Madison Consolidated School Corporation Board Meeting. 4-9-2025

001No, sure. 30 seconds. Mine says six. I don't think anybody until anyway except you. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the board of school trustees uh preliminary determination hearing and our regular board meeting for Wednesday, April 9th, 2025. If you all would join me, please in the pledge of allegiance. I 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. Thank you. And the best part of any board meeting we have is our student recognition. We have a few to hand out tonight. This is a this is a great group here. We appreciate everybody taking their time to come out. So, at this point in time, but

002we'll have the board step out front. I'd like to have Mr. Morrison, our athletic director, step forward, please. Dr. Brown and the school board. Thank you for having us this evening. Want to recognize some of our winner athletes who uh received some academic all-state recognition and some all state recognition. So, at this time, I'd like to welcome Coach Adam Dennis up to recognize our girls basketball. So, uh, I was thinking about how I wanted to introduce these two and, um, like I can tell you that Juliana's eighth as a junior. She's eighth all time in our scoring list and she's third all time in our steals list and she's second all time in our three-pointers and Miley has 499 points. But that tells you that they're a good basketball player. Um, which is something that

003we already know. Um they're both ICGSA recognized Indiana coaches girls sports. Juliana's first team, Miley second team. Um Juliana was your basketball coaches association district three um underassman all district. Um and she was also IBCA um all state. Honorable mention is she was just a a hair away from being large school all state um which is a pretty big deal. Uh, but I like I I could go through all that, but like I wanted to when I introduced them, I wanted to I wanted you to know what kind of people they were. Um, and we did something really cool at our banquet. Um, we're really trying to make our basketball program one big one big family. Um, so at our banquet, I asked some of our young kids uh to write a letter to uh

004our older kids um and read it at the banquet and I framed it and I gave it to the kids. Um well, two of them wrote a letter about Juliana and Miley. Um so I'm going to introduce Miley first and when I introduce you, I'm going to read her letter. Um these two after our season ended, they went straight to our junior high practices and started helping with our junior high kids. So that's that's the kind of commitment that they have to to just to our kids in the program. But um Kinsey Randall, who's an eighth grader, going to be a freshman, uh she wrote this to Miley. She said, "Dear Miley, I just wanted to take a moment to say how much I appreciate everything you've done for me, especially with basketball. You've put

005in so much time helping me, even if it was giving me a right to practice. You've been a great friend and mentor, always there to help me improve. I feel lucky to have you as a role model. You've shown me uh what it means to work hard and keep my head up and I look I look up to you for that. I appreciate all the effort you put in, whether it's giving me tips or just being there to cheer me on. From the very beginning, you made it easy to feel comfortable. You created a place where I could be myself and grow. You've made me feel like a true part of the team, and I look forward to many more years of your friendship. Uh I don't know how to say this. It's in Spanish,

006but Kinsey Randall and that's Miley [Applause] McQuary. And then uh Daley Smith, who's another eighth grader, wrote this letter to Juliana. She said, "Juliana has been a huge inspiration to me as an eighth grader. From the moment I met her, I knew there was something special about her. She not only excels in basketball, but also embodies the qualities qualities of a true role model. Her dedication to the sport and her willingness to help me has motivated me to work harder and push myself beyond my limits. Juliana has been incredibly generous with her time, helping me improve my basketball skills. Whether it's showing me new drills or giving me tips on how to play better, I remember the first time she took me under her wing. Kel Kelsey put her put me and Jules as partners

007and I was nervous. I mean, who wouldn't be? Jules can be intimidating, but she wasn't at all. She made me feel comfortable and pushed me to work harder. Now, Juliana and I are good friends. Her support has made a world of difference and I can honestly say that I've grown as a player because of her guidance. Outside of basketball, Juliana is just as amazing. She has taken me to practice when we have had virtual days and she has taken me to Mexican. Need to do that again. But anyways, uh no matter how busy she is or how many other friends she has, she always takes the time to check in on me. Her ability to balance her academics, sports, and friendships while still being so supportive is something that I look up to. It shows

008me that being a great athlete also means being a great person. In conclusion, Juliana is not just a talented basketball player, she is a remarkable individual who inspires me every day. I look up to her on and off the court. I hope to carry those lessons with me as I continue my journey in basketball and beyond. Thank you, Juliana, for being such an incredible role model. Juliana [Applause] Davis. Uh, like I said, I couldn't think of any better way to introduce those two. So, um, they're they're great, uh, student athletes. Um, and as you can see, like Miley was nervous about what she was wearing, but we've we've already been back in the gym, so she Good job. [Applause] I'm gonna have uh Dustin Bence come up and he's going he also double double duties.

009He's a volunteer uh wrestling coach for us. So, he's going to introduce our girls and boys wrestlers this evening who received academic all state. Dennis, you're so short, man. What the heck? All right. Um, thank you guys for having me. I'm standing in for Sam Johnson tonight and it's my honor uh to introduce uh the wrestling team, the girls wrestling team, all state award winner. Uh Meley has been a backbone of not only the girls wrestling team, but the whole wrestling program since she's been a little kid before girls wrestling was a thing. She competed against boys all through elementary school, all through junior high. And then once she got to high school, she was able to kind of branch out. And uh this year she became officially though we've had many state places she

010became the first ever IHSAA state place winner for Madison taking third place at state. Her only loss being in the state semifinals. On top of that her excelling in the classroom is just it shows that she's really got both sides of it and we're super appreciative of her. Ladies and gentlemen, Mey Skin [Applause] do the girls. Do them all. Okay. And I'm also here for Mr. Philip Wimpy doing the boys uh wrestling team honors. They say with twins, one gets the brains and one doesn't. But the Skinners prove it wrong evidently because joining me up here tonight is her brother Zayn. Zayn again, he's grown up in the program. He's a semi-state qualifier as a sophomore. And just to know Zayn personally, I think the biggest accomplishment for him achieving this academic all-state award. Um,

011again, wrestled since he could walk, been a part, a staple of our program, and we're super proud to have both Mey and Zayn up here. Ladies and gentlemen, Zayn Skinner. [Applause] And our last academic all-state award winner, uh a I have a story about Will Livingston uh in wrestling super specific techniques. And this year in one of our practices, we were talking about shooting a high crotch to the left side and we kind of took a bet on if we went around the room and asked who could hit a high crotch from the left side or who could even describe it. None of our experienced wrestlers who's been wrestling forever even knew what we were talking about. Will grabbed a kid and hit him and put him right on his back with it. So, that

012just shows like how smart Will is um to be able to just bust it out like that without any practice or anything. Will was a great addition to the team this year. He battled some injuries, but he was in the practice room every day through everything being a leader uh to our underassman, and we're super appreciative again to have him. Ladies and gentlemen, Will Livingston. [Applause] High cross to the left. [Applause] Okay. invite our science host. [Applause] I'm here tonight to honor my science bowl team. Um, at the very beginning of the year, um, I let them know that Anderson Science Bowl team has never placed in the top 10 in the state. And so before I could even get it out of my mouth, they were like, "We will." And so that was kind

013of our challenge and boy did they reach um that challenge. They finished sixth in the state. So very proud of them. So tonight we want to honor Adelina Cumbi Tegan Williamson. [Applause] You want to hand it to him? Nathaniel [Applause] Ham, Oliver Zolan, [Applause] Kaden Midler, [Applause] sorry, Serenity Williams, [Music] Amari Perry. Cooper Ashcraft. Come in. Cooper. And Cooper Ashcraft. He couldn't make it tonight. Round of applause. [Applause] You got to hold it up there, bub. [Applause] Christy [Applause] good. Thank you for having us here this evening and congratulations to all the teams and individuals that are being recognized tonight. Um, I am Christy Fulton and I'm going to be introducing Deputy Elementary's Science Bowl team, um, who placed eighth in the state this year. So, I'm very proud of them for that. Students put

014in extra time um, after school practices at home studying and preparing for the science bowl. They worked very well together. They were very supportive and encouraging of each other and I was very proud of them for that. I'm super proud of their accomplishment. I enjoyed um being their coach. It's been a great time. So, I just want to introduce you to our uh science bowl team. Holly House, Sophie [Applause] Caswell, Trenton Longville. I'm not sure he made it. Scarlett Milano, [Applause] Bentley [Applause] Johnson, Tinley [Applause] Crim, Joseph Summer, [Applause] Cecilia Ross. [Applause] And that would be our team. [Applause] Next science. Thank you. How are you doing? Hello, my name is Angel Trailer and I'm a third grade teacher at Lydia Middleton and we receive seventh place in the state in the yellow class. So,

015a great year. Have several of our kiddos who are at soccer right now, so they're unable to make it, but we do have three of them here. We have Grady Hall, and Grady's dad is a science teacher at Hanover College. So, we uh sent a lot of questions home with Grady to ask his dad that we may have had questions about. We also have Brock Laden. [Applause] Oh, there he is. And also Brody [Music] Fishiser. unable to make it tonight. We had Audrey Butler, Oliver Eaggan, Cade Gray, Leah Gray, Nia Perry, Emmy Meechum, and Lincoln Trailer. And that was our team. Thank you so much. [Applause] Next we have our unified bowling team. Okay, this is our fourth year with unified bowling here at Madison and all four years we've been able to go to

016state. Uh the kids really enjoy the camaraderie with both each, you know, with each other and um it's a one-of-a-kind state uh event. Mr. Morrison's been there many times. It's it's a lot of fun. So, Faith [Applause] Inado, Haley Lynn [Applause] Inamado, Maddie [Applause] Mallister, Andrew Petriowski, [Applause] Sylvia [Applause] Singleton, Jesse Rubble, Abby Stalard, [Applause] Max way, [Applause] Rand Euing, [Applause] Gracie Concincaid, [Applause] Payton Munt, Savannah Petro, Avery Johnson, Ariana [Applause] Dues, Caleb Concade, They may be at soccer also. Kennedy Rowlet, Dela [Applause] Gibson, Ruby Willoughby, Lily Wester, Rachel [Applause] Couch, Paisley Chambers, Riley [Applause] Vaughn, Jaden Scrogggins, [Applause] Jackson Chandler, [Applause] Tayen Rose, [Applause] Ethan [Music] Kronmire, Tyler Hook. [Applause] Come on in. [Applause] Um, if I could real quick, Amy and Sarah didn't mention, but I'd like to thank Amy and Sarah. They

017put a lot of time into this. Um, they load up these kids on buses, they drive to Scottsburg to practice for bowling. Um, a lot of times goes in it. Like I said, we've made it four years in a row. Um, and we placed in the top 20 in the state this year. I think it's the third year in a row that we've placed in the top 20 in the state. Um, but we're also giving a um a surprise when they got there that we were named the most giving high school in the state of Indiana for Special Olympics. And that's through the efforts of these two ladies and the other colleagues that they do. Devin Brierly, Amy's tried to get me to do the Polar Plunge since I was a football coach and I've

018never done it, but I donate every year and people in this room donate, but we were the most giving high school in the state, which is a huge thing. This is a huge thing. Um, it's a a testament to our community. It's a testament to our employees. It's a testament to, you know, the city of Madison for being that, okay? And it's supporting Special Olympics and bringing everybody being unified inclusiveness. So, thank you [Applause] guys. Oops. Almost your chair. Well, Mr. Morrison, thank you for that recognition. U and to all of our coaches, we really do appreciate all the effort and time that you uh put into it. I know we pay you a lot, but uh but we still we still appreciate your effort and uh and the difference you make in these children's

019lives, sir, is is very uh very well noticed. So, thank you very much for all your hard work. Okay, now we'll move on to the preliminary determination hearing. Going to convene the preliminary determination hearing meeting. On the call of roll, we'll uh identify each board member which we start off with Mr. Scott. M I. Mrs. Jansy, I Mr. Bent. Hi, Mr. Story. I and Mr. Wallace is an I. Dr. Brown. Hi, Mr. Jason Tanzel. Did I say that right? Miss Kristen Mlelen of Vice Miller, Bond Council. Mr. Kyle Miller, architect of Smith Associates. Okay. And Mr. Richard Ro COE and VOL. Okay. All present. Next item on the agenda is for the board to hold a preliminary hearing on proposed project. If you're interested in speaking at the hearing, please make sure that you have

020signed in on the sign-in sheet, which should include your name and address. There will be an opportunity for the public to make comments about the project as well. We will ask each of the person to limit their comments to three minutes and that the topic be limited to the proposed project under consideration. Notice of this preliminary determination hearing was published as legally required. At this time, I will ask that Miss Kristen Mlen, our bond council, explain the purposes of the hearing. Miss Mlullen. Good evening. Thank you for having me. We're here tonight because under Indiana law, anytime a school corporation proposes to spend a certain amount of money on a project, you must first hold two preliminary determination hearings. And tonight will be the first hearing of the two. At this meeting, um, we will

021describe the maximums of the project. It does not force you to issue bonds to actually do the project or anything like that. It is truly a time for the public to hear about the project and the maximum cost. We note that tonight there is no board action. You will be asked to consider resolutions after the second hearing, but again, tonight is just for the public to be able to hear about the project, the maximums, and to ask you questions. Thank you, Miss Mlullen. I'll recognize Dr. Brown. Good evening. Tonight, we stand before you not just to present a project, but to share a story. A story of our community, our children, and our unwavering commitment to their future. This year, we've dedicated ourselves to aligning every action with our district's heart, student achievement, valuing every

022individual, and a relentless pursuit of staff and student well-being. It's this very heart that brings us to the critical issue at hand, the need for a comprehensive early learning center. Imagine our dedicated teachers, the very backbone of our educational system, facing the heartbreaking choice between their passion for teaching and the impossible reality of inaccessible child care. We've w we've witnessed firsthand the loss of valuable educators driven away not by a lack of dedication, but by a lack of support. This isn't just a district problem. It's a community crisis. The data paints a vivid picture. Our successful $750,000 grant awarded in the winter of 2024 wasn't just a win. It was a lifeline, allowing us to launch a pilot program for our employees of three birthtoree classrooms that immediately filled to capacity, proving the desperate need.

023Our community survey echoed this urgency. From 349 community respondents, 58 of them reported a collective loss of 158 work days in a single month due to child care issues. Additionally, 120 out of the 349 community respondents anticipate needing child care within the next two years. Families are driving 50 miles to find highquality birthtoree child care, highlighting the stark reality of Jefferson County's child care desert. Brighter Futures of Indiana identifies 1,119 children under six in our county who may be in need of care. And a recent housing study funded by the Madison Economic Development Commission projects 630 new housing units by 2030, signaling a future surge in young families. However, our elementary schools do not have the space to accommodate any growth in enrollment or additional programs. We are at capacity in our schools as we

024identified in our 2023 facility study. But amidst these challenges, we see an opportunity. An opportunity to build upon our proven success. Our existing preschool program isn't just good. It's transformative. With students consistently outperforming their peers by 20 to 30 percentage points on key assessments. We have the knowledge, the passion, and the data to create something truly exceptional. We envision an early learning center, a beacon of hope, born from the vacant Eio Muny site, a place currently representing disrepair and a safety concern. This center will be more than just classrooms. It will be an oasis of growth, providing 23 nurturing classroom spaces for children from birth to five. It will consolidate our successful preschool model, currently serving 182 children in 13 classrooms, expanding access to high-quality care for our youngest learners and freeing up muchneeded room

025in our current elementary schools. This isn't just about bricks and mortar. It's about building futures. It's about ensuring our children have the best possible start and that our dedicated staff can thrive in their careers. It's about investing in a community where every child has the opportunity to thrive. And here's the most remarkable part. We can achieve this without placing an additional burden on our taxpayers. Upcoming debt repayments in 2026 and 2031 create a unique window of opportunity, allowing us to make a tax neutral investment in our community's future. We have seen the transformative power of our preschool program and we know our children deserve the best. We have a sight, a need, and a path to success. We urge you to join us in writing the next chapter of our district's story. A story of

026hope, opportunity, and unwavering commitment to our youngest learners. Let's create a legacy they will carry on with them for generations. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Brown. We will now hear from Jason Tanel, a municipal adviser about how the proposed project will be financed as well as information about the effect on the typ typical property taxpayer. Welcome. Thank you very much and good evening. I'm going to hopefully attempt to share this uh presentation here. Perfect. Okay. Uh thank you very much for having me. My name is Jason Tansel, director with Baker Tilly, and we serve as the school corporation's municipal adviser. Now that we have had an opportunity to hear about the needs of this project, we will now review how the school corporation could pay for this project through the issuance of a bond not

027to exceed $28 million that will be repaid through the debt service fund tax rate. It's important to keep in mind tonight that we are reviewing maximum parameters and these are maximums that we cannot exceed but we can come down from. They include items such as the borrowing amount, the repayment term, the interest rate and the maximum annual payment. It's our intent that these maximum parameters will provide flexibility to the school corporation in the future for this project. So with that, I have this presentation that we will review uh that outlines the school corporation's already outstanding debt payments and the debt service fund. So we're going to go to slide three uh because slide two was a little difficult to read with numbers, but this slide is very important and Dr. Brown already mentioned this that

028currently the school corporation has six bonds outstanding. Uh you could see each bond is represented by its own color and that in 2025 those annual payments are approximately $5.3 million. There is a decline in this payment in 2026 and again in 29 through 31 with all debt of the school corporation being repaid within the next six years. Right? This is, excuse me, this outstanding debt structure provides the school corporation with the ability to potentially replace these payments without increasing these payments above current levels. And so what this means is that potentially the school corporation would be able to issue these bonds without increasing its tax rate. These are the maximum parameters that would be within the resolutions for uh the board approval in the future. Again, a maximum borrowing amount is $28 million. The maximum

029term of these bonds are not to exceed 20 years, and there would be flexibility to potentially issue this in multiple series of bonds. Uh, currently, we would estimate the interest expense of just over $18 million. Uh, and that is based upon a 5% interest rate. The maximum interest rate that would be established is 6%. The debt service tax rate this year is 36.22 22 cents. And again, the debt service fund levy for this year is $4,644,000, but we would not be anticipating an increase above the 2025 tax rate. The maximum annual payment, I also do want to point out, is $5,395,000. Here on this final slide, you will see the proposed repayment term of this bond. Again, this is a maximum amount not to exceed $28 million and a term not to exceed 20 years.

030So, the gray bars represent the outstanding bond payments that we've reviewed on slides two and three. The blue bars would represent the proposed repayment term of this project. Again, you can see that with the blue bars, they are decreasing uh from 2026 all the way through 2032. And again with that maximum repayment term of not to exceed 20 years. So with this debt service structure, we would not anticipate a tax rate increase assuming assessed values remain constant. So with that, I would be happy to turn it back over to the board and answer potentially any questions the board would have. Questions? See none. Thank you, Mr. Tanzel. We will now open the uh public hearing. Remember, if you would like to speak, ple please sign in on the sheet which is located in the back

031of the boardroom. As I mentioned earlier, we have asked you to state your name and address, limit your comments on the proposed project for the financing and keep the comments to three minutes and avoid avoid being repetitive if you would please. Sign in chief. Okay, we do have three names on our signin sheet and um it's Nadia and I don't want to don't want to mispronounce your last name. Nadia. Could you say your last name for me, please? And I apologize. Gulava. Gulava. Well, hello everybody. Good evening. Um my name is Nadia Gulava. I'm HR director at the Royer Corporation where I proudly been employed and worked for eight years, past eight years, but most importantly, I've been a member of this community for much longer, for over 20 years and a great friend of

032Williams family. Uh we go way back. So, it is truly a special moment for me to be here, not only as a professional, but as a member of this community who is deep connected to this place. I am also um a proud mom of two MCS grads who currently um attend IU Bloomington and being here and seeing some familiar faces truly brings kind of wave of appreciation and I would like to take this moment and thank all of our MCS teachers um who played huge role in shaping my sons into well-rounded and driven young men they are today. As I mentioned above, um I represent Royer Corporation and Williams family as well and I am speaking tonight to voice our enthusiastic support for the child care investment planned by Madison Consolidated High School or schools.

033I want to begin by stating that our community is incredibly blessed to have Dr. Terresa Brown leading medicine schools. Her vision and energy are rare. She has surrounded herself with excellent staff. The child care programming that she was able to implement at the junior high in such a short period of time is miraculous. We feel she deserves our full support and she take uh as she tackles this key issue for our community. Royer stands ready to help. We realize the critical need. We believe that investment needs to be made by the community. We have encouraged our employees to complete ch child care survey developed by the schools by posting the postersizing the survey in our facilities as well as posting the survey on our employee platform. Royer has already enjoyed the positive outcomes of the

034excellent child care provided by MCS for their employees. One of our key employee um is married to MCS teacher. They have utilized the child care located at the junior highs this year for their infant son. His dad describes this experience as, and I quote, "Totally awesome. Our son is always happy to arrive and happily reaches for Miss Mrs. Tracy every morning. The facility is beautiful, always spotless. The staff is highly professional, and we get thorough paperwork daily describing his activities. I leave relaxed and ready to work." End of quote. We believe that highquality, reliable child care will help attract and retain high-quality employees as it has already attracted high-quality teachers. Medicine is currently benefiting from energetic city and community leadership that is helping to bring many new amenities to our area, including hopefully state-of-art community

035center to serve all ages. These new amenities along with comprehensive child care led by schools will take Madison and Jefferson County to another level and improve quality of life for everyone. We enthusiastically support Dr. Brown and her excellent staff as well as this school board in their efforts and we urge all of our citizens to do the same. Thank you. Thank you, Nadia. We appreciate your time. [Applause] Now, I'd like to recognize Mr. Rick Roll, please. Okay. I'm uh reading a statement on behalf of Dr. Holly Robinson, Dr. Diamond Harris, and the infants in the Bloom and the Infants in Bloom team. Um they were not able to be here tonight because they both became ill. Um as you can imagine, taking care of sick children all day. It's completely understandable. Uh Bloom believes that

036there could not be a better investment than in our infants and toddlers. This investment will pay dividends not only in our schools but throughout our community. Research and experience continue to confirm that our relationships and care in the first years lay the foundation not only for the child's life, but can be passed on through our DNA to future generations. Early infancy is a time of rapid brain and behavioral development. This period is very sensitive to environmental conditions. Providing stable and safe care can build a brain capable of loving and learning and even mitigate long-term negative consequences. Secure attachment is linked to a range of positive social, emotional, and cognitive developmental outcomes. Stress on the parents of infants, including lack of access to good care for their children, also has immediate consequences on the infant brain

037and overall development. Addressing infant mental health through a center such as this one can dramatically reduce the overall rate of depression, alcoholism, suicide, IV drug use, and domestic violence, reducing the need for future law enforcement efforts. Studies show that a baby can develop lifelong mistrust of the world within the first three months of their life if their care is unreliable. By investing in early childhood, we can also support our local industry pro by providing a solution to the number one barrier women note to working, which is lack of childare. Thank you, Mr. [Applause] I'd like to recognize Mr. Tony Steinhardt, please. Uh, good evening. Um, excuse me. Good evening, uh, school board members. Um it's um great to be in front of you tonight and to say thank you uh for the leadership that you're

038showing our community in tackling a very large issue not just here in Jefferson County but throughout the state and providing us the opportunity to have child care to help attract and retain top talent. Um we um continue to see that as a major hurdle for us uh and for our workforce. Um, we have a top uh 10 employment group that meets uh two or three times a year and it is certainly our number one issue in conversations and for the school corporation here in Madison to be taking a leadership role and helping us in our community uh is formidable. Uh other communities aren't that lucky and are having to solve those problems in other ways. And it gives us the city of Madison and our economic development efforts to focus on other important things uh

039other important quality of life issues. One talking about housing. We're certainly currently in the same boat that you are with looking at u raising revenue to help support gap financing for uh neighborhoods and starter homes in our community. and we just broke ground um two weeks ago on the first phase of uh affordable or workforce housing uh at the residents at Sunrise Crossing. So again, uh Dr. Brown and the school board, thank you for the leadership in this because if not for you, it would fall on our shoulders as well. Uh Indiana University Southeast has projected Madison and Jefferson County to continue to grow, which we have every year since 2020 through 2030. Uh and so as as we start to look at what we need to do to continue to support that, it's a

040number of quality of life issues and our destination Madison is certainly uh taking on that in terms of retail and restaurants and housing and our parks and recreation. And again, this is a key component to attracting and retaining talent in our community. We currently have hiring underway with a number of our top top industries and exciting opportunities coming uh with more uh and more economic development opportunities coming. Madison is on a renaissance. Uh we're here at the right time with the right leadership to make the right choices for the future of Madison and I uh wholeheartedly support this project. [Applause] Okay. Okay. Is there anybody else in the audience that would like to speak on this matter? If so, please step forward and sign in, please. Okay. Seeing none, we'd like to thank everybody who

041participated in the hearing. We appreciate your time and interest in the project and the future of our community. Please note that this is just the first step in the legal process. No board action is legally required at this hearing. Rather, this hearing is solely to hear public comments. The board will continue to work with the administration and its professionals to look at for efficiencies to conserve tax dollars while meeting our educational needs. The board will hold a second public hearing on this in this boardroom on April 16th, 2025 at 6 PM. We'll adjourn our preliminary termination hearing. Thank you everybody for participating. Move on. will call to order our meeting and ask our principal from Anderson Elementary, Miss Shelley Marshall, to step forward, please. Welcome, Miss Shelley. Thank you. Good evening. Make sure we've got

042this set. Hold on there. I surround myself with great people here. Uh, good evening. Thank you for allowing us to be here this evening to share about Anderson. Uh, for those of you that don't know me, I am Shelley Marshall, Anderson's principal, and I am here tonight with Adam Jones, our assistant, Lydia Rearen, our behavior coach, and Jesse Zarat, our literacy coach. So tonight we're going to share with you about our journey so far at Anderson in 2425. And being that I was a new leader um and that we had a total of 22 new staff members at Anderson with new initiatives on the horizon, we felt that we had to create um an area of focus to ensure our success and to sure ensure that we could move forward. So our big areas of

043focus became strengthening our school culture, refining our systems and aligning our arrows to the district. We knew these areas were very important in for in order for us to move forward. These areas of focus helped shape our school goals and that centered around the idea of safety and well-being, academic achievement and growth and recruitment and retention. So jumping right into celebrations, I am proud to say that a 100% of our staff have participated in one or more of our whole school activities. And that is one thing that we felt was very important, strengthening our school culture and coming together. So whether it was the Christmas parade, Cubfest, Fall Fest, or the other activities, everyone has pulled together, and that's been a a very important part of of our school culture. Um, another piece that we're

044very proud of is our house program at Anderson. Um, and the house program was there before and we felt that was important to continue that. Um, you can see in these pictures we have our whole school assembly um, and staff working with students and then we also have our breakout sessions. Um, and those um, are the the breakout groups within the house where we get into uh, groups for kindergarten through fourth grade. We talk, we uh do TBRI activities um and then we do nurture groups there. So, it's just a great opportunity for us. Another thing that House has done that we're really proud of is that um they had a penny war and they raised over $1,400 and our students gave a portion of this money to a house school in North Carolina that

045was affected by Hurricane Helen. We really wanted to um teach our children how to give to others and that was just an important and fun event. You can see they got to celebrate by pie in the face. All of us, we had a fun day that day. Um, and then the other thing we'd like to celebrate as part of strengthening our school culture is just a lot the engaging activities and opportunities that we have for our students both inside and outside the classroom. So whether it's the egg drop associated with the novel study um or our K through four that went to the movie theater and our preschoolers got to have a big screen uh movie as well at school or the STEM project, we are really we're committed to providing those activities for our

046students. Um also whether it's bringing in therapy drugs for our students to read to or the petting zoo or the local fire department, um our students are always engaged. Another celebration for strengthening our school community that we were proud of is our book blast opportunity. And this year we raised over $20,000 in the book blast which equated to over $3,000 um in books. And every single student in our school ended up with a book and that was really important because that's what we we wanted at our school. Um last year I think it was what about $15,000. So we were ahead of the game on that. So very happy with that celebration. Um and also as we got to celebrate earlier tonight, we want to celebrate our teams at Anderson. Uh our science bowl team,

047as you know already, placed first in the district and sixth in the state. So we're very proud of them. You got to meet all of them tonight. And our archery team we're so proud of as well. Hopefully we'll get to celebrate them later as well. But they are ranked they ranked fourth in the state in Ibo and 10th in the state in bullseye and they are heading to nationals. So we're super excited about that. Um we also have other teams that we celebrate and we just uh love the work that they're doing. Our math bowl, our spell bowl, our gardening club, running club and robotics. These are all things that we are doing um at Anderson. Of course, we're also very proud of our staff. Um, and two special staff members that we wanted to

048celebrate uh were Alyssa Bronner, who was our uh Anderson teacher of the year, and then Lynn Neil, who is our operational employee of the year. She's our clerk. So, we're very proud of all of our staff and just wanted to highlight these two tonight. Um, and in addition to the strengthening our school culture, which was one piece that we wanted, we also felt like it was important to refine our systems and align our arrows. These guys are going to talk a little bit more about that tonight. But what we have done is we've been very intentional with our behavior and our academics through in tier one, tier 2, and tier three. They're going to talk about this. Um, and this has happened through our MTSS process, through our PLC's, through coaching cycles. Um, and we

049are very, you know, proud of the work that they're doing with that. And again, they're going to talk about that. The other piece is that we've res refined several of our systems. And I'm not going to share all of those tonight, but I did want to highlight our dismissal procedure. Um, because safety is one of our number one priorities in our school. And we changed our dismissal procedure from inside or excuse me, outside the building to inside the building. We had a team and we felt that was very important. So, that was just one system that we changed that we're proud of and the kids took part in that and um we just wanted to share that with you tonight. So, we'll jump into school goals. For sake of time, I'm not going to read

050all of these to you. You've got them in front of you, but these guys are going to share. So, I'm going to jump right to Miss Lydia Rearden. Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much. I'm excited to highlight how our team is building a more responsive, compassionate, and safe environment for all students, especially through the space that we have created. It was this time last year we had a dream of a behavior coach, and here I am one year later. So, I'm really excited. So, our goal being student centered and supporting positive behavior is to implement a sustainable and proactive support program that's grounded in TBRI in Boytown. So overall, our goal is to reduce office level referrals by 30%. And reduce the amount of students that are coming out of class and not

051able to return. We want at least 85% of our students who become disregulated to have a safe place to regulate and then return to class for learning. So what is the restart program? Well, that's something that we've created as a school. It's meant to be a relationship centered restorative behavioral system that is designed to give students a fresh start. We want them to we want to redirect them. We want to reconnect with them and we want to rebuild the system around. So we have created a program essentially that is grounded in principles that has a consistent way to respond to behaviors, a calm and supportive space to reset that emotional regulation, a relational approach to address the why behind the behaviors. And that's where TBRI has become a major asset for us. And we want

052to provide skill building to help those students reenter class successfully and learn the skills that they need for the future. So why does restart and behavior coaching matter? First, it's an intervention. It's not a consequence. Students don't need punishment. They need connection, coaching, and consistency. Restart was created with a clear mission to provide a calm, supportive space where students can reset emotionally and return to learning. It's not about removing students from the classroom. It's about helping them re-enter a classroom in a regulated, ready to-learn state. Whether a student needs five minutes out to breathe or have a structure structured problem solving with an adult that they have rapport with or they're building connection with, we're meeting them where they are. Restart is designed to meet their needs. So, what happens in Restart? It starts with

053a referral. A teacher reaches out because the student is exhibiting behaviors that is disrupting the learning of their peers. The team responds. We help co-regulate. We reflect together and we repair that rupture. Then the big piece, we reenter and we restart our learning. This is the whole purpose is to give them a fresh mindset and an opportunity to restart. We've seen students that use this who need frequent breaks, begin to self-regulate, and then learn that they have the opportunity to use their voice. One student noted that recently restart helped me calm down and I figured out what to do next. This is the kind of growth that we're fostering at Anderson. Emotional intelligence, independence, not dependence. I hope to continue in my role, partner with teachers to implement consistent strategies and also help them co-regulate

054with students in the moment. Teachers are not doing this alone. We are walking the journey together. So, I have some interesting data that I will share with you. The first this is our referral frequency and it just highlights the growing impact accessibility the restart program has had. As you can see since August we had 138 interactions. We've seen a steady increase over time. This upward trend reflects not just a rise in referrals but the positive interactions that we're providing as well. November onward suggests that restart is becoming a trusted and embedded part of our school cult culture. a positive momentum we're seeing in a testament to the strong collaboration between staff, students, and our team. Here you'll see a referral frequency in terms of grade level supports. So, as you can see, it's very important

055that we provide early intervention. And you can see with first and second grade, those are developmentally appropriate times to teach students the skills they need to practice in real time in the classroom. With that, we know that when we provide those interventions and support, students are able to access their education in the classroom and they're ready to use the tools that they have to learn. We are providing several different types of services. Currently, you can see that we have preventive pushin, response pushin, pull out support, sensory, and positive alternative. Currently, we're sending about 43% of pull out, which is great that we're recognizing that those students have needs. But the other amazing piece is 27% of that is preventive pushin, meaning we've already created interventions for a large population of students that are getting in

056the classroom and meeting them where they are in the room. This reflects our commitment to providing targeted strategies and guides our goal of being preventative, re relational, and restorative. We hope to see an increase in push in. So restart, it's a fresh start for everyone. The most important part is that this work is about helping the kids feel seen, safe, and supported. I am very grateful to be part of the school community that prioritizes relationships and restorative practices over punishment. Thank you for believing in our vision for every student who walks through our doors. Thank you. And now I'll hand it over to Mr. Jones. Welcome. Our second goal at the school is focused around student academic achievement and growth. So our goal is to increase our I read and I learn math scores by

057at least 10%. So we're going to do that. We're going to monitor our students progress and we're going to improve our instructional strategies like targeted um small groupoup interventions. So we'll be able to track those goals through our state testing which we've already kind of gotten started with. I read. We start our iLearn next week. So, we're we're encouraged and looking forward to showing what we can do. So, for those who don't know what I read is, it's a state test that assesses students foundational reading skills. It's given to predominantly third graders. Um they they they're allowed multiple attempts for this test. On our first attempt this year, we hit 59.7% pass, which is a nice, it's almost double what we got last year. So that's 49 students that passed the test on the first

058try. We will continue looking at their small groups, target interventions. We will regroup, find those deficits that uh they're they're needing extra support in. We are projected by the end of the school year to hit 79 to 89% pass rate which is a nice increase from the previous uh two years. Now like I said this test is predominantly for third graders. However, second graders are able to take the test. We do similar interventions with second grade students. Um, this year we are able to pass 37% of our second graders already, which is another 12 students than we had last year. Those 33 students will not have to take the test next year. They've passed it as second graders. They're good to go. Now for iLearn for math. So this year we've adopted a new curriculum

059in reveal. This new curriculum offers data tracking. It offers online assessments. So the students get immediate feedback so they can um that they know what they need to work on, what they don't know. And then they also um offer engaging uh online academic games which is which is nice. We always want to try to find different ways to get them engaged in all kinds of learning. So the previous three years you see a steady increase through our math scores. This year we're very excited and hopeful that the use of these engaging games, the the automatic feedback, the exit tickets will help us even um surpass that 10% mark that we want to increase in. So although the the state test really focuses on third and fourth grade, we know that the it doesn't just start

060there. We look at our kindergarten, our pre-K. We have a lot of foundational um skills that we want to teach to those younger students. We will do that with solid um tier one instructions, but also in K through four, we have tier two and tier three interventions um that they see on a consistent basis. Same concept. We test them. We we look where their deficits are, and we really try to meet them where the students are to try to close that gap. All right, Jesse Zarret, our literacy coach. Hello. Thank you for having me tonight to share our goal three, which is staff recruitment and retention. Our goal is that by the end of this school year, our school will increase staff retention by 20% and fill 100% of open instructional and support positions by

061the beginning of the 2025 to 2026 school year by implementing targeted um recruitment strategies, enhancing onboard processes, ongoing professional development, and increasing staff support and engagement initiatives. This goal supports our commitment to building and maintaining a stable, skilled, and supported team that reflects our school's mission of cultivating student success through strong relationships, consistent practices, and collaborative and responsive school culture. How we support and grow Anderson staff and connect with the community. First, um we participate in different events such as Cubfest. We have a structured new hire program and mentorship programs. We have quarterly TBRI surveys and we promote professional growth opportunities through coaching cycles, PLC's and professional development aligned to staff goals. We also recognize our staff contributions through weekly recognition and PLC's and monthly recognition at our staff meetings. Here's a glimpse of our

062new hires that we've hired this year at Anderson Elementary School. and we have added more coaches to Anderson in our district in the last two years. Last year we utilized our STEM coach, Jennifer Coen, and myself, Jesse Zerat, as our literacy coach. This year, we have also added coaches like Lydia Rearen in our behavior position. We have a TBRI coach, Michelle Stewart, and we have a college and career readiness coach, Megan Welty. Throughout the K4 grades, all grade levels have worked with at least two coaches this year. And as a personal growth, um last year I served as our literacy coach and I was in 16 coaching cycles. And at this time right now, um for this school year, I'm in 42. And our STEM coach, um has currently been in 52 coaching cycles at

063Anderson Elementary School this year. Um this is reflective of some of the literacy and STEM coaching cycles that we've had at Anderson Elementary School that have tied novel studies to a STEM project and really just transformed our hallways to make it a really cool learning environment. We have also been working together as a school to represent Anderson at at events such as our fall festival, spring fling, and Cubfest. As a building, we have also created a fun learning environment around literacy, including two book fairs, book blast, and a coaching cycle book raffle to gift books to teachers in coaching cycles. Anderson Elementary has been seen around the community at the holiday parade and the Molly Dutello race. We have also had many opportunities to invite the community into our building to explore learning in unique

064ways, including the fire department for fire safety and community leaders for guest readers. So, we touched on PLC's earlier. Um, I just want to stress the importance of the PLC's. These ear early releases on Wednesdays have allowed our teachers to have time to collaborate, um, and improve their collegiality. Um, that was not something that was offered previously. They really have to have that time to dig in, look at their data, understand how to use the data. Um, this allows them to improve their instruction as teachers and professionals, which translates into student success. um we we're looking at our interventions, making sure that the data points to where we need to look at, not just a broad group. We are going to really target and be intentional with what we want to do. Um and it

065really improves and increases that concept of this is these are our kids, not my kids in my classroom. It's my grade level. If I see someone struggling in another classroom, I will tell them how I've done or been successful with that strategy or I will offer support to maybe even take that student into my room during interventions because I have students that are similar um or have similar deficits with that student. So, it really has improved that collaboration and created a nice team within the grade levels which has been just tremendous for us. Here are some quotes from our teachers sharing the success and excitement of the partnerships through PLC's and coaching cycles. And here are some more. As you can see, these partnerships have led to deeper and more meaningful conversations and collaboration within

066an and I'm so thankful to be the literacy coach and be a part of those PLC's and those conversations with our staff members. Thank you, Jesse. And thanks to all of you guys uh for allowing us to present tonight our future plans at Anderson. Here are the next steps. We hope to refine and strengthen our tier one instruction in all areas. We are going to prior prioritize self-care for staff um and deepen our TBRRI knowledge and Boytown knowledge. We hope to expand our student centered coaching. Uh we hope to share the work of our behavior coach with other schools, not just oursel. and we've that process. Um, we hope to review and refine schoolwide procedures. We intend to provide professional development opportunities to all staff. And we hope to continue building a strong, positive school

067culture at Anderson Elementary. And that's our story. So, thank you so much for allowing us to share. On behalf of the board, we'd like to thank our Anderson family for coming and speaking with us tonight. I think your enthusiasm for what you're doing and your school came through loud and clear. Thank you guys. Very good. Yeah. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, uh, we did have the air down, but we turned it back up because Mr. Lawhead was getting a little chilly back here, but we would like to invite him to the podium. Mr. Lawhead, our high school principal. That's a little ongoing joke. Mr. law heads generally on the warm side and and our staff up here is generally on the chilly side. It's a battle of the thermostat. Who wins? Well, whoever the

068boardroom's named after, I guess, is going to win that one. So, probably Okay, I can't seem to get this to go to full screen, but this will work. Um, appreciate uh being here. I appreciate that we were supposed to present last month and I was unable to be here. Um, so I appreciate uh the opportunity. you don't get it. Um it was cool to see all the the kids that get uh honored and all of the little future scientists. Um and then it's cool to see what Anderson's doing. Um but I also know that means it's probably a long night, so we're going to be as quick as we can um with our presentation. All right. Thank you. That's Josh, our IT guy. Let's let him Thanks. Um the culture of MCHS has been is

069an evolving um positively over the last few years. Um each incoming cohort of students um affect that, but it's currently the students that are there that drive the the culture of the building. Um faculty and staff of course play a significant role in shaping and and reinforcing the culture. So when we thought we sat down and we thought about our celebrations um we're thinking about uh the focus on the whole student which is the academics, mental health and the personal growth. Um our mantra to high school is the quality of life beyond the diploma. Um we want to give you the skills and the um knowledge to choose um the quality of life after you leave high school and not left not let life choose it for you. Um you do all those things and

070the graduation will happen. Um so our celebrations are focused um on um the sort of on the personal side right so we have our sources of strength which is a uh studentled group we currently have 58 students in that group um and 19 adult uh sponsors um they do campaigns they do uh lunchtime campaigns they have posters along the wall uh that all focus on strengths and not weaknesses um that growing um consistently and they do it at the junior high as well. So, um, it sort of feeds into our program. Um, Coach Morrison talked about the Polar Plunge. Um, for the second straight year, we have raised more money than anybody in our region for our Polar Plunge. Um, I've done it every year except this year, and I caught a little grief for

071that, so I guess I'll do it again next year. Um, our student council and our student athletic council are a significant part of the culture of our building. um they they know that they can come to us, we can have these conversations if they there are things that they need changed. So um that there's sort of this open dialogue and they've often said, "Can we meet with Mich Lawhead?" And we meet with them and we we discuss those things. Um our pep club is um almost entirely studentled. We have sponsors who assist with that, but when you come to one of our pep rallies, it's the the students that are leading the pep rallies. Um and then the unified bowling which you saw earlier. Um so uh the unified bowling is kind of a you

072know it kind of hits you in the fields right because there is this coming together. Um and we did and we've done uh we just did a state march state walk for them and um and just to see that and to see students give of themselves for other students is uh heartwarming. Our goals as we move forward um are so the district has been doing um several initiatives over the last couple of years. We're doing focusing on MTSS, we're focusing on PLC's, uh we're focusing on the TBRRI. Um, and each of these elements kind of work together to um, build sort of again that culture that we're wanting in our classrooms. And we want MC, we think MCHS is the place to be. And we want the students and the parents to feel that way,

073too. On the academic side, um, our goal, one of our goals is to reduce the failure rates in core courses by 10%. um the the mad rush at the end of the senior year to complete some courses or to duplicate English classes because courses are being failed. Um we want to hit that sooner than later and we want to incorporate that um in into our MTSS which we'll talk about more here in a little bit. Uh we want to create we this year we've been working on creating a baseline for um student engagement. uh the school improvement uh plan committee uh when we kind of drilled down the accessibility um affects the engagement affects the desire to be there affects attendance um and then to maintain an employee retention rate of at least 90 which

074is right at the indust industry standard. So how are we going to do these things? Um so to ref reduce the failing rates of course cores of core courses by 10%. Um we have these targeted interventions um data analysis uh through the PLC's um addressing external factors that are affecting students which is the TBRI approach and then the classroom strategies to support struggling students and again we'll go into more details of these things. Uh the creating the baseline for student engagement. Uh so the goal is then going to be for the 25 26 to increase student engagement by 10%. So what does that mean? Right? So we're going to provide u viable access to curriculum resources which was when we drilled down that was the baseline for all of these issues right is student engagement.

075Um we're going to do that through student surveys uh participation rates and then through our classroom observations. Every observation that we do focuses on uh Schmoker's uh basic elements of instruction um that u that then lead to uh the engagement piece. The student the teacher retention rate of 90 uh% this year. We we have two teachers that are going to leave us um both by retirement. So, we don't have anybody who's running for the door and um we've already started the process to um to interview and replace uh the areas that we need to but other than that we have no um speculation of any sort of a turnover there. Um we do that with retention strategies, professional development opportunities. Uh we have a weekly TBRI for teachers during their prep period uh where they

076can go and uh do a nurture group um with our TBRI district TBRI coach who comes into our building uh once a week. Um and then uh faculty satisfaction surveys that we conduct twice a year. One of them is districtwide and then we do one um in our building. So um you guys have probably heard most of these because these are district initiatives right. So um our driving success is um based on th these premises right the MTSS multiple tiers uh multiple tier support systems uh TBRI trustbased relational intervention the PLC's are um professional learning communities and then instructional rounds and I have with me today um where are my teachers? Uh Mr. Kenny O'Brien and um Miss Connie Arowwood who will talk about that here in just a little bit um on what the

077instructional rounds are. Um purpose of the MTSS, it's a three- tiered approach to identifying students with a need. We have an attendance piece, we have a um behavioral piece, and then we have the academic piece. So, what we did this year is we we met with our teachers uh monthly. we discussed what are some of the issues in the classroom um and one of the issues was a lack of turning in assignments and work. So now what we're doing is we're running uh data um every couple weeks and students who are failing then now get to have a meeting with um an administrator um a counselor and the teacher of the course that they're struggling in and then we develop a plan for that. All right. So Brandon, so I'm Brandon Fry. Um, depending on

078when this was depends on my title. So um, so at the time dean of students and now I'm at the junior high helping out. So, so um with the MTSS um we're looking at uh the purposes and the focus. Um we start looking at the three pillars that we're looking at the academic support, attendance support and behavior and discipline support. So I'm going to cover the attendance and behavior first um and then we'll go from there. So, um, few years ago, um, before I started, um, the high school and the junior high partnered with the, uh, Jefferson County, uh, probation department and Judge Moat, um, and started working on some, um, attendance criterias, um, and getting their support on the back end to make sure students are at school. Um so last year we started

079the program um where um with the JCAST which is the Jefferson County alternative alternative to suspension program. Um so instead of out of school suspension um it's a place for them to go so they're not just able to sit at home and play games. So uh that partnership was started under Judge Moat last year um or was it the previous year? Yeah, last year. Um so um that has helped tremendously in helping some of our discipline data. Okay. So um as Ronnie was talking about, one of the things that we started working on this year is partnering up an administrator and a counselor to teaming up for uh to work on students um with behavior modifications and what their goal may be. So um each one of the one of us administrators was partnered with

080one of the counselors um and we worked out so we had to help um reduce the case load um and be able to focus on students specifically. So going back to the attendance um this is what our attendance look like. Um the first one that on the top is this year's current and it's the uh first and second seme I'm sorry it's first and second quarter and then the one from last year. So we can see that um all absences um last year or this year was 209 um but unexcused at 67 down from 120 unexcused. So what happens um when a student hits five days um a our attendance clerk meets with the students, gives them what the expectations are um and what will happen at 10 days if they miss the total of

08110 days. And at 10 days a student can lose their driver's license um and um then they are sent to probation as well. And probation does their part as well. So, um, we believe now that we've had a consistent person who is making those contacts is really helping bring those numbers down that we're seeing. So, only having 67 students that are between that five and nine absences compared to 120 last year in just the first semester um, is a major decrease in our number and has helped a lot. and um and it's just been that focus where we've actually been able to follow through and go through it and the probation department really has um kind of got involved in really making sure if those students need to they put them on contracts and then

082go from there. So um so that's the attendance part of our MTSS um and what we've been looking at. And then also for our behavior um you'll notice the last three years of data for first semester uh the 22 23 23 24 and 24 25. Um you'll notice that the OSS's are down. We contribute that some of that to potentially being the JCASP. Um and then just having some um those um focus on students and like narrowing it down and being able to get things quicker. Okay. Uh you will notice that the ASDs um has gone up the afterchool detentions. Um that is a contribution to the cell phone policy. So this year we had to establish a uh well we had a cell phone policy but with this new state law we really like

083changed it and started um offering more um disciplinary action if having the cell phone in class uh with the state law saying they're not allowed. So that's why you'll see the increase in after school detentions. So because that was the action that happened with those. So um it wasn't a fluke. So we saw that drop and then it went back up. But we wanted to point that one out specifically. Um and then so overall um let me oh I think I went too far. Yeah. Um so in 2223 there were 834 disciplinary actions in the first semester. Uh last year there were 421 and this year at 467 and that 467 were contributing to that the cell phone and but a major decrease in the last two years. we went from 834 to um and

084then 467. So we're pretty I mean we've seen some decreases every year. So that's all all these different factors that we're putting into place. So and next up is back to Ronnie. It is getting hot. It is. Um so touch again on the multi-tered systems of support. Um, you know, we talked about the the the academic side. I I mentioned that we run that data that we have those meetings. In those meetings, it's important that teachers um feel like they receive direct support where it's a a team. Uh when we're talking to the student, it's not the student versus the teacher and the student's mind. Um we have conversations um about we ask the students like what's happening? Why are you struggling in this class? What can we do to help? And we establish a

085plan right there in that meeting. Um, one of the uh the plans could in include what we are doing is a lunch study table. So, um, our lunch or cub hours is what we're calling it. We have um half of that is um cub pride time and the other half is lunch. So, uh, we're doing a lunch study table where the students go get lunch, go to the learning commons, and then they have um assignments they can make up that they've been missing that they can do while they're um in the lunch study table. which is why it's important to have the teacher admin and everybody at the table for that first meeting because at that meeting we can say okay what assignments can be made up and what are the what are the most

086likely assignments right um so uh the lunch study table is uh we've not really gotten to um get on a roll with this because of the virtual learning piece uh we we developed this idea in term two um and then in term three uh we started off with a bunch of virtual learning to start with and then we've had some virtual learning term four. Um but we're still we're going to keep hard charging on it and establish that. Um you know I'm I'm being told that there are students out there that are like I don't want to have that meeting with lawhead and I'm like I'm cool with that. Um if that's your motivation fine, right? Um just so that uh um get that stuff done, right? Um we have some teacher testimonials. that I

087think are on here somewhere. Um I won't read all of these, but um happy to share with this past semester saw the lowest number of senior failures in this first semester that I've ever experienced in my time working with students. This plays a crucial role in keeping these students on track for graduation. Um I have one student struggled to turn anything in since our meeting. He's made up some missing work and has turned in four or six assignments uh since midterm. Uh that is a vast improvement for him and he's passing now. Again, we want to catch him early. We want to build this sort of culture of um it's not about the work, it's about the learning, but you have to illustrate that and sometimes that's through the work and uh we can't do

088that if you're not turning things in. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dan Grill. Thank you, Mr. Lawhead. Um, let's see here. We're gonna keep going back a couple more slides. All right. So, um, what's what's pretty cool, um, is not only, right, we're we're Mr. has been talking about the MTSS and and right that's really focused on um students that are are struggling right and that is super important but I get to talk a little bit about what what what's going on like for um some of our um AP students um we have some here um tonight as well um so a little bit about uh we did start the MTSS and the working lunch uh late term two um we we were able to to work with some seniors um

089there was just a a small decrease in and fail failures data that we looked at with term two course failures. Um we kind of started that in November, December. So just a slight drop uh with some of those students. Um and then uh as we uh started to have our MTSS meetings, we have had now at this point probably uh 400 plus MTSS meetings. So that's administrator counselor that we shared earlier, teachers there, students there. So that's a lot of meetings. Um, and it's really cool as an administrator, um, to sit down and have those conversations, right? We don't always, um, have time to do that, to sit down with a teacher, with everybody present, uh, and work together on, um, a plan for student success. Um, so that's pretty awesome. Uh, term three, uh,

090when we looked at some early failure data after some of those virtual learnings, um, so about mid January, um, to, uh, right before spring break, we did see a decrease, um, of 39.8% 8% in the number of courses where there were failures. So, so that dropped uh tremendously. Um now, do we know if that was solely because of our MTSS meetings? Um I think it played a role, but we also are going to keep doing this every term. Um so we can compare that um as we take this finish out this school year as well as heading into um next school year. Um when we look at uh some of the other things going on that our students um um have the opportunity to be involved in, uh we have a fall and spring testing

091day. Um and that is a lot. We have a lot going on on those days. Um so the the fall testing day uh we're looking at uh 10th grade and 11th grade. They're participating in the PSAT NMSQT. Um and we have freshmen doing community service that day. Uh we also um had a career fair going on for seniors um that that John Shudy helped um kind of put together. Uh there were uh that career fair, not only seniors were able to attend that, but we had all grade levels come down and visit that. So um it was probably when uh Mr. Lawhead was assistant principal that we shifted over as a high school um because the testing day um when we did switch to the SAT um being a school day test, it would disrupt

092the whole day. Um, right. So, can we change it just for those that group testing? So, what we ended up doing is is is, um, making sure we were purposeful and intentional what we were doing that whole day. Um, so, uh, the spring testing day then has our, uh, juniors taking the SAT and the freshmen are doing the PSAT. Uh, there's also community service in the spring. Um, as well as, um, we had a, uh, uh, career discovery meetings for our seniors. I know they were super excited uh, about that. We had six rotations. Uh but we did meet a um statemandated um uh piece that we had to um accomplish with our seniors where where every senior had to be involved in a um career discovery meeting that lasts 30 minutes and the the

093group size had to be uh six or fewer. Um so to get every senior involved in a six or fewer a small group with somebody that's qualified to do that and you become qualified by the state saying you're qualified and it can't be anyone within the high school. There's all sorts of little um hoops we had to jump through. Um but uh we were able to work with our our student services team and Janelle Smith um and Megan Wely with college career readiness coach um to really um make something super beneficial for our students there. Um so we've got some work to do as we with the data is up there. Um but there's some progress that we're seeing um and I'm excited to see how now that we've established when we're taking the PSAT,

094when we're taking the SAT, we'll be able to continue to track where we're at with that. Um and um and then it was really cool that we were able to touch 18 various locations for community service. Um there were over 30 um community partners in the fall um that were present for our community um or career day and then we had six rotations of community members in talking to our seniors. um AP. Um also, uh it's been interesting to see, you'll see that the average score, um last spring on our AP, um was a three. Um so a a three, if you score a three on an AP exam, um that is um considered a qualifying score. So it could um put you uh in good shape to earn college credit, maybe not have to

095take an introductory level course at the college level. Um, it also is is a a nice thing you can put on uh your brag sheet. Um, as we sh switch gears over to uh TBRI, um, we've talked about that a little bit. Uh, once again, that's one of those district initiatives um, at the high school. Um, looking at what are we doing to support our teachers? What are we doing to support our students? Um, and then along the way, really trying to make sure we're building those connections and those relationships. Um so a few things with um with our teachers district ride what every teacher is going through that process. Um and what we talked about with some of our teachers is is really helping with that classroom management high structure high nurture environment. Um

096and and then also focusing on our staff who work with our highest need students. So, um, our special education teachers, our counselors, and providing them with a little extra support on, um, on the process of nurture groups, um, which, uh, we have started some groups. We're hoping to roll a few, uh, nurture groups out this school year still, um, so we can develop what that cub hour looks like and how nurture groups can play a role with high school students um, as well. Um, trying to build those daily interactions, that classroom management, student engagement, and and we really want it to be embedded in just what we do. Um it was kind of trial and error with TBRI last year. Um our students may recall we tried to do some lessons with high school students

097in our Cub Pride classroom. Um that was um a bit challenging um uh with with the older students. Um so what we really found out was um really doing that in an organic way um makes a lot more sense and it is embedded in in things that our teachers are doing on a daily basis. Um so I did touch base uh touch a little bit on the nurture groups. Um we do have a sensory room. Um all the um schools in the district have a a sensory room I believe. Um uh pretty cool. At the high school we had over uh 155 visits to that sensory room. Um uh that was um that was about a month ago. I haven't checked the new data. Um uh one example we have Mrs. Sprung, one of our

098special education teachers, meets with a student every morning. Um and they go through um kind of that daily affirmation or morning meeting. something that you might um hear take place like in in like the elementary classroom. My son's at Anderson. They talk about their morning meeting. Um and we're able to do that in maybe smaller groups or with individual students at the high school really focused on those students that that need that support. Um as we kind of finish up before I turn it over to Mrs. Upurch. Um what is pretty cool at the high school and is awesome to be able to present when Anderson's here as well um is like you know you talk about like those those are like our kids right your kids are at the high school too um and

099it it's pretty neat to see um you know our students do so well on the SAT or the PSAT um or the AP exams and then they're you know Lily scholars um and all that and that's all because of of the work that happens districtwide um and part of that work that's happening districtwide and we're super excited about um to see that consistency continue to to support our students at the high school is is the PLC piece. And that's what Mrs. Upurch is going to talk to us about. Thank you, Mr. Grill, and thank you to the board for having us and listening to our presentation in regards to the great things that are going on at the high school. So, the purpose of PLC is um is multiaceted. Yes, it is a district-wide initiative

100that creates a collaborative environment where teachers can work interdependently to really improve student learning, but it's not really just about the meetings. It's not just another meeting. It's an involved process where teachers um reflect on lesson effectiveness and they increase student skill development by really having time to sit and have really rich conversations about this was the lesson, this was the assessment based on the skill that I intentionally planned for. It either hit the mark or it didn't. Now what? Now how do we intervene for this student to get them across the finish line for specific skill skills? And at the high school level, there really is not time within the day where our our high school teachers have time to get together and have those collaborative conversations. It helps teachers identify specific students lessons

101and skills and intervene early to catch them before they fail. Um how PLC's work, they um are focused on specific skills and standards. How do you move it forward? Yeah, technology is not my friend, especially not Canva. So um so how PLC's work the teachers do intentional planning and um each week they teach more than one skill but there's a specific skill that they highlight during the week and they take data to determine whether or not students met the mark that they had planned on. Um they are very focused standards and they're assessed within the week. This leads us into the data driven decision making piece. So I'm going to turn it over to Mr. try is there okay? So uh during the data driven um making process basic a teacher will uh they analyze

102their assessment data from the week uh to determine what students are struggling and then what they're doing is they're taking um what they're struggling with and what support is needed and they take it back to that PLC uh and have that collaboration with other teachers um in their areas. So like the English department is with the English department. So it may not be a like when they're focusing on that skill, they're not talking specifically about students. They're talking about their data and what worked and what didn't work. So they're using that collaboration with their other staff members and their colleagues and having those discussions, those meaningful discussions where then they can get feedback from others to help like improve um and what they need to help with either the interventions um or the um the

103interventions and then also um the um extended time for extra activities as well. So they're they're really using that time, that extra time to be able to collaborate with each other um and what helps to help improve all those scores that we're talking about for everything. So um so that intervention planning time is what's the most critical part and that PLC time. Um it takes the shift, it moves the shift from like the external factors that a student has to the internal like what we can change. So that's the big part of that as well. So let's up that. So then the impact of PLC is it encourages the proactive problem solving and accountability um for students and teachers. It strengthens collaboration among teachers and improves the instructional effectiveness of our teaching staff. It leads

104to better student outcomes through targeted interventions in the response to teaching. We have implemented a strategy that's called instructional rounds. As Mr. Lawhead had presented earlier, we have um teachers that are going to present um the instructional rounds. So, Mr. O'Brien and Miss Arowwood. We're going to be super fast because I know you all have been here for forever. Um I'm going to explain what they are and then Mr. O'Brien's going to tell you um the positive feedback that we've gotten. So, instructional rounds are just for teachers, created by teachers. Um the four of them have nothing to do with it. Um all we do is ask for subs and Mr. Lawhead always says yes. Um but we are the ones who are organizing everything and planning it and um putting it all together. So

105we went to professional development um a few months ago and Dr. Warick who works like with Marzano and a bunch of really other incredible people on creating high reliability schools. He said one of the best things you can do to make your school better is to make your teachers better, which makes a lot of sense. Um, and one of the ways he said you can do that and not really have to put in a lot of effort or time or money is by letting teachers observe teachers. um putting teachers in each other's rooms so that they can see all of the really incredible things that their colleagues are doing and then steal those incredible things and do them in their own classroom. Um so that's what it is. Um Mr. O'Brien and I just ask

106for volunteers basically and we have volunteers of teachers who let us come in and observe and teachers who want to go and do the observing. Um, and then we schedule it all and get it organized and he'll tell you the positive effects we've seen. So, I've been lucky enough to uh lead two groups through this so far. One of them was a group of was a group of veteran teachers. Another one was a group of completely new teachers to our district. Uh, when I led the completely new teachers through the through the process, one of the things that they picked up on when we were in the classroom was engagement. and they we instantly had a discussion on engagement and then they can now go to two teachers that they know in order to find

107out more on how they keep their classes engaged. Uh in terms of the veteran teachers, I followed up with one of them and they've already mentioned that they've had a couple collaboration lessons with the teacher across the hall, something that they've never really ever done. So we're already seeing that positive impact of collaboration and um teaching strategies as well. So thank you. Thank you. So I'm going to talk about the um select the alternative learning program. What is select? Select is an alternative learning program that's within the high school. It truly wraps various interventions and supports around students from honor students to credit recovery students. We have identified 14 interventions that we use to create flexibility within our school community. Those are on the board. um to either accelerate learning for those who are behind

108or who want to graduate early or to schedule around a student's preference that would not traditionally fit in their seven period day. So on the chart um you will see like student agency voice um 93.22% of our students receive that intervention who are in our program. flexibility and scheduling. 81.36% of our students have that intervention within the program. Some of our students want to take a lot of electives. They're in multiple pathways. So, in order for us to be able to get in some of their course subjects based on the seven period day, we can do those in select periods one through six, which allows them to take some additional elective courses that they would not otherwise be able to take. Um, here are some data for our select students. Last year, our 2024 senior

109cohort group, we had 59 seniors at the high school that were receiving interventions in the select program. Total credits earned at MCHS from this student population was 682 credits. A total of those credits that were in earned in select were 280 of their credits. almost a third of their credits to graduate were earned in select. The total average periods in select were about 2.5 um periods. We had 16 honor students, five general diploma students. Three of those general diploma students were fifthyear seniors that we brought back um to finish them up. One fifth year senior finished all of their core credits but did not finish their pathway. So, they did not graduate. um just due to lack of pathway um and there were two withdrawals to homeschool this year. Our 2025 data, the grade level

110focus has shifted due to success and credit recovery last year. Our juniors last year earned credits where they became on track to graduate and they are now enjoying classes out and they have a lessened senior year um for course load because they did credit heavy credit recovery last year. This year our program is made up of only 24 seniors. We have 48 juniors, 21 sophomores, and 19 freshmen. Total credits scheduled at MCHS is 1,664 credits. And of those for these for our cohort group this year, um total of those credits that they are earning in select is almost half. 797 of those credits are in select. All right. So the the future of MCHS, we feel like we're definitely headed in the right path. There's been a lot of work um at the district level

111and then in our building with our teachers um even with our students um and shifting and the like I said the culture and um so we're heading in the right direction. We want to continue to strengthen PLC's. We're aware that that's a pro process and it takes some time uh to really tighten those up. um expanding the studentled innovations um again supporting the whole student continues supporting the whole student and uh again prioritizing the quality of life beyond the diploma and if I've said that once to a student I've said it a thousand times um we want to give them the opportunity when they leave here to decide what that quality of life is and not let life decide that for him. Uh we want to continue to build on the select program. That is

112our our biggest tier 2 support. Um in the past, as Miss Upurch has said, in the past, it was mostly juniors and seniors to try to get them caught up. Um now we have the opportunity. Earlier this year, uh we had a couple of freshman students who um at the end of term three mathematically were not going to be able to pass uh a couple of classes. we're able to pull them out, put them in, select, and at least get them started on some of that credit recovery. Odds are that they're not going to recover those credits just in one term, but they can continue that on into next year and continue um and then recover those credits um to include first semester so that we don't have them doubled up and tripled up. Uh

113I tell students all the time, you know, I'm an English teacher. I love English class. There's no way I'd want to take three of them in a day. And so if we can help them with things like algebra and um uh English um the sooner we can help them then then the more that frees that up. Same with work-based learning is going to be a big part of the new diploma uh the pathways um and so forth. So it's no longer just the core classes and then these elective classes and you give up the elective classes to make up the core classes because now you have to have your pathways too, right? and you have to have the opportunity to go out and do the um the workbased learning. Um response to teacher feedback. Um

114teachers over overwhelmingly asked, "What can we do to help students before their senior year?" Um you know, we had a hard push last year. Um about this time last year, we had 54 seniors who were in jeopardy. Um I think we had 20 of them were select seniors and all 20 of those uh graduated. Um and I think we only had two that didn't and they were uh virtual students out of out of all of those. Um so to strengthen the the select program and use that as our big tier two. Uh keep enhancing PLC's and the MTSS and and sharpen those up. And um the MTSS again that's we're we're building that culture of uh I'm not going to wait and do nothing for four weeks and then try to get it all done

115in the next five weeks. Right. U prioritizing self-care and emotional awareness uh developing and retaining young teachers uh through mentorship programs um breaking down the walls at the secondary level. It's very easy at the secondary level. This is my my department. This is my subject. This is my classroom. and we're breaking those down with the PLC's with the TBRRI and the MTSS to have these conversations. Um uh and I think I need to shout out the early release piece because at the high school that was by far our biggest obstacle and um we were really able to make it work once um Dr. Brown and we and we pushed for that that early release. Once that happened, that really benefited us. Um, focusing on instructional instruction and maximizing instructional time. Um, so again, we do

116all of these things. If we do all these things well, the diploma will take care of itself. Um, so the focus doesn't have to be graduation. We tell our teachers graduation rate needs to be very back here in the back of your mind, but it's not the foreign most. If we do all of these other things, well, that's going to take care of itself. So, we took a little longer than we were supposed to, but Thank you. Very, Mr. Lawhead. Thank you. And your staff. [Applause] Are teachers still here from the high school? Are they they Okay. Just want to compliment them on that program. I think that's very important that they go in and study each other's classes and uh some of the best ideas I ever had in my life were somebody else's.

117So, that's it was that's a good program. Thank you guys very much. Okay. Okay, now we'll move on to our consent agenda. 25101 is approval of agenda of the April 9, 2025 regular meeting. 25102, approval of minutes of the March 10, 2025 work session executive session in March 12th, 2025 regular board meeting. 25103, approval of payments and claims. 25104, approval of financial report. 25105 approval of construction payment which is Colt mechanical pay app number 2261- 12542 high school HVAC upgrades for 18,525. 25106 is approval of the personnel report. 25107 is approval of the donations and grants which include to the district the community foundation donated $420 to the food for students fund. A community foundation donated $800 to the prek program endowment for Madison Consolidated High School. Alorn, Sage, Schwarz, and McGrath donated $250 for

118after prom. Royer Corporation donated $10,000 to the athletic department to be used to support the MCHS joining the Mids Conference. And the community foundation donated $4,500 to the Special Education Department. 25108's approval of the field trips. Uh, we have an overnight field trip request from high school science olympiad coach Shelby Green to take 12 science olympiad students to be northwest on April 4th and 5th, 2025 participate in the state science olympiad state competition. Dr. Brown, I recommend the board approve with one motion and one vote the consent agenda items 25-101 through and including 25-108.1 as presented. Okay. Thank you. board to entertain a motion to approve 25101 through 25108. Make a motion that we approve the consent agenda. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Do we have a second? I'll second. Chansy with a motion and a

119second. We have any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor of approval, signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Agenda is approved. Any public comments? I would just like to introduce and welcome our new school resource officer, Mark TR. Um he's here tonight I believe with his family and we want to welcome Mark. He has 25 years of experience uh with the Indiana State Police and he's going to be joining us in in short few weeks. So welcome to Mark. I'm glad you're here. Any tips? I was a SRO for about eight months. Mark I give some insight but no we're very excited to have you. Um Looking forward to it. Sure. Yes, Cody. While I'm here as the lead SRO and I'll talk about that briefly. Um the SRO, we work on the triad.

120The triad is law enforcement. Mark brings 25 years, 19 of that being with the SWAT team, um with the state police. Uh when we go to the mentoring and counseling piece, I have to look at his children. Uh Tracy TR is a second grade teacher at Anderson. Uh Landon with his athletics and academics. Um I'm excited to see him go uh to the next level. And then we got Izzy. She's a freshman, but he cracks me up each and every day. The mentoring, counseling, law enforcement side, and the educating piece. He also brings um he's a instructor as well with the state police. So I'm very excited to have him with our team. Um and I can't wait for him to start. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I would like to say something on behalf

121of that, but I want to say also that a lot of people don't know this, but where I work at, he actually came and helped us with our active shooter program. And because there wasn't a whole lot out there with factories and stuff, so he came and actually helped us set that up. So happy to have him on board. Yes. Bring a lot to our school. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to the action portion. 25109 is the approval to purchase devices. Dr. Brown. Yeah. I recommend the board approve the purchase of student devices for 2025. We need to purchase 450 Chromebooks and 475 iPad iPads along with cases and warranties for the next school year. The purchase will replace our aging devices that are on the four-year refresh cycle. This year's Chromebook costs will

122be for will be 239,796 from Electronic Strategies Inc. and the iPad cost will be 315,540 from Apple. So asking the board for approval. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Entertain a motion to approve 25109. I'll make a motion to approve 25-109 and a second, please. I'll second. With a motion and a second, is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any oppose? Motion passes. 25110. Second reading on the adoption of MCS policy 5223, release time for religious instruction. Dr. Brown. Right. I recommend the board adopt MCS policy 5223, release time for religious instruction as presented. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Entertain a motion for approval of 2510. I make a motion to approve 2510. A second, please. I'll second motion a second. Is there any discussion? See no discussion. All

123in favor signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Motion passes. 2511. The approval of agreement with Norton Health Care for the healthc care school. Oh, my Okay. 2511. Okay. Oh, I got a different copy. Sister 2511 is the approval of a me memorandum of understanding between MCS and Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson County. Dr. I recommend the board approve the memorandum of of understanding between MCS and the Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson County to provide extended summer learning opportunities.