001I pledge allegiance 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. Great. Please, >> we come before you, Lord, and thank you for this day. We just ask you to provide us the wisdom to make decisions that's in the best interest of our community and our kids. And your name. Amen. Thank you. [clears throat] With that, the call school corporation board of school trustees reorganization meeting dated January 28th, 2026 at 6 p.m. to order. Roll call, please. >> Rex Ber >> here. Andrew Adams >> here. Greg Cington >> here. Alan Wilson >> here. >> Dave Chevro here. Tim White is here. Robert Bane >> here. Okay. Seven answers. Brings us up to additions or deletions to
002the agenda. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as given. >> Second. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. brings down item number two, school board reorganization. It's time for our annual reorganization of school board officers. [clears throat] Uh we'll start out with nominations 2.1.1 nominations for president. >> I nominate Robert for president. >> Got a nomination of Robert. Any other nominations hearing? None. I entertain a motion for nominations for president to be closed. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Okay. Now I'll ask for a motion to approve Robert Dane as president for 2026. The mechanical [snorts] school board of trustees. >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay.
003Since there's only one vote, we can do it like this, right? We don't we don't have to do the pallet. Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Brings us to item 2.1.2 nominations for vice president. >> I nominate Greg Bevington, vice president. >> Have a nomination of Greg Bevington. Any additional nominations? >> I'm going to nominate Andy Adams. >> Nomination Andrew Adams. Any additional nominations? None. I'll entertain a motion. Nominations be closed. >> Some moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Okay. You have ballots in front of you. Please vote. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> I did not. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> [snorts] >> I ask for the ballots to be read out loud, please.
004One vote for Andrew. Another vote for Andrew. A third vote for Andrew. A fourth vote for Andrew. A vote for Greg. A second vote for Greg. And a third vote for Greg. So four to three. >> Okay. So it looks like Andrew wins that ballot. Score four to three. So I entertain a motion to seat Andrew Adams as vice president for 2026. So moved. >> Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Brings us up to nominations 2.1.3 for secretary. >> I nominate Tim White. >> Got a nomination of Tim White. Any additional nominations? I'll nominate David Shabau. >> Nominate David Shabbau. [snorts] Any additional nominations? Entertain a motion for nominations be closed. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I post. Okay. >> [clears
005throat] >> One vote for David Chlo. One vote for Tim White. Second vote for David Shovel. Second vote for Tim White. Third vote for Tim White. Fourth vote for Tim White. And a third vote for David Shetwell. So four to three. >> Four to three. Okay. Tally is four to three. Entertain [clears throat] a motion to seat Tim White as secretary for 2026. So move. Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Brings us up to assistant secretary. Entertain motions or nominations for the assistant secretary position. [snorts] >> I'll nominate Dave. >> Dave Shlo. Any additional nominations for assistant secretary? Okay. Hearing none, I entertain a motion to approve David as the assistant secretary for the 2026 board year. >> So moved. >> Second. >>
006All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Brings us down to ISBA rep. [snorts] >> I'm voting. Greg Bevington. Okay. Nomination [clears throat] to Greg Bevington. Any additional nominations for ISBA rep. Okay. Hearing none, entertain a motion for nominations be closed for ISBA rep. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Okay. Now, I'll entertain a motion to approve Greg as the ISBA rep for the 2026 board year. >> So, move. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Okay. That gets us past that part of the reorganization. [clears throat] Brings up to item 2.2, school board meeting days and time. There's a list here um that was prepared where it
007says changed. That means that we've already um changed the dates that conflict with either breaks or not being in school at those times. Um so I'll entertain a motion to approve the 2026 board meeting as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Okay. It brings us down to schoolboard salaries and benefits. Uh for years for about the last I don't know 8 nine years we've been at $2,000 and we haven't done a sip for meetings, special meetings andor regular meetings. Um, any comments, questions on that before we vote on it? Okay. I entertain a motion to keep our salary at $2,000 uh for the calendar year and not take the benefits for individual meetings andor special meetings. >> So, move second. >> Second.
008>> Any further comments or questions? hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Okay. So, takes it to 2.4 school [clears throat] board appointments. Every year we appoint our treasurer, our deputy treasur, and our school board attorney. Uh we'll start out with Jennifer Miller as our school board treasurer. Entertain a motion to approve to appoint Jennifer Miller as our school board treasure or school treasurer. Sorry. So move. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. [clears throat] >> Oppose. Same sign. Brings us up to deputy treasure. Katrina Ledger. Um entertain a motion to approve Katrina Ledger as our deputy treasur. >> So move. >> Second. >> I second. Any questions or comments on this appointment? Okay. Hearing none.
009Um all everybody in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Last item is school board attorney. We currently have church hit Andrew as our school board attorney which they've served us well over the last forever. Um entertain a motion to secure the services of Church Church hit on Natum as our school board attorney. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions on that? >> How long they've been our attorney? >> Anybody know? >> 10 plus years. >> At least 10 years. >> Do we vet this out ever with any other attorney firms or we just roll with this? Like is this from a cost perspective [clears throat] or [cough] >> We haven't for years. Um, [clears throat] I think a lot of it has to do with their um
010the group that they that they have, the core group and the things that they can do and deal with their bond issues and stuff and they're they're tuned in with all those folks. Um, I also think a lot of it is in the number of schools that they do. Mhm. >> Um years past way long time ago, they used to use local attorneys >> and I know um I believe even Peru went to church church a couple years ago. So So good question. I mean we can always >> Is that an admin function or a board function to to vet that? >> If the board said says they want to to vet it out, we can do that. I I will Yeah. Um I will say this. Um there's a couple uh firms that that
011deal with education. Um I wouldn't want to be in the place of getting somebody local, especially with the complic we definitely could be cheaper. >> Yeah, that's what I'm asking. Like not local, but is there other firms other than these guys that that represent schools can vet out? >> Now CCHA is is a vast majority of schools, right? >> Especially your bigger ones that that deal with more complex issues. So, you know, they're our attorney, but like I deal with John Becker on finance issues. We deal with other folks on special ed issues. >> Smaller firms don't necessarily have that. So, there's there are some others that deal with that. KGR um does as well, [clears throat] but fee structure is similar. Um within >> you're getting service. I just didn't know. You know, you
012can get charge up to >> is there is there savings there by moving somewhere else? >> But I'm fine. Okay. I just want to ask this question. >> Do you know the retaining fee off the top of your head? >> 1,200 a month or thereabouts. This it was 11. I thought last year. >> Yep. I think it's about $1,200. >> And if they they used to show up for a board meeting, but obviously that's >> that's not something we do. >> Yeah. I haven't seen them in a couple years around here. >> They were here last year to reorder meeting. I think that's the last time we've had them here other than bond stuff, I think. >> Yeah. >> Were they here last year or is it two years ago? >> Last year. Yeah. >>
013Okay. Yeah, we we quit having them come to every meeting just because of the cost. >> It was it was when they show up. Yeah. >> You're paying by the hour. So, >> so you want to have shortboard meetings. >> Yeah. Um but they've always they've always came through. They're always accessible. Um >> yeah, I'm not doubting their service and their knowledge and they know what they're doing. I was just more should we be vetting this out from a price perspective? And we've [snorts] Yeah, we that's came up I know two [clears throat] or three different times over the course of the last five, six, seven years. >> That's just something we keep on our radar. >> Sure. >> Yeah, >> we need to make it a tickler to remind us a couple several months
014out before this meeting. >> I can I can make that happen. >> Okay. Okay. Any other questions, comments? Good. Great question. >> Um Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. So we'll continue with your church. Uh visitor comments. There is none. We have no visitors. Superintendent comments. No. >> Okay. Board member comments. Anybody have anything? Okay. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn then. >> So move. >> Second. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Both. same sign. So, we're right on the money. 6:15 or we're right into >> Yeah. board of finance. Um this is to set up for um the next year overseeing the board of finance. We've already done the pledge of allegiance and we will not
015do the pledge of allegiance again. So, roll call for the board of finance meeting. >> Rex Ber >> here. >> Andrew Adams >> here. Greg Beverton >> here. Alan Wilson >> here. Dave Shel here. Timo is here. Robert Dane >> here. Uh seeing no additions or deletions to the agenda, I'll ask for approval of the agenda as given. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Okay. That brings us down to the election of officers for the board of finance. Normally it is the board president and vice president. Does anybody have any other reasons or want to change those two positions on the board of finance? Okay. Hearing none I'll entertain a motion to uh elect the officers for the board of finance uh being the
016president and vice president for 2026. >> So move. >> Second. Any comments or questions? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. That brings us up to the review of the 2025 investment interest report. So um Jim Miller and I shared some of this with you already. Jim Miller has shared we don't have any um anything outside of the money we have in the education or in the education or operations fund. It draws 4% interest a year. Uh last year that was about $420,000. Uh halfway through the year that money was transferred, not transferred, it was we stopped putting in an education fund, started putting in an operation fund. Obviously, that's the fund that um I've I've indicated to everybody on the board that that I'm more concerned with
017uh because of um Senate Bill One, which is coming up. So um that's the money we have in investment. That 4% actually is better than any CD uh we could get um for other investments. Um, outside of that, uh, the only other, uh, thing I would say is as part of that agreement, um, you guys signed into an agreement with First Farmers Bank of Trust, keep our money with them. Uh, in turn, they give us back, um, about $15,000 a year for a number of different uh, programming uh, that we do. So, that's come in handy um, to have that money uh, come back into our account additional to the 4% that we're getting in that public fund. Um, I'm not having any indication that's going to change, but Greg, you know, the market. Um,
018it wouldn't surprise me if it ticks down just because that market is is also ticking down, but they've been more than fair. Uh, and that was higher than any other bank would give us on an interest rate. So, I think that's some good. [clears throat] [snorts] >> Any questions on that? >> Okay. Um, I'm going to now go off of the the PowerPoint that's up there. Um, as far as finance goes, do you want to move on to that or we just got to go ahead and move on to the review of the finances? >> Yeah, we we >> um so these if you've been on the board before, this is not something that is um unfamiliar uh with you. It comes from the DOA app. You can get on that DWAB site at any
019time um to kind of take a look at that. Just be mindful. You might flip to that first slide. Be mindful that all this stuff is a year behind. Why is it a year behind? bill. We turned in 25 stuff uh at the end of the month is when it's due. So, that's not uploaded yet. Um I will first go over the stuff from 24, which is pretty indicative of where we're at in 25 as well. And then I will also go over the 25 data. I'm going to turn around. Oh, no. No. I've got this. I can't leave that up there. I do apologize. [laughter] We don't have a very good vision plan here, obviously. >> [clears throat] >> I'm going to go over some historic data on enrollment. This is not new information.
020Uh this is something I've been pretty forthcoming with. If you look back there in 20 15 2016, we were at 2271. That's how many kids we had enrolled here. Uh this last year we were at 1780. Um our count February is going to be 1753. Okay, so that's kind of where we're at in enrollment, a decline enrollment. If you flip up to the next one, uh where are those folks going? This is a slide that kind of tells you where we're at. So legal settlement is is kids that live within our district boundaries. So we still have district boundaries. Uh in 2015 we had 2,200 kids or thereabouts uh in our legal settlement. Um as of last year uh we had 1,900. So you can see there's a 300 pupil decline in in just people
021who live in our district. Why is that? Probably a number of different things. They're they're doing a subdivision down the road here. Hopefully we see some growth with with new houses. Um you know your your other thing is um a lot of farm ground where we're at and not a whole lot of houses. Uh where are those folks going? Well um if you remember back school choice became a thing. So at one point 2200 kids live in your district. They had to come to your district or pay tuition to go somewhere else. You don't pay tuition go somewhere else. So some of those folks um have chosen to go other places. Uh if you look through there about a quarter of those transfers go to Lewis Cass, about a quarter of those transfers uh are
022virtual and about a third of them go to Peru. Um we we have a net gain with Peru. So we take more kids from Peru's districts than they take from ours. Lewis Cass takes about 100 more kids from our district than we take from theirs. 99% of that is straight off the base. A lot of those kids we've never seen step foot into our school. So, it's not like I come for three years, I don't like Meccon, I'm leaving. It's I've gone to Lewis Cass. I'm always going to go to Lewis Cass. Whether they move into Eagles Point from Galvester or Walton or some other uh Berg, um that's that's kind of where they're where they're going. So, you can see the numbers there. Um 478 students are outgoing versus 295 that are incoming. Uh
023with a a negative 183 loss on that. Um, a lot of those are virtual and and you're seeing an uptick in virtual, which is not a great thing for us, not a great thing for public school, period. Um, a lot of those kids as we track them, they're they're running from something, whether it is we're on them about attendance. If I can move to virtual, then the school's off off my back on attendance. Um, or, you know, any other number of things where where that is um the case. Obviously, there there are some kids that thrive in virtual. So, that's not to not to downgrade or badmouth, but you can look at the performance of virtual schools and see that it's probably not a great thing for most kids to go to virtual school. Flip
024it. Um, why does this matter? Well, this is this is the cost to the education fund. Um, losing 183 kids is $1.4 million, which seems like a big deal, right? it it is if you keep the same amount of teachers to serve with those 183, but we've been pretty proactive in right sizing. So, you've heard that now several times and that is we know we don't have those 183 kids. So, you don't have teachers for those 183 kids where you get yourself financially in trouble is if you try to keep those same amount of teachers uh or support staff or bus drivers or whatever that may be. Um, if you were to put this in perspective of what we had 5 years or 10 years ago versus today, that's a 3.8 8 million difference in
025kids. So if we had 2,200 versus the um 1783 that we have. So that's why it matters. Um because dollars follow kids. There's another count day coming up in two days. So it's going to come over the weekend. Um as I told you, that's going to be 1753 is what it looks like. So we're down about 30 kids, which is better than last year. Um we were down about 60 if you remember this this presentation last year. So being down 30 kids is is uh not as bad. So that bleed is slowing. Um from from where it's been the five years previous to me becoming superintendent, we were down an average of 60 kids a year. Um that's slowed to 30 to four. [cough and clears throat] Um and you know, I'm sure there's a
026number of different reasons why that that's the case. Any questions on on >> that's 30 from a calendar year like from last. Correct. Okay. Not from the fall. Now, we will lose some kids from first count to second count. In fact, we were down 100 plus kids at the end of the year last year, but not from count to count. >> Does that make sense? As long as we hit them on count day, we still get that funding. And then when October comes back around, if you're back up, which I think we're 30 or 40 down um from fall count to fall count, um that's that's when it makes a difference. >> I'm going ask you looking at crystal ball, >> where where do we level out? I mean, in your opinion, >> well, 72%
027of schools across the state of Indiana lost kids in the last 5 years. >> Um, so I think a lot of that is going to be dependent upon the economy of this area, um, the housing of this area, and, you know, I I hope that >> we fill up the subdivision down here. Um, but I I mean, I don't have a crystal ball to to say, hey, that's what we're going to do. Um I think we'll continue to lose kids over the next 5 years. I I just >> kind of at this clip maybe this 30 >> I'm I'm hoping that 30 or less a year but again we can say it's a number of different reasons but you know >> there's various reasons having less kids. I mean the economy project >> Yeah. Yeah.
028We've lost 60 houses in our district. >> Yeah. Down 31. >> Down 31. So that that all makes a difference too. So and you know we can chase that. We can say hey we need to get more transfer kids in. But again usually when a kid starts at a school that's going to be the school they stay at because they got a friend group. >> Um and so you know a lot of indication is what are our kindergarten numbers? Kindergarten, first grade, what are those numbers? And a lot of times those kids are going to stick around um because once they start they like to to be with that friend group. And that's not always the case, but that's a pretty good indicator of where we are. And we knew that this was coming. I
029mean, our kindergarten numbers have been a lot lower than our senior numbers for 12, 15 years. Um, and we've we've kind of we've kind of hit a plateau there. We're at 120 to 140 kids where we used to be 175 to 200 kids. So, >> that that's just the indicators in looking at those numbers. And if if I had that magic ball to say, "Hey, this is how we can get a bunch of kids here." Um, and I I don't think it's probably getting the the basketball court, that's probably not going to help us out. But if it would, I mean, we would look at we would look at doing that. >> Within [clears throat] a few years, we ought to know if there's turnover or uptick from the daycare into the school. >> Yes.
030>> Yeah. We took that step. >> Really interested. >> You should have a good idea um of what that's going to do. >> [clears throat] >> So, our class sizes have increased probably and then elementary level. >> Uh, we've we've always Well, since I've been here, we've been from 30 to 15. 15 you can't sustain, right? >> 30 is too big. So, we try to average them out at 25 and we're there. >> So, we are we run elementary class sizes between I think our smallest is maybe 18 and our biggest is 24 right now. It was a little bigger at the start of the year. versus some certainly you see a little bit bigger but then as those kids leave those those numbers trickle down. [snorts] >> What years are we seeing the migration
031to online? Is it happening at first [clears throat] elementary early elementary or you see it like more middle school kids start to have >> so I think at secondary level you're seeing more kids um more so than the elementary but it's happening. I mean there are kids at every level that are in in virtual school. >> Do we do anything to capture the why the why they leave? Is there a surveys the parents get or students get and are they looking for programming that we don't have that other schools have or are we promoting the successful programming we have outside you know what I mean? Are we are we doing anything other than to get the anecdotal hey this looks like what's happening or do we know? So the why usually there's not a formal
032survey, nor could you probably get most parents to fill those out because when they when they typically leave to go to virtual or whatever, you get a request from the school. We want the records and then we don't have access to that parent. >> So when they withdraw a student, they don't have to fill out any paperwork with with us. >> They can they can request records. Now, we do encourage them to fill that out and then we can get the why behind it. Um, a lot of why for going to virtual is attendance issues here and there's a plethora of reasons why they're having attendance issues. So, um, that's the big why. Uh, you know, others um, conflict with peer groups. And again, I would love to say we're gonna solve all those problems,
033but most of them don't start here, and we're gonna have difficulty solving those problems that don't start here. >> So, that is the why formal survey? No. But yes, we try to ask those questions um when they do come in to withdraw, but like I said, they don't have to withdraw. >> I want to follow up on Rex's question about class sizes. >> Can we get I know we've had that before. Can we get like a list of classes sizes by grade? And then also I want I would like to see that beyond elementary. So what's that look like for agg number of teachers band number of teachers welding a number I mean what's that look like on staffing but then programmatic things also. So being the year I did share that teacher locator report
034and I can share that again but in this week's um it is it is a big document so don't be overcome by it. Um >> thank I appreciate that >> but we will we will share that. >> Just real quick back to the questions about the why. I know you know we we don't necessarily get data directly from parents but are we tracking when we know that hey this kid's probably leaving for this reason. I know it's not as good a data as we would like to have, but are we doing that? So, we have some numbers as well. >> We are tracking. >> Yep. Other questions. [snorts] Okay. Flip the next slide there, please. Chris, the good news. So, here's the fund report from 25 to 2024. Um, if you look in 2024, which
035is what we're focused on, that orange bar is your education fund. You can see that has grown over the last three years. A lot of that has grown because we have rights sized in that education fund. Obviously, there are a couple years there that that you see those stairs up, those were esser funds. Um, so as you implemented that $3 million that helped that education fund um grow. Um, question you might want to ask is, hey, you see a couple of uh lowhanging bars there. The the blue bar is a debt service fund. It actually should be flipped over the other way. Um, this is from the DWAB. Um, that was a a error that was made in December, corrected in January on a double post, but once it once it's posted in December, you
036can't. We caught it early enough that it didn't impact the tax rate. If you remember back five years ago, there was one that was made that impacted the tax rate by about 20 or 30 cents. I say five years ago, I think you were on the board, so it's probably longer than that. Um we caught that early, made those conversations and it was corrected. Uh the other two are um Esser um and it's still shown in negative uh and um I think the other one's title which runs into the negative. That's not uncommon. You will see those corrected on the on after the audit goes through. Um so you'll see those corrected uh and flip actually just be flatlined. So that is what those are. Any questions on the funds? Okay, more good news. Um,
037if you look at the education education fund, and this is a expense to balance ratio. So, there's a 66.7% u um expense to the good. If you look at that, I like to run in that 30 to 40. And you think, wow, that's a big balance. But also know that if you start squeaking that down and the state for some reason pinches off a a a funding for a month, you're in trouble and you have to start making or taking out loans to do payroll. So that's why that needs to be um also if you look at that, one thing we need to do uh and we will do is make a transfer out of there again to put into rainy day. When I when I came on board, we were under $500,000. We should
038probably run between three and $4 million in that rainy day fund because now when something breaks, it's a heck of a lot more than what it was five years ago to to repair. Any questions on the education fund? >> The 17 the year we started the [clears throat and cough] early retirement deal because I see where we were at 10.6. >> That sounds about right. Yeah, it might be 17 or 18 of those two. Um, the other thing if you look at the operations fund, we have a healthy balance. Um, if you look on the on the next page too there, Chris, we have board policy that have target that has targets. U 27% is what the the target says there, we're at 47.8%. Now, understand that's beginning year. So, we get two drops. one
039in December for January and then we get another one in Juneish Julyish. It's tough to keep that 27%. We start getting down to that June July because that number is always declining um until we get there. We do make some transfers um we we transfer the full 15%. So you're going to see when we go to this next one, we transfer that full 15% this year to kind of pad that knowing what's coming with with ESER funds. So that's kind of where we're at um with that. So, those are our targets. So, flipping forward to 2025, these are real numbers. These are things that you get. Um, go ahead, flip. There you go. This is what you get at least once a month to show us kind of a running balance where we're at. Um,
040if you look at if you look at that education fund, we have a healthy balance uh roughly at $9.2 million. We're going to probably transfer somewhere between oh two and $4 million out of that in the rainy day to cover those expenses. um that will help, you know, if we ever have a catastrophic event, we know we have a half million dollar uh deductible on our buildings. That helps cover some of that and then covering those things that aren't covered during that. Um if we have a chiller go out or boiler go out, it's upwards of a million dollars. So that's what that rainy day would be. So healthy fund. Um and again, we'll we'll look at transferring some of that money out into rainy day uh to help out in the in the event
041that we have this year. in operations. Um, you're going to see that we we gain some money there. Again, a lot of that is we never used to put [clears throat] our interest income into this fund. Next year, we're hoping that we can put about $400,000 of interest income. This year, we put about $200,000 of interest income. We transferred the full 15% out of education fund into there. So, you'll see a big jump that last month. Obviously, we were cognizant of what's coming up with Senate Bill One. Uh we want to pad that because we know that potentially we're going to lose between two and $300,000 um projection from Senate Bill One. So, that's why you see that. The other thing that doesn't take into um take into account, there's about $300,000 that's encumbered for
042the buses that never came in. Uh they're supposed to come in by February. Um, so that money will will be deducted from there um as well. So we gained a little bit in preparation knowing that 26 is going to be a tough year with Senate Bill one or potentially a tough a tough year with Senate Bill one um moving forward and make sure that we have enough money in there to cover that offset. >> So regarding Senate Bill one, I mean I know we've just been talking projections of impact, but when will we know? always say when we get those funds in June 30th from property taxes or will it be before that >> when you get that first drop of property taxes and I don't think anybody's I mean you work for the fire
043department >> I don't think anybody we have some pretty good data that says we're going to get hit but nobody knows I mean it could be >> because they they put so many caveats in there >> that I don't think anybody knows so we're just trying to prepare for that so rainy day balance you see where we're at 1.382. Uh we still got about $20,000 to pay on the boilers. Uh we were waiting to get some electronic issues figured out before we pay that last bit. Um so that'll go down a touch, but again, we're going to want to put probably two to$ two.5 million back into that to get that fund where it needs to be and and it'll also bring that education fund back down a little bit. >> Any questions on the
044finance part? concerning the education fund and it's the fact it's doing so well because of prior ESER commitments that that finally expanded out and we're sitting on top of a lot going forward into the future. It looks like that our education fund with the same given that the circumstances are the same in income from the state and with our current uh payout toward the education is it looking to be a balanced or a little profitable? So, we have a we know that we have a two-year uh agreement with the MEA. So, that will cost uh between $1500 and $200,000. >> Okay. Um, we know if we lose 200 kids, that's about $210,000, >> right? So, what the game is is to try to get that to balance itself out. And I think we're we're close.
045And I I would like to run I think I mentioned this last year when I did this. I would like to run both of those funds, you know, within that 100 to $200,000 either way to balance it. Okay. Um, you know, I think we're going to have a little bit of um money we're going to move around a little bit. Um, you got a a thing on daycare. It is it was profitable. We're paying for some of that stuff out of title money. We're going to shift some of those some of those um salaries out of title to put it back into um our literacy coach, which that grant's going away, [snorts] and maybe even talk about um a um math coach as well because our math instruction, if you look at our scores, we've
046got to do something in the classroom to bolster um what's going on uh there. So those would be things we discuss here in the next two or three months and then we have headroom to make those adjustments. >> We do. Okay. >> Yep. So it's it's about taking those funds out of and moving them around to make sure that we're in the black and everything. So >> even with our continued uh 15% appropriation because we've been doing that close to it. >> We're at 13 to 14% just a little bit. >> Yeah. >> And that is the max that they want you to take out. >> Right. So, >> and the education fund for receipts when you when there's the other column, are those just grants? >> Um, there there's a number of different things
047that that that pertains to. So, um are you talking about receipts in >> Yeah, receipts in just an other column in terms of what >> they're grants uh some of the federal funding that's not in the basic grant. So that basic grant is what the state sends in um and then we may get title one or title title four money um that we also receive in >> would some of that be um CTE funds too or where would that >> CT I believe is put into the basic grant. >> Okay. >> So that's formulary. Other questions? So most of that title stuff is is reimburseable. We spend it. We put in either the first or the 15th month. This is how much we spent and then we get them back. Any other questions? Good questions.
048[clears throat] Anybody have any additional questions on financial indicators? Okay. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment from the board of finance meeting. >> So move. >> Second. >> A second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. [clears throat] >> Okay. We only have 15 minutes on that meeting too. Montana. >> I know. >> Okay. [laughter] We ran over. But good about that. >> And not run over. >> That means that we can uh move right on to the McConnell School Corporation Board of School Trustees regular meeting for January 28, 2026. Uh we'll wave the pledge of allegiance since we've already done that this evening. And we'll go ahead and call to order. >> Rex Betser >> here. >> Andrew Adams >> here. >>
049Greg Bington >> here. here. Alan Wilson here. Dave Shlo here. Tim White is here. Robert D here. >> Okay. Brings us down to additions or deletions to the agenda. I don't see any. So, I entertain a motion to approve the agenda as written. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Any questions, comments on the agenda? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving the agenda signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. same sign. Excellence in education. I assume we're bypassing that to next month. That brings us down to approval of minutes from the regular meeting dated December 22nd, 2025. Entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written from December 22nd. So move [snorts] second. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions on the minutes? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying
050I. I >> oppose. Same sign. >> Close. Stand. >> Okay. [clears throat] We have one extension. Andrew was not here. Brings down to items 4.1 4.2. Financial business. Mr. Jing. >> Yeah. Ask for your approval. Check state of 12 of 26 amount of $451,88316. Check state of 15 of 26 amount of $16,500. Check state of the amount of one or check date of 1116 2026 amount of $439,110.32 under the accounts payable register [clears throat] 1222 of 25 to123 of 26 amount of 2,346 or 42,88520. Ask for your approval as presented. Okay. entertain a motion to approve the financial business as [clears throat] move. >> Second. >> Anybody have any questions on the docket? >> I do have a couple. Okay. So, >> um I know in the in the finance meeting, you had the operation
051education funds with the cash balance that'll be attached to the docket in future or will we see that every month? You'll see it every month in a in an update prior to the board meeting. >> Okay. >> So that that spreadsheet is a running spreadsheet that we use. >> Yep. Okay. >> And when it is complete, which means when we can get it reconciled [clears throat] with the bank, >> it'll be to you. >> My next one would be talks a lot about bus repairs >> and bus needs and the money. Um we spent a ton of money on bus repairs. Is there a running [clears throat] report or spreadsheet of buses by number and age and mileage and repairs? We definitely could kind of see maybe once in a while that might give us
052some thoughts about when we replace them, how much we're spending. Are we spending enough on buses and new buses and replacements and um [clears throat] I mean that that's I was just looking at the SNS line and the Kurland and the pro glass is green and so [snorts] that's a ton of bus repair. >> It is. No, that's not even fuel or some of those. >> I mean, did we just send in a number of those buses because of the holiday break or this is routine? >> So, >> is that you don't send that many buses in one time? >> Yeah. So, simply usually what happens is there's a second inspection. [clears throat] So, when that inspection comes about, you see a higher so there's a leak, it won't pass inspection. Um, so they fix
053that. Um, Heather does keep a a list that we use internally. I determine what bus is going in next for either scrapping or um getting a a trade in. >> So we we keep that internal that has how many miles. >> Might be interesting to see just for perspective on aging age of the fleet. Yeah. >> Yeah. The fleet is definitely >> older. Um, and there's I would love to say there's a a good solution to that, but you can see where the operations fund is. And we ordered a short bus >> and a regular bus and it was $300,000 to where um five years ago those same buses were 80,000. [clears throat] So they've gone up, they've doubled in price. Uh we don't have a bus replacement fund anymore. Um that's all done in
054up operations. So it's [clears throat] kind of you robbed Peter to pay Paul. Um, we're looking at other solutions as well. Is, you know, is there a corporation that trades in maybe at 60 or 80,000 miles that we can buy some used buses for 15 or $20,000? Would that be a better option? [clears throat] So, >> I don't know. >> There are things that we're looking at um to to kind of offset that because those those buses are 12 years older, have to be expected infected twice a year >> and we have uh half of our fleet, >> which was the concern when the bus replacement fund went away. was a concern that the money would be shipped to those. >> It is a concern for us. It is not a concern in Indianapolis. >>
055I I understand that but seeing that aging and sort of some way of the fleet would be helpful for me to understand. So, >> and what kind of impact little smaller vehicles or buses that we got should reduce some of the stressing on the larger fleet as a whole so we're not sending out a larger bus for when it's not needed. You you hope [clears throat] >> you you >> Yeah. >> But unfortunately those are just as expensive to repair as right >> a big bus and they're [snorts] just as expensive to run. So it's not like we're getting great gas mileage driving a small bus versus a big bus. It's like full miles a gallon. That's what we're going to get. >> Are EVs a thing in the bus world or what >> are
056EV like electric buses? Are they a thing? >> They are uh in this area. I think Casten has one. Um I'm not [clears throat] sure how it operates in temperatures like this. I'm guessing not super well or at all. Um, they did give some grants to to get them, but I know in the superintendent I talked to that have those grants. Uh, when they come up with issues, there's not a whole lot of people who can work on an EV. I I did have a plan to buy a bunch of EVs and send them home and people could plug them in at their house to charge them. >> Didn't go very well. >> Plug it into their neighbors. There was a and I can't remember Biz Casten or Pioneer. One of them bought two or
057three, one of the corporations bought two or three EVs and what they ran into was the routes that they could run them on and shorten that route. So then they had to add another bus because they couldn't run enough route to pick up [clears throat] the kids because there wasn't enough longevity in the batteries. So So yeah, >> and our rout's pretty spread out. >> Yeah. I think it's one of those. Yeah. I just curious. >> Yeah. >> But we also did switch um bus manufacturers too this time around. We're back to Bluebird, which we haven't had Bluebirds forever, but they came and did a presentation to us and we went away from what we've been buying. So, that'll be an interesting point, too, is that paying the extra $10,000 for that bus. Was it
058worth it, you know, 5 years down the road? you know, was there less maintenance on the seats and the other components, mechanical components or mechanical components, but [clears throat] you know, on everything else, you know, their components that they put in. >> The other thing is that that bus is a gas bus. So, it's going to be the first gas bus in our fleet. Um, they EPA has put so many regulations on diesel that it's [clears throat] astronomical to to keep it going like it should go. And you know, like your car, if something breaks down, it may be a,000 [clears throat] bucks a repair. For us, it's $10,000. Um, and >> yeah, the one the one set of filters on that on a diesel bus. Now, that that guy pointed it out that it
059was if you had to go in and change that whole regen system [clears throat] and stuff, it was like $27,000, you know, where in a gas motor there's no >> there's none of that stuff on there. So, it's actually came back full circle. You know, who ever would have thought we'd have went back to gas big gas engines and buses, but here we are. So, >> next we'll go to manual transmissions. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Could happen. So, >> steal our buses. [laughter] >> Any other questions? All good questions and comments. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> For sure. >> Okay. Um, hearing none. All those in favor of approving the financial business signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. We [clears throat] had no visitors. So items 6.1, 6.2, 6.3.
060Mr. Jernigan. >> Yeah. Um, under recommendation, Jennifer Walker, second bus, a Carissa Hos Cafi, Ryan Dame, third shift custodian, Brand [clears throat] Simeto, uh, preschool instructional assistant. Lane Carton, substitute cafeteria. Bailey Jacob, varsity assistant softball coach. Resignations. Jaylen Burns, preschool teacher. Madison Crawl, preschool instructional assistant. Michael Pinter, business media teacher, senior class sponsor, student counsel, head varsity football coach. Brian Dane, third third shift custodian. Under miscellaneous, [clears throat] Mallerie Garnett, transfer to Piper Creek for part-time cafeteria to sub cafeteria. Jeffrey Warden, termination third shift custodian. Uh Nicole Bowman, transfer from prek instructional assistant to prek teacher. Taylor Tenny, transfer um varsity assistant coach at JV softball coach. And that's all hearing the personnel report to entertain a motion to approve as given. Sorry. So move second. >> I second. >> Questions [snorts] or discussion? Hearing
061none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. No old business. Brings down a new business. [clears throat] Uh facility update. We gave Miss Ker the the night off. She been out here working, moving snow, and helping out where she needed. So, um I talked to Mr. Jurn again today and gave her the night off. So, um, she said she might put something in an email and send it out to us later in the week. So, item 8.2, donations approval. >> Well, that being said, any anything to comment about regarding the facilities and how >> we're we're still working. Um, the first ad went in the in the paper today um with the project that's coming up. Um, so the advertisement bid um is out there for
062folks to come in. uh talked to Gibralar a couple times in the last couple of weeks. Uh they're pretty confident we'll get two if not three or four biders um on the project. So there's some folks that that that need some work especially inside work. Understanding that a lot of that work is not going to take place until summertime. Um there's first um some remediation of asbestous uh that will take place under our contract [clears throat] and then um as we move into summer uh terminating um domestic water and then depending on where the bids come, they'll terminate x amount of uh other piping that's down there as well. That's cold water, chilled water piping that has some damage. So um pretty confident in that process. Uh we did check the ad didn't make it
063to the plane dealer uh today and it'll make it again on on next Monday. That's all that's all part of what we have to do to get that going. So walk through next week um and then bid opening in two weeks. So I think on the 17th is what I had put out there. So we'll ask for your approval of those bids uh during the next board meeting. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions about facilities? Okay. 8.2 donations approval. >> Yeah. On your uh sheet in your packet, you should have seen four donations, multiple donors. Um $101 uh for roundups from ticket sales for the choir. Uh First Presbyterian Church, $25,9.50 for lunch deficits. Uh 12 to20 LLC. Uh $500 for boys wrestling program. Main Street United Meth. This is $200 for
064student clothes in a closet and an anonymous um a number of uh materials from a nurs's office. Ask for your approval as presented. >> Okay. Entertain a motion to approve the donations as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? >> Just a quick question for Greg. Have you heard anything from the community foundation? John's $15,000 has made it into there. I have not. And usually they're pretty good about and I can reach out to them tomorrow >> because we've got the plaques put up. We just we're waiting to make sure the money's in in in our account. [clears throat and snorts] >> Okay. >> Any [clears throat] other questions, comments? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. brings us down to the
065steel [clears throat] contract item 8.3. >> Yeah, as as you're aware, Stifel has helped us for the past several years um in putting together a [clears throat] lot of different things. One, they have uh forecast models that help us in budgeting um to try to get out ahead of of changes that are coming our way. Um they also will help this go around and looking at those bond projects uh on what we need to do for the next 5 to seven years uh and what those projections look like as to what how much money we can borrow uh especially with the new statutes that have been passed uh that that will ultimately limit that. If you do notice uh it did go up $1,000 which is not uncommon with contracts like this. Um but that
066does give us a one it gives us a second set of eyes. Um, so I showed you the the uh tick that was below um on the on the update from from our finances that was debt service. Part of [clears throat] the reason we're able to catch that, have those conversations is Chad's able to go in uh talk to the DGF folks uh and get those things switched so we don't have some major issues [clears throat] in the future. So ask for your approval of that contract moving forward. Okay. Entertain a motion to approve the steeple contract as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> Sorry. Go >> ahead. Good. Um, so this is new to me. >> The So this agreement is this because I'm just going to say we
067we lack capacity to do this. I mean, this is a fairly new venture. um all the bond projects before the bond folks helped us navigate that and how how it affects the tax rates and all those things. Um that [clears throat] concerning to me that do we lack the internal capacity to manage this like we did in the past. I mean we've always managed this. >> So with new statutes it's a whole different game than we were on the board the first time. Um if we get up to I think it's 70 cents uh then everything becomes um we have to to um go to a vote on on a ballot. So managing that debt has become a little more cumbersome than you know once every two or three years you kind of say hey
068we need a bond project. We're going to have to take several bond projects out over the next five to seven years just to maintain our facilities. in the past were able to maintain those out of operations fund there's just not enough money to maintain out of that so having those projections helps uh the other thing I would say is um on the budget side of things yes I can put together a budget I I don't have I don't have an issue but having a second set of eyes um to review that and make sure that we are in line again with [clears throat] state statute is is always helpful. And not only helpful, but I think in this day and age, um, a lot of districts will hire out that entire process like, hey, here's
069here's what we got. Budget it out. Um, we don't do that. We internally say, hey, here's what we're doing. We have that check and balance uh in place and they move. We've had regular [clears throat] findings of lack of um second set of eyes or >> Internal controls. So, does this resolve those findings and those? [clears throat] >> Well, we we hope so. Um [laughter] >> just say yes. >> Yes. >> You're you're have you're going to have so anytime there's an audit, you're going to have findings. I mean, that's their that's their >> MO is to find those. >> Yeah. We had the same findings year after year after year and no corrective actions. >> That is correct. >> For five or six years in a row. >> Yeah. >> And so yes, that
070is that is part of that as well to to look over those. So I'll just Yes, you are you are 100% correct. That is part of that internal. Hey, we we've got to get some of those numbers. >> These folks are not local, correct? >> Out of Indianapolis. >> Okay. and they they deal with again we talked about CCHA they deal with about it's either Baker Tilly Steifel and that's who schools deal with um we have a good relationship with them uh Michael Schumacher I mean Chad Blacklock is our go-to person but Shoemacher has done I'd say thousands of deals um with with bonds and whatnot so they can help [clears throat] foster us through that process Okay. I just Yeah, I don't quite understand, I guess. So, >> I had the same question exactly
071a year ago when I first saw that. >> And I guess the next question is, is there something we can do as we're talking about budget and funding [snorts] cuts to enhance the team in here to do that more effectively and efficiently? Is there something we can be doing? >> And I think by hiring this person, you're you're doing that. So, checks and balances on on Jin um is always something you want to do. You know, public finance is a different beast and you're not going to find you're not going to find people to come in to public finance and and uh do what we do and have all the tools. Uh I'll give you an example. uh another district that's a little bigger than us, they they hired a CFO um that oversees and
072that's that's common, but you're going to pay that person probably six figures. Um they have all those tools. This is actually a cheaper route than hiring a CFO. Uh it gives you that checks and balance and and it allows Jen to learn those things and and you know, maybe in two or three years we don't need this contract anymore. Well, and if that's the case, then yeah, what are we doing to help train her and bring her up to speed? >> Well, and again, >> what opportunities are there out there for her to go learn? Just >> part part of what she's doing. She goes to Asbo. So, [clears throat] she goes to Asbo. She's going to French Lake uh at the end of March, I believe. >> May. Okay. The end of May. Um
073to to get some of those tools. Um and then he sets with her when she fills out form 9 when she does the annual report. uh so that she is getting those numbers right, pulling those numbers correctly out of of our database uh moving forward. So he provides some of that professional development um on top of um like I said he'll work with me um and Katherine when we build out this is what our bond issue looks like. So it's it's not just one service, it is a lot of different financial services and I don't think you're going to find somebody that has I mean they have their own projection models based off of our data. >> [clears throat] >> You're not going to find somebody that has those built out. Even if you hired
074a CFO, you're still going to rely on somebody externally to have that information for you because it's so complex. >> Okay. >> So, obviously, Mr. Plelock is using his staff to conduct these services, but we're not getting like interns or things like that, right? >> We do not. No. Okay. No, but we do have a meeting set up um next month, I think on the 18th of next month to to start rolling through some of that stuff for the year. [clears throat] >> Other questions? [snorts] >> Any other questions, comments? >> Just a comment. There's always a concern to people who are fairly new in school finance that when they go through an audit, there's so many corrections made, but there is every audit. It depends on who your auditor is. So, when these comments
075come across your way, I it's not something to be overly concerned about because every auditor has a different set. It's like your fire inspectors. They seem to all have different ideas on what you should be doing or didn't need to do in the first place. >> Okay. Hearing no other comments or questions. Entertain a motion to approve the steeple contract. >> So move. >> Second. >> I think I already did that. But all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Simpson. I'm opposed. Okay. >> Shared contract 84. >> Yeah, I've shared with you several uh different times uh the shared contract. Um I mentioned uh probably two months ago that um crew had aspirations [clears throat] of using some of these reversible services. Who's over here? Uh it it comes at
076a cost obviously. Um [clears throat] and you can see what those costs are to Peru. where those costs are to us is time um with him. Uh I think I I laid that out to you as we spoke spoken about it. If you have questions about it, I'd be more than willing to answer those questions. But ask for your approval of that shared service contract. Everybody has seen that, right? I've shared it like Okay, good. >> Ask for your approval. >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the shared contract with approved. School Corp. >> So moved. >> Second. comments, questions. >> What was said uh on the last meeting was as we move forward that we will need to consider um shared contracts with positions and I think this is a step in the
077right direction. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? >> No changes from previous. That's what I shared with you. has Peru has approved it. You see a signature on the line. Sure did. >> They're probably watching the board meeting now. [laughter] Sorry. >> I'm sure they're not. >> I hope they're not. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. >> Motion carries. [clears throat] Brings down to item number nine, superintendent comments. >> Yeah, a few things. want to thank you for running an efficient meeting tonight. I do appreciate that. Um, you saw we accepted the football coaches uh resignation. I would like to see if we can get one or two board members to sit on that interview committee coming in. >>
078Anybody else? >> When >> uh that has not been established yet. So, they'll they'll set that up. um probably interview late February, early March to bring it to the March board meeting. >> I would love to have a kid on the team. I feel like that's probably not. >> Anybody else want to jump in? Allan, >> if I can, I'll participate and and if Allan can, I'll jump in his spot. Yeah. If need be. >> Yeah, I'm interested. Yeah. So, I am too. I've tried to if you guys want to do it then then do it. Um the way I would I would ask on this is that whoever off the board is involved in in all the rounds of interviews from the get-go so we know what we're looking at from start to finish.
079So, I know before we we never got in until the kickout round or whatever you want to call it. And I think it's important this time to see who all is interviewing. So, okay. Yeah, >> I will pass that along. Um, we were approached here in the last couple of weeks by both Peruse City and Makita uh about the possibility of our welding shop helping them out with some signage uh for McConnell Park and then also for their alleyways. Um, you know, what's it been seven years ago we started a road welding program. We've had some display stats. So, [clears throat] the board voted to put the fence out there. A lot of lot of positive feedback on that. And now we're starting to get folks in the community saying, "Hey, we see the product
080you guys can do. Is is this something that that you can do for us?" So, uh, that speaks to what we're doing there. Uh, Mr. Studebaker is the new is the new teacher doing a phenomenal job um of of getting those kids uh engaged in this and um I heard good things about when he went and met with the mayor and their cabinet um and and uh walk through that. So, excited to help out. Uh hopefully you see that signage go up. um in late March, early April is kind of our deadline to to do some of that stuff. Um our building trays will probably put the alleyway signs up as well. So that gets them involved in it as well. Uh which which will be pretty neat. So Memory Lane, which is on the
081south side, is that >> South [clears throat] Acrobat Alley over by the bank. >> Yeah. So that's that's pretty neat. Um, you all you all got a invite to the state board of account exit conference. Uh, Robert said he's able to to to be there. We only need one. You're more than welcome to show up if you want to. Just make sure to respond back where you make sure you respond back to Mo Marine sent you that. So, make sure you do that. Uh, I spoke with the three folks who are involved in the first round of interviews for assistant superintendent. Uh, you have that information in your packet. just remind you [clears throat] that is confidential information. Um, some of the folks that may have interviewed haven't necessarily told their employer [clears throat] yet.
082So, we'll we'll walk through that starting next week. Uh, if you have questions on how to access that uh information out the the shared drive, let me know. Um, and we'll we'll make sure to get that. I will have um printed um cards so you guys can write down your your answers to those questions on there. Um when when we interview next week, uh you saw on that invite, we'll be here at 3:30. First interview starts at 4. We'll we'll roll through that. [clears throat] >> Second phase. >> Uh second phase is that next week. Um you have a calendar in by I think it's that Tuesday, Wednesday. Is that right? >> It's the 9th and the 10th. The Monday and Tuesday. >> Monday, Tuesday. Okay. >> Threw me a curveball there. Wasn't ready for
083the second round yet. >> [clears throat] >> Mhm. >> Well, gone next week. So, >> sure. [clears throat] Um, and again, you'll get access to packets when we select those folks that will be going on to the next round. Um, I will say this about virtual learning real quickly. Um, we've been out of school uh since Friday. Um, weather has not been very cooperative. uh you know and people ask you know why why are we out for the cold why are we out for whenever [clears throat] snow's got us a couple days uh cold we always have to worry about if our buses are going to make it from point A to point B um and you know there's a lot of cost with that if one of them gets stuck [clears throat] uh it's
084at least $1,000 to get them pulled out uh if one of them shuts down in the middle of the route it's pretty darn cold on that bus after just a few minutes of it shutting down so we're we're always cognizant of that on top of that, we know that we have several teen drivers and uh for those of us who have teen drivers, we know that they don't always make the best decisions when they're driving to school or driving anywhere. So, uh trying to protect that. Um I will I will give the the grounds crew uh props. They spent about eight hours on Monday plowing around the school. Got all the snow in the parking lots and that was a lot of snow. So, give them props to sitting in the truck for about 8
085hours and getting that snow cleared, uh, getting the sidewalks, uh, salted. My hope, uh, we're on a 2-hour delay for tomorrow. My hope is we can make it happen after that 2-hour delay. That was my hope this morning. Uh, but at -22 degrees, uh, with the wind chill, I wouldn't got to I wouldn't going to risk that. So, my hope is that we see a little higher heat tomorrow and that may be still -10° but uh and try to make at least uh tomorrow. Um and then Friday looks fairly promising as well uh moving forward. So, that's kind of where we're at. Um I did meet with the principles to see what our participation rate was. Uh in our K through8 uh we have 80 to 90% participation. So, just depend on what class it
086is, right? So, um, some of them were 100%, but on average we're we're at that 85 to 90%, which is good. And and also the same with completion. Um, and so people say, why don't you have 100% completion of assignments? Well, I hate to burst everybody's bubble, but we don't have 100% completion when we're in attendance. So, to to think that we're going to have that when we're virtual is probably a little bit out there. Um, so that's that's good news. and and I I would tell you we we'll always monitor that especially as we go down that path if if we would happen to dip um and we don't have participation then we would look at cancelling and tacking that on to the end of the school year. I mean we we want to
087make sure kids are getting meaningful instruction um and so we'll we'll continue to monitor that as the as the time goes along that we have virtual. Is there any mandate that a virtual learning participation rate needs to be above certain percent to count as a school base? >> Well, so saying that it's difficult for the state to track that so that for them to have a mandate of it and what that really means from district to district is different for everybody. For us, we can track it because we're we have Google Meets. Um I would look you know if we fall below that 80% mark then we start looking at what are we going to do moving forward. Um >> so that's just our metric and >> correct >> and we know that we have
088our attendance when we're in session is is probably that 90 to 95% attendance rate. >> Any other questions? >> Okay we'll go down to board member comments. Start with Alan. Oh. Um, just glad to see everything is functioning pretty much on track through this super cold stretch we have here. We're not through the um last of it yet. So, just appreciate the crew keeping the buildings up and running, transportation doing everything they can. Appreciate all the teachers working hard and hope the kids keep uh learning as they have. So, that's it. David, >> state board accounts exit. I don't I don't think I saw that. I don't know if I don't get some of these things because I'm the newbie, but I'm not I've not really seen any updates in the last month or emails
089or stuff like that on closures and some of those things. I mean, I >> You're not seeing the the closures. >> Okay. >> Not seeing a bunch of that stuff. >> Okay. You get my updates? >> Nope. I haven't seen any update. Haven't had an email >> for me. No. So just yeah just blocked. >> I don't know. Maybe maybe it's on. >> Could be user error too. You get my text messages. >> I have not had a text message from you. >> Oh you send them to [laughter] >> the confidential. >> Yeah. I mean it could be could be user error. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> And then you did mention daycare funded. >> I didn't see that either. That was part of the update. So, it's probably not on there. We'll get in.
090>> All right. I mean, when you email, you email the general map board. Maybe he's not part of that group. >> Okay. >> I don't know. >> Okay. Perfect. >> We'll have check. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> And I'll get you the exit conference information. >> Okay. Sorry. >> What's that? >> No, he's been added. >> He's been added. [laughter] >> Let's go back and go to that contract. Yeah. [laughter] Evan's a delegated test. >> Somebody messed up. >> Okay. Thanks. [snorts] >> Anything else, David? >> Okay. >> Good. >> Tim, just a a shout out um this week to the intern program. Our young man that interned for us in the afternoon um [clears throat] has called in the last two days. He said, "I know I'm not supposed to come in, but
091I was working on a project. Do you need me to come in and finish it?" No, we had it. But [clears throat] it was nice to see that kind of dedication to the program. >> Correct. >> Nothing in there, >> Andrew. >> So, I'll kind of give kudos to the teachers. I have one in every school still for the last year and just seeing four people virtually learn in the, you know, space people can find them to. They're all engaged. They're all learning. So, and while it's not ideal and my wife and I are ready for them to go back, um, the teachers make the best of the circumstance in which they're dealt. So, Kudos to the team for continuing to offer a positive educational experience for our students while dealing with weather. Other than
092that, nothing else. >> Great. [clears throat] >> Congratulations. You're going to enjoy being VP. It was wonderful to be VP because I didn't want the presidency. [laughter] >> Hey, it's good to work with all you guys. Really appreciate y'all. >> Okay. It guys, I just what everybody else said around the room, the the crews on the ground crews and Catherine's crews and keeping everything up and running. Um, nobody's mentioned the tech crew through all this stuff and got to handle all the phone calls and emails and stuff to keep all the kids computers and teachers up and running. So, kudos to Chris's team and all your guys doing their job. So, um, hopefully we get back to school. Um I did sit in on the meetings uh at the city with the projects that we're
093doing and actually the mechanical park was derived for me. I overheard a conversation of him doing that and I went in and talked to the mayor. I said you know we have a welding shop and how cool would it be if you know we put those signs together for you. So uh partnered with Brian Steam uh they're going to make the the frames for them. We're going to cut the letters and install them. And then hopefully [clears throat] uh this will get the kids and go into Brian's team and actually see what they're doing is is kind of we're going to kind of make that happen. Um and then with uh all this stuff for the alleys, uh Mr. Tid had approached me. He said, you know, he said, would welding shop out there want
094to help? And I said, yeah, just get a hold of, you know, Mr. journey guy. You know, Makita helped us get a lot of the money to do that. So, um, but it'll be good exposure. It's stuff that we do here that other places don't do. So, looking forward to that project. Uh, that was the first time I'd met the new welding shop teacher. Really, really real good guy. So, really well spoken and know wasn't in his vocabulary. So, so glad to hear it. So, other than that, I just get through the rest of this year. So, get us to warm weather. So, other than that, I think I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> May I ask one quick question? >> Yes. >> Um, it was with you, Chris. >> Yes. >> How much
095participation is there from uh the students during these uh times of outages where the kids are studying from home? Do you have much device issues or communication? Usually every day we got about 10 10 15 calls and we'll usually walk them through different things or we have liners where they'll come and pick them up and swap them out. So >> 10 or 15 is not bad. >> It's not bad. It used to be 30 a day. So you'll notice at the very beginning it's an uptick and then it just slowly kind of levels out. So >> that's the 15% that's not participating. >> Exactly. [laughter] >> Awesome. And also uh thanks to the board for giving me another year in this spot. Appreciate it. So, okay. With that, I entertain a motion to adjourn. >>
096So moved. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I >> oppose. Same sign. Quarter the