001Say it again. >> Mr. President, >> thank you. >> Whenever you're ready. >> Shall we stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. date, June 21st. >> Well, good evening everyone and welcome to our Metropolitan School Board District of Pike Township regular school board meeting. And we are on to our agenda for the evening. If there's anyone that um wish to speak for the good of the cause, you may step up and state your name and take three minutes and share for the good of the cause only. No good of the cause. Then we move on to spotlight on Pike Dorsy. >> Good evening. It's
002wonderful to see you all again. Uh we've had a lot to celebrate since last we met. Our Pike High School girls basketball team celebrated their third consecutive sectional championship with a 71- 53 win over Planefield on Saturday. They face Lawrence Central at 700 PM this Saturday, Valentine's Day, at Green Castle in the regional championship. So, we're looking for a backto-back. The sectional was actually a 3P. As I said, um they've had a tremendous season, and we could not be more proud of them and their amazing coaches. We also want to celebrate the fact that our Pike High School freshman boys basketball team finished out their season by winning the freshman county championship. Additionally, uh I think our boys varsity basketball team probably gave many of us almost two heart attacks this [laughter] last two weeks.
003First with their impressive 56 to 53 win over Ben Davis and then this week with an 84 to 81 overtime win against a highly competitive Mount Vernon team. Um that was on Tuesday and we had guests like Caitlyn Clark Clark, Pike grad Math and then Pike High School basketball legends and 2026 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductees David Teague and Chris Thomas um watching and they were both actually honored at halftime. So we appreciate them coming and allowing us to celebrate them in advance of their induction in March. Um, in addition, our Pike High School swimming and diving team did an outstanding job placing third in the IHSAA swim and dive finals with Angelina Michael Madison Crane, Florie Boslett, and Emerson Allen advancing to state. And Angelina actually set a new school record in the
00453. The previous school record was set, as the kids say, in the 1900s, actually in 1989. So, we're extremely proud of her. Last but never least, we'd like to sincerely thank the generous donors listed on this evening's agenda. Um, Maring County Press Prosecutor Ryan Mirs and his office um donated hats and gloves to the students at Deerrun Elementary School. A special thank you to Dr. Moore for coordinating that, coming along, and also helping some of our littlest friends put on their gloves. That was a fun time, and the kids were very excited to pick out their hats and gloves. Art to Remember donated $394.35 um in classroom supplies for Mrs. Kirkwood's art class at New Augusta South. Orthoindi YMCA donated $500 to our Pike Red Zone Food Pantry. The Pike Township Educational Foundation donated $590
005to Laura Overmmy Science ICP Hands-On Materials Grant at Lincoln Middle School. They donated $800 to Tina Flynn's geologic time and dynamic earth grant at Lincoln Middle School. And they donated $1,500 to Natasha Anderson's edible art lab grant at Pike High School. Our Gen Creek Elementary School PTO donated $1,500 to fund um Gy Creek Elementary School student field trips. And last but not least, prior to winter [clears throat] break, um Eli and Lily Eli Lilly and Company's Indie RLT site, which is actually located here in Pike Township, provided Christmas gifts for 19 of our Pike families. When you see the photos of these gifts, which basically filled up room five, I think there were four bicycles, it it was phenomenal. All of our social workers were amazing. They collected um gift lists from our families um
006that could benefit from the gifts and the people at Liz actually called and said, "Can we have more?" So, it was incredible and we're so grateful for their generosity. Um this follows their donation to our Pike Red Zone food pantry. They said, "We're in Pike. We want to support Pike and we could not be more grateful for their support." >> Awesome. >> All right. Thank you. Reports to the board. Superintendent Above and Beyond award recognition. and Dr. Justin Hunter. >> Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Bishop, and tonight we are excited to have the opportunity to have Dr. Tapper to come and present the superintendent above and beyond award for the outstanding uh persons at his building. >> Good evening, Mr. President. Members of the board and Dr. Bishop, we would like to acknowledge
007Mrs. Lori Bonner, Lincoln Middle School staff member, for her willingness to serve in a dual role as guidance counselor and assistant principal on last semester. It takes a rare kind of educator to step out of their comfort zone and into a challenging and at times trivial work assignment. Yet, she did so with grace. Mrs. Bonner did more than simply fill a seat. She bridged a gap and traded the quiet sanctuary of her counseling office for the high energy demands of administration. Her willingness to serve in different capacities is a testament to her character, which certainly bears fruit in the good works that she does. Also, she demonstrated an ability to navigate the complexities of discipline and administrative logistics without losing her gentle spirit that defines her. Mrs. Bonner ensured that even in a position of
008authority, her primary focus remained on support in addition to supervision. She brought a counselor's heart to an administrator's desk, treating every interaction as an opportunity to mentor while remaining genuine, approachable, and reminding us all in schools that really our schools function primarily on relationships and not just regulations. We are grateful for the time that Mrs. Bonner served in an administrative capacity this school year and the impact of her service has left a lasting imprint on our school's culture. [applause] [laughter] >> All right. One, two, three. >> [applause] >> Next, we would like to acknowledge Mr. Dan Nickel, Lincoln Middle School assistant principal, for his transformational change and contributions as a building leader. There is a distinct difference between holding a title and truly rising to the occasion. And from the fall semester to the present,
009I have observed Mr. Nickel transform and grow in his role as an assistant principal. He stepped up to lead the schoolwide testing on multiple occasions this year and has expanded his reach to support students in grade levels beyond his initial assignment. He demonstrates a remarkable willingness to learn new things. Mr. Nickel didn't just accept these challenges. Rather, he navigated them with steadfastness and a calm focus that reassured everyone around him that he uh excuse me that they were going to be in good hands. He possesses a refreshing transparency in a profession where it can be all too easy to feel the need to have all of the answers. Mr. Nickel has the courage to own his knowledge gaps and he has the drive to actively seek and capture knowledge as well. He leans into new
010experiences on the job, taking the necessary steps to reach the next level of leadership. Mr. Nickel is a true innovator, constantly bringing new ideas to the table that challenge the status quo and improve our school culture. He is an example of one that not only works harder but also leads smarter with the heart geared toward constant growth. [applause] One more. Thank you. [applause] Next report to the board is a website presentation. Dorsy, Dan Burton, Burton Keker, and Nicole Faulner. >> Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Bishop. We are so excited to be back with you tonight in what has felt like a long time coming. Um, as you know, Mr. Bordon Keker serves as um our multimedia communication specialist. He puts together the wonderful alumni excellence videos you see and a lot
011of the videos that we produce here at um the ASC in addition to doing many other things here in the district. And Mrs. Faulner is amazing. She is our navigation specialist. So she helps our students also a lot our teachers and our families um with any tech difficulties they may be having. She is especially busy on remote learning days. Um, in addition to that, she serves as basically our lead on our district website. We came before you last year at the end of the school year and we're very excited about a website refresh. Um, at that time we were hoping to um take our current platform and update it in a way to make it more modern and to allow us to better tell our Pike story. Uh, unfortunately, as you know, um, based on
012what Dr. Young shared in his Friday notes, the plan was paused due to, um, honestly costs. When we got that contract, uh, Miss Faulner did an amazing job in terms of negotiating the price for the refresh. Um, but the year-over-year increase was 6%. So we were concerned with that especially in light of the current economy and school funding. So we immediately went into research mode. Um we did not know at that time kind of where websites were. I think we had probably switched to final site probably three years prior. So we looked at four different website providers. They were final site, smart sites, edlio and aptag. Um, in addition in in addition to looking at their cost and use um and how well we think that they would work for our district, we looked at
013ADA comp ADA compliance. Um, as you probably know, the deadline for ADA compliance is April. um with so we're doing a lot of things well in terms of accessibility, but this is providing us with an opportunity to make sure we're doing even better to making sure all of our community members can access the content we're sharing. But that's huge in website spaces because many of us have been trained that PDFs are just like the golden standard in terms of ex accessibility. They are not. So um that was one of the key questions that we put before these website providers. um our providers smart sites and final site. Go to the next slide. Yeah. When we talk to them, you'll see a difference there. Final site is our current platform. With the redesign, it was going
014to the redesign alone was going to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. And then you'll see that year-over-year increase that we mentioned. In addition to that, at some point, and we don't know exactly when, Google Translate is going to stop supporting the product. So because of that, they're suggesting that you use Wigglot translation. As you can see, in order to do that, there would be for five languages a $1,000 charge. And then there's that price goes up for 20 for 20 languages as much to $10,500 a year. Right now, we have access to 190 languages in Parent Square. That's our parent communication tool, our community communication tool that we launched two years ago. Smart sites is their website platform. With smart sites, there would be a [clears throat] migration fee, but then as you can see,
015an aesthetic fee, but then the year-to-year increase is not there, making it a cheaper product, and that translation aspect is built in. The other two web products that we looked at um were Edlio and Aptigy. And the commonality amongst all the sites other than Smart Site was within that two to threeyear period when your website's probably going to start to look outdated, if you want to change it, you're going to have to pay anywhere from 6,000 to 15,000 to $20,000. That's generally not something a lot of websites are going to allow you to do on your own. So that was a significant factor for us just knowing that in this day and age with technology you can have something that's like top of the line today and within a year it's probably going to look
016a little bit obsolete. Again, we looked very closely at the ADA comparisons between our two finalists. Um with those we felt like Smart Sites was a stronger option. It has most of those guardrails built in and again we have all of our schools with school websites and we have many different people that are contributing information to our website. So making sure that anyone that is contributing material to our website is following those ADA guidelines so people that have um vision difficulties can see the content so it's reader uh readable by screen readers. That was extremely important and smart sites of the two website finalists had the most builtin um ADA compliant measures. In addition, we found that it was just a lot easier to use. Um, I think that maybe we've had four to five
017websites um, since I've been in Pike. And one thing I can tell you about websites is they used to have web developers and web masters for a reason. Now you don't. And it's gotten easier, but there's still a lot of back-end things that have to be done. Um, so Miss Faulner particularly knows a lot about final sites backend and it's not always super easy to utilize. It's still a bit clunky and especially then again for our school web administrators. It takes a lot of time or a lot more time than we would like for them to do some of the things that we would like to happen on our website to tell our story. Smart sites is very different in that aspect. It's very drag and drop and there are several features um that we
018would have access to where on the other websites we looked at and we reviewed probably up to 30 different school and university websites to see which platforms they're using to see what looked good and what didn't. And by and large you're going to get about five layout options and then you're kind of stuck with those. And if you can move them around, you're lucky. you're pretty locked into the content, the display, and the material that you showcase on your website. With smart sites, that's very different. You can rearrange the content. Um, if we have a video of a exciting celebration that we want to put at the top of our website, that can be the banner for two or three days. And then we can switch that out and we can do a photo display.
019If there's an important event, we can move the calendar up. if it's registration or enrollment time, we can make sure that information is at the top of that page without losing the navigation and the menu that our families are used to. I think the other thing that we were really excited about when it came to smart sites was the fact that it is integrated with parent square. So, anything right now, if we put something on our website, it's on our website. If we share something in parent square, it's in Parent Square. And then we're also posting to our social media channels. From an efficiency standpoint, now that these two platforms interact, anytime I our schools, anyone that's using um parent square that also has access to our school website would be able to take what
020they put in parent square and share it on social media as well as on the website. So, it would allow us to have that static content that parents are looking for, school start times, um, uniform information, the things that you're goingformationally to look at from a website, but then also the great news that we're sharing on a more regular basis via our social media channels. Right now, honestly, just um, because of a time factor and we look at analytics a lot, so we're we're putting our content, the most frequently updating our content where the people are. So we know right now that's our parent square and that's our social media. So those are the places that you're going to see the daily updates with this. That makes it much easier to make sure those daily
021updates are also on our website. It also has one of the things that we really really appreciated about the refresh that we had proposed which is the place to showcase our district testimonials. Um, we didn't not showcase testimonials when we didn't move forward with the refresh, but we did put them instead in Parent Square and on our social media, this will allow us to prominently showcase those on our website. Um so by and large after reviewing the websites especially with the cost considerations and it being a cost savings um after our review we really thought that moving to smart sites would be the best um move to recommend or at least to bring forward to you um as an option because it has the responsive modern templates. Our website is not going to look dated.
022um we are not going to have to pay money if we decide we want to show a video at the top of our page or we want to move the calendar up or the quick links down we will be able to do that at both the school and the district level. Um in addition right now as far as calendaring it can be really hard because the website calendar is separate from the parent square calendar. So, in the schools, you have a lot of our families. I can see like how our schools are using their parent square. I can see that they are sending calendar appointments. I can see that they're sending RSVP uh invites out to families. I can see how many direct messages are going out. They may be utilizing their parents square calendar
023more than the website calendar just again because it's that extra step and it's a bit clunkier. Whereas this again will allow that integrated approach where we'll be able to do it in one location and it will be reflected to the public facing website as well as within parent square where our parents are going to view information and within the app. It's inclusive by design. Um again write once publish everywhere and the translation is huge. Um we have received so much positive feedback since switching to Parent Square about um how much our families who have um preferred languages other than English appreciate getting the messages that we are sending out in their preferred language. Um in addition to that, we've seen an increase in participation in family conferences since adopting Parent Square and sending conference information
024out to families via parent square. um is working really well right now for our district and we think having an integrated platform for the website will not only save us money but also be more efficient and we're prepared to answer any questions you may have. >> I've got one question. First of all though, thank you for all the clearly the diligent work you guys put in. Um I know it was frustrating probably whenever told to pull back originally because of cost. I think this proves it was the right decision. it. I think we've landed probably in a better place. Um I did feed your presentation into um uh co-pilot and it agreed with you that smart site was the right [laughter] recommendation. So there you go. Um but and I know you mentioned responsive design,
025but I just want to make sure how does this look on a mobile phone? I know that's how most people are surfing the web at this point. >> Amazing. Amazing. And honestly, it's so funny because I actually forgot. So, one of the other things beyond the 6% increase yearly, when we went back and and said, "Okay, let's look at this," they said, "Oh, you know what? We forgot to add in a $2,000 cost for a feature that you guys weren't using, and we want to add that on." So, there was an additional cost. And so, at that point, it was just not I mean, if we couldn't have found anything better, then obviously we would have had to figure out what to do. But from that standpoint, I think that was extremely frustrating. Um but
026from the standpoint of looking at things even when we went to final site um Parrot Square came along and said hey we have this website platform at that time and that was probably a year ago we looked at it we said you know what we think this has promise but it's not quite where we need to do need it to be in terms of looking professional within that year they bought a web company and they are honestly at the top of all of the various sites that we've looked at. What we did find interesting as we were looking at these other companies is they're all purchasing or bringing on communication platforms. So I think what we're going to see is most web developers are going to have like a parent square type feature. So my
027thinking is that this is likely something that we'll have to do probably on about every two-year basis just to try to make sure we're getting the most benefit for the lowest cost possible. All right, >> Miss Faulner, is that right? >> Yes. >> Thank you for your work. >> Thank you. >> Um, I believe in excellency, especially when you go into the public. Um, tell me how you're going to to make that happen for us. Uh, to to to make it look u uh uh I mean just phenomenal. Uh that's about the only way I could say it. Um um that would project that we are on the cutting edge. >> Yeah, definitely. So we um obviously we in our research we've looked at all of our surrounding neighbors and their sites and what they
028they're doing. Um one great thing about Smart Sites is they um have a lot of new um designs or templates layouts um and then they pull them down. So they're they're barbs. Um they don't they have the templates and then we can choose one and then they pull it down and then another district can't take it. Um so that allows us to have that unique piece. Um whether it's that calendar layout, whether it's the photo gallery layout. Um those are those pieces are unique and designed. Um they design them, we can choose them, and then they're ours. Um and then their designers are constantly creating new pieces um that allow you know other districts to go and take this calendar layout. We have this one and so it won't be matchy matchy um so that
029we can stand out um and be unique. >> How often uh will will you be able um to to move the site when certain things are happening? Um, for instance, you have a sectional game going on this a regional game going on this week. Uh, then you got something else going on. How quick will you be able um to apply uh this site to the things that are going on. >> Um so long term it we're our goal is to launch by July. Um so um we're you know keep working on current events um with our current website but um in the future with the new site once we launch um hopefully in July we would be able to if you know there's a regionals and we want to pull that up I can pull
030that up um in five minutes as long as we have our content and graphics ready to go I can pull that up hit save publish and we're ready like we're there. >> It sounds like you would like to see a lot of movement in the site. >> Yes. So that's one thing we like about it is that um it's very stagnant currently right now. Our site it's >> Yes, it is very it's very stagnant. >> Um and so we can take those highlights that are happening and be able to pull them up whether it's a calendar event, a news article, um a video reel, um different things, we can highlight those and move those around um based on the needs that um as Miss Dorsy said tell our story. >> Thank you for the work
031you've done. I have a question. You had mentioned the calendar feature that's in parent square. My question is if if I'm a parent of a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary age child, is there a way for me to see all those calendars all at once so then I can decide as a parent which activities and things that I can go to to support my kids? >> Um, I'm not sure. Um, we'll have to do some more uh digging into the specifics on how the calendars merge in Parent Square. Um, I know as far as schools, multiple schools, I know that all of our schools can land on the district calendar. Um, if we want them to do that way or the district events can go onto the school calendars. Um, so there's
032some configurations there. Um, but as far as allin-one, we'll have to do some more uh research on that. I would encourage >> I'm sorry. >> I would just encourage that. um only because that situation does occur in our community. Absolutely. And we don't want parents to feel like they can't support while they're trying to juggle three calendars for three different schools. We can I feel like we can make it easier. the the idea um that that that I I would like to see is um a piece in this site uh for instance like this winter um just create a page um that u will give insight to uh uh graphics u about you know closure buses not moving during those particular times. uh put something in graphics um for for for our families. So, you
033know, for instance, um today we had a e-learning day, I believe. Um, you know, those kind of things can be pushed further in the minds of our our our community if we create the the graphics and and language for them to see and be more in touch with with those particular days. You know, um, you know, when when it gets cold, you know, create something uh that makes the community interested in going to the site. uh to see what's going on uh at that particular time. I said, "Well, I can go to the site now and see well what's going on." Oh, well, buses are not running. This is this those are kind of things that I think are informative. I I I do agree with the educational piece, but uh but the practical piece
034is more important to community and family as they move their children uh through the communities during these cold days and these shutdown days. I mean I mean I came through the community I the community the [clears throat] first day it was cold and I saw kids on the bus stop because apparently that parent did not get communication um um maybe they didn't have what it took to get that. And so but if we can create something um that will be visually uh connected to their to their mindset about what's really happening. I think that is one of the [clears throat] nice features too. Right now, again, our website and our parent communication platform are not connected. So, we're updating like the alerts on the website and then sending out the alerts through parent square should
035we need to send something about a school closure or an unexpected event with this platform. We would have the opportunity to just check a box and say yes, we want that to pop up on our website as well. So, it's a oneplay solution. Um, in addition to that, I have to give parent square credit in that they are coming out with enhancements all the time. Like they if you ask like this, it would be really helpful to have usually within like two months. They're we're working on this and we're rolling out that and if we ever have issues, the support is immediate and they fix problems. So, we're excited about that aspect, too. with a lot of website platforms specifically, there's a bit of a wait as you're waiting for um troubleshooting. >> Thank you
036so much. >> Yeah, I think that's that's crucial what uh Dr. Moore was sharing. That's that's just another form of communication that our parents would have access to. So, I think that's crucial. Thank you all. Any other any other comments? If not, thank you all. Thank you. All right, we move on to uh action items. And first up is action item A, minutes of the board with approval for January 22, 2026. >> I move we accept the minutes as written. >> Second been moved and second that we accept our minutes from January the 22nd as as approved or as written. Are there any questions? We're on the vote. All in favor say I. I >> oppose. >> Thank you. Action item B, resource report, Dr. Human resource report, Dr. Hunter. >> Mr. President, members of
037the board, Dr. Bishop, I ask that you approve the HR report as presented. >> I move that we approve the U human resources report as presented. >> Second. >> Has been moved and second that we approve our HR report as presented. The nature and the confidentiality. No uh questions on this HR report at this time. We move on to vote. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. >> All right. We are on to the supplemental board report. Dr. Hunter. >> Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Bishop, I ask that you approve the supplemental report as presented. >> Move that we accept the supplemental board report as given. >> Second. Move and second that we approve our and accept our supplemental report as presented by Dr. Justin Hunter. Due to nature again confidentiality, we
038won't obtain no questions. We're on the vote. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Thank you, Dr. Hunter. >> Thank you, sir. >> Next up is um >> Jennifer Cohan. Jerry Cohen. Yes, sir. [laughter] >> Sorry. going. >> All right. Good evening, Mr. President, [laughter] >> members of the board, and Dr. Bishop. I come to you this evening requesting approval to apply for the IDOE Educational Benefits Review Grant for the 2627 school year. >> Motion is in order. >> I move that we accept action item B, request to approve the educational benefit review grant application as presented. >> Second. It's moved and second that we accept action item D as presented. Um, are there any questions? >> I do, Mr. President. >> Uh, Dr. Moore, >> just go ahead. Could you give us some
039insight on it? >> Sure. So, they are offering there's a educational benefits review has been done by several states in in the United States. Indiana has not come on board with that and they would like for districts to pilot a program basically where we would become kind of a a test for how that would work. So the educational benefits review process is going to look at three years typically I should say three years of IEPs to see if what we are writing in our IEPs and how we are are the information we're putting in there is actually benefiting the child. So, just to kind of make sure that we're on on par with >> I read about that not being on board in Indiana. >> Yeah. >> Um, what does it look like here in
040this district to get to to to to be on board? What is what does it look like? >> So, >> what what are what what are your what's your structure? What's your framework >> for the grant? Yeah. You're saying what are we proposing? >> How are you going to to [clears throat] meet the needs of that grant? >> Uh, well, if we were to get it, um, what I would hope is that the team that would be that would be trained, there's going to be anywhere you can do three to 10. I'll probably choose 10 because I want as many people trained as possible. Um, they would then be looking, we would take a set of students IEPs. So, there would be some students that we'd be using as our test case for the training.
041We would be implementing that information throughout the entire school year. We have monthly, we call them building, I'm sorry, yeah, building support team meetings. >> We would be implementing that training and kind of having those conversations next year for 26 27 because we would be learning as well. it's going to be kind of, you know, we won't go full force probably until the summer of 27. And then the summer of 27, um, my plan is for us to implement that kind of districtwide starting with Elevate Ed or if we still do that again, um, our professional development week, um, start doing trainings then and then go forward with full throttle. >> M, go ahead. Could you break down, could you open up the acronym, the IMP? You said >> the IEP, the individualized program for
042the community. >> Yes, absolutely. The individualized education program. >> Thank you. >> Or plan. They use that word interchangeably. >> Um, >> so I have a question. So, having had a child that had an IEP, I'm all for doing anything we can to make them better for the kids. What, if any, extra burden is this going to put on the teachers that use this? Is this going to be more work on them? Is it going to result in less work for them? What what's the impact to our staff on it? I have not done as much research about the actual impact of what a teacher would go through. Um I I know very minimally because we just this is kind of how we're all starting this whole thing. >> There is some work to be
043there is some work that would that would take place. Um so I think that as we're doing this we're going to have to be really mindful of the time that we're giving teachers. We have to be mindful of the students and the case loads that teachers have. um our my goal if if you look at students and kind of where I think the greatest need for this particular skill is probably with our life skills students. And the reason is because most often with with students that have IEPs where we're making little incremental growth, we we miss sometimes what where we could go. And so my hope is that we really get it ironed out and really refined well for our students with most significant needs. Augusta is doing pretty good with their life skills. Uh
044I think in >> Nora North. >> Yeah. Mr. Dobs has some things going I think with >> and she was our teacher of the year last year. >> Yeah. And so I think he's implemented some stuff this year and and I'm hearing it's it's real good. Um, I think that's important because that life skill piece is going to be very important here in the in the very future for some of these young people in the the climates in which we're living in right now. >> Thank you. >> Will the teachers still utilize the PLC as a place for training? >> We do. >> Would they would they use this particular learning the IEP part that you're trying to implement? Would they be using the PLC training? >> We certainly could do that. My The first
045place we need to do it is our monthly building support team meetings. Our secondary is not included in that. I think when you were with us teaching, >> they weren't always included in that, but now we've kind of >> broadened that and they're included. Um, and then we would extend it out to the PLC's through the department chairs at the secondary level. >> Yeah. And then >> because I think it would probably allow them to be more uh repetitive in those because you have so many PLC meetings because those IEPs do require um a real understanding because those are the ones where you get deemed >> through the Department of Education. Yeah, >> that's good. >> Can you find 10 teachers? >> I'm sorry, what? >> We'll be able to find 10 teachers. >> Oh,
046it's not just teachers. So, thank you. Yes. So, it's a you know, the best you know, we believe in inclusion and special ed. We also believe in inclusion when you have teams like this. So we have I've proposed a general ed teacher all the way to special ed to speech language pathologist to an SL to a a school psychologist a district administrator. I mean it's going to be a team of various different disciplines. >> Thank you for not cherrypicking. God bless you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Is there any other discussion or questions on action item D? If not, we're on the vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next up is action item E, Mr. Groover. A um request to accept this. >> Thank you,
047Mr. President, members of the board. Dr. Bishop, I'm seeking your approval tonight for action item E to accept a combined bid for the Fishbach Creek um mechanical project as well as the new Augusta North heat pump phase 2 project as presented. >> I move that we um vote to accept the bids for the mechanical and new Augusta North heat pump projects as presented. >> Second. move and second that we accept action item E as presented. Are there any questions? No questions. We're on the vote. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Uh action item F, G, and H are request to approve. Uh Mr. Ger. >> Uh thank you, Mr. President. Again, members of the board, Dr. Bishop, I'm requesting your approval of action items F, G, and H, which include uh request to
048approve a change order for the Deer Run interior refresh project. Additionally, a change order for the Pike High School turf project and lastly, approve um a zoning petition with Midwest Sports Complex as presented. I move we accept the Dear Run Elementary School midlife refresh project change order, the Pike High School turf project change order, and the Midwest Sports Complex zoning petition as presented. >> Second move and second that we accept action item FG and HS presented by Mr. Brewer. Are there any questions on items FG or H? >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Could you give some insight on the Midwest Sports Complex uh zoning? >> Yeah, so we've had a relationship with Mid Midwest Sports for quite some time. Now it kind of goes by Midwest softball program. Um years ago we purchased a
049portion of the old golf course over there on New Augusta Road in order to build the new Eastbrook. As part of that, we maintained four softball fields to the east of that property. Um, since the construction of Eastbrook Elementary, we have leased back the softball fields to Midwest Sports for them to run a softball league. Uh, it's been a great partnership for us for a long time. Um, back in December of 2024, if you'll recall, we invited in Republic Development, LAR Homes, and Ashen Village Development to to kind of give you an idea of the housing development that was going in directly to the south of Eastbrook. with that. Um, now that they've moved through phases one and two, Midwest no longer has direct access to the parking lot by one of the softball fields.
050So, the only way they can access the property is through Eastbrook. Uh, unfortunately, when they built Eastbrook, they elevated the property for storm water and those type of things to ensure we had proper flow. And now there is a small 4-foot embankment on the back of our property and they can't get a vehicle down into that parking lot. They are proposing to build on their dime a ramp from our parking lot down into their parking lot. But with that there comes variance restrictions and so on and so forth. So, they have requested to petition the city of Indianapolis for approval to expand the gravel lot down there as well as adding the ramp. The approval of this tonight does not authorize them to construct the ramp. It simply authorizes them to seek the variance through
051the city of Indianapolis. At any point in time, we reserve the right to sever all ties and and not move forward with the project. the um so this is the the dot that is connecting the housing situation [clears throat] that we had earlier last year. >> Correct. >> I was wondering when that was going to come back up. Thank you. >> Now we we are optimistic that we will eventually have access [snorts] through the neighborhood but it won't happen until that third and final phase is completed. >> Thank you, Mr. Group. >> So So we're not we're not voting tonight to bind ourselves into any type of a contract. is just simply to no seek the zoning from the >> Yeah. And and I imagine at a later date if the variance is approved by
052the city, we would come back to the board for approval of a long-term lease, >> right? >> Um so that they can invest those dollars to build that ramp and see some level of return on renting those fields for softball events. But we would bring that back to the board for approval. >> Okay. I'm glad you explained that. Golly, any other any other question? If not, we want to vote. All in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Oppos. >> Thank you, Mr. Gruber. We uh Next up is Ms. Gray, Miss Gray. Uh contracts and um donations action items I and J. >> Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, and Dr. Bishop. I request your approval of action items I and J, which include 11 contracts and eight donations as presented. Motion's in
053order. >> I make a motion that we approve action items I and J, the cont the 11 contracts in the eight donations that have been made >> uh to our corporation. >> Did I hear a second? >> Yes, you did. >> Second. Been second by Mrs. Wilson. Been moved and second that we accept action items I and J as presented. Are there any questions on action items I or J? No questions. We're on to vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Thank you, Mrs. Gray. We're on to action items. I'm sorry. Uh board items. Dr. Moore. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Excited to to hear tonight um the long awaiting um website. Um I think it's important um to use it as much as possible as an educational and marketing tool um
054for not only students but parents um to give the I think hopefully a greater insight on on what uh if I could use the term the guts of pipe looks like on the inside from u from a from from a updated uh website that uh will probably hopefully stay on the cutting edge uh every 6 months or every year, whatever it takes uh to make it happen. Um because it's it's very very important because that is an intricral part of um of um marketing uh our system right here uh in in Pike Township. Thank you so much, Miss Dorsey, and your those who have worked with you, >> Miss Wilson. >> Okay. Um, just wanted to say, um, it's looking at all the donations that we've received, the generosity of people's hearts, and the fact
055that they have taken time out to donate to Pike Township. Um, it does my [clears throat] heart good to see those uh donations and to further um, as I always say, I'm happy to see that our boys basketball team, our girls basketball team, the the swimming team, and also the um, uh, wrestling team have all excelled and the more we win, the more we bring winners to Pi Township. And I just want to tell all the coaches, thank you for taking out the time to be the leaders that you are to keep our students here in Pike Township. >> Thank you, Miss Wilson. Doc, um Mr. Hooker, >> you almost promoted me. All right. [laughter] Um so I just wanted to um first of all thank um Mr. Hop. Um he uh coordinated for me
056to be invited to speak to a local Cub Scout troop that meets in Pike Township. Tell them what it's like to uh serve on a school board. Um don't worry, I said all the good things. And so, uh, so that that was a lot of fun getting to talk to them. Uh, like Miss Wilson said, you know, big congratulations to the girls, uh, basketball team, the swimmers, obviously the boys. That game, uh, the other night, that was a nailbiter. So, um, just love seeing our kids competing hard. Um, and I love seeing them do it in the right way, uh, which, you know, means the most, um, to me. So, um, really appreciate that. And then usually things are so packed so I don't fit this in. But I do want to give a shout
057out and thanks to our um RTC program at the high school. They all the time have um students that are in at the food pantry volunteering and working. There was a whole slew of them this last Monday and so really appreciate their dedication to um serving our community and just understanding what it is to um to serve and and and to give back. So appreciate that. >> Thank you, Mr. Huff. Mr. Uh Anderson. >> Uh I would like to pay compliments to Mr. Wall-E and his team in light of the student protest um that happened >> last week. As though we would never advocate any activities that would um bring tremendous security risk to our students. I do recognize the passion that they have and I hope they keep that same passion especially for the
05818 year olds when we vote uh at the polls cuz that's where real change happens. But to Mr. Walling and his team. I was there. I walked the school and boy oh they were on it. Uh they were at every door. Uh they were ready to go. They were waiting. They were prepared. So I appreciate that in such a short notice that he was able to and his team were able to pull that off. So uh congratulations to them and thank you for their work. >> Thank you Mr. Anderson. U Mrs. Barnes. >> I have no comments this evening. >> Thank you Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Kelly. Miss Kelly. >> All right. First, I would have [clears throat] to add um to what Mr. Anderson was saying. First, very proud of our students for stepping up
059and wanting to self- advocate and advocate for others. Um and then appreciating the safety and how it was done and very well um run for our and to keep our students safe. I very much appreciate that. Want to remind everyone treasures is coming up March 8th. So please get your tickets. We again we cannot have all those wonderful donations from the foundation if we're not don if our community is not donating and that's our biggest fundraiser of the year. So we want to make sure we're supporting that. the teams that are our teams right now are phenomenal and so looking forward to Saturday hanging out and watching hopefully another win and go Pike. >> Thank you, Miss Kelly, Dr. Bishop. >> Thank you, Dr. Webster. I I would like to take an opportunity to thank
060um all of our buildings. We do have family conferences today. Um and so in all of our nine elementaryaries, three middle schools and our high school along with Pike Preparatory, our teachers and administrators were meeting with families um helping them get to their locations to meet with all of their teachers. And we definitely want to thank them for all of the time and collaboration that they spend with our families to do the best um that we can for all students. >> Thank you, Dr. Bishop. Um I I just want to share some, you know, I I don't know. I think when we get caught up into the into the ball games into the excitement, we had we there was a phenomenal game on >> Tuesday night with um >> Mount Vernon. And so we had
061a group of board members were sitting together and so we had some fans down in front of us that was not Pike. Matter of fact, it was Mount Vernon. And uh it was such it was such a competitive game back and forth. And so, um, it got down to the probably the last, uh, second shot, uh, to hit Mount Vernon hit and and the and the fans of Mount Vernon was sitting in front of us and they jumped up. God, I shouldn't, but they jumped up. They kissed and they turned around at us and they so I, okay, [laughter] I I I sit there, Mr. Troy. So, finally, it got down to where we we looked like we were going to win. and we had to step up and shoot a free [laughter] throw. And
062so it looked like we were going to win. I started telling y'all forgive me, but I did it. I started telling I can't we can't hear you. WE CAN'T HEAR YOU. [laughter] IT GOT REAL PETTY. >> That was fatty. Y'all, thank y'all so much tonight. Like a [laughter] motion. Like to attain a motion to have privilege. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Mr. Troy, is it Mr. Troy? MR. [laughter] >> So moved.