001Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. everyone and welcome to our school city Hammond school board meeting for Tuesday, May 26, 2026 is our regular school board meeting and we welcome our virtual audience as well. So we will now stand or those that can please stand for the pledge of allegiance to our flag. >> I aliance 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. >> Oh boy. >> We'll now have roll call of officers. Trusty Guerraraa, >> present. >> Trusty Stanford, >> present. >> Trusty Candelera, >> present. >> Trusty Spencer, she's absent. We do have a quorum of four. So we're now ready to proceed with our school board meeting. Mr. Selenus. >> Thank you, Trusty
002Keane. Good evening, trustees. Good evening, community members, staff members. Uh, today our first presentation will be Mr. Daniel Dalton, who will be providing our monthly financial update for the school city of Hammond. Mr. Dalton. >> Thank you. Good evening, trustees. This is our financial update through the month of April. So, through onethird of the year. So, it's a nice little benchmark for us to see how we are looking year to date and uh compares our projection out to the end of the calendar year. So, this first page here is our major funds including education, debt service, uh ne next page. Thank you. Debt service operations, rainy day, self- insurance, and then our title funds. Uh you can see that the education fund through April 30th is is relatively stable compared to where we began this
003year. >> Stable. I like that word. >> Uh debt service. You'll see it's 2.3 million in the hole. That is because it's replenished with property taxes each June and December. Operations fund. Yes, we have um tipped into our reserves quite a bit, about 5 million worth. Um we will also receive property taxes in June and December. And next month's update to you will be very important after we receive our property taxes. Rainy day fund, same as usual, we have not touched it. Uh self- insurance is also looking rather stable. >> Very good. >> Title funds you'll see below. Um I've mentioned this every month. I'll mention it again. These are reimbursement based funds. So we'll spend and then get reimbursed by the state of Indiana. Next slide please. on the education fund. Uh very standard.
004You April looks about the same as February and March with roughly $7.5 million of revenue, which is almost entirely basic grant tuition from the state. And then expenditures tie also with looks similar to February and March. Uh the January expenses were higher than normal, but that was anticipated as we ended December 31st and went into the first of the year. Next slide. the operations fund. You'll see it's a rather uh stable month. Expenditures were actually lower than anticipated. Um next month we you will see a column in May where we will have received our advanced property property tax funding which uh the school district often asks the county to provide advanced funding. And then next page, debt service. All the little bars February, March, and April, those are recurring uh paying agent fees to the
005bond holders, not bond holders to to the um I believe it's US Bank who manages our bonds. Budget versus expenditures. You'll see that the education fund through onethird of the year has about 2/3 remaining. So, that's good news. We're almost right on track in the education fund. Uh debt service just over 56% remaining. That is because we made debt service payments in January. We will again make debt service payments in July. >> So it kind of goes in tandem with when we receive our property taxes. So I'm not concerned about this fund. The operations fund is actually in really good shape as well with roughly twothirds of its budget remaining. Very good. And then the the next two slides are just a month-by-month overview of what we uh actual revenues and expenditures. This is the
006education fund and then our projections from May through December. So, as I mentioned earlier, I believe the education fund is rather stable. The revenues coming in are stable. So, on the last page there is our operations fund. And I'll point you to the top right box there, the yellow box with the red number. That is our circuit breaker for 2026. What that means, and I'll explain that here in a few minutes, is we levy a property tax as a school district. And because of constitutional tax caps, otherwise known as circuit breakers, we don't actually receive every dollar that that we ask for. So there's that's a reduction into our property from our property tax levy. Um, this document here has not been updated to reflect the true number. That was my projection. >> So I'll
007show you what the true number is here in a moment. Are there any specific questions on this financial report before I explain to the board what circuit breakers are >> in more detail? >> No, go right. >> Okay. So, what what is a circuit breaker? Why is it important? In Indiana, they legislation I want to say in 2008 created a statutory tax cap so that residents, business owners, apartment uh landlords did not have to pay 100% of the tax rate. So anything the tax rate here is roughly $35 per $100 of assessed valuation. But for residential uh homesteads, that tax cap is $1 per 100. So there's a buffer zone where if you own a house, you're capped at $1. Everything above that is considered circuit breakers. So total rate is $35. They'll only pay
008$1. That two and a half buffer is our circuit breaker impact which we absorb as a school district. Um agriculture land and rental properties is capped at 2%. The businesses industrial commercial properties are capped at 3%. Um and then there's also these deductions from your homestead. If you own a house, there's these credits. Um, for example, new one created just last year from Senate Enrolled Act number one is the supplemental homestead credit, which is for homeowners. Your gross tax liability is capped or the supplemental homestead credit is 10% of your gross tax liability. And that's capped at a $300 maximum. So, if you received your county or your tax bill from the county within the last month, month and a half, you'll see a supplemental homestead credit line on there. And you may be wondering,
009well, that didn't exist last year. What why is that new? That's because the legislation created it and put it into effect yet this year. Um, other things you may see under tax bill, the homestead deduction, which is a cap at $48,000 reduced from your assessed value. supplemental homestead deduction which is uh has has been in existence for a long time and you apply through that through the county. You can uh there's a senior citizen deduction credit if 65 or older you can apply. So there's a whole number of deductions and credits that ultimately pour into what's called our net property tax liability. That's what you owe when you pay the county your your property tax bill. Okay? And I'll show you here on the next page why that's important for us to understand. So, this
010is just an illustrative example of a typical residential um parcel in Hammond. I just went with a gross assessed value of 205,500. If you factor in your standard homestead deduction, your supplemental homestead, you you reduce your overall assessed value by a certain amount and get down to it was 205,000. Now, your net assessed value is 95,000. You apply that to the uh property tax rate which is $3.7529 per $100 of assessed value. That gross tax liability is what you would pay if these deductions and circuit breaker credits did not exist. But because they do, we have to look at PTRC, which is a rate that the county sets to kind of offset um uh property tax implications, right? Uh so that for this specific parcel came out to $450 roughly. Supplemental homestead credit $25. Again,
011that's new this year, which is a property tax relief for the taxpayers, but quite a big burden for all the municipalities and school districts. And then your 1% circuit breaker credit, $851. So the the the taxpayer ultimately is relieved $1,500 and then the final net tax bill is $2,000 versus the 3500 that we looked at in the middle of that page. So what where there's a $1,500 difference here, right? So what that means is the school district has to absorb that lost revenue by reducing its revenue and budgeting to that reduced amount of revenue. Now, if we look at this last page here, this kind of ties the entire thing together. This is the true impact to the school district. And these numbers we just received over the weekend. So, on the financial report, you'll
012see the um the red number there, total circuit breaker and credits, negative 6.4 million. I had projected 7.5 million. So, we're looking at roughly a million dollars less of an impact than what we had originally projected from um state numbers. uh fundamentally. So this is just the operations fund. You as the board levied a $17.5 million property tax for this specific fund last fall when we built out the budget. >> The supplemental homestead credits as a district is about 752,000 million years. >> Over 65 credits roughly 109,000 123% circuit breakers 5.5 million 5.6 roughly. Mhm. >> And then we anticipate 11.1 million that the operations fund will actually receive based on the 17.5 that it asked for. And that assumes again that 100% of taxpayers actually pay their tax bill collections, right? >> And typically
013we see 90 to 92% for school city of Hammond. So that's a lot that's a lot of information. What I intend to do next month is create some sort of FAQ document, a Q&A where I'll I'll define some of these terms, circuit breaker, um, tax liability, all of that so that members of the public can better understand what we're what we're discussing. Are there any questions on this? >> Are there any questions of the board members? none. >> Hearing none, uh we accept your presentation and we certainly appreciate um the additional information regarding circuit board overview and and helping the public and the board as well understand our finances as we move forward. That is the goal of this board that everyone is on the same page. You know, we might not agree but the
014facts are the facts. You know, taxes are taxes and we appreciate you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Mr. Selenus, >> thank you very much, Mr. Dalton, for that informative information. Appreciate it. All right, we are ready for our student recognitions for our um May 26th board meeting. At this time, I would like to call up to the podium Miss Carla Davis. Where is she? She is our district science olympiad coordinator and she has some fantastic news to share with all of us. Welcome Miss Carla. >> Thank you. Good evening school board pad madame president and superintendent Selenus. Um this year we had um five teams participate in our um elementary science olympia team. So we like to congratulate the teams and their overall. So, in first place, Franklin got first overall. Burns and
015Hicks got second. Lincoln got third. Um Edison got fourth and Irving got fifth. And then we have a special award for a spirit award. And that is where the teams go around and they pick the coaches pick the team that helped the most with the event or donated stuff to them to help with the thing. And then you can see with our pictures, we have um our different um events. There is 18 events. There's 15 kids on a team. So most kids have two events, some kids have three events that they participate in. No bones. And then there is some team members from Lincoln here that I've seen that if you want them to come up so they can show you. They do have their medals so they can tell you what events they were
016in and stuff. >> Thank you. Tell them what you got. >> You can go back to You want them to tell explain it in the mic so everyone else can hear too. >> You guys want to go to the mic and tell everybody what >> what you won. Please, please >> watch those big old steps. They're big. >> All right. What'd you win? >> Um I'm Skye and um I got a medal for um balloon racer. >> All right. >> Wow. My name is Robert and I got second place and third place for graphing and egg drop. >> Very good. >> Hi, my name is Maggie. I got third place in in Balloon Racer, third place in graphing and second place in Bathlan. >> All right. >> My name is Manuel. I got third place
017in Mystery Powders, third place in Canraer, and second place in egg drop. >> My name is Yiani. I got first place and say it again, first place and I'm pretty sure Rockound and then second place in Pentathlon. Woo! All right. So, our students all did a great job and we like to thank the coaches, the staff, all the volunteers. We had team 71, if you notice, they came in to help with the judging and set everything up. And then Donna Cooper was our MC. So, and thank you guys. Let's do our photo op. Miss Davis, can we take a group picture with the trustees and myself? Thank you. All right. One, two, three. Thank you. Congratulations. Taking a big step. Thank you very much. And as we say, we see our kids at the top.
018We certainly appreciate all the parents that are here. Will you please stand up and be acknowledged? All of the parents of the students that are here. >> We certainly applaud you and appreciate the teamwork that it takes for our kids to get to this level. And we're just going higher and higher. Mr. silliness. >> Thank you, Trusty King. So, um it comes full circle, right? We start with celebrating our kids at the elementary level and it comes to the moment of when they end their high school career. And so what happens there? Uh we have students who graduate high school and get their diplomas, earn their diplomas. And we also have exceptional students who become top of the class. And this evening we are going to recognize our saludiatorans and our valadictorians from both of
019our high schools, Hammond Central and Morton High School. So first I would like to welcome to the podium our leaders of our buildings. Mrs. Christine Wheeler from Morton High School, Miss Tamika Harrison from Central High School. If you could please join us at the podium. These are our principles of our high schools. I think uh Mrs. Wheeler's uh moonlighting as a ref somewhere. >> I knew it was something. >> That's that resilience. Exclusity Hammond way. That's the only way. >> Yes. >> Go ahead. I'm sorry. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um our validictorian is Rihanna Bailey and our saludiatoran is Hannah Johnston. Um, we're very proud of these two young ladies. I'm not sure if they're were able to make it tonight. Yeah, they were not able to make it, but we are very
020proud of them. Looking forward to Saturday when they deliver their speeches. Okay. Sentiments are the same at Hammond Central. Um, my ladies are here. We have Miss Annabelle Diaz as our valadictorian. She come up. Can she come up? Annabelle, come up. >> She's here. >> And we have Miss Joy Kakkesh as our saludiatoran. Girl, come on, lady. >> Excellent. >> Speech. >> This is your practice right here. So, uh, ladies, if you could join, uh, your principal here at the podium and tell us a little bit about your plans after high school. >> Um, so I will be attending Indiana University Bloomington and will be majoring in biology. Um, my long-term plan, or I guess career goal is becoming an optometrist. Um, and hopefully one day I'll be opening my very own clinic. >> All
021right. You will. Hi, my name is Joy and my plan is to attend Indiana University Northwest and I want to major in dental hygiene. >> All right. >> I am very, very proud of the ladies. I'm especially proud because they're going to IU. Go IU. I would also like to add that this year's academic honors at both high schools were earned by four outstanding young women. A true example of excellence, leadership, determination, and I've got to give it to them, girl power all across the way in the school city of Hammond. Um, our two young ladies at Morton, Rihanna Bailey, plans to attend University of Michigan and Arbor to study political science as she prepares for a future in law. and our Morton saludiatoran Hannah will attend Ball State University to study psychology. We are
022incredibly proud of each of these students and all that they've accomplished. Thank you for representing the school city of Hammond with pride, distinction. We wish you continued success and we look forward to celebrating you this weekend. Congratulations. >> Congrats. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Selenas for those incredible words which are definitely true. We were able also to celebrate the young folks in our top 20 dinner this past week where we where we were able to uh shake hands with all 40 top students in school city Hammond. So again we're proud of our staff, our parents and of course our students for uh always thinking about excellence. Thank you very much Mr. Selenas. >> Thank you. We have come to our first period of public expression. Uh, Trustee Stanford. >> All right. Excuse me. Please
023remember first public expression is limited to agenda items only. First speaker, Mary Ellen Slaysac. Ah, the budget's not looking too good. I don't like to see all the red on those pages and there's no reason for it. If you've got less, you got to learn to do it less. Uh you don't spend money you don't have and hope for reimbursement. As for the property taxes, yeah, I'm a senior. I get an exemption for that. But um you also got to realize that people don't get a mortgage exemption anymore. Um, also even though I got the senior exemption and all this nice little uh deduction homestead and homestead supplemental, my tax bill was still more and it's hard to live within your means when you got a limited income and uh social security especially that doesn't
024really go up much and what little bit more they give us they take away with Medicare. I have to live within my means. Yeah, I'd like to have the latest and greatest. Um, I don't have a bad vehicle, but I wouldn't mind replace it with a new one. Um, I have to make do with what I have and I have to prioritize. And I look at all the different contracts for this and that and people contracting out and consulting and everything. I'm thinking, "Wow, that'd be like me hiring somebody to clean my house and I can't afford it. Somebody to hire somebody to do my gardening, can't afford it. Laundry, can't afford it." And so on so forth down the line. I think there's enough qualified people in the school city to take over some
025of these things that have been contracted out, consultant for this and that. There's a lot of very very bright, capable people here and they're being underutilized and there's no reason for that. We can save money that way. You can nickel and dime yourself to death when you're budget-wise and it it can flip back where you can be in the plaque, but you got to really work at it. It's not easy balancing things these days. Of course, costs have gone up. You know, I I I every time I open up my NIPSCO bill, I'm ready to have a heart attack and probably so is almost everybody in the audience here. It is a fact of life. So, you got to budget accordingly. You got to live within your means or below your means to make sure
026you got that bumper money on the side if you need it for the kids because the kids deserve the best, but you got to budget accordingly so they do get the best. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, Dr. Michaela. Good evening everybody. Dr. Michaela Spangenberg, Gary Education Coalition. Um, I just want to say I was really happy with the financial report. I like am really glad that we kind of like were very conservative in our kind of idea of how the circuit breaker stuff and previous SP1 Senator Roac won from last fiscal session like would would impact us. I'm really glad. Um, one thing that I would really like to see some like public education around since we're talking about this now is like at the county level, as I understand it, we had
027an issue where like we overdrew something by like 6 million or something and then Paul Joyce was upset and now on the county level they have to pay it back which means then there's like an extra amount that homeowners are paying back. And I want to make sure that when people see that that they understand what that's about and how it impacts them when they're looking at their own personal tax bill because I know for me I had that kind of issue where I I saw on the line item there. Oh, it's higher now because maybe that but also some of us are facing higher assessment costs. There's some question of why. I want people to be able to delineate between, oh, that's something that's like county level maybe versus that's something that has anything
028to do with our schools or the decisions made here. Um, I also want to say I'm really glad to see, you know, I I didn't get the impression that we're spending beyond our means or spending in anticipation of something that we're not like legally contracted to receive, right? like we're not just kind of estimating something's going to happen. They send out like award letters like two years in advance for a lot of these funds. Like you know what you're going to get. You know how to budget out. Um so I didn't get the impression from the financial report that we're in that situation. It did seem like a lot of the contracts, I don't know if I read every single one, um, seem to be specific to school lunch, which were mandated to do, and
029that's still something that the state comes in and provides inspections around. And if we don't do what they want us to do, then we have a problem. And that's very specific to like the school lunch fund specifically, which is related to federal funding and a lot of things that probably I don't understand too well. But hopefully, so now that we're talking about maybe more public education around that, some of those issues can be included because I really hate to think of people like out there who are struggling thinking, oh, these people here have something to do with why I'm struggling or the school lunch fund or something else when I don't get the impression that that's what's going on and things seem to be going up. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Excuse me. That
030ends first session. >> Thank you, Miss Stafford. Mr. Selenas, >> thank you. Our next agenda item is unfinished business, and there is no unfinished business this evening. So, we will move on to the consent agenda. >> Trustees, we have before us our consent agenda, items A through F. What's your pleasure, >> Madam President? Trusty Kendall, >> I move for the approval of the consent agenda items A through F as presented. >> Are there any questions? >> I mean, do I have a second? I'm sorry. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second uh for the approval of our consent agenda. Questions, discussion? >> I would like to read the accounts payable docket. >> Spencer. The accounts payable voucher register dated May 26, 2026 consists of 182 pages. Total claims 1,572,6.37. Total payroll 3,8,594.96. >>
031Thank you. Any more discussion? Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Thank you, Mr. Selenas. >> Thank you. The next agenda item is new business. >> Uh we have before us uh under new business item A, the approval of transportation handbooks. Do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trustee Candelera, >> I move for the approval of the transportation handbook as presented. >> May I have a second? Second. >> It's been moved and properly second by trustee Stanford for the approval of the transportation handbooks. Is there any discussion? Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Thank you. Item B, the approval of the 101 grant for Morton High School. Mr. Selenas, could you give us a
032little explanation before we move on this? >> Yes, of course. Uh so this is the introduction of the elective physical education uh course. Sports officiating course supports both our college and career readiness goals that we've been talking about this school year and community engagement. This course directly responds to the need by preparing students for immediate employment opportunities upon certification. Students will gain practical life skills, decision-m integrity, and teamwork while fulfilling both physical education and graduation requirements. So this is a course that is going to help our students along their um graduation pathway. >> Pathway. Yeah, absolutely. So it's definitely required. >> May I have a motion, please? >> Madame President, >> Trusty Kenneler, >> I move for the approval of officiating the 101 grant for Morton High School as presented. >> May I have a
033second? >> Second. It's been moved and probably second for the approval of officiating 101 grant for Morton High School. Is there any discussion? Discussion. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Item C, approval of agreement for Purdue University Northwest work study program. Mr. Tenus, please. >> Absolutely. So, we are partnering with Purdue University Northwest through a work, study, tutoring program that provides elementary students with additional academic support while giving college students the valuable hands-on experience in education and child development at no cost to the district. This partnership also strengthens literacy, math intervention efforts and builds positive mentoring relationships for students and creates a pipeline of future educators committed to serving the local community. So, we're trying to make sure that our local universities have access to our buildings.
034at the same time while trying to get our um local university students uh interested in the field of education. >> Absolutely. Due to the shortage, we certainly need this. May I have a motion, please? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Kendalla, >> I move for the approval of the agreement with Purdue University Northwest work study program as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second that we approve the agreement with Purdue University Northwest work study program. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Next item D, approval of contract extension with EMS LI NQ. Mr. Selenas, please. >> Yes. I will say that the uh next several items are all submitted by our food service department for
035for clarity purposes. But the first one is a program that helps with the lunch the flow of the lunch line and helps identify special dietary needs for our students. Thank you. May I have a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Candela, >> I move for the approval of the contract extension with EMS link as presented. >> A second, please. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second that we approve the contract extension with EMS LQ. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Motion carried. Thank you. Approval of contract with form plastics. Again, it's u related to our uh food uh school lunch program. Uh do I hear a motion? >> Madame President, >> Trusty Kendallera, >> I move for the approval of the contract with
036form plastics as presented. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the contract with form plastics. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carry. Thank you. The approval of contract extension with smart systems. Do I hear a motion? >> Madame President, >> Trusty Candelera, >> I move for the approval of the contract extension with smart systems as presented. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the contract extension with smart systems. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carry. Thank you. And finally, uh, item G,
037approval of contract extension with smart sense by DG. DG. Yes. Do I hear a motion? >> Madame President, >> Trusty Candelera, >> I move for the approval of the contract extension with Smart Sense by DG as presented. >> May I have a second? >> Second. It's been moved and probably second for the approval of the contract extension with smart sense by DG. Is there any discussion? >> Is this also a food service? >> Yes, it is trustee. >> Thank you, Trusty uh Stanford. Um any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Thank you very much. The next agenda item is our uh upcoming board meetings. Give me a second. Let me find that. Our upcoming board meetings are Tuesday, June 16th, executive session at 5:15 p.m.
038and on Tuesday, June 16th, our regular school board meeting at 6 PM. Both here at the administration center. And then on Tuesday, July 21st, we have an executive session, 5:15 p.m. And on Tuesday, July 21st, the regular schoolboard meeting at 6 PM here at the administration center. Uh we're only having one meeting uh per month during for our summer hours. But of course, things can change and these meetings we can have additional meetings. Um that's our calendar for June and July. Okay, Mr. Selenus. >> Thank you. Our next item is our second period of public expression. Trustee Stanford. >> All right. First speaker, Kelly Evans. Hi, my name is Kelly. I have um a daughter that goes to Hammond Central and um there have been some issues going on and I've reached out to several
039people including Mr. Selenus and I need to know who I need to talk to in regards to issues and problems that are going on within the school district with her and her special education her IEP program. I have exhausted all of my resources at this point and I'm not getting returned phone calls. Mrs. Evans, we apologize if you could wait after the meeting. Mr. Selenas would definitely speak to you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Mrs. Chusty. Oh, >> next and last speaker, Dr. Michaela. Good afternoon or evening again. Dr. Michaela Spangenberg, Gary Education Coalition. Um, couple of issues that I wanted to touch base about again. Um, we recently had a hearing for a contract that I think there was a lot of confusion about the time and I think
040there was just extremely bad traffic that day cuz if you watch the televised portion of that, I don't think there was a single public commenter that came up and then the whole thing was over and done with in five or 10 minutes. And then as somebody who as one individual was late that day and you know traffic, train, etc. on my end, I watched several other community members like show up and like actually be confused by the time and like being like, "Oh, where is everybody? Why is everything closed?" Um, in the spirit of just greater inclusion, um, I respectfully request if we could have another go at something and if we could, you know, some kind of public input and maybe really publicize the thing to death, right? Because like I've encountered people out
041in the community that didn't even know that that was happening, weren't sure, including parents, especially parents. Um, and there's so many things we do a great job of publicizing. I really just want to make sure because that process is wonderful opportunity to kind of like further kind of develop the public trust because frankly in previous years under previous boards, previous administrations, everybody communally experienced a trauma here. That's my prof professional opinion in a nonclinical context. But like a lot of times when you talk to people they're very fearful of like oh the bad things are going to happen again things like that that's trauma thinking right when we feel like okay like we have to like protect ourselves all the time that's trauma thinking. So if trauma is informing our thinking and we know that
042the way to address trauma is to come back together as a community and that's how we most effectively receive healing. like that's what I really want us to have the opportunity for because regardless of what decision this board makes about whatever contract I want to make sure that people in the community feel that they had input an investment in it um some kind of say in that process I mean and this is the thing if it had just been me being late everybody else got here on time you had a bunch of people who had a say that would be fantastic I'm just here to, you know, echo, support, uplift other people who live in this city. Those are the people, the parents, the teachers, the staff, the students, the alumni. Those are the people
043that I want to make sure get a chance. Thank you. >> Thank you. That ends session two. >> Thank you. Um, our agenda calls from a report from Mr. Selenas. >> Thank you very much. Good evening, President uh King, board members, and our community. As we approach the final days of the academic year, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our students, families, educators, and staff. Thank you all for your collective hard work, resilience, and partnership. We have made it to the last week of the school year. As we wrap up, we have several important end of year and summer updates to share. First and foremost, our retirement celebration will take place this Thursday, May 28th, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. This year, our retirees represent an incredible collective total of over 842
044years of service to our district. We look forward to honoring them for their deep dedication and lasting legacy. I'd like to give them a round of applause for all of our staff members that will be retiring from the school city of Hammond. Uh on the last day of school, which is this Friday, May 29th, uh we have communicated, but I will reiterate uh again that we will be implementing a staggered dismissal schedule. So, of course, at our high school, our walkers at 145, car riders at 2, bus riders at 2:15. At our middle school, walkers 2:30, car riders 2:45, bus riders at 3. And our elementary schools, our walkers at 3:15, our car riders at 3:30, and our bus riders at 3:45. So again, we are going to be implementing a staggered dismissal schedule this
045Friday. And then after that, we are going to begin our graduation uh ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we have Morton High School at 2 p.m. at the Wolf Lake Pavilion. And on Sunday, our Hammond Central High School graduation will take place at Hammond Central, also at 2 PM. Also, tomorrow, a communication will go out to parents via parents square regarding our recent uniformity of color dress policy. Over 50% of respondents indicated that they do not feel that this is the appropriate time to make a change and to return to the uniformity of color. So, while that may be good for some and disappointing for others, we understand. But the survey spoke and so what we're going to do is we will continue with our current student dress expectations as outlined in our student
046code of conduct and we will be putting out that information out uh preparing square. So again we will not be returning to uniformity of color for next school year. Just wanted the community to understand and and know that as they prepare for next year. We're also excited to share uh professional development opportunities for our staff. We have our Southshore summer of e-learning June 12th from 8:30 to 4 p.m. at PNW. um here in Hammond. And uh our summer operation and key dates, the district buildings will be closed on Fridays starting June 5th through July 21st. So starting next week, we'll be operating on our 4-day work schedule. Summer school begins June 8th and goes through July uh 8th as well. So please make sure if you are signed up for summer school to begin to
047report to summer school June 8th. And our back to school uh registration celebration is on July 29th at Hammond Central from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We hope to see you all there as well. So, I want to wish everyone, believe it or not, uh a a fantastic summer. We are at the end of our school year and we hope everyone has a safe, relaxing, and wonderful summer break. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Selenus. Any reports or comments from the board? Well, I just sort of want to reiterate what Mr. Selenas has has stated uh I think I speak for the board. We are incredibly grateful to our staff, our entire staff, I mean everybody for the hard work we've put in to make this another successful year. We applaud our students, our veils,
048our top 20s in both high schools. And we are truly appreciative of our community partners and that's one thing we've been really working hard on. And one particularly part, one particular partner is our mayor, city of Hammond, Mayor McDermick. When uh they decided to partner with our ACC culinary department that catered their national day of prayer breakfast, it was a major success. Uh so I I just applaud our young kids. They were able to cater to hundreds of an exquisite breakfast. The mayor said it was delicious and it was cost effective. That was the main thing. So, uh, Purdue, IvyTech, IU N, uh, have are partnering with us to make the the coming year a better year. And that's what we're trying to do, continue to restore and elevate for our students because they are
049number one. So, without further ado, do we have any other and and one other thing, our our PR person put together a wonderful list of of our many accomplishments. Could you put that on our website? so folks can really see. I mean, it was three pages. We announced it at our WJOB uh spot last week, and it's incredible what these students have done. I mean, they're like hidden figures, you know, we don't celebrate them enough. So, that is again one of our key goals to continue to celebrate our kids and our staff and everybody that works so hard to make things work for us. So, Mrs. Weeks will have that on our website soon, and we want you to comment and applaud these students with us. So again, without any further ado, do I have
050any motion to close? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly. >> Second that we adjourn the meeting. All in favor say I. >> I. >> See you in the fall.