001Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Are you one. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 regular school board meeting. Uh we also invite our virtual audience and we welcome them as well. We will now uh stand and those that can for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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. >> Thank you. Roll call. Trustee Kendalla, >> uh, present. >> Trustee Spencer, >> present. Trusty Guierra >> present. >> She's uh on virtually. And Trusty Blake King here. We have a quorum. Um Mr. Selenas and we now can proceed. >> Yes, we can. >> Thank you. >> Good
002evening everyone. Community members, thank you all for being here. Uh we have several student uh recognition and presentations this evening. Our first presentation is our uh Hammond chess program. So I'd like to invite uh Mrs. Cindy Murphy, our district-wide chess coordinator, who will be presenting. >> Thank you, Superintendent Selenus, Madame President, the rest of the school board. Tonight, we're here to go and celebrate the chess program in Hammond. And everybody asks, why chess? And so, I'm going to go over like I did before. There's a few things that really helps when you wear the chess program. Problem solving, critical thinking, concentration, creativity, abstract reasoning. Our children that are in the chess program, they learn to come in to sit down and to focus discipline and self-control, social skills. They're going to meet students from across
003this state. And when they come in with this, they're going to have people that from rural areas, people with more urban areas, and they learn to say, "Hi, how you doing?" Shake hands, and they get to learn from people all over the place. But what we're really here to do is I'd like to invite all our chess teams up here. I saw Irving and I saw I think Lincoln, Franklin, if you all could come up here is Hammond Central Morton High School or Andy Burns Hicks up here tonight. All right. So, here we are. So, coaches, um, I'd like you to introduce your teams and tell us how well you did today. And unfortunately, do we have a small microphone for them? >> All right. Good evening, everyone. Um, I was uh fortunate enough to
004coach the chess team this year. Um, I did not do it alone though and I dragged uh Miss Jones out of retirement to uh do this with us and we just wanted to take a minute to recognize her after 36 years with the school city of H and she's retiring this year. Oh, beautiful. >> So, the students that we have from chess this year, if you just want when I say your name, you can just kind of wave your hand. Max Padus, Joshua Sierra, AJ Vargas, Karem Sarasas, David Madre, Ramirez, Aubrey Leone, and Sophia Abelis. We had um several students qualify for the uh state chess tournament this year. Aubrey Lemon, Felipe Sodto, Karem S, I'm sorry, KM Karem Saras and Joshua Sierra. Those were our qualifiers for the um the individual chess tournament. And
005our third grade and under team also qualified for the uh state team tournament and that was Joshua, Max, AJ, David, and KM. We're very proud of their accomplishments. And I'll introduce Miss Nicole Dunn from Franklin to introduce her team. >> Very good. Awesome. >> Thank you, Mrs. Vargas. Um, I am the chess coach over at Franklin and these are three of our wonderful chess players from Franklin. I have Michael Casey, Joelle Slater, and Thea Robinson. Um, they are all amazing chess players. Michael actually, um, qualified for individuals. Um, so he went down to state for individuals and he placed there. And then Joelle's and Michael were both on our third grade um state qualifying team. So they represented us there and they did amazing. And Thea has been such a great mentor to a lot
006of our younger players. So I really appreciate her as well. And it's just been a a real pleasure doing this. This is my first year doing it and I love it. I love these kids and they are amazing. So thank you. >> Very good. Oh, >> I do apologize. And who are you and what is your name? >> Uh, I am Andrew Brock. I'm I'm supposed to be representing Lincoln. None of the other chess people came or my coach. All right. To be fair to his coach, she contacted me earlier. We had to move special recognition from April to May and she had a conflict with her child's school with going there. So, how did you do in the tournaments? >> Not good. >> Are you coming back next year? >> Probably not. It's too
007>> No, no, you must come back. How could you get better? Thank you for coming out there. Um, parents, any of you that want to come up and get photos of your students up here or if the school board wants to come down and I'll keep talking. Annie Burns Hicks, um, they were in the sixth grade and under team, they just missed getting to state in the sixth grade and under team. Uh, Ham and Central, they fielded a team for team state. They're not here tonight, but this group of young men took 12th. Now, keep in mind what that means. That's 12th in the whole state. This isn't just a regional. That is the whole state. And these young men, their coach didn't make it that day. They took care of themselves. They showed up
008for their rounds. And I'm very proud of these young men from Hammond Central. Morton High School didn't have a team for um team state, but they had one player that took eighth in individual, eighth in the whole state. And the last thing I want to do is shout out to Hammond Central. The whole state came to me after that tournament and said how wonderful Hammond Central. Fantastic custodians. The athletic department helped out with setup. They ran the concessions. um just really warm welcome to him and central. We can't do these things because chess is a family and we want to make sure that this family continues on and on. Thank you all and we will see you next year. Wow. This is what it's all about. These kinds of achievements just warm our hearts and
009it makes it all worthwhile. Mr. Selenas, >> thank you very much for that. Thank you, Mrs. Murphy. Thank you to all of our coaches. And also, uh, if I know we have many students in the audience, if after your presentation, you need to leave. Parents, if you need to leave, that is perfectly fine. Uh, and thank you for joining us this evening. We're going to move on to our next presentation, our Hammond Rotary Youth Leadership Award recipients. I believe Mrs. Uh Rosharda Morris is in the audience. I'd like to welcome her to the podium. >> Good evening. Um >> good evening. This is an awesome activity that we partnered with uh the school city and I am so proud to introduce our uh one of our unbelievable Rotarians, Mr. Cal Bellamy. >> Well, thank you.
010And um you know, Rotary is about service. Um the Rotary Club of Hammond started in 1920. We are one of the oldest clubs in the whole world. Uh and we are dedicated to service. Uh and one of our focuses on youth uh and we were pleased to send with the cooperation and help of Meredith McDermott uh to send five students uh to this camp RIA. we call it Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and um I think you'll be very impressed with what they have to say and it's certainly encouraging how well our students are uh doing and so we congratulate them and um look forward to their comments. >> Thank you Mr. Bellamy. Well, hello everyone. Hello. Hello. Um, uh, hi. My name is Noah Swift. I am 15 years old. I attend Morton High School
011and I'm a part of at my school clubwise, uh, the Black Student Union Bible Club. And then sports-wise, I play baseball for Morton. My plans after high school is to go to Indiana University Bloomington to major in psychology to become a therapist. Um, going into Rotary, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what the food was going to be like because Lord knows I can eat. Um, so I did I did not know um who I end up meeting or anybody or anything like that. >> But as I went through the program, I started to enjoy it each day. >> From the canoeing that we ended up doing to the team bonding to even the speakers, it was all amazing and an honor to be a part of. For me, this program
012taught me about having more of an open mind and enjoying everything life has to offer for me. not complaining or being scared to try something new. Uh, for example, one of our speakers, Mr. Reed, told us that in his career of acting, he could have been in so many roles, but didn't take the opportunity because he was scared and didn't think that it would be interesting. He taught me that when opportunities and doors open to go through them and not to decline the blessings and doors God has opened for you. Uh, finally, this program taught me that working with people with different minds is really unique because it allows me to hear other people's opinions and thoughts other than mine. For example, we had to do an exercise where everyone in our group had to
013be on a log. I hated that log. Um and uh yeah, we had to be in that log to where we had to be in a row and had to communicate about whose birthday goes from January to December while also having to figure out how we can move because we were all in such a tiny log. Uh through proper communication, we finished it in a swift time just like my last name. And uh we were proud of each other in the process. And from there I knew as long as I give people's opinion people's opinions chances and communicate effectively working with people isn't so bad. I want to just stop and thank the Rotary Club of Hammond and uh Mayor McDermott for this amazing opportunity. It truly was a blessing to be a part of.
014Brilliant. Excellent. Good evening everyone. My name is Arjuna Himmons and today I will be giving a brief presentation of my Rotary experience. I am currently attending Mortyn Senior High School as a sophomore. Some of the extracurriculars I currently participate in are Bible club, National Honor Society, Black Student Union, CNC in which we talk about women's mental health, and I am the sophomore class president. As for right now, I do not know what specific career I want, but I do know the three things I want out of my future career. Those three things being leadership, financial success, and knowledge. Interacting with students from other parts of Indiana made me feel really uncomfortable. But where there is discomfort, there is growth. This experience has impacted my views of working with all different types of people by showing
015me that there will be times when I will need to lead others in a different way. >> This involvement will help me in the future by teaching me how to be a better leader to everyone and not just people I associate myself with by choice. This involvement has also t has also presented a flaw of mine as a leader that I was quite unaware of. This flaw being my negligence to large conflicts that need to be resolved so that we as a team may move on. In summary, I am a sophomore in high school that will one day be an excellent leader, especially because of this experience. Through this camp, I have gained a new outlook on how to lead and learned that I have a flaw of negligence to large conflicts that needs to
016be resolved so that we as a team may move on. Thank you so much to the school board for allowing me to present here and the Rotary organization for giving me this leadership experience of a lifetime. Thank you all for listening and God bless. Good evening school city of Hammond school board. My name is Joseph Helms. I'm a junior at Hammond Central High School. I am currently I am involved in team Hammond 71 Robotics. I'm involved in the PTSA National Honor Society and I am also hold an internship position at Great News Life where I write monthly articles about the school and also the community. Mhm. >> While I while I have always been social, taking a lead was often a challenge. At camp during activity where we had to assemble a transit line using
017hexagons, I found my voice. I stepped up to guide our team, helping us visualize how the lines connected to solve the puzzle. That moment taught me that leadership is a team sport, >> and it gave me the confidence to finally bring the initiative. This program is vital because it teaches Hammond students to advocate for our city. Rotary's global impact proves what this spirit of service can achieve. From the eradication of polio to providing freshwater tanks for villages in South America, I plan to use these skills to act as a bridge between the student body and administration to bring studentdriven ideas to life. My recommendation for the Hammond school city is to continue fully utilizing RILA and to help us implement Rotary Interact clubs within our schools. These studentled clubs focus on community service and I
018truly believe they would have a profound positive impact on the Hammond community, our staff, and my peers. Thank you to the school board and Rotary for your time and this opportunity. Sorry, he's tall. Um, first and foremost, good evening. Um, our esteemed school board trustees and superintendent, Mr. Lenus. Uh, my name is Ed Garcia Jr. I'm the sophomore class president and I'm currently the JOTC battalion commander at here at Hammond Central. Um, at RIYA I learned the importance of communication and how to communicate effectively. One of the greatest lessons that stuck out to me was choosing your words carefully. They told us how using the word and instead of but helps to get your message across without having a negative connotation. Public speaking is something that I have to get used to and the tips
019and advice that we learned have have made me feel more confident. I also learned that teamwork is important and in order to effectively communicate with your team, you have to be respectful, direct, and positive. Leadership is very important to me and I want to be a good leader. I also learned that you I also learned that you are only as strong as your team and we had to work together to achieve our goals. I really like the activities we did, especially the leadership sessions and the night hike. I've never been hiking or camping before, so this entire experience was new and exciting, and I'm so grateful to have to have had this opportunity to take part. School City Hammond was b would benefit most from Mara in many ways. Learning to communicate with others and
020meeting new people from diverse backgrounds was one of my favorite activities. It really helped me make new friends and meet like-minded future leaders who also cared about our community and want to make a difference. I firmly believe that more students who will who get to experience RIA, the better people they will become and they'll go on to lead by example and influence their peers in a positive life positive way. Thank you for this opportunity. It truly made a difference in my life. >> Thank you. >> Now you can see why it was such a joy for us to work with your students. And I would like to thank the parents. Can I get them to stand? The one thing I want you to know, um, for someone to knock on your door and say, "Hello,
021I'm from Rotary and I want to take your child away for a weekend." >> They had faith in us. And that's exactly how this happened. And we really appreciate the time that you allowed us to spend with your child. It gave us vision. It gave us hope. It gave us inspiration. And as the um speeches came in, I actually cried because they were just so well written. Um Cal Bellamy served as one of our readers and he had written comments for all of them, but all of them started with very well. Um thank you very much for being our partner and we hope that we can continue to do this. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Go ahead. >> Yeah, we'll do a photo. We always do a photo out. >> Yeah. And I also
022want to introduce uh Lisa Wine. She was another member of the committee. Okay. And if we could get a photo Yeah. So, as we're coming up, I truly appreciate Mrs. Randolph and Mrs. uh Morris for approaching us regarding this opportunity for our students and uh we did everything we could to make it happen as well. We were able to pro provide the transportation and uh I really am impressed by what the students had to say because oftentimes we don't listen to our students. So Mr. Selenus, there was a message from from these students to us and to our staff and we're going to put some of that to practice. Photo op. Thank you. And Mr. Bellamy, you are a legend in this region. And let's give him a big round of applause for continually doing
023what he does with the Raiders. >> This is for the kids and the school board. If we can develop Thank you. Okay, Mr. Selenas. >> All right. Thank you once again for that um outstanding presentation and again one of the messages that we heard this evening where there is discomfort there is growth. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yes. >> Never let it be said that we can't learn from our kids because we definitely can. >> We're going to move on to our next presentation uh our pathways to success Franklin's college career and STEM initiatives. I'd like to invite our principal from Franklin, Mrs. Regina Grohart to the podium. >> Good evening, President Blake King, school board of trustees, superintendent, and community members. Um, this evening I actually have two short presentations. The first one is
024on the college and career expo, and then the second one will be on our STEM initiative. So, for the college and career expo, this was held on March 12th of this year. I would like to introduce our Franklin Expo team. Um, without this team, this event would not happen and we are so grateful for our partnerships with PNW and the ACC. Uh, so myself and we have Nicole Parta, our media parah, if you could raise your hand or stand up. Uh, Nicole Aante, who is my office manager and PTA, she was unable to be here this evening. Christina Maldonado, director of admissions from PNW. Alurn uh Dodd Golston also from PNW and Amanda May from the area career center. So uh I know I've given a presentation before but just I wanted to kind of
025recap where we started and how we got here. We started in March of 2020, literally like a week before COVID. And we started with this idea from our counselor at the time to incorporate something to help our students become more college and career ready. Her and my media parah Nicole came to me with this idea of why don't we try to have an expo and invite the community into our building to talk to our students about college and careers. So the first year it was just Franklin students and we had about 10 vendors. And now, six years later, we have incorporated it for several years now to have all elementary schools represented. So, all of our sixth graders from School City Hammond attend. This year, we had a total of 65 vendors and um we've
026continued to build our partnership with PNW and the ACC. With that, these are some additional stats. So, our vendors are given free breakfast and lunch, which are provided by donations from Chick-fil-A, Family Express, Starbucks, and then PNW provides our lunch. This year, we had students that attended the expo throughout the day. Um, some of the quotes up there are just things that both the students and um some of our community members have said about our program. Um, at this time I would like to go ahead and invite Christina Maldonado to come up and say a words, a few words from PNW. >> Good evening, President Blake King, Superintendent Selenas, and trustees. Uh, once again, my name is Christina Maldonado, and I serve as the director of admissions for parents, community, and early education at Purdue
027University Northwest. I'm here this evening on behalf of our admissions team at PNW to express our sincere gratitude for the incredible partnership that we've built with Franklin Elementary School and the school city of Hammond, particularly through the annual college and career expo that we are proud to sponsor each year. Our work within the K through2 space is among the most meaningful aspects of what we do at Purdue Northwest. We understand that supporting students means more than simply welcoming them to a university campus. It means helping prepare them and their families for the journey toward higher education and future career success. Creating early opportunities for students to explore possibilities, ask questions, and envision their futures is incredibly important to us. This is the fourth year that we've collaborated with Franklin Elementary School to plan and implement
028this expo. And it's been uh truly a rewarding experience to watch this event continue to grow each year. But was what matters most to us is the impact that this event has on the students who attend. Seeing the students light up with excitement as they explore careers, engage with professionals, and discover opportunities that they may have never known existed is what makes this event so worthwhile. Those moments remind us exactly why initiatives like this are so important and why PNW remains committed to supporting them. We are especially grateful to principal Grohar and the entire Franklin Elementary staff for always making us feel like a part of the Franklin team. We would also like to thank the school city of Hammond for embracing PNW and for being receptive to our efforts to work alongside your students,
029families, teachers, and staff. It is our mission to continue to do work that's intentional, impactful, and focused on increasing access to post-secary education and career readiness. Thank you for allowing us to collaborate on this expo and so many other initiatives. We look forward to the continued partnership and new ways to support the school city of Hammond. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we have a few additional sponsors and thank yous. So without these people, this event also would not occur. um in our own district, our technology department who helps with so many different things and set up transportation and coordinating the schedules to get all um eight other elementary schools to and from Franklin in the short school day. Our custodial team and teams bringing hundreds of tables over to Franklin, extra chairs,
030set up, clean up. Our student council students are the ones that help greet the other sixth grade students and uh give them maps. And they also help our vendors in the morning find their tables um direct them to the teachers lounge and items like that. And our Franklin staff cuz um any you're going to see a video from the expo, but it kind of just disrupted a whole school day at Franklin and they're nothing but supportive um and accommodating to anything we need. Um last but not least, I would like to recognize two students from the ACC radio and broadcasting program. Their teacher is Stephanie Ricer. Um Jory Lawson and Aaron Jimenez. Can you guys please stand? These two wonderful students made the video that you're about to see. But not only that, and this
031has nothing to do with me, Franklin, or the expo, but I wanted to recognize, I found out from their teacher, they both made it to nationals for the Skills USA competition at the ACU. So, can we give them a round of applause? >> Yes. >> And Aaron Jimenez is a former Franklin student as well. So, >> um, all right. So without further ado, we're going to go ahead and show our video so you can get a full experience here in just a few minutes of what our expo is all about. >> I sent the video separate did not come up. Okay. Well, apparently the video is not going to work this evening. Uh I'm not sure. Um so uh school board I can send that to you separately. >> Sorry about that. >> There it
032is. >> Here it is. All right. Um, so I will move on to the second presentation and this is to talk about Franklin's um, >> initiative. Hang on a second. >> This is our sixth year hosting the college and career expo. And my favorite part two things have to host all of our sixth graders with school city. And my second favorite is that all the kids get to come here and experience this and see what opportunities they have here right years ago. Um, we had a counselor here by the name of Jackie Malis and she came to me and said, "Hey, what if we, you know, invite some community members to do an expo so our students can learn more about careers because that is a standard even in elementary school." And it started very
033small. We had maybe 15 20 vendors. Over the years, it has expanded to what it is today. We have 65 vendors here today. And we'll have between 800 and a thousand kids that come through our expo. >> How dare you? I really like how you can explore different careers and just get to learn more about life, you know, like it kind of helps me navigate through what I really want to be. >> Okay, you can go to the next one now. >> You want me to go to the next one? >> I'm sorry. If we get it, we can play it after this presentation if you want. Um, so my next presentation here is to talk about Franklin becoming a STEM certified school. So in order to kind of know where we're headed and what
034we're doing, we need to know what STEM is. So STEM education is an inter interdisciplinary approach to learning that integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into a cohesive hands-on curriculum rather than teaching them in isolation. So this means we would take teaching activity projectbased learning across the curriculum, not just in science or math. It focuses on real world applications, fostering critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation to prepare students for technical careers. To get started, we had to adopt a state approved science curriculum. One of the state approved options is Project Lead the Way, PLTW. And since we already have a relationship with them in the district, uh we went ahead and chose PLTW for our implementation. Implementing PLTW is a great learning is great learning for students. STEM education develops critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and
035problem solving. By embedding STEM principles, Franklin Elementary will provide meaningful hands-on learning experiences, connecting classroom instruction to real world applications, deepening understanding, and promoting inquiry based learning. And the great news with partnering with PLTW is they do offer several grants. And through these grants, we were able to not only purchase the materials for our science curriculum, but we were also able to provide training for our entire staff at zero cost to the district. So, it was all covered by PLTW grants, which is a total of about $20,000. >> Um, we are also currently projected to be covered for the next two years, the way their grant cycles have worked in the past. So, as long as that continues, we will be just fine. Um, this means it's not only great for learning, but again, it
036was a good cost savings for us as well. Becoming a STEM certified school will help increase enrollment at Franklin as us becoming a destination school for families seeking engaging, rigorous, and relevant instruction. Our commitment to STEM integration will set Franklin apart as a leader in preparing students for 21st century opportunities and ensuring equitable access for all. This will also continue to help put School City of Hammond on the map. It's positioning itself as a leader in innovation by establishing a STEM-certified elementary school, setting a new standard for early education in the region. With few STEM certified options nearby, this initiative places the district firmly on the map, attracting families seeking highquality future focused learning opportunities. By integrating science, technology, engineering, and math into everyday instruction, the school not only enhances student engagement, but also draws
037in a growing number of students eager to build skills for tomorrow's world. So, as I said, there are only a few schools. So, in Lake County currently, there are only two other elementary schools that are STEM certified as of right now. Um, and then one uh middle school. If we look at our surrounding counties, Leaport County only has two elementaryaries that are STEM certified. Porter, Newton, and Jasper counties have none. So just in our area, if you look at our counties, we would be one of three, well five if you include Leaport County, but in Lake County, we'd be one of three STEM certified elementary schools. I also looked up according to the National Center of Education Statistics, there are approximately 2,384 elementary schools in the state of Indiana and only 62 of those are
038currently STEM certified. So, we would still be on the cutting edge of that comparatively to other elementary schools even across the state. I went the wrong way. So, what does it look like for us to become STEM certified? The Indiana Department of Education has a rubric for us to follow. In October, we applied to start our journey to become certified. We were accepted at the developing stage. We will now use the rubric and work our way through engaging readiness levels, and finally innovating. We will have to upload evidence for the rubric to thee for review. This can include things as lesson plans, curriculum maps, schedules, videos of lessons, and more. They review on a regular basis with quarterly updates and deadlines. We were also assigned a specialist from the IDOE as a point person for
039our certification. We had an in-person meeting in March that went very well. Miss Amir Towler had was from the IDOE was impressed with our well thoughtout plan and progress so far. Once we meet the criteria under innovating on the rubric, we will be officially STEM certified. And then to keep up with that certification, we will have to continue with documentation on a regular basis. um and continue to provide the evidence to the state. Teachers have a unique opportunity as a separate opportunity to become st STEM certified with their teaching license. They can apply to take the practice and add STEM or math onto their license um for their lensure. But that is not a requirement for the school to become STE certified. That's just if a teacher wants to add it. The IDOE just asked
040that we start having teachers do that. Uh they don't give a specific number. They just want us to grow. I already have one teacher that took it and passed it. Um, so I have one additional teacher that has STEM on their license now and I will be um taking that test this summer myself. All right. So, kind of for our timeline here. So, in March and April, we were able to use the early release Wednesdays thanks to the district to be certified in Project Lead the Way because it's 16 hours of training. Uh we completed that at the end of April and every single one of my teachers and even a couple paras are all now um certified to teach project lead the way including myself. This month teachers are using that certification to start
041implementing the project lead the way modules. So they were able to pick a science kit of their choice to implement for the rest of this school year. In 2627 first semester we will hit the ground running with our SC new science curriculum and computer science. computer science is going to be coupled with our media parah uh Nicole Parta and the teachers to enhance our library media experience for those students. Um our the current PLTW curriculum is launch which is K to 5. 6 through 8 is a different training. So since our fifth graders have never experienced it, we will start sixth grade with some of the fifth grade materials because some of their standards overlap. Sixth Grad's program is called Gateway and we will start that training in about September and then we will be
042purchasing those items from a grant as well. And then we'll start planning for second semester of crosscurricular implementation. Second semester we'll continue science and we're going to start implementing into math so we can start building that cross-curricular project-based learning that I had mentioned. In the fall of 2728, we will add on the rest of our curriculum for crosscurricular um implementation and then hopefully by the goal is by the spring of 2728 to have all of that documentation submitted to the state and earn our certification. We are able to follow up with project lead the way as needed for support throughout the year. They're very interested in our endeavors and are continuing and want to continue to be there to work with us. We gave this timeline to the state and based on our plan they
043do find this being very reasonable. However, um most schools take two to five years for initial certification. The LA one of the other requirements is to have an advisory committee that meets once a semester. This is similar to other committees we've had for other projects such as the Lily grant um and our counseling programs. So, it is comprised of school staff, district representation, and community partners. Our first meeting is actually tomorrow at 2:30, and the following community partners are all on our advisory committee um for this STEM initiative. I reached out to many of our partners. Um as you know from our college and career expo, we have a lot of different connections. So, I reached out to them. So we have PNW, IU Northwest, Kelly College, BP, Junior Achievement, of course, School City of
044Hammond, YMCA, Hammond Public Library, Northshore, Intermission, the Hammond and Fire Police Department, Cleveland Cliffs, and of course PLTW as well. Um, we are also holding parent meetings and community meetings this Thursday, May 14th at 9:30 a.m. and 6 pm. And then I'll also be um I'll have recordings of this as well for parents to view and they can always contact me with questions. Does the board have any questions for me? >> Any questions from the board? You you have taken on an incredible journey and um I can't wait till you've completed it. It's an exciting journey as well. Thank you so much for your time and effort and your entire staff. All right. Thank you, >> Mr. Selenus. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ghart for both presentations and we look very much forward to when Franklin
045becomes officially STEM certified. Okay, we have one more presentation this evening. Um, I'd like to invite Dr. for Denise Eisman, our director of elementary, who will be talking to us about our upcoming reading textbook adoption. >> I just want to say congratulations again to Franklin Elementary. That was a huge lift and um all the teachers and through your leadership, Regina, it's it's really been remarkable. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, President Blake King, superintendent trustees. Um I will be as succinct as possible. So I don't know how to go with like next slide but maybe I'll just go like this and we can go through kind of quick because there's 26 of them. I just um you can go to the next one. So I I wanted to give just a little
046bit of background as to why we are looking at a textbook adoption. We started this journey back in 2023 with cell and the literacy coaches as the state moved towards the science of reading and then what had happened was in 2024 our wonders 2020 adoption right because it's a six-year adoption was no longer considered um a viable option through the state of Indiana. So with our literacy coaches working with Heaggerty and UFly, we were able to sustain that but we do need to adopt another curriculum. So what we had done, you can go to the next slide. Um is that Yeah, that's all right. I'll keep talking. So uh we decided so last school year the director at that time had sent samples to all the schools and there was um a process by which
047people would look at the books and so 123 surveys came in out of the entire out of all the stakeholders and at that point um they had felt they didn't have enough information and so a textbook was not adopted last year. So that gave me a little bit of ground to move on with um open court being the one that came out the highest during that time and then CKLA that came out the second highest. So what we had done is I put together a textbook committee of volunteer of teachers about 50 and then from they both saw the different programs then we went down to pilots because really you have to like drive the car before you know if it's really going to fit you. So we had pilot teachers in every grade level
048at every school um piloting comminos and um open court. I mean keep on going. So where we are at now right our data imperative we have made significant growth in our i read reading scores which is fantastic. It's been over 12%. We just keep going up and we're at 69.8 8 as of last year, but we need to get to 87.3. And to make that close that gap, we need to really get in and look at what we are working with with our students. So, we really need to up the rigor. That really is the bottom line. Um, our kids can do a lot more than I think people think that they can do and they've shown and proven to every time. So we don't need a program that's manageable for teachers as much as
049a program that's going to be really relatable and has maximum rigor for our students. So between CQLA and Caminos and it sounds like it's two but it's really like the same program. Caminos is for our dual language program and so they work in concert. There wasn't another textbook that offered that. So that was one of the other reasons that we really felt we wanted to go with CLA and Open Court. One of the biggest things is that deep diving engagement. So the vocabulary that is in these programs is phenomenal. I was in a first grade classroom and they were talking about pasteurization and a first grader made the connection between Louis pasture pasteurization and their trip to Fair Oaks Farm with milk. This is first grade. So it's just so rich. Our kids can do
050it. It's just that we haven't um given them that opportunity before. >> All right. So the best thing about open court or not open court is um CLA is just building that knowledge and that exposure. So the knowledge domains that are listed here also go on to they have good literature. So you can turn the slide and then the next one is for science that's integrated. So hardy science content that's part of what they're reading in literature and then also with social studies as well. So we're kind of getting a lot of bang for our buck >> in the open court. We have the skill strand and the knowledge strand for K to2. The skill strand is that um phonx component that really is the biggest part of the the day for those kiddos with
05160 minutes and that goes over the phmic awareness and phonics and then the knowledge strand which again is what I back to that authentic text >> and then the same with three through five. It's an integrated standards approach where they're talking about morphology like different um uh connections of words, advanced spelling and grammar. The best thing is that Camino's part. So with our dual language portion um when you see the cost at the end be like ah but this really is a cost savings because you have um we don't have to adopt a different curriculum for our dual language students. It's one that's integrated in with with this adoption itself. Wow. And this promotes that cross-ling linguistic literacy um and really making all of those connections with WEDA and um putting those things together. And
052go on to the next one. Sorry, this is just some examples of all the great things our pilot teachers were amazing. They love the tactile engagement, the bilingual rigor, and the movement and the vocabulary. It isn't based on a screen type of thing. It's really based on on actual The other part of this and that's kind of when I entered it was looking at handwriting. So handwriting is an integral and writing itself is an integral everyday part of this program. And so students will be learning cursive in second through fifth grade and then mastering um script manuals in um the lower grades. >> Bring it back. >> And it's a proven program. The zone of desired effects is anything greater than um 4% but this is way beyond. So we are just um looking at
053something that will meet that tier one strong because that's where we're at. We're really going to focus on our tier one instruction and um have provide the best for our students. So with supporting our teachers because it's a heavy lift, right? It's going to be the change is sometimes uncomfortable, right? So, it will be a little bit for our teachers because it's a little bit more rigorous, but we have a one day on-site. It's one trainer per 30 and then um a half day remote in the middle and then another one day at the end. The other thing is is that they have agreed to come in and work with our sixth, seventh and eighth grade students with amplify because we have teacher turnover and amplify is part of CLA and so they will do
054some uh professional development with those teachers. So, here's the slide. Ah um it is a big investment. It is and I understand the enormity of that and so I promise you that we will make sure that this program will be delivered with fidelity and that we will get results. >> All right. >> So thank you. >> Thank you for your conviction. Wow. Mr. Selenus, any questions of the board? I'm sorry. >> Yes. I'm sorry, Dr. Dr. >> Dr. Eisman, I'm sorry. Got too excited. >> That's mean. >> Um for Thank you for your presentation. I appreciate it. >> Um that is a hefty price tag. I understand that. >> What is the price of some >> Open Court came in at 1,300,000 and that's without that dual language. So really it was kind of an
055apples to oranges a little bit comparison. But given that we already have Amplify at 6, seven, and 8 and that this can feed into those things, um I'm hoping for that continuity to carry through. The other part is that we've really upped that rigor with K12. So our kids when they reach that third grade are going to be able to do those novel studies and that text and they can do it. I I really believe they can do it. >> Um and then one more question. I always like to ask this before we put any, you know, multi-year investment onto our teachers. Were the teachers surveyed or asked of these the different um options prior? >> Yes, they were. And actually, I just narrowed it down to those two, right? Because they were the ones
056that in the previous adoption, that's kind of the reason I wanted to give that background, were um kind of the top contenders there. And so, and they came in close. They really did. I mean, open court is a nice program, but the things that really I think um when I talked with administrators and literacy coaches, the thing that kind of that made the difference was that open court was convenient for teachers and kind of something they know where CKLA um stretches us a little bit and um has a little bit more cognitive demand. >> Thank you for your questions, Trusty Bener. Any more, >> Missy? Okay. Okay. She's okay. Thank you so much again, Mr. Selenus. >> Thank you, Dr. Eisman, for that uh presentation. Um I I I just want to underscore that this
057is a significant step in raising the instructional bar for our students. And I agree with Trusty Spencer, that is a sticker shock in terms of the price. But again, you're talking about science curriculum, social studies curriculum, it's embedded, handwriting, cursive, right? and of course the knowledgebased curriculum versus a skill-based curriculum. I will also say that as I talked to people across the state who have um been approved for the next generation school improvement grant, this is the curriculum that was part of those grants that were approved by the state. And so there is alignment to not only the science of uh reading and one of the things that we talked about was we need to make sure that these scores continue to increase. We're not we're not happy where we are. We're going up like
058Dr. Risman said, but we're not happy where we are. And one of the things that we do have to have is a proven curriculum for this. Um, and so I trust that uh we're going to uh provide this to our teachers, also the professional development that comes with it. And Dr. Eisman is going to be looking at how she can best support the principal's teachers so that the curriculum is absolutely implemented with fidelity. >> Outcomes, it's all about the outcomes. You know, we can spend $2 or we can spend $100. It's all about the outcomes. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Our next agenda item is our first period of public expression. Uh Trustee Kendall. >> Public public expression. First period limited to items on the agenda. First member is going to be
059Dr. Michaela. Good evening everybody. I think somebody left something up here. I don't know what this is. Um my name is Dr. Michaela Spangenberg. Uh I help to facilitate the Gary Education Coalition. Um, I noted tonight that we have two different things on the agenda that I feel like maybe we could improve the process around. One being the acting superintendent agreement and then the other, you know, under upcoming board meetings, we can see that there's a hearing on a contract for Mr. Selenus on May 19th at 5. Um the date uh like the ending date on the super agreement or superintendent acting superintendent agreement is June 30th of this year. Um now I know the original rationale I believe for the superintendent agreement acting superintendent agreement to begin with was to allow time for a
060superintendent search to take place. I think due to many issues, many challenges that has not had a chance to happen at this time, at least not that the community or public seems to be aware of. Um, I still think, you know, a quality process gives you a quality result. I still think that's the best way forward, but even looking at what we have before us tonight, that kind of puts a lot of undue pressure on the board. I'm sure very inadvertently, right? Because if for some reason the contract isn't approved or something else happens, then all of a sudden the superintendent you agreement, I'm sure there's an intention, right? Oh, well then we could sign another acting superintendent agreement. But if that intention isn't made clear in like a very transparent way beforehand, then as
061far as the community knows, that intention doesn't exist. So part of what I'm requesting tonight is if Mr. Selenus would consider asking for that agreement that is on the agenda tonight to be amended to allow for more time because we don't and and there could be a contingency in there, right? Like if the if the uh contract is approved, then there's could be a contingency that addresses that. Correct. But what I don't want to see is a situation, we've had this happen now three times, where there's just a great deal of perceived undue pressure from people outside the board to just rush through something because oh no, we have to have somebody in this role. So I I would like that clarified. Thank you. >> That concludes everyone written in for first session of public
062expression. >> Mr. Thank you very much. The next agenda item is unfinished business. There is none at this time. So, we will be moving to the consent agenda. >> Board members, we have our agenda before it came through. >> You're not talking to your mic. >> I'm sorry. >> Pull the mic. >> Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. Trustees, before us, we have our consent agenda, items A through uh G. What's your pleasure, >> Madam President? Trustee Spencer, >> I move for the approval of the consent agenda items A through G. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second the approval of consent agenda items A through G. Are there any questions? >> Discussion. Mr. S, Mr. Trusty Candelera. >> U Madame President, I would like to read into account the accounts payable docket register
063for claims. the total is going to be 1,362,237 with 83 cents. And for payroll, the total is going to be 2,989,237 with 44 cents. >> Thank you, Trusty Candella. Are there any other questions? Any other questions? All we have to have a roll call vote because Trusty Ger is virtually. Roll call vote. Trusty Candelera, >> yes. >> Trusty Spencer, >> yes. Trusty GRE. >> Trusty Blake King. Yes. Motion carried. >> Motion carried. Thank you. Mr. Senzas. >> Oh, I didn't think he was going to say the first one. >> Are you? >> Motion. What did you say? >> I didn't think he would introduce item A. >> Oh, okay. Item uh under new business, item A, approval of acting superintendent agreement. Do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Spencer, >> I move
064for the approval of the acting superintendent agreement. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second the approval of the acting superintendent agreement. Are there any questions? >> Discussion. >> I just need to say something regarding this. Um It's been spoke about rushing into this and whatnot, but for transparency purposes, we have approved several of these acting agreements to allow so much time to get the correct final agreement in order, which is why there have been a handful of different approvals of the acting agreement for over over a year now, I do believe, so that we can get it right. So I I would like to go on record and say that we have taken our time with with this. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Spencer. Any more discussion? >> All in favor? Uh
065roll call vote? Trustee Candelera, >> yes. >> Trusty Spencer, >> yes. >> Trusty Guierra, >> yes. >> Trusty Blake King, yes. Motion carried. Thank you very much. Item B, Mr. Selenas, could you sure give us a little experience? >> The next item is the approval of the building service employees handbook. And I can clarify if you would like more information on that. >> D, >> would you like more information on >> just just a little bit? >> So this handbook supports a student success by ensuring specialized departments operate under a clean clear, safe and efficient guidelines. Additionally, providing a transparent and consistent employment expectations that help the district recruit and retain highly qualified staff and students within a stable professional development uh environment. So again, we're going to be uh within the next coming meetings
066approving several of the handbooks for the different employee groups. >> Thank you, Mr. Selenas. May I have a motion for item B? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Spencer, >> I move for the approval of the building service employees handbook. >> Second. It's been moved and properly second the approval of the building service employees handbook. Are there any discussion? Any discussion? All in uh roll call vote. Trusty Candella. >> Yes. >> Trusty Spencer. >> Yes. >> Trusty Guerrero. >> Yes. >> Trusty Blake King. Yes. Uh motion carried. Thank you. Item C, Mr. Mr. uh Selenus, please. >> The next item is the approval of the Hammond Community Corporation grants. And these grants are going to help us drive student success by providing essential funding needed for students and staff to explore creative highinterest topics beyond our
067standard curriculum. >> Thank you. Uh you you want to add how many grants were actually um awarded >> for the Hammond Community Corporation grants. The school city of Hammond was awarded 14 grants in the amount of $16,435. >> Thank you. And we thank this the city so much for this. We really do. May I have a motion, please? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Spencer, >> I move for the approval of Hammond Community Corporation grants. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the Hammond Community Corporation grants. Any discussion? Discussion. Roll call vote. Trusty Candela. >> Yes. >> Trusty Spencer. >> Yes. >> Trusty Guierra. >> Yes. >> Trusty Blake King, yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Uh item D, approval of reading textbook adoption. Mr. Selinez, >> thank you. So uh
068trustees, this is the presentation that you just heard from Dr. Eisman. And so again, this is the adoption of the curriculum which is in line with the Indiana preferred adoption list uh for the science of reading. >> Trustees, do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Spencer, >> I move for the approval of reading textbook adoption. >> Second. It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the reading textbook adoption. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call vote. Trusty Candelera. >> Yes. >> Trusty Spencer. >> Yes. >> Trusty G. >> Yes. >> Trusty Blake King. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Item E, approval ofou with center of workforce innovations. A little explanation, please, Mr. Sus. >> Absolutely. So uh this is aou memorandum of understanding with the school city of Hammond
069and the center of workforce innovation. So these grants will be uh supporting our school district uh to uh supply certified career coaches who will provide career exploration planning and post-secondary readiness services aligned with the Indiana career coaching framework and again it is a partnership with the center of workforce innovations. Uh in our audience we have our partner who is representing the organization uh Miss Nikki Rodriguez. There she is. >> Where is she? Oh, there she is. >> And so uh we have met and uh are very excited to continue this partnership not only for our schools but for our students as we uh prepare to uh get our students ready for all of the demands with our new graduation requirements which require internships and uh work uh experiences for our students. So again, this will
070definitely help our students and we are going to be working with uh our sixth grade students all the way up through 12th grade. >> Excellent. Excellent. Trustees, may I have a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Spencer, >> I move for the approval of theou with center of workforce innovations. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second for the approval of theou with the center of workforce innovations. Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call vote. Trusty Spencer. >> Yes. Yes. Trusty Candelera. >> Yes. >> Trusty Guerrero. >> Yes. >> Trusty Blake King. Yes. Eyes have it. Motion carried. Okay. We're down to our calendar. >> I think that's me. Okay. Okay. Our upcoming calendar, school board meetings. Uh Tuesday, May 19th is our public hearing. Uh, Tuesday, May 26 is an executive session, 5:15 p.m.
071administration center. And Tuesday, May 26 is our regular school board meeting, 6 pm administration center. And as we always include, it's not a meeting, but we always are on WJO the third Wednesday of every month. So, tune in at uh 12:30 FM on your radio station. WJO will be there. All right. Uh next, >> our next agenda item is our second period of public expression uh for general matters. Trustee Kendallia. >> Public expression. Second period regarding general matters. First member is going to be Reena Han. >> Good evening, President Blake King and members of the school board and superintendent Leas. I'm here tonight to speak to about the importance of student support specialists in our elementary schools that have a serious impact by elimination with will have on students, staff, and families. This position has
072already been reduced from eight special specialists down to four. Eliminating the remaining positions removes a critical piece in the MTSS system that supports our students academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. Student support specialists play an active role in MTSS data meetings with teachers and administrators. They help identify concerns early, analyze student needs, and determine the best next steps before problems grow into larger academic failures, disciplinary issues, or mental health crisises. Without the support, the growing social emotional needs of students will fall almost entirely on classroom teachers. These specialists provide weekly SEAL resources, monthly SEAL presentation, grade level lessons on bullying and other student concerns, and positive student engagement throughout the school day through recess support, lunch bunches, peer mediation, hallway check-ins, and group meetings. These relationships matter. They help students feel connected, safe, and supported so
073teachers can focus on instruction. Eliminating these positions also removes the restorative side of student discipline. Without restorative practices, the intervention suspension rates are likely to increase. Supports for 504 plans, peer mediation, and character education will greatly decrease, shifting more responsibility onto the teachers. At the elementary level, the only remaining counseling services would be from Infinity Services and this requires insurance coverage and many parents and families will simply go without. And the need is real here. The number of elementary students placed on risk assessment due to suicidal thoughts is alarmingly high. Believe it or not, these are young children asking for help. And these specialists are often the first line of intervention that helps fra strengthen the family bonds and improve school engagement. While eliminating these positions may create short-term salary savings, the long-term costs will
074be much greater through increased retention issues, disciplinary placements, special education referrals, and remediation services. Finally, the district invested at least $9,000 to train these people. And these cuts moving forward, there'll only be two other staff members to take their place. This is not just about a position. It's about prevention, relationships, safety, and giving our students the support they need. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider eliminating these vital positions. Thank you for your time. >> I don't know. Okay. >> Next member, Sarah Duffy. I remember seeing. >> Good evening, members of the board and superintendent Selenus. And thank you so much, Reena. My name is Sarah Duffy and I currently serve as the student support specialist at for both Lincoln and Harding Elementary. I truly believe I have the best job in the world because
075I occupy the vital space between instruction and emotional well-being. Today, I asked a group of sixth graders what they think I do. Their answers were telling. They called me a therapist, a counselor, and the person who talks you through what you're going through. While my daily log includes character education assemblies, conflict resolution, and crisis support, the heart of my work is building the relationships that make learning possible. Currently, my position is the only consistent support available to general education students outside of their excuse me, of their classroom teacher. Don't get me wrong, Infiniti is a great service, but it is only available to those with insurance and it is not an on call situation for student needs. My schedule offers more flexibility in times of crisis. It's really hard to schedule your challenging days. We
076know that most people or I'm sorry, most students thrive with their teachers, but we must address the gap for those who need more. For example, at one of my schools, out of 550 students, over 80 general education students have been identified as needing intensive social emotional support. These are students who meet with me for lunch, check in with me weekly or daily, and are just in need of a safe space when they hit a breaking point. The data is clear. A child cannot reach their academic pa potential if they do not feel safe, secure, and seen. As a former classroom teacher myself, I know the impossible pressure of trying to deliver a curriculum while simultaneously managing a student in crisis. When I asked those same sixth graders what the school would be like without someone
077in my role, the sixth grader said, "More drama, more tough emotions, and having no one to talk to." One student hit the nail on the head by saying, "Our teacher is only one person, and she has to teach." The students see the need. The teachers feel the need. I'm here to ask you to recognize that need as well. Please find a way to maintain these positions. They aren't just an extra. They are the foundation that allows our teachers to teach and our students to learn. Thank you so much for your time and for your attention. Have a great evening. >> Next member, Patrick Oor. Well, there was actually someone before him. >> They had a crisscross. We'll let him go and then call the other person up or >> he's up. >> Okay. >> Am
078I illegal? >> Yep. >> Good. Okay. members of the board and superintendent Selenus community. I just want to thank the board and Tony Selenus for supporting an effort by Purdue Northwest uh in bringing together about 200 students over the last well this last year on art on issues related to artificial intelligence, STEM and cyber security. tremendous success. And part two of the conference was a kind of a job opportunity curriculum, let's say, for students to interact with professionals so that they could then ask questions from these professionals about how AI is impacted on their profession. And obviously if you're not following artificial intelligence then your head is in the sand because certainly over the next three or four years it's going to transform the calimeter region in ways that we just aren't quite ready for.
079So Purdue is trying to do its best to work with young people at the high school level. It started with one district, Hammond, three years ago, then Lake County, and this last year we dipped into uh into Cook County, Illinois and Porter County, etc. So that we had about 200 kids and at the end of it, we gave each of the youngsters a swag bag and in that bag was a shirt to commemorate their activities. And I wanted to show this to you. uh thank the spons sponsors are on the back. They help fund the whole program and on the front the PNW, PNW, artificial intelligence, cyber security and uh STEM on the front. But we also wanted to recognize those uh adults that participated. So I'm here to present three shirts. One for Mr.
080Selenus, one for David O. Dixon who was there representing the legal profession and one for Tom Halooa who was there representing graphic arts. They both did fabulous jobs. And when I called them the next day to say thank you, they said no thank you. And it was a tremendous success. And I can't miss this opportunity to say that Christina sitting right over there, mother is the brains and the energy of the operation and without her we could never have made this happen. So I'm going to give these to you and I trust that you will give them to appropriate people or you could give them one to Dr. Hicks and he could give one to Thank you very much, Mr. Oort. Next member, Claudia Lopezos. Good evening, superintendent, um, trustees, and, uh, President Le King.
081Um, I'm sorry if I'm a little nervous. Uh, this is my second time speaking to the board. It doesn't get any easier. My speech, um, it was a continuation of Sarah Duffy's uh, speech, so I'm just going tohead go ahead and start. If we do not take care of our students mental and emotional well-being, we are setting setting them up for failure. Children cannot learn when they are overwhelmed, anxious, hurting, or emotionally broken. Intervention must begin early in order to be effective. We cannot afford to wait until students reach middle school before we decide to support them. The number of risk assessments happening in our elementary schools is alarming. Our students are struggling emotionally, mentally, and in some cases physically harming themselves. That is the reality we are facing. Our MTSS student support specialists are
082helping prevent tragedies every day. What would we say as a district if we if something happens to a child and we are asked what supports were in place? Would we be able to say we did everything possible to help them? This program is not a luxury. It's not an option. It's a necessity. I think about the students who need a daily check-ins just to make it through the day. The child who comes to school exhausted after another sleepless night caused by anxiety. The student who needs someone to practice mindful breathing with them before they can walk into a classroom and learn. The child who simply needs reassurance that they are safe, supported, and not alone. Our our teachers are incredible professionals. They work tirelessly to educate and care for our children. But they cannot be
083expected to sim simultaneously teach an entire classroom while managing several emotional disregul disregulation without support. They do not have the time, resources or specialized training to meet every mental health need alone. Our student support specialists provide students with tools to regulate their emotions, solve conflicts, build coping skills, and return to learning successfully. They create safe spaces where students feel seen, heard, and valued without judgment. So many of our children, for so many of our children, this might be the only emotional support they receive all day. Some of our students come from broken homes, experience trauma or lack um stable emotional support outside of school. For those children, school becomes more than a place to learn academics. It becomes a place of safety, consistency, and hope. When we invest in mental health support, we are investing
084in student success, school safety, and the future of our community. Removing this program would not eliminate the need. It would only eliminate the support. I urge the board to continue funding and protecting the MTSS student support specialist program. Our student needs our students need us to advocate for them, especially when they cannot advocate for themselves. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Next member, Cindy Murphy, Superintendent Selenus, members of the board, I want to keep talking about extracurricular curriculum. So, why is it so important and why do we need it? So recently I saw on Facebook our elementary science olympiad and it was the winners on there but one of the things that was missing and when we go to promote ourselves is what did they do? Where is the little videos
085of the um mouse trap cars of the egg bouncing on the floor of the boats where you put pennies one after another and the kids are just like how many pennies will it take till this boat sinks into the water? And then when I was listening to uh principal from Franklin about STEM and I'm like, you know what, Hammond was STEM before anybody was even talking about it. There's probably not many people in this room that remember Foss, but Foss used to be Oh, you remember? Handson inquiry sirens. That was us. We were STEM before anybody else was STEM, but we lost it. I'm glad to hear that Franklin is going to do it. They're embedding it. But one of the things that really upsets me as I start seeing how many schools are doing
086Science Olympiad, the best Legos, and then chess is how many kids aren't participating. How many schools aren't participating? That is extremely frustrating to me that how many kids have no idea how much the learning of science is, how much fun they could be having. And it's up to us as adults to come back and say, "Hey, we need this." May is the time for principles to be going to say, "Who's going to be doing science Olympia next year?" Because that's STEM all by itself. Is it every kid in the school? No. But when you start getting some of those kids interested and then you others you start doing those little videos and showing how much fun they have, that's when you have a school like Franklin where you want it with everybody in the school
087because learning is fun. So why is this stuff important? One of your former students was in Brazil last November. They were at the UN climate change conference in Brazil. And why were they there? Frog in the bog. I don't know if we still do it. Environmental science. That was my daughter. She was with people from 190 other countries talking about the fun stuff she learned here which is pushing her on to get her PhD in environmental science and doing these things on global climate issues. So, these kids don't know what they're missing. And it's up to us as adults to start talking to them, making sure every single elementary, our middle schools had nothing this year. No science olympied, no Legos, no chess. I hope you guys plan to do something to change that. Thank
088you. Next member, Dr. Michaela. Good evening again. I have to admit after that response, oo, I have music fun. Uh I'm a little bit more confused now because I don't recall a public meeting in which the community was ever again. This is fantastic. uh in which the community was ever told that there was a decision made on who would be superintendent and that the acting superintendent agreement was made purely just so that the decided upon superintendent could maybe get licensing requirements or in order or anything else like that. To be clear, the reason I say public meeting is that that's the kind of decision that doesn't get made outside of a public meeting, right? That's something that would run a foul of, you know, or open door law, things like that. You can't make it
089somewhere else. So, as I do recall, Mr. Selenus stepped into his role following Ms. reads sudden and abrupt departure before you know her contract would have been considered complete the initial contract. As I recall, there was no discussion at that time about that that this was just a a gateway for Mr. Selenus to become superintendent. Uh, and I think that that's a very dangerous statement to make. And so I'm I'm very much hoping that somebody misspoke because I wouldn't want to see any kind of ramifications over, you know, literally just somebody misspeaking. But as I recall, he came into that role and I I I have to wonder like was he interviewed when when Ms. Reed was decided on when when Miss Reed's contract was decided, was he considered for superintendent then? Is that when
090he interviewed? Did he interview after that? I mean, if the former I guess that explains the desire to make outreach with me by phone on the day of the approval of Miss Reed's contract. Um, but I'd really like to see again because three times we've had these rushed situations. We've had situations where, you know, people have been um where people have been like kind of rushed into, oh, we have to sign the contract. And yes, as far as the community knows, this feels rushed just like the the last thing that we had scheduled. Thank you so much, That concludes everyone written in for second session of public expression. >> Superintendent. >> All right. Before uh I begin with my superintendent report, we actually have the Franklin video up and running. So uh we're going to
091go ahead and share that with the community at this time. Correct. >> Oh, good. >> All right. Here we go. Great. So, this is our sixth year hosting the Franklin College and Career Expo. And my favorite part is two things. one, the amount of community support we have to host all of our sixth graders with school city of Hammond. And my second favorite is that all the kids get to come here and experience this and see what opportunities they have here right in their own backyard. 6 years ago, um, we had a counselor here by the name of Jackie Manalis. And she came to me and said, "Hey, what if we, you know, invite some community members to do an expo so our students can learn more about careers because that is a standard even
092in elementary school." And it started very small. we had maybe 15 20 vendors. Over the years, it has expanded to what it is today. We have um 65 vendors here today and we'll have between 800 and 1,000 kids that come through our expo. I really like how you can explore different careers, ask different questions, and just get to learn more about life, you know, like it kind of helps me navigate through what I really want to be. And the fact that you have real real experienced people to help you answer your questions makes it like more um what's the word? More helpful. I think it is very cool because especially nowadays a lot of kids they first think when they think of jobs like oh YouTube or streamer but it's nice to give them some
093exposure to what everyday people like do around here whether that be teaching working in like trade industries >> different organizations that are in their community that they can go visit or volunteer at if they want to as like I get to mostly talk to all the people and stuff and I get to know about all their jobs. It's been really awesome to see some of our students come through and get to be vendors at the expo after having gone through it. Um, and I also hear lots of students when I tell them I work at Franklin, they're always like, "Oh, I remember going to that career expo and we learned so much." >> Bridging the gap between the community and the police, especially kids. Being able to interact with us, uh, kind of learn more
094about what we do helps them trust us a little bit more as they grow up, um, be able to come to us if they need something, that sort of thing. >> We have a lot of Franklin students at the ACC, uh, one that's filming right now. But over the years, we've seen that where they're coming and um it's great to see them in the different trades and fields because not everybody is going to go to college and that's okay. Um whatever they want to be when they grow up, the sky's is the limit. My favorite expo is just kind of learning about what the kiddos are, you know, wanting to do when they grow up. And obviously we work at a college, so kind of just teaching them a little bit about school in general.
095Um so it's been fun listening to like what they want to do. getting to see that at a young age and start thinking what they want to be because not everybody might know right away what they want to be when they grow up. And also, we all know we change our mind about 600 times between now and when we were growing up. So, they at least get to experience it and see different things and experience that um at a young age. I just like to come out here and educate the youth on what different programs that everything around here has like JRTC the the financial literacy junior achievement that stuff is really cool. They get to hear rock. You can hear rock band in there. That's one of the coolest things here and I just
096like showing all the kids that >> just learning about careers and about like things we could do in the future. Like knowing how long we have to like have a degree to be like a nurse or be in a band or something to like learn more about all these careers and that I get to meet all these amazing people. Just teaching kids about opportunities that they have in the future and, you know, opening up to more possibilities definitely always good. >> Learn stuff early. You know, kids never had this stuff. I never had it. I learned some more stuff about it. >> I could know what I need to focus on in school and um know more about my uh future career. That's great. >> Thank you so much for putting that together. Um, it's
097very powerful and impactful to hear a presentation, but when you see something like that in the kids perspective, it really does hit home. So, thank you for that. and Miss Amaldonado from PNW. Thank you for your partnership in our career uh expo. So, I'm going to keep my comments brief because we've been here for a while and I know you appreciate that for that. Uh so, first and foremost, just like to wish a happy mother's day to all of our school city of Hammond um mothers, grandmothers, guardians, and mother figures. And thank you for all you do for our students. We also recently uh celebrated teacher appreciation week uh nurse uh appreciation week as well. We have lots of staff members that we are honoring and grateful to be thankful for. We just recently had
098our 2026 hero in education and so congratulations to all of those uh heroes who were awarded uh this past Friday. I'd like to take a second to congratulate our students at the ACC who held an amazing mass casualty event. Uh Dr. Hicks invited us to go see it and it was really really powerful to see how our students were learning uh what to do in an event like this that would impact our our our um our schools and so it was very impactful and so if you have any um interest in seeing that please please uh reach out to the ACC. It was an amazing event. Uh we're also going to be participating in our job fair uh with the north town she north township trustee uh this Thursday at worker memorial park. So, please
099uh share that with your community connections 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Our top 20 dinner for our kids is happening uh on May 19th. So, May is a month of celebration because we're celebrating adults, we're celebrating kids all across our month of May. And we are going to have our valadictorians and saludiatorans join us on our WJO show uh for the month of May, which will be our final show for the school year. And on May 21st, School City of Hammond will be participating in Bring Your Child to Work Day. This event takes place nationally in April, but we don't do it in April because we're state testing. So, we will be taking uh participating in that on May 21st. The last thing I want to talk about is just a reminder about the new
100Indiana cell phone law that is going to take place. I want to underscore that it is not a school city of Hammond policy. It is not a school city of Hammond initiative. It is an Indiana state law that is being extended uh for next school year. It is a statewide ban uh bellto bell meaning that phones cannot be used during the school day. This also impacts cell phones, smartwatches, earbuds, headphones, tablets, smart glasses, and handheld gaming devices. So, we will be putting out more information on that, but please know that things are going to be a little bit different next year uh when it comes to uh cell phones in the schools. So, please make sure that uh we get that message out to our community, to our staff. Um and again we'll share more
101information uh over the next coming weeks for that. Also uh wanted to recognize and acknowledge that we officially have 12 days of school left. Believe it or not, right? Um >> it's funny the things that get an applause around here. 12 days of school left. Um hey, we're we we've made it. We we've been through a lot and we're still here. Um, the year has moved quickly, but I continue to be incredibly proud of the hard work, resilience, and dedication demonstrated across the school city of Hammond. And for our parents, enrollment and registration for next year is still open. So, if you've not done that, please take advantage of our enrollment and registration for the upcoming school year. Thank you everyone. Have a good evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Selenas. Uh, are there any reports
102from the board? Mrs. Gara, Trusty Gara reports. I would just like to say a quick thank you and and notice to all of we have been running ragged trying to attend all of the activities throughout the district and I mean they have been fantastic. the Hopper dance, stepping into spring, um uh was hopping, the PTA was part of that, the no talent like Harding talent. That was an incredible uh performance from all of our students and uh we all attended the uh 2026 Hero and Education Awards night. That was uh that was the the epitome of uh of our year to watch our teachers and staff be honored as heroes on behalf of the Hammond Education Foundation. So we applaud all of the all of the teachers and staff and uh I know I know
103Mr. Tucker was one of Stand up Mr. Tucker. He sits in the background so quiet. He was honored. He looked like presidential suited down. I said, "Who is this man? We applaud you for your your talent and your service to School City of Hammond. And and if anybody I missed in the audience I can't see. Uh we applaud everybody. We had a ball celebrating all of our teachers and staff and that and finally with 12 days left again I'm going to say it at every meeting. The Hammond Public Library is at your uh excess parents. We got to keep our kids reading over the summer. The Hammond Public Library is the best source in the city for that. They have a ton of programs. So, I will be saying it over and over again during
104the summer. Let's utilize our Hammet public library to keep our kids um growing and elevating and restoring. Thank you very much. Is there anything else? Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. Second. >> Probably moved and second. Meeting adjourned. Thank you so very much.