001meeting um thank you all for joining us today it's a very special day would you stand rise with and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with me I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to The Republic which stands one nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all we're going to begin this evening with our recognitions good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board tonight we present above and beyond awards first we have eloida Lopez Ramos if she could come forward and her principal is with her Mrs [Applause] danz Mrs eloa Lopez Ramos is tenacious supportive and deliberate in her support of teachers and students at Sunnyside at our literacy Cadre coach she has worked alongside our K2 teachers to implement changes to our reading practices she has provided
002professional development imparted valuable advice to our teachers and implemented student centered coaching Cycles she is open reflective and loves to learn and deepen her knowledge of reading her expertise in biliteracy advocacy years of experience and skills and teamwork helped to make our school a great place to learn to read we are honored to present Mrs aloa Lopez Ramos with the above and beyond award congratulations thank you [Applause] okay okay next we have Maggie Houston interventionist at Sunnyside Elementary Mrs Maggie Houston is an important part of our reading team she brings her expertise and skills in working with students with disabilities to the role of the interventionist and reading specialist as part of her roles Mrs Houston has focused on improving tier one instruction through co- teing in addition she has supported teachers in the analysis
003of student data resulting in more focused reading interventions for our students her positive and Relentless belief in our students has resulted in positive student outcomes we know that Mrs Houston is a great asset to our reading team congratulations right on up there and next we have Lori Sharp Lori is the reading specialist and a first grade team member at Sunnyside Elementary [Applause] Mrs Lorie sharp is tenacious hardworking and deliberate in her support of reading practices at Sunnyside as part of the first grade team and her responsibilities as a reading specialist Mrs sharp has focused on improving tier one instruction in Literacy By supporting teachers with the implementation of ufly curriculum in addition she has supported teachers in the analysis of student data resulting in more focused reading interventions for our students her passion and belief
004that all of our students can and will learn to read has helped to Foster our school vision of collective efficacy We Believe Mrs Maggie Houston is an important part of our reading team she brings her expertise and skills in working with students with we're just really really proud of her it just goes on and on and on congratulations good J [Applause] yeah [Applause] next we have from Lawrence North High School Ki moroka Mr Ki moroka is in English as a new language teacher at Lawrence North High School Mr moroka is a reflective practitioner who constantly pushes himself to be the best educator he can for language Learners and is a strong advocate for their access to rigorous courses and for receiving appropriate supports to be successful as a former language learner himself he shows his
005students that they too can be successful in high high school and Beyond he is passionate about making sure that all ml students receive an equitable education and is always eager to present ml PD to plc's We Appreciate his continued belief in all students at Lawrence North High School we are also proud to announce that Mr moroka is the recipient of the 2024 teacher creativity fellowship program through the Lily endowment education division we are honored to present Mr moroi with the above and bond [Applause] award and Mr krausser is here [Applause] and next we have Mr Dan kosnik assistant superintendent of secondary education good evening Madame President Dr Smith members of the board earlier this semester Lawrence Central High School girls basketball made history securing the 4A state championship at gamebridge Fieldhouse with a 55- 28
006win over Lake Central the Bears finish an incredible season with a 30 and one [Applause] record with us this evening is principal Bush and going to turn over to athletic director Barnes to introduce the team thank you Mr kosnik for having the Bears in the building tonight I'd like to thank uh superintendent Dr Smith president mson members of the board Dr Nesbit our parents our principal Bush and again I say I am again I am proud of this group right here before I get into the introductions of our team and our coaches uh Mr King alluded to uh we made a lot of history this year with this group I can remember just a short year ago us taking a tough loss in the sectional and just the look on our young ladies faces but
007it wasn't a look of defeat it was a look of okay guys we going need to get back to work and we believe in ourselves and we're going to put in the work and we're going to show Indiana and the nation what we're made of at this time I'm going to introduce our team coach Lampley coach Janan Lampley coach Bryce Stone coach Terence [Applause] Johnson coach Holly [Applause] Coulter to our players Katie Castro Lola Lampley Mariah Garrett Jayla Lampley Malia Hughes Jordan wi annah McKenzie Jessica heavner Janiah Russell leel LA and Alexander Harington ladies and gentlemen these are your ihsa 48 state champion 2024 in addition to the state championship this group was our first time in school history won Maran County the mar County Champions also Mick Champions also first sectional Championship since '
00887 first Regional Championship first semi State and of course state [Applause] champions e congratulations [Applause] bears [Applause] though you are all welcome to stay for our business meeting which will be terribly exciting thank you for being being here and I just want to also say that um this will resonate this will resonate forever in the community of Lawrence so thank you y I still your my give him a few minutes s be well that was the super fun part but we'll make this as painless as as we can uh Mr Smith would you like to um update us on the Blue Ribbon plan please m president Dr Smith members of the board you'll see some drone shots here as we continue to do our site work and getting ready for our opener and baseball stadiums
009at both sites work continues another shot out of a soccer and Concession and entry into the stadiums uh old pool demo continues uh new pool floor or the the bottom of the pool is in uh walls are going and then next the decking uh the new uh hallway from north to south uh is currently open for student use and LC pool again some of the Interior finishes are going in Ln side Improvement continues on uh front steel is moving so we're nearing the end of that where uh Roofing then will be the next l in Plaza uh you'll see the Landscaping is in and we continue Landscaping throughout the site baseball concession again site work continues uh Len multi-purpose gym um painting and lights are next and then the floor bser Middle School auditorium continues
010there's some sight improvements with the concrete going in and again the main entrance to the auditorium and the auditorium itself six classrooms completed we're moving on to uh four more classrooms in the building B Creek Valley hallways are being stripped for new finishes as well as three more classrooms that have started uh two classrooms plus a science room LCC Bridge work continues on downstairs and uh roof work up above continues Transportation second floor actually they had started painting today uh so all the drywall is complete ceilings are going in and flooring next so moving uh very well out at Transportation lecc site work staging will start next week and full excavation the first week in April Ward we have any questions Mr Smith Miss Lawrence Mr Smith can you remind me when we move our
011um staff into the Ellie there I'm sorry the transportation center second floor uh we're planning on moving them in July okay I knew it was soon I couldn't recall so yeah we're excited about that thank you yes Mr Smith I just want to continue to express my sincere gratitude for the incredible work that you have done for Lawrence Township to ensure that our building are certainly first class this as I think through all that you have accomplished over the last several years and what is coming next it is truly a feat that could not be accomplished by anyone I think other than you quite frankly because you are just your attention to detail your updates everything I just want to make sure that you understand how incredibly um blessed we feel to have you part
012of the Lawrence community so thank you very much great team effort I had a couple questions um to go with Miss Lawrence's question can you remind myself and the public uh which departments will be on the second floor of the transportation we plan on moving the uh Food Service uh Administration staff out there um our custodial and maintenance staff for the district will be out there uh of course underneath rjb as well as technology uh Network part of Steve's uh support team will be housed out there thank you um and we had the opportunity to tour it a couple years ago uh when we did the ribbon cutting and that is a very expansive space so um that's that's great that it can be utilized for that um I had one other question um regarding
013the I'm not sure what it's called the old pool area for Lawrence North it's going to be the multiuse space um when is the estimated uh completion date on that space we're looking at the end of the of May to turn that back over to the building oh great okay thank you yes Mr Smith um it's been a while since we've talked about the second floor of the transportation center um just for members of the public who may not be aware of this expansion can you explain why this was done in two phases and not part of the initial um construction yes in the in the design phase of Transportation the first phase of it uh we built in the design factor that we could expand eventually out there uh hoping that some anticipation of
014what maybe would happen to this building we would need space for our staff to go so that was in the design of the first phase and as it materialize we see the expansion has indeed met our plan uh to move forward uh with this building as well as moving them out there thank you so much it's a pretty cool thing to have an expanding District that we need to go build more space to accommodate absolutely and to miss Dunn's point to have an Administration that has the vision to know what's coming not next year but the year after the year after and the year after so thank you thank you so much for that and then would you please update us on our Blue Ribbon 2 projects Madam president Dr Smith members of the board
015without a plan you can't go anywhere so uh under the vision of Dr Smith and the board in 2014 and 15 a blue ribbon phase one plan was put together and I want to just kind of backtrack a little bit and show um the board and the community what we have done so next slide we of course we started in 2015 at Crestview and that was the third phase of renovation going on 2017 uh Mary castle and part of mckeny was added on to with cosmetology barbery and uh culinary expansion at mckeny 2017 both inzone and the stadium work was uh upgraded at both high schools and then 2018 Skyles test Elementary and and Harrison Hill uh in inding Creek renovation was done and in 2018 we went back to the high schools uh Lawrence
016Central Lawrence North auditoriums at both high schools and also upgraded uh full stadiums for the softball programs 2019 Emy beverin Sunnyside and again going back to the track and field upgrades and just a reminder uh on Amy beverin and the track 201529 was all under our debt service with no impact to taxes for those Renovations but in 2019 we had to have some help and uh uh help with the two high schools and eight elementaries uh four elementaries and four Early Learning Centers we went out to the referendum and passed that suc successfully for the renovation of those eight buildings uh 2020 we renovated the new transportation we bought land and renovated or uh built new the transportation but we sold the old uh Transportation property again this was under uh The Debt Service no
017increase to tax what have we done in 2021 uh these buildings here Brook Park Forest Glen o clandon w Ridge four Learning Centers were under the referendum we started those in 2020 both high schools started a four-year journey of full renovation expansion uh both inside and out and I'm proud to say that we're going to complete these high schools in July of this year I'm excited um 2022 2 23 we did an HVAC upgrade at the middle school building uh sites and just a reminder those were federal dollars that we got out of the Essa funds that were allowed for HVAC upgrades and then in 2023 uh 25 renovation of Belzer uh Fall Creek and and the new LCC building uh are under plans and under way and again those are no impacted taxes as
018well that moves us to Blue Riven Phase 2 in the 2023 uh we put an executive committee together representing operations finance and uh people that represents all levels of Education throughout our district as you see there we also put a big uh committee together uh consisting of board members uh we had community members MERS uh Lea representation and a lot of representation from the buildings themselves and in that their task was to evaluate their building give us input uh also we were to prioritize the schools uh based off renovation and needs academic programs and their needs as we move forward and continue to upgrade our facilities uh with the HVAC and Roofing per our uh in plans and HVAC plans increased space we do have some buildings that are lacking space uh due to growth
019so prepare and reopen lecc as well as protect cpf um the next one is why again it kind of goes along with that slide uh academic needs mainten maintaining our buildings growth of our district at some of our buildings and Future preschool and also to continue a level of supporting High uh achieving schools that look and act as they need to next slide is some information this is a summary of what every building went through and building had stacks of paper and information that was sent to us and we compiled that to look and see what the needs were based off when they were previously renovated and also what they needed moving forward this uh as well as the next slide we try to put some numbers and again help us prioriti our needs for
020uh the next 10 years of renovation what do we need to do so the plan uh would be to uh put a plan a 10year plan together that will take us forward and also working on the financial plan of course uh prepared by the superintendent chief Financial Officer when and how can we move this plan forward so that's why you see here we have five priority groups based off the needs that we see in the buildings and also District needs that we have uh for example our Roofing we have a roof plan in place and have for several years and maintaining a warranty this would take us and continue that warranty for the next 10 to 15 years also h vac and controls over the last 10 years so a lot of advances in the
021control of our buildings and now with the high schools middle schools the new uh LCC building and this building we're under a new control system that we want to bring the level of that control in all of our buildings especially the elementaries uh priority two is based a lot on capacity needs we have some buildings that are at or over 100% capacity so uh we also want to address those needs and as well as some buildings you'll see Crest View they were renovated in 2015 so again a chronological order of When We Touch our buildings goes on to three four and five priorities uh based off The Chronic chronological renovation of those buildings so so we want to make sure they don't go too far without continually to upgrade them so this priority plan uh
022it kind of we have some years in there but this is very flexible and a lot of that's going to be based off our dollars and cents as we move forward with our debt service I won't talk about Debt Service this is CFO side of things and if he needs to he can dress some of those so thank you Mr Smith can you just refresh um refresh the community and the board um we see the buildings listed in chronological order from the when they were first um finished Crest viw in 2015 but we also noticed Forest Glenn which was um finished in 2021 is in one of the top priorities and can you explain why that is for us no actually when we renovated the building we did not have two uh uh preschool and
023kindergarten sections in that building so with after renovation of course the added of those programs increase the number of kids in the building after we had already renovated so as a result of that we did put some Portables to meet that need and therefore as we move forward uh to put them back in a uh School building with classrooms uh that's why they're in that priority to list that is different than the other Bill thank you I just wanted to address that board do you have other questions Miss D thank you again for this update the proactive planning is so incredibly appreciated I do have one quick question as it pertains to the slide that has the anticipated costs um not sure what number that is because I didn't see right there yes um I
024noticed that for Life Safety and security that our high schools are both considered high priority are those things that are going to be addressed with the renovations now um or is that something that we are anticipating they're being addressed now and we continue to put life safety skills as a priority okay uh not only for the high schools for our entire District okay so uh we want to make sure that that's in our plan to address that and that may fall into every priority as we move forward okay that I know is top of mind for a number of constituents so thank you very much for that clarification yeah I do have a followup that actually combines both of these questions a bit um Mr Smith would you please I I've heard from various members
025of the community particularly the forest Glenn Community which I am now a part of um and about the Portables that are on um on our property can you help us understand how we ensure the safety of our students when they fall outside of that safety parameter we Tred to develop a plan in all of our buildings especially when we renovate we constantly change our safety plan to meet the need of what that building is going to uh going through at that particular time uh Force Glen is no different so we have an emergency preparedness plan that will address uh people in those Portables as well as in the uh uh building itself so we continue to place a high priority on safety no matter what situation our building is and try to accommodate them as
026best we can thank you the other thing I just wanted to call out here too is none of these Renovations would have been possible without us winning that referendum 7030 wasn't that was that's about right right Dr Smith so I I think I think that goes to that speaks to the level of commitment this community has to ensure that we have the um the topnotch facilities for our students and I think that that all of us especially those of us who still have kids um and you know a kindergartener that's going to benefit from all of the renovations um I think that speaks very highly to the commitment um and the level of support that this community has for the school district and that's to be commended so thank you for all the work that
027you've done I appreciate this plan um because I think you know that I love a good plan so this is this this is great thank you Bo if I can remind you with the help of Mr miles and our great financial team that we have uh each project will come back to you individually for approval of financing and as well as design of the building and approval of that so we do have very specific statutory steps that we would have to go through to eventually renovate all of these facilities over the next 10 years so it's imperative for us board we will ask of you not today but later um next next month to approve the the plan itself but reminder that each individual project that we will do will be done separately as separate
028approvals both financial and building plans and and I would just like to add that all projects pre 2020 were carried out um on debt service not Debt Service but you know on you got it right and so and so there was to know there was no additional tax expense to the public until the referendum and as I look forward if I'm not mistaken as I look forward to our plan going forward we continue to operate with no with with the the next 10year plan with no additional tax to our taxpayers that that there will be debt falling off and we will use that debt that's falling off to fund further Renovations and um if I'm correct there will be um no referendum that we foresee at this time correct that is correct yeah we we
029will uh we we'll go back to the original plan uh as we did for most of you know the Blue Ribbon Blue Ribbon phase one so you are absolutely correct Madam president there's our hope in the future not to have to bring back a referendum we're so grateful for the community support of that referendum and have taken care of those dollars very well and and um we promised we' do what we did with them we did Madam president yes one one additional point of clarification Dr Smith if you could please describe the difference between an operating um and a capital referendum um and and you know draw a distinction because it's a point of it's a point of Pride that this District hasn't had an operating referendum um and that's different than many school districts
030around right due to the amount of money that we needed to spend to renovate our two High School we went out and asked permission for a capital referendum by Statute uh anytime you do a project that's over a certain threshold you you automatically fall into that category obviously with $200 million we ask of the public that immediately put us into a capital referendum where we had to go for a vote of the community uh we just needed to get one vote more than against to support that but we obviously appreciate the 70% vote that we received from the community an operating referendum is totally different and Mr miles does our presentation on our finances he will obviously show that we are in the positive in terms of our balances uh an operating referendum requires that
031we go to the public and ask for permission to raise additional tax dollars from the community to provide money for our day-to-day operations and that extends over an eight-year period of time uh we are not in that position as you'll see once we do our finances board and we hope to continue to do that many of our colleagues in it around are our neighbors have had to ask that request and we've been very blessed to not have to do that and so we hope to continue that that helps us with our bond ratings Mr miles it just helped us all the way around that we able to keep a very steady Financial picture for our school corporation so uh that is a good question board member Dr Smith if you could also explain that an
032operating referendum is something that has to be voted on on a um on a fairly regular basis we would if we yeah once you apprciate that referend if you plan the extended past 8 years it does require for a renewal of that and we would have to go back to the ballot again and ask the public to extend that referendum Beyond eight years that simple question please Mr Smith we've heard um about debt debt that debt that falls off being used to fund future projects can you give like a brief layman's terms on what it means when sorry sorry Mr miles but when the debt falls off what does that mean in just basic l in terms plenty of money don't you Roger yeah Matt explain that happy to do so miss Bo member um
033that's separation of Duties over here and we're big on that um so in in layman's terms uh we we strive to have uh a a level or Fair a level tax rate to our to the property owners of the district so that um we're not borrow when we borrow more money that adds to our debt and taxes go up if if uh those um those loans those bonds fall off over time as we pay them off what we strive to do is as those fall off if we've paid one off we may open up a new Bond to borrow new money for new projects so basically Keeps Us level as far as as far as what we're what the taxpayers are paying and what we can how we can operate thank you I just you're
034welcome I had a couple questions um the first one I think it was it was Slide Five um this is from public members to myself included um I remember when the high school football stadiums were redone and around that same time I believe the Ed Martin group was is very generous is that correct was um what did their donations go to specifically and was that outside of the Dr nesb go to the microphone for us as a leader works very closely in this area and works with our athletic directors and our athletic departments that is a very good question because zero of those dollars go towards the facility goes to even greater cost Dr nesi tell the board and I would that goes we are very fortunate the Ed Martin Automotive Group continues to support
035our schools and they had a particular interest in helping our student athletes and part of that gift that was an RFP but we put it out but when they they offered that uh they wanted to go directly to student athletes they actually send those checks to the athletic departments and the athletic departments are able to use that for anything and everything they do their gate the athletic departments Again by Statute can only be funded through gate receipts uh so I saw young ladies wearing nice gear which that may have been through our n partnership but um when they traveled down to gridge fieldhouse uh that that cost money they they feed them that cost money I'm not sure how they funded the state championship rings they go get to get but those are the kind
036of things that anything and everything that we do for the student athletes uh that's where that money goes towards okay right yeah yeah thank you for that clarification because I remember about that time was when the name was up on the and it was great to have that Community partner ship so and they've renewed and and we're we we really enjoy that partnership yes thank you Dr desth they're bears and wild cats both the the Martin girls yes yeah we have one one bear graduate and one Wildcat graduate okay very good and then my second question is for Mr Smith we had the opportunity recently to um visit Fall Creek Valley in Belzer um with all the work going on in the middle schools uh currently and I didn't I noticed there wasn't a build
037out but instead it was a utilization of the space that was already there can you explain a little bit more how we um additional classrooms are being created correct but within the same square footage that we have right uh good question because as we look at the design uh when the building was first designed in the '90s it's different needs then as it is is today for example the media center centers were were huge and based off their needs today we're able to take some of that space and redesign it reconfigure it to meet the needs of the building today so as a result of that uh also they had learning areas uh within each uh I guess section you have a 600 700 800 Wing uh for example at Fall Creek Valley and redesigned
038some of that internal space there that gave them offices and or classrooms within their four walls thank you for that one quick follow-up question um so as you were waving your Harry Potter wand to make space out of no space um how are we ensuring that that we're also preparing um for future growth 10 years down the ra Road well we are matter of fact that's part of board goals as we look at building capacity uh constantly evaluating where we're at and where we need to go so we have been doing that uh with the middle schools and Beyond I actually have been doing that with all our buildings but as uh our enrollment continues to increase uh we need to always address that and evaluate as we move forward can I ask a followup
039to that how what are the metrics that we use for that do we have a demographer or how do we determine what we are anticipating in terms of future growth in the district looking at the capacity of the building when it gets at 90% I'm concerned so uh when that starts to happen we're having conversation looking at facility needs or a curricular change may help us do that too so a lot of factors go into that as we monitor uh the size uh the enrollment level of our buildings have do we have a demographer or any we have we have it's been about five years uh so when we feel comfortable as a board and really what triggers that uh board members is really like Roger said the capacity of the buildings when we can
040feel sit something out there in the community a number of homes being built or just this massive movement of kids then we we usually go to that but our last demographic studies studies was really very praiseful of Lawrence that we were going to be very steady whereas around Central Indiana there were a lot of districts that potentially were losing or are losing students our growth was going to be very steady but the unpredictable part about it is scoot choice so I just want to put that on the record scoot Choice doesn't factor into the demographer they just really look at the natural births ins and outs uh look at your housing situation and ours was very steady but if we kind of look at where we've been with enrollment since that over the Last 5
041Years our enrollment has increased every year um um since the pandemic so we we'll keep an eye on it we may have to call for another demographic study Dr Smith within the school choice that's you're talking about school choice within our Township correct or in general oh okay obviously people live within our district who want to come to us and people outside who may decide they want to come to our district so in addition to the magnet applications for yes absolutely thank you y and to to our um tour of the middle schools and the high school I would like to commend this District on and Dr NE Miss neemar for um the work you have done for our life skills students and the consideration we've given them in the special spaces there um outstanding
042outstanding in addition to that um I noticed that Fall Creek Valley and I will presume also at Belzer we have a hallway dedicated to counseling with gallahue right on on site um so our our middle schoolers have every opportunity for the care they need so thank you for those things any other okay um Mr Smith can you give us an update on the mechanical bits please M president Dr Smith me members of the board if you recall in February we asked to go back and rebid uh the HVAC and plumbing for the new LCC and we did that we received those bids on March the 7th uh there were two bid categories five contractors bidding uh bids came in about as expected per our estimations and good competitive bids the GMP contract for core and
043Garcia for this HVAC and plumbing uh contract would be 4, 382,000 for phase two of LCC please back in January uh we requested from the board to send out an RFP for CMC for LCC Phase 2 renovation and on February 29th we conducted uh three interviews and the committee uh did a great job as well as uh the three vendors coming in and the committee's recommendation is to select or the selection was powers and Suns uh for the CMC of lecc phase 2 Renovations and just for clarification since we're working simultaneously on two projects labeled lecc this is for the new lecc this is for this building currently uh the LCC SL Craig Academy or the Craig building okay thank thank you for that clarification because I was wrong okay um board questions okay thank
044you Mr poers for being here with us um and uh then again uh I guess that I guess that's the end of your show at this point he'll be back he need some back all right ask now we've got to ask ask Dr gag line to update us on the virtual desktop infrastructure yes president must and members of the board Dr Smith we have several courses we offer that uh are primarily at McKenzie that require for lack of a better term much more horsepower to run than a student Chromebook can provide so in order to give our students access to these programs we have to outfit the entire classroom with standalone computers we have about 600 of those machines and they cost about anywhere from $1,000 to $1,200 a piece so you can imagine uh
045every four or five years when we need to refresh that's a big expense to us also because that software is installed on the machine the machine stays in the classroom students can't access that software unless they're at school so they have no opportunity to do their work at home then maybe they would like for me to leave it that way but we want to give them access so our uh infrastructure and tech support team has proposed that we install what's called a virtual desktop infrastructure and basically what we want to do is instead of having all those individual machines is to buy a few very high-powered machines that can do all the heavy lifting and then students can access the program on their Chromebook so that should reduce our refresh cost because we're only only
046buying a few very expensive machines instead of a lot of them and it because it will be on the network uh students can access this software from home so we think we're going to be it's a win-win um we've been talking to several vendors about this and now it's time to see if they can meet our expectations as far as finances we've got money secured through the common school loan we've told them what our budget is and now we want to put that out for an RFP so we'll be asking your permission later on Dr gagl I have a question a couple questions the first question is how many years are those super machines do we expect those super machines to last and and the second question it would be just what's the cost of
047those super machines versus the cost of you know supplying the kids with computer that they so the well sometimes we make them last longer than we should but uh after four years we begin to keep an eye on them six years is probably pushing it we've have a few that we're running right now that have gone beyond their expected life and we're just keeping them alive we don't really want to do that when it comes to the students as far as uh price we've um you know if we're buying 600 machines at a, or 1,200 bucks that's you know 72 thou or $720,000 um we have set the the goal to keep it at 500,000 or less to see if they can do it and if they can do it then we know that this
048concept works and we could apply it in other places great that's that's music to my ears we're trying to help Mr miles yes and and then we expand their homework opportunities exactly okay all right thank you questions for okay thank you um and then uh Mr miles do believe that the common school loan was mentioned a few seconds ago can you update us on that uh common school loan absolutely thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh so the common school loan um comes out one or two times per year and at this time of the year we come to you in preparation for that being released uh once again so we have to predict that a little bit and that's what we're uh doing tonight at this time with this agenda
049item um we'll bring it back to later for action but we use these dollars for uh technology in the classroom be it's student technology or teacher technology um the common school loan that Dr gagin was referring to was actually one that we've previously approved so we have those funds set aside these would be for new Chromebooks that we would like to purchase and just a a note of clarification as I mentioned we kind of predict this going forward we did bring this to you back in October um um in 22 the state issued a fall common school loan they did not do so in 23 so we did not utilize we were not able to use uh those funds at that time and our common school loan is a much better interest rate than anything
050else we can get correct correct it's a low interest rate loan that the state uh supports and subsidizes it's typically right at 1% and the amount that we are looking to um to apply for is based on our student enrollment and it's just right at one almost $1.6 million this year I just had a question as a non- educator um on the common school loan that is not offered every year is that correct it's typically Every Spring at right at this time okay um sometimes again like in 22 they'll do it twice a year um but it's really at the state's discretion okay thank you okay yes yes um in the term of repayment I understand it's five years is that accurate that's correct B based on the amount that we typically and since we're
051at 1.5 I think anything over a million is five years is that correct yes okay thank you there are no further questions we'll go on to our 2425 Board of Education meeting's calendar Miss pocket you are technically secretary just yes so we can see these um we can see these dates um and note that there are not two months in a row that we have a single meeting occasionally we need to have a combined work session and a Schoolboard meeting um you'll note um I believe in April no that's not not in in March of next year um because of spring break Etc and you'll notice the same thing in December but we try very hard not to do that two months in a row most months we have our work session on the second
052week and our Board of Education meeting on the fourth week Madam pres president in addition in the when we get to action we will ask permission to request to move your we have a date set for July currently July 15th but moving that to July 22nd that would be great for everyone here at the deis and your financial people to move it later in the month for a July meeting okay so that I will consider it even though I will have a daughter in town from Belfast there you go might force her to come to the meeting well okay all right we'll consider that later any any other input on that calendar board that you see anything that's a conflict I just I do have a question because this has always been set before I
053was a board member so why are some of our dates our times at 6:30 and other at others at s board members the only time we do 6:30 is for student recognitions we try to get those in earlier uh just due to the size of your community and who you recognize extra time would help us out that's why we just like sometime we do recognitions right at 7 but there are times when we have our winter Mr I'm looking at the secondary we just we next month we want to get them early because you're going to have hundreds of youngsters who have achieved high level success so that's why we do that only for student recognitions public so get out your gym grippers get ready I'll remember not to wear heels like I did last
054year this time around M Miss blankin ship thank you for always reminding us when there are deviations in the normal time CU that isn't always a muscle that I like to flex so I appreciate the reminders uh next we will have our board committee chair reports oh no we won't we're gonna have a financial update if if Mr miles would be happy to give that to us be happy to share that Madam president thank you once again uh in front of you you have both our general fund and our transport ation fund month end reports for the end of February as we share um both uh first and foremost the general fund uh our revenues exceeding expenditures at this point through the year which equals a increasing cash balance I will note and remind the
055board um that our on our March financials for our general fund we will um see a higher uptick in our uh salaries and and payroll due to two things we have three repay periods in in March we also are have expended some some stiens that were approved last year in March so just a point of clarification there and then as we move on to Transportation uh also in a good place um we only get revenues for Transportation uh the big chunks come twice a year so we don't have those pieces just yet but from an expenditure standpoint we are on track thank you that's great news I have a question it was brought to my attention by a member of the public um that Indiana moved from the terms um general fund and transportation fund
056and now we're using the terms education and operations I be believe that's been happening for a number of years can you help us understand why Lawrence is still utilizing the terminology from past um administrations absolutely that's a great question um as you know you know in our in our world those terms things change um our education fund and our our operations fund did change a handful of years ago um due to some uh basically state state action we have chosen especially for these meetings to use the general fund and our transportation fund for consistency those are the benchmarks that we've had over the years um it allows us to um to to measure year toe and historically kind of where we've been um it ALS so um helps us to uh we do we still
057do make those transfers twice a year as you may recall in uh after June 30th and at the end of the year to rebalance those so there are monies going back and forth between the general uh the education fund and the operations fund so the operations fund really now encompasses um transportation U bus replacement and our operations um so a point of clarification then the transportation fund is not including all of our operations funds correct it is just one piece of that operations fund okay yes is is there a way that we can get for just transparency for the public the general um instead of General the education and um the operations because I did that that was a question that had come from a member we we we can but it will be somewhat
058confusing and what I mean by that we decided to keep all of the silos behind the scene to assure that all of our funds all of those old funds are funded equally including Roger Smith I see Steve gagl out there we can have running all these lists of operations and show all of that but at the end of the day what has really happened it's really one fun okay it's truly One Fund and that is at the end of the day it's your education font or your operation funds because you can go back and forth between them so we're really showing really how much money we have on hand but those funds those silos behind the scenes are really there for each and every single one of our funds and I would say most school
059districts don't even have a financial presentation like this as in depth as ours and it really gives a true picture of where we are financially when it comes to our ability to be able to operate because I think Matt just eloquently our CFO explained that the funds can go back and forth between both sides of it and it even gets even more complex board because uh the state kind of zaps you if you move funds too many funds from operations to to education and vice versa I think it's a 15% threshold before they kind of put you on the list and we've never operated in that vein so we're really in a truly a good spot so let me have more conversation with you directly board member if you want to know how much Roger
060Smith we can just tell you up front the community Roger doesn't have enough money because behind the scenes the tax caps truly impact our operation side of it okay no and I appreciate that I think it's just the transparency for the public to be able to see the operations like the because I think at least as the way it was shared with me is that the district is spending a lot more than what we are actually seeing in these two reports and so I think that that helps paint a picture of how we are thoughtful stewards of the district's dollars we we spent over $280 million just to operate the district okay that's our budget all in for total but it would be very complicated to show all of that because there's so many different
061pots of money board that you receive both federal and state that really complicate it and and really given the the outs of it our true Financial picture of what we held accountable for Mr miles has got you right on point with that when we talk about doab and understanding how much money we have on hand and how we're spending our money we we are certainly on point with that okay what um in our budget in our yearly budget we receive um schedules and one of the schedules that is the most clear isn't that like form four something 4 C or what is that form um in our budget every year there is a form four uh that we look at when we approve we take the budget for approval in the fall um trying to
062think of the the exact for I'll I'll look it up and try to bring that back next week but I think that's public information too our budget there yeah it could be referring to form nine maybe that might be it and and that and that shows everything in a silo yes and and to Dr Smith's Point as well um another reason and I think going back to uh really the vision that the that the district had uh years ago when when the state changed the the fund process we wanted to make sure we kept each uh each of those silos within its budget whereas some districts um if when you putting them all into one pot it gets a little confusing as to where your expenses are truly coming from where your revenues are truly
063coming from so that's another reason why we we've continued to show things and and really work daytoday um in those same budgetary silos thank you for good question thank you welcome are there any more questions for Mr miles all right well then we really are have reached board committee chair reports um Can should we start on this side of the Des policy Miss done get ready buckle up because the Indiana General Assembly short session ended on Friday March 8th um of note six house bills and nine Senate bills impacting education emerged and have been sent to the governor for further action um the policy committee will track these bills and work with Neola to update revise or make new our current policy and administrative guidelines um yes so thank you very much for that co-chair
064uh one of note that I know that as a district um and as an educator of note is uh House Bill one which um has some serious ramifications to our districts around the state for the retention policies and so that is something that I'm looking forward to um determining how we can work collectively to ensure that our most vulnerable students um our special education and English Learners are not retained um because of their learning um differences or because of their English language acquisition um and so look forward to working as a member of this board to support in that area thank you very much Dr harburger you're here miss dun all right um uh Miss Lawrence and Miss Norman can you update us on the foundation all right I'll be happy to tag team um
065the Gayla was a success over 700 people attended I don't believe the numbers were out yet on on what it brought in but it was we haven't had a board meeting since the case yes thank you it's all a blur um but no it was a wonderful event so thank you to all who attended and supported including our district um and the the two events that are coming up next next are uh the Prairie Dash 5K at Connor Prairie on May 18th and for the kids golf outing on May 30th uh registration information can be found on msdlt f.org thank you the only thing I would add is our former mayor man he pulled in a lot of dough over that Burbon uh that live auction bourbon it was s $177,000 forting no it was
066for it's for it was for more it was for more than just a tasting dinner and then you know some bourbon but you better slip you sip slow for 17K that's right strong that's right and um I will say it was one one of our partner vendors and thanks to them thank you very much to them um and I guess Miss pocket can you let us know what's going on with Parks and Recreation please Parks and Rec I'll let you know we are um going to celebrate the annual Spring Fling and Easter egg hunt at Community Park this will be on March 30th um festivity start at 10: a.m. until noon and just want to note at 11:00 a.m. our families with children who are experiencing sensory needs um there's some time for them so
067mark your calendars for March 30th for that and also as we are all aware by now the eclipse the total eclipse which will be at Fort Ben Comm Community Park April 8th this will be at 1: p.m. with live music food trucks lots of family fun friendly games with the eclipse you want to get there because um the eclipse is at 306 and um yeah that's what's going on with the parks well the full eclipse is at 36 yes but you got to get there early because a little darker a little darker be hard to find it got to put your little boxes down on the ground and look and see if you can find the crescents get there at one yeah all right that's and and what are what are Dr Smith remind us
068what are school children going to be doing that day with all that excitement uh assistant Sops remind the board uh for the record what we have planned that day Dr Smith members of the board we adjusted our calendar a few months AG plan for this appropriately so that will be a day off for our students so our students will be home that day and leing up to it our instruction team has worked our stud forward and glasses for it out just prior can't them out too early want our students to lose but them out just prior is that a day off or is that an e-learning day no a day off official day a day off official day wow Miss Le plant we also have some Littles that we'll have in our school so give
069board update on preschool yes to support our year round families we will still provide care for our year round preschool students that dayk you okay I think that updates us on our committees we'll move to the action items and um Mr Smith approval of the mechanical bids please Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I recommend you approve the GMP for core Garcia as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded all in favor if there are no questions all in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it thank you we'll move on Mr Smith to the approval for the CMC for phase two Madam president Dr Smith members of the board recommend you approve powers and Suns as the CMC for the LCC Phase 2 Craig building as presented move so move
070second second properly moved and seconded if there are no questions all in favor I any opposed that is approved thank you Mr gag line Dr gag line I do that every day president must and members of the board Dr Smith I request your approval to advertise the RFP for the virtual desktop infrastructure as submitted oh moved second properly moved in second if there are no questions all those in favor I I I any opposed we have our RFP for virtual desktop infrastructure and we'll move on to Mr miles the approval of the common school loan thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board at this time I recommend that the board approve the application for the common school loan as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded all in favor I I
071any opposed we have approved our Carmen school loan and we'll move on then uh Miss Pucket um the approval of the 2425 Board of Education meetings calendar anybody okay all right um all those in favor well we need a motion so moved second and properly moved and seconded um all those in favor I I um and none opposed uh I this does say the approval of the 2425 Board of Education meetings calendar I would like to add that that includes the change date on the calendar so that is included in that vote correct board any descent on that okay all right um go ahead Norman oh Madame President I uh move that we treat action items 4.6 through 4.10 as consent agenda we have a second so moved um all those in favor of moving
072uh 4.6 through 4.10 as a consent agenda I I I um and then do we have a motion to approve the consent I move approval of the consent agenda second properly moved and seconded um all those in favor of approving the good set agenda I and no and anybody all right president must I do have a quick question because on the board it looks like the July 15th is still on the calendar in the board so that will be updated it will be a combined work and Board of Education meeting on the 22nd okay just want to confirm and Miss blankin ship I know you and I know you'll send us calendar reminders or we'll be here on the 15th I just know we will okay all right all right so now we're on to
073our board comments Miss Norman thank you Madame President um some exciting things have been going on recently in in March Madness uh the sixth grade basketball championships uh don't worry to both the men and women's teams the pipeline is strong for the high school um it was well attended and just very exciting to watch the um elementary schools in their element um also recently we had the faith-based uh community and leaders luncheon and that was a wonderful event um it does take a village to raise our children the school does a great job in supporting this but we can't do it without our Community Partners and that segs in Segways into my last um point I want to thank the City of Lawrence they're a great partner um this is March's developmental disabilities month and
074the council for uh disabilities in the city of lawence recently hosted a disability resource fair at the Fort Ben library and it was such a useful event for the community um just having every resource that people could need right there there in one um event therapies trust Finance support um just you name it so again kudos to the City of Lawrence thank you for that thank you very much Miss pcket can you come back to me real I will come back to you Miss Lawrence thank you Madame President um well first this is also women's history month and I do want to acknowledge that we are the very first female all female School Board in Lawrence Township's history so I'm incredibly grateful to serve with each and every one of you it's a pretty impressive
075thing what's that I I did I saw it I saw it um I also want to just take a moment to acknowledge um some of the violence that we have noticed in our communities that have impacted our schools um I've been reflecting a lot on on this recently and um you know we are tagline is strong School strong Community I think it also is strong Community strong schools because you can't have one without the other and I know this weighs on every board member's heart very much so miss Pucket you do a lot of work in the non-violence world and I'm grateful for your leadership there I do I I do believe the time has come for our community to come together and have a conversation not just the school district certainly we are a
076stakeholder in that um but also the rest of our community which includes our um our mayoral leadership our government our community and Business Leaders um and and other stakeholders that have um that have a a a part in all of this um I think it it is important to note that violence for youth has reached a five-year high and our state legislature has enacted some bills that make it really difficult to keep guns out of the hands of our youth and so I think it behooves us as members of the community to stand up and say no and to demand the type of community that is supportive of each and every one of our students and that we as a community come together to make sure that happens and so I just wanted to acknowledge
077acknowledge that and uh and make that call to action it's done just back um uh from the sense of just it is a public health um it is a public health and safety concern and schools can't do it alone it isn't and I'll be honest too I I'm if you have anybody experiencing a trauma and because there are stigmas that are tied to calling the police and certain black and brown uh families um their stigmas tied to it I wasn't planning on going down this route however um you have they have something called MCAT MCAT mobile crisis um assistance teams because a lot of times violence is a byproduct of trauma it's a by byproduct of mental health it's a byproduct there are a lot of parallels there so for those that are in need
078of help you can call 911 and you can ask for an uh MCAT mobile crisis assistant team to um come out and that will help with those mental substance or any other um items that may be needed um and to just I'm going just leave that there because this is this is that is a deep well um yes you can reach out to also the Ops the office of public health and safety um there are a lot of groups right now that are looking to address the youth violence because yes homicides have reduced youth violence has increased schools we have become more than just schools we are hubs for so much and it's becoming an overload and so I'll just leave that there this is a deep well but um yeah it is definitely a
079public safety concern I could say a whole lot I'm very very passionate about that that is uh that is a premise and the Cornerstone of a lot of my work but um I thank you Dr Smith when I have talked to uh Mrs Bush um we are doing work in those areas but I'll be honest with you the state still our our city is still trying to figure it out so that is a slippery slope um but yes I do call and I'm hoping that this could be y'all I'm going just leave that there so yes that there I will Echo what you say what you've all said and it affects us all very deeply and again this weekend um in in another part of our city but one of our own and um I
080will just I just want to thank Dr Smith and your entire team because I know you have met with the health department with the city so I know we have begun the work of CommunityWide action and and it's crucial that we do the work and it's also very complicated how we get that work done um in our state so it's going to take um a lot of time and a lot of effort on everyone's part to do something about this Scourge um beyond that I would like to say that um I'm not going to I'm not going to call anybody out but um I know we have a real IEP winner in the audience this evening and I would like to speak with that person later after so he's paying attention really happy happy with
081with all the hard work that our teachers have done but even more so all the hard work that our that our third grade students have done to make the district a success thank you Dr Smith little yeah of course thank you board and I wouldn't expect anything different from the Board of Education to speak to the health and wealth of children we have over 16,000 youngsters that are our responsibility to educate and it is very disheartening and hurtful when we lose a child so I I Echo the board sentiment that our children have to be safe and well taken care of because they're our future and that sounds cliche but it's real I see only adults here I see Ellie sitting out there but we're not going to be here 10 20 30 years from
082now but our youngsters that we're educating right now will be leading the community and we just have to think about their health and wealth uh it has been a journey over the last month we have celebrated we have been at the highest level winning at the state in basketball Dr nesb I lost my voice and it ended this weekend with the wild cats at the semi state but the wild cats have sented BL birie to me they'll be back next year and so we are really proud of all of our students and I want to remind you board next month will be a celebration like you've never seen before of the winter athletes so we will have the Bears Wildcats and many more including those sixth grade basketball teams will join us as we celebrate
083their achievements and we have a lot to be proud of as we close out the winter sports Dr nth and we'll start spring Sports so that's all I have to say today thank you Dr mad president I could I please add to that that as as exciting and as important and as Community changing it is it was for our Bears to bring home the state championship um I we honor all of our our Sports youth because they all put out a 100% effort and we're so proud of all of them so miss muston yes I hate to be the person on the de to suggest that you would not acknowledge the great work that the music departments have also done but would also like to to to acknowledge that um we hosted at Fall Creek
084Valley over the weekend isma and all of our Middle School bands and orchestras received gold we also had the show choirs um and Lawrence North placing for the very first time fourth um and so again I hate to tell the professional musician but I did want to call that out I'd I'd hate to be the one to bring it up for fear that that I only I only love the musicians so thank you Miss president will'll name all as well yes we will we got their names that is very exciting news all right um our our next um Board of Education meeting will be Monday April 15th that's tax day um um at 5:30 so get your taxes in before 5:30 and then come on to the meeting okay um and I would entertain um
085a motion to adjourn so moved we are adjourned for