001[Music] I love the school. Um, the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never asked questions with my teachers and now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to [Music] ask, my friends, you know. Yeah. Cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about HM Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories
002since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you going to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade, but it's not it's not easy, but like when you do what you got to do, it become easy. So, it's really just chill for me. It's good. There's never any like problems or nothing. There's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um I would say it's safe. It's loving. Um it's
003definitely welcoming. The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. My experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me nation let's rock Hey, [Music] hey, I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to [Music] ask, my friends, you know.
004Yeah. Cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here on uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you don't want to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade, but it's not it's not easy, but like when you do what you got to do, it become easy. So, it's really just chill for me.
005Good. There's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um I would say it's safe. It's loving. Um it's definitely welcoming. The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. Say my experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. Okay. The atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz of the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me. Go Nation, let's rock. [Music]
006I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to [Music] ask, my friends, you know. Yeah. Cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories since
007freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know some days you going to have days where like you going to come but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade but it's not it's not easy but like when you do what you got to do it become easy. So it's really just chill for me. It's good. There's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um I would say it's safe. It's loving. Um it's
008definitely welcoming. The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. My experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me nation let's rock Hey, [Music] hey, I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers in my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to [Music] ask, my friends, you know.
009Yeah. Cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here on uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you don't want to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner. Good evening. Welcome to our school city of Hammond school board meeting for Tuesday, May 13, 2025. It's our regular school board meeting. First order of business is called to order. Trustee Gera present. Trustee Spencer
010present. Trustee Stanford present and trustee Candelera present. Trusty Blake King present. We do have a quorum. We are ready to proceed. We will now stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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. Thank you. Okay. Um, we've had our roll call. Okay. Bear with me. I am sort of under the weather. Please bear with us. Recognition presentation. Uh, Hammond Public Library. Good morning, board. Good afternoon. I'm the interim director at the Hammond Public Library. Um, Miss Blake King, she knows me well. Um, I've been with the library for 13 years and I've been the interim director since this time 2023. All right. um building leg uh building
011building a literacy partnership with the Hammond public library and the school city of Hammond. Um today I'm going to present not only the assets of the Hammond public library but I'm also asking for a partnership between us and you school city of Hammond slide. All right. These are some of the pro the the uh programs that we currently have that are um done by our youth department primarily. Um we have uh play smart story times. I mean some of these programs you've heard throughout the country. Um babies and tots. We do those uh to for the babies. They the the children come and they try to bring new bringing literacy. Um family steam night. This is a big program. They will do quite a bit of things except for blow up the library. Hopefully not.
012Um Steam Squad, this is a very popular um program that we have. Um also um it's dealing with um steam subjects. Um the Chibi Crew, I don't know, it's an anime thing and it's geared towards um fifth to 10th graders and is very popular. um creative minds. Um in this many of things happen, most of it has to deal with popsicle sticks and and and paint. Um storywalk at Gibson Woods is very popular also um where they will set up signs and have the kids go through Gibson Woods and it show it helps get them into the library for the most part. Um, and the one my favorite one out of them all and the one that I find with the biggest efficacy that we're now pushing is 1,00 books before kindergarten. Now, these kids
013are before they get in school, but um it shows about a 25% increase in the literacy of children be before they go to school. And I'm really I have a new uh librarian that used to be the director at the um Homewood um library and she's spearheading this one quite a bit. Um next slide. All right. I'm going to leave the first Well, I'm going to go with the vending machine. Okay. So, the vending machine at the um Hanning Hammond Public Library has been up for about a year. It literally you're able to go there and check out a book with your library card. um you flash it, you can go in there, it's almost like a red box. You press a button and the book will come out. Um we refill it quite uh
014often. Um the thing is is with this is um need people to participate. It's or it's on it's South Hammond. Um it's by the it's across the street from the old YMCA. Um so you can use it as sitting there. But the thing is is I I'm I'm gonna do a new um presentation for this. I'm gonna do another grand opening once the weather is truly warm because right now it's like 73 today. It might be 53 tomorrow. Um but uh to reintroduce this box because for right now people just look at it as a box and they may think it's a utility box but this actually I I affectionately call it the red box for libraries because essentially that's what it does. I'm going to use the the middle one for last. Now, the
015next thing is we're going to do a maker space. Currently, our computer lab that's downstairs isn't being used as much because we shut it down. And I want that every space in my library to be used as much as I possibly can. Um, so what I'm going to do with that room is going to be a modular making maker space. So, it's going to be a maker space when it needs to be a maker space. So, we're finding tables that we can break up and turn into, you know, places where you can put um um sewing machines or whatever 3D printers, whatever else they may be doing in there as far as the maker space are concerned. And when it needs to be a computer lab, we'll have laptops that you can pull out and
016be in there. Um that's what I'm doing. So, right now, we're in the makes of switching that room around and and and making it modular so it can be both a maker space and a computer lab when need be. The last one is our app which is becoming very very popular. It's literally a phone app you can d um access to our digital um assets. So but the point the reason why I made this last is that we created a partnership with you a while back that had to do with the the cards. Kim Bennett came and pick up uh library cards just the other day, but we have issues both school city of Hammond and the Hammond public library when it comes to the physical cards. Many times those cards get lost. Um you
017give a third grader anything, what's the likelihood that it ends up on the bottom of their shoe stuck with chewing gum or something? Um, but we're trying to figure out a way to make it so that that library card is digital. Now, this app in the middle has many of different it's great, you know, but that was my purpose of bringing this app along was to try to make it digital. Um, I need to speak with Ken again to see if, uh, you know, because we were talking about that app can go on anything that, you know, the the the the tablets that you issue, other things, but you can check out books with this app. So, if you had this app on your phone as an adult, you can go into the library, pull
018out your phone, you have a book in your right hand, you can put it on there and in a certain spot, and you can check the book out there. You can also check it in with this app. um you have access to all of our digital um downloads and um databases with it. And the particular reason I'm bringing it up and making it a big deal is because that's what I want to do with the the app is to try to like help school city deal with cards that aren't physical because you have a a very migrant community. We all all the all the all of Northwest Indiana is. Um and some kids will be here one year, the next year they're gone. We have to be able to deal with that. a card gets
019lost. We had issues with, you know, some parents not even knowing that their kids had cards. So, my thing is to try to streamline that and make it a digital property versus a physical one. And that was my what I want to do with this with that phone app. Ne next slide. Okay. All right. um you know um my proposed partnership um enhanced digital digital lit literacy you know um joint coding um with uh with if if you need if need be if the teachers want to use it because we have all new computers in the Hammet public library now um and uh we have access to all of our annual um all of our users I guess we have 21,000 users um support CA classroom learning if possible you know Um, we used to
020have uh teacher cards for the teachers at the library and I'm trying to reissue something like that. Um, so that they can use our ass, you know, use use the assets that we have. Um, address math proficiency. Um, we have been speaking on programs to increase the math proficiency. Now, I know that all teachers have their issues. Math seems to be the one that's always been uh has been ubiquitous since the time I was in school. Um but if we have math programs, that would be great. Um and I need help from the teachers to tell me what they need. I don't I'm not an expert on any that I'm not I don't have anything that I don't have any degrees in education and a team work for for some prep. Um I have been
021in dialogue with uh work one and we have quite a few people that have come to help adults with um um acquiring a job in the past. But perhaps this is the time to try to get teenagers that are in work age into the workforce and perhaps this is the time period we should try to start doing that. All right, next one. All right, this is Morton. This is a picture from 2015. It throws me way back. Uh, Miss Greenleaf, our prior director, is in the picture and the guys that used to do our computers. We had a program with Morton in 2015 for the students and they came there, I think they were juniors and seniors to create a marketing program, creative marketing um um for the businesses. And there was I think all
022that the the kids got was their names on a plaque. Um it was it it worked out really well. I think we we had quite a few kids um involved and it was fun. Um and I remember that that particular year and the next year we did it with Hammond High. Hammond High was in 2016 and 2016 I think it was petering out. We were trying to keep that program going, but I think uh floods and everything else that we've dealt with at the library kind of killed that program. Next slide. All right. Now, these are um um certain libraries that had a they leveraged school partnerships with the libraries. Um and some of them sound pretty familiar. Uh Nashville did a limit limited library. Um 33,000 materials were delivered to schools. Now the thing
023is they spent 50 half a million dollars on doing that um class program in in NYC um 90,000 students gain um gained library cards um is similar to what we have done with the library cards here um Mason County Unbound they did uh they they had like 47 um thou 100 books delivered annually to CA classrooms um I'm not certain exactly what their situation was. It may be like perhaps um and I can look up where Mason County is. The Mason County libraries in uh I think it's in Georgia. Um they may had issues with their libraries in the schools because that also sounds like some of the things that we've done. Um Detroit reads, now these were with adult learners. um they improved um job readiness um and it did work and but but
024Detroit reminds me of the economic problems that we may possibly have here. Queens Library in Queens, New York um and um 40% increase in um um parent child reading time um supports um school city of Hammond's I mean school like family engagement goals. All right, next slide. Um and here's more things of program more more programs that libraries their their literacies certain models that they did. Pellington library in Oregon. Um again they got a big grant for 1.5 million is something that we probably won't see. Um but these are programs that were successful and this is just library programs with literacy. All right, next um slide. Next slide. Oh, this is these are It looked almost like the same slide. Sorry. Um we haveund almost 140 $104,000 of physical um um inventory there. Um and
025almost 50,000 in digital resources. Um we do u mobile printing laminating services. So if a teacher comes to our library, we have a giant um laminating machine in the basement that we can possibly have you use. So it's not services for the public, but services for you know um teachers if need be. Um and we have about 150,000 um annual visitors. We do have a bilingual staff. We have one guy upstairs that's actually um taught um English in Spain and he is trying to get his um ESL and we're trying to do a ESL program. Um my first my first homework for him is to figure out how school city of Hammond and their ESL programs are working. Um and any of them that are around before we we we delve into doing something that's
026already being done. Um next slide. And this is showing what our impact would be if you partner with us. um the proven impact will be 83% cost efficiency with these cuts that we just received from I'm sure that the SB1 it wasn't just us that got hit by them and um any equity focus um because I am a a very equitable person I'm looking to be as diverse as possible so you're going to get all three of those in in that and in in that slide all right um co-branding summer reading this year may be too late but next year definitely if you have anything that like and I know that summer for schools from my it's not as many teachers on staff but I know you guys are working too. Um if we can
027co co-brand a uh summer reading challenge I'm willing to do it. Um my thing is to get the kids reading more. Um and that's something that I'm looking forward to doing. Um we already have Carla Blake King. We have two other board members that are from school city of Hammond that represent school the schools. But if we can have feedback from the teachers what it is that they need books, materials, I'm willing to listen and I have a cut of I have a decent not to go off slide but 8.5% of our budget has to be spent on materials. If you give me any type of give me a some some direction and what you want, I'm willing to spend some of that money. And our budget is roughly $5 million. So you do the
028math. That's around four 40 45 $450,000 worth of spending that I have to do. And it would be great if we can partner up with people who know what they're doing as far as education because some of those books are just sitting there. I want something to move also. So it's like wheel spin, but it'll help us help you. um and any um grant sharing that we could possibly um do, I'm willing to do that, too. All right. Next. And um to close this, it's like basically we have quite a bit of uh opportunities for teachers. Um I think in the the way that the the world is going right now with the literacy rate being as low as it is um libraries may be I mean as far as school city of Hammond an
029external entity that is willing to help you with no cost. Um, call me. Most people like you can ask Carla. Carla, you can call me and you get me. You know, you're not going to get my secret. Well, you might get my secretary, but um but but you can you you can you can get in touch with me pretty much any day. Um thank you. Thanks for listen listening and um have a good night. Thank you, Mr. White. We certainly appreciate you. In terms of a partnership, it's it's a given. It's certainly a given. Uh again, you were indicating that we're going digital. So the students that now have regular paper cards, um we'll work on that. Mr. Selenas will merge that and that that will be no issue at all. Thank you so very
030much. Um Mr. Selenas, presentation B. Thank you very much. Uh board members, trustee King, we now uh have a presentation by Oannon Elementary School. I'd like to call our principal Allison Lindel and our assistant principal Joan Denny. Good evening, President King, Superintendent Selena's board members and community members. I am the proud principal of Oannon Elementary School, Allison Lenzo, and I'm Joanie Denny, the assistant principal. And we did invite two students to come tonight, but I don't see them. But, um, I'll talk about that a little bit as we move on. So, if you want to pull up the PowerPoint, please. is we're going to share some things um about Oannon that makes us Oannon strong. Wow. Um there was a slide stand. Oh, it was sent Friday. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Go ahead. We
031decided to let our kids talk um about our PBS program. So, this is our library helpers. They give up their recess time in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade to help out in the library. So they have created this video for you to talk about our PBIS system at Oannon. Behavioral interventions and supports a framework schools used to create a positive and safe learning environment by focusing on teaching and reinforcing desired behaviors rather than solely addressing negative ones. PBIS is a multi-tered framework that aims to improve student outcomes by addressing behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs. Here are some of the ways we utilize PBIS at Oannon. Blickickets are blue tickets that are earned for being respectful, responsible, or safe. Blickickets are pulled out of baskets every day and called out on announcements or
032different rewards. Some teachers give them as rewards for clipping up on the Clipet behavior chart. The chart is used as rewards for students with for positive behaviors clip up. And this for negative behaviors clip down. On mystery Monday, students who get caught never know what they're going to get. Telephone Tuesday, students get to call any staff member in the building. Wheel Wednesday, students get to spin the wheel for a prize. Cross your fingers and hope you don't land on a zoink. On thankful Thursday, students get to write a letter to staff members they are thankful for. Fun Friday gets you a trip to the prize box. Hopefully, you'll find something fun. In December, student blit winners that were pulled receive Christmas presents. Caught being good tokens are rewards for whole classes being good. They are
033given by other teachers and staff that see a class as a whole being exceptional. Classes turn in the tokens to get the class rewards. Rewards range from five tokens turned in, the whole class gets to have a spirit day to 30 tokens turned in, the whole class gets to pick from the prize bucket. Reward tickets are special passes that can be earned or rewarded to students. They are earned by clipping up or if their blickickets get pulled on wheel Wednesday and they spin the prize wheel and land on the reward. At Oannon, classes have an attendance competition. Every week, the class with the best attendance wins best weekly attendance and earns a token. But that's not all. Every class is still in the running for best monthly attendance. The class that wins gets a class
034shipped to the prize box, and each student gets to pick a prize. Teachers and administrators make at least one positive phone call home a week to inform students adults about the good behavior the student has exhibited. Teachers who want to reward positive behaviors recommend students for positive office referrals. Students who receive positive office referrals get a pencil certificate and their picture on Facebook. At the beginning of the school year, each class votes on a spirit day. Then a yearly calendar is shared. We have sixth graders who go around and count class participation. When teachers participate, they're counted as two. The highest class participation receives a 15-minute free recess or free time in the classroom. Some examples are inside out and backwards day where you get to wear clothes inside out and backwards. Mythical creature day,
035students can dress up like a mythical creature. Red and white day is obviously where students can wear red and white. Crazy hair day is a fun one where students can style their hair in crazy ways. March Madness is in full effect every March at Oanon. Classes are paired up in a bracket and compete for the most special tokens each week to move up to a championship round. The winning class wins free popcorn, free recess, and fix a seat in the cafeteria for a week. Choices, whereas first place will be given popcorn, free recess, pick a seat for a week, and they have so many tokens that they probably will have a movie party, too. Um, this class has had the most tokens throughout this whole competition and they have topped it today by having 30
036tokens in 4 days. Congratulations to Mrs. Green. Oh god. [Applause] Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Glory. You guys are doing a good job. Cardinal celebrations are celebratory assemblies which are held at the end of each semester. All the students come into the gym and play minuteto- win games. Students tickets get picked from the baskets and are teamed up against others to see who could win it in a minute. Each student who is chosen to gets to choose an item from the prize box. These incentives help the students strive to receive the rewards by making good decisions and doing their best. And that's a little summary of PBIS at Old Bannon Elementary. Oh, you guys are awesome. Thank you. Actually, for this one, we're just going to talk a little bit about our family involvement at
037Oannon. So, if you want to go to the next slide, uh we already did the PBIS. So, in place also on top of doing the two side by sides that are we are required to do from title one requirements, we also wanted to have other opportunities for parents to come in. So, each grade level comes up with an an activity, something fun for the parents to come in twice a year. They do it once in the first semester and once in the second semester. Um, so we're going to show you a video, two little videos that were at our u Mother's Day special person's uh presentation last Friday. So if you want to show both of those, if you go back, the link should open up, I think. Yeah, there we go. Oh, I didn't
038give you access. They're on Facebook. So just follow us on Facebook. So basically everything Oannon does, it's very important to us to get that positive information out to our families. Um, if you ever, you know, want to see what's going on at our school, just go to Facebook and it's pretty much all there. Um, any questions for us about the PBIS or family involvement at Oannon. I did also have two students who were going to come here for the living museum. That's the fourth grade activity. And as you can see, we have Selena, Harriet Tubman, and Einstein that presented last week at those. So, they present to their families. They do research on um a famous person. And then some students choose to actually dress up like them and then they um present to their
039families and to their classmates. So um Mercedes and Marcelus were supposed to make it but unfortunately they're not here tonight. Um next year when we do this I'll be sure to invite you guys out so you could see the kids you know do their presentations. So absolutely. Any questions for us board members? I have a question. Is this a program that you share with other schools so that they can do it with their students? Um the living museum or the PBIS? The PBIS. PBIS is districtwide. Um Oh, okay. So, everyone does PBIS differently at their buildings. Mrs. Denny and I have worked together for 11 years now. Um, so we've been able to build things up. And March Madness is all Mrs. Denny's idea. She's our behavior person. Um, she comes up with great ideas
040all the time. And now the kids really love the March Madness. We're trying to think of something we could do in the fall for like a fall competition. Um, because they all look forward to that. As soon as she got the bullet bulletin board up, the kids are like, "Who am I competing against?" So, um, and it's fun for the kids and the staff. So, but we do share things with each other. Yeah. Very good. All right. Well, thank you. Uh, no questions. Just I love seeing your guys' Facebook posts. You guys do a great job. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you. See you next year, Mr. Telenus. Before I move on, uh, I can attest, uh, to all the great things happening at Oannon. Recently, Mrs. Randolph, Miss Pritchette, Mr.
041Hicks, Mrs. Smith, Dr. Eisman, and myself were there in person to witness everything that you just uh, saw. So, great job at OAN and uh congratulations. Uh our next agenda item is public expression first period. Okay. Our first public speaker will be Reena Han. Good evening, President Blake King, school board trustees, school city hand administrators, staff, and fellow community members. I'm here tonight. on behalf of the Hammond Teachers Federation Union to express gratitude and support for the recent decisions made by the school board. Decisions that were not easy, but were clearly made with the best interest of our students, our staff, and the entire school city of Hammond community at heart. While the public doesn't always see what happens behind closed doors, we trust this board's commitment, this board's integrity, and this board's desire to
042restore and elevate our district to its full potential. We've seen progress with our own eyes. Changes that show the board is working diligently not for personal gain or public praise, but for the betterment of our schools and for those who walk through their door, their doors every day. This work isn't always glamorous. It isn't instant, but it is necessary. And we thank you for staying the course. Unfortunately, rumors and one-sided opinions, especially those spread across social media platforms, have begun to overshadow the truth. These posts do not serve our students. These post posts don't support our teachers. These posts sole purpose is to only divide and distract public officials, social media moderators, community and non-commun community members. Frankly, all of us should know better than to give life to gossip that does nothing to help
043our schools in Hammond thrive. Yes, our district isn't perfect, but it is full of people who love it deeply. People who are committed to making it better every day. So, tonight, the teachers union urges everyone to get the facts straight. Ask questions that move us forward. Support solutions that help restore and elevate this district. And please don't let hearsay take the place of hope for the school city of Hammond's future. Let's rise above the noise and focus on what truly matters, our kids, their future, and the continued improvement of the school city of Hammond. On behalf of the Hammond Teachers Federation, we thank this board for their continued support, and we will continue to work with this board to further elevate Hammond's future. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next public speaker,
044Mary Ellen Slazer. Gary Ellen Slazic, 6847, California. Too many changes made. Um I see tonight a new business there is approval of acting superintendent agreement. Um, big question I've got about that is how was the selection made to fill that spot? And if since the agreement is not even going to be voted until tonight and made final, um, maybe putting the other name as acting superintendent before this is done might have been putting the cart before the horse. Um, I don't know exactly how this process was done, but um, it'd be nice to have more openness and whatever process is being done that affects our children. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Cornell White. Yes. Sign. You didn't know. That's okay. I've done it, too. Next speaker, Cindy [Music] Murphy. Cindy Murphy. I'll
045be speaking mostly on the personnel report tonight, but I am going to do a sidebar. That has always belonged in our board meeting. I remember when that was brought as a gift by students here in Hammond who painted that. They that looks like a photograph. They did such a fantastic job. I'm glad to see it in the boardroom. I think it needs to be up there, but that's just my opinion. All right, personnel report. We've got 19 retirement and resignations. The thing I really want to talk about, I know you posted a bonus for the hard-to-reach teachers, but where are we doing with this? We've got seniors coming up for next year that need calculus. They need physics. We do not have that being taught at Hammond Central this year. Now, can they zoom? Of
046course they can zoom. We've got kids zooming over at Morton High School this year. But it doesn't change having a teacher in the classroom. And I ran into that with my grandson. He was zooming me for Texas. He wanted some help on his seventh grade homework. And he said, "All right, I'm doing some geometry." And I'm like, "Okay, no problem." I could only see what was on the phone. What I couldn't figure out is he was using the wrong formula. 30 minutes spent trying to figure out why the math was not working. But if a teacher had been there immediately they would have said, "Um, did you check your formula and make sure it's right?" So yes, our kids can learn with zooming, but it's not the best thing. So, I hope you guys are
047working what's left of your administration diligently trying to bring in people that our children need so they can be successful and go on to engineering, physics and calculus required, premed physics and calculus required in all the rest of the classes. So, I hope that we hear in some board meetings coming up soon that that is going to be what we're doing. And then I'm going to say the thing that I said two months ago. I wish you well. There are 10,000 students who are counting on you to be successful this summer and making sure things move forward and we start the school year well. Thank you. Thank you. Next public speaker, Vanessa Veins. Hi, happy Tuesday. I would like to speak about number 6A on the agenda, the approval of acting superintendent ingredient in agreement.
048I am asking the board to postpone the vote this evening of appointing a new acting interim superintendent. Teachers should have a voice in the appointment of an interim superintendent. And I am asking the board to send out a survey to teachers so that their voice so that their voice um and their opinion and experiences regarding the candidate um can be taken into consideration before a vote is taken. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Lette Montinees. Okay. Next speaker, Dr. Michaela. Good evening. Um, given that there's a a thing on the agenda about this, I do think sometimes there's a confusion about language that maybe the board can provide some clarification on when this action item is considered regarding what an acting superintendent is versus an interim because I think there's a lot of
049like confusion about how is that different from like an interim? Is this a thing that's going to be ongoing? What does the rest of the process look like? Because obviously if you're in a situation where somebody's unable to perform their duties and you have to have them fill in, you just kind of have somebody perform those duties. And on that note too, I think that if we're talking about a pdeium for somebody for doing administrative duties that there needs to be very strict oversight and really a statutory kind of language in there about here's the duties that are specific to this role. those are the duties you're being paid for in that role because otherwise and that that's what needs to be itemized and reported back to HR. Um but I think otherwise when people
050see somebody suddenly stepping into a role even temporarily, you know, maybe they've had really bad experiences or maybe they are just unclear on a process. um you know more openness and clarity about what that is and you know all those things can help because I think sometimes people might just be afraid. Um people have been burned as much as this board has been burned and the teachers have been burned by past administrations, past boards, etc. who try to do things in a certain way. And I do think that there are people who, you know, maybe online will play a game and then up at the podium say something different and things like that um to try to kind of present things in a light that is inaccurate. I think those very same people, it's funny
051because I always say we should always encourage people to do things in the most transparent and accountable way and members of the community. I mean, it's it's not like we don't know the people who are administrating our schools, who are part of our district administration. If those folks are not advocating accountability and transparency, maybe members of the community need to be advocating that position to them because I know that the board has stated its intent many times and has taken action in line with that intent many times. But if you have the people who are supposed to support you in your leadership duties constantly playing a game of, you know, fearfulness and, oh no, if we do it this way, something bad will happen. Um, that doesn't help. We all have to be kind of
052rowing in the same direction, uh, in a legal direction. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Last speaker, Wanda Pucket. Good evening. I'm Wanda Pucket. First of all, let's set the record straight. We all here for one thing, and that's for these babies. We not here to criticize no one. We all need to get on one accord. Look around you and see your baby sitting at home. I told y'all once before, parents sitting at home watching this, come together. Don't separate. This is about unity. Community need to get together with each other. get these babies on the right track with this I step I read and everything else. If you need help, you should be able to go to the school, talk to a teacher, principal or whatever, but for us sitting up in here like
053this is wrong. We pointing fingers, but when we point one, you got three pointing back at you. So we all need to stop pointing them fingers. See, I can read between line when you throwing your shade. I'm old school. So I'm going to tell you just like him. Snakes in this building. As I'm standing here sneak, they got smiles on their face, but they a bunch of snakes. So while you throwing one, you better throw two cuz I'm gonna be at every meeting. every meeting and I'm about these babies. And if you think I'm not, try me. Try me. All of these are my babies in every school city of H. I don't care what school they go to that. I bet you they can come and find Miss Wanda cuz Miss Wonder going to
054stand up and speak for them when don't nobody else do. Listen to these kids. Listen to them. They telling y'all the truth. Ain't nobody listen to them. Y'all too busy worrying about yourself. Put yourself aside and think about like a child. Kids wouldn't be scared to come to y'all. Y'all stop sitting around in the hallway talking about them. Y'all spend y'all time talking about the kids then getting your lesson plan together. And I'm going call it out just like I said. But we need a clean house. Snakes in the building. got to go leaks in the building. When I say is a leak in this old building, it's leaks. Every last one of these building got to leak. Y'all don't want me to start calling y'all out one by one. First and middle name. And
055I will do it. And you know I don't care. Stop putting the leaks in these bills. Whatever you know, keep it to yourself cuz I do find out and I do hear. Thank you. That ends first session public expression. Thank you, Mr. Selenus. The next item uh is unfinished business and at this time there is no unfinished business. Okay. The next item is the consent agenda. Trustees, what's your pleasure? Madame President, Trusty Spencer, I move for the approval of the consent agenda items A through F. Second. It's been moved and probably second that we approve the consent agenda items A through F. Uh, is there any discussion? Yes. Trusty Stanford. Accounts payable docket register. We've um um examined the vouchers listed on the foreign going accounts payable dated May 13, 2025 consisting of 290 pages
056592,473.17 for claims. Total 3,550,101 penn for payroll 2,220,97521. Total payroll for both periods is $4,675,74867. Thank you, Trusty Stanford. Any discussion? Any discussion? Ready to vote. All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Abstain. Abstain. One abstension. Uh for approved. Motion carried. New business. 6A. Approval of acting superintendent agreement. Do I have a motion for approval? Madame President. Trustee Spencer, I move for the approval of the acting superintendent agreement. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and properly second that we approve the approval of the acting superintendent agreement. Any discussion real quick, I just have ahead. I forgot who it was and I apologize. It might have been Dr. Kayla um who mentioned it might be a good idea and maybe not right now but maybe attorney Harris for the next meeting can explain the
057difference between um an acting superintendent and an interim superintendent because I think there might be some confusion amongst that. So you know I put you I'm not trying to put you on the spot now. We can do it either way but if you want it at the next meeting I can do that. Let's do it now for transparency. Yes. So there is a distinction between acting superintendent and interim. An acting superintendent typically is someone who steps into the role uh of the superintendent to fill a void typically on an emergency basis. That person normally is from within the district and holds another role in the district currently. Um and that's the case now. What you have before you is basically an agreement to provide a stipen for that individual to provide these additional services. um
058based upon the amount of the stipen that's approved. Uh normally that's temporary. It's it's typically temporary until the board establishes and completes a process for filling either an interim role which is pursuant to a contract that would be posted and advertised or until they were to hire a permanent superintendent. So that's the difference. There's three different types. It's acting, interim, or full-time permanent superintendent. And here we're fortunate enough to have someone within the district who did have the uh trust and confidence of the board uh who was able to step into that role and um I know the board is appreciative of that and the contract that's before you for consideration is uh for a stipen basically for those additional duties. I would recommend if you wouldn't mind just a a friendly amendment to that
059uh motion or if you would make the motion again for approval and ratification just for the record. Thank thank you attorney. Thank you. Go ahead. Uh, Trusty U. Spencer, please, would you amend your motion? Yep. So, I amend my original motion to I move for the approval and ratification of the acting superintendent agreement before us. A second. Second. It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the acting superintendent agreement and ratification. Any more discussion? Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I oppose. No. One oppose. One opposed. Four. Four and one. A motion carried acting superintendent Mr. Selenus. Thank you. Um our next item is the approval of the 2025 2026 school year calendar. Trustees, you have the calendar before you. What's your pleasure? Do I hear a motion? Madam President, Trusty
060Candelier, I move for the approval of the 2025 2026 school year calendar as presented. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the 202526 uh school calendar year. Any discussion? Um Mr. Selenus, could you just expound on it a little bit for us, please? Sure, absolutely. So, um for uh our community, we are voting to approve the 2025 2026 school year calendar, which has been uh a collaboration between the district administration and also the Hammond Teachers Federation. So, there has been input um in several stakeholders. We are very excited to put this information out because this is also going to impact our uh early release dates that I will be sharing information with uh very shortly here. Thank you. You're welcome. Any discussion? Any further discussion? All in
061favor say I. I. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carried. Mr. Selenus, the next item under new business is the approval of the Hammond Community Corporation grants. Trustees, do I hear a motion? Madam President. Trusty Kendera. I move for the approval of the Hammond Community Corporation grants as presented. I have a second. I second. It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the Hammond Community Corporation grants. Uh, is there any discussion? Mr. Selenus, please just share a little bit what's going on with that, please. So, the Hammond Community Corporation grants allow for students to engage in activities that relate to our uh district priorities. The grants provide additional monies to encourage creativity and ideas for students and staff to explore topics outside of the regular curriculum. These programs encourage student participation in a
062positive manner and we are very grateful to have this partnership with the city of Hammond. Thank you, Mr. Selenus. All in favor say I. I. I. Oppose. eyes have it. It's um motion carried. Mr. Selenas, our next item on the new business for approval is the approval of the PLTW grants for our um elementary, middle school, and high schools. Trusty, do we have a motion? Madam President, Trusty Spencer, I move for the approval of the PLTW grants. Second. It's been moved and properly second for the approval of the PLTW grants. Any discussion? Once again, Mr. Selene is just a little verb. Absolutely. So, PLTW stands for Project Lead the Way and we have these grants already established in our secondary schools and our high schools and our middle schools. This year we have several elementary
063buildings that will be piloting the PLTW grants. Those schools are Burns Hicks, Franklin, Hess, Irving, Lincoln, and Oannon. And again, we have the PLTW project gateway already established at Scott Middle School. We also have computer science, uh, biomed science at Hammond Central, engineering, uh, biomedical science, and, uh, computer science also at Morton High School. Very good. Thank you. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Motion carry. I for Mr. Selenas. Our next item is approval of Indianapolis Colt High School girls flag football grant. Wow. We hear a motion. Madame President, Trusty Spencer, I move for the approval of the Indianapolis Colts High School Girls Flag Football Grant. Second. It's been moved and properly. Second for the approval of the Indianapolis Colts High School Girls Flag Football Grant. Any discussion, Mr. Selenas, please.
064This is exciting. Absolutely. Okay. So, we are recommending the approval of this grant. Um, the Indianapolis Colts High School girls flag football grant have provided uniforms and equipment to begin a high school girls flag football. They will be providing financial support for coaches, stipens, transportation, and additional equipment needed at Morton High School's girls flag football. The amount is $6,000 and it has been submitted by our athletic director, Mr. Shan Kinsey. Thank you, Mr. Kinsey. Give him a All in favor say I. I oppose. Eyes have it. Thank you. Motion carry. Mr. Selenas. Our next item is approval of our contract between CESA6 and St. Thomas Moore. Do I hear a motion? Do I hear a motion? Madam President, Trusty Kendalla, I move for the approval of the contract between CESA6 and St. Thomas Moore as
065presented. Do we have a second? Second. It's been moved and properly second that we approve the approval of the contract between CESA6 and St. Thomas Moore. Any discussion? Any discussion? Mr. Sel, I think this bears some explanation, please. Absolutely. So again, when we are a local education agency that receives federal title one dollars, it is a requirement to proceed uh receive and share the allocation to the um local uh non-public schools. Um St. Thomas Moore uh will be working uh with our family engagement uh facilities and they will be using title one money and since we are the uh public agency whenever they use title one dollars it is our responsibility to uh approve those dollars. So they will be using this money for family engagement it is also uh being paid out of their
066allocated title one monies that we are also responsible for sharing with them under the equitable share provision under title one. Thank you Mr. Selenus. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Eyes have it. Motion carry. Mr. Selenus. The last item is the approval of settlement. Do I hear a motion? Madam President, Trusty Spencer, I move for the approval of the settlement. Second. It's been moved and probably second for the approval of the settlement. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose. Eyes have it. Motion carried. Um Mr. Sus. The next item is the calendar. Our calendar uh following is um Tuesday, May 20th is our executive session 5:15 p.m. And Tuesday the 20th is our regular school board meeting at 6 pm here
067at the administration center. and and oh and then on the 21st as I always announce that is our WJO WJO radio time at 9:05. So please listen up. It'll be a most encouraging and exciting um radio show that that afternoon morning. Okay, Mr. Selenus, our next item is public expression second period. Okay, our first speaker is Marielle and Slazac. Mary Ellen Slazic, 6847, California. We got a major problem with the Hammond schools instability. Seems we can't um keep somebody as superintendent. We can't keep a lot of staff, teachers, other professionals that are very vital to our children's education, to their well-being while they're in school. Maybe we should look within ourselves and find out why. It's really a shame when I've gone out like to Lake County Fair last year. Unfortunately, people recognize me from
068talking here and the people come up to me and talking are teachers from other part of the county. They do watch parties for our meetings in case you didn't know that. And we are the laughingstock of Lake County. And it seems like with the instability we have here, it's a deterrent to getting people to work here to maybe getting a permanent superintendent for teachers and other professionals. Besides all the goings on on social media, which I don't even read because I don't do any blasted social media. I got better things to do. Um, it's just the reputation Hammond has got and it keeps on going down. That's not helping our kids at all. We need to bring our school system up and stability is the number one thing that needs to be done. and to
069try to get a better reputation. I was shocked people coming up to me to Lake County Fair. I was absolutely shocked. I had no idea that people in other parts teachers in the other parts of the county were actually having watches for our meetings. That says a lot and not in a good way. That says it in a bad way. I remember when our school system was like the best. It was one of the best in the state and went down and down and down and we were hanging in there and right now it's at a real low and our kids are suffering because of it. This all is supposed to be about our kids and not kingdoms. Thank you. Next speaker, Cindy Murphy. Cindy Murphy. Um, I have a lot of stuff I have
070to clean out and shred. So, I saw some old board policy we never got around to proving last year, and I'm going to read some of it tonight. The first board policy is threatening and or intimidating behavior towards staff members. The school board believes that administrators should be able to work in an environment. Mrs. Murphy, what your comments is goes against our administrative guidelines. Attorney Harris, I'm reading board policy. But so to the extent that you're discussing any personnel matters, it wouldn't be appropriate. I'm not discussing any personnel. I'm reading board policy. Understood. If it gets to the point where it's discussing any personal matters, it would be Thank you. Thank you for that, Parliamentarian. All right. The school board believes that administrators should be able to work in an environment free of threatening or
071intimidating speech or actions. Threatening behavior consisting of any words or deeds that intimidate administrators or cause anxiety concerning their physical well-being is strictly forbidden. Harassment based on protective class shall be investigated under policy 2266. Bullying. The school board is committed to providing a safe, positive, productive, and nurturing educational environment for all of its students. The board encourages the promotion of a positive interpersonal relations between members of the school community. Bullying behavior towards a student or staff or other third parties is strictly prohibited and shall not be tolerated at all times. The safety of the victim of bullying shall be a priority. This prohibition includes physical, verbal and psychological abuse as provided herein. The board shall not tolerate any gestures, comments, threats or actions which cause or threaten to cause bodily harm or personal degradation. Engaging
072in cyber bullying, which is bullying that occurs through the use of data or computer software that is accessed through a computer or computer system is also prohibited. Bully is defined in state law means overt, unwanted, repeated acts or gestures, including verbal or written communications or images transmitted in any manner. Physical acts committed, aggression, any other behaviors committed against with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm or create for the targeted objectively hostile school environment. Since I'm running out of time, we'll get there. All complaints about bullying behavior that may violate this policy shall be promptly investigated according to the timeline established by the superintendent's administrative guidelines. If during an investigation reported acts of bullying or harassment, the investigator believes that the reported misconduct may have created a hostile learning environment or may have
073constituted unlawful discriminatory harassment based on sex, race, color, national origin, religion, or disability. The investigator shall report the act of bullying and harassment to one of the compliance officers. so it may be investigated in accordance with procedure set forth in policy 5517. I hope that any investigation that was started is ongoing and hasn't been terminated. Retaliation against any person who reports is thought to have reported, files a complaint or otherwise participates in an investigation or an inquiry concerning an allegation of bullying is prohibited and shall not be tolerated. Such retaliation shall be considered a serious violation of board policy independent of whether complaint is substantiated. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Lzette Montenez, Dr. Michaela. I find whoever suggested that bullying might be a good topic for tonight to whoever was commenting about bullying that
074that is the most poorly advised topic ever because we have so many kids in schools who are being bullied. We have a law that was written into law to correct that. And in other districts that aren't this one, I haven't heard about issues in this district. That law is routinely ignored. I have some questions about bullying. Can a person be bullied or be in a hostile work environment if before becoming an employee of that environment an action happens that they deem completely acceptable to consider employment in that work environment? Can a person count actions that happened before they made that decision as part of that? Um who would who would advise someone to do such a thing? And if so, and if we talk about issues of cyber bullying, past activities, etc., there's a wealth
075of places that can go, none of which are beneficial to anybody. But if we're talking about, let's say, harassment, hostile work environment. Let's say you're a building administrator and you're sitting in a meeting and the person, this is just a hypothetical, the person who's a director level person um is doing something just patently illegal in front of parents, students, other people, whatever. You make a complaint, suddenly that person's made a complaint against you. the complaint you made is not upheld even though it's legal, but the complaint that was made against you is and you're censured. So, how does that person find out about that complaint? If a complaint is made to one person, and this is why I always encourage, let's have very clear processes, procedures, make sure that the people that need to know
076the information know the information like the board. Um, it raises a lot of questions as does if people are very concerned about the reputation of this district, why on a weekly basis do people routinely try to encourage strife within that district on both sides? That's ridiculous to me. People encourage strife and then they comment upon the strife and they uh comment on other people commenting on the strife and then they seem to perpetuate it further. That doesn't seem like it adds to anything productive. Furthermore, what is important to recommen to recognize about board policy is that board policies, no matter what board, can never override or circumvent the law. And if a person does an illegal action and no steps are taken, that's a legal matter. Thank you. Thank you. Last is Wanda Pucket. Oh
077Jesus. Yeah, I'm back. I got a question. Y'all always talking about bullies. The adults is the biggest bully. It is. Where you think the kids learn how to bully each other? They learning from adults. If they sitting at home watching that watching this on TV, they learning how to, okay, we're gonna go to school and bully this child, that child, this child, X, Y, and Z. Kids learn at home. And what they learn first at home, then they going to take it to the streets. We need as adults need to stop bullying each other so the kids can get on the right path. Now, this is a brand new school board. What the last school board did, that's last year. We in 2025. This board is doing great. We going forward. If you got a
078problem with one of the school board members, please pull them to the side and sit down and talk to them in private. Do not bring it to the mic. If you got a problem with a teacher, any administrator, put them to the side, make appointment, sit down and talk to them. We look bad. You know what people call us? The circus. Everybody's watching this. We known as the circus. This year is the school board don't got pretty good. They loving it now cuz we ain't up here yelling, tearing each other down. So let's keep this work up. Now I got a problem question for transportation. I know he here. I have parents listen. I have parents coming up to me asking me are they babies are going to have buses next year cuz what they
079are hearing that we might not have any buses for next year. Is there certain kids that will be able to get the buses? is the one that got the 504 and all of that. We don't I don't know because I know I'm talking about my neighborhood, second district, third district. They looking, they hearing this. So, it's out there and I told them I would bring it to the board or so they can start making arrangement for other transportation if they have to because they would like to know in advance, not no lie last minute. So would y'all please let them know, put it on parent square, whatever y'all, however y'all do it. Transportation, you can send out email, text messages, have your workers calling parents, letting the parents know if they're going to have buses
080next year. Now, attorney, keep looking up every code in there and let us know what we doing wrong because I can easily go and get a law book from the library and start looking up my own codes. Now, I need you to stand up cuz what happened last year should be brought back to this year. Thank you, Mr. It should stay in the past. Thank you very much. Thank you. That ends second session of public expression. Oh, Mr. Selenas, reports from superintendent. The next item on the agenda is uh reports from the superintendent as well as reports from the board. You want to go first? Okay. Um, if I uh maybe indulge by the board, this this this I'm be I'm going to be a minute. First and foremost, um I'd like to let the
081community know that I am humbled to serve as the acting superintendent for the school city of Hammond. With 25 years of dedicated service to our district, I bring a wealth of experience in various roles, including teacher, assistant principal, elementary principal, director of language development, executive director of elementary, exe executive director of teaching and learning. I also bring a lens of understanding as a biliterate, bicultural, and bilingual educator. It is also a privilege to be the first Hispanic person to serve in this capacity for the school city of Hammond. I believe that reaching long-term goals start with achieving short-term ones. And right now, our focus is on successfully completing this school year over the next 12 days. I am grateful for the opportunity to support our school community and during this transitional period and look forward
082to celebrating the accomplishments of our 2025 graduates on June 7th and June 9th. Estro director director Now, with that, I would like to share uh some updates and also some exciting news for our district. Looking ahead to the 2025 25 uh 26 school year, we have been approved for early release Wednesdays through the Department of Education. Dismissal times next year will be as follows. All high schools will dismiss at 12:15 on Wednesdays. Middle schools will dismiss at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. Elementary schools will dismiss at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesdays. It is important to note that the very first day of school for the upcoming for the upcoming school year is an early release Wednesday, which will be an early release day for all students. So, the first day of school is our very first early
083release Wednesday. [Applause] [Laughter] Additionally, there are no changes to the current bell schedule for the 2526 school year. The current start time and end times for all schools will remain the same. However, we will begin discussions with stakeholders next year regarding possible adjustments to the 2627 school year bell schedule. We are also excited to share that the school city of Hammond is hiring. Please visit our website or go to topschooljob.org to explore available employment opportunities. Also, a reminder that student registration for the 2526 school year is now open. All new and returning students must complete registration prior to the start of the school year. We also like to take a time this time to congratulate our ACC health science teacher, Virginia Sparks, on being selected as this year's IvyTech dual credit teacher of the year
084for the Lake County campus and outstanding recognition of her dedication and impact. Congratulations, Virginia Sparks. Is she here? We'd also like to extend a big congratulations and good luck to the talented students from the ACC's construction, trades, radio, and TV, criminal justice, digital design, and cosmetology programs who will proudly represent us at the Skills USA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia this June. Adding to the excitement, the ACC's dental careers program has qualified for the HOSA International Leadership Conference and Competition in Nashville, Tennessee. Best wishes to all participants. We're proud of your achievements and know you'll shine on the national stage. All right. Now for our elementary people this week, we are also cheering on our smart and capable second and third grade students as they retake their I read three exam. We're
085rooting for you and we look forward to celebrating your reading success. Congratulations to the top 20 students from Morton and Hammond Central High School. Your hard work and excellence have truly stood out and we were very very pleased to be part of the top 20 dinner uh last week. Yes, we had a ball. Next week I will have the honor of highlighting our incredible valadictorians Kevin Soraniano and Mirael Perez on WJO. Be sure to tune in and help us celebrate their achievements as well. And as we wrap up the school year, we are looking forward to our class of 2025 commencement ceremonies at the Wolf Lake Pavilion. Mortyn High School will have their ceremony on Saturday, June 7th at 4 p.m. Hammond Central will have their ceremony on Monday, June 9th at 6:00 p.m. And
086finally, we are also excited to celebrate Bring Your Child to Work Day this Friday across all schools. Please check with your building principles for specific guidelines and expectations. That concludes my reports. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Selenus. It just goes to show you we continue educating our kids regardless. Uh board, any trustees reports? You go first. Okay, go ahead. No, you go. Oh, go. Okay. real quick. Uh we attended the Indiana School Board Association regional meeting uh last Monday in uh Maraveville. It was very insightful. At the same time, it was it could have been a depress depressing because we were provided these booklets and it shared all of the bills that affect our district financially. So, we know it's going to be could be a struggle, but we're taking it on as just a
087another challenge. We have a a finance group that is working with us and putting together our our forecast. Mrs. Pritchette, thank you for being on that team. Uh we're going to work that out graciously and there are two laws specifically that I want to share tonight. Uh but Mr. Selenas will continue to share with the teachers and one is regarding uh IEPs. It is now the law. Parents with IEPs, if you meet with your teachers, you can now record those meetings. It is the law. And secondly, when it comes to bullying, we as a district must notify. If a parent notify us that their child has been bullied, we have up to 48 hours to resolve that. That's the state law. So, a lot of laws have changed for the good, for the bad, and
088we are going to follow every law in the book that's been given to us. And just real quickly, this board has been extremely busy in the last month. We have attended just about every event this school has had. I'm I'm about dead. I don't have a voice. We all tired and exhausted. The TW top 20 uh dinner was just breathtaking to see those young folks receive all of those achievements. The Hammond Hispanic Community Committee gave out over $30,000 in scholarships or more. It was just so inspiring. We are still educating our kids. We are still moving. We are still inspiring. We are still elevating and restoring this district. Nothing stopped this board. We are We are We will. This district is not in trouble financially or otherwise. If you remember January 1, Due took us
089from under the watch because of this new board and because of my leadership. So, we are in good shape regardless to anybody says. Our kids are doing well. We're working together as a team and we will continue to do that. So, I'll just let the other boards. We had a good time for the last month working with these kids. And Mr. Hicks, may I do this? Could you come up here and tell us what we did this Friday? The ME uh students, I never saw anything like it. Helicopters everywhere. I got on the helicopter. It was just so fascinating. Those young folks, I tell you, it was just so incredible. Please share. So, we uh Jeremy Hicks, the uh principal uh director of CTE District 2, and we were It was my first experience. So
090I I heard about it um since my uh tenure started at the Haminary Career Center of hey we have a this great program that we do annually and it takes a lot of planning and I okay I I planned a few things here and there. Uh but it was one of the experiences that I would say by far it was one of the most surprising and most refreshing experience to see that our students uh and and really our partners um shout out to our partners that really uh called to task and they came in and and represented well. Uh but what happened was uh one of our um instructors had had really started the the conversation Mr. Dr. Ryan Cogdale, our EMT instructor, EMS program, and he began to plant the seed for myself. And
091I can understand how hard it was for him having a new representative, new leader in the building to say like, "Hey, this is a pretty big deal. We can't mess this up." So, you know, I I really took his his lead. uh Corporal Randall, a lot of our um all of our staff were involved in some capacity, but what what it looked like it was a mass casualty incident simulation and that was a big part of it simulation where we are preparing our students to not only u train as EMTs, as criminal justice uh staff, uh just wherever their career takes us. But we had a full cycle of uh in the morning and and they had said, "Hey, we're going to have a helicopter land and and I I understood it and and and
092I didn't until I seen it circling and people were like, "Here comes a helicopter." The helicopter landed right in front of the Hameri Career Center in the parking lot and it was a a literal helicopter we had land. Uh they had a landing zone. So there's all these things that had to be planned beforehand, like you can't just stop and and stop traffic and say we're going to land a helicopter. There was a lot of planning that that took place. So the helicopter landed, our students and even our staff, I think the adults probably had more fun with the helicopter than the students to be honest. Uh but the pilot and the the staff around there, they really talked about the possibilities of not only aviation and law enforcement, but they talked about like our
093auto repair students came and they said, you know, that we have to maintain them and there's and there's also a possible career for this. So, it really expanded our other programs. And what I did see is that collaboration with all of our 14 programs um participating in that career fair. We had a lot of health service providers, uh, donors, uh, a lot of things that, you know, just really made that happen during the day. Our students took the time from their schedule to not go back. They they really volunteered their time. Uh, they ate a brief lunch and then the afternoon was the the the the grand finale where our students were able to participate. We had our cosmetology students do makeup that was similar to a student having a incident or accident. And it
094was a a um an active shooter setting that they uh had had presented. And our students from our criminal justice program, EMT, EMS program uh were our first responders. So they said, "This is a drill." They went up the stairs and they didn't know what they were going to encounter, but step by step, they were led by adults. And it it was a a reality moment where they had to um you know, learn some things of what to do, what not to do, and then definitely there was a recap at the end. But I would say it was something that I was extremely pleased with. I couldn't tell you like in advance what I was going to experience, but now I I think my words don't even do it justice. You you had to be
095there to see it. So, it definitely is something that um I was lucky and privileged to experience and we're hoping to continue that, you know, snowball of ideas and is like, how about more vendors? How about we invite other people um and and just to get the word out there. So, I was lucky to be there, lucky to be just a a witness of it. And uh shout out to our staff that really put it together. Apologies if I didn't um congratulate anybody, but it was a whole team effort with our our staff at the Haminary Career Center. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Any other trustees? Um I just want one final note. Uh, President Blake King mentioned that they attended the um Indiana State School Board Association meeting last week. What she didn't say
096was she also received um the exemplary status award through Indiana School Board Association. And I know she wasn't going to say that herself, so I wanted to say that for her and give her a round of applause. Thank you. Any other comments? Are we concluded, Mr. Selena? Is anything the No, that's all I've got. The next item is adjournment. So, any adjournment? Move for adjournment. I move. So, move. Thank you everyone for coming out. rest of it.