001Good evening everyone. Um, I would like to call this special session to order. On behalf of the school board, we thank you for being here in person or virtually. I'm Heather Stags, president of the school board. To my left is Luke Jackson, vice president, Dan Conway, secretary, Jackie Deckard, member, and Matt Henkins, member. To my right is Superintendent Eric Bolan, and assistant superintendent Susie Lips. Tonight, there are going to be three different meetings, and the first is the annual organizational meeting that we're holding now. If you'll all please stand for the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Our first item tonight is going to be the election
002of officers. Do I have a nomination for president? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor signify by stating I. >> I oppose. Motion carries. Congratulations, Luke. And I'm gonna hand it over to you. >> Thank you guys. I I appreciate it. At this time, I'd like to entertain a nomination for vice president. >> I'll make a motion, Luke, to nominate Dan Conway for vice president. All in favor of Dan Conway as vice president, say I. >> I. >> Oppose. >> Congratulations, Dan. This time, I'd like to entertain a nomination for secretary. >> I will nominate Matt Henkins as secretary. And I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Matt, congratulations. Thank you. >> Now we have to approve Whitney Kosmalt as our district treasurer for the calendar year 2026.
003I >> do I have a motion to approve the request to have Whitney Kol as our district treasur for this calendar year 2026. Make a motion to approve Whitney for the district treasure for >> I'll second that. Luke, >> all in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Next. Uh, request to approve John Mays of Bose McKini as our board counsel for calendar year. Do I have a motion to approve Jonathan Mays of Bose McKenna and Ellen Evans LLP as our board council for this calendar year 2026? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second that. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. All right. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn this special session annual organization. >> Make a motion to adjurnn, Luke.
004Second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Special session annual organizational meeting has been closed. And at this time, I would like to call the board of finance meeting to order. If I could, I'd like to entertain a motion uh to appoint board officers as finance officers. >> I'll make a motion >> and I'll second that. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. All right. Motion passes. All right. Mr. Bolan, I'm going to hand it over to you for our board of finance overview. >> Appreciate that, Mr. Staley. Mr. Staley with Baker Tilly is our financial consultant and he's got a little bit of information to share with our public and with the board. And you can make it as brief or as in detailed as you
005want. And always looking at her watch going like this. >> How much time does he have? >> There you go. Speak as quickly as you would like. >> All right. So the uh information presenting here this evening is stale data. We have discussed. So last summer we started looking at 2024 budget year. So there is a statuto requirement to look at the doc indicators. So Courtney, if you'll go to the next slide. So on the DOAB dashboard, it looks like this. You have indicators that are being measured. This is just a static snapshot. If you will go to the uh to the website, put in MSD and Martinsville, you'll be able to look at your data for uh 2024 as well as for previous. So just a reminder, the budget year for schools run in
006a calendar year. So this again is calendar year 2024 that we're going to look at. Um interesting information here about enrollment, your fund balances, whether you had a surplus or deficit spend. Um, so we have attempted at Baker Tilly to put this into a stoplight metric to take that data and just have some type of context or meaning around it. So from a green light, you're in solid foundation based on those metrics. So the six metrics that are listed on the left hand side is what is providing information do Um so it's a an effort to make sure that schools stay fiscally solvent as they are implementing your um mission of educating students. So from a lens of you know if it's something that's in question let's pop the hood and take a look kind
007of that yellow indicator light that might be on your check engine light on your car and if it's red it's of concern. So we've taken that data and just tried to map it out. So looking at the uh six on the left as you look at your average daily membership that's the one that we just have some cautionary concern about we got to put it on the right side you know enrollment decrease from calendar year 23 to 24 by about 2% but if we go back and look over kind of that fiveyear history it's remain relatively flat peaks and valleys during that time we go back prior year um then we have seen some significant decrease since then but over that fiveyear period has remained relative um and then looking at your uh total ADM
008as far as the percent of students that are transferring from out of district that's just a little shy of 6%. So again, something to monitor as we see that number get to about 10%. Just kind of a cautionary tale because do you continue to get those out of district transfers as we go along. But as we look at the other things that are on the the left side, all green, so your fund balances were good. Um your fund balances and percent of expenditures remain solid and then budget surplus. You had a budget surplus for the year. I would just note that there was a curriculum material fund um that had to be transferred into your education fund. So that help prop that up a little bit uh for last year. So that's why you're seeing
009a much larger increase than perhaps just within the fund based on based on the other three on the right we've added to this report just because that net assessed value. We saw a 6% growth in net assessed value in 2024. Um, as we've discussed, depending on what happens with NAV, that impacts your tax rate. Circuit breaker, minimal to the school district, it's less than a percent. So, you're fortunate having to uh to deal with that currently. And then lastly, your debt rating. So, kind of think of it as your FICO score is solid and you have a stable outlook from S&P. I think the district is on good financial stand. So, happy to ask or answer any questions that the board may have. Thank you, Jay. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Mr. Staley. >> At
010this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to close the special session board of finance meeting. >> I'll make a motion that we close special session board of finance. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> That meeting is adjourned. And at this time, I would like to call the regular session meeting to order. And we have a special guest uh here with us this evening, uh Mr. Bell from Martinsville High School. So, we'll go ahead and invite him to the podium. I'll be brief and I just appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight to address the I wanted to there's a couple great things that's happened lately uh that I wanted to bring to the board's attention. Number one, that the graduation rate Martinville High School was right at 93% which was
011an improvement and you know I wanted to share too and physically hold up how you know we take each child we have a list of that cohort. We're always monitoring them and keeping an eye on them and what we can do to get them to school to finish and things like that. And 100% what we'll always strive for. Uh but under the circumstances and just knowing all these kids and their situations and what we dealt with and what was very proud of what we did, we never stopped trying to get get anything short of 100% at the graduate. Very proud of that. Something to be celebrated. It was an improvement. Uh very proud of Martinsville High School. I just feel like public schools sometimes they're just always under fire. Nothing's good enough and this that
012and the other and we're an easy target for people and I'm proud of what goes on in the public schools. We're not perfect. There's a lot of good stuff going on. And the other thing was the federal accountability report which just having been a principal like I say for 21 years and getting the the scores that we did on English language arts and math uh the progress u and things like that the diploma and graduation rate. We're going to work on the attendance uh you know what they want to see improvement wise there which they can't quite tell us right now but to get the score we went from uh 2425 we went from a 46.80 to a 71.54. So that improvement uh I'm just very proud of the strategies we've put in. Um we
013talked about SAT scores previously improvement but it's just some of the strategies and interventions we've put in to improve things. And like I say that bottom number on the federal accountability report going from a 46.8 to 71.54 is just absolutely something to be proud of. We got to stick up for ourselves and say when something's going well, work on the things that we have weaknesses on. But those two reports, uh, very proud of Martin. Like I say, it's I've been a principal for 21 years and, um, just evaluating, like I say, knowing what goes on and what went into it and this that and the other. And I don't know, every year don't come to a school board meeting as princip as a principal for this. I think the school those two reports doing pretty
014good job. And congratulations to the Martin High School and the kids. As I've said before, and I'll close with this. We sure don't have a kid problem in this world. Maybe society, but we don't have a kid problem. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell, and thank you to everyone at the high school and all the work they've put in to make that possible. Definitely excellent news. Courtney, do we have any comments? Okay, this time we're going to move on to our consent agenda. consisting of previous minutes, payroll claims, uh, budgetary claims, personnel report. Uh, do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda as it's been presented? >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the consent agenda,
015please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Consent agenda is approved. Mr. Bolan, I'll go ahead and hand it over to you. >> Okay. The only travel we have is an overnight field trip to Evansville by the wrestling team for sections. So I definitely recommend approval or actually it's the semi-state in Evansville February 13th. We wish them luck. Definitely approval of this trip. >> Do I have a motion to approve the MHS wrestling overnight? I'll make a motion to approve. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Approved. >> Mrs. Lips will hand it over to you. >> Thank you, President. Shout out tonight to staff. The goal of our district's Well, Wednesday's initiative is to positively impact student achievement. On Wednesdays, the MSD of Martinsville provides teachers with time for collaboration with professional learning communities and with
016training and professional professional development. Shout out this month to staff members Nate Dilly, Brandy Hammond, Kathy Alt, Jenny Oakley, Jeff Bell, Shannon Adams, Hannah Gill, Nikki Walls, Chris Wright, Doug Rather, Brian Gayart, Tim Waters, Melody Meyer, and Ryan Cox who have been involved with the well Wednesday training for various staff member groups. They led those trainings. I want to thank them for their time and dedication and preparing that and for helping our district grow. Curricular programming this quarter is the scheduled window for state inspections of our district's prek classrooms. During this time, a state representative will visit classrooms to observe instruction and reser and review staff credentials. Ongoing professional learning, student files, classroom safety guidelines, and required postings. While credential requirements may vary slightly from year to year, our prek teachers have been working diligently
017to stay upto-date and prepared. We are proud of their commitment to maintaining a safe, high quality learning environment for our prek students. Currently, our prek enrollment is 134 students from all schools with a capacity of 140. for next year. If you are interested in adding your child to the MSD of Martinsville prek program wait list for a particular elementary school, please reach out to Alli Miller, our district's prek coordinator. community partnership. The Habitat for Humanity will be holding its annual celebration banquet this Sunday, January 18th, at the Martinsville High School cafeteria. The Habitat for Humanity will be celebrating with students and community who helped complete the fourth house build. It's in partnership with the MSD of Martinsville. This is a huge accomplishment and we want to congratulate all the students, staff, and family members that
018were involved with the build. Other upcoming events for your calendars, Martin Luther King Day will be observed on Monday, no school, January 19th. Robotics competition at Bell Intermediate Academy on January 24th. Robotics competition on February 28th. Also, I read for second and third grade students begins March 2nd. SAT testing for 11th graders begins March 2nd. PreK enrollment fair at CEC, this building will be April 2nd. Kindergarten kickoff at the Martinsville High School Fieldhouse will be April 6. I learn state testing for grades three through eight will begin April 13th. Math bowl competition will be at Bell Intermediate Academy this year on April 14th. And our class of 2026 will graduate from Martinsville High School on May 22nd. Thank you everyone for attending this evening. It's good to see you. Okay, moving on to business. I
019would like to give our community just to let you know. It's going to be amazing how much We also have building compound quickly. We're excited about Next on Our agenda we have action through your policies. I recommend approval. Do I have a motion to approve? All in favor? Oppos? Motion passes. Okay. The next item is item which is appoint legislative. Do I have a nomination for a legislative rep? All in favor? I congratul All in favor. Next we have authorization sign alternative. All in favor say I. I pass. Next one is resolution 483. I have a nomination to approve resolution 483. Motion passes. Next one is I have a motion to accept. All in favor? Do I have a motion to request all the next to approve. Do I have a motion to approve? All
020in favor >> I oppos. donation from Christian. Do I have a motion to accept the donation foundation? Second fost. Next special. I have a motion to accept Foundation Elementary. All in favor, you are a great president. >> Okay, you start that clock now, Jackie. >> Okay, I do want to talk about one thing I think a lot. I've had more game and honestly both sides all of us are excited. really excited. But he's cheering for almost obvious Great planning there. Our number one We had from both sides. I had students that wanted students somehow delay staff 90% of our staff's from IU. So they definitely wanted a twohour delay. But we also had comments from parents that are going to work the next day. They don't have a 2hour delay and we definitely did not
021want to inconvenience them. We know that we have a responsibility to uh do things the right way. Monday night we're going to celebrate. We're going to cheer and we're going to be excited for Indiana win, lose or draw, whatever that is. But we know that we have a responsibility to all of our students in the district. So we're we're not going to go with the twohour delay. There are some districts around us that are most are not. But we want to take care of the little things. We're going to take care of our fundamentals and we want to honor all of our students and the parents. I understand for teachers, they would love the two-hour delay. It It's good. But our families, many of them are going to work the next day. And if we
022get two-hour delay, then they are now forced to do a two-hour delay with their business. And we have to honor that. I think that is still important. And I still think we take care of our fundamentals, know what our process is, know what our fundamentals are, and take care of. So speaking on behalf of the administration and the board, we're going to uh go on time unless inclement weather hits. um Monday night will go on time Tuesday. So, just wanted to address that. No applause needed of any kind. And there'll be some students throwing things at their TVs or computers. Uh right now, parents, sorry. Apologize. Hopefully, I have a soft brick. Act like you're throwing it at >> snow. Pray for snow. >> Snow dance. Snow dance. Um you know what? I'm going to
023end on that. How's that? >> Thank you, Mr. Bolan. Do we have any board comments? >> I'd like to make a comment and I want to thank Miss Adams, Mr. Bolan, Mr. Bell, and I believe Make sure I didn't miss anybody. I think that was it for helping out on a Saturday. They went to Greenwood High School on Saturday. We had our district deca competition. uh Monrovia, Martinsville, Greenwood, Bloomington North, Bloomington South, and Seymour. And they help judge the competition. Uh DECA is a career and technical student organization for students in business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. And I just wanted to thank them because the students really appreciate that. And I wanted to say that's a time when they're doing it on their own time. So, I really appreciate that. and our Martinsville and Monrovia will
024have students going to the DECA state career development conference March 1st through the 3, 2026 at the Indianapolis downtown Marriott. DECA is co-curricular with marketing and all business courses. So what the students learn in the classroom they can apply to DECA. Just thought I'd mention that. And I do want to plug the Habitat for Humanity and McGawan does an excellent job that facility. Thank you, man. Any other comments? With that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make the motion to adjourn. >> I'll second it. >> All right. May motion has been made and seconded to adjurnn. All in favor? I I >> All right. Thank you guys. You had to sign up. >> If you if you want to come up, you're more than welcome to. You made the trip here. >>
025That's okay. If you say something about Purdue, then we might Yeah, we knew you had one of them, right? >> So, well, thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't re, you know, I don't like to be a rule breaker. But I'm Ann Smith and I retired after teaching English language arts at West Middle School and then later on at Wooden and I was privileged to have principles that I strongly admire and parents who children I taught that I strongly admire. But tonight I want to speak about the cleaners pantry. And uh for more than uh 13 years I believe the MSD of Martinsville has been hosting a cleaner food pantry, distributing food uh fresh produce, frozen and canned items, milk, and many other products to our entire school community. Next Thursday, as I understand it, the
026location of the pantry will be changed from our middle school location to the high school. Tonight, I would like to publicly thank some of the people who have made the middle school pantry a success. First and absolutely foremost is Sarah Schaefer. Sarah Schaefer. >> Absolutely. Um Sarah, I believe at Mrs. Lips's invitation, has been the at the helm of the pantry for more than 13 years. Sarah was a special teacher at West and Wooden Middle School, now retired. Alongside Sarah for years at the pantry have been other faithful retirees. Deb Gearing, Susie Lee, Sandy Jared, Sarah's family also, Sarah Schaefer's family also has been instrumental. her daughter Sha, her son Travis, her grandchildren Charlie, Rory, and Otis have helped bring things, break things down, dispose of things. Also on pantry days, Christa Matthews and the
027National Honor Society students, a delightful bunch with which to work, helped carry items out to the cars along with us. And I know that many people picture the items being handed out in that area adjacent to the middle school. But in thanking these volunteers, I would like to just mention that handing out is a really small part of what this district does for the gleers pantry. Who determines what's going to be ordered and then who places the orders with gleaners? Who schedules the delivery? Who meets the truck when the items arrive on Wednesday before Thursday's pantry is held? Who counts every single item from the heads of cabbage to the cans of soup to the bags of potatoes to the rice meal packages to milk and frozen items that have to go in that small
028freezer there in the accommodating building. Who does that? Sarah and these people I mentioned who then individually separates those items into boxes and bags so that every individual family gets one of each the next day. Think of of this who gathers from various sources hundreds of boxes and bags plastic bags for those things to be put in to be put out in the car. Where do those come from? Also then, no matter the weather, below freezing or 90°, raining, whatever it might be, who sets up those outdoor tables, places the cones, puts the signs for the outside drive-thru? Then who greets the cars and gathers the information from each one of the families as they as they go through? Who carries the item to each car at the drive? And often after the pantry closes,
029then who makes sure that the items that are not dispensed are delivered to other deserving locations around our community? Who takes care of any trash that must be recycled? Any boxes that must be broken down and take them where they can be disposed of? The answer to this is Sarah Schaefer and the volunteers, retirees from our district. help her. Our middle school location also has some other items in addition to the food that we provided such as personal hygiene products, uh, shampoo, deodorant, toilet paper. That's all toilet paper always goes. It's one of the first items that people when they get to choose one item from certain locations, what do you want? I want the toilet paper. So those hygiene products Sarah buys. She goes out and buys them. donated money and those come from
030all different places, elementary schools that run things. I mean, the whole community is involved in this, but then she goes out and buys those things and bring them. We often have other donated items from which families may choose one. We have pet food. We sometimes have children's toys. We have books. Sometimes we have warm warm coats. We have mittens. We have hats. Sometimes we have tables. We've had bicles. and things like that. One time we had pickle pixie. I thought no one of all these items. I mean, I have the pickled pixie. The pickled pixie went. Somebody wanted pickled pix. I mean, it's just such a variety of things that our people, you know, can get that they might need. So, I know that Sarah, she was speaking tonight. I told her I was going
031to come. She thanked me, but she didn't want to come and, you know, toot her own horn. I know that if she were here, there'd be many more people that she would want to thank. uh in addition and I put a copy of her email that she sent to the administrators and that mentioned many more people and I forgive I mean please forgive me that I don't know the names of all these people but tonight I would just like to say thank you thank you Sher Sher Sarah Schaefer for your success with this food pantry for many for so many years and best wishes to the people at the high school who are I understand going to take that over later on this month with the drive-thru continuing and some of us who have helped
032with the middle school pantry. I know if there's any way that we can help, you know, please let us know. We'd love to. It's such a wonderful thing for our school to partner with gleaners to do this. So, thank you for allowing me to speak out of turn. >> No, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was not aware all of that went into it. So, thank you very much. Yes. >> What a blessing. Yeah. >> Thank you.