opportunities to meet the needs of our students be that increasing the capacity of the current Pathways that we already offer or adding Pathways we've done that last several years in terms of having
011Pathways that were not offered previously here in Lauren Township as we implement the next level programs of study and as you know the state is looking at changing graduation requirements and changing diplomas so we are closely monitoring the new draft diploma types that the state's presenting potentially improving uh still later this semester as probably latest December they're looking at a default new Indian diploma then have three honor seals in the areas of enrollment employment and enlistment and also a second layer that plus seal in all three of those areas has information and has answer any questions you might have it's done so my wondering is the state has not released graduation data yet so this is Lawrence Township data that has not been yet the the state has not yet released graduation data is that
012correct the state hased theall state okay perfect thank you any other questions comments just a comment that I our board goals are produced annually so given the changes that the state's looking at implement this could ultimately affect how we set our Bo board goals future forward future year yeah and I would just like to add as an emphasis looking from two 2013 to this year we see our graduation rate going from 87% to 95% and our waiver is going from 133% to 1% outstanding work outstanding work teachers outstanding work Administration outstanding work everyone thank you so much great news um um we'll move on to the application for common school loan Mr miles thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board at this time I bring to you a request um to apply
013for our common school loan uh we typically do this each fall and spring those windows uh don't necessarily open each year at those times uh we brought this request last fall U the state didn't offer it they did offer it in the spring this is low interest interest loan that we're able to take advantage of and we certainly like to do so anytime it's available um it could provide the district with about 1.6 million dollar and those dollars have to be used for student uh technology so we use those for student devices and um and put those to good use so we would um later this evening like to ask for approval to apply for this but this at this time it's an information item due to the time sensitivity of when the application has
014to be submitted we'll bring it back for Action uh at the same meeting later tonight Mr miles what is the rate on the common school loan please it's a 1% loan thank you okay questions for Mr miles okay all right um we'll move on again Mr miles the request for vehicle disposal thank you madam president at this time uh as information again for action later this evening uh just bring to the board approval uh to dispose of one of our school buses that was unfortunately in an accident and is at a point where it's not repairable um so the the value is basically in the scrap so we per statute had to bring this to the board and we'll do so later again tonight um to to be able to dispose of this vehicle any
015questions board no questions we will then move on to the request for permission to advertise rfps for e e I'm sorry eate projects Dr gagl president must and members of the board Dr Smith it's time once again to prepare for the next round of e- rate funding that will become available in the summer if you recall uh rate is a government funded program to provide financial support to schools and libraries so they can build out their Network infrastructure and we qualify to get 90% reimbursements so we can get $100,000 worth of work done for $110,000 so we want to take advantage of this as much as we can in fact the state then tries to chip in and give us a little bit to fill in that 10% Gap so that will even be smaller
016if you look at our list uh it looks like there's a lot especially with number one uh you may be wondering aren't those schools already connected well they are uh some of them are connected on networks that we have leased going on 20 years and those contracts are coming to a close and think about it with your phone 20 years ago there were limited options now there are many more options to connect our schools because so much more fiber has been put into Lawrence Township so we want to go out and get the best deal possible for the corporation so we want to see uh as many vendors as possible to bid on these various connections um number two is the connection between McKenzie and our Lifeline data center that we have two data centers
017you have your primary and then your backup um the backup is down at the old Eastgate Mall and we want to get that renewed and make sure that that's the best price for us as well and finally uh number three are switches think of switches like um uh extension CES like um with the multi-head extension cords just like you do to plug in several items um power strip it's the same concept uh a switch allows you to plug various items that need data into there and what we found at the high schools is as big as they are there's a lot of stuff that wants to be connected with data so we need more switches for that so those are the three re uh items that we want to bring to you and later on
018we'll request permission to put those out to bid so we can get the best deal possible for the district or do you have any questions about that do have a question I know one thing that we've heard from constituents especially the Educators at Lawrence North is that uh Wi-Fi the network continues to be an issue parents have also expressed that to be a concern um so will this alleviate that issue and is plan yeah yeah we want to do as much as we can uh some of that's been alleviated we had some bugs in there that we've didn't know we going to be there and this brand new building but uh yeah these are all things to make things everything work faster what is that timeline approximately so for for this to this uh we
019would be able to apply and take uh possession in late spring uh or place the order in late spring you can't take possession until I believe July 1st so get us in time to then install for the next school year so in the short term though the issues at Lawrence North in particular have been alleviated so that I believe so yeah we're not getting near the the complaints that we were at the beginning thank you thank you for that question um any other questions for Dr gagin on the eate okay thank you very much uh we will move on to board chair reports Miss Norman Foundation thank you Madame President last week was an exciting week it was LT do good week I got to tag along to watch some of the Creative Impact grants
020being handed out to many deserving teachers and see the smiles on their faces as well as their students um among other donation drives next events up for the foundation are the retired teacher breakfast this Thursday at Lawrence North at 9: and then the thanks forgiving reception for our donors in November and that's all I have so thank you very much Miss Pucket Lawrence Parks and Recreation yes uh Lawrence Parks we have some fun coming up on October the 18th uh it's being um sponsored by the YMCA and it is called um Halloween Fest so this is the 18th from 6 to8 at our local y thank you um Miss D policy yes I have quite the update thank you very much for that uh it says that work on the value volume 36 number two
021policy revision packet continues and Remains the main focus of our committee the Neola revision packet consists of three parts Part One are revisions to the uniform Grant guidance regulations that are intended to improve federal financial assistance management transparency and oversight part two are revisions encompassing technical Corrections school safety School assessment and graduation requirements in part three are revisions to address needed administrative updates to nine policies from the spring revision packet first revision is anticipated at our next board meeting which is November 11th and then hopefully we will vote to approve those policies um at the session later that so thank you Dr har thank you son um any questions about our um committee updates we will move on to our action items um let's go to the approval of the application for the common school
022loan Mr miles thank you madam president this time I recommend that the board approve the application for the common school loan as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded are there any further questions or comments all in favor of the approval of the application for the common school loan please I I I any opposed the eyes haveit we'll move on now to the approval of the request for vehicle disposal thank you madam president at this time I recommend the board approve the request for vehicle disposal as submitted some move secondly moved in seconded any further questions all those in favor of approval the the request for vehicle to osal i i i any opposed the eyes have it um the approval for the request for the permission to advertise rfps for eay Dr gine
023Madame President I request permission to advertise the rfps as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded all in favor I I opposed the eyes have it Madam president I move that we treat action items 4.4 through 4.9 as it as consent agenda but withholding 4.6 approval of claims we have a second for that second properly moved and seconded all those in favor of a consent agenda hi hi any oppos okay um I move approval of the consent agenda withholding 4.6 do we have a second properly moved and seconded all those in favor I I I opposed great now we will go to our claims um and before approval of claims I do see that we have someone who would like to speak on our claims today and that would be uh Miss Amanda Rose
024could you please come to the microphone um we know you but for the record please please repeat your your name and your address oh she puto or your school building is fine yeah good evening Madam president Dr Smith and the board my name is Amanda Rose and I'm the Lea co-president and I currently have my dream job as the steam teacher at Harrison Hill uh beginning I would like to thank Dr Smith for working with Ela to secure a tenative agreement for the 2425 school year unfortunately our new contract is not enough to keep 19 of our amazing Educators from resigning within the first N9 weeks of the school year we also have currently have more than 45 teacher openings in the district Lea conducted a survey that resulted in 325 responses 75% of teacher
025respondents said they were considering leaving the district I think if you asked people why they wanted to stay in Lauren's Township you would be surprised at the lack of answers versus the amount of answers you would get if you asked people to why they want to leave during bargaining we heard from multiple teachers that working conditions are far more important than money but due to State Statute we cannot bargain working conditions teachers greatest concerns are class sizes the loss of prep time and the unmanageable workload associated with LSI Marzano lawence Township at a neighboring District handle teacher time in dramatically different ways in the neighboring District there's one PLC meeting per week and one staff or PD meeting per month compared to two plc's per week and one staff or PD meeting per week in
026Lawrence Township in the neighboring district teachers bring ideas for PD and curriculum to ad Administration and central office here LCC forces agendas on teachers such as LSI and Marzano as we bargained for our contract we heard multiple times that the district could not afford what we were asking however in the last two years alone the district has spent approximately $2 to3 million for services from LSI Marzano the amount cannot be fully verified as there were approximately $700,000 in expenses for the same date reported on three different claims reports LSI Marzano was cited as one of the biggest contributors to teachers claiming unsatisfactory working conditions not only could a re-evaluation of this contract free up additional funds for teachers but could also dramatically improve working condition in addition on tonight's claims report there are over $8,000
027in expenses for meals newspaper subscriptions and other extraneous expenses for administration that teachers would be required to pay for themselves adding this money in monthly results in nearly $75,000 a year in expenses that combined with the money spent on LSI is nearly the same as the money we were able to bargain with I would like to encourage the board to become more active in the financial aspects of our district in addition I would like to see the board continue to advocate for our teachers in terms of a board policy for addressing class sizes and teacher prep time I urge the board in the district to return to teachers what will truly help our students time it costs nothing please understand that if the district does not give teachers back their voices and their time they
028will continue to express their needs and displeasure by continuing to leave the district forther EX exacerbating our current teacher shortage situation thank you for your time thank [Applause] you thank you Miss Rose for your leadership um then we need to approve claims that's all Madame President I move approval of action item 4.6 proberbly moved and seconded are there any further comments all those in favor of approving claims I I any opposed we have approved our agenda okay um this brings us to uh the end of our meeting and I would just like to make a quick statement we appreciate our teachers from the bottom of our hearts everyone on this board has Educators in their lives that have changed our lives Educators in our lives that have changed the lives of our children for the
029better our teachers are the engine of what makes our district work and we care deeply about our teachers the board of education for the MSD of Lawrence Township which wishes to reaffirm our unwavering support for our dedicated teachers and recognize the significant effort invested by the Lawrence Education Association in the annual collective bargaining process advocating for the well-being of our teaching staff we deeply appreciate the commitment and passion our Educators bring to their work every day shaping the future of our our community through their tireless efforts in the classroom we acknowledge that as per state statute the collective bargaining process does not Encompass discussions on working conditions recognizing the importance of addressing these matters we are formally announcing the formation of a task force dedicated to Gathering feedback from our teaching staff and developing recommendations
030to enhance the working environment this initiative demonstrates our commitment to supporting our Educators beyond the scope of collective bargaining our district remains committed to providing educational Choice with our schools a policy that has proven beneficial to many families in our community and reaffirms their decision to make Lawrence Township their District of destination we strive to balance this Choice with our commitment to maintaining op optimal learning environments and supporting our teachers we are grateful to our district administrators who always remain Vigilant and ready to serve regardless of day or time providing Direction leadership and support to staff and families regardless of the circumstances we believe that by working together board members administrators teachers and the community we can create an educational environment that benefits all stakeholders especially our students and on a personal level I would
031like to um thank the board for um incorporating in our board goals a teacher survey that came out last year and I want to make sure that every teacher in the district understands it is truly an anonymous survey so in conjunction with our new task force I would encourage you to encourage your peers to State everything that needs to be stated on that survey um there's room for comment not just multiple choice so please take advantage of that um we are here to serve our students we can't serve our students without you so thank you for being here tonight I appreciate it very much um further comments from the board M Norman um I just had one as a special ed a parent of a child with special needs I wanted to uh lift up
032and recognize our newest state champion the bo ball um which I had to study what that was but um at Lawrence Central um that was just an amazing celebration and well- earned hardware and thank you to everyone who pours into our kids I do I do um I've been with Lawrence for quite a while and Lawrence is something special and I say that because with you teachers you teachers are the ones that help keep my children here I've had some hardships I've had some hardships in in uh Lawrence which I'd say I failed forward in Lawrence that is one of the drivers one of my wives for being on the board were some of the barriers that I experience with my children the thing that kept me here was the teachers and the Educators and
033the admin also and so I want you to know that in certain ways in which I would have loved to be there with you to demonstrate however out of respect for our admin out of respect for you all and out of respect for good bargaining governance is at the top and making sure that there's mutual respect across the board I will continue to Advocate as I did in the third grade when my son had he is now a freshman in college that was one of my toughest years where I had people telling me pull them out pull them out there was a lot going on there was some tension I kept my children in Lawrence because of teachers so my investment isn't just from all the good times it is I have stuck through with
034Lawrence even in the bad times that's what a marriage is I've been married for over 20 years and it's not the good times that keep you there it's how you respond and react during those hard during those hardships so please know that I am invested I am here and I also this is a piece that nobody sees my husband sees it when he tells me to close my um laptop and go to bed I'm literally running around that state house I am Mak I have been it's been a blessing to connect State Leaders with other leaders who are looking I have skin skin in this game on a whole another level that people don't even realize I serve and I serve you all because it is a passion of my heart is a passion of
035my heart so please know please know that I am all in for you I am all in I will continue to be and if you want to I I can go out here I can't publicly say I can tell you what what some of those State relationships have produced I am going hard and I'm trying but in all of this in all of this as I always say tension is a beautiful thing tension is a beautiful thing and I'm going to have questions also because I do want to see I want to see how can I grow the Lea also how can I support for more diversity how can we expand that voice so that that voice is expanding to my area also I want to come along so I want to continue to be
036an ally I will continue to support our admin you guys have kept me here you have kept me grounded here and I thank you this is why I serve this is why I serve and I thank you for that and so I'm just going to ask I know this may not be the most comfortable but it is I have had eight years of being taught being in agitation disruption I could write a small book on it but the one thing that has stuck with me the most in all of it and I had a hard lesson in it because I I I sometimes like to run my mouth um is when I had a peer teach me on um holding space she pulled me to the side and she said Hey in this in this
037moment this moment doesn't need agitation Crystal this moment needs you to Simply hold space and so I'll just ask if we just take just 10 seconds we are not against each other we are here I appreciate how everything has moved forward tonight but in a sense of just Unity I ask us just to take 10 seconds 10 seconds to hold space for everybody in this room and then after that done thank you very much Miss Mars teachers thank you thank you for coming out tonight I was honored to be with you at the rally obviously we don't discuss collective bargaining that's not our role but being out on the rally line with each of you was a true honor because as we've all expressed in one way shape or form we care about our teachers
038and our teachers deserve conditions that create the best environment possible not just for you all but for for our students most importantly for our students and I know each of you agree with that so that means smaller class sizes I don't know how we're going to get there but we need to try to get there that also means you need the prep time that any professional would require in their profession and that also means that you need a voice you need to always be heard you need to always be an advocate for our students for this district and for this Township and and that's why we fought to get that survey in our board goals we want to make sure that your voice is heard so as Miss must alluded to please make that a
039priority this year we want to make sure that all of you have have a stake in the game and I just want to thank all of you for the work that you do every day to support our students that's it and when you please remind us um the Blue Ribbon phase three um that one of the things because the concerns because I I I hear what people say on for Glenn being bumped up on not bumped up but we hear and things are being addressed yeah give Miss I apologize Echo Marta sentiments teachers it's always great to be in your company as somebody who's been in education for over 30 years I look at each of you and in some way shape or form I see myself whether it was as that new teacher who
040was so eager and thought I knew everything only to figure out and tell my parents you never took work home and they laughed laugh at my face and said you must not have realized what we did honey I had no idea what it was like to spend hours and hours and hours devoted to the children in which I loved and served we were a family and I know the children in which you serve in your classrooms are your family they are our family in Lawrence Township and as such we need to teach make sure that we treat the mother bears the Papa Bears all the individuals who are serving the students our families their grandparents their moms their dads you are not just Educators you are many times counselors your nurses your support staff you
041go above and beyond the Call of Duty I saw something the other day about how the average teacher spends over $6,000 out of their own pocket to serve and support their students whether it's buying Trinkets and treats for your school's store or your own classroom store whether it's making sure everybody has that opportunity to participate in the events you are seen you are valued and you are heard as Marta said we hear you we support you and it was my great privilege to walk alongside of you most importantly because as you alluded to this issue is far greater than Lawrence Township this issue is an issue as secretary Pucket said that needs to go to the state house it is time that educators are taken seriously in the state and compensated in a way that
042they deserve so that they are not spending $6,000 out of pocket but they are earning a livable wage along those lines our classified staff also deserves to have a livable wage and right now that is not happening in too many districts across the state of Indiana so I stand in solidarity with you I see you and I honor you fellow Educators thank you for your service thank you very much I appreciate all the statements that have been made made I would like to add that um I have been a member of the AFM CIO all my professional life and the last time we were in negotiations our salaries were cut by 30% it was a rough year and when I told Dr Smith about that I saw him the next day he said I didn't
043get a wink sleep how could people treat their employees that way and I will just add um I I believe I believe in unions I believe unions work and I know that you've had an increase in your membership I think that's a wonderful thing um and about Forest Glenn about the issue of forest Glenn uh the minute the Portables went up in Forest Glenn and this is for our stakeholder ERS in the community the minute the Portables went up in Forest Glenn um Forest Glenn was immediately put back on the next Blue Ribbon phase and will be renovated and built onto um starting I think we break ground this summer Mr Smith we break ground this summer we've already um approved the designers and the Construction Group for Forest Glenn it's it's not suitable to
044have our children in Portables and um yet we know that it is best practice to have our preschool students our language preschool students with the other students at Forest Glenn so we hear you we hear our parents and we're working on that I thank each one of our board members for their work and I will tell you that um the night of the rally um several of us were at the city county building um letting the education committee know um what our Joys were and what our concerns were and speaking for you there so we may not have been on 56th street with you but I your Administration and few of the few of the rest of us we're there all of us speaking on your behalf so with that just for just for public
045to I like this is important to add just so the public can have an understanding also because we do try as hard as we possibly can and so just for public record um the total increase over the five years um of raises for a teachers and admin has been 2.77% with stiping totaling over $8,750 this will be an average annual increase of 4.35% and an average annual sipon of about 1,750 the average admin raise over the past 5 years um was less than it was 20.75 sorry so the teachers were 21.7 77% the admin was 20.75 which an average annual stien of 1,150 so that just wanted to make sure that it's note because it you know I want to make sure this I I want us to make sure that to not see things
046from a deficit frame for from a deficit frame our Township is moving forward we're doing great things admin I thank you so much but I just wanted to make sure that that was on public record that we are moving forward some of the um our highest raises were what 20 22 or 23 with 5.75% raise as on the base pay for teachers um so I don't we need to continue to move forward but we have to lift up also that we are trying we are moving forward but just wanted to make sure that that was part of the note on the raises and we also set the precedent um with our classified pay it needs to be more but we set it at $15 an hour with other townships following suit Lawrence started it other
047townships followed suit so I just want to make sure that that was noted on public record that we are we are moving moving the ship but I feel like that needed to be addressed if I if I could address one other subject here too um since we're all adding things tonight um I would also like to just call out that our teachers the gap between our teachers salaries and other like-minded districts that have similar student ratios is actually less than on average their pay is less than the majority of other teachers in Marian County on average I would also state that while raises are important it also matters the starting salary that the raise happens from so what I would what I would say is over the last several years Lawrence Township has had the
048highest rate for our admin our admin actually make on average um significantly higher rates than every other Maran County District we on average have 100 around $150,000 average for our top 100 earners within this District that is substantially higher than every other District around us I have a question what are we doing as a board on a state level to make sure that we are addressing these concerns because I'm at every state meeting at every Dr Smith makes it possible for us to connect with state and local leaders in order to address and to make our concerns heard are we collectively as as a board going to these things and showing up I mean I have not been invited to any if that's what you are G to ask me about but but what I
049would say inv I would what I would CH invited on what I would challenge all of you to understand is that the gap between admin pay and the rest of the district districts that are very similar is substantially higher in our admin than it is with our teachers our teachers rank on average less compared to their peers as compared to the admin salaries that is fact that is what's publicly reported within the Gateway I appreciate that and as a fact also each one of us has been invited to meet with our legislators oneon-one some of us make them make that a priority and some of us don't can I I'd also like to just add one more thing because I'm not sure in all due respect working in another District whereas I understand that Lauren
050paid the way which I I'm not sure about that statistic because in the district where I work our classified employees all have access to benefits and that's something that Lawrence Township does not offer but to a handful of classified folks so I think it's very important to look at all of the facts and not just base pay but also to look at things like working conditions the amount that folks are pain in health care um and so forth because to look at sheer numbers I think is very shortsighted in nature yes yes I I won't comment on the um District we'll just leave that there um a lot of my conversations that I've been having is just just the Govern portion of the board and so that continues just to be a concern with this
051current board um just the I'll I'll just let that sit there I think what we can all agree on is it's election season and all the way up to the top of the ticket if you're registered to vote make sure you vote um I'm thankful that we're nonpartisan and we can be a bridge to build between our Republican and Democrat legislators both locally and state and um that's all I have to say it's important it's important to build relationships I do I would be remiss because I am a little confused by the statement about this board in governance because I am very clear on the roles of a Schoolboard member and the school board member is to govern and not to manage when we are also part of our role is to listen to the
052vision and values of our community when we are listening to the vision and values of our community in representing vision and values I'm trying to understand how that is not in the in our role and within our responsibility because it was my understanding as an elected official that part of what I am challenged to do is listen to the vision and values of our community and to vote as such and so maybe we have differing views of what that looks like but by no shape way shape or form do I believe that I manage Dr Smith do I believe that I manage his cabinet do I manage anybody we are here to serve the people with whom we were to whom we were elected we are here to set policy we are here to evaluate
053hire fire the superintendent as you know which we are not in this case there's no talk about firing our superintendent but we are that is our goal and also to improve student outcomes at the core we are elected to ensure that we are representing the vision value of our community and that is what I feel as an elected official that I am doing and so to say or to allude to the fact that somehow this board is not living in to the vision and values of the community because they may differ from the vision and values that others may be hearing is I think shortsighted and I don't think it's appropriate to say that we don't understand the role of governance well can I please share this um as I said I would have shown
054up um I would I am off like I said said agitation disruption like let's do unity in honoring of good faith bargaining there should not in my opinion have been a board member there out of respect for the Lea and for the admin that is where we stay neutral and we allow out of respect for admin and uh the Lea to work that out I also question governance because when you when you make decisions you have shared your vote with the public on how you choose to vote yet there was never a conversation amongst your peers and for my understanding with Dr Smith so that's why I question governance and we are swor we are sworn in to serve for everything that you said for managing the superintendent the the uh budget all the things
055but my questions I I get concerned when the Optics are there's a side Chosen and I don't mean to I'll be honest it is our job to govern but when I see things on social media I now know how you're going to vote I found out how you're going to vote on social media in my opinion that is lack of good governance so that's why I question that but again I will leave that there I would to remind Miss Pucket that every vote we take on the day is public that topic hasn't came up yet though so that's where the concern comes in we have not and as I've continuously said I will continue to seek to understand but I cannot seek to understand when there's not an opportunity given to seek that your mind
056was made up the um decision was said and I read it and I was and it it made my heart sink because it further reinforced the lack of governance for our board and I take I take responsibility for that also because I don't know what to do to to continue to try to seek to understand but it's not appropriate to State your vote and where you stand before the topic is even on is um up for discussion so that's why again I reinforce I question the governance of this current board and I shut my mouth I thank you all for the Deep discussion and I will try to levitate the mood a little bit here and congratulate the wild cats on an undefeated season so far very exciting very exciting um Dr Smith I will
057allow you to have a few words but but but after I mention that our next monthly Board of Education meeting will be Monday November 11th um we do hope um to approve the teacher contract at that time and we expect and hope that we will have um a public um meeting and public board meeting where everyone can speak on November the 4th in advance of that meeting thank you Dr Smith thank you madam president and thank you board um board I hear your voice and I hear the assignment so Amanda and Eric don't don't run off on me because we got work to do as I heard where's Amanda did she run off on me oh she left okay all right Carrie a find her okay I see you back there Carrie so we hear
058the assignment and uh we will work accordingly as I am given to serve as superintendent so expect for that to happen a celebration with our football team this is a big deal and we're certainly going to represent well but something else happened the other night the wild cats defeated Cathedral for the sectional championship in soccer and we have a big game against Carmel I'm GNA say that real soloft carel because we don't like them we compete against them for at the regional uh for the regional for the boys soccer so please make sure that you're there we also want to send our good wishes out to the marching Pride because it is now time to compete for the band state championship they be moving on to the uh ban semistate so that's coming up and
059uh and just to remind everyone that next week we are on spring break and Madame President and board I have fall break I'm sorry almost there yeah it's a few years for me there's no doubt it is fall break guys thank you Madame President and board that's all I have for you do we have a motion to adjourn so moved properly moved and seconded we are Jed thank you know told me bye bye