001they internet are we ready we're waiting on Chris we need a clap or something yeah all right we uh welcome everybody here we'll start out with pledge allegiance Follow by prayer iedge Al 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 Our Father in Heaven we're grateful for this opportunity we have to be here this day we're grateful for this uh this group that we serve with and grateful for all the teachers and administrators that that surround us and for this community we uh ask that as we meet here and go through our agenda that we will be able to make decisions and do those things which will both benefit our community and the students that
002that attend our schools we ask to uh please bless us as throughout this week that as we have more weather coming that everyone will be safe in their travels and that we'll make good decisions and the things that we do for our activities we ask thee that we will do those things here tonight that will be pleasing unto thee and we say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen [Music] amen all right uh future board meetings next one's February 25th March 11th March 25th all here at 6:00 Administration do I don't think there's any revisions to the agenda and move on to public recognition and donations recommendation to approve $100 donation by Christine and Troy hoppert for northill girls basketball pink out and a recommendation to approve a $300 donations from crumb farms for
003Northfield girls basketball pink out need a recommendation approval for that so second motion a second to approve these donations all those in favor say I I any opposed motion pass we like to thank those that donated and for the efforts that they give to help our basketball teams and all those Athletics you have a couple things y couple recognitions um from Mr Snider um at Northfield congratulations to um Ellie Baker who became the seventh lady Norse basketball thousand Point Club member Ellie scored her thousand points on Tuesday January 28th at Peru so we want to congratulate her also we want to congratulate the Northfield wrestling final four Cooper um when I say final they're going to semi state so it's Cooper good r Rice Cameron Pratt and um Eli G Gail I'm sorry for all
004advancing from the Peru Regional last Saturday we'll be wrestling this Saturday at the Fort Wayne semi State Cameron Pratt and Eli Gil came away as Regional Champions best to these remaining four at the Fort Wayne semi State on Saturday and I do want to mention too it's not here but I have that information I going to share that with you um School Board later on but uh two of them actually um Cameron um I believe maybe I don't have this exactly right but I think he's like 40 oh not lost it I think it's 41 or 43 um wins this year I think 41 well now Eli um has 44 wins um he's 44 so he's undefeated this year so far so we wish them well and we do know that we also have a
005Southwood um wrestler um Nolan heiner that will also be going to semi State this Saturday so wish all them well it's a big deal to to get to semi State and we do have five from our school district so congratulations to all them that's all I have that's it all right public comment we don't have a public here tonight so we'll move on to agenda items uh we need a motion second to approve our uh meeting from January 28th those minutes second a motion second to approve those minutes all in favor say I any opposed all right financial report uh claims and payroll anything there anybody have concerns or anything Chris You' have there no everything's pretty typical um from a payroll standpoint this next pay we won't see any changes but after that we'll
006see some changes just due to winter sports ending and getting those coaches claims paid out the next couple payrolls will start to see an increase questions right no I get a motion second to approve claims and payroll number 14 so Mo second got a motion second to approve claims and payroll number 14 all those in favor say I I any opposed Financial summary so just the end of the month balances so this would be our first report in January so you can see there on that First Column is what we ended 2020 uh 4 with so that means we started with that in 2025 in January 1 and then on the far right the ending balance is where that is at the end of the month uh for January so just kind of continue to
007give you uh updated looks on that each month on where those balances continue to fluctuate uh where we pay a little more specific attention to the cash flow with education fund and operation fund because those are our bigger fund sources any questions on that no all right we'll move on to HR report we don't have any resonations uh got underemployment JC Crum as assistant softball coach for North High School effective immediately Madison bar volunteer assistant tennis coach effective immediately and Chase Sadler a custodian at Southwood High School effective 22 all those favor get a motion second to approve that second time motion second to approve our HR all those in favor say I I any [Music] opposed all right all right Matt nothing is now nothing haven't had a meeting since well from next week
008you got anywhere on that roof or I guess I missed last week yeah so we uh at the next claims you'll see our first installment for the re payment so is this going to be done this year summer this summer and everything is on schedule we had our meeting last week on Friday and everything's on schedule we just have to wait for the weather to break y good uh right I have a few things um first of all I'm going to go back to the 103 flexibility waivers um we have two of them don't want to confuse them but you know we have one that that's for our professional development days we won't talk more about that right now but we have another one that actually goes along with our e-learning days and so the
009state allows us to have three asynchronous days all right our 10 flexibility waiver allows us to have five additional asynchronous days okay but after if we would have more than eight days that would cancel because of inclement weather then we would have one of two things that we could do we've already decided we would not um make those days up at the end of the year um but we would go to asynchronous and I mean synchronous I'm sorry sync days and along those same lines we have developed a plan the school schools know about the plan but we haven't shared anything with the um parents yet and the big reason is we don't believe at the time that we'd have eight days out now of course the weather um meteorologist always talks about all these
010storms that come along um you know like the one that's coming now maybe this weekend maybe another one next week but it seems like they always blow them all up and they're not really that bad so just kind of want to just share a little bit to say that we do have a plan um we are going to uh re-evaluate what we do with sharing this with our public with our parents um probably maybe Thursday Friday to see if anything is really happening the next week because there's no reason to get um people confused about what we're doing unless we really feel like it's going to happen and so we do have a very good plan like I said the principles have all shared that with their um teachers um and it's something we haven't
011done for a long time if you remember during Co time we did have what we did what we would call sync days or synchronous days we're going to try to make it a little bit easier instead of saying asynchronous and synchronous we're using the terminology e-learning which is typically what we do when have a uh clate weather day and then we're going to call them sync days just to make it a little bit uh easier to remember so e-learning or sync um so just kind to let you guys know and like I said Thursday morning I have a calendar uh reminder for me to to think about uh what's going to happen and see if we need to worry about anything but we've only had three days so we still have five days that we
012can go e-learning probably will not use five more days but you just never know and so we want to be prepared so we will uh re-evaluate this what what we're going to do as far as that U communication so just wanted to share that with you um also last meeting I did share that we were thinking about Wan coming to present uh but instead of them coming because there's not um there's not a lot of new well there's a lot going on um but we won't have them come until March um and so actually you can see on the screen I want to show this a little bit but also I want to share a couple of other things um just as a reminder uh Senate bill number one uh if it was passed could
013affect us a lot could affect the county a lot so I have talked with the um uh the chair of the Commissioners and also the chair of the County Council um they have the information too going down to see legislators tomorrow um and talk a little bit more about this um it's definitely concerned if the way it's written right now if it was past um but there are certain people and even the Republicans said that it it would be really hard to bite off that much at one time as far as reducing those property taxes where um counties and schools would be hurt um quite a bit because that's what pays for fire service and Police Service and schools and all those different things so just kind of sharing that again let you know what's
014going on and then want to give you good news we have um our ADM count uh was February 3rd and so we're up 33 students from our October so it's always good when we see um that increase so and and I'll send you the specifics later on but that's what U that's what the big number as far as the the additionals they really good and then finally just want to show this short video um if you haven't been around um and seen some of that uh if you do go around when it's m um it's a little muddy but that that shows progress right so we'll go ahead and show you [Music] this so you can see basically um there's a lot more going on now they have other walls up uh but this is
015a little older video you can see all the foundations it kind of gives you a little bit different idea they don't have all the foundation um in this picture but they're starting uh the gym I think they have the West part done I'm going to stop right there so this is the the neat so it's kind of neat because they they show a little overlay um and as you can tell though they haven't finished it all the way to the east there as far as with the wrestling and with the U the stem room and different things like that um but it gives you a little idea you can actually I guess I can't do it here I can do it on my computer but it shows actual classrooms um and label things like that
016so it gives you a little overlay of what that what that is so course you know those [Music] designs a lot of prep work to get to that point not real glamorous yet lot of concrete so progress and if you've been around though you can see that they have quite a few a lot more block work done right now so a lot more than what shows there that just shows the one so have a couple interior walls done basically now and you can see especially if you go into Sharp Creek and look to the East End you can see um the office area and different things like that we need first go in so good progress all right um that's all I have all right Sam yeah I mentioned it before about we getting K
017toy reading curriculum and so we're staying right on schedule uh and the two names we have are wonders and Benchmark advance and so those are the two best ones that are our committee um and just to remind you the committee has eight teachers from Metro North Sharp Creek and South Elementary K through five and so um we have we went to the textbook Caravan Fort Wayne heard some presentations got lots of samples and met here in in this office just a few days ago and um those are the two in front and so we will invite parents and community members to check it out and so we will keep uh printed samples here as until somebody checks them out for the next four weeks um we can send digital resources I can send logins and
018that kind of stuff to see that and so um so yeah we welcome those kind of any kind of input from those people we have then the next steps looking ahead to March um we have a professional development day and so our committee and teachers will have a chance to really have their final say and then the the winner of that vote we will bring here to the board on March 25th for your formal approval so one of those two and then with that purchase we'll look to try to get teacher training on those materials and and just for fun um I think Mr Drake would approve with this too um the samples that we um are not going to look at that we've already looked at that are no longer in use we have
019them right out there in the little wagon so if you'd like to take something home with you take some of those home with you mentioned you narrowed it to two or it's printed up there yeah how many did you start with um seven started with seven um and uh for one reason or another um there was one program that was very good I won't say its name publicly but it was very good however our teachers were not happy with the way the content was delivered um just some pictures and some stories and content choices for kids at that age and so we've eliminated um materials for that reason others they don't have enough small group others don't have phonics and so there's just a lot it's a lot like picking a k to5 read may
020be the biggest challenge we have as a district because you know kindergarteners are learning their fun and awareness and what sounds and those things and then by fifth grade we're reading to understand and try to understand bias and so um but the teachers we have an amazing group and so I like that we started with seven it wasn't very hard to get down to three or four and then from three or four there down to two um we have vendor trainers from those two vendors coming here um actually one's com on Thursday and they're going to walk our teachers through every how you would present a lesson using this material and so they get a real good deep feeling for that and our goal is to find a reading CC k to5 um there's always
021that backup if you know what we get through this and we don't like it um we will not purchase something just to purchase it and so the committee was very appreciative of that because they know it's an expensive this is probably one more expensive purchases we make and so there's always a plan B and so we're not locked in but based on the ones we found now those are the two best ones and stuff uh they're good and so it's not like we're looking at bad material but just if one when we get into it if we're like man that doesn't really fit what we want and we we'll keep looking but going to kick the tires for the next four weeks if it turns out to be a good choice how long would you
022anticipate before you roll again to another so we're we're going to try to follow the old sixe pattern and so uh for those of us that new board members remember that we used to Indiana used to have a very strong consistent six-year pattern and so this year you would buy Ela K through five English language arts next year you'll do English language arts 6 through 12 and so on and so you had like a six-year cycle and then it would start all the way over again with the devices and stuff we kind of got a little off of that um but we're going to try to kind of blend a little better between both you keep the devices and where we need to get some more material teacher stands try to do that so it'll
023be a six-year purchase and it's like I said it's it'll be you'll notice it when it comes across claims um but uh we've worked talked to Chris a lot about it we we've we've I don't know how to say the right word we've got funds for it we've set aside it it's in the budget um but yeah six years I guess is a short answer to your long question yeah and I think most people in the public if we I feel like their concern is always the content first right so I I feel very very confident in the people we have that's not even concerned really because I think they're going they get one pretty quickly so do these books will they go home so yes both of these vendors have books that go home
024they have books in their classrooms they'll have digital uh digital components to it and so but more so not like you're thinking maybe like it's not like a high school kid who checks a book out from library takes on a chapter book because you're talking about kindergarteners and stuff and so they might have workbook pages to put in their folders to take home or or those kind of things and as the kids get older they might get some chapter books but I um yeah I I just you know seem how we're not getting to charge for books or anything like that I just you know look at okay how many will get lost or damaged or things like that they going home and so that's why I was wondering that's a great question most of
025the stuff you send home will be consumable stuff where we get a new one next year so most that will stay in cost the printed books and things but that's one thing that we can do if you do have if there was a textbook and if they would lose a textbook or damage textbook we are still allowed to charge for that to replace that but not the initial one they don't have to be charge for that so they can destroy them so well they can but they have and so if you have anybody the community to ask or whatever just have contact me rather than the principles because I'm going to try to keep that here so it's easier toiz all right last one all right I guess we're done our reports yeah we got
026one more y under new business um and I might have school attorney help me a little bit with this but I will start out by saying that we MC of w county has been part of a along with other school districts part of a civil suit with Jewel which is a vaping um we've been a part of that for many many years and I continue to uh communicate with them uh they continue to say that it's going to be very soon U but the last time very soon was a a year and a half ago November 23rd as far as that settlement um I think it was settled but I just don't think they have paid out yet so that's one that's going on right now we also were a part of the social media
027claim um and going into this one uh we have found out uh most recently there are a lot of other requirements with that that we don't necessarily know that it will be uh beneficial to us to be able to spend the time for not just the people here in our central office but into our schools uh to um be a part of that and so the recommendation that I'm bringing to you is that we just abandon that social media claim and then um Mr Bren would would share that yeah I can I can add a couple thoughts to that um social media one to me on its face always seemed a little a lot more speculative than the duwal one um my understanding is it's basically all the same law firms that had success in
028the Dual one just kind of started to look and see can we do um I don't know if they've even told us in the jewel what the dollar figure per school is I I I have a feeling they' they've been delicately sidest stepping the answer on that is that the case they gave me a number that's below that number so in other words it could be a dollar but I mean in reality it could be a dollar but I know it would be more than a dollar but yeah um and then I recently forwarded on to to Mike and Chris uh what the the Council on our side um in social media was um requesting from us as far as extracting documents preserving documents and it it did almost face look pretty labor intensive on
029our side and so I think when when I sent that matched with Mike's experience on what they would call a success in the jewel case um that's when the idea came up of whether or not you work to do this so here again it's just a recommendation that we abandon that claim so thank you for that any questions any questions on any of that makes sense to me all right get a motion to approve to abandon the social media claim motion second second got a motion second to approve that we abandon the social media claim all those in favor say I any [Music] opposed unfinished business any board policy public comment items for board members can't make this too short yes we can I will just say on Schoolboard policy um there was a suggest
030made and so I did send that up to everybody so Mr D I will talk to you later about that to see if you want and everybody if we want to bring that to the table as far as a vote because I did some research on it I did give some examples of what we could do uh to just basically communicate a little bit more information that's out there um it's not really a huge change necessarily but it's more just about communication so people are aware of that particular policy won't mention it right now but after we have that conversation if you want I could put that back I mean I can put it on the uh policy to I mean a recommendation we can discuss it for the first reading and then vote on
031it the second reading okay there I made a little bit longer happy all right if not we'll adjourn 62 yes