001those do come due and um in the in the current calendar year at times we have to apply for this uh approval and so that's what we're doing here tonight there is no tax impact the funds are uh in our accounts and we just need approval to be able to spend the money in this fashion so you're just asking us for approval to move funds as as legally appropriate and necessary absolutely yes any questions board does the public have any questions about that um hearing no questions I guess that will end our um public hearing on Appropriations now we will call to order our regularly scheduled school board meeting please rise and join with me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the it
002stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all great um let's start with our Blue Ribbon update Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I like to start off with that aial shot just to show you the massiveness of this project so you can see all the site work and the building work going on uh LC baseball uh we're getting real close to uh laye Turf and uh Stadium uh should be erecting soon LC baseball and soccer again combined uh LC pool we're about done digging so they're putting in the underground and forming up ready to get ready for concrete uh LC pool uh the inside continues on with finished work in the locker rooms and different areas softball JV field is almost complete finished work on then on
003the field will complete both Fields Len again the sight view can of see the north area right now you'll see a picture of that front asphalt area parking about 34 of the way done with that uh Ln soccer and concession stand uh finished work going on between soccer and baseball uh Elm Plaza entryway uh the facade is going up and hopefully some storefront going in just hopefully for the snow flies uh Len old pool demo uh mechanics are coming out the bottom of the pool has been demoed and that fill is taking place uh Bell Auditorium continues on uh Special Needs Bus drop had a little bit of delay do some weather but hope to get some Asphalt in there as well to be able to utilize that space classrooms in Phase C uh C
004continue on uh bells are Middle School auxiliary gy all of these areas here should be turned over to the building by the end of winter break uh fek uh Valley main gym is coming back together that's the back half of the main uh office area and uh for to six classrooms I believe we have underway nearing completion and hopefully be turning back over to the building in the next two weeks office space support staff again more area that'll be turned over to the building LC uh LCC the site Improvement we now have access to our West Drive and parking area so we're uh at full capacity right now uh this Southside will start this spring thank you very much Mr Smith board do you have questions for Mr Smith I do have one question um
005Mr Smith that initial photo reminded me do we have do we own the area near LC if we needed to expand our facility in the near term you're talking about the I saw shot and it looked like we had a lot of landay next to yeah part of that's not ours no just wondered and also as somebody who has come for the last year or so to all of the recognition was very nice to have the extra parking today so thank you yes does help Miss Norman um yeah I just had uh two I guess comments slash questions if I read correctly Ellen will be hosting their first meet uh swimming meet in the new 50 meter pool tomorrow night correct at 5:30 so that's exciting and then the second thing is I've had some
006questions from people about what the north side of Lin will look like when it's done um and so Dr Smith and Mr Smith pointed out to me today that it will look very similar to the west facing side of Lawrence Central um if that's correct around their so if they want to take a peak that's what the future of Ellen's North Side will look like I've had some neighbors ask me questions so that's a great frame of reference thank you and I will be glad to have that North Side done as well because I went to a play the other day and it was a wonderful play but it was chilly in there cool um my only other question is what's the timeline for that pool to get done will that be done in any
007way for this season or are our um Lawrence Central kids using the Ln pool are they just La Central currently is in their old pool so we're not shutting they can't have meats in there they can yeah yeah they do yeah it's fully functional so we didn't want to take it down until the new pool is up so they're continuing to swim there I've asked that question before but do we but do we know the timeline on the LC the new pool uh late spring should be uh we should be turning that over to the building they should have that for summer okay yep great thank you if there are no more questions board we'll we'll move on to the next information item which is the demographic report update uh Mr C it's Transportation oh
008yes it is transportation again Mr Smith sorry about that Madame President Dr Smith members of the board uh we did receive bids on November 16th uh the bid was for the transportation buildout of the Second Story and two storage facility barns uh six competitive bids you can see those bid tabs in front of you there very competitive uh this time of year uh we were under estimates so that's a good thing uh we're excited about the low bid meeting all specifications who powers and sons who is also the general contractor on the phase one of Transportation so they know the project very well uh this project budget for the hard and soft cost was 3.5 million we projected to be under 2.5 million so we will be bringing a recommendation to the board for powers
009and Sun uh as low beid meeting all specifications I just wanted to mention Robin lysing here with Schmidt an associate uh Robin was also over the build of phase one and will also help with phase two of Transportation as well great any questions on that yes question is um and this forgive me because I know there have been so many things that have happened prior to my tenure as a board member so as a fairly new board member through this process if is there other criteria that is looked at other than the cost Associated um with this investment but are there other criteria that is used to determine who will win the bid yeah Public Works were Guided by State Statute so we have several different guidelines under State Statute but uh a bid spec
010is usually low bid meeting all of our specifications who would then receive that bid so in other words only those companies meeting all of our specifications are considered correct good any other questions we will now we will move on to the demographic report Mr kusik and Dr Brown please president must Dr Smith board members tonight we're pleased to yes sir and we're pleased to bring to you some information regarding our demographic data it's on can you it's green okay um so the first thing we'd like to look at tonight when we look at our district enrollment and demographic data is in years past our ADM date our uh enrollment count date people count date was in September and traditionally this report is done October to October this year ADM was moved to October 2nd so
011that means that our report is synced with ADM so that's a slight change change for us this year it does make looking at the data a little bit easier when you look on our first slide you'll notice that the pupil count is up this school year by 88 students at 1652 and you can see the enrollment since the school year 1112 and the steady incline since the pandemic on our next slide you you can see the pupil enrollment preschool through sixth grade um and our total is at the far lower right col um corner and is 100 students higher than last year that number 8803 is 100 higher than last year you can also look at that chart to see by school and by grade level continuing on the same information with our middle schools
012and high schools and we are very consistent from last year maintaining enrollment the next set of slides um looks at each cohort over a five-year period when you're looking at these slides you want to look at the numbers in a diagonal and those are colorcoded for you the far right hand column shows the fiveyear change um and so this first uh chart has grades seven through 12 then moving to the next chart you can see obviously that um we we do not have have an Indiana mandated prek or kindergarten also those students in those first grades we don't have five years worth of data so you can see where that far right column starts and that increas is there digging deeper looking at the demographics um for the last 10 years um if you can
013look at that uh last I'm sorry the second column our total enrollment you can see that increase that you saw on the first slide um at 16502 a couple things just to point out um there have been some increases over the years that are very apparent if you look at our Hispanic percentage of students you can see the increase there also if you I'd like to point out the free and reduced lunch percentage of students a steady increase there as well that uh information that you just saw overall um now you can look at by School broken down by school and continuing on and here you can see starting with our elc's in a group and then going alphabetical by Elementary you can see um the fiveyear trends of this demographic information if we move
014on going um to the second group there you can see at Forest Glenn with the immersion expansion when we expanded access uh last year you can see growth there at Forest glint Elementary um as that program is very much in demand by our community moving on to the next slide you can see that same I'm sorry uh you can see fast growth also at Mary Castle Elementary and then moving to the next slide you can see the growth at Skyles and sunyside where the immersion programming is at continuing on for the middle [Music] schools on this slide you'll see a slight dip not much but a slight dip for our middle schools and then on the next page you see our two high schools had an increase so overall at the secondary level were stable
015last portion of our report is what we refer to as the district in and out data refers to our transfer students transferring to us so into us or transferring out transferring from us to another school first slide we have here is our uh fellow Township schools within Marian County just as an example there number first slide first row there Beach Grove that that data is showing you that we had six students transfer into us from Beach Grove and we had 11 students leave us and transfer out to Beach Grove for a net loss of five students another example on that side would be IPS schools we gained 253 students from IPS and lost 198 so a net gain of 55 there overall if you look at the entire chart all the Township Schools in Maring
016County made a net loss of 31 students however that is down from a net loss of 73 students last school year on the next slide are In-N-Outs for nearby districts are what we often refer to as the donnut districts around Maring County pointing out some highlights on this slide for a grand total of negative - 207 which is pretty consistent with the previous year moving on to Charter Schools again looking at those students who transferred to us from a charter school or left us I also want to point out sometimes we have a student that will go in and out multiple times within the same school year that happens sometimes with in our student population here we have an overall net gain of 51 students our private and perial schools highlighting some of the highlights
017there and then we show a net loss of 18 pretty consistent pretty stat quot we also the last several years have looked at virtual schools see how many students have joined us from a virtual school or left us to go to a virtual school here we show a net loss of just 21 students uh this is a number we keep in touch with to make sure that our programming meets the needs of our student population and we continue to show that there's not a very high demand for a virtual school here in Lawrence Township and then the last In-N-Out slide here refers to other states here you'll see several students and families have left the state of Indiana to go to other states around the country a net loss there of 171 then on the
018right side if you look at different countries we have a net gain of 184 students from other countries and then this last slide does not show ins and outs it's slide that we give to you every year that shows all our current nonresident students in the district so not just over the last year but over all the students that are currently attending Lawrence Township that live in another District we've highlighted some of them there with a total of 2,120 it's a lot of data for you some conclusions that we have um some significant conclusions for you would be overall our enrollment continues to increase we see that study incline over the last several years Dr hos BR mentioned the growth at our emerging schools has increased with increased access our demographics continue to shift over
019the last decade overall our free and reduce numbers as well as our multilingual Learners have increased over the last several years we also regularly monitor the difference in our free and reduced status between our Belzer LC Pipeline and our FAL Valley lawence North pipeline that continues to stay at 10% be happy to answer any questions you have who questions um I have a comment and a question first of all it's very encouraging to see our enrollment numbers continue to go up because I know that's not always the case across the state and that's a testament to our people in our district um I know from the finance end that's also beneficial but um well done there um that's that's very good and then um the the question I had was on slide eight um on
020the yeah it's on the free and reduced lunch number down at the bottom right um sorry Sheila okay so um the community eligibility provision was actually a huge unexpected blessing um and just for the myself and the general public to understand a little bit more about that what percentage does the district have to hit a certain percentage number districtwide to be eligible districtwide for C go ahead Roger accidentally come from Roger operation I may have to get that information to you uh for our food service does that they Lo they do have a percentage I'm not sure I can't give that to you we'll report that back to the board okay I was just curious cuz I know it has gone up and I wasn't sure if there was a threshold because in the past
021we've had schools there is individual schools who've qualified but then other schools haven't and then over the summer we found out that our whole District uh qualified and with inflation and everything that's been just a huge blessing to a lot of families just looking at the threshold there board we were at 69% last year we crossed over to 73 so it's probably somewhere around 70% so but we'll get the exact number for the board and the community questions I would like to Echo uh Miss Norman's comments about just the incredible work that has been done to encourage our families to choose uh Lauren's Township especially when you look at those 2,000 students that are coming from other districts that's certainly a testimony to the wonderful things that are happening in our district do you have
022a question followed up by what you were asking about this 73% of free and reduced lunge um with the fact that no longer families are having to complete the free and reduced form how um i' like just for the general population understand how is that number then determine that we have 73% because I have a I have a feeling that there could be more families to the point that you're making that also would qualify but would just like to know how that is done go ahead Roger from our existing applications of people have filled out that information uh that's the way we track that yes in some cases we could have more and that number could be lot lot lower than that or actually higher when I think it probably is Right a higher percentage
023um because of some people's current status do you have um a couple of other questions I do notice that um there are some of our programs that we know are extremely well established um that folks are vying to get into such as Forest Glenn going from 769 to 93 4 whereas some of our other programs are showing a decline in enrollment um however there are great things happening in those schools as well so I'm wondering what we're doing to advertise the other programs to ensure that families understand the wealth of opportunity because we have great programs not just um obviously at Forest Glenn but across our district so just wondering how families are understanding the options that they have I think we've got to do a point of clarification for Forest Glenn Forest Glenn we
024added the preschool and kindergarten programs to that building which is unique to that in particular building because normally those youngsters would be at our elc's so that is also included in those numbers and Emma you didn't we didn't point that out to the board so just so you understand Forest Glenn is more like 700 students and really would not be our largest our largest Elementary if you just look at grades one through six is Amy beverin okay so go ahead answer the question Dr Smith and with our special programming whether that be immersion High ability um families are notified a variety of ways and right now we're in our early application immersion enrollment window taking applications for all three programs all three schools whether they have prek and kindergarten or kindergarten and first um and
025then the same thing is done the same system um as students are tested for high ability so information has gone out and then my office our office as well as a curriculum and instruction are available to answer fam's questions when choosing programming sometimes student families are interested in multiple programs that are offered at different schools I I'm just thinking about the increase in our Latino population for example and if you're new to the country I know sometimes the default is the school that's closest to your home so I do wonder if there's an opportunity for us to have some open houses or other ways that we are supporting our Multicultural families to understand the choices that exist um because I do think that we have such great programs um and just in my experiences working
026um in schools people tend to go to the neighborhood when sometimes there might be something um that might be another option that could be of interest to their children which is I think one of the reasons we have such great magnet programs and the office of student services has been very helpful during this window and they have several bilingual staff who call our families who've identified a space speaking who are in kindergarten currently to talk to them about first grade options and so they get a bilingual call to explain that to them and help them choose whether that be our one-way program our two-way program or their um districted location excellent so it's the same support and education going to our Haitian families because I we have seen a drastic increase there so I'm wondering
027how we're supporting which by the way this slide with in and out of other states and other countries is amazing and so fascinating um but really seeing that increase in our Haitian Creole population so wondering what supports we have to support um that large demographic that's growing oh team it is a a quickly growing demographic force with nearly 300 total students speaking Haitian Creole and so I'm pleased to share that we have added our first position um that is specific to Haitian Creo um will be housed out of Harrison Hill and supporting several of our schools that have high Haitian Creole speaking populations it's uh we we call them El tutor translators but it's similar to an assistant looking at support so I think this is likely a question for you Mr Smith as we
028we see the good work that is leading to increases in our student population how are our buildings prepared to support this future growth of our district BL Riv in phase two is coming so we always have a plan Miss for those for those lawence yeah we always have a plan do I know we do we always have a plan but I know that this is a hot topic for those parents in Forest Glenn and others that are um have gone through renovation and are likely needing more space in the future so just wanted to get some clarification as to what the future plans are coming soon thank you for those great questions just a a quick uh quick followup you know on our last slide um we do notice a 10% difference in free and
029reduced um um years ago when we redistricted the board had students can choose which school we have free Cho choice so because we have that free choice um this is what our families and are choosing and where they choose to send their children to school so um that does not necessarily apply anymore um but Madam President we do bring that up we do constantly monitor that monitor that number to make sure that we're um on point with those numbers and you're you're right on point with the fact that we have school choice and that affects no matter how much we try to play the school choice could affect that number overall but as as the City of Lawrence continues to bring on new uh neighborhoods and all that we continue to monitor to make sure
030that we' got the right number of students funneling to the right side of the district because we do have a new neighborhood coming in on the um Southeast side multiple um so we'll have to determine where those those families will will go to school Madam president may I also add a comment so that there's no confusion uh the assistant superintendent pointed in their demographic report they are project giving number numbers from last year to this year Mr miles with our ADM it's a little bit different that number is determined semester by semester so our school funding goes semester by semester our overall growth for this semester was 167 students that we increase from Spring to Fall okay you got to keep that in mind that's how our funding works and so we'll do a second
031ADM count February 2nd 2024 okay so we've seen a significant growth in our district in one semester okay and the only other thing I would like to ask and I did not ask in advance I apologize I wouldn't expect an answer today um but at some point if we could see how our um incline in population looks compared to other Marian County Schools I can give it to you they're all down that's the answer everybody's down so everyone's down I mean I think that's speaks yeah very highly as Miss Norman said very highly to the work we're doing here in Lawrence Township and I want to thank everyone in the room and all of our teachers and administrators um great work uh because again it doesn't only it doesn't only speak to the work we
032do and the education um and our graduation rate it it does determine our funding so thank you any more questions board okay then we will move on to the financial update Mr miles thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh in front of you you have a copy of our end of October financial statements for the general fund and can see revenue and expenses lined out as we do every month um in in total our general fund is right as expected actually our total revenues exceeded our projections just a little bit bit and our total expenditures just a little under uh the projected amount so in a very good position there for the general fund and likewise the transportation fund uh again line item out by revenue and expenditures again the total
033revenues a little outpacing our projection and uh expenditures slightly under where we had projected so both in a very good position at the end of October do we have questions board or are we just all so happy about that so happy about that but I do have one question how do we account for inflation in these numbers this is kind of a general question are we budgeting for the pre the previous inflation numbers and that's why we're seeing the discrepancy just curious yeah it's good question so um we put put together our budget uh about 18 months in advance and so we're locked in at that point um that's submitted we we passed our budget for um or or presented our budget Senate off to the state um earlier in the fall so we're we're
034looking far in advance and trying to to do some forecast what inflation may you know come to us so again it's it's an estimate of projected expenses and projected uh income you know obviously the the increase in you know our just general cost of living our our utility expenses for one that's that's continuing to go up um there are some advantages to it we certainly make more um from an income standpoint on our interest so any of our monies that we've been able to invest so that helps there is some offset but it's just something we have to look at in advance and do the best we can to to try to estimate we're going to be and Mr miles haven't we not in the past locked in our prices on fuel and certain certain
035yes we're able to do so on some of those uh and take some of the risk uh at least reduce it um so certainly our diesel fuel uh we've done so in the past and we continue to do so um other fuels that we you know for heating and things in the buildings um we do look at those opportunities when they're out there thank you okay uh board we are on to our board committee chair reports um so miss Pucket yes parks and R yes as you know we had Winterfest this uh past Saturday and so the skating rink is officially open it is open um the hours are Saturday and Sunday from 2: to 700 p.m. um no cash they do not accept cash so yes adults are 10 kiddos Under 12 or five
036um Cory I missing something I think that's live music in Winter Market every time that we're open thank you so much lovely Miss Norman um the foundation um in honor of giving Tuesday tomorrow um has set a goal to raise $3,500 um you're welcome to donate the Public's welcome to donate go to msdlt f.org or um a physical need right now are winter coats gently used or new they can be dropped off here through door three um anytime now through December mber 5th thank you great policy we are currently working on the administrative guidelines and hope to have those ready by our next December board meeting great I love to have a lot of reading in December at Fireside lots of get my computer out lots of reading um Miss Lawrence is there anything new
037with the Indiana school board system ass ma'am thank you okay then um we will move on to our action items um Mr miles the approval of the additional Appropriations resolution thank you once again Madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh as presented earlier tonight there is a need for an additional appropriation uh for our debt service fund and I recommend the board approve the additional appropriation resolution as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded are there any questions all those in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it um we will move on to the approval of the transportation renovation bids Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of board I recommend that powers and Suns be approved for the transportation renovation phase two as submitted we have a motion move
038second properly moved and seconded any questions board all those in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it Madame President I'd just like to acknowledge Dustin Tolman with powers and Sons there he is uh you've seen him before so we're excited to work with them again thanks for being here Dustin thank you okay um we'll move on to the approval of our request for the City of Lawrence pathway Trail easement and that will be again Mr Smith Madam president Dr Smith members of the board first of all I'd like to recognize Corey Korn with the City of Lawrence who is leading this project uh for the City of Lawrence uh brought to you on November 13th a recommendation to um deed over the easement uh right away for a trail along Lee Road and
039E East on 63rd Street so I do recommend the board approve the easement space to the City of Lawrence for the next level Trail as submitted do we have a motion for approval so moved second second properly moved and seconded questions about that board um all those in favor I any oppos the eyes have it we'll move to the approval of curriculum um the the team recommendation 2324 Mr notor thank you madam president Dr Smith and members of the board at the November work session Mr harsh and I presented to you the recommendations of our curricular advisory committee for High School courses for the 2324 school year we ask that you approve those as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded any questions about the curriculum changes all those in favor I I any
040opposed we have our curricular changes great uh next we'll move on to the approval of the request for the RFP for internet services Mr gagin I'm sorry Dr gag line that's pardon me president muston members of the board Dr Smith we request permission to advertise the RFP for internet services as submitted so moved properly moved and seconded any questions all those in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it great all right um and now we move on to the approval of the request for the RFP for the fiber connections Dr Gin yes we request permission to advertise the RFP for uh fiber to connect the new lecc to the network so moves second questions all those in favor I I any opposed the eyes have that as well uh next we move forward
041again to the approval of the request for RFP for the network switches we request permission to advertise the RFP for Network sub uh switches as submitted I think we should make you say it again so moved second okay um all those in favor any opposed okay um and we'll move again forward to the approval of request for the RFP for self-provisioned fiber versus lease Services yes we request permission to advertise the RFP for self-provision versus leas lit fiber to enhance Sunnyside and Sky's test Network capabilities as submitted so moved second oh take it properly moved and seconded all those in favor I I any opposed Dr gagin unique New York unique New York New York rubber baby buggy bumpers Madame President um I move that we treat action items 5.09 through 5.13 as consent agenda
042is there a second second um and all those in favor of of moving those items to a consent agenda I I any opposed okay the eyes have it I move approval of the consent agenda second properly moved and seconded um all those in favor of approving the consent agenda I I oppose the eyes have it we are to our um board comments so which one of our board members would love to begin commenting on how how great things are I have no comments today I hope everybody had a great holiday with lots of leftovers I actually do have one comment today um I went and got my flu shot in covid booster today and would encourage all members of our community to do the same um it's not just to protect yourself but also those
043vulnerable populations within our community I just visited my mom in a nursing home not too long ago over Thanksgiving it got it for her but I also got it for all of all three of my kiddos so that they can stay in school because I don't want them when I'm working from home bothering me about snacks yeah Miss Norman um I just uh as November comes to a close I just wanted to acknowledge two things about this month it's a Native American Heritage Month um social studies teacher Dr Smith can appreciate that just wanted to pay honor to our first nation's people which currently represent 1% of our US population and secondly it's also National adoption Awareness Month um just want to honor the ways different ways that families are are brought together and to
044the people who show their love through family so um thank you for that Miss done um I we have so much to be thankful for here in Lawrence Township and I think we saw with our demographic report that we are uniquely gifted in the services and the education we offer our children and are recognized as such in our in our larger Community um so thank you you to all of those who provide services to our students whether you're an AI or a custodial care or bus driver or cafeteria worker or a teacher or an administrator you know you are the true heroes of our district whether we're in covid pandemic or not you are the true heroes of our of our lives and um on that I will just I will leave it there thank
045you very much Dr Smith thank you madam president and board just to remind you next week we will have our traditional holiday open house on December the 6th uh so that's a huge event for us at 11:30 and then Madam president if you don't mind if I say reminding you that we have one board meeting for December December the 11th we'll have a combined meeting starting promptly at at 5:30 and also last thing it's winter time so we're going in indoors Dr nth basketball SE Seasons indoors where it's nice and comfy and warm and we got some good basketball teams so join us next week because I think the Bears and Wildcats are going to meet each other is that correct Dr nth next Wednesday okay because of the county tournament we'll be there we're
046gonna claim that one so thank you thank you with that said is there a motion to adjourn so moved second properly moved and seconded we are adjourned thank you board great meeting thank you yes signed it it should be making its way