MSDLT Board of Education: Board Meeting 6/10/2024

001States of America to the stands indivisible Liberty justice for all and we can stay standing board because we have some superintendence awards just the board you guys can sit stay they ready a good evening Dr Smith and members of our school board we are proud to present our community members here this evening with some students who've reached success and first up is Dr Emily hos Brown our superintendent of Elementary education thank you Miss Johnson Dr Smith president must members of the board I'm so pleased to bring to you tonight our district elementary science fair winners and to introduce our winners I'm going to ask three of our principles to join me here at the podium um I'll ask from forest Glenn Miss Giles from Mary Castle Mr ble and also from Amy beverland Mr Pennington

002and we'll introduce the students each School individually and starting with Miss Gil she'll be introducing to you our third place winners yes we have two third place winners that did a project together rying sing see Dr Smith and our second one is Cameron Jones for [Applause] we' like to acknowledge Hattie Gro from Mary Castle who is the second place winner of the district science fair [Applause] good evening I'd like to congratulate the winner of the 2024 msdlt science fair Miss Vivian [Applause] popf e [Applause] thank you parents thank you for all your support good that's favorite part of my time as board president is honoring our students for their hard work um so we'll move on next our business meeting uh Mr Smith the Blue Ribbon update please Madame President Dr Smith members of the

003board you see here a site aerial view of the LC pool site work continues on as weather permits uh tile work has begun uh on the base of the pool interior work throughout the remainder of the building for the pool continues um the multi-purpose room floor has been ped now they will concentrate on the ceiling and work their way down and lay the new floor l in front edition again an aerial view uh looking forward to having that fully enclosed and working inside though continues next slide a lot of work happening new Len gym floor uh has been laid and next steps are finished Ln uh main per multi-purpose room uh the new flooring should be laid this week uh bells are Auditorium the floor is complete in there and again finished work throughout the

004remainder of the building continues site work layout has begun and this summer we will rip out the entire front parking lot and redo that this summer main locker rooms and gym uh work continues along with uh well shift to Fall Creek Valley the auditorium uh started renovation in there new lighting going in hallways and classrooms again four more classrooms and a lot more hallway you see here at LCC South lot uh full depth uh renovation replacement uh this week they'll start on the asphalt replacement of the tennis courts and the South Bridge Transportation we'll be doing a uh substantial completion of that of the upstairs second floor this week uh and also the the two Storage Barn one is up siding going on the second one will go up this week with siding to follow

005and next side has a little a little more finished work of the interior of the second floor new La a lot of work going on over there on the site uh again foundation work and site utilities will also start this week as well are there any questions for IT Mr Smith if you could remind members of the public about the Lawrence North gym flooor why why that is being redone um we had a uh a water issue up there that actually ran in got the floor wet and as a result of that was in need of replacement and was that covered by Insurance the replacement thank you and I have a question um we know that the Belzer middle school has a brand new Auditorium um so this work that we're doing on fall Valley

006I can only assume will be equivalent work to a brand new full renovation good to know do have a quick question so exciting to see all the wonderful work happening especially since I live so close to the new LACC and we see it working um overtime even on the weekends they are dedicated to get that completed for members of the public can you remind us when we will be um going through and doing some additional um renov to some of our schools that have not been part of our blue Riven plan actually finishing the the middle schools will complete our Blue Ribbon phase one which means all 23 sites would have been renovated this has been over a 10e process right so maybe I should rephrase it at the very first phases because I know

007that there are some concerns at some buildings because I know that you had shared an update with us that we have a a plan on that renovation the board approved the Blue Ribbon Phase 2 which will allow us to go back to those uh buildings in the beginning number one and which is now almost 12 years since Crest View has been renovated and we'll touch some of those with some priorities in place HVAC Roofing and also capacity needs at three other element and when did those begin again just as a reminder we're hoping here very soon 2526 we should be starting blue R in phase two perfect thank you so much yeah I just had a question and a comment uh Mr Smith to go along with the Lawrence North uh the floor on the

008gym will that be completed in time for the summer camps um yes okay we should be finishing that up the last part of May first part of June to have that fully complete and ready to use okay thank you and then my um comment was last month we were able to tour the transportation center and those of us that had been on the board um prior um had seen the upstairs before when it was just a huge large blank space and it was amazing how much uh change had happened in the time since then so it's really exciting to see all the office spaces come together Madame President Dr Smith members of the board uh we are in need of Elementary oven upgrades uh Food Service will Department request permission uh to bid out these

009oven upgrades for the Elementary uh one good news too Food Service will be um supplying the dollars for all of these oven upgrades uh with their own budget so I do just a point of clarification for members of the public that might be watching can you explain why um or where that funding is coming from I know that I mean obviously I know that we make money off of our food service and it's self- sustaining but if you could just explain that a bit yeah food service is a their own budget separate and uh they manage the year-to-year budget as well as state support uh through the purchase and the sell of our Foods we get a reimbursement but we also get dollars uh when we sell a lot of alicart line our secondaries have

010quite a bit of alicart and oh this has been over several years in the making where they do have a cash balance that allows us to to use those dollars to upgrade their kitchens and their area pertinent to Food Service question all right thank you madam president members of the board and Dr Smith what the team brings to you this evening an update on our Equitable student outcomes action plan and we're beginning with just a review of how we got to the plan um because that's taken place over the course of several years and we always begin with your board policy on eliminating racial disparities and achievement that's really the the bottom line for us and our our Equitable student outcomes work on the next slide you'll see the def defition of educational Equity this

011has been a really important definition for us to train the entire District in so that we're all talking about the same thing when we're talking about educational equity and this comes from Dr verita Mayfield and was included in the executive summary of our audit report just a quick review of the audit process it's hard to believe but the audit was completed back in the 2021 school year um and it included four different phases um lots of data lots of stakeholder input through focus groups and through surveys site visits to our high schools and then culminated in phase four a report with 25 different recommendations based on the audit findings from there we convened a districtwide equity committee um and this committee was well over a hundred folks who were in attendance and this was in

012the middle of the pandemic and so this really tells you the commitment of our commity Community to this work um three board presentations in the spring of 2022 and then your approval in April of 20122 and so the action plans that the committee developed and there's hundreds of action steps and it is a beefy topic as you say Madame President uh result came from the different themes that were identified through the equity audit and so this evening a member of the team will bring to you just an update of one or two action steps Within each of those topics so the first one um and a lot of times when we think about an audit we think about finding deficiencies and finding things that we're not good at and that's a piece of it but

013an audit is also celebrating your successes that you need to leverage to grow and that's what this first category is is our community has confidence in our principles um and that was clear throughout the the audit process and so how do we leverage that strong principal leadership to move Equitable student outc comes forward and so this topic focuses on the professional development and support for our building principles because it's in the building that the action happens in terms of where the rubber meets the road and so this year we have had a deep book study on ruthless Equity uh by Ken Williams and he will be our keynote speaker for our administrative Retreat as well as opening the Lawrence learning Summit on July 15th for all of our teachers as well in addition we've had

014quarterly coaching from Dr Mayfield So she continues to support us in a consultant role and so she's met with each of our principles as well as our district divisions at least each quarter if not more often and then ongoing support in terms of disaggregated data systems so that we're down to the subgroup level in each of our schools and the cni team the curriculum and instruction team has provided that support to our building leadership just have a quick question about the book study and how the principles are cascading that information to their teams including all members of the school Community yeah and we're not at that step in terms of this book study this has been for administration this year so then we'll have our administrative Retreat keynote and then uh kin Williams and his

015book will be introduced to the teachers on July 15th and then that information will then that begins the cascading process thank you so much you're welcome any further questions on category a okay let's move on thank you Mrs Johnson has category B good evening Madame President and members of the board and Dr Smith as we look at the area of hiring Recruitment and Retention of diverse staff the two areas that we wanted to highlight um and the source of Pride are areas in which we felt that have become institutionalized and the expansion of our dback program um this year the goal was to expand it to Beyond just the Lawrence Township um stakeholders that were aware of it but how to move into the community and the parents and making sure that we are creating

016pipelines for the various Community Partners and so that we're providing it not only for our employees but for those that move into the community and that's just become a systematic way of communicating out that information each year in different languages to provide that broader input into expansion of our dback program the next area that we wanted to highlight from Human Resources is monitoring our language needs and so when we first began the equity audit and began to look at that um we didn't really have our fingers on this at at all and so I'm really proud that in the last few years it's become something we look at the data each semester of our student enrollment and how is that student enrollment changing and then how do we staff to meet the needs of our

017diverse Learners and so really proud that you will see as we've increased our classified Creo haian population how that trickles into other areas of the plan wonderful um my my question is for the public can you explain deback to the public our deback program is um one which we have it's like our secret sauce with with IUPUI and where we are trying to help our employees who have a degree but may not be in education but they're working with our students and they've been trying to find a way to get back and so how we can combine their cour workor with the work on their job so that they're not missing work but they're um combining their work and their learning and then graduating and then hopefully becoming employees in our district so we're just

018really proud of that partnership with iupy and how it's expanded thank you it's it's an incredible program and I know that um sometimes we use a lot of initials and don't educational job yeah yeah so thank you we know what it is uh board any other further questions yes I just want to say first of all thank you for being so attentive to our Haitian Creo population and the needs that they have so that we are meeting their educational needs it's exciting to see how we're growing um that Pipeline and hopefully will continue to do so can you share how many staff members have taken advantage of the deback program over the years I'd have to this school year this particular school year we have a Cort that's in session and then one that's about

019to begin and so I can get you the exact numbers of great because I think that would be a wonderful thing for us to celebrate a community they can do that certainly will I I do have a question one more question and sorry some of these as we're kind of talking through just kind of pop up the the one that I was thinking of so is does the district support it's my understanding with the the tuition for them to attend or is it just in in supporting them with utilizing their coursework to be able to work in the district correct so there's no compensation do they have to commit to a certain number of uh period of time working with the district after graduation there's not that part yet okay thank you okay any further

020questions about that let's move on to category C if we can pleas thank you and Mrs Johnson already began to talk about category C which is our ESL Learners and shifting demographics and remember the equity audit was back in 2021 and so part of the work was making sure that we had systems in in process for what could come in the future and that's that's what uh we we've done through this Equitable student outcomes action plan and the first uh that we want to highlight is our law conversa program this is uh a dual program that's both in Spanish and in English where our staff members English-speaking staff members are learning Spanish our Spanish-speaking parents are learning English and they have met at Sunnyside Elementary every two weeks throughout the entire school year um and

021really really receive very positive feedback but what it's allowed is for for uh mainly our Spanish-speaking families to have voice in the process um and so we've used lck conversa as an opportunity to engage our Spanish speaking families in topics like our curricular resources so when we brought those recommendations to you they had been vetted through our Spanish speaking families who may not have felt comfortable serving on the committee but certainly felt comfortable in their element in Spanish uh being able to give feedback and so we're really really excited about this program have learned a lot through the year we'll be making some adjustments for uh next school year uh but certainly we'll become part of the system and become institutionalized in Lawrence Township the other piece that is becoming institutionalized as we've already discussed

022is our evaluation of ongoing growth in our demographics in terms of of English language Learners and so Haitian Creole is a a very fast growing population for us not as fast as Spanish but the second fastest growing and so we are committed to finding the resources to make sure that we have staff that is that are completely dedicated to uh serving the families who speak Asian Creo and to this point we did approve uh new dual language programs in the district this year as well absolutely which will include participation of our Haitian Creo absolutely students um any questions board um I do have a question about La um can you tell us how many families roughly took advantage of that program so we had 150 that started and then attendance was on and off throughout

023the year and that's part of the evaluation that the um parents the the parent leadership group along with staff have done of what would increase from the beginning to end because it is such a long commitment for families but about 150 and then at the end when you say how many people were at the towards the the end 40 to 50 that were every single meeting did you find that child care was an issue or what were some of the barriers we offered child care so I think it was the the every two week commitment versus if it had been weekly for a semester as opposed to every two weeks for an entire school year was the feedback that both parents and staff gave excellent thank you and then in terms of you said institutionalizing

024and knowing that we have the growing Nation Creo population is there um the intent that we would do something similar for our Haitian Creole families absolutely and that's been part of the the conversation that once we whatever we do for our Spanish speaking families we also have to do for our Haitian Creole speaking figured I just wanted to make sure for those that are watching thank you yes it'll be called something different any question more question thank you very much no he thank you for answering my question I had I had sent questions earlier previously and so thank you for answering my question in the midst of wel conversation so thank you um category D discipline Mrs Bush will lead us through category D yes category D is discipline and this year has been a

025foundational year for our training and restorative practice and we do have a discipline task force that is convening to review a document that we call our levels of Behavior Support which is a range of consequences that we are we are going to incorporate more restorative responses to behavior infractions the next point is training for our district advisor leads who were trained in restorative practices through peace Learning Center we've also had special uh groups student support Specialists family Liaisons and security supervisors who were trained by Dr Dominique Smith and in addition all of our high school and middle school teachers have been trained in restorative practice level one also through peace Learning Center the discipline task force will also be a function of that group is also to refine that process for monitoring common language related

026to the disciplinary consequences um which is included in that task force work questions Bo yes I have one uh submitted question earlier it is in reference to um item D1 I'll just read from it um new discipline data collection system needed or regular this is from the equity um I apologize let me clarify that the Equitable student outcomes it's item D1 um and the portion of that reads new disci data collection system needed or regular consistent distribution of disciplined data fee to schools with automation assistant principles need to review data weekly to make intervent interventive steps and decisions to to support teachers and students my question from that as I had um reviewed the discipline update was this action item shows that it was it was institutionalized um on the equable Equitable student outcome dashboard

027so therefore can this be kind of leaned into more um in this meeting because I'm interested to know what portion of the action plan was institutionalized and then what does that look like and how does it intersect with the restorative work that we're moving forward that was a lot so if I need to go back in okay so the piece of that that is institutionalized is that we do have functioning dashboards so we do have our our administrators and um teacher leader um administ discipline work leaders have access to discipline dashboards that are that they're able to monitor on a regular basis and how that intersects with the restorative work the the restorative work would happen before you enter anything onto the dashboard so we are trying to Institute more restorative consequences so the dashboards

028are telling us what Behavior has occurred and how the behavior was responded to so part of this training that we've been going through is to help us to to get to those more restorative restorative consequences and then that's what's recorded on the dashboards that's helpful that's a piece that I was I was really wanting to to know okay it's beforeand all right and who has access to the dash to those dashboards the the staff the staff of the school administrators well it it depends there's different levels of access we are principles and assistant principles that monitor look for Trends and things like that so teachers can input it's pulling data from Skyward in terms of after in occur in discipline so for instance if if a student all of a sudden has two or three

029discipline issues maybe they're even minor but they all of a sudden have two or three discipline issues teacher a b and c might not know that this is going on in another classroom how soon will the administration be able to put that together and see that there is an for instance an issue so we can address something has happened with that student and what's going on say through our processes that we have at each of our schools acronyms why it stands for Lawrence Township um we raise systems of support that allows us to monitor when one particular student in your example is maybe having more than one concern and repeated concern in the same classroom from the same teacher or if it's repated concern for multiple teachers across the district as well as that allows

030us to monitor is it behavioral is it attendance is it academic that whole process allows so we have we have quick access to that information it will pop up in red or okay thank you good to know I appreciate the overview that this is just touching on um a few of the recommendations but I know category D discipline is something that over the last several weeks I've gotten a number of different people um that have shared some concerns so I am wondering if there could be a a little bit of a just an understanding of where we are with recommendation D3 um as well as D4 um I in particular D3 is one especially since we've been working on this since 2020 that it is just getting started so I'm wondering what the next steps

031are in terms of getting that so that it is in an ongoing status could you read the D3 sure I'd be happy to it is Define terms behavioral concern and behavioral infraction make an infograph with examples of each Behavior train all incoming and current staff on term definitions and appropriate disciplinary steps for each including necessary intervention steps teacher should take prior to entering data in the system which I think goes back to what you are referring to as it pertains to having a more holistic understanding and I think those are more details of the p pie that I described before that the discipline taxk force will be working on to revise that document to include more details than just the range range of consequences so all of that will be a function of the disciplined

032task force and will that be something that is shared with families so that they have a comprehensive understanding of what those infractions are and the discipline that is appropriate for each I would say yes that remains to be seen um and the only reason I say that is because the document that we have now has an outward facing piece and an inward facing piece so it it depends on what the committee come lands on and then do we have the data that is inclusive of racial identification for students referred to LEAP yes okay and acon Sean the LEAP program is the Lawrence Elementary Alternative Program now are students referred throughout the entire school year to LEAP they are including throughout the end throughout this month of May the LA yes up until last Friday was

033the last day that students could participate so if students have an infraction let's say that um is um um I'm just I'm just wondering like the infraction in terms of an example of a behavior and the infraction what is the what is determined in terms of our students continue to allow to continue at their school or if a student let's say has an egregious Behavior are they sent home at these last two weeks I I'm trying to understand because I've been asked a question about this um by one of the constituents so leap is an alternative to out of school sysp ition so ideally if a student is if if the behavior has met the criteria for um that has been egregious enough that it would have been an out of school suspension rather than

034have that kid we don't really want to suspend anybody out of school so rather than have that student go home we recommend them for leap leap does require that the parent transport so sometimes parents are able to do that right but so if there's let's say that there's an infraction in these last couple of weeks of school what is the protocol if leap is not an option are they remaining in the school in an in school suspension environment or they sent home it's at the discretion of the principal okay thank you so option that decision the suspension is not but we give them option right I guess what I'm trying to understand is their District guidance in terms of what is like what is the proper protocol and if grades are frozen If the child

035is taking the final grades what is the guidance that we are giving from a district for those principles there's a myriad of options and ideas how do we success so if the principal gets in a situation or she is unsure would be myself problem solve how can we make sure that the student gets their academic um instruction for these last few weeks no matter if it is an out of school suspension or so there's not a process in the district where we freeze grades and don't have we like where we would freeze a grade if a student was sent home and where they are let's say they have a c on Friday May 17th and then they do not finish out they don't take finals there's not any sort of process where that can happens

036at the middle at the high school and middle school level sorry Mr answer that question because I've had I've had a numer of numerous constituents ask specifically about that so I'm just wondering what our our district policy is for awarding grades to somebody that has been suspended or been asked to stay at home home what is our policy as a district because I understand it's at the discretion of the principal to determine but what I'm wondering is what is our district policy and I apologize for not being clear enough what is our district policy for students who are not asked to continue to attend school over the last several weeks of high school what is our policy on grading so building Administration works with the families when possible there may be an alternative time where

037a family able to come in for a final exam for example um where they to take that final exam if that's not possible um freezing of is is sometimes used when that's needed but whenever possible we want to make sure students have full access to all their assments and assment learning and is there a policy that we have in writing for that I as it should I worry about the the message that we're sending to students I guess when we are not having them complete the full expectations to earn a credit including a final grade that is I think that's the so is is that something that we could get some numbers on how many students that we're talking about in each High School that are in that situation I it's just been brought to

038my attention by a number of people that's why I'm wondering what the board policy or the school the school district policy is TR okay um my I guess I have a question can you describe um in general the membership of the um the discipline task force teachers administrators the disp task force is made up administrators the entire District so the task forcef ad or we need to bring back the entire District to a committee look ATU policies and Dr Smith once that committee is established or created will there be board representation in the same way there's safety representation on safety any more questions for Miss Bush yes I do um I first want to say Mr Mr kusik thank you for answering my question earlier um so I appreciate that um the other question that

039I have I'll just read directly that was previously submitted discipline can be complex and behaviors can be indicators of a deeper need concerning the well-being of a child do we have a trauma trained informed staff that can respond if a behavior requires more than a punitive or restorative response example if a child is having a mental crisis or reacting to an unknown trauma how was this recognized and responded to and I know that schools can't diagnose a child but are we um permitted to advise the parent to seek professional evaluation and my brain goes to when you call the police you if if your loved one is having a mental crisis you will call MCAT you would um advise them to send out a mental health service so then I'm trying to parallel that on

040what that would look like within our school system so that's my train of thought as it pertains to this question most definitely and the the applied educational Neuroscience certification that we have we're actually finishing up registration for our third cohort um this is the first time Dr Lori has done a cohort with the district in this way and so we are very very lucky to have had this this opportunity to have cohorts of teachers throughout the district who are train who are being trained in this way of thinking this way of teaching and being and building relationships with our students for the exact purpose of what you just said um to be able to grow that mindset and to spread that work as as far and wide as we can we do have trauma trained

041individuals throughout the district outside of that that as well um our counselors have some training our family liaison have um training as a matter of fact this year we had um a Spire trained all of our family liaison in Colombia training now Columbia training is it's a specific to um rating the level of suicide risk so that is a very high level of of risk that they're looking for there but all family Liaisons have been there and if we don't have someone that's internal between the counselors and the family liaison um if there's not someone inhouse that can address the high level of need of a certain student absolutely we offer resources um we can't make a referral you know we can't make a mental health referral so to speak um other than to gahu

042which is our school based mental health and so so um while we may refer to gallahue if there's something else that needs to go beyond that then we can uh be a warm handoff to a trusted resource that we have um and we've called ahead plenty of times to community crisis to say hey I'm with this family they're on their way with their Student please expect them so yes that made my heart smile on so many levels because you know I tend to think also just Citywide also youth uh violence has increased substantially and so as a school thank you for letting me know or letting us know um what tools and resources that families and our students can utilize I'm excited that's thank you and before we move on to category e do you

043have any questions about category D your answered a lot before we move on you know I would like to just say to the public that I have been involved in this school district for over 24 years 12 years as a parent 12 years as a board member and I have full and complete faith that all of our Administration all of our staff all of our teachers work hard to get every single one of our students across the line um and to to graduation and that I trust we don't ignore the needs of any of our children regardless of when they may have an infraction and beyond that there might be individuals that have such a unique situation that they don't feel that their needs have been addressed and that may be the case but I

044trust that every administrator teacher and staff member Works their very hardest to make sure all of our students have what they need to graduate because that's our goal as a board and I think our our staff knows that thank you um can we move on to um e thank you madam president this category is about access to resources and that includes our high ability programming and so the action step that's called for in the action plan is a review of the elementary high ability program and that was brought to you last spring and you approved the recommendations this year Mrs Schneider our director of Elementary has led the actual work the expansion of our elementary hi ability program and we're proud to report that for the first time ever we have pre-algebra which is the

045advanced math curriculum for sixth graders in every one of our elementaries so all students are um all sixth graders in each Elementary have had access to pre-algebra in addition um we have complete High ability programming that will be available at all elementary schools um in this next school year in 2425 and so that really opened up lots uh many more choices for our parents when it came time to choose what type of programming that they wanted for their child in addition as Mrs Mustin has already uh pointed out you did pass very Rec recently um the approval of self-contained dual language High ability at oaklandon and at Mary castle and that has been hugely hugely received by our families and our numbers are quite high in those sections at those two schools um most importantly

046I think we've created a more inclusive identification process so this isn't about one test score and this is about a profile of a student this is about student achievement this is about surveys sometimes from teachers from parents and so really making um our options much more inclusive in terms of the identification process and then much better parent communication and so Mrs Schneider has led this work in creating a parent communication handbook that's been distributed to each of the parents when they received their invitation for high ability participation so that increased level of communication and so um we're really looking forward to this next school year which brings about the implementation of all that you've approved let me ask you this um a parent receives a handbook when they've received their invitation what about the parent

047whose child is sort of on the the line and that parent wants to push the child into high ability how do we communicate with those parents that would be at the building level based on student data in individual conversation I just have a comment EV because little Mavis Lawrence was invited to do the high ability program at oaklandon and I just wanted to say thank you for all of the communication and also for staying on top of her mother who doesn't respond in a timely manner to invitations I'm very appreciative of the followup conversations that have happened many times so thank you for having my back as well as my daughters thanks I had a a comment and a question about Point number two um I had the opportunity to serve on the committee which

048I thank you for and it was very informative um I think this is so valuable that children can now be a part of the high ability program because some kids right at currently it's offered in what four elementary schools right now um a lot of kids well not a lot I should say some children for went going into the high ability so that they could stay at their home school with their friends and so as I'm understanding this now they have the option to be at their home Elementary School um going into the 20 24 25 school year if a child had previously tested into the high ability program but chose to stay at their home school will they be given an offer um to retest or re or to join in the hi ability

049do they have to retest or how does that work there wouldn't be a need to retest it would come through the data points that Mrs M's question was referring to that the individual principal based on the students data would then engage in that conversation with the families okay thank you you're welcome Mr Noor one one other thing that I would just like to point out for members of the public um in in making those decisions um so our daughter is actually staying at Forest Glenn and is we're opting to not have her in one of the high ability programs could you explain for anybody who's curious what how we'll support those Learners who maybe have other needs even if they opt to stay in their home school as Mavis is or if if a family

050has opted for their student to stay in their home school and they've qualified for high ability they would still have access to the advanced math curriculum so this year that's only been offered in sixth grade as as we got started next year it'll be first grade through sixth grade so a year advanced in terms of math and a um Lexile level uh reading Lexile level that matches their reading ability for English language arts and that would be in every one of our schools just a few questions first of all um so exciting about the changes to hi ability can you explain for members of the public what the criteria is to um ensure that they understand how they can get into a high ability program sure I'm going to ask Mrs Schneider to come to

051the the podium and I'll start and then she can give a more detailed answer um but it's based on several different data points and so the data points include the Kat test which is the state approved uh gifted identification process that the state requires we also look at student achievement data um so we're looking at our I ready scores that um students take throughout the entire school year um we're looking at planned experiences and so these are experiences that students complete almost like an activity at school and then are scored according to a r that our teachers have been trained in also when when there's a question or a student might be um on the line in terms of those other data points then a teacher survey um might be part of the process as

052well and so it's really looking at the overall profile of a student Mr Schneider did I leave out any details the most part we use two of those identifying pieces so we want to see them meet criteria two different areas so the testing is done in kindergarten and then GR in fifth grade is that accurate it's done in kindergarten second grade and then in fifth grade we use I ready data to help us make decisions because by that point most kids have been tested twice they've been testing kindergarten in second grade but we also parents can request testing throughout the school year and we bring them in standing and is can we be provided with how the demographics have shifted based on this new criteria that has been implemented because I think it'd be exciting

053to see the equity work that has been happening so thank you absolutely that's a good point done I think that would be helpful and and I just would like to to comment that um even 12 years ago a long time ago when our children went through Elementary School um they opted to stay in their home school and um had every opportunity to um to read ahead had every opportunity to learn math ahead but I'm very glad that this is institutionalized across the district so thank you so much I have a comment slash question um this hits home to me in so many ways I have a child who when I often say that I've wored well with Lawrence this has been a point for me um and so it is Redemptive I I don't know

054if that's the right word to say that or I don't know um to see when your child should have have been in a certain program and they weren't but to see Lawrence actively work and make the changes that are needed and that child is a is a distinguished honor at this point but it just as a mother the heartache of knowing that certain behaviors a bored child is a busy child and so I think that this also um is a good way to help with discipline also sometimes children can be labeled a certain way when it's really they're they're just bored so hats off you like my heart Smiles because I've sent many emails I thank you this work is more personal to me than I can express and so I thank you for that

055um and I do want to ask if the public can be reminded of the boundaries concerning High ability and transportation options that that was a question that yes so the high ability program follows the same Transportation setup that the rest of the district does so an East and a West and that's why it was important when you approved the uh new programs for next year we had a East Side option and a West Side option so that everybody could take advantage of of transportation and if a parent decides to say that they're in the westward option and go to the Eastward option then they would have to transport their child to that school correct wanted to make sure that that that's correct clarified okay thank you Mr notor did we find in expanding to the

056um to the immersion hi ability program did the number of children who qualified exceed our ability to provide for them in those two schools or I'm just I'm I'm thinking about capacity questions here they they didn't exceed our ability but certainly challenged us to look at Logistics differently and so we have we had originally only plan for two sections of dual language High ability one at Oakland and one at Mary castle for next year we have a very very full Mary one section at Mary castle and we have two sections at oaklandon so we did have to work through some Logistics I know that that's something that we struggle with in high ability just in general across the board having had two other children go through that that program so I was just curious uh

057what the demand was like as we expanded to our dual language very high demand and the other thing that pleased about and this goes somewhat to Mrs Dunn's question um the percentage of uh language Learners that are in those sections matches what our district would would require for a two-way program so we have a significantly higher number of language Learners that will be in the high ability programming than we've had before outstanding outstanding um I guess now we'll move on to category F accountability category F really is focused on our data systems and in 2021 during the middle of the pandemic we had a lot of work to do on our data systems and so the work since then has been the development of a short cycle and midcycle data system at every school um

058and that's significant work um and quite a change from where we were four years ago um through that we've offered ongoing I ready training I ready is our formative assessment tool um that's really a midcycle data system that we use throughout the year we've offered sessions at our Lawrence learning Summit and Then followed through that cascading domain into uh teacher training throughout the entire school year we have continued exploration and Pilots of formative assessment tools the technology continues to improve and continues to grow and so that causes us to continue to explore and make sure that we have the the best technology to support our data systems and then we've provided continuing and ongoing coaching and professional development by national consultant to each of our Schools board questions I do have a question that was

059raised um regarding the I ready and knowing that we are going to be it's my understanding moving to the iearn checkpoints next school year is that correct that we will be having both I ready and iearn checkpoints we are part of the pilot for the I learn checkpoints uh my belief is anytime the state puts out pilot we want to be involved and on the front end of that but but we have um a commitment to I ready because we have a system built around it so we want to preview the iearn checkpoints um see what changes that the state makes in in that through the pilot before we would up uh create an upheaval in our system so we're keeping I ready for next school year so students will have I ready and I

060learn checkpoints as well as what other assessments just the class fortive assessments the regular assessments through the classroom but then year in summi of Assessments okay I just I the concern was brought that that is a lot of assessing for students to do in those grade level bands plus the third grade with the I ready or I'm sorry with I um especially since we do have such a large number of English Learners and how much data are we going to be able to get from all of those that are actually it's going to take away quite frankly from students ability to be in the classroom learning content as opposed to constant assessment that's why we need to see what the iearn pilot looks like so how much usable data will there be compared to what

061we're doing now I have a question um it's kind of forming as we're talking um I have a child that is in honors and there was an intersection of the um where the where the testing overlapped um let me get this in writing and I'll get it to you because it just made me think on a bit like the overlap in of some of the testing let me get it and I'll get it to you yes and the other point to that is we have worked through our assessment calendar for next year so that we make sure that those windows the I learn and the I ready windows don't overlap Mr notor what is your sense um that our short cycle formative assessment tools are what we need because we're always it seems like throwing

062spaghetti at the wall as test as the major state test change and we don't know what we're testing toward Etc how stable do we feel that the testing is at this point that we know that our formative assessments are what they need to be and will give us a better idea of where our kiddos are that's exactly the reason that we're keeping the I ready assessment for next year um is we are confident in the work that our teachers do um and the data points that were given through I ready um we're not confident yet in the state test just because there has been so much change um and so we're much more confident in IR however we do know that we need to add uh Technology support for short cycle Data Systems um and

063so that's a piece that uh Mr Harsha and Miss Schneider are working on right now with our building principles is selecting a tool for that short cycle data that will give us uh better results in a technological way great I do have one another question about that as it pertains to um the fiscal um standpoint of being able to administer I ready um the formative assessment Grant my understanding is is what usually covered NWA I ready and so forth will that be covering I ready for next school year and then it will be sunsetting once the I ready checkpoints come into play so will we be thinking potentially how we will be funding for I ready if we choose to keep it yes it is funded through the formative assessment grant for next year um

064and then we'll see where we're at with the iearn checkpoints if the iearn checkpoints are able to provide us comparable data and we trust the standards alignment um then yes we wouldn't need to look for additional funding if the answer is no that the checkpoints through the pilot um is not the fit that we need for timely decision making then we would be looking at alternative funding thank you very much you're welcome we are at category G social and emotional well-being all right Mrs Bush has that one and this item was specific to our high schools and we did have a curriculum review team who identified seven mindsets as oural curriculum for the high schools that was board approved in April of 2022 and implementation started last spring um my question is um you know

065I I I went back through our um April meeting um and I know we that's certainly when we approved our um Equity goals um can you remind us what these seven mindsets are well I don't have them in front of me but I can sure share those with you okay okay okay great back to you excellent thank you um and we'll we'll just you can send those to us and then we'll make sure to mention them again at our next meeting thank you I do have a question as to when those are being administered is that during an advisory period or when is when are students receiving that curriculum first period on Mondays so it's whatever the color is one and five is that what that would be accordance with school BL schedu either red

066or maroon any more questions there I do I feel like I need to give this a little bit of um back it up a little bit so so there's a understanding as to why I'm going to ask this um I feel like it's related to emotional well-being um because let me just ask it and then I'll go from there um I'll read it directly from what I submitted while I fully support our decision of utilizing metal detectors in our buildings metal detectors presence can be argued as a form of overp policing which can impact mental perceptions of one's environment and emotional well-being especially as it pertains to um urban areas where there you go into a bank and you have to be buzzed in you go to buy products and there their behind counters um

067or uh locked up I'm interested to know how our kids have been responding to the presence of the metal detectors and has this been a concern because we often talk about the positives but we need to see also the impact on overall yes it's great but there is there there's some stigmas and there's some things that can come with that so that's where my question comes from second level we Reed very positive feedack indect indect that's important so that's beeni indirect count okay good now thank you so there hasn't been any concerns or the kids seem pretty I wonder how that will let me just think on my own okay thank you um then we can move on I believe to um category H racialized language in informal settings yes thank you Madame President so

068racialized language in informal settings uh this was a a really weighty topic uh to begin to get a plan around and so the uh conversation really is about training for teachers and training for students around what expectations are within an academic setting and so so uh there's training to be offered this summer at the Lawrence learning Summit around bias incidents and how you deal with that as a classroom teacher and and out of the audit data really was that question from teachers of how do I handle it I'm not sure what to do when I hear a racial slur and so that's what this training is designed to support our teachers in also looking at curriculum development around anti-bias um and racial ized language and so we convened a curriculum uh group this year that

069met to review um not only seal but how we might integrate into our seal curriculum anti-bias training training around racialized language and what's appropriate what's not appropriate in an academic setting so that curriculum integration will occur over this summer um where our teachers will work to create that scope and sequence and the implementation of that curriculum will begin as part of our seal programming in 2425 Mr not um in this biased language training is there also um is it also inclusive of training around sexual orientation and or gender identity it is it's it's all biases absolutely thank you and um the training that we would offer for students when you say incorporated into theal those in that curricul that seven mindsets curriculum that they receive in the first block yeah so that'd be the example

070at the high school it looks different at the middle school and the elementary sure but that's that's that's where we're going to incorporate that yes we just need a little more conversation a little more teacher training to know how to approach this exactly um and do we know right now at the Lawrence learning Summit uh what experts we're looking to to help guide us in this yes and so uh Dr Dominique Smith um who's been a partner with us in our restorative work around creating that safe culture for students and then we have a couple other specific trainers that are coming in on this topic and I know Crystal has some um I don't know if you want to bring them up tonight I'm gonna put an ellipsis on it right now because I feel

071like it's still that's and I I had mentioned earlier in a in a question that I asked earlier it's something that it's the policing of some of the words that are my bigger concerned because I look okay well how would this impact discipline and so I'm just going to put in ellipses and just kind of watch so I thank you for that update no question as of now Mr notor you know we know that um um some of these words were talking about um whether it's um gender based or racial based we know that some of these words that we're talking about are are in common usage in um our pop culture yes and some of our students are very comfortable with the language uh many students are very uncomfortable with the language and what

072is our [Music] commitment to making sure that we don't vilify students who are using the language in a way that is comfortable in their own culture absolutely and and many times our students don't even realize what they're saying is offensive to someone else and so that's really the training that we're talking about and the teaching that we're talking about of defining the expectations within an academic setting and not in a policing disciplinary Type of Way in a teaching kind of way of these are the expectations in the classroom in the hallways in the restroom in Lawrence Township versus what you might say in your home and they might be two different things so we envision this as learning opportunities as opposed to punitive absolutely 100% okay thank you so much thank you for that clarification

073um uh let's go on to well gender bias we've already touched on that so let's move Johnson the highlights that we've shared this evening on gender biases is through a human resource lens as we think about seeking and recruiting a diverse Workforce um this year we launched a staff demographic survey which has allowed us to collect um information and create dashboards for each of our schools so that our leaders can just really easily at their fingertips look at their Staffing versus visually looking at them looking that data as to um just who composes our staff the diversity just in making better informed decisions and then furthermore um we have a process in Human Resources where our leaders submit a precondition um offer to HR when they're offering um jobs to candidates and we're having them

074think through just how many candidates you know what was the gender of the candidates what was the race of the candidates what is the team that interviewed them what was that made up racially so just that thinking about how do you bring multiple perspectives to the table in our hiring process Miss Johnson I have I have one follow-up question for that have we ever done a salary survey or a baseline of salaries to ensure that there's equitable distribution among both genders um I I'm asking this as someone who works at Salesforce we did this work and it cost the company quite a bit of money to to make sure that we were Equitable but it was uh a boon for in particular our female um and my female colleagues so I'm just curious if we've

075done to ensure that we have um Equitable salaries among our staff and our both classified and um and our Administration and our teacher staff I'd say that we have had a really comprehensive salary review of all of our positions as we compared it throughout marrying County and just the equitableness for all of our employees not to say regardless of their gender but just the equity and that it was for all it's yeah it's different yeah they are that's right that's one would argue that that's one would argue that that's maybe the way that we should think about salaries even in Corporate America I'm GNA be quiet ours ours are very public folks any more questions about that okay we'll move on to category J um parents and Community are ready to do the work thank

076you madam president and even though this is the last category in some ways it's the most important category it's a a question that was in every focus group and a question that was on every single survey is are we committed and ready to do this work and some communities are not um our data was overwhelmingly that our families our teachers our Administration is ready to do this work and so one of the action steps again is how are we engaged ing all of our families and so we highlight again the work that went into L conversa and the institutionalizing of that program um another action step that's within uh this particular category is staying engaged in the conversation um the work that we're doing um according to our national Consultants um really is groundbreaking um

077National work um and so we have been invited to present at conferences um over the years most recently Dr Smith served on the panel at the Midwest Regional Conference for the alliance of black school Educators so we continue to stay engaged in the conversation not only within Maran County and within Indiana but more broadly within the the nation because this is such an important topic questions I don't have any questions but I do have a couple of comments that I think it's important for our public to to see because um there are a couple things in Jay which I do is such an incredibly important item and one thing I just want to provide some time um to to celebrate is J 2.2 and that is provide dedicated time um the fact that we are

078investing in our instructional assistance as you did on January 8th 2024 is to be commended and so thank you for that as well as the differentiated PD for staff I think so many of us have sat in PD where it's a one- siiz fits all and our educators are across the Spectrum we have folks that are brand new to um to teaching and then we've got other folks who have been in this profession um and are veterans and so um that also is to be celebrated so I just I think that's important to call out some of the other things I hope you don't mind the work that we're doing that aren't on the slides that make me very proud to serve in this District I think the other um piece that I I think

079is also so incredibly creative um that I would love just we have to do it here but love to talk more about and that's action item j. 3.2 and that is utilize and compensate students as a resource providing translation services where possible and appropriate I think appropriate is that key word right like we want to make sure that we aren't pulling kids into IEP conferences exactly but that we are utilizing them for things like open houses and things where they can give a tour for the building and so I just think those are three things that this district is doing extraordinarily well um and think it's important to celebrate so you much m d thank you I wanted to share a highlight also I was able to um sit in and hear the panel from

080the alliance of black school Educators and one thing that I think that not I think I know that Lauren shines at is our Civic engagement with our state reps I was in awe of how that's not the norm for a lot of groups and so as people were talking and asking I'm like oh that's the norm with us you know we are thank you for making sure that the Civic engagement is there thank you for that Lawrence is ahead I I will simply say that so that was a a very Stark reminder of Lawrence Excellence So yeah thank you for a Civic engagement that was wild I have one question that may be selfish um but as our community Works to understand each other I know know it is crucial for our Spanish-speaking families of

081our students to speak English well enough to get by in in this world and and I commend you for La conversa um and I know that we're offering that to our teachers as well is there any thought that we might offer that to English-speaking members of the community in general so that those that live in Lawrence Township can learn Spanish because because that would Aid in all of our communication throughout the district yes and um that has been a request that's come from the community um not just you selfishly but other members of our community have also asked us that throughout the school year so that is something that we're looking at for next year in terms of the expansion for lack conv Versa the other request that we've had is from our parents who

082are English speakers but want to learn Spanish because their students are in dual language programming and so that would be another piece that we would look to add for next year One More Story um I was able I would read to the little girls you know when they were tiny as they got ready for bed and I would I got to the point where I could with my little classes I could read Clifford the Big Red Dog in Spanish um at which point my kindergartner said mommy do you want me to read that for you do you need me to read that for you so um it is very hard to keep up with those kids and very important um they would get rubrics um in for their work in Spanish and you know parents

083would call me and tell me about that rubric I can't you got to talk to the teacher I can't tell you so thank you for that we've been using a lot of dualingo in our house lately and it's actually been really fun because it is helping Mavis read in both English and Spanish and helping me with my Spanish so I look forward to a spot spot for me there as well Dr Al email list here um okay so thank you any further questions on this um Mr notor thank you and the rest of the staff who presented thank you for for sharing all the progress maybe not all the progress but most of the progress the highlight of the progress we've made um I know we were ready I know we we were doing the

084right thing but to see this progress come into fruition is um what do you say Miss Pucket my heart is smiling my heart is smiling thank you you and I don't know if you wanted to read the the last quote of Rita Mayfield yeah that last quote is just one that we always end with because it keeps Us grounded in terms of what this work is about this work is about changing history this work is about changing lives and so um really proud of the work that we're doing may I read it absolutely into the record there is nothing passive or dispassionate about being a culturally competent educator it has nothing to do with your race ethnicity culture class position School location or student population culturally competent educators recognize the power of their influence to

085change the course of history for the better and they work collaboratively with colleagues to strategically critique where we have failed in the past and where we'll Endeavor to navigate in the future Dr verita Mayfield in cultural competence now okay well I'm I'm ver clamped here for just a second so um we will be uh moving forward into Neola policy I believe Mr harburger and and Miss D like policy yeah let's move on to something a little more dry a little more Madame President Dr Smith the members of the board it is that time again and I bring to you for first readingsight the ol of revision package 36 number one this package there are 48 policies that were updated as always these revisions are recommended to comply with changes in the law of State happy

086to answer any questions recite all policy behind questions board I I do have a question Dr harbarger on policy 0164 the first one if I'm reading it correct that's just a consolidation or a streamlining of the policy on public meetings is that correct correct okay after pic we had a lot of diffic and that's gone away now now they're consolidating that back okay same thing for 016 okay so getting rid of some redund redundancies and okay yes I appreciate that thank you um I I just have a few questions um volume 36 number one language um see where was that it's all volume 36 number one language um so it would be in notice of regular meetings maybe okay well that's a good question what is the overall tile um I think it's it's the

087very first policy actually let me let me check this out um the very first policy I'm gonna have to look it up for you again I apologize um there was a typo um or I guess the the that's not where the typo was the question was I guess are we resending the digital board participation entirely um that we had a we had a policy for for the board to participate digitally um you know during covid sure um during that crisis are we resending that entirely no not entirely then we worked with that to make sure that that's still in place so up to two board members can be away not in person and I think it's not to exceed two times throughout the course of the school year okay good good or during a calendar

088year comp it's actually the same as it was in our policy previously that did not change we had that option again so we selected just we were consistent y yes and then 142 a 1422 I see a 1422 it wasn't that um School safety4 it's 8,400 yeah okay school safety um if I go there then um in paragraph one major paragraph one you look down to the second line it says a enforcement which should be law enforcement it's a typo it's a typo I don't know if that'll I just don't know if that'll get caught and the same typo existed like in paragraph one or two I believe anyway that that's a typo J okay and th those were my only those were my only questions or comments any others I just want to make

089one quick comment as while I know that this is very dry and not so fun Dr harshberger does a very nice job um and also I just I also want to extend so much gratitude for all of the individual teams that give the input which is so incredibly valuable and important and what's really exciting to see is that when we look at these Neola policies and what has been enacted by our state legislator legislators is that we are usually already two steps ahead of what is being asked for us one is um something that is new as our cell phone policy um and that is something that will be um and that is SB 185 it continues to be a focus area um we are going to continue to work with Neola um administrators and

090teachers to develop policy guidelines and handbook language for implementation of that um baring any unforeseen issues that policy will be completed and ready for the school year um and appreciate to um asking the community um constituents specifically not our students but our um our family members our parents and Guardians for their input of what should be done as of Monday there were over 2500 parent responses and guardian responses overwhelmingly these folks favored having cell phones stored by students out of sight and in silent mode during classroom instruction parents also responded favorably to their child having access to their cell phone in case of an emergency and as I stated Dr harburger and I hope to have that um so that all constituents all stakeholders will know the expectations um and that is why we have

091board policy is so that we can set those expectations um for our schools so thank you very much for your continued leadership I'm pretty sure if anybody can make policy a fun topic it would be Dr harbar so thank you so much thank you your heart I don't know I don't know if I'm going to go there but um Mr miles we move on to our finan update thank you thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board in front of you you have information items for um our month end April 30th 2024 uh Financial reports for for both the general fund and the transportation fund um once again both funds are in a favorable place at this time of the year uh which we're happy to report uh with both um uh again

092the general fund exceeding where we projected our cash balance at this time transportation fund just a little off but uh still in a good place uh my question is with our cash flow um work sheet and we have you know a almost an $800,000 deficit projected for the end of the year in our debt service and we have uh a little more than $1 million deficit projected end of year in our capital projects fund can you explain that for us uh I would love to go into bigger more detail on that one that is not a board report that we share with the public that's more of an internal report I don't have that in front of me right at the moment um those just in generally speaking though I can probably try to address

093that um you know we do project out what we forecast um really months in advance that are sometimes you know obviously those things are very fluid and change from time to time um so without digging into it a little bit more which I'd be happy to do and report back um I don't have that right in front of me at the moment but we can do so sure and so can it also be that um those funds could be in deficit in December but not at the end of the school year um we would at we would Target the end of the calendar year um to have all funds in a positive positive State okay um so yeah we look we do make transfers twice a year um June and December and so those funds

094are going back and forth at that time and and that's so for our board goals and state reporting um we do use that end of the the 1231 date for that is that part of the difference between education fund and general fund and some of that it's related to that okay all right I understand that better now thank you yes you're welcome any other questions at this point board we will go on to our board committee chair reports uh Miss dun you can already gave obviously I think You' got I think you've got that thank you again you got that under well no one wants to hear more about that okay all right um Miss Norman thank you madam president the foundation board's next event or the foundations next event is next week Thursday May

09530th um it's for the kids golf tournament at Old Oakland golf golf club from 9: to 3:00 p.m. um I believe there is registration and sponsorship still available at msdlt f.org and the most recent event I believe you were at Dr Smith um do you want to give a little summary of the Prairie Dash I'm going to give credit to my wonderful Elementary team I just showed up and supported the kidss Dr Brown share with them we took over Hamilton County so tell them what happened Saturday yes sir each of the coaches administrators very large teams our largest team was 157 children who practicing their runs in the running clubs and we did take over Hamilton County we sure did and then our next run will be outstanding um Miss Pucket parks and R I

096have nothing now can I add something please do because I wasn't able to make it to the last meeting and thank you as parents of fellow young people um currently I know the parks is hiring for summer seasonal help um you can go on the cityof lawrence.org uh website for employment opportunities and I will say that Fiesta Lawrence was was quite lovely we chip and I attended briefly and that was a lovely and a nice place to see our our children performing it's really lovely okay um we'll move on to what may be a consent agenda oh I'm sorry I'm apologize yes um 4.1 the approval of permission to advertise RFP for oven upgrades at the elementaries Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I recommend the board approve the request to

097bid oven upgrades as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded if there are no questions all in favor I I I any opposed the eyes have it Madame President I move we action items 4.2 through 4.7 as consent agenda so moved second properly moved and seconded um all those in favor of those items being a consent agenda I I any opposed okay so we have our consent agenda I move approval or yes of this consent agenda so moved second yeah properly moved and seconded um all those in favor of approving the consent agenda I I any opposed we are on to board comments and who would like to begin our board comments today I see no hands I'll go to miss LS okay I get the lucky board comment right before the end of

098the school year which makes everybody really excited um I'm just want to express my gratitude not just to our teachers who are dealing with the frenetic uh end of school Pace that happens um and managing field days and all of those things but also um to our Administration and our classified staff um particularly classified staff who are having been clean up after all those field days and all those things um but I but I also want to say uh a big thank you to our community members and our parents who um are are attending you know activities I know I've done my fair share over the last few days and few weeks and um and volunteering at these events it really is a community effort and it's one of the most exciting times to be

099a board member although one of the busiest times to be a board member at the same time so thank you to to members of the community to our teachers and I just can't wait to have this school year done for our kiddos no one else in this room agrees with me though so that's it thank you it's done so I second all the things that Miss lawence says but said but I have to tell you that the school year is not over all of those that know about jump start and PD and all the things that our Educators do I think that there's a lot of times a misnomer that our educators are just at the pool lounging which I hope they do a lot of that but I also I'm so incredibly thankful that

100we have Educators that continue to keep our doors open particularly our food service that is something that um have so much gratitude for those individuals that are ensuring that our children are fed during the summer um and so please make sure that um you're checking out the website for that information about where the summer servings are being held um also want to say um that the summer reading program the Susan Jordan summer reading program is something um that is so incredibly unique and what an honor to such an incredible educator in this District um so get those books out read use those ndpl shared system cards um and you can do the summer reading program at the Indianapolis Public Library along and count those as your summer um reading points for the Susan Jordan program

101as well um but also cannot say thank you enough for another tremendous school year here in Lawrence Township it truly is um my pleasure to serve on this board thank you Miss dun Miss Norman yes um thank you I second that about the summer servings um and it's available to I believe everyone in the community 18 and under you don't even have to be an LT student or show proof well is it also available to pregnant mothers or am I inaccurate is it just 18 and younger okay and I believe I did see it on the website um this week yeah it's out on the website now yep yeah and so thank you for bringing attention to that I was wanting to share that with some families too it's so so valuable because it's in

102all so many of our communities um and then my other thing I was going to share this is a reminder to myself as well as all the other parents the RSVP process is is still going on on Skyward for next year um I believe this helps your team with planning correct and um preparing for the next school year so don't forget fellow parents and myself to get on the RSVP process for next school year um finally May is mental health awareness month and when I whenever I hear about something from multiple sources or um have someone close that experiences something um I think it's something that's important to bring awareness to um multiple sources will point that there is a huge uh percentage of students children teens and adults who suffer from mental health um

103problems and um that support is is so valuable and it also made me realize too in conversations we think about our kids and they need all of our thoughts and help but then I also thought about our staff too so I'm grateful that we have support services to help you know our staff as well so thank you for that um I just wanted to briefly share something um this is a year where we time where we celebrate success and I want to thank Lauren uh Lauren I want to thank Lawrence um it makes me think about success may look differently for a kid and I had a senior back in 2020 that graduated and so as a parent I was stuck on what success looked like you need to do this you need to do

104this to uh graduate that was altering to a point to where at that point the aspect of mental Wellness took on a whole another turn and so I just wanted to just briefly um read a little excerpt it's from ryland's paper has the art of learning been lost and she says here a students a student's motivation in school can improve by simply believing they can learn and seeing failure as a symptom of learning not a diagnosis it's damaging for student to believe they are not capable of learning it causes them to disengage in education ra rather than to push them towards school that's why I feel this essay needed to be addressed to the issues that it's not enough to tell a student to Simply learn better not all the time but some some of

105the time the students ability to learn isn't the issue it's the psychology of understanding what breeds learning and how to effectively do so that is the issue at hand especially with life altering situation situations such as Co I share that to say that was a tough year and it has helped me thank you for helping me to measure success differently for my family we continue to the measure of success for us this year was a higher emotional quoti and I can honestly say that Lawrence has helped me in parenting well helped my husband and I in parenting to push that forward and everything else came along with that I am grateful for all the other accolades but I thank you first and foremost I see growth in their emotional quoti and so I thank you

106for that so for all the other parents that success may look differently that emotional piece a child that got up that was anxious depressed made it into school thank you that's my peace well said y I'm sorry look I of Hadad look you I would like to say that among the end of the Year celebrations uh we were blessed with attending um the retirement dinner and celebration um those teachers that are retiring from the district this year were 36 educate age Educators representing 796 years of service to public education and um if Miss Johnson has anything to do with it they may come back and tutor a bit um but we are so proud of all of our Educators and when we think of of you know almost a thousand years of service we know

107the the heart and the and the soul that goes into educating our children here in Lawrence Dr Smith well since we're on cration thank you board for coming to that important event your presence and participation means a lot to staff and we're going to ask for you to join again Carla Johnson at attention something Friday is going to happen will you share with the public the big celebration we have in this District on Friday mark your calendars for Friday May 24th at 9:00 a.m. at Lauren Central High School where we will celebrate our end of the year celebration for our staff members um we'll be highlighting all of our teachers of the year and classified members of the year and it's just a great party and a celebration of success and just the Lawrence Township

108family look birdie tell me we're going to be giving out some money too we give out some really prestigious gifts to our teachers is that correct exciting and staff all right so we want to do that Carla Johnson thank you for that let's shift over to the next big graduation ceremony that we have coming up folks Dan kosnik rundown graduation for the board as the board will be the guest of Lawrence norf in Lawrence Central High School in that order and we need to know the date and time so we're there front and center on time is that correct downtown the fairgrounds on June 5th and June 6th Lawrence North is up first this year Lawrence Central the second day we look forward to being there for seven o' sharp start thank you and lastly

109board you have taken action over the years to upgrade our facilities to the point where we have become a model across the state of Indiana and particular here in Maran County Grant nth we've got a couple very important events that we're going to be hosting I do want to win and win the banners and trophies that go with that will you share with the board these up and cominging uh events athletic events we have coming up sure uh first off Lawrence North girls track just won the sectional last week and uh so they're moving forward as all the individuals Lawrence Central and Lawrence North and then we are hosting in our brand new Turf Stadium with LED lights the sectional and for sectional for baseball and softball we have not we've done that in the

110past but it's very different this time because now we have lights we can play later we have turfy and rain all day and we can still play so uh we'll start baseball tomorrow uh and softball tomorrow and I think if you check your calendars Wednesday night LC and Ln softball they they drew each other first round uh so Wednesday at 5:30 they'll play at Lawrence Central so all softball games at Lawrence Central and all the baseball games are at Lawrence North this year thank you Dr nth and thank you Board of Education that's all I have this evening okay well then I would just like to remind everyone that our next meeting will be um June 10th Monday June 10th it's a work session will'll begin again at 5:30 as we did today and hope

111that we'll have a lot lot to say about graduation and all the fun things that have happened between now and then is there a motion to adjourn so moved second we are adjourned doie dokie