001to order um first on our agenda Mr Smith would you please introduce um our friend from the sharing Place Madame President Dr Smith members of the board and once again we'd like to welcome SCH Schumacher from Luther and Child and Family Services you also oversee the sharing place which is hosted here and in our building and he's going to present uh a quick overview of some of the services that they have been providing now the Shar in place thank you thank you Adam chair your board your Dr Smith and um yeah e for e e e thank you Mr Schumacher and um I think I speak for the board when I and the administration when I say we don't want to do it without you either um you feed our families and um we know
002that nutrition is crucial cral for our children and and our kiddos so thank you for everything you do Bo do you have some comments yes I Echo uh what what president muston said Mr Schumacher thank you so much for the work that your organization does within our community feeding those individuals that are really in need and that's an extension really of the work that we do in the school district as well as within our foundation as the daughter of someone who benefits from similar services in Ohio know how vital this can be for um particularly for our elderly um who maybe are homebound or maybe not accustomed to shopping for groceries as my father is um for himself so I we very much appreciate it I do have a question for you Roger Smith um
003Mr Smith when we turn this back into a school um what are our plans and I know we plan we intend to keep the sharing place here what are our plans to um um either I I I don't know what our plans are in terms of like facilitating um the academic work that we're doing here as well as the the work that um to to support the sharing place would appreciate that U we're going to continue to support the sharing place here and as that program evolves and develop uh we may see some more of those opportunities as we engage uh this building uh with more students Roger go ahead and share with the board that the plans for all the na profit Partners we have in this building attentions is for them to stay
004is that correct correct uh Chamber of Commerce is currently here uh along with communities in school uh we plan to continue to host them uh our clinic will remain here as well for uh districtwide employees so we don't want to move that and uh the PD in uh this particular room will remain as well not only for student news but also other public uh events and staff development go ahead Jess Jessica thank you so much for the presentation it's so exciting to see the impact that um the sharing place has on the Lawrence Community I think just two questions that I have I don't know for whom but uh the one is how do families find out about the sharing Place how is that communicated in the schools to ensure that families are aware of
005this service goad that is one way we also share what' you say Sean I would also remind Miss dun that uh sharing places has grown Roger Smith and spin over the years uh you were in a much smaller location and you've expanded to probably five times the size of his previous location Roger oh yes and so it's it's now institutionalized in our community people know about it but our entire student services division all of our family lisons um know exactly where to send people when there's Fe food insecurities s is being modest he not only serves Lawrence Township but he serves people all across the city people come from all over and they know uh the hospitality that uh this organization uh has for serving people people and feeding them they do a phenomenal job
006so can I also add that it's on um it's on our parents Square also so I know that I get um updates updates for it and it also add you know for signing up to volunteer so I thank you it comes through my parents square right then I had um just two other questions the other question was do you have a breakdown of the demographics in terms of bil language I'm just curious with the growing um population of our community welcoming our Haitian Creole families um in the need potentially for supports there I know the Haitian Creole Society has a very large presence on the east side and so I was just thinking if there was a way maybe to connect with potential volunteers or um translators because I know that language barrier sometimes can
007be an issue I'm happy to help connect the dots for you all yes thank you very much and then the final the idea about an apprenticeship is truly a really smart idea I'm wondering and I was trying to do a quick Google search on the Indiana Pathways and I didn't see that there was one for nonprofits I'm just curious if that's something that um potentially could be looked at at the next you're sitting right next to the individual who's over secondary education we'll take a look at it Miss dun Mr schoe marker thank you for that announcement you've got the High School principles in the room so they're they're here and they can hear you and we're always looking for opportunity I see Miss means here from Lawrence Advance Academy so it's nice that we
008have potential opportunities for young people to do some internships in the future so we know you're a good partner thank you thank you nonprofits are a business right so could be part of the business program or we could we could find way um thank you Amy had a question Amy I just had one last question Mr Schumacher I'm sorry thank you again uh just uh for the public record uh what is your greatest need would you say right now is it volunteers is it donations Okay so and and just for anyone who might be watching the live stream um who didn't maybe be able they weren't able to benefit because you you weren't at the microphone he's looking for volunteers and once people who know how to lift 25 pounds or above just in case
009an impressive operations fin through my mocker and I would invite anyone if you want to help or just come by and visit uh it will truly impress you what we're doing here in Lawrence Township I know this city well I know all the school corporations I I'm I'm going to go on the record and say no one has a food pantry of the scale and size that we have here in Lawrence Township because of our partnership with the Lutheran Church and with sharing places so we are very privileged here and honored to have you Sven thank you sir thank you thank you Mr shiman we are lucky here and we're lucky we have Mr Roger Smith here to talk to us about our Blue Ribbon update Madame President Dr Smith members of the board um
010yes we dedicated some uh baseball stadiums uh the weather didn't quite uh cooperate with us this one here at LC we had some snow and rain uh LC pool uh indoors we continue to uh pour concrete uh in the the pool itself and actually this week we're going to do a water test so they'll start feeling it as of today and do some pressure tests LC pool again uh the other areas continue on uh the old pool is being demoed you see there is being filled in and they'll continue to demo demo and fill in uh over the next month l in front steel is complete and now the exterior and the roof uh is going on uh Ln again ribbon cutting uh same situation there but little warmer but we had rain uh Ln
011Auditorium entrance uh the new face is going up inside multi-purpose room the the walls and ceiling been painted new lights in place and uh the flooring will start April the 22nd those are midle School auditorium continues on moving very well uh the main gym and the locker room and the corridor areas there all under renovation so that'll progress through uh the midsummer uh fuli Valley the hallways and three more classrooms uh again underway with renovation um schinn talked about the bridge over Quai that's the bridge hopefully we'll be done with that and reopen door five at the end of the month uh tennis courts on the south end are continuing as the weather permits Transportation second floor is really moving forward quickly uh we're dropping ceiling in and next will be flooring so we're looking
012at uh um maybe a midsummer move uh into that facility the new LCC uh you'll see out there this week hopefully some heavy equipment coming in uh for the EXC excavation to start and just a little Clips uh this is from the south end of LCC looking over Sunnyside um thank you for that sorry um I had a quick question will the filled in pool at Lawrence Central also be turned into a multi-purpose room similar to Lawrence North correct okay thank you any other questions then at this time we will ask Mr notor to give us a big curriculum update thank you Madame President Dr Smith and members of the board we do have a big curriculum update this evening with a series of presentations s that really are the culminating work of program review
013processes that have taken place and I'm pleased to report to you that we have had nearly 200 participants in the various committees this year and thank you to each of you for your support and your work on the committees as well and we've asked several of our administrative and teacher leaders to be in the audience this evening just so that we can thank them for the extra time and facilitating the various processes this evening so if you are here this evening because as you served on a committee or facilitated a committee participated please rise and we thank you for your leadership and your commitment to our students and so feel free I know that you may want to stay for the entire meeting but after your program review is complete feel free to to slide
014out um we'll begin this evening with Mr Harsha who leads our curricular advisory committee for for our High School courses and this is a council that brings recommendations to you twice a year you approve the first round in the fall this is the second round of recommendations for the 2425 school year Mr Hara e Rec e e St for our e e is this fabulous I do have a question um in our agriculture pathway are there any units on forestry yeah Forestry I'm I'm wondering because we have um our new property adjacent to Lawrence Central and wondering if that would be helpful in our agriculture classes okay and we also offer our introduction to agriculture at our middle schools where that topic would be covered as well great thank you yeah I do have a
015a couple of questions okay um first off thank you so much Mr Hera for all of the work that you and the Committees have have put into this as somebody who sat in on the social studies curriculum I know how intensive and how professional that review was so thank you so much for that um I also want to note that I am so grateful to represent a district that is um embracing uh particularly the AP uh history course um where some states are not and um that really serves a need within our community and I'm very proud that that is what we are doing here in this District um Dr Smith I'm wondering if you and I could have a quick back and forth Dr Smith you okay okay here's my here's my question for
016you remember Miss Lawrence I'm getting no Dr go ahead are are we as a board of education allowed to to approve any curriculum that is not approved at the state level by our legislators repeat that question you ask can we prove curriculum is not is not approved by the state of Indiana do we have the power to approve anything yeah you do you you can approve curriculum at this level uh the state does have approved curriculum okay and we have to stay within those categories but you can approve Comm uh curriculum that is unique to your school Community absolutely great okay and are we allowed to as a board of education do anything that falls outside of what the recommendations of the state would require I think that's the same question that you just answer
017yes you can and there are school districts that have very unique specific curriculum to their Community okay now what you have to keep in mind is they're going to put kids on a pathway to meet graduation requirements okay so we have to keep that in mind great okay thank you very much Dr um just one other follow-up question um is I'm trying to think of how to phrase this the Board of Education cannot get sideways of any of the academic recommendations that that we can't just create curriculum on our own it has to has to adhere to State Standards we do need to make sure that we follow state standards and and like this team is bringing to you there are categories and certain things that have to fit so if we went out and
018cre a curriculum it would have to fit with our state categories and we also have to keep in mind we got to make sure that those graduation those requirements that we have will meet graduation requirements yes okay so we do have to follow that okay and there are unique programs that are out there in some school corporations just like agriculture I love the fact we're bringing agriculture to Lawrence Township because there are some communities that have been doing act for years because of the communities in which they serve it is a wonderful we're all going to eat right we're all going to eat it is a huge huge opportunity for our kids especially here in the Midwest the agriculture industry so we're bringing something that could benefit our kids long term okay and it's not
019all about just farming okay act means other things also certainly we talked about composting the last question I have for you Dr Smith is I know that the state level there is review of curriculum I wonder if you could just give but help me remember exactly what that is and how that differs from this let let me get to my team my experts because once we approve our curriculum what do we do with that Mr notor and I just want to be clear there's a difference between the courses that we're talking about right now and curricular resources so the courses that we're talking about for our high schools every course is state approved we have to have a state identification number and you can see all the numbers that are listed here so these are
020all state approv approved curricular resources there are some content areas that have been legislated recently that require particular resources to be used for instance early literacy there are other um content areas where you go through a localized process to determine what the most appropriate curricular resource is so it's a combination of the two thank you very much um I have a question regarding the slide up there to um on 7114 soiless production does that is that um like Hydroponics growing plants and water um something you you do see in more City areas um and then for the greenhouse that's exciting to do we have Greenhouse space in our district to to utilize that or is that something that will possibly be added later on go ahead Roger we do have currently at two elementaries uh
021green houses and uh we've had over time some alternative type of uh energy produc uh production and uh either hyp is that hydron hyic hydroponic Hydroponics uh inie Creek for example they do some so in their stems areas so growing that we do have some space if we need to at uh uh Middle School is a little tight uh but at the high school there's also space so I would just add in our conversations with a few other school districts and even at Purdue um they ensured us that uh while some districts do have green houses it is not a requirement to have a solid agriculture program sure solid horiculture program there are lots of works oh sure no I think it's great though um and my second question question was I think the slid
022it's slide six the one before about the uh personal financial responsibility course which um department does that fall under it's not business is it it is business oh it is is business and so right now we've got some folks and leaders from our business department who are developing um the curriculum and again her uh approval could be offered to our current graders as soon as this summer okay um no that's great and th those courses would they they be taught then at McKenzie or at the um each High School okay thank you and this particular course is also available to eth graders so you may see it at our middle schools as well okay and you had mentioned eltech right yes okay thank you I would just note that um you were talking to um
023our our foundation leader the other yesterday and uh found out that BizTown does not have enough funding to bring the schools in anymore this the sixth graders I believe and um I think that's such a shame fifth and sixth graders that's such a shame because that is a very early um chance for our children to understand personal and business finance so I don't know board maybe when we meet with our legislators we could uh maybe convince them that that's a an area that could be funded anyway thank you yes I just wanted to say in looking at the recommendations it appears that you all have done beyond your due diligence and thinking about uh the fall of 2024 when we're or 2028 when we are shifting to the new um graduation requirement so just kudos
024to your team for being on top of um the changes that we know although they're not going to be coming about in for another four years obviously the district has done a tremendous job of getting ready for the pathways that were instilled this year so just kudos to the team because I know in looking at the requirements it looks like we are going to be very well positioned thank you very very much if there are no more questions we're going to go ahead and move on to um social studies adoption uh suggestion this is specific to our secondary grades 7 through 12 and so Mr Harsha as our director of secondary LED this process as well me Eng some shared experiences lastly had were instuctional bra so as a supplement you can see there stre
025school for dual language unfortunately did not rob schools you know there are a lot of SCH in terms ofle sub there so just a couple of quick questions first again amazing amazing job on such robust wonderful materials I am wondering when um a teacher has so many great opportunities to have such robust materials in curricula is there a pacing guide that is provided so that they are knowing when indeed to be using the supplemental resources as opposed to when to use the Core curriculum and are they given time and compensation over the summer then to plan for that yes okay okay perfect thank you and then um I have a question for our fam famous Finance Guru looking at you Mr miles uh and that is we know that and this is in relation to
026all of the different curricular resources that we're going to be um purchasing we know that the state has graciously offered to cover textbook cost but again uh president Mustin thinking about how we Advocate with our state legislators um could you give us kind of a ballpark figure of I mean these are a lot of robust wonderful materials that come at a cost and so approximately how much will they be funded by text book reimbursement versus how much will we have to be responsible for as a district uh yes thank you uh Madam board member we are uh last year we were able to get funding uh from the state directly um last year just as a as a look back we were short of the amount needed to fully cover it so you may recall
027that's probably what prompted the question uh we the balance thereof we funded through our debt service and some Bond funding this year we will be much closer if not fully funded from what comes from the State um to very close we don't know exactly what that amount is going to be just yet from the state so until we know that it's it's hard to give an exact answer but we do anticipate the cost this year to be much less than last year okay that's great but also want to make sure that we're reaching out to our state uh Representatives absolutely the to make sure that they know that we appreciate that and parents appreciate that but it comes some from somewhere absolutely thank you that and that we have heard anecdotally that that is uh
028on the agenda of the legislature this year so as they look at that that is going to be it's something they've heard from not just Lawrence Township but many many districts across the state I had a comment um as as a Committee Member on this I wanted to thank you for the um invite to all for the curricular resource vendor fair um as a non- educator but apparent it was very um insightful to see all of the different curriculum that's out there and how it's interactive and children can see themselves in the material um so just being able to see that um from mylands was really helpful so thank you for including that as part of the committee work I have a question and it's from a bral lens I'm looking at the uh US
029History ethnic studies and uh one of the tools that you're using is upfront magazine and it sounds great high school students Guide to the world if I could take something off my parental plate it would be having these conversations does a parent have access to sign up for these magazines okay so I have to get the license okay thank you not right I would pay but I'm not paying for a license look over your childone of yeah none of free any further questions about the social studies curriculum thank you very much Mr harshaw um and then um Mr notor we will move on to the up update for enl dual language and World Language adoption yes madame president Dr Smith and members of the board uh this was the year to evaluate our language programming
030and our language curriculum and the facilitator of that process was Mrs Georgina Mayorga Schneider our assistant director of language programs and she brings to you the committee's recommendations this evening for e r e s still for okay e sh e e do you have questions I do well I have a comment SL no I do have a question and a comment first thank you for allowing allowing me to sit in and ask questions I know I had a lot of questions and I thank you for taking the time to answer them or email me responses so I just want to personally say thank you it was very helpful for me and just having that knowledge so thank you but I do want to ask uh on the slide I want to say maybe three or
031four con uh concerning the parental engagement conversa I think that's what how how was the parental in engagement were there a lot of parents that showed up was what did that look like how did can you just lean into to to that a little bit more that was good that is awesome and you said that this is this will continue until May you had said okay all right thank you that's that's a very creative way to engage our um non-english or non-english native speakers um I'm wondering if that's something that we might think about more broadly as a district for other things in order to vet C curriculum or or challenges I think it's a great opportunity to engage uh families who are invested in this district and want and want their kids as everyone
032in the district wants all of our kids to succeed I would like to Echo my fellow board members kudos to you on leading a wonderful task force I also congratulations on the presentation at title con um about convera so I love that we are sharing that not just here at the de but also able to share that around the state because it is certainly a wonderful and creative way um to meet the needs of our families I um I do have one question um just because people may not be familiar with the comp the certification of multi- um lingual proficiency can you just explain the fact that we are starting to think about that from sixth to 8th grade is well ahead of a lot of other places so can you explain um for those
033that might know not know what the comp is and approximately how many uh Lawrence Township students achieve that see it is a wonderful wonderful opportunity and one that I'm so glad that we're thinking about how we're preparing students as young as middle schooler so thank you again for your leadership I'm also very grateful for that um certification because we have to keep in order for them to get that certification and to pass those we have to keep our students connected with their native language all along the way which is um such a benefit to them moving forward so thank you I know we go to graduation and we see so many beautiful Shaws from so many countries and so many languages that it's it just warms my heart so thank you for the work now
034I want to make sure I understand these resources will be Pilots for next year this is not something we're committing to the curricular resources so the there were pilots for this year but what we've shared with you this evening we would be asking for board approval for adoption okay thank you thank you thank you for that clarification any other questions thank you so so much for the work and I um very much appreciated sitting in on some of the meetings thank you so this is really exciting to a musician we'll be moving to um curriculum updates for the Performing Arts yes adoption Madame President Dr Smith the members of the board this year was also the year to review our Performing Arts programming as well as Elementary art that also will be in in this
035presentation and Mrs Natalie Schneider and Mr Harsha uh both supported our district uh Regional specialist for the Performing Arts in facilitating this process and Mrs Schneider's here to share recommendations this evening e e e stand up up e e e C e Lord would you like to ask questions about elementary before we move to secondary or would you rather don't we do that uh thank you so much for the presentation so as the mom of a kindergarten at Forest Glenn one of the greatest joys in my life is to listen to her little voice singing and she sings both in English and in Spanish now um so I'm wondering what support do we offer our immersion and our dual language programs is is it just covered under this curriculum or is there kind of supplemental
036materials that those students have access to yes thank yes both yes covered in this material and additional supplement as well thank you my question is uh I know our children all have their own devices are in the within this curriculum is it interactive can the children go to this program and have some interactive experiences on their own both in music and in the Arts yes so if you know the student is has a special interest they can delve into it a little bit more uh I don't usually do this and I hate to take the time because uh we have an announcement by the Indiana Fever tonight but um I I will just tell you a little story um we used to get the Scholastic Magazine the little Arts magazine for very young children and
037you know that that week I had read with with my young daughter who was about three years old at the time I had read a little article about the artwork of Georgia O'Keefe um it included her clouds some of the lovely pictures and stories about Georgia o'keef and for a young child and we happened to be at the Chicago Art Institute a couple days later and we turned a corner and at the top of the stairway was Georgia O'Keefe's clouds and my three-year-old said Georgia o'keef and everyone around me thought it was such a wonderful parent had had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the resources so thank you for giving those resources to our kiddos uh I guess that that was my question whether they were interactive and they are
038great thank you right Mr Hara okay see on the next slides other set Miss done I do have a quick question for um both both of you this is first of all outstanding work with the Fine Arts there are so many different areas that you have to adopt and vet material so it's super exciting to see um the robust materials how with uh art How are schools they given a budget for the consumable items or how does that work because we know that the curricula is just one support but things like paint clay all the other things that go into that um how is that divvied up between the schools yes each of our schools has an instructional Supply budget based on their student population and that's where they would purchase those type of consumable
039materials so is that at the discretion of the principal or is it shared that x amount should be given to Fine Arts because I know sometimes that's it's not always a huge pot of money and so sometimes Le in my experiences the Fine Arts or it's not always a priority so I guess my question is how is it made a priority to ensure that that those are used specifically for Fine Arts as well it's a collaborative effort between our principal and the teachers okay excellent thank you and then in terms of instruments um I know that our district works with pages and families can also um purchase their own musical instrument what type of support is given for families that might not have the financial means to be able to rent an instrument so does
040Paige give a discount for our free and reduced students or is it just based on if we believe that there's a need I I would add to that Mr Harsha that um a few years ago the district made significant investment in performing arts instruments as part of the last program review so in the tune of millions um of dollars of of investment into instruments that are district owned now so that we're able to support families who truly have that need and pages is not an option oh thank you that is wonderful that is great news thank you Miss dun and Bor um Mr miles we going to be bringing back some more recommendations soon go ahead that's a great question and absolutely we will we uh typically do that on an annual basis yeah to
041Mr not's point and to review uh with recommendations from our department chairs and leads as far as instruments that we need to be replacing or or updating for the district y I do have one other one other item it it's not even I just want to make the point it's not even those families that maybe can't afford it but it's also for those families who maybe don't want to buy a cello because they're not sure their sixth grader is going to really like the cello um so I I just wanted to to reiterate that um it's not a barrier for kids to try things and be exposed to instruments that may come with a relatively Hefty price tag like a cello or a bass or or a tuba as Miss Norman can attest so I
042just wanted to make that point that there should never be a barrier to our students and so any family who wants to have a child explore and experiment with very or what could be costly uh instruments that is something that we offer within this district and it's for a very very nominal fee I don't think there are Harps though I'm sorry there are Harps are there Harps we do that oh god well the record I I was I was on that board that approved it so have hearts right Dr gag line we also P for the that needs to it we worked that out we worked that out we worked that questions from the right side of the disc no I guess I have one other question with all this wonderful curricula which is very
043exciting and I'm really excited about it this is supplemental to the instrumental and the vocal teaching that goes on as well correct that this curricula that we're um supporting um right now this is supplemental to instrumental practice and and vocal practice in the district as well as this as well as supplemental as to your point to the art supplies and the actual experience of creating art so great very exciting thank you so so much um okay Mr not this is big big big night it is and uh we have finished our curricular review process so any members of the audience feel free to uh leave at this time but we do appreciate your leadership and support thank Smith and Mr clevinger thank you all of you so our next topic matter mam president is our
044dual language program expansion uh review and recommendations regarding dual language so uh Madame President Dr Smith and members of the board I am pleased to bring to you some data to begin with um and this data uh really Chronicles our growth in our multilingual Learners so our English Learners over the period of the last six years and you can see the astronomical growth that we've experienced over the last several years on the next slide you can see what that's looked like just this sem semester uh just this semester we've had a net gain of 161 language Learners um new to our district 175 Spanish speakers 59 Haitian Creole speakers and 15 that speak other languages and so we are growing very rapidly and so with that growth we've got to look at the the research
045what's the research say about the best way to most quickly increase student achievement for our language Learners and this is just a a review of the research that we use to ground our programming and that Top Line um that's getting the highest results is two-way dual language programming and so that really is the foundation of the recommendations that I'm bringing you this evening uh first is just a review um and and just for clarity's sake a review of of each of our elementary schools in their dual language programming and so we'll begin with Forest glinton Skyles test and we are recommending no changes uh to the programming in those schools schools uh those schools um will continue to be schools of Spanish Immersion um they represent demographics of less language Learners and more English speakers
046so schools of Spanish Immersion um is the the proper title for their programming Forest Glenn will remain the magnet school a as it is now with no changes um Sky's test has fewer Spanish speakers in their natural boundaries so we do need to continue to rec to recruit Spanish speakers to attend sky has so that's just a review of those two schools and then their school demographics that support that and so we're really looking at that line uh for this presentation of English language Learners uh 30% at Sky's test now that we've added Spanish speakers to to that school for Sunnyside well we're also recommending no changes to Sunnyside that programming is going quite well um that you approved a couple of years ago um the school bound or the school demographics are a little
047bit different and so this is a school of dual language SLS Spanish Immersion because we do have a significant um really the majority of students that are naturally boundaried to Sunnyside our Spanish speakers and then we do have some English speakers that come into and choose Sunnyside for the Spanish Immersion program so not recommending any changes there as well and this is their demographics and you can see the 54% in the um English language learner column for Sunnyside Elementary where we are recommending uh consideration of changes would be at Harrison Hill and Indian Creek uh these are our two neighborhood schools that have a very very fast growing eel population um which then means we've got to grow our dual language programming because the research tells us that's the best program model for students to
048um gain academically so we're recommending that we transition from our one way uh dual language program that's currently there and just as a reminder our one-way programming all Spanish speakers 100% Spanish speakers to two-way dual language and that's the top research-based recommendation and so these would be classrooms made up of 50% Spanish speakers 50% English speakers or we could have a model uh particularly at these two schools where we would have a third a third a third a third Spanish speakers a third Haitian Creole and a third English just depending on what the student need was and so this would likely require additional sections of two-way to be added to reflect that growing demographic the recommendation is to begin this transition with first grade next school year and then matriculate each grade thereafter just like
049we've done with Sky's test and Sunnyside we are recommending an 820 model as the goal um a goal to work toward we may not be able to start there but we know that that's the the ideal model and certainly the model that we want to work toward 80% Spanish instruction in core classes uh 20% English we do need to follow the model of providing reading intervention in English to students in second and third grade particularly with the new legislation that that we're bound to there is a potential at each of these schools of keeping monolingual sections based on family requests um if there are families who do not want a bilingual experience and there's enough to make a section that could be a consideration as well and so just a quick review of the demographics
050for Harrison Hill if you go over to that English learner column and you can see as you look down through the years the rapid growth that Harrison Hill has had um and they're up around 360 now um at at this point this is October 1st our ADM demographic uh numbers and so 47% % we're we're higher than that now at Harrison Hill Indian Creek you can see the the same story of growth at Indian Creek and and they are up over 300 now um as of April the 4th we also are looking at that same uh or a similar model um in Mary Castle so Mary Castle currently has a one-way dual language model and so we would recommend transitioning our current one-way dual language to to a bilingual High ability program in first grade
051so um this is really combining two programs at Mary Castle Mary Castle currently has self-contained High ability and they currently have one-way dual language and one of the really great things that we're discovering is we have a large number of language Learners who are qualifying for high ability programming um we also suspect that uh many parents have had a difficult time choosing um in the past between a high ability option and a Spanish Immersion option and so this would be an opportunity to bring those two programs together and so what what would that look like um at least a third of the class would need to be English Learners so either Spanish speaking or haian Creole speaking 2third or less would be native English speakers and so that exact percentage would depend on what choices
052uh families make that Ang the language allocation model would be the same as the rest of the District so that we are consistent across the district with an 8020 model as the goal for core instruction um this program would be unique though that while it would be a bilingual program the focus of the program would continue to support the academic andal needs of our gifted children by teachers who are trained in gifted education and so um we want to make it clear to our community that we would not be minimizing that the needs that gifted children presan um and then we would have another option for families who wanted a monolingual self-contained gifted education that would occur at Crestview Elementary and so you can see the the demographics for Mary Castle they're a little less
053um and some are naturally boundaried and some come in from um other schools around the district and then if we're going to do that on the west side of our district we need to look at an East Side option uh for our amilies who live on the east side of the district and that would be housed at oaklandon elementary they currently do not have um any bilingual programming um they do have a growing uh population of El's at oaklandon but they do have and have had for many years the self-contained gifted education High ability program and so we would look at a similar first grade um next year and then matriculate up the years after if there's a family who did not want a um or if they did want a monolingual opportunity that would
054be at Amy beverland on the east side of the district and just to note that there is significant room facility wise to grow at uh enrollment at oaklandon and you can see their demographics and the growth that we're beginning to see in our Els at oaklandon this also could impact our Early Learning Center so we're not recommending program changes at this time for ELC Brook Park or ELC Winding Ridge however we are recommending an addition um at ELC Mary Castle so beginning two-way preschool and kindergarten that then would serve um the north side of our district and so we have several Spanish speakers who are naturally boundar and again we would keep to that commitment of working towards a goal of 8020 in terms of language allocation for consistency across the district our secondary schools
055um we would need and we do need currently to add additional sections of dual language at both middle schools as our students are aging up um from our elementary programs and so we are looking at that for uh next year at both fa Creek Valley and at Belzer um it's important to note that we have open access at both of our middle schools for newly enrolling students so for newcomers for students who are just arriving to the country uh a dual language placement is a very appropriate placement in in both of our Middle School um the Dual language program uh just as a reminder will matriculate from Belzer to Lawrence Central in 2526 so this next school year is a planning year for Lauren Central and then as you've already heard in other program reports
056this evening we are um recommending expansion of access to emersion classes at Lawrence North to increase those dual credit opportunities for for our students be happy to entertain questions and discussion I do it's a it's a question that I had submitted earlier and so thank you Dr Smith but I do want to ask it just for the public um it was on slide number 13 and it pertains to um the boundaries or the the uh question is will there be busing provided to families currently in the boundary for Mary Castle but opt to attend Crest View for the monolingual gifted program and and the answer is yes that we've have busing for high ability programming on the west side and the east side so as long as they stay in those uh School choices then
057there will be Transportation thank you for that and then the second what thank you um the secondary question is um and I don't know or no I'll just ask it is it possible to briefly give a summation of sb1 I I will do my best to give a brief brief summary of Senate bill one Bill one is the science of reading bill um last year the legisl legislature approved um and mandated certain curriculum to be used a certain approach to be used in teaching early literacy this year they put some accountability pieces into it and really the bottom line for Senate bill one is that if students don't pass I read three as a second grader a third grader and they get two tries as a third grader and they don't qualify for a good
058cause exemption which means there a student who has served through special education services or have had more than two years of service as an English language or less than two years as an English language learner then they would have to be retained and so our um and this is a a significant shift um in the state of Indiana and so for us that line that I had in there about needing to provide intervention support in English particularly in second and third grade gets to Bill one I heard that part I was like that was that was a beautiful summation because that is a long bill um but that also pick you backs off to my next Point um that I had also asked earlier so what we are doing now with our with our dual
059language program is to basically maximize student achievement in accordance with sb1 absolutely and and move our programming to match the research that says two-way dual language is the best outcomes in terms of English development okay thank you and then one more question um sb1 um are there waivers or some way that I'll just use this as an example uh I have a student that third grade regressed in the immersion program quickly progressed and caught up but would she have been well no I just answered my own question no she would not have been retained because she was able to pass but for student would that be a concern thank I think I just answered my own question while answering the question and we would want to know that before third grade so we would not
060want to put a third grader in in that kind of decisionmaking and I know in the past it hasn't had as high of stakes as it does now we'd want to be having that conversation in first and second grade but so long as she passed her testing first and second which she did although she regressed and progressed it would not have affected retention if she passed in second grade it would not okay just want okay thank you MH you're welcome I had just two quick questions thank you for this work um to piggy back off Mrs Pucket um the waivers if I'm understanding the bill correctly is for students on an IEP yes is that correct and then it's called a good cause exemption yes okay good cause exemption and also for English Learners if
061they have had less than two years of services so students that say have been with us kindergarten they would not be eligible for a good cause exemption okay for um repeating that for me I appreciate that and then um the slide is already up regarding the Dual um the Dual language slh High ability program we which is fantastic um it really fits into our Equity work um my one question clarifying question is if a English learning student is districted to Crest View but they qualify for high ability then they would be able to attend Mary Castle is that correct per cor okay that's correct so they would go through the cap process but they would it wouldn't even have to be the cap process it would be the high ability selection process so uh students
062that qualify on the west side of the district can choose between crestw and Mary Castle students that are on the east side of the district Amy beerland and oaklandon yes and they would have busing right and they would have busing as long as they stay East and West thank you sir yes thank you Miss Pucket acting like her kids are going to go there but yeah I'm I'm leaned in for that whole busing question too because you know we're two for two in the high ability ability program we got Mavis coming up through Forest Glenn so the only question that I have is what year does this begin is it next the the recommendation is to begin in first grade with 2425 pending your approval that's a Mavis Lawrence School year I should note thank
063you very much Mr notor I just um excellent work this is super exciting two-way emersion is the Taj Mahal of obviously language programming so it's very very exciting to see this expansion uh the one question I did have is pertaining to communication with families and how this will be communicated um to them so once uh you approve on on April I think it's April 29th then Mrs Schneider has letters that are ready to go out to our families um for the high ability programming and so those letters would go out if you approve on the 29th they'll go out the morning of the 30th for Harrison Hill and indigan Creek those would be personal phone calls that each school would make to their incoming first graders and a personal conversation that a design the principal
064or a design would have from Harrison Hill or Indian Creek so that it be personal um about the transition and the options at those two neighborhood schools you're welcome this is very exciting someone who had two children go through dual immersion this is exceptionally exciting um but so much so for our English language Learners so much so for them um I I do want to address dual language can be in the form of 9010 or 8020 90% Spanish 10% English 80% Spanish 20% English and moving all moving toward a 5050 model as they move up through the and um it's my understanding that in their academic studies they will have pretty much a 9010 um experience but they're not totally 9010 because their specials will remain in English correct but other than that their academics
065really are 910 which is the it's the crown on the top of the Taj Mahal right right and so um that's my understanding that's great and um just talk to me a little bit about the security for our teaching staff um as we transition into this so I think one of the the most important messages to our teaching staff is that there's room for everyone um we certainly um and and it's every year a focus to hire bilingual Educators um that can really meet our student and Family's needs um but as you as you just alluded to as students age up it becomes a 50-50 model and we certainly have room for our English speakers in a 5050 model so there's room for everyone is the the message to our teachers that's crucial I I
066want to make sure that if we approve this every teacher has job security um all right um the other the other question I have is um feeding from from our elc's into these programs are we looking at moving some prek and kindergarten classes into a dual model as we move forward because that is a huge Advantage yes and that and that's one of the recommendations before you is for ELC Mary Castle um and they would be our first ELC that would be a two-way program for both preschool and kindergarten and then based on what we learn from ELC Mary Castle then we would be making that transition for ELC Brook Park and Winding Ridge as well so will our parents from both sides of the district understand that they could be bust to Mary castle
067for ELC if they want the Dual language experience is that a possibility if our if um if parents want let's say I have a preschooler this year that will be a kindergartener next year and I get this information and I say well I want my child to be part of the Dual language experience in kindergarten but I live next to oaklandon can they be busted to Mary Castle they wouldn't be able to cross the East West boundary but they could go to ELC Winding Ridge where we have dual immersion there okay okay so there'll be the district so okay that wasn't clear to me excellent okay okay excellent um um Sky's test we want to increase the population of Spanish a native Spanish speakers will our um in boundary students be protected and will always
068have room for them as well absolutely that they're given priority okay um this is the second time tonight I've done this I apologize but it's really important had a child that could recite books at the age of two but could not read English we read together could not read English spent spent kindergarten in Spanish and Spanish is um so strong in the phonetics right so phonetically strong that all of a sudden the light bulb run off and she started reading in Spanish and English at the same time so it's really beneficial to I think it will be very beneficial for both English language Learners and for English-speaking children uh for their reading I think that's that's terrific thank you that was the experience that I kind of touched on that okay I have a really
069quick question I'm listen I would have asked it earlier but it just hit me as we were talking um eser funds we've used eser funds for reading for reading interventions correct correct okay well that's ending right and so I'm seeing where we're providing reading intervention in English to students who need it in second and third grade with this bill moving forward and the need for this probably being greater um what would that look like as far as funding with those Sesser funds going out and the need getting HED we still do have access to eser funds through the beginning of next school year and possibly through contracted Services the entire school year next year okay um but we also have been able to in in cooperation with Mr miles to identify other funding sources to
070to support remediation and intervention so we do have another um plan uh when those funds are finished okay I'm just asking on my end so that I know what I need to talk about when I'm sending down with some of the state reps that we love we need more money are grateful yes we need more money we need more money so thank you but miss Pucket you have to understand the lane that that comes with that's not at the state level that's Federal you're right that's at the federal level so we have some connections with our federal legislators okay uh Mr Carson and that's a nice fly District Six uh though they got elections up there those are the folks that we have to have conversation with you are correct but I do want to
071remind the board is that we don't live off of federal funding because we know that that's one-time funding you're right so our commitment to things is very limited we use that money for um learning loss but we also know that that money was going to go away and things that we wanted to keep we're going to build that into our budget and live off of what we have so we've got a plan to make that adjustment okay but we would love to have another round of Esser funding as many districts across the country would have right but we would have to talk to our federal government for that not our state legislators okay because they may agree with us they would probably agree okay but they don't control that pot of money okay and I
072would also thank you Mr notor and thank you to M Georgina Schneider for all of the hard work you you did to arrange these discussions and to recruit um administrators teachers and parents in this in this discussion um um this is this is state-of-the-art work and um this is what makes us the District of destination right thank you as a point of clarification Madame President and board uh these recommendations will be brought back to you at our next meeting on April 29th as you mean we can't vote right now uh if you'd like to vote right now uh Madame President as as board president you can change the agenda at any time with a simple consent from no we're we're unless you change your mind no okay well well we'll let this settle and I'm
073sure the board members may have additional questions in the next couple of weeks so we'll continue at a pace um but it's very exciting um and um the last thing Dr gag line our last order of business is uh the bid results of the requests for RFP for virtual desktop for e any questions board I'm glad you're the expert okay thank you Dr gagl gag Steve gag we'll move to our action items do you have a proposal for us so moved second properly moved in seconded any discussion any further discussion all in favor I I opposed the eyes have it and now we go to the um Miss Carla Johnson you have a recommendation recommendation to approve the Personnel report yes good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board approval is sought
074for the Personnel report are there any questions do we have a motion second second properly moved in seconded any questions about the Personnel report all in favor of approving the Personnel report I I any oppos the eyes have it we have made it to administrator and comments and I would which um board member is so excited for their board comment this evening no one want to pull oh goad I'll just I'll just go real briefly um thank you to the district um for allowing us and sending us to the National School Board Association conference in New Orleans it was a great experience the breakout sessions are always great but sometimes there's also great value in meeting with other board members and superintendents across the country to see collectively what we're all working towards for kids
075um highlight was Ruby Bridges speaking um I mean she got to the heart and the root of everything we do with children and um thank you to Dr Smith for driving in the super crowded streets of New Orleans I oh he was amazing I know yes great a great job and then my last point tonight good luck to all of our students on the ey learn exams coming up thank you to our staff for getting them ready um my daughter Ellie came home today and said mom we have to go to bed early tonight and I have to eat a good breakfast so thank you for the reminders I'll go ahead and jump in I was going to say we had a wonderful time at the eclipse the fort Ben total eclipse festival at Community
076Park a time was had it was beautiful it was breathtaking as I'm sure you all saw the eclipse um and so Kudos and awesomeness to um yeah um Fort B at at Community Park I also want to mention to Tomorrow there's a state of okay then then then I'm just going to put an ellipsis on that and let you finish that sir I am done first thank you for holding the meeting just a couple of minutes because FC Pride soccer practice waits for no person um and as many parents would appreciate we were split between that and drum lessons for the six-year-old who has so much energy she absolutely needs to have those drum lessons so thank you for holding the meeting and apologies for being just a couple minutes late I I just had
077one reflection that it's been really like I've been thinking about it ever since the eclipse um because and and Mr Young is no longer in the audience um but it reminded me we had several um people from our community and we all went over to Amy beverland and I have this really wonderful picture of about 20 kids laying on the hill at Amy beverland all looking up with their eclipse glasses and it was such a a reminder to me of how ingrained we are in one another's lives um for a once-in-a-lifetime moment all of those kids are going to remember one another having been there which is a really incredible reminder of the power of community and the connection we have with with one another so that was my key takeaway from the eclipse um
078and it was really breatht it was pretty cool to see all the lights come on um around our school district um so that was that was my reflection thank you done GNA keep it short and sweet just want to say again thank you to all the hard work U Mr notor I know that you have led this work and have done a tremendous job so just want to reiterate um the thanks to you and your entire team because cricket adoption is is it's not a joke and I know there's a lot of time people are spending time after hours and so to have the high quality resources that we do I know you know Mr Smith you do a phenomenal job with our um buildings and Facilities um and with that we need to have
079high quality wonderful resources and then obviously Miss Johnson the people to make sure that the magic happens but thank you for your continued work because it is um it's exciting times thank you very much I'll go ahead and Echo all that's been said by our board members and and and I do want to say regarding the eclipse uh our district is committed to equity and to safety for all of our children and the fact that our district provided those special viewing glasses to each and every student is remarkable and thank you for thinking so far ahead and for keeping our our youngsters safe and making sure they could experience the magic of that special day because as Miss Lawrence said they will remember it forever to you madam president and members of the board just
080a slight reminder as we traditionally have the state of the city's address uh within our school corporation here at the LCC has been used as a luncheon but the city has made a change tomorrow even evening at 5:30 exactly the mayor will give her state of the city's address at Lawrence Central High School so our high school will be the host in the auditorium for this important event it starts promptly at 5:30 little birdie tells me that the Lauren Central girl state championship girls basketball team is going to be recognized by the mayor so please be there early to get your seat and we'll certainly support our mayor as she will give her first address to the city at 5:30 at lawren Central High School so that's all I have tonight and I will uh
081before we adjourn I want to remind everyone that our next meeting is a regular business meeting on April 29th Monday April 29th we will be meeting in the PD room just to the other side of this room as this room will be used for uh early um voting um we will be meeting at 6:30 because we have several students to recognize so we we will be meeting at 6:30 with our business meeting starting at or after 7 o'clock and with that do we have a motion to adjourn so moved second we're adjourned boom boom you had a lot to say today a lot of good questions lot of good question T had a ch right well I thought you said she didn't have a she has a her watch oh so she so I was
082Tex was her watch without do let's do together we do divide the district that just because it's in July no I don't think so either I think that's so that's what I would really like to that's great so I