001[Music] Okay, I will call the August 19th, 2025 Lanesville Community School Board of Trustees meeting. Earlier, we had exe executive meeting and there was no official action taken. Board members, you have received the agenda in advance of tonight's meeting. You have had time to review research and consider the matters to be voted on tonight. Board members, do you have any questions or concerns to be addressed before we proceed? >> Nope. >> Okay. The first the second item is pledge of allegiance. algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Item number three, approval of minutes from the July 15, 20125 board meeting. I make a motion we approve the minutes as they were sent
002to us from the July 15th meeting. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. The next item is approval of the claims for the month of August. Could I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make a motion we approve the minute or the uh claims. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Motion passes. Next up is principal's report. Happy midterm week everyone. Hard to believe that we are already at quarter 1 midterms. Um, but we've been super busy launching a new ELA series and just kicking off the year. A lot of the elementary begin the year with just setting up good routines, building
003relationships with our kids, meeting our families, and so we've just been really busy um just kind of getting to know everyone. Um the first nine weeks is really moving fast. Um we worked hard to implement our new um reading series. Um and also this week we've also kicked off our win block. when is what I need. Um and so this is just a time support. This is a time designated um to support our students in ELA and or math. So um your students will be a group. I'm sorry for that. Paul, you need me to step back? Am I good? All right. So sorry, maybe I'm eating the mic. My bad. So um but title one high ability services and all of us combined to just kind of meet all of our kids where they
004are to provide small groups and interventions based on their data. So, some of that could be intervention with title services. Some of that could be working with teachers so that you have more time to digest or to learn or to problem solve. And then also some of that is working with our high ability um program with Bethany Miller. So, I do want to give her a shout out. She's been working really hard. Last year I gave her the challenge to dream big. Lanesville's done a lot of good things for our high ability kids, but what else can we do? Um and so she's been working to add that. So, this week she's launched. She's got a good program set. We're sending information out to our parents this week so that they'll know a little bit
005about it, but we're super excited to challenge our kids and to provide rigor and some new opportunities for that group of students. Um, in addition to that, our goal this year at the elementary is to just meet and to support our families. Um, so we really want to make sure that we are really focused on communication. So, we are really trying really hard. Um, if you do have community events or there's anything that we could add to our newsletter, um, anything that you have and you could send to us, we would really appreciate that. Sometimes you all have church organizations or civic organizations or activities in the community and sometimes there's an assumption that we all know. Um, but but we're not. We also have a lot of new families moving in or kindergarten families
006and so they're looking to the school to kind of be the hub of communication. So, if there are any activities out there that you would like for us to promote, we would love to be able to attend and to send that information out through our newsletter. So, please just email it to me or Elena Thompson. Um, and then we'll make sure that we get that out there as well. Um, parent teacher conferences are coming up um September 11th. And so, that's also a great night for our parents to come out and for communication to happen between our parents and our teachers. Um, so that will be on September 11th. Um, and then this year too, um, Mr. Miller and I are also offering um open door night. So, we're going to have this and this
007is just a designated time where the principles are available so that we can meet and greet families. Um we hope that this time is an opportunity to if you have a question, if you have a concern, if you have an idea or if you have a celebration, um it is amazing when parents come in and call or talk to us about the great things that their kids are doing. Um we also then give our shout outs to the teachers. But this open door night is just really an opportunity for us to meet and to talk and to learn from each other and to see how else we can enhance your child's education and what else we can do to kind of help. So we're super excited to start that. Um our first night will be
008September 16th um from 5:30 to 6:30. Um and so it's going to be kind of like old school like professor style. We'll be here and as you come in um we're happy to talk with you and be available for whatever you need. Um so sorry Paul. Um but anyway, in addition, we also are starting something new tonight. We really have some things to celebrate. So, we have two teachers tonight. Um one at the um that wants to celebrate something that has happened here at school. And then we also have an award winner amongst us. Um and he would like to share a little bit about his um award monetary that is going to support our robotics program. So, at this time, could Mrs. Boon and Mr. Kramer come up and they'll share their shoutouts. I
009think if you get close that's when it like bubbles. I'm sorry guys. Oh, sorry. And also Darcel McLean. Sorry. I brought pictures, photographic evidence. So, we did a back to school activity that was supposed to be about teamwork. And each kid got a piece of a string that was attached to a rubber band. The idea is you pull open the rubber band. If you pull as a team, get it around your solo cup, your red cup, whatever color. And then you have to build a tower with your cups. So whenever the first team won finished, you know, finished first, you'd think they'd celebrate and they kind of did for a minute, but what was great about it is they split up and each person on the team went to another team that was still building
010their tower and cheered them on. And by the time you got to the last team that is putting their tower together, suspense photo first, the suspense in their faces was tremendous. just to see. They were so excited. They were like, "You're almost there." They were so excited for that last team to build their tower and to officially have the whole class have built their towers. And then the second picture is their reaction when they finally did it. They were just so excited. So, it was supposed to be about teaching them teamwork, but it was more about me learning how awesome our kids at Lanesville really are. Thank you. >> So, um, Mrs. Mlan and I applied for a um SAM Techch Cares grant back in May. >> Yes, >> in May. And um before I
011talk about what we got or whatever, um SAM Tech started their SAM Tech Cares program in 2018 and they gave away $300,000 that year. Um, this year they gave away $710,000. They had 125 applications and they awarded 24 grants. So, we are the only school that received a grant from Sam Tech Cares. And the amount of I forgot I I know it, but I'll make sure I get it right. $16,217. So, that money [Applause] So, that money is going to be used in Mrs. Mlan's classroom for the most part, and we're going to buy um some AI robots and some VEX IQ robots, which are a level up from the robots that you've seen here the last two years. And then, um hopefully we'll be back next month with another announcement that we hopefully will
012know about on Friday that will blow up our robotics competition teams. Um, but Darcel's got >> Yeah. No, maybe. I don't know. Challenge accepted on that, too. Watch what you ask me for because I might we might get it. Um, but that we we did go today. Um, we were at SAM Tech at the end of the school day. Um, and went through that process and received the grant and received recognition along with the other 23 local um, charities, several food banks, one other afterchool program. Um but yeah, so we are very fortunate to have gotten that and we got our tigers. So we get to register our tiger and name our tiger and then if we do all that they donate to the wildlife fund for tigers also. So um just a really fun
013experience to be able to be involved and and have that 16,000 $217. So most of that will go in the classroom. It is also we we've got a board that we're a riser that we're going to get that will hold our competition board that lets it flip up and wheel out of the way. And then we also have um it'll be toolboxes for when we have our competition team. We can travel with toolboxes and not have to carry stuff >> and mention we were able to network today. >> Oh yeah. So we met the the founder of Maker 13 and you might have a bus parked in your parking lot for a month if challenge accepted again that we might have some maker buses. Sorry, you don't know this yet, Mrs. Holder, but I might
014have a bus in the parking lot that you keep saying that. I'm going to keep making you need more room. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you. Excellent job. Hard to follow that act, but I'm going to give it a shot. Um, welcome. Good evening again. We are school's up and running. Fall sports are going on right now as we speak. We have a volleyball game happening. Um, this past week we did senior parking spots got painted. I don't know if you've had a chance to look at those spots, but the kids again for the second year in a row have done an amazing job. Much better in my mind. Much better than I thought it would go in my mind. Um, I'm always just surprised at the talent that these these kids have. Um,
015I also appreciate that it's a community event and so parents come out, you know, brothers and sisters that know how to paint and know how to do art come out and they help with those things as well. And so it's it's really cool to see that. Um, special thanks to Megan Hodgej for for helping to organize that, make sure everything went super smooth. And then we also have just an outstanding group of student council um seniors who it's just like we had last year and I got lucky, you know, and I'm sure it's this way because Lanesville kids are awesome, but we we I can give them tasks. Miss Hodgej gives them tasks and you just know that they're going to get them done and they're going to get them done um with fidelity and
016purpose. So, it's really nice to know that we're in good hands there. Kelly Winsow also did a really great job creating a video. If anybody's seen this, it's a drone video. It flies over. It's got a little soundtrack to it. Um, it's really cool and it kind of it kind of showcases what we we we can do. Um, we're coming up on midterms already in our first nine weeks. First couple of weeks have went really well. Um, I did want to say the addition to the assistant principal has helped out a tremendous amount in the office. that has helped um with all kinds of a number of issues, discipline, organizing tasks, the things that um especially in who we hired, Audrey Brown, um have really helped make that office run smooth and efficient. We're starting
017a new program, an RTI program that's going to be up and running. So RTI stands for response to intervention for our home room time. So some of those uh the kids will be in different rooms going into rooms that they need where they need help at. Um it's a program that is ran um student the teachers pick students. They're based on identified whether a student has a bad grade. Basically eventually it's to identify missed essential standards that put students at grade level in Indiana. And so if if a student's struggling a little bit with an with an essential standard, they're going to get pulled into those rooms where they're having those difficulties and in some cases rettaught or reworked on those standards. So that's a really exciting program that we're running. Um Dr. Holder described
018the open door nights. So I just wanted to make sure that we understood that. Parent teacher conferences are from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Um and that was September 11th. And then one celebration that I want to mention is that we are ranked um US News and World Reports out of the 437 schools in Indiana and the nation every year. They explore reported numbers based on students that take AP exams, proficiencies in math, reading, science, and graduation rates. We are number 14 in this Louisville metro area, this district of all the schools, which puts us in the top 25% of all schools in Indiana. And we are the highest ranked school in our county uh in this report. Uh Cordon being 23rd, South Central 26th, North Harrison 30th. Um and again, we're 14th. So we're,
019you know, we're doing good things here. That's that's a really good metric for our teacher highlight. I want to point out um a trip that Senora Hajj took with some students to um the Dominican Republic part of a summer part a service project a field trip that you had approved earlier in the year. Um and so Megan, if you want to come up and explain a little bit about that. The students get to use their Spanish in real life situations and it's really for a great cause. So, I will yield the time to Megan. >> Okay. Uh, Megan Hajj. So, professor EU teach the Spanish here. I also do high school student council and it's an honor to be here. I have two very awesome young men to my right. Uh these are two individuals
020who went on the trip with us and this was a pretty big deal because we did many of these service-based trips precoid but when COVID happened obviously we needed to put a lot of the travel and a lot of our service to be honest like to a halt. Um, a few years ago we did a trip to Costa Rica with if you remember um, like Ellie Schneider, Ma McKenna Magnner, like some of the older they graduated a few years ago and we did it and it was a touristbased trip through Costa Rica. One adventure after another. It was great. Um, but we were definitely missing the element of really getting into the culture and getting to use the language and really just build that rapport and have that fellowship. And um I learned about project
021mana uh throughout the community and we just kind of really touched base with the director and it just fluidly moved from there. Um you know where there's a will there's a way and there was definitely a will not just with me but with the students who wanted to make this happen. And I have Tegan Mills wasn't able to be here this evening but I told her that I would read her statement on her behalf. Um, a lot of the group that went, they literally just left for college last week. They're leaving tomorrow or like many of our leaders within this building, they play sports, uh, or they work essentially the hours of an adult. So, um, with that being said, this is from Tegan. She said, "At the meeting tonight, if I were there, uh,
022I'd probably say, through the incredible opportunity, I got to go to the Dominican Republic. I got to not only learn more about my friends at school, but more about this world and its culture. I got to use my teamwork and communication skills in so many ways. I believe that this trip truly opened my eyes to what's going on in the world around me and made me so grateful for what I have and for what I can give. I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without being able to use my Spanish that I have been practicing at school for three years. Our Spanish program, Senora Haj and Project Mñana, has truly shaped my life and I can't wait to see the impact that this has on younger classes and my younger sister here
023at school. So again, that's from Tegan Mill. She's one of our seniors this year and definitely an individual. If you know her at all, she's a very positive spirit and she is a go-getter. Um, and then I just wanted to share, I literally put it on my keychain. I showed them moments ago, but we have like these little white pieces that we were able to keep as like a keepsake. Um because one of the pieces that we got to do was deliver essentially like two gallon buckets um with a water filter and we got to deliver them to homes in the areas in which we were working that were in need and just talk about impact. Talk about opening your eyes. Um also it was like my students really got to use their Spanish one-on-one
024and embrace the people. Um, and I just wanted to say for for everything that we learned and are grateful for, one of the biggest things that I took away was just seeing the joy. Um, sometimes we here in the States can get really really caught up in the materials. Um, and sometimes we lose the core. And when we were in the Dominican, although we saw lack of materials and resources, what we did see were people with huge hearts full of joy who were so enthusiastic about every moment that they got to breathe. And I kid you not when I say that that was the majority of our experience there. Um, and it was just so cool and refreshing to bring back to here because I do think Gainesville is a lot like some of the
025places that we've traveled. Very warm culture about the relationships, about the family. Um, and I could go on and on, but I'm going to turn it over to these two. >> So, so yeah, I'm Alex Morris. I'm a senior here at Lanesville. Um, and I actually this the trip was actually life-changing. It was amazing. And, you know, it solidified me going um and doing a minor ma ma a minor or a major in Spanish um next year in college. But it also taught me a lot about myself and my confidence. You know, being able to go up to um somebody that I've never met before, that doesn't speak my language, that's a totally different culture, and be able to talk to them and understand them and have this conversation with them. you know, ask them
026what their favorite color is, how many siblings they have, you know, how old they are, what grade they're in, you know, how's their parents, you know, it's life-changing. It builds your confidence. It it teaches you how to go out in this real world here and bring it home and be able to communicate and walk into somebody's um a place of work, you know, or an interview and be able to confidently tell and stand your point and stand your ground, you know, and share your life and your experiences. It was awesome, you know. It's cool to use my Spanish. I never got to use my Spanish like that. Um, and it was cool to like go out to these what she talked about the water filters. I got to show how a water bucket was used
027as a water filter that could change their life for 10 years plus using my Spanish. You know, as they're in tears because it's so life-changing, you know, they've never had ecstases this clean water before. And I get to do this and change their life, but not only change their life, use my Spanish and connect to them on a such deep level. It's uncomprehensible and I absolutely love it and it was amazing and life-changing and I would say do this every year of my life and it even um making me look at applying to Project Mñana for an internship this coming up summer for a month or two. Um but overall it was absolutely amazing. I would do it every chance I ever could again. >> Uh I'm Logan Spiker. I just graduated from Lanesville this
028past year and uh I'm a freshman at Uvel now and I'm double majoring in Spanish and nursing mostly because like this trip made me realize I wanted to al do Spanish. Um I thought it was like really like pretty life-changing. I um making uh talking to people in a language that I never really spoke before other than in class and holding conversations and like through the water bucket I kind of spoke Spanish my whole time. I had a hard time doing it, but um yeah, I did. Um um so like yeah, I thought it was really awesome. And um he's up here speaking in front of all y'all. So that is a round of applause in itself. >> Uh >> you were great. >> So yeah, and to me my favorite part was uh this
029we did BBS with the kids and doing it. um made me realize how much I want to do like pediatric with my uh nursing uh and help little kids and like help people who struggle. So yeah, [Applause] >> next up is the superintendence report. Thank you. And thank you to everybody who uh showing off the wonderful things that happen here at Lanesville. Uh for a small school, the things that we do is truly amazing and kind of blows my mind a little bit. And somebody that's got two younger kids coming through here, I'm I'm excited to what might happen for them. Uh first thing I really want to do though is thank somebody who's not here um that started working with us late last year and has made a tremendous impact on our school community.
030Um, Miss Aaron Shingleton is our technology assistant. Uh, and I know that she's taken a big load off Mr. Hancock, but those of you that come to ball games over the last several years, you saw her as cheerleading sponsor, and you saw the the hard work that she put in there. You saw the tenacity that she had for that. Uh, and she does the exact same thing here with our technology department. Um, she has made a huge impact, made things run a lot smoother for all of us. Uh, so I just wanted to make sure that, you know, somebody behind the scenes kind of gets a a shout out here today. Um, next thing I want to talk about is we are in the midst of doing a great number of safety improvements here at
031Lanesville. Uh, within the last several years, we've put in some panic buttons at various locations uh for staff members if it's ever needed, and you hope and pray that it never is. Um, we've got some sound equipment uh throughout the building that if heaven forbid something ever happened, we would be able to u pipe that into uh dispatch and they could hear what's going on. Couple things that are in the works right now. One has already started, one will start later in September. We are currently putting a safety film on our windows and doors. Uh, and it's actually happening tonight. They they put it on my office today. They've done the high school office, the elementary office. They're doing all the doors first and windows. Uh I've got a demonstration here to kind of show
032you what it does. And it truly is amazing. But it's another another level of safety for our kids. Um and it prevents um people from entering. Sometimes you've seen whether burglaries or or or something horrific. People will break through, they will shoot through glass, they will do those things. Uh, and so this really kind of helps that situation. Um, and that's the first thing that I'm going to show you guys. And so it'll be up here. [Music] Can you guys see that? Okay. There. Is it not on there? You to you. Now we're into a minute and so that is a great added layer of safety for us. Um it is something that will be invaluable and you hope and pray that you never need those things but if you ever do you want it.
033You see he's still beating on it and beating on it and beating on it and again now you're into almost a minute and a half where we can organize ourselves give police a chance to get here. Um, and so, you know, for us here at Lanesville, safety is the number one priority, and this is another another aspect of that. Uh, the next safety thing that I really want to highlight is, and for those of you that are that have been here, we've talked about it before, but here in the next month, the uh installation of our strategic project is going to be starting. that will give every staff member, whether you're a coach, uh, cafeteria worker, custodian, teacher, principal, whoever you are within this building, or it even goes out to baseball, it goes to
034soccer, track, tennis. It gives anybody the capability if they need somebody immediately. And here in a kind of cell dead zone, it is imperative that we're able to do that. Uh if you have an emergency, you can click the button and we'll go through training with all of our coaches, teachers, staff. It's got a button on it. It doesn't go off accidentally, but you click it and you just keep clicking, but really the numbers eight times. It immediately gets dispatched and it gets dispatched here ASAP and they know exactly where to go and it hones in on exactly where they need to be and it'll show the the the classroom number, it'll show the gym, it'll show the soccer field, baseball, wherever it's at, it goes right to it. Uh, and it lets it happen.
035If you click the button three times, it doesn't call dispatch, but it lets every administrator know administrators need it. And it gives you the room number. It gives you the exact location whether it's in the cafeteria, the common room 211 or whatever it is. It lets you know immediately. Uh it also has some other features that is are wonderful for us and first responders. It gives us a clean map where we can put every fire extinguisher, every pool station, label everything well, uh what doors have key cards, what doors don't. So it does all that for us. We can do all of our evacuation routes on there where they're nice and clean. Uh so it truly is wonderful. Uh every school in the county um are are installing this here this fall. Uh we're one
036of the first to get it in and get it going. Uh Me County, our neighbors to the south have had it and it's been valuable for them. Uh and they'll go through some of the things here, but they've had uh student athletes that have collapsed out on the football field at practice. Coach was immediately able to hit that button and just kept hitting it. And it this it let everybody know, let the police know, fire department know exactly where they needed to go. It saved a lot of time. Um so that is something that we are are truly thankful for and it was through a partnership with emergency management in the county uh the school corporations and Harrison County Community Foundation. And so the initial installation uh and the first year of operation with the
037exception of we're doing some PA uh where we've got to tie it in completely paid for. Uh and so it is something that the county did um together and it will serve all of us Mr. Hancock. Why I do not have [Music] I hate technology more than anything. I'm glad you're here, but I hate it. Any idea why again it was on a different one. It's not on there though because it slid that to a different tab. Do it again here in a minute. [Music] 911 situation with the student teacher Michelle Miller and other staff We have great I've been that just not the greatest response I've ever seen. That is an example for something like medical emergency. >> With just three clicks, this nondescript badge can tell administrators, school resource officers, nurses who pressed
038the button and exactly where they are down to the room number. Me County Schools is the first in Kentucky to use this kind of technology. >> We just empowered over 600 teammates to respond to everyday situations and worst case scenarios. >> If a campuswide lockdown is necessary in the event of an active shooter, staff will click eight times. >> Attention please. >> Initiating this PA announcement. >> We are in a lockdown situation. >> And in seconds, administrators are notified by phone. Police are dispatched. >> Clear the halls. Teachers monitors will pop up. This lock down warning. >> Get behind a locked door. Await further instruction. >> And red flashing lights installed all over buildings will go off. >> This is not a drill. Remain in a safe position until an allcle is given. >> Before
039installing the technology, taking those steps would have taken seconds, possibly minutes. Now me county schools can notify an entire campus with just eight clicks. >> Seconds matter in life-threatening situation. This would cut minutes off of the ability for our campus to go into lockdown. >> The technology relies on its own network, meaning if the district's Wi-Fi is down or cell service is out, it will still work. Two private companies and an alum are covering the district's contract, therefore not costing the school district a penny. It is peace of mind. It truly is in me county with photojournalist Josh Horton. Katrina Nickel, WDRB News. So, those are two things that we uh currently have going on. One's being installed as we speak. Literally, they're in the building uh putting the film up. The other in midepptember,
040we'll start putting that up. Uh but with some other safety features that we've put in over the last few years, um it can never be enough, but we can get in as much as we can for those of us that have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews here, uh loved ones that work here. Uh it it's extremely important. And so just wanted to share that with the community, some of the improved safety that we've got going on. Um, next thing I want to move to, we finally now can get into some test results. Um, we kind of put a a big target on ourselves last fall talking about the need to improve test results. Uh, kind of a downward slide in several areas. Uh, is it not showing again? I quit. Is it on there now, Tom?
041All right. And so some of the things that we really put an emphasis on are ELA, uh, and our elementary school. And if you look, and I'll show you where we are and where we were, our third graders here in ELA this past year, of the 20 school corporations that we always compare ourselves with, those in the county, Crawford County, Clark County, Floyd County, Washington County, Perry County, Scott County, Orange County, we were second out of 20. Uh our kids had a pass rate in ELA of 58.73. Uh, West Washington was 66.7, but we were second. Our fourth graders were second at 58.57. They were fifth last year. So, some significant improvement. And if you look, that same group last year was 44.3. Uh, our fifth graders 45.6. The year before they were 42.3. Significant
042improvement. They were fifth of 20. The year before they were 12th of 20. are sixth graders. And I've got one of these kids. 53.44. The year before 44.6. So really a nine-point gain on that. Uh they were fourth of the 20 school corporations. The year before they were seventh. We made very significant gains in ELA in our elementary. An area we really need to focus on is our ELA at the junior high. And we know that. And Mr. Miller and uh Miss Brown along with our ELA teachers that teach in the junior high are working extremely hard to try to get this going the right direction and corrected. Um they were 15th of 20. The year before the same group of sixth graders were ninth and they were 11th of 20 and the year before
043they were seventh. Uh this red that's the state average down at the bottom. These are the two areas we were below the state average. And for Lanesville we can't be below the state average. Just can't. um that I mean that factors everybody in. Extremely hard work are going on right now to get this rectified and they will I have no doubt. Um but across the board total ELA we had a pass rate 48.18. The year before we were 42.6. We were third of 20. The year before as a corporation we were ninth of 20. So right at the middle of the pack. So you can tell even though we've got some work to do here, still made significant gains in ELA. Math very much the same. Our third graders had a pass rate of 73%.
044Beat everybody. Of the 20 corporations, New Albony Floyd, Greater Clark, Silver Creek, North Harrison, South Harrison, Scott one and two, you name it. Beat them all. Our fourth graders 72.86. Essentially the same as the year before. They were second this year. They were second the year before. Fifth graders about a 7% jump, 47.3 and they were 40.4 the year before. They were sixth of 20 the year before they were 16th. Significant gains. Sixth grade 55.17. Those same kids the year before as fifth graders were 44.6. They were third of the 20 school corporations in our area. The year before they were ninth. seventh grade last year. The ones that were sixth grade the year before, 44.6, they were 44.6 the year before. They were second this past year. They were eighth the year before. Again,
045significant gains that we're making. Um the eighth graders 50%. Little drop in their pass rate. They were 66.7 the year before. Still second of the 20. The year before they were first. So, we had a little drop there. Uh but when you look total at math, every corporation around us and all the surrounding counties, we were second of 20. Um well above the state average, well above almost everybody else. West Washington got us by a little bit. We were second the year before, but still when you look at where we were at, significant gains. And then when you look at the combined, you know, we're we're in the same boat. U the third graders were second of 20 when you combine both the ELA and the math. The fourth graders were second. The year before
046they were fifth. The fifth graders when they were fourth graders, they were 17th of 20. That's hard for us to swallow here at Lanesville. They were second this year. Fantastic what they did. Sixth graders combined, second of 20. The year before they were 10th. Seventh grade, we know we had some ELA we had to to kind of work on. seventh of 20 still made gains of a spot there. Um eighth grade, our ELA, we know we still need to do some work there, but still we were second of 20. And then for the corporation total, we were second of 20. Um last year, the year before, we were seventh. So we we put a target on ourselves. We put significant work. Our teachers did a phenomenal job. Our instructional assistants did a phenomenal job. Our
047kids did a phenomenal job. Our parents did a phenomenal job. We move the needle and we continue to move the needle in the right direction hopefully. Uh it's hard to stay there when you're there, but we have to. We we've been at the top before and we slipped and we we can't do it again. And so I just want to thank all of our teachers, our staff, uh instructional assistants, our students, especially our parents who work with them uh on on some significant gains there. I read this past year we were 96.8% pass rate. The year before we were 98.6. six, we were second out of the 20. The year before we were first out of the 20. Um really the difference here is the the smaller class size. Um when you've got 55 kids
048and you have let's say two that don't pass and you have 48 kids and you have two that don't pass, it it it makes the difference here. 98.6 96.8, but still phenomenal phenomenal phenomenal job. Uh well above most in our area. Uh, and so I, you know, our I read rates are are great. Our kids are learning to read. Um, our kindergarten, our first grade, our second grade do phenomenal job getting them wherever they're at and working with them and making sure that they they get where we need them to be. Um, and then lastly, SAT. This past year, uh, our English, we were 63.6% of our kids met the qualifying score. Um, about where we were. We were 62.1 the year before. Math was down a little bit. we were 30.3. The year before
049we were 39.4. Uh and then both of our combined that that met their qualifying score, this is the one they really have to have for that pathway. We had 27.3. We're one of the only people that had kids that um that that passed math and didn't pass English. If you look at the combined scores in most places, they're the exact same math in both. One thing that drives me nuts is we beat North Harrison and South Harrison both in English and both in math, but in the combined they both got us because of like one kid who passed math and didn't pass English. >> Uh and so that that bothers me, but our kids did a phenomenal job. Phenomenal phenomenal job. We're always right there in that area in the top two, three, four. Um
050we've kind of fluctuated on SAT. The first year we took it, we were about 40% combined, then down to about 28, then back up to 36.4, down to 27. And so we're seeing that that's not as alarming as when you see uh a trend that is steady like we talked about this time last year where you see that steady decline. Those waves you can kind of deal with because you know that's kind of student population coming. It's when you see that steady trend where you worry a little bit. So I have no doubt that we'll rebound off of this. Uh we we'll put in a lot of work. They do a phenomenal job of it. Um but what you can see here is over the course of the last year 24 25 school year tremendous
051amount of work was put in both at the elementary and the high school. Whether you're a tested subject or a tested grade or not we put a lot of emphasis on writing and writing across the curriculum. Uh our kindergarten first graders put a lot of work in reading to make sure that they're proficient. And so when we take it as second graders, we get about 66% of our kids that pass it. Then third grade, we can really put emphasis on those kids that we need to get and we get them there. Uh and so I just wanted to make sure that we highlighted this because a tremendous amount of work uh has been done and I put a big target on our back this time last year going through and and but you have to
052the numbers are what the numbers are and you can't hide them. You have to discuss them and if they keep continuing, we'll talk about it and if we have a decline, we'll talk about we'll try to figure out why. But it's important for us to share with the community what those are. Far from what goes on here. You guys heard some tremendous stories about what Lanesville really does. This is just a small part of it. And so don't think that test scores are everything, but they are something. Uh the state is now finally rolling out letter grades again. We haven't had a letter grade since before COVID. It's been the same. All this stuff will factor in. Um the way that schools are now, kids are coming and going. it's a a competitive industry anymore.
053These are things that people look at. And so this is far from what you want to sell. What you want to sell are are the grants that we got or the kids going overseas or any of that stuff. That's truly what kids will remember. This is the stuff that people like me have to worry about, but it's important that we share it. We have to share our whole story, good, bad, or whatever. So, I wanted to make sure that I shared that with everybody tonight. Next thing I want to discuss a little bit. Um, we got finally the the finals on our solar project and we were very very fortunate. If we had kicked that can down the road about another month or two, we would have because of the current federal administration where they
054are cutting uh some incentives, we would have lost out. And so we moved when we did because we needed to. And I I'll point out where that really pays off here in a minute. Um but anticipated year 1 production 477,000 kilowatts um the meter offsets about 35% which means what we spend per year we should offset by about 35% uh from the last year and that will each year go up and up and up as rates go up and up and up. Um so what that equates to the first year what they're anticipating is a savings of $60,000. So, that truly is a teacher salary that we're saving every year just off of that, just off of what we're offsetting because of solar energy. Um, that's valuable, especially now that where we are with property
055taxes. We're anticipating losing between four and $500,000 over the next three years just off of reduction in property taxes. when you move on to 2028 and the local income tax agreements fall off, that's another about 110 $115,000 a year that we're going to lose. Um so this is important. Um the anticipated payback if everything stayed the same would be 17 years. You're really looking probably 13 to 15 because as rates go up then that number goes up the payback will come back. Um, there is and with everything we do here, we've got it with HVAC, we've got it with, you name it, there's a service agreement that's about $6,000 a year. Anything that goes wrong, they take care of it. They monitor the solar panels, they do all of that stuff. So, if one goes
056out, they know it immediately. They can either get it back online, come swap it out, do whatever. Um, the roofing that we're doing to cover those areas. And so it will be where we sit now, the high school gym, the entire long hallway here that goes from the commons to the entrance and the high or the elementary gym to start with. Um the price of that's about $574,000. That's factored in. So we took a couple panels off to pay for that to keep it in the same scope. Um but that's where we're at on that. Uh I think it'll be well worth it. They're going to do that work over fall break. Um, if you've ever been to Kthersville for a ball game, it's the same type of roofing that's there. It's that membrane that
057goes over it. I've been up on that roof. I've seen it. Uh, they've never had any issues, but it's all under warranty. So, if something happens, they come, they fix it. We we checked with that 100%. What that buyback's going to be um is $328,000. And so, again, if we would have waited a couple months, kicked the can down the road, we would have lost out on that probably. we moved when we did, we're able to get that that back and so that will come back to us. Uh that money can be put into our operational fund um that account and that will help offset what we're anticipating losing over the next three years. Now, after that, it won't be there. It's not like it's something you get over and over and over, but it's
058money that's coming back to the corporation. Um and so we're pretty excited about that. So, the the roofing is anticipated to go on over fall break. Won't disrupt school or anything like that. Then the panels go on pretty quickly afterwards. Everything's under warranty. Uh we got verification that the hookups are good, everything's good. Uh and so we're we're ready to move on that. But it is for our school corporation a significant savings on our operational uh side. And that's only going to go up and up and up as we've got and you'll notice here we've got to buy another bus. We got to anticipate here in two more years running a full fleet. Um several of the contract drivers that we still have and we lost about half the last time indicate that that they
059can't afford buses anymore. I bought a bus a couple years ago, three years ago, $112,000. We bought the same bus now for $168,000. That's over the last three years that that's the appreciation on those buses. Uh they've about they've about priced the contract driver out. So we have to pick that up. we have to anticipate that. So when you look at that, when you look at rising utility costs, when you look at all the things we have to do, this project is a significant step for us to to help manage that. So I wanted to give that update to you guys. Uh that will, like a lot of other things, be rolling this fall. Mr. Lynn, I'm sorry that took so long. Sorry for the technology that I know nothing about, but that is my
060report. >> Right. Thanks. Next up is PTSO report. had a really good start this year with the after school bash where we did the closet. Um it went really well with all the donations. So we will be doing that through getting our field trip by the end of this week. Our first will be on September 19. As of right now, we're currently working on organizing feed them here. And then we're also putting together. [Music] >> Thank you. There are no public comments signups. The next item is uh one I didn't think we would ever have to do. I'm just going to read a statement I prepared. I'd like to extend this my sincere thanks to Lyn Powers for her time on the school board. Her perspective as an attorney brought a valuable and unique lens
061to our discussions, especially during policy development when we spoke nearly every day. Her guidance was instrumental in helping us navigate complex decisions. Thank you, Lynn, for your time, dedication, and expertise. The next item on the list is approve the resignation of Lynn P as a school board member. Could I have a motion and a second to approve? >> I'll make Go ahead. >> I'll make a motion we approve the resignation of Lump Powers. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. The next item is discussion about increasing compensation for board members. I will start the conversation by saying um um earlier this year Senate Bill one allow or allowed the school board to increase the compensation up to 10% of
062the lowest paid teacher. >> It has been a long time since we've had an increase in our compensation. Last time we had an increase was about 11 years ago. So we're still getting the same amount. I think it's important that we show appreciation for those people who are on the school board for all the work they do. We don't only attend schoolboard meetings. There are hours and hours and hours of things that board members do that are behind the scenes. So, I think it's only fair that we would increase the compensation at this point in time. And I'm suggesting we increase the compensation to $4,000 a year. Can I have a motion? >> I'll make that motion that we increase school board members compensation to 4,000 a year. >> I'll second the motion. >> Any
063discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I. >> Everybody say I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Okay. The next item is approval of resolution for additional appropriations for 03000 operations fund. It's a B bus purchase in the amount of $168,767. >> Yeah. And what this is is we've got the money to buy it. Uh when you do the budget and bus replacement plans, you put things in there. It's taking a long, long time for buses to get here. Uh we need to go ahead and move on this. uh we've got the money. We just need to do an additional appropriation through the state then to be able to to purchase it. But the money is there. That's not that's not an issue at all. We just have to do the additional
064approation through the budget. >> Could I have a motion and a second to approve? >> I'll make a motion we approve >> the best purchase. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same time. Motion passes. The next item is a conflict of interest for Ryan Apple. >> Yeah. And this is something that I do every year. Um my wife Megan teaches in the corporation. Uh and so every year at this time we do the conflict of interest sheet. Then I upload it into the state into Gateway. Uh it's something because of my position here superintendent uh that I that I have to do. >> Okay. Uh can I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. >> I'll second it.
065>> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Next item is number 13, the approval of homebound pay for Sher Der. Could I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make a motion approve the homepound pay for SH doer. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Motion passes. Number 14, the approval of temporary leave for Heather Smith as instructional assistant 7 through 12. Could I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make a motion to approve temporarily for Heather Smith. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any discuss discussion? >> If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Motion passes. The approval on hiring Sheila Ehalt
066as a temporary instructional assistant 7th through 12th. Do I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make the motion we approve Sheila e-haul as a temporary instructional assistant for the junior high high school. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Approve the hiring of Amy Smith as an instructional assistant 7 through 12. >> I make a motion we approve the hiring of Amy Smith as an instructional assistant for 712. I get a second. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. >> Number 17, the approved resignation of Chelsea O'Neal as part-time cafeteria worker. Do I have a motion and second to approve? >> I'll make a motion to approve
067the resignation of Chelsea O'Neal. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Approve to hire Lori Heiser as part-time cafeteria worker. Could I have a motion and second to approve? >> I'll make the motion that we approve to hire Lorie Heiser as part-time cafeteria worker. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Approve the resignation of Cal Brown as varsity boys basketball coach. Did I have a motion, a second to approve? >> Before I make the motion, may I say one thing? >> Yep. >> K Brown, thank you for your service to our skill community. That being a basketball coach is a very difficult job to say
068the least at any level. And I appreciate you taking on a difficult situation and making it a little bit better. and uh you served our school community with class and dignity and that's all we ask and I and I appreciate that and I'll speak that for the board as well. So with that I will um approve the resignation of Kyle Brown as varsity basketball coach. >> I'll second that motion. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Approve the following ECA contracts for the 202526 school year. Academic BO coordinator Bethany Miller, academic bow coach, high school English. Africa Garlock, academic bow, high school math co- coach. Cynthia Jones, academic bow coach, high school math co- coach. Jason Hudson, academic b coach, high school science. Daniel
069Cox, academic bow coach, high school, social studies. Cal Brown, academic bow, high school, fine art. Heather Perkins, academic bow coach, elementary math, Pamela Toby, academic b coach, elementary science, Bethany Miller, academic bow coach, elementary spelling. Aaron Boone, literacy coach, elementary, Liz Shiger, music director, Heather Perkins, National Honor Society, Darcel Mlan, prom sponsor, Megan Hajj, prom sponsor, Afa Garlock, Renaissance sponsor, Afa Garlock, robotics coach, Brook Kramer, Spanish club sponsor, Megan Hodgej, Student Council High School, Megan Hodgej, Student Council Elementary Co-sponsor, Carrie Roser uh student council elementary co-sponsor Elena Good teacher mentor high school Africa Garlock theater sponsor Sher Sher Derbook sponsor Dalan Ham >> Hampton Dylan >> Hampton >> uh elementary technology coach Brook Kramer elementary technology co coach Aaron Boone junior senior high technology coach Darcel Mlan Rebecca Clutzmire Could I have a motion and
070a second to approve? >> I make a motion. There's a lot of names. I make a motion we approve all those people that you just mentioned for those jobs that you just mentioned. >> I'll second that. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. approve the following coaches for the 2025 2026 season. And I'm going to pull two of them out. The first is going to be Chris Kthers as varsity boys basketball coach. Could I have a motion and second to approve? >> I'll make a motion that we uh approve Chris Kurthers as varsity boys basketball coach. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. And then the other um
071the other varsity coach would be Ben Blackman as high school swim coach. Could I have a motion and second to approve? >> I'll make a motion to approve Ben Blackman as high school swim coach. >> I'll second that. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. And now all the other positions. That would be Chris Van Hus as varsity boys basketball volunteer coach. You will see his jersey right inside the gym. Um Jeff Hammond as varsity boys basketball volunteer coach. Pending background check. Matthew Beckman as varsity boys basketball volunteer coach. Pending background check. Justin Ferguson as varsity boys basketball volunteer coach. Pending background check. Pam Smith as fifth six cheer coach. Miss Shepard as fifth six cheer volunteer coach. Douglas Longest as girls golf volunteer assistant coach. Carrie
072Spencer as high school swim volunteer coach. Miss Brown as or Maryanne Brown as high school swim volunteer coach. Angela Pitman as tennis volunteer coach. Ellie Schneider as varsity girls volunteer. Varsity girls basketball volunteer coach. Ava Kerr as varsity girls basketball volunteer coach. You will see her picture in the hallway as well. Nick Actton as seventh grade girls basketball coach. Seth McKim as junior high cross country volunteer coach pending background check. >> Could I have a motion and second to approve all the other ones? >> I'll make a motion we approve all the volunteer coaches. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? >> Yes. Is Nick? Sorry. Did I say it? Should be Nick Actton. Yeah, >> it is action. It's because if you know Nick, it's action. It's I'm not It's not a typo. >>
073Yeah, it's Nick. >> I'm joking. It's a typo. I'm just >> seventh grade girls basketball coach. >> Good catch. >> Okay. Do I have a first and second? >> Yeah, we we got it. Yeah. >> Okay. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. >> Motion passes. Ryan, before you go on, I just want to thank that group right there. Uh there are a lot a lot of volunteer coaches. To give up your time freely for the youth of Lanesville is a tremendous thing. You don't get that amount of volunteer coaches at a lot of places. A lot of people wanting to give back and and I greatly appreciate it. And coaching is a a thankless job. You're going to get beat up. People are
074going to think you're awful whether you're good or not. Um that's just the nature of the beast. But I just wanted to take a minute and thank everybody whether they're being paid or volunteers for giving their time to our youth. And a lot of those don't have kids that they're going to be coaching. They may be younger, but they don't have kids that they're going to be coaching. So, I just want to take a minute and thank all of those people. And and to echo what you said, Dr. Apple, it's nice to see these young men coming with with children coming uh that have been successful in our program, and that helps too. And that that's a good thing, too. And that's happy to see that. And again, I echo that too because coaching is
075a very difficult uh thing sometimes. So thank yeah. >> The next item is number 22. Approve the following fundraisers. Junior high volleyball to sponsor trivia night on 92025. 2025. Varsity volleyball to have macho man contest. Girls high school basketball to sell ads for their calendar. Ban to sell baked goods and coffees. Ban to sell coffee, specialties, and chocolates. Ban to sell cookie dough. FFA FFA to sell mums. Could I have a motion and second to approve? >> I'll make a motion to approve all the fundraisers. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? >> If not, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Motion passes. The next item is number 23. Approve the disposal of the following. Just a bunch of stuff that's listed here. >> That's good. >> Can
076I have a motion and second to approve? I'll make a motion we approve the disposal of all those items listed there. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I same sign. Motion passes. And I believe the uh next item is additional public comment. Okay. Chip back to the bottom. 2017 our boys won state baseball signage on both ends of town interchange road. Our girls won state two years in a row. There's no signage except what's in my yard. I'd like to see some signage out there for these girls. Also on the gym floor, I'd like to see some signage there. on the gym floor. You go to these other schools when they want to stay there for signs. Go to board, they got when you come into town, they got flyers
077around the sides. I didn't put flowers around mine because I'd probably Anyway, I'd like to see something done for these girls. They put lanes of a high school on the map. They worked hard. I can remember when Joe Hint got the job, him Joe come to me and goes, "Chip." He goes, "These girls can't shoot. They can't pass. They can't." I said, "That's what you're hired for." So, I mean, I made a phone call tonight. I've done I'm sure the school's got some money for it. >> I had a guy told me that he could come up. >> Okay. >> I don't disagree with you. >> We're good. >> But we need to get the ball. >> Duly noted. >> Me, Mark. I'll work with you. >> All you're willing to do is buy you
078a free meal. >> Of course. >> I'll work with you. >> You and I'll do it together. >> I'll work with you. >> We'll put >> No. Okay. Not enough. >> What do you mean? What are you yelling for? >> Yeah. I mean, I'd like to see somebody sign. We got some signs there. start to deteriorate. And if we can take some of these signs that from down the road years ago and put them all on one big >> Maybe the bank could fix that one in front of their place. The one that's deteriorating the bank. You know, >> I know there's always a catch. I know there's always a catch there. I guess you're right. >> Thanks, Chip. >> Agreed, Chip. >> I got you. I'm just I've talked to Mr. powers at the
079town and I think we just need to get a group together because um when when you go to a bunch of communities throughout the state, you'll see a great big welcome to that that town and then right below it are their are their championships. So, it needs to be worked with the town. And the last I talked with Mr. P, he was working on getting a design like a great big design for each end of town. Um but I don't know where that is. Haven't followed up with him in a little while. But I think it's and then we need to discuss about how we're going to combine everything because I don't think we want hurt feelings if we take down some of the signs. >> Well, the town but the town would buy that
080sign and then we then the school would put the signs under underneath because it'd be like it would be coming in it say welcome to Lanesville and then whatever a great big image. Well, it would be down on Heritage and then we the school owns a property up here and then there's already a sign of about four houses down toward you that I'm sure we could just replace. So, I don't think it's going to be much deal with. >> Yeah. >> One way or the other, we need to get it done in the next few months. >> All right. Any other additional public comments? If not, can I have a motion and second to adjurnn? >> I'll make a motion we >> second. >> All those in favor? I I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes.