001[Music] I love the school um the students are like really nice um they 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 ask [Music] 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 from uh middle school so like the people have been great I made a lot of
002memories since freshman year uh my 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 getting 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 good there's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like Good Vibes everybody's [Music] like I like the people okay 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 I think my experience that Mor's 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 Ride [Music] I love the school um the students are like really nice um they 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 ask
004[Music] 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 since I've been here cuz I moved here from uh middle school so like the people have been great I made a lot of memories since freshman year uh my 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 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
005chill for me good there's never any like problems or nothing it's always like Good Vibes everybody's like [Music] I like the people okay 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 teacher is the most about the school yeah tell my experience said Mor's pretty good I don't have any complaints okay 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 because of the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me go Nation
006Let's Ride he [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 him Central was definitely the students the people you know all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here from uh middle school so like the people have been great I made
007a lot of memories since freshman year uh my 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 good there's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like Good Vibes everybody's like [Music] I like the people okay 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
008safe it's loving um it's definitely welcoming the teacher is the most about the school yeah take my experience that Mor's pretty good I don't have any complaints okay adosphere 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 CU of the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me go Nation Let's Ride he [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 basic know all the teachers that's here so now I can express to what I'm feeling and
009what 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 was definitely the students the people [Music] l [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] hang we're on now we're ready yep good evening everyone and welcome to school City of Hammond Tuesday March 18th 2025 regular school board meeting uh call to order I believe we having our Harding students doing our pledge allegiance so we're ready for that Harding Elementary School is oh my goodness give them a big round of applause as they ENT my goodness so we can stand and prepare ourselves for the pledge allegiance and we'll wait for the Young Folks to lead it oh wait wait
010wait take's that [Music] alce 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 [Applause] all and now we're ready for um roll call trusty Guera present trusty Spencer present trusty Stanford present trusty candelera present and myself trusty Blake King present we do have a quorum we can move forward with our regular school board meeting and now we're going to hear once again from our Harding Elementary School student [Applause] there comes a time we here SE and call when the world must come together as one there are people dying and it's time to L ahead to Li the greatest gift of all well send your heart so they know that someone cares and their Liv will be stronger
011and [Music] free as God has shown Us by turning St to breath so we all must helping We Are the World we are children we are want to make a brigh day so let's start there's a choice make our make you and [Applause] W Joyful Joyful Lord we are to the god of glory Lord of love hearts and like flowers before thee hey as the sun above the cloud of s and sadness D the dark of [Music] give [Music] her fill us with a fill us with a light oh fill us with a light of joyful Lord we adore thee God [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] glory Drive the dark out way of Joyful Joyful Joyful Lord we adore the glory [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thead us with the light of day light of check in
012my I came to know that you the only way to go check [Music] came you down with G yeah you know me you down with g d yeah you know me you down with g o d yeah you know me who down with G everybody you down with g o d yeah you know me you down with g o d yeah you know me you down with G yeah you who down with g o everybody [Applause] I'm going to make the change forward in my life it's going to feel real good going to make a difference going to make it [Music] right as I turn up the col on my favor with to this wind is blowing my mind I see the tears in the street not enough to we who am I to be
013Bri pretending not to see their needs a su's this R Done a broken battle top and a one man Soul they follow each other all the way you know cuz they got nowhere to go that's why I want you to I'm starting with the man in the Mir I'm asking him to change his way and no to if you want to make the world a yourself make a change starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his way and no message to b anything if you want the world a better take [Music] yourself make that [Applause] change I just want to thank everybody for listening us for the parents supporting us but I also want to give a shout out to our soloist Brooklyn Brown Ellie Perez Sebastian Childers Amari tusman
014Cameron Gonzalez Anila Perez Grace Potter Melena subfield Giana Jackson and annaya Smith thank you very much [Applause] oh my God that was absolutely superb thank you so much Mrs Dave for your leadership we appreciate each and every one of these students you look so Grand and Dapper this evening we love you for that principal limsky thank you so much you're always supportive and you young folks you're going places you're going places this was incredible give them another big round of applause [Applause] please I mean be the little guy was singing Michael Jackson here my God [Music] like a mini oh my goodness and we thank the parents as well thank you for your sacrifice and getting the children out here thank you parents somebody got the front row open they did it by mistake Where's
015My Water he's got it yeah he he's got it I think he's just waiting for them who's turning the lights back on yeah there we go superintendent Reed what's next please up next up next we have a performance or presentation by Scott Middle School some highlights welcome Scott Middle School yes good evening president Blake King school board members superintendent Reed and our School City of Hammond family and community members I would like to introduce myself my name is Jennifer Riser and I am the principal at Scott Middle School this evening I have my administrative team with me here I'd also like to introduce them Mrs Kate Osan assistant principal I'd like to give her a shout out for assisting in making the the Google Vid that we're going to show you this evening as well
016as Charles P gorney our dean of students this evening you're going to see a highlight reel of many special events that we've had throughout the year so far at Scott Middle School our students will be narrating the video as well um we hope you enjoy it and we look forward to having many more memories prior to the end of this Academic Year thank you thank you very much [Music] got middle school for stem night like stem is very important for a lot of the youth and generation we're going to be making candy DNA with Twizzlers and gummy Berry hi I'm here with zulum um what station is this the optical course [Music] station and how do you feel about site how do you think it's going tonight I'm excited we have more ambassadors um that
017have basically increased from last year to this year you're using your body's energy to travel through to the computer and to the Keys that's cool Isn't that cool guys so basically we have a bowl of glue and then we have water and borax on the side to make your own in November we had a recet where we played video games and practice virtual reality in December we had a cards and cocoa stem night for our families families got to enjoy hot cocoa and cookies and made some STEM related holiday [Music] crafts once a month during SRT time we work on different activities related to our SE themes our gratitude goals empathy and lucky thoughts hang near our front doors many students like to read them and it's a good photo spot too as our health
018teacher Miss Beckham always says we are one team working together we like to give a huge shout out to her husb hband Mr Beckham who makes the amazing [Music] centerpieces in January we celebrated all of our first semester honoral [Music] students we had a donut breakfast and each student got a [Music] certificate when the weather is nice we are able to go to our Courtyard during lunch time to play some games and enjoy the weather [Music] our staff gets in on the fun too Fridays in the cafeteria are our fun fridays sometimes we play Bingo or we do theme activities winners get candy our wonderful cafeteria sta also [Music] participate mulig class has worked on a variety of projects to Showcase influential black [Music] Americans on February 28th Scott families and students were invited to
019view the impressive artwork stem project videos and writing students complete throughout the month 8th grade students were able to learn more about HBCU and possible future career students were able to learn about different individuals and their contributions in science math Fine Arts and more [Music] we are fortunate to have wonderful Community Partners in December the Indiana retired teachers donated numerous school supplies to our staff on Valentine's Day anthem church spread some love and sweet treats with our breakfast and C to our [Music] staff wow thank you Dr Riser and your sta that was incredible and to all of our students that's performed Let may I say this Nobody Does it Better Than School City of Hammond thank you once again to our students do superintendent Reed next up we'll have our financial presentation by CER
020and Dalton oh thing good evening uh my name is Daniel Dalton I'm with CER Dalton Municipal advisers you've seen Carl previously so um I did not prepare a song but I did prepare some financials so buckle [Laughter] up all right so this is a review of the February financials for the school district um the education fund ended the month with 14, 49153 the you you all have this in your packet correct yes okay The Debt Service fund ended the month with 5,259 76 the referendum Debt Service ended the month with $431,000 the operations fund ended the month with $1 6,946 3113 and the rainy day funds end of the month was $ 6,297 one55 Self Insurance end of the month with $3,179 312 um if you look off to the right there on those right
021side columns you'll see that this is a comparison to the um month balance from January 1st to February 28th 2024 compared to 2025 just below there is a target cash balance Reserve where we show the education fund Target is 14,450 and the variance that is highlighted red should be in Black just to just make that known M okay 41,000 the operations fund uh Target is a roughly $9 million and we're currently sitting at 16 so the variance is very positive total of all funds you will notice just a few lines down uh this is all of the district funds including all of the title everything uh we started the year with $48 million we are Curr sitting at $40 million $594,900 18686 yes and the transfer just below the transfers from education to operations you
022can see both the January and the February transfers and that is in line with roughly 15% of the education fund just below there you'll see a listing of all each of the title funds Title 1 2 3 and four um broken down by year obviously where um each of the cash balances are listed there on the right side and you'll see that most of them are negative and as Carl mentioned uh last month these are reimbursement funds where we spend and we request reimbursement and this happens by monthly I believe so semi semimonthly mhm and then the remainder of the pages are as you know a detail of the month bym Monon um information where we show the revenues we show the detailed expenditures so at this moment in time I would entertain any questions
023on the summary of February if there are any trustees are there any questions I don't have any questions on this report I appreciate the additional information that was provided on a different document kind of explaining the title and what those monies are certainly um directed to I appreciate these summaries that we get to see but we of course don't get to nor would we want to see all the detail behind that at one of these meetings but I I still think that we need the forensic audit in order to make sure that this money is being spent the way it's supposed to because with us with the new board coming um into effect I just don't feel comfortable that we're starting with um the money's where they should be so that's not you but I
024just feel like that's something we need to do excuse me understood any more discussion uh thank you for that those comments superintendent I mean U trustee Stanford um it's my only question regarding the title money yes we thank you for the detailed information regard it but since it we're reading it we're seeing it in red at any point could we know at some point how much was originally in title one two three and four that would help when we're looking at all this read if we knew how much was originally in each one of these funds it would sort of um make me feel better because I understand the reimbursement portion of it but by the same token I need to know what you started with in order to where you got this at some
025point we need to get this yes yeah that that's that is a great question and I'm not aware of the amounts that were originally established U for each of these funds nor do I believe there was a um can provide okay thank you thank you any more questions any more discussion thank you very much I'll bring a song next time why not a dance practice practice thank you thank you thank you very much superintendent Reed um next we have a presentation about a resolution that shows up in your I believe new business so for early dismissal Mr ver executive director of human capital thank you good evening president Blake King and members of the board I am here to talk about resolution 006 um first I want to apologize because it or originally was on
026and then it came off and then miss uh superintendent Reed and I were able to get together um and fix a few things and we got it back on so that was my fault we weren't you know it was just an honest mistake uh with that being said the reason why we're here to to hopefully where the board will pass the resolution later in the new business um is because we need that um to officially apply for the flexibility waiver with the idoe okay so um there's a process to that and in the application itself we have to upload the resolution um inside the application so that's why we're here um asking for approval um if you go to the next slide here uh why early release okay is to provide an opportunity for all
027staff to grow professionally through intentional and consistent professional development um SE will have a clear and concise professional development calendar that will run through August 2025 to May of 2026 okay and again this is going to be for all staff um to grow professionally okay so everybody will be included on these Wednesdays okay um also to provide work time for all staff to focus Cent are four of our district priorities again with uh superintendent Reed being new to the district she has a new vision she's bringing in a new instructional framework that has been proven um in other districts she's been a part of that resemble ours um and I think it's uh very important for us to have the time to be able to work together to roll this out um appropriately and with
028the correct pace so that we can find success um priority one being Student Success um I believe that was the number one um on that survey for the superintendent that was the number one thing that parents wanted to see was Student Success um that's going to be able to help us focus on some of the goals that we have in Priority One having to do with I um having to do with uh improving our graduation rates um lowering the the number of FS that our students are receiving is during the semesters um and also help U seeing an increase in our SAT scores uh priority number two to retain students and teachers um again we believe when you invest in teachers and you Empower them and you help them grow professionally they stay so this
029professional development Wednesday calendar is going to do that we're going to invest in our staff um and then retain students obviously when they see success and they grow academically you know their parents are are likely to leave them here with us here in Hammond and also it's going to help us Recruit new students when they see our scores going up uh priority five uh fiscally respons ible um so superintendent Reed is uh planning a teaching and learning leadership um Academy and we're going to identify 25 teachers that are going to help us lead this Academy um and they're going to be responsible for getting trained at first so there's going to be an initial cost for getting them trained and then after that they're going to bring that back to our staff so again we're
030building that capacity inhouse um to where we don't have to constantly go out to receive this training so we're being uh responsible there uh financially and then priority number six up there United Community again um superintendent Reed always um refers to one band One sound right so this is going to give us a work time for us all to be together for us all to see that vision for all to see the goals the action plan and be able to uh work together to find success for our students okay and then if you go to your uh next slide there again it just talks about why professional developments uh development practices are important uh professional development helps staff stay current on best practices learn new skills and develop their knowledge of their profession um enhance
031student outcomes that's the the return on our investment here by improving performance skills professional development ultimately leads to better student learning and achievement increased teacher job satisfication professional development can boost Morel and job satisfication by providing opportunities for GR growth collaboration and networking and then career um advancement acquiring new skills and knowledge through professional development can open doors to leadership roles and other career advancement opportunities again we want to grow them in house um addressing diverse needs professional development can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individuals ensuring that all staff have the resources they need to succeed okay um and then with this uh resolution here there are some things that are are currently under review that we're working on um the current our current start in dismissal times uh we might have
032to um look at changing some of those uh transportation we have a meeting with uh Ed Peterson coming up to kind of look at transportation and how this will look um the teaching and learning League the Academy I just talked about and then the professional development calendar um that we will have to uh create here before the end of the school year so our teachers and staff know exactly what that looks like moving forward okay um then the last slide here just talks about uh connect the dots between individual roles and go goals of the organization when people see the connection they get a lot of energy out of work they feel the importance dignity and meaning of their job okay uh so that's what we're trying to do we want everybody to come together
033so we can connect the dots with our vision with our goals and uh eventually help improve uh student outcomes okay so I'm happy to take any questions the board might have at this time I know it's coming up later under new business could come back up later thank you Mr Vera okay any questions we good we're good thank you so very much superintendent Reed yes ma'am up next I lost my paper up next we have the first period of public expression thank you okay first Speaker Cindy Murphy I'm speaking on the financial report tonight so you really need your consultant to articulate better why those funds are in R I strongly suggest you take the title funds off there's a reason why over the last 20-some years we've never had ever had the title funds
034on there because they're invariably red I also strongly suggest when people pull these reports up in a vacuum they see all these reports in red you need to have something on the first page saying that these are reimbursement funds this is how they normally would look because otherwise it looks bad so you have a positive balance over here you have all these negatives over here and a regular person would just subtract and think you have a lot less money over there than you actually do the other thing that's missing is where did the all the fiscal Clips go 2026 is coming so we heard last year then come by 2026 one of the things that's coming on is going to be the attack on a local property tax dollars dollars following the children you all
035probably have the newest numbers in August we were told approximately 2,000 students the dollars are following the child so we know with the title funds those are following them all to the other schools so but the local property taxes will do we were told by the CFO last year that we're probably not going to make our nipco payments so what are those cash flow payments going to be looking like for next year what does it look like for later this summer I saw cash flows for August showing us in the red because that's a three pay month is it still the same how are we doing the other thing I want to bring up because of the spe um financial report is busing so I don't mind I've driven the white utility bus many times
036getting our kids down to different extracurricular activities but if there's no money for districtwide buses for other things then you need to tell the extracurricular coaches that that's a fact that part of their duties may be driving that utility bus to the different uh things like sectionals regionals State competitions and if that's going to be an added Duty for the teachers then maybe you should be looking at their stiens also saying if you if you're going to have a team and it's important for them to get to State you might be driving the white bus then they need to know that and maybe you should be looking at what they're getting paid for stiens and adjust that for the next coming school year um in the last presentation on the resolution it talked about test
037scores still no presentation for the test scores this year why aren't we showing them is it in a presentation coming up next month I surely hope so thank you our next public speaker Dr Michaela good evening Dr Michaela spangenberg Gary education Coalition um first of all I would love to say that I really appreciate the financial report tonight um I like that we're moving toward like a greater kind of breakdown and explanation of title funds obviously it's kind of being piloted right as somebody previously said it hasn't been done previously it's important it's done now and just like a cash flow you can have a fun flow for a title fun too for all the title funds you can have something on the website that demonstrates how it works that breaks it down and you
038know very easy language for people to understand I thought the memo was really good too like I think it's moving in a good direction um it's interesting because like I also feel like there was some some past talk about trying to make the accounts payable a little bit more detailed but is that stuff that you can access through like Gateway on the back end but it's better just on the front end to have that level of transparency and have it be more accessible because stuff on Gateway it's like I I feel like I need three more degrees to even read it sometimes um so it's I I'd like to see like a kind of bridge for parents to be able to better understand that um independent audit versus forensic audit so like when we talk
039about forensic audit and statute I believe I don't think anything's changed that's specific language to something that occurs on like sboa side that usually isn't what you're looking for when you're looking at how's the money been spent where are we at because sboa deals with like do you have controls in place currently to make sure that your money is being spent appropriately which no reason not to look at that too but that's a whole process under the law you have the right to contract with someone independently and have them do what we would colloquially call forensic audit it's just the language is different under statute so sometimes like we had this issue in Gary right like where we'd go to a duab meeting and we would say forensic audit and then they'd push back and
040say well forensic audit is just that the other thing you know you really have to be careful like what you ask for or what you present because sometimes they kind of try to get in the way of things but I think I feel like we kind of went through that last year a little bit where there was of back and forth and people are told they couldn't have this or the other thing with forensic audits you can it's just called something different right it was a semantics game last year so I just want to make sure that we're we know what our rights are this year um I really think the idea of uh teacher time is great I hope that we're taking uh proactive you know steps to make sure the teachers are having
041say in what that looks like for them and making sure they're getting their training needs met depending on what's happening in the classroom thank you thank you thank you that was the last first session public expression oh just a moment one more Wanda why would she put it on the B good evening I thank y'all for let me March the the superintendent and the staff in that was a nice job but we're going to work on marching we going to be going up to Keen hallway baby um first of all three things don't F to address test scores is not out yet those babies are still being tested right now they doing makeup testing for the one that was absent for some reason they testing soon as the test score get in and P post
042it everyone would know as far as nipo is concerned we pay nipo every month I'm assuming the school do too so why you wearing about the nipco bill when you're not sitting on the board to sign a check for nipco now I'mma call it out and like I see it we all got to pay nip go one day Mr plucket yes that is not an agenda item okay come under second public expression okay thank you very much okay uh for transportation but bus transportation is under the right it's a great area could you possibly save it for okay I save everything I got to say for the next cuz I'm on number two thank y'all thank you thank [Applause] you super Reed next we'll have the approval of minutes okay uh trustees uh what your
043pleasure and uh regarding our board minut minutes from January 7th 21st February 4th February 10th and February 18th what your pleasure Madam president trusty M candelier I move for the approval of the uh school board meeting minutes January 7th 2025 January 21st 2025 February 4th 2025 February 10th 2025 and February February 18th 2025 it items a through e as presented do want hear a second I second it's been moved in probably second that we approve the minutes as presented any discussion any discussion all in favor say I I I oppose abstain abstain thank you motion carry superintendent readed next we have the consent we did the the consent agenda thank you what your pleasure trustees are consent agenda a through uh e Madam president trusty I'll do trusty uh Spencer I move for the approval
044of consent agenda items a through e is there a second second it's been moved and probably second that we approve the consent agenda a through e any discussion any discussion I would like to read the accounts payable register accounts payable voucher register dated March 18th 2025 consist of 262 Pages total claims 2,1 125,000 87746 total payroll 2,445 $277 17 any more discussion discussion can I have a vote all in favor say I I I oppose abstain motion carried thank you trusty Reed I mean superintendent Reed next up we have new business the approval of our resolution d225 early dismissal to hear motion Madame President trustee Spencer I move for the approval of resolution 006 early dismissal here a second second it's been moved any discussion I was going to ask when we got to discussion
045if it was okay do we have the years wrong there no so so the the resolution is being passed at 2425 but this is for the 26 2526 school year so the resolution is being passed now on 2425 but it's going to be for the 2526 school year got it thank you should by you saying is that clarification enough for the record by you clarifying it the dates is that enough for the record yes this is for the 2526 school year an early release program for the 25 26 school year I think I would have want you to amend the motion to include the 2 26 if it's inside the resolution when you read it towards the bottom it says the years in there on the bottom um the last just pull it up so
046I don't it's there I just can I clarify what you're saying Mr Vera are you saying that it is titled 2425 because that's the school year we're passing it in correct and then in the actual resolution is where it indicates the year the 25 26 school year that we're going to use this resolution thank you so he had he okay truste for the record we normally read resolutions into record trusty Stanford would you please read this resolution into record the resolution it's on the computer we don't have a we don't have it's on a computer just a moment I have it up have um truste well we'll can we um defer to truste uh Guera could you read it please since you have it up okay thank you School City of Hammond resolution number 24256
047resolution regarding early dismissal whereas the School City of Hammond the school seeks to abbreviate the school day one day per week per for purposes of insuring time for professional professional development and coordination of educational services and and whereas the school seeks to adjust the school date on Wednesday of each week for purposes of early dismissal and whereas the school seeks that early dismissal will occur on or about 12: p.m. for high school students 12:00 p.m. for middle school students and 12:00 p.m. for elementary school students and whereas the school acknowledges that advanced notice to community stakeholders including parents will be provided and whereas the changes to the school day have been discussed with and endorsed by the collective bargaining unit for the teachers and whereas the school seeks a waiver from the for from the
048requirements of IC 20-302 D2 now therefore be it resolved that the school shall begin a schedule of early release days to be initiated with the 2526 school year consistent with this resolution thank you trusty Guera has been moved in probably second and we have read it into record the this resolution of 2024 d225 are we ready to vote discuss all in favor say I discussion first okay discussion did you have discussion I I I just have a quick question okay so where it says the whereas that the dismissals for all um grade levels will be at noon but because we have the honor about we're able to kind of change it a little bit based on what you indicated with the transportation and whatnot so we're not like locked in to noon for all three
049correct y so there's going to be some items that we're going to have to dig into a little bit um so this is this is the a tenative this allows us the ability to apply for the waiver um and then during the application process and then there's a time where we can make changes in that application and notify the public of the changes um to to make that concrete for the 25 26 school year but this just gives us the initial ability because there is a deadline to apply for the flexibility waiver so we want to be able to apply for that and then if we have to make changes we will make sure everybody's involved in that thank you thank you trusty Spencer for that question now all in favor say I I I
050oppose abstain motion carried thank you very much trustee I mean superintendent Reed next is our upcoming board meeting calendar okay um okay uh school board meetings April 1st there will be an executive session at 5:15 and our regular and a public work session at 6: p.m. um Tuesday April 15th executive session 5:15 and then Tuesday April 15 it'll be a regular school board meeting so we we'll have two meetings in April one executive session and one uh school board meeting but we might add an an addition additional executive session but it will be advertised as soon as that is decided upon additionally I always like to add to it's not a meeting but tomorrow wjb U school board we do have time there it starts at 9 a.m. so we want you to listen up
051all the good things that's going on in school City of Hammond we have an incredible lineup I'm not going to share it with you listen so those that concludes our school board about to out um we've had our our calendar superintend re next up we have our public expression for our second period okay our first public speaker Jeffrey [Music] kobby good evening everyone superintendent trustees uh my name is Jeffrey Kobe I'm the president and one of the founders of the Hammond what we used to be called the Hammond Alum cats we are now the Hammond Alumni Association what we do we're 501c3 we give out scholarships to all the high schools here in Hammond the public high schools and we gave out two last year to Hammond central two to Morton both of them were
052$1,000 each uh we do a golf outing every year and this is how we raise our money uh doc uh Dr ver has been in our Mee our golf FS he's had a good time he can tell you about it also this sign was produced and uh made for by us the uh hman Area Career Center we used them as well so what we what we're looking to do is just to get our names out there let you know who we are since we know who you guys are because we see you on the um I see you guys on uh YouTube all the time so um our goal this year is to give out the same amount of scholarships up the money or up the amount of scholarships that we're going to give out
053uh this is Leslie Campbell she's one of our members she's day one and she's hardcore hard driver so uh we're looking forward to increasing that our golf fting this year is going to be on a Sunday uh July 13th at Duck Creek uh golf course in hbert Indiana it starts at 9:00 that's early uh you guys come on out I mean I know you go to church most of you do um just have to tell God that you're going to pray for you know we'll do our praying out there cuz we're going to be praying for big outing and we're going to be praying for more money for these kids um my thing is is I I like what's happening with the school City now it's going in the right direction and I felt this
054was the time for us to come forward so we can let you know who we are because like I said we know who you guys are we know who you guys are but uh we've been flying under the radar far too long we need more members we need people we do a membership Drive uh membership is a $20 donation one time and you can be active in the committee active in the group come up with ideas uh we're pretty open we're pretty fre free flowing we do use Robert's Rules of Order but uh this is my 10th year being president of this I'm going to step away from it after this year I'm going to be in a group but I'm going to be present because uh just time for somebody else just time for
055somebody else I'm going to be active in it but my thing is to push this thing forward I'm 60 years old when I need somebody younger you know I'm I'm running my course and uh it's just time it's just time so I thank you all for your time appreciate it oh can I give to the committee you want us to post that somewhere Mr Verda he'll take it it is an awesome U fundraiser I was able to uh be a sponsor last year and I had a great time so trustees I challenge you all to be a sponsor for this year Mr Colby how can new members join or how should they contact you um Mr verto has my information is all on there I have an email address let the public know right and
056the public all my email address is Jeffrey J FF r y c o lby [email protected] and we also have a Facebook page which is Hammond Alumni Association you can join up on there and I'm always posting stuff on Facebook about the golf fing and uh my phone number is there as well 9064 uh if you call me and I don't know your number don't get upset if I say who is this I get a lot of spam a lot of scam so don't get get upset just say hey I'm calling about the alumni okay so don't get upset if I say who's this okay so thank you thank you thank you for the question truste Spencer okay next thank you next speaker Reena Horan good evening good evening I just want to take a moment
057to express my sincere gratitude to the super superintendent and the entire district for working together to reach a mutually acceptable agreement for all employees on the insurance plan oh my God this is a [Music] sign this is a significant step forward and it shows a commitment to creating a collaborative environment where everyone's voice is heard and valued by coming to this agreement we are not only ensuring the success of our district but we are fostering a sense of respect and appreciation for all those who contribute to our Student Success this agreement demonstrates that we are heading in the right direction where employees feel acknowledged and supported I'd also like to acknowledge and thank you for your vote for the early dismissal resolution this evening so teachers and staff can further their craft to promote pos
058positive change throughout the district at all levels thank you once again to the superintendent and all those involved for their dedication to making our district a place where where everyone can Thrive let's continue to build on this momentum after all Hammond was a great place to work and it will be again thank you thank you next speaker Dela niblet superintendent Reed Mr verta President Lake King and other board members um just bear with me for a minute it doesn't matter my time will take long I can say what I have to say anyway without notes I just wanted to say um first of all it has been a pleasure um to see the change in the board to see the positive energy that exudes from the board members um the ability for you guys to
059get together and be able to collaborate to be cohesive to work together for one positive cause um it has been hard on the teachers I know I'm a retired teacher from here but I still have many friends who teach here um they feel like they've gotten their dignity back and it's owed all to you guys and your willingness to work together as a team um I did watch last week online and I was kind of appalled at the fact that that you had a previous board member trying to tell you how to run the show well we don't you know we don't have you don't take a job and the person that you replace is going to tell you what to do so I just wanted to put that out there I don't think that
060it's uh respectful to the board members but I do want you to know that the community is grateful and we do respect you and we thank you for what you're doing thank you thank you thank you next speaker Cindy Murphy God Cindy Murphy um I didn't hear anybody say it but there were eight resignations on the Personnel report and I want to do say something about the white bus the one good thing about the white bus is it can be done a lot earlier so like two years ago we couldn't get out of ham until 6:00 this Friday we're going to get out a lot earli so I'm not dinging the white bus but if that's what we got to do then we need to get it out there I also want you guys to
061have a shout out to the following schools because many schools qualified for the team State Tournament which will be in Martinsville Indiana this Saturday Morton High School will be sending teams Irving Elementary Lincoln Elementary Franklin Elementary and burns Hicks I will come back to you in April and let you know how everybody did thank [Music] you thank you next speaker Dr Michaela good evening again um there was so much to talk about and so much exciting stuff that I kind of ran out of time before so I'm glad we have the second you know period to even talk about stuff that is still on the agenda for tonight um since we're talking about the early dismissal um there's a lot of information parents can get online about those things um I strongly advise everybody to
062to look at it I believe they're called like 1003 waivers or something like that um like instructional time waivers and like there's a lot of like in some districts where they've looked at this before you know some of it can even be like if there's concerns about Transportation like oh like is that a day where there's like synchronous like virtual and then it's the half day like there's a lot of different ways you can look at it as long as you are very clear with them about the rationale and how it benefits students you know hopefully there shouldn't be a problem I do think the deadline's like April or something um but I think it's you know I know there's a lot of special interest groups out there including special interest groups that work in
063this community here that for some reason really pushed this idea that we had to like lengthen the school day and there was never any research behind it um there has been and because there were so many special interest groups interest in that people started to research that question question more right like how does instructional time and day relate to like student achievement and uh there's a lot of good studies that show like when teachers have more time to prepare more say and how they're preparing more time to do trainings on things that are specific to the needs they identify that that definitely benefits to an achievement so I'm really like there's been some really good stuff specifically I think they did a lot of longitud tudinal studies I think even in Scandinavia on this issue
064so I'm I find it very encouraging I hope that people um kind of look into this more I think that there's often kind of like a knee-jerk reaction but I also feel like there are parents who are going to have issues in terms of logistics right I hope that somehow some way whether through school Community or both we can find ways to support those parents who maybe like don't get out of work on time to be doing that or or whatever else the situation is and I'm encouraged in you know our efforts to address the you know kind of long-standing Transportation issues in order to help parents with issues like that um I do want to say also uh the concern about fiscal cliffs right now the budget is still on the agenda for Ways
065and Means and that happens every Wednesday um now this Wednesday they're not tackling the budget they're tackling other things there's been three different proposals put out the last one was Thompson that was the one that actually looks most favorable to educational institutions really suggest people look and see what's going on thank you thank you last speaker Wanda Pucket I'm not going to introduce myself now I can start what I left off at right I'm asking number one everybody in here pay nip go right a't nobody got B worryed about what the school City got to pay your name is not on there one of them checks that they be writing to pay these bills with let the board do their business they doing a great job we don't need no Outsider coming in telling this
066board how to run it LO peaceful and calm up there everybody got a smile on their face and a nobody sitting up there stressed out and we getting along just fine superintendent Rees I would like to speak to you in private after this board meeting I I captain okay now the early relief it went fine when my kids was in school everybody got out at the same time it wasn't any problem they had a thing with the wife the wife pick up the babies for the parents that had to work parents picked them up when they got out of school and we allall going to go back to that early relief day and everybody getting out at the same time including the Boys and Girls Club in it as well as the white program CU
067When my kids was in school some years back Boys and Girls Club bus picked them up and the wife program picked them up that way why the parents was at work they didn't have no problem worrying about what they kids was going to be until they get off of work so I advise y'all to look into that and let's get a contract going with that let's get all these babies off the street and let's try to work together with these babies cuz it going to take this village now to raise this baby we got too many young boys out here we got to step up for the young men man and the young ladies cuz this is our generation coming up behind us so we need to do something about it got somebody wants always
068coming to the m talking negativity I'm trying not to go there I'm going come up to this mic next time and go to preaching to you and I will preach now let's get it together quit bringing this negativity to this board we are happy I'm enjoyed having some fun with my board members I love to see that smile on their face I love to see my family coming out to support this board look look look at the staff just look we working on it we getting there look at the stuff coming out don't they look great back there thank you thank you that was our last general public expression superintendent read next oh it's me report from the superintendent um got a lot of good things going on so first I want to talk about
069um our Area Career Center the Hammond Area Career Center is inducting students into the National Technical Honor Society tomorrow and want to congratulate over 100 students that will be inducted tomorrow so let's give a round of applause for those students that will be inducted we also want to wish team Hammond 71 robotics team captain Molina Mata the best of luck at the state competition in early April Molina is a Deans List finalist and honor earned through her dedication to community service leadership and advocacy and strengthening stem and the First Community across Indiana let's give Molina a hand to reiterate what Miss Murphy said about our chess competition we also want to um wish our chess teams that are competing this weekend from Burns Hicks Irvin Lincoln Morton and Franklin wish those coaches the best of
070luck and those students in our chess competition this weekend this past week had the honor of being able to attend Franklin Elementary School's College and Career Expo it was an amazing event there were so many people and kids all over the place um there were approximately 900 students in attendance and 63 vendors participated so a special thank you to miss gr and her team for organizing such an amazing event for our students it really was a sight to see she is going to outgrow that place soon it was amazing let's give her a round of applause I too would like to thank um our team which includes the Hammond teacher Federation we I talk all the time about not wanting to move divided because division does no does nothing for students and so I'm moving
071forward but I will not move forward without moving with my team and that includes my teacher Federation and so one of the first things that were on my list of things to see to was the insurance situation and how we can make that right and well for our staff and so I want to thank our Hammond teacher Federation for partnering with us to make that right and to do that work and for always being so welcoming and open to conversations even the difficult conversations when they don't go well we still walk out with kids best interest at heart and our staff so I would like to thank you as well and today we had an interest meeting for our teacher leader league and it piggybacks off of the resolution I know we hear you know
072the early dismissal but to be clear about what we're doing and we know that research says that when students when teachers receive high quality professional development followup and coaching it causes an increase in student achievement and one of the problems of practice I first identified amongst joining the team is there was a lack of high quality professional development no alignment and lack of cohesion and so this is our attempt now to realign that work and doing that alongside our teachers so today Mr Selena and Mr verder held a meeting with an interest meeting for teachers interested in attending being a part of our teacher leader League which will be include all of our literacy coaches and our instructional coaches it will also include 25 of our teachers who will go through a process and they
073will all receive any of our professional developments that our administrators will receive so training on a new instructional framework we will train alongside those teacher leaders and our instructional coaches so that when we need to train we have built the capacity internally to make sure that we are able to do that cohesively and in alignment with all voices at the table and so we're looking for teachers not just our regular Elementary or secondary we're looking for science secondary science we're looking for our career technology Educators we're looking for sped we're looking for Fine Arts every voice at the table so that when we identify what high quality teaching and learning looks like for us here in the school City of Hammond we will have all voices at the table because we know that instruction looks
074different pedagogia looks different depending on what you teach and it's important for us out the gate to approach this work United and aligned and so today's turnout was really good the interest was good and the feedback that we got was awesome and I appreciate the openness to share and have conversations about how we are now in a space where we can create and make Hammond exactly what we want I talked to the team about allowing other people to tell your story there's a lot of good things happening here in ham and there's a lot of great people here and so it's time for us to start standing up and telling our story so that that's the story that's told nobody can tell what we're doing better than what we can tell what we're doing and
075I believe I'm in the right place at the right time with the right teachers and the right leaders to make the work happen I don't need to find it anywhere else I just need to create a system that's conducive to lifting that up and I am welcome to any of our help and invite teachers if you know a teacher that is awesome and amazing and you know even if she's a little shy it's okay we'll break her out of it she can't be around too shy for me for too long so it won't work invite them to apply for the teacher leader League we will soon start full-fledged um training our principles on the cell 5D instructional framework and our teacher leaders as well as high impact teaching strategies making sure that we are hitting
076hard our tier one Foundation supports we cannot intervene our way to academic achievement a strong intervention system in your tier 2 and three do not make up for week first instruction and so we are going to outline what that looks like for us and I'm excited about the opportunity to do the work and look forward to using these Wednesdays to do that work and just an idea that we're tossing around if people really want to know what we're going planning to do with the Wednesdays at dismissal the first Wednesday will be District directed PD is what we're looking at if that if the if it's approved for us um District directed PD the second one would be building directed PD and that third one be District directed but vertical alignment and when we say vertical
077alignment what that looks like instructionally is all of the first grade teachers go to Irving and they meet and they do some common planning they can do common assessments they can work on problems of practice that they've identified and let's say first grade math and they can go out and and come up with strategies we know that we are the experts in our field and I will say this publicly we are the only profession that I know that we allow other people to come in and tell us how to do our work we went to school we practice we do this this is an art and science we don't just wake up in the morning and do this work we are in this work we study this work we research we action research we are
078planning we are the experts in teaching and learning and time is out for every body diminishing and minimizing our value as Educators we saw how that worked out during Co when you had them at your house didn't we and so I'm here to reenter teaching and learning and to prioritize kids first and making sure that all of our efforts and our resources are to that but ultimately making sure that we can build the capacity of our team to do the work that our community is requiring of us to do the work that we signed up to do because we love it not because we didn't have anything else to do with our time we went into education because we love it and we love kids and so now it's a new day and I appreciate
079you all I appreciate my teachers I appreciate my leaders for showing up every single time my teachers you show up every single time I go out a call and so I want to thank you all for that and I look forward to working with you all soon and embarking on this great New Journey where we reestablish and reenter School City of Hammond is one of the best school districts in the state of Indiana and you can mark that now [Applause] thank you superintended read um well the last agenda item is board announcements any board members have any announcements trusty Kier um just two things I wanted to recognize uh one this artwork you see behind us I didn't get a chance to say last time um this is all from Irving Elementary the students did
080an incredible job um the black the ones with the black behind are kindergarteners um and they they just did phenomenal they had a silent auction um they started allowing us to actually buy the ones that weren't even on silent auction um but they they did a phenomenal job and they had so many students um I just wanted to recognize them because they did incredible um and then another group that did an incredible job this weekend was haa um with their performance if you didn't see it man you missed out but it was they did an incredible job and I just wanted to give them their woo any other trustees I just want to um congratulate the robotics team a couple of us are going to try to go and see them compete in Lafayette this
081weekend and cheer them on so please if you can you can watch them I believe on their website and if you can drive the hour and a half please come on down and help us cheer them on thank you truste Stanford anyone else I'll just um conclude it quickly a lot of things have been mentioned and uh of course we know our mantra for this year is restoration and elevation and I must in the end recognize women's History Month celebration to all of my women we got to start celebrating ourselves men you need to stand up and give them all a Standing Ovation Men stand up give my women a standing ovation my teachers my parents my custodians Food Service everybody women you are incredible we can't do it you can't do it without you
082thank you and then finally again join us with WJ o tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. um let me we talked about haa and I'm looking forward to Mrs gard's presentation yeah it was good to see it live but wait till you see her presentation next month and I'm looking forward to that and uh uh Miss carar weeks she prepared a um a bulletin out there with a mantra restoration and elevation so you got to go see it it's extremely colorful it meets it says what we're trying to do this year so thank you Mrs weeks for that and I want to thank the media Department if they've had to go an extra mile to do some of the things we wanted to do different this year and I so appreciate the media department for uh being
083hanging in there with us so those are basically and finally Mrs Lopez she has had an extra burden especially with the new members I blame it on the new members but we certainly uh thank you so much for putting up with us I know it's been a learning experience for everybody so thank you Mrs Lopez for uh always providing us the data that we need okay I think that's it can I have a Ajman so moved second it's been moved a proberbly second we are adjourned see you next week e