Board Meeting April 18, 2023

001thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's see foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] let's see everything [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's see [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] let's see [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] happy birthday [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] let's see [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's see [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you the School Board of Trustees for the City of Hammond can we please all face face the flag for the pledge all right who wants to start guys under God indivisible with Liberty and justice for all right guys

002superintendent Miller can you can you tell us about our our guests well the pleasures yes these are kids from all over the district from the chess team but we're going to get to see them in when we get down to item a here just in a minute so why don't we do roll then we come back to them all right wonderful all right roll call trustee Blake King against my better judgment and by the actions of President Miller I'm here in this toxic and hostile environment okay trustee Spencer present trustee Murphy present trustee Candelaria present all members are here and accounted for superintendent Miller all right um trustee Murphy uh we're here tonight to recognize the chess teams I'm going to come down if I could have the coaches come over and director Miss Anthony

003Salinas come up thank you [Music] so school board members we are here to celebrate chess chess says a long season we did four tournaments this year we did two in January one in February and one in March um why chess chess started almost 30 years ago here in Hammond and we found out that our students that got into chess are the ones that are better at math they take the time to think before they act on a lot of these things we teach it automatically with them why did you make that move think before you act and tonight the first team we're going to be celebrating is Lincoln thank you um hi guys um I am very proud of my students because a lot of them started off um chess not knowing how to play

004chess and a lot of them expressed that to me and I don't really know how to play and I'm like it's okay we're gonna learn together and I had 15 kids come out for the last tournament which I was really happy with and now I have a lot of them that showed up today so just very proud of all of them and their hard work and dedication um let's start with my sixth graders Abraham raise your hand yeah um raise your hand and show Liam raise your hand destiny Julieta and then I have Michael here and Natalie Malena and Levi did I get everybody yeah all right team tournament and we had like I said 15 students show up um we they did not play we did not go to state but they did a

005really nice job and a lot of them had wins and they worked really hard for what they did thank you very much you guys team Lincoln how about we come on over here and face the audience and then as each group comes you can come up and face and we get one big picture of everybody but if you guys want to maybe come on over here and face the audience because I know their parents want to get pictures and such for sure for sure but we'll get one big one with everybody once everybody's been introduced all right well sorry I didn't really know how to talk okay um so it's my first year coaching at Kenwood I was really hesitant about coaching I wasn't really sure about Chess but I was gifted some really good

006kids who did a very good job this year um we went to uh State uh in 15 tournaments we had two teams one um third and under one sixth one four through six and they did very good very proud of them my team captains were uh Mark and Julian who's not here and then I have the Regalado boys um Allen and um Edgar and then I had uh Dario and Marcus and Amir I think that was everyone who's here but we did I was very proud of them we did very well um both teams made state and they were very very proud of their achievements right you guys boys are very excited you had a good time all right that's the most important thing right okay all right keep linking up here we want to

007get one big picture with everybody once once they're done yeah all right I would like to introduce you the oh um this is the Irving chess team um our coach was not available today he had a doctor's appointment two of our students are here to represent Janaya and Alex and they did um get have some kids go to state which was uh super excited money uh wins and we're super proud of our beautiful test team we're still waiting on the list so your certificates will be coming through the school now we've got um anybody from from the administration from Edgar School all right this young man I met him for the first time this year um you just came to the scope the school system with us right all right you want to tell them

008a little bit about yourself and how you felt the Edgar's chest team all right so Eggers did make State um I use actually did excellent this year they took 10th and 11th in the team State Tournament so I'm very happy with their chess team and eventually these kids will be going on to Hammond Central who also participated in the individual so thank you very much for coming today and come over here we've got your certificate all right what's up thanks man do we have any administrators from Hammond Central hey tamika's here thank you good evening everyone our chess team did great I was not expecting to come up and speak for this at this time but we're fabulous introduce yourself we do have a representative from our team she's not shy she's just pretending oh

009I'm Diane Dominion Maniac I'm a C high school and I have done chess off and on and I found that it's really helpful you know with math and being able to think thank you all right my children's alumni schools Scott Middle School come on down hi everybody um hello um this is Scott Middle School I'm gonna let a lot of them speak for themselves we had a a great year um this year unfortunately I forgot to bring the trophies to share with you guys we brought home eighth place in the states I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna let some of my kids speak and say their name my name is Daniel Parnell and uh playing chess it was very hard but it was fun and I liked it being inside the chess club awesome nice

010this was his first year and he did very well as well nice very good congratulations oh my name is Hector and um I started playing chess because my dad and my uncle played it that's great all right yeah and um I was bored for for the group in first date Captain for Scott my name is Jason and I've been playing chess for a very long time and I love playing okay what's your name Noah Swift what was your favorite thing about Chess Noah my favorite thing about Chess now my favorite thing about Chess was just having fun with my Partners over here and then uh state was pretty hard and a little bit nerve-wracking but still we did it anyway and won all my matches so I'll take it all right well done I think

011you got one more teammate two my first year since third grade all right very good my name is Gabriel Vasquez and I like meeting new people thank you all and they like I said they did a very good job and I'm very proud of all of them and even the ones that couldn't be here today so awesome so this concludes our chest presentation for today and um we're always out there looking for oh Maggie I'm sorry over here begging Rebecca of O'Bannon had 15 players that were at um State this year I had at the individual I had five of my six and under and six on my third and under that qualified um and I had at the individual I had four of them that placed at the top ten at individ at the

012estate we fared well um we were down there I wanted to make sure that I was able to take all of the children that I could take that were able to go down as long as they played at the state qualifier they were allowed to go to the State final so I took a lot of players down that were able so we were just there to have fun this is my ninth year next year will be my tenth year as a coach um my own son started in second grade went through elementary middle school high school and After High School he actually kind of co-coached with me for a while um and Cindy said it is great for the children they learn how to do um problem solving and you know critical thinking usually that's

013when you don't have to fill out one of the forms critical thinking problem solving is I'm there for that um and I just want to recognize Cindy I know she does a lot of work for us too I mean I was like oh man Affinity is not there this is going to fall apart so I also want to thank Cindy for all the hard work that you do for us as well if y'all can come over here yeah we kind of scoot down a little bit so we Center ourselves [Music] yeah is when I get to it [Music] thank you all right students we have one more round of applause and that's for your parents we are always looking for elementary coaches right now so if some of you are interested please contact me contact

014your principals because we're looking for elementary coaches for next year thank you all and we'll see you next year congratulations thank you again for being with us tonight so exciting we'll we'll give them just a minute to kind of get organized and we're going to move on to our Hammond Central High School boys basketball team just after or am I not close enough um others of the monitors can or you think in general let's say maybe turn the monitor up see if that helps [Music] if that's not enough I'll ask him to boost it okay I'll move it closer thank you again chess teams [Music] foreign [Music] so awesome and exciting we have all these great things to celebrate tonight superintendent Miller yes and uh the next one is also very exciting and I'd like

015to call up our Hammond Central head basketball boys basketball coach Larry Moore Jr and his team to celebrate our first Regional Championship in Hammond schools in 70 years come on up guys welcome okay we have some guys that were here but quite a few of our guys have Au practice so uh then some play baseball so they had other obligations but I want to thank you guys for having us here tonight and all the support that we got from the school and the community this year was a great experience for our students and and Coach Coach Moore for I believe third time in four years you were named The Times coach of the year for basketball correct right and you want to talk a little bit about our times play of the year as well

016yeah uh Jordan Woods he won Player of the Year in the NWI times as well as the post-trib um that was the first time that's happened in Hammond since 98 when coach Boyette did it so uh we're proud of that happening for Jordan and he will be going to Eastern Illinois University on the football scholarship so I know you've had some time to reflect on it what what does the Regional Championship mean mean to you coach your family um and let's give a shout out to to your pops here because he is uh he has let us know that he's hanging up his shoes at the end of the year so can we give a big round of applause for learning more senior as far as us winning regionals the community is still excited about

017it anywhere I go now people are happy because we've had a lot of great teams and we hadn't won it since what 69 years 68 years so that win was for so many people in the community former players former coaches so it means a lot for us to get that first Regional and uh I'm excited for our kids to experience that awesome awesome congratulations again Mr George get a nice shot if you guys want to come up and face the audience and coaches too or do you want to introduce you have with you uh coach first please Moore who's a junior and then we also have Colton Jenkins who is a junior as well foreign so I will make sure I get this to them tomorrow and your assistant coaches want to do stuff yes

018we have uh Mitchell Daniels who's the JV coach and Jermaine Boyette who was uh my assistant varsity coach you know um do you guys want to talk a little bit you want to tell what this means to you what was it like being part of this team we love to hear from the young people uh what was it like to be on be on this team this year um it was um how did I explain it it was exciting because my first year on varshi my sophomore year last year we it was fun but like we were still building as a team so like even and we our season had got cut short so when we came back and won this year it's just like a lot of um energy had came from a lot

019of people and I started seeing a lot of stuff and noticing a lot of stuff pretty cool very cool how about you what's it what's your what's your biggest memory of this year what do you think you're going to take with you for your whole life about this year uh probably cut down the Nets that was real fun cutting down the Nets yeah for sure I used to always see other people do I just wanted to do it too and I got a chance to nice very cool okay let's get the kids in the front please maybe if you just make a you oh more if there's anybody towards the back that wants to come forward to get a better picture I mean that's you can you can come forward please all right this is

020history here we want to make sure we record it so wonderful wonderful congratulations again thank you for being with us today trusty trusty boy King trustee Blake king um Mr Miller you raised a question to uh got me a uh approach more I would love to say for this please as to what does this mean is where mean to the children my question to you Mr Miller what does this week is when mean to us exclusive I have yet to see any kind of major celebration for these young men and I don't know why people have just tore my phone up Miss King when is the celebration the number of years it took for us to get here where is the celebration well in defense I did the Young Folks get up full clothes uh

021sweat suits or shoes how have these young folks really been rewarded for the School City of Hammond to come to us I mean and even the sportsmanship that these young people displayed they deserve more than this all right this came out I would totally agree with you on that but in my opinion these young men have been rewarded all year long with the support that we've gotten from the community coaching staff administration at Hammond Central um we do a lot of things behind the scene Chris and I virta we do a lot of things for these kids all year long so they're being rewarded as a not just first the end of the year all year and these kids will be rewarded and remembered for a long long time and for me in the community

022it was something as a coach that I wasn't able to do to win a regional I played I couldn't win a regional I wouldn't watch it lose a regional when my brother was playing sure it's a history and what this means to to uh for the community and for me personally with Larry Jr the way he dedicated this season to his mother um it was her it was her um he dedicated this season to her he worked hard he always worked hard but his goal he accomplished whether Brad would rather go to win state but he accomplished something that a lot of coaches we're talking all the way back to 1956 or 54. some great coaches that were at Hammond Hammond High and later on Central so from what he accomplished again these kids rewarded

023every day and they're being recognized that Community love it you know we would love to have a celebration or dinner or some form but these kids have been they've been rewarded and they've been praised and like I said we we do a lot of things behind the scenes for these kids to make sure they have a good meal before a game instead of getting sharks make sure they're taken care of so these guys are okay okay serving you know before he turns it just happened under my leadership okay I would like to then invited it's me I wouldn't bring this up if the community had not brought into my attention okay I think we could do better I appreciate with the words it meant a lot but still we'll get together with the administration and

024see what we can do we need to step up okay okay thank you coach thank you so much for being with us tonight and we have one more thing to celebrate yes I'd like to call our public relations and marketing specialist Mr Nate George up to discuss um maybe you may give a little background on the MLK essay and in the process we had to go through because we had really pretty good participation and then the results thank you good evening good evening superintendent Miller trustees slash runners in the audience please come up thank you all so much for coming we know there are bunch of different places you could have been but we appreciate you and your parents for bringing you here um just a little background this relationship got started probably October november-ish

025um started under the leadership of Dr ship who was uh superintendent of curriculum at the time got together committee trustee Blake King Linda Randolph Maxine Simmons uh rashadomo Morris um Renee and myself and then once Dr Shield moved on shall we stepped in uh to to fill her void but uh we got together with Dr ship LED this effort to have a lot of effort I'm sorry a lot of a lot of initiatives activities that would Center and filter us into black history month and so one of the first ones we decided was the dairy to dream the radical imagination of a new generation and the essay there was different word levels for each grade level and then The Kindergartners were asked to draw an illustration so they were asked to give us a representation

026of an idea or suggestion that they had that would change the world and change their communities and how it would affect the people that they are looking to impact and so I think when we started we were saying this is our first year we'd be happy with 50 entries we got 93. which was uh and I have uh we got way more than we boarded for but we were really ecstatic to get the kind of participation especially for the first year and so um if we can go to the to the next slide we've got some first second and third place Wheels those are first second and third place winners um segregated out by gray letter um we started off we didn't have a prize or in um incentive and so we decided that we

027wanted to seek out and see if we can sweeten the pot a little bit to get more participation ETA if you all would come down they stepped in thank you they stepped in and extended themselves to purchase gift cards yes for kids and I don't know what the numbers were prior to us but it was a big uh because that was one of the questions we were getting a lot hey are there any prizes involved and so once they were able to commit and say that they would uh dedicate some gift cards our participation increased significantly if I could I'd like to give them a couple of minutes just to talk about um you know they're they're involved in with this good evening for our members Mr Miller my name is Ephraim Valdez I am

028the President of the Hammond Council PTA and along with me I have my acting first vice Judy and my secretary Katie when Mr George brought that to my attention we were honored to help out as much as we could and between him and I we got together and we figured out how we were going to reward to Children the essays were awesome I got to read a few I let the hard part to Mr Mr George but we are here to uh present them their Awards so thank you very much all right so for the secondary level it was the the first place winners each got a 50 gift card to Starbucks second place was thirty dollars there's a 30 gift card to Starbucks in the third uh third place and all participants got uh

029ten dollars um everybody who participated who didn't place for a second or third got ten dollars and so um that list right there those are your winners by each grade level and then if we can go to the next slide Pages that's one of four pages of participants wow so yeah it was it was a really awesome experience if I could briefly just talk a little bit about it because I I've read several dozen of them the one thing that we heard a lot from from kids um I would say probably about 75 percent of their essays revolved around safety and safety in schools and the thing that way loud and clear and there's a debate there's there's a lot of debate and discussion in our country about the excess access to guns and and

030you know what kind of guns people have access to the young people and in our district and probably across the country probably don't get hurt enough and I heard him um very loud and clear and some of them had some really good ideas on how to limit access to Goods there were a couple of people who said you shouldn't have a good material 45. um there was there was a limit on a number of goods you could hold and so um that way through that that was something that they were really really passionate about and school safety is really important and then the second the probably the second most common one we got dealt with homelessness and there were a lot of kids who wrote essays about how to solve homelessness and what they would

031do and how they would assist in getting people off the streets and in the safe places and also to feed those those people as well so you saw some people who said hey I want to be a millionaire but when I do I'm going to take care of some homeless uh people as well and then the third lesson one that I read was um dealing with the environment um dealing with uh clean air mostly but also clean water so there's some very outstanding essays um I heard you all very loud and clear the people who also wear them heard or heard you very loud and clear I would just encourage you all to keep doing what you're doing keep advocating for what you believe in and um hopefully you know some of you will continue

032to be Advocates and activists and uh hopefully someday write some of those laws that you that you rallied against so um thank you everybody for this opportunity that's probably a good idea winners go ahead and move on up uh if you if you need if you're not getting a good picture just come on up we'll we'll take a minute come on up we want to we want to celebrate these wonderful things so come on up get those photos those photos all right well I want to thank our students so much for being with us tonight congratulations to each of you thank you so much to the PTA and Mr George this is awesome it's awesome you know what can we get the students names real quick can can they each come to the micro real

033fast and just uh give us their name and what school they're from and then we'll let them go I didn't know if we were hanging out the out the cards now or if there was okay all right okay hi I'm Lanaya Fleming I am a senior at Morton High School [Music] so congratulations um hi my name is I'm from Irving hi my name is Zoe Berry and I am from Albanian awesome Murphy cool I am Arjuna himans and I am from middle school all right you can pull it down it's okay here you go I'm Serena Spears and I'm from Scott Middle School I'm so from Irving go ahead and pull it and I'm from Lincoln Elementary foreign Jackson and I'm from Irving Elementary and I recruited a couple of former Educators to come out

034and help read some of the high school essays which were was my mom Agnes George who's a retired media specialist at the Gary Community School Corporation and Vivian Barnwell who is a retired teacher from the East Chicago Central so I want to be able to go home and ask them for additional favorites so yes that is awesome before we move into our next presentation which we'll start our regular business with our financial presentation any anybody that wants to to go ahead and go this would this would be a great time to to do that if you were just here for the student presentations now would be a great time to transition out Madam president trustee Murphy could we get copies of the windows essays I would like to read some of those uh superintendent Miller

035no problem is that possible that the host could be emailed to the board as far as I know we still have all our copies so I'll check with Mr George wonderful wonderful time right now Mr Croots will just ask you to to get ready um but we'll we'll give a minute or two to to let folks finish taking pictures and finding finding their place [Music] many needs a minute all right do we want to take a five minute or three that's right all right we're gonna take a three minute recess here while we finish taking photos um what but we don't uh um well we don't remember that needs a break wait a board membrane needs a break and we were scheduled to begin at 6 30. so we uh really started on time so

036we'll be right back [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] welcome back Mr Kurtz we'll go ahead and pick up with our financial presentation all right good evening Madam president trustees and superintendent this is your financial report for the period ending March 31st which is the first quarter of the calendar year um if we call your attention to the middle of the summary page looking at our budget tracking our education funds tracking pretty much on budget it is the end of the first I'm sorry Mr Kurtz I'm having trouble hearing there's there's a lot of extra talking we are back in session so if everyone could please bring it down just a little bit okay how I'll talk louder also okay uh so it is the

037end of the first quarter so we're at about the 25 percentage level so if we look at our education fund uh we've spent about 26 percent our operating referendum fund we've spent about 20 percent and again the operations fund is uh running uh over budget at about 35 percent uh our transfers are are on track uh on average we're running about 14.5 percent transfer from the education fund to the operations fund which is necessary to support that fund due to property tax caps as we look down this gives you an update on the total dollars that were appropriated in our sr2 and sr3 funds what's been spent what is encumber by way of a purchase order and what is committed and then the last category is the uncommitted portion of that that has really become

038quite small as we move through the Esser spending process I would note that March was a three pay month so our expenses in March track a little bit higher because we do a third payroll in that month uh the next three pay month is in September and over the course of the calendar year there's 26 pays so normally we deal with two pays a month but uh moving down to the next page is the detailed information on the education fund and that fund ended with a cash balance of uh like 119 uh thousand dollars this one doesn't take advantage of the tax anticipation warrants as we look at the referendum operating fund uh this one does have a tax anticipation warrant of a million dollars so our bounce on the first page actually is overstated

039by the amount of the Taw that we deposited to that account so if you look at the ending balance less the Taw are referendum operating account has a negative balance of basically 2.096 million dollars that fund will receive its distributions and settlement from property tax collections by the end of June let's go to my room remote doesn't seem to be working I'm going to go to The Debt Service fund the zero two hundred fund again that has fairly significant amount of our tax anticipation warrant proceeds of 5 million without that that fund has a negative balance of 1.7 million and then we have our pension Debt Service fund and that fund has a negative balance of 000. the pension debt makes its payments early in the year and then it catches up um hopefully by

040the end of the year although we did have to make clone to this fund at the end of 2022 and this pension debt fund will go away next year the last fun to talk about is our operations fund and when we look at the very bottom of this page and we deduct out the four million dollar tax anticipation warrant loan that's in this balance the operations fund has a negative balance of 3.9 million so again these are these are not good balances and uh you know we really rely during the course of the Year course of the year and borrowing that tax anticipation money so you know that's why we changed this report last month to really show the real balance and deduct out the Taw because we have to assume that money's not there

041because it has to be paid back by the end of the year if there's any questions I'm happy to respond um superintendent Miller could you tell those watching at home and those in the audience quickly like how they can they can access this through board docs sure so if you go to the school City of Hammond homepage which is www.haman.k12.ind.us let me make sure I don't know do you mind putting up the school City Hammond homepage please we'll just show it on the screen here so it's part of the Stream ing she wanted me to just explain how someone could see this for themselves if they wanted to yeah um and then if you go to the school board in the middle and click board Docs and on the left hand side click enter public

042site there's no password required and then you click on regular meeting and view the agenda and then here are the agenda items we've been covering so we're on financial presentation you could click on that and then there's the attachment of what Mr Kurtz has been reviewing with us so every single item that the board votes on is stored forever in board docs so it goes back to around 2012 2013. so anyone can come in and and and see it at any time so every contract every Personnel report every account's payable all of those things are available to anyone in the community at any time all right are there any questions from the trustees on the financial presentation for Mr Kurtz Madam president trustee Murphy so with the operation fund I know you made a point

043of saying this was a three-pay month that we just got through if you see that percentage getting back to at budget sometime during this year or is this something we need to keep worrying about going to get back on budget because it really has to we can't spend into the negative we're going to end up using some funds that are available to us on a short term basis so there are some things that we pay for in operations that legitimately belonging operations but they are eligible for funding with Esser funds so we're going to use Esser to to bridge us through this year okay but we do know as if funds run out next year that was correct keep doing this all right thank you all right other questions from board members on the financial

044presentation trustee Blake King superintendent courage I recall we had asked for a company of prepared report you know it's no longer there so it's a date we have not had any kind of accounting as to how everybody was provided I believe that was provided when the team met with you about six weeks ago seven weeks ago they went through all the SR and cares act funding in detail in a in a meeting well if that was the case it was never brought to my attention okay for the entire world that's not me because that's the problem everybody needs to know so I believe the you know the summary data was provided and then the federal grants team did a deep dive I believe the assistant superintendent Reese was also at that meeting but we we

045can get that again and re-share that or run a run a current report okay honey back to the answer to what does it expire uh the funds in sr2 need to be fully encumbered by September 30th of this year of 2023. uh uh I know I'll just adding company is any of this money committed and confident would everyone have it for the loss of learning as my understanding that we're still scrambling for programs and curriculum towns accelerator reader IXL that program you still have not secured there for our young folks calculators we talked about a vending machine for the elementary students that really prepares them in terms of encourage them to read to date from March 1st when I had that meeting I've had no updates on that so when you say encumberg or permitted

046is any of this money going to be spent on any of these kinds of programs for these young folks so our teachers can teach our kids to read and so forth and so on the Federal grant requirements did have thresholds that we needed to hit for learning loss in looking at the reports and the data that I've researched we've exceeded all those reports I I can't speak to the details of those efforts right now but that's what I understood was talked about at the meeting a problem nobody is speaking to the details to date nobody's if you're seeing the test scores we've seen PSAT I read already you've seen all the decaying we have yet put together a high-end pack tutoring program and we're in the third year of this money that's Criminal and we

047know our students need this kind of service if they're going to get Beyond where we are academically so until I can see where this money stands when it has been allocated are we getting these resources for our teachers you know it's just numbers on a piece of paper and it means absolutely nothing to me and nothing to these young folks and these teachers that are trying to do a better job uh trustee Spencer yeah I'll um kind of go off of what trusty Blake King was talking about I know our last Public Work session uh assistant superintendent Reese brought like a bunch of different tutoring programs in front of us some different online programs and things like that I don't when are we going to be voting on those so then we know that that

048money is going to go towards that or whatever it is that we are choosing for the loss of learning those for with those programs I'd be happy to speak on that I am working with the companies right now to finalize the quotes and get that in preparation for our May board meeting all right thank you Missouri but let's be reminded scores have been declining for the last three years we've had this money since and we're not talking about stimulant we're going to wait until All the Monies extended before we make an attempt to use it why did we do this the first year of this money I mean we're sorry behind the eight ball because we have definitely failed our students we have done that they didn't fail we have failed them because 65 billion

049dollars you can't make me believe that we could not have done better I'm still waiting in the third year of this funding yeah I watched the meeting or we all talked about that two-word program virtual and you made a very good point trustee Spencer if our students couldn't Excel virtually during the pandemic what makes you think virtual tutoring is going to help us but we have talked about using our University and colleges three years and to date to my knowledge no one has taken the time to go to these universities and colleges for help and is there for us three years into this money it's criminal it's no excuse and I'm tired of waiting and I'm sure these kids are tired of being as well thank you all right are there questions from other trustees

050other trustees hearing none thank you very much Mr Kurtz for your presentation all right trustee Candelaria public expression first period limited to items on the agenda only First Community member is going to be Yvonne Tucker hello hello good evening I don't know if my question is about things on this I sure will thank you so much um I'm not sure if my question um refers to anything within the meetings but um I've been coming back and forth to the school with my daughter as a student uh here in Hammond and I'm also the administrator of a sure foundation and we're a non-profit organization in Hammond and we do a lot of the help that the families especially students need year-round yes and if it's not a specific agenda item can can I move you to

051the the final section of public participation this section is just only to the specific items that are on our agenda this evening that's fine we'll be okay I can do protocol that's fine okay thank you so much trustee Kendall here can you make sure she's on I'll put her down for a second session okay okay um and go ahead and put her like can you put her first okay all right because we moved her down okay all right trusty Candelaria next Community member is going to be HD Johnson but there is a incomplete address would you like to continue filling it up Schererville Indiana I'm articulated through the schools here in this city from middle school high school and college that's why I'm here um I want to talk about the financial presentation that was

052made it's amazing when you allocate money it is in a column that means the money should go for that particular column am I correct so when I heard the young men say that you're unable to financially support certain events in regards to education then where did the money go where did the money go if you have line items anyone that's been to school no accounting debit credits line items and when something has been placed for a specific thing it should be spent for that so when I heard about the scores I followed Hammond and the declining scores but yet you pay Scott Miller we don't don't dress people Obama please 813 dollars go to Gateway now why would you pay that kind of money when do you does he have a superintendent license I remember

053I went to school on Justice doctor please jump in Dixon so it's amazing that one line item can be paid but other line items can't that's my question failing schools when on my job if I do a failing job they don't give me a raise I don't get rewarded you have failing schools but yet you rewarded Scott Miller Scott Miller's contract is not it's not an agenda item I don't care I got your presentation thank you all right go see Candelaria that concludes everyone written in for a second uh public expression all right we're going to move on now to unfinished business superintendent Miller trustees we have heard these board policy updates volume 35 number one number 22 in a public work session and then in the first reading at the March meeting so this

054is the second reading at our April meeting I am recommending their approval so we have a recommendation from the administration to go ahead and proceed with the approval of the board policies in front of us would anyone like to make a motion by the president trustee Murphy I move that we adopt board policy zero one three one point one zero one four two point two zero one six six zero one six seven point three one two one three point zero one one five two one two four three one two four three two two four six four three one two zero point one one three one two one three two one three point zero one four one two one four two one three point zero one five four two zero five six one zero 5722-6250-6550-8120-8121-8210-8220-8400-8510 and

0558600 presented all right I have the motion do I have a second I'll second but I'm not repeating it all right a little motion we have again is there any just thank you um my discussion on number one is zero one six six if we're to adopt that tonight that clearly means that excuse me more reports would go back on our agenda because that's clearly what it says and I've asked that on several occasions and secondly I cannot support any of these Court policies because when we under discussion when I talked about asking you to put the Strategic plan the diversity Equity inclusion plan that's part of our policies that fellow deaf is and until we're able to do that that gives us teeth to enforce it otherwise it's just words on a piece of

056paper so for that reason I can't support the only one I will support is zero one six six because uh is radiant and as I requested it time and time again they've been that is important reports remain on it go back on the agenda um that's what I have to say thank you Madam president trustee Murphy for clarity as we were viewed in the public work session board policy zero one six six the change was made from Friday to Thursday and then we finally agreed on two business days before the regular meeting we will receive the board packet that is the change that is up for tonight's final adoption all right other comments or questions from the board trustee Blake this Powers YouTube record because continues to fall here the second paragraph reads whatever the

057president or other members of the board wish to bring a matter to the intention of the board such requests should be committed in paper [Music] or transmitted electronically to the superintendent or the board president so that item can be placed on the agenda I have repeatedly repeatedly sent an email to the president and the superintendent and the board requesting that board reports go back on the agenda and his so obviously the majority excuse me the majority of the super majority don't understand but I'm sure the public who's listening to me to me understand exactly what I'm saying thank you very much Madam president trustee Murphy again for clarity it's how we did all these Public Work sessions so we brought things up that we wanted to review we added the public work sessions that's how

058those agendas got that is what the second paragraph is all about things that we as a whole want to speak about it was never been about one of us gets to stand up here and just talk about whatever they want it's about specific things like we've asked about summer school which we had a presentation we asked about um the one we just had on the tutoring again that that is what that paragraph is about talking about items we like to discuss in either a business meeting or as you've wisely told us beginning of the year Public Work sessions which we've done Madam president this is my last time as you recall trustee Blake King thank you trusting Murphy he's spirited removing board reports off on the agenda with the help of our attorney if you

059recall you read a personal email into record because I questioned the Mr Michael Edison regarding the behavior I was receiving from you all regarding more reports you all were indicating the former president at the time kept uh intimidating me with uh you don't have to ask a question uh more reports is not this you can't Mr Miller this you can't answer similar back and for that reason I'll never forget it was on my birthday when you all voted to remove it and as I believe you and I did agree there is nothing in a board policy that allows you to take anything off the agenda a city so I'm through with it I'll never discuss it again and I'll take it up later later thank you Madam president trustee Murphy the only thing I have

060to say I would never ever read anyone's personal email in a public board meeting that did not happen and if you want to go and pull up a board meeting to show that I did that I refute it it did not happen all right um attorney Conrad you have anything to add I think that this is this was a question that was referred to Indiana School Board Association with regard to the board policy and I think Indiana School Board Association provided guidance to miss King as well as to the board what the purpose of the policy is and how it's to be used I don't think that anything has changed in that I'll be more than happy to recirculate that to everybody again all right thank you all right we found a motion we've had

061a second we've had discussion um all in favor of approving the policies as presented please signify by saying aye aye any opposed opposed all right the vote on that would be four to one uh the policies are approved and have been passed gonna move on to our minutes I'm going to ask for a motion for the approval of all three sets as presented Madam president trustee Murphy I move that we adopt the executive session minutes of March 21 2023 the executive session minutes of March 20 sorry 28 2023 and the school board meeting minutes of March 21 23. all right I have a motion do I have a second I'd have a motion in a second uh is there any discussion on this item trustee Blake King up for the record March 21st 2023 executive

062session was the meeting [Music] that somebody decided to not allow me to attend these meetings virtually I had no bar notice I was standing in front of my black lady sitting in front of my household waiting to be logged in Mr Miller sent me earlier that day at 103 pm he sent me a text and I still had it so Steve King according to State Statute you have to select one two three or four and no details are required so that you will be able to vote for the March 21st for me on all of his directions to the letter on that afternoon when I'm sitting in front of my couch waiting to be logged in uh the executive session Madam president point of order no no trustee Murphy my point of order is we

063have the minutes up for approval so the reason for anybody to have discussion at this point is if the minutes have grammar changes misspelled words um things that they don't recollect happening that is what the discussion should be at this time so it needs to be genetic to the the motion on the floor trustee boy King is God and you don't back it up with anything you just talk and you're supposed to be the gospel uh if if you are authorized Mr Miller just stand up and press meetings and a statement to the staff regarding trustees virtual attendance that alluded to the fact that I either have chosen not to attend or that I did not follow State Statute I have a right to defend myself Madam president again point of order I said what

064I had to say thank you period he's on the record all right we have a motion we have a second we've had discussion all in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed no all right the motion is the motion has passed four to one the minutes have been approved move on to the consent agenda looking for emotion there I motion to approve the consent agenda through H sorry second all right we have a motion to approve items a through G and a second as presented right A through G just just double checking all right A through G um is there any uh discussion on the consent agenda trustee Boykin account available [Music] I say does anybody have that handy they can help trust your boy King excuse me I can't I can't my

065computer is sort of died on here yeah I'm getting it for you yeah [Music] somebody from the tech team pop over real quick too why do we pull that up for her thank you I don't know what happened here which one are you wondering the accounts payables thank you [Music] our claims total four million 826 278.88 our payroll totaled 6 million four hundred and seventeen thousand seven hundred and twenty five dollars and 83 cents additionally I have requested the copy of Kelly Services uh invoices and in reviewing them we're just continually to add to that expenditure and our last board meeting when we discussed County Services where we had three million dollars and we had indicated at some point we're going to open up this this contract and discuss it and I believe trustee Murphy

066indicated we will need to do it in March or April well March has passed April is here so when are we going to take a look at this um invoice because we are clearly gone over budget our original budget was 2 million they were supposed to save us 500 000 and we have already spent over three million dollars to Kelly Services so what are we going to do about this contract um we're actually going to cover that in the public work session the very next meeting we have uh on the third the calorie Services is part of that no no it's coming up it's on May 3rd it's our next meeting and in May 3rd we're going to talk about that information I have an excuse from this so it's nice to hear this now

067so I'm hoping that you will do away with Kelly Services now this money that came out of the educational fund could have been used to stand for curriculum accelerated programs readers counts I could go on and on and on at the programs that are our children need thank you madam president trustee Murphy for a bit of clarity if we don't have Subs then there are no classes so Kelly Services provides us Subs so when the teachers are out of the classroom that the students can actually be taught [Music] can you check her check the monitor it's kind of turned out she's just kind of far back okay yeah get on your mic um yeah we're having a lot of problems with Sam tonight so yeah as trustee Candlelight we would have a great loss of

068learning if we did not have the subs available for those missing teachers so we can't just remove Kelly Services that's what the public work session is for that money can't be used for our Educational Services it has to be used for people in the classroom One Moment One Moment One Moment are you finished yes all right what fun would this money come up and I was still in education I had to base it on Roadhouse too period now if that was incorrect I mean it all is the same pot of money eventually you have to categorize it as an educational expense or operational offense expense but you know we can transfer money between the two it's an expense it's a large expense so the point of the public work session is to evaluate is it

069a worthwhile expense I can tell you there's their sub fill rate was much higher than ours was without them now we have to evaluate is it worth it is it is it worth the the cost and they'll have all of that we'll look at what it cost before we'll look at what it costs this year we'll look at the sub fill rate before we'll look at the sub fill rate this year we'll look at all of that in the public works session there won't be any secrets about it thank you madam president and that work session are we talking about the crossing contract as well the contracts the crossing of the surgery interrupt The Crossing side into three-year contract last year so it was not up it's not up this spring well if they're failing

070our children certainly we could um get out of it a proficiency rate was deplorable the last time we looked so we're going to continue to keep these people on board I mean where's the fiscal responsibility in that the crossing doesn't cost us any money we um The Crossing is a is a program for students who have dropped out of school who are on the street and they are a charter school they're partners of public schools to help serve some of the most needy kids so we're talking kids who are you know 16 17 18 years old who may have five credits 10 credits out of 40. like they're really far behind and frankly we don't have a great program for kids that are that far behind so the crossing helps them to get jobs while

071they help to earn credits towards their their degree they're located off of Kennedy Avenue in Hammond um and and they service me maybe between depending on the time between 25 and 35 Hammond students who are no longer in school to keep them off the street the funding model is they take a portion of the money we would receive anyway but when they drop out we don't receive any money so it doesn't really cost the district anything to be able to support these students so they can still move forward with life like that's what the crossing does so I'm happy to have them come into an end of your report that's not a not a problem I can I can have them I trustee late Keem okay let me allow someone else to speak and I'll

072be right back to you trustee Murphy I want to piggyback on the superintendent so when the closing came before us last year with their contract we did ask them to come in like June at just as the superintendent just said so that they can give us an end of the year report it's not fair to do it in middle of the year we need to know to see how those students ended the year so I agree Public Work session June or whenever to have them give that report thank you all right try stability King I believe bacon for us twice already and my my final point is how are we going to build our own alternative school at the air career center if we're going to tell he's spending money outside and that makes no

073sense to me we have a ongoing alternative school at Career Center um that really doesn't cost us I don't know what their budget is but it does cost is two dollars so we will never be able to build on that program farming the money out to another outfit and uh and they've been here they've been before us twice because I've seen two sets of children making presentations that's true they've they came here yes you're correct um go ahead there was an initial contract and then last year the board did a renewal with them um based on the administration recommendation but we do also have an alternative program that's at the Area Career Center is trustee Blake King referenced um that has been to address students who have been facing expulsion so that again they don't

074end up on the street because that's what happened to them in the past was if a student was expelled they would not be able to attend a school for a long period of time either a semester or a year so this that's what the program the career center has has offered these were kids who weren't even in school but were 16 to 18 years old like they were dropped out that's what the crossing address is as kids who are in our community but they are completely dropped out and not engaged in school at all that's that that's the group of kids at that targets so um it is worthy of discussion this is is that a service we can offer better perhaps it's worthy of discussion I don't I don't deny that at the time

075we didn't have anything in place and I felt like having a partner who that is their Core Business that was the better solution all right well thank you for that I believe we are on um new business we have a vote on the I don't think we had a vote for the consent the consent agenda I'm is this a carryover that's here or did we not vote okay but what the one am I looking at yeah I'm seeing but it's pre-populated oh okay okay all right all in favor of approval for the consent agenda seeing if I was saying aye aye any opposed excuse me the consent agenda oh abstain all right uh we have foreign favor one abstention um let me see this updated okay all right we're gonna move on to new business

076then thank you guys for that all right um new business superintendent Miller so the first item is a board compact resolution and and I don't know if anyone wants to jump in but I'll briefly state that a board compact is an agreement that basically this is a commitment to a set of standards of how the board is going to interact with one another and interact with the administration Monica am I saying that correctly did you want to add anything fba's board ethics Dakota for ethics that all of you guys have kind of sworn onto as school board members that code of ethics is also incorporated into your board policy and so what can I see more compact hold on a second attorney trustee Lakey because he's speaking to the mind I don't hear a word

077she's singing okay uh can you move the night closer sure um the the board compact is basically the school board is so it's built off of the School Board Association code of ethics all of you are members or belong to the Indiana School Board Association which then has this code of ethics that you guys have all pretty much adopted not only have you adopted It generally by my membership and and and how you belong to the School Board Association but you've also Incorporated already into your board policies so you all can see in your board policy which is recited in the resolution all of those code of ethics are already a part of your bylaws so what the compact does it operationalizes and kind of makes clearer how you are to continue to act in

078an ethical manner that is consistent with the code of ethics with regard to how staff and other board interacts with staff how the board interacts with superintendent and how the board members interact with each other all right um so uh before this is the board compact I'm looking for a motion on this item Madam president trustee Murphy I move that we approve the board compact resolution as presented looking for a second second I have a motion in a second is there any discussion from the board on this item [Music] what date was this done uh April the 1st and it was emailed out to everyone to review schedule and board training because months ago that was part of the discussion and I indicated that the only way I would participate in 420 it was that

079movie do virtual because of some activities and we want to bring it up and that's been resolved and the way I have been treated by this board behind doors and we all agree trustee Parker's a little but we all agree that I was able to attend this meeting April 1st virtually I'm waiting to be again log in and this is a necessary and then when I raised the question I was told it was a regular meeting but when I looked at the how we posted it it was posted as an executive session so what was it it was an executive session for board training yes it was an executive session for board training do we realize we already have any other School Board Association code of ethics did you all even use this or did

080you combine it because explain to me what is upward pack never heard of it was a book that explained that what's a board path different from code event is that we've already been developing the state we already have the box and now um new folks I don't mean it apologize I don't scratch that the super majority has come up with this Grand board resolution and the first thing of code of ethics says by thinking always in Children First it's not included anywhere in here Children First the second Board responsibility is to hire and fire a superintendent nowhere it is and as I go down and talk about civility how many times have I been out of order gathered out of order turned the mic off walked off the stadium and left me hanging here without

081civility I go down to number seven I will not ask questions in board meetings that constitute got chance or surprises but what was that when I sat in front of a blink computer waiting to be logged in for a personal meeting and it never happened if that wasn't I've got to the moment I don't know what it was but you all we do have got you a moment on me but you but this is for whoever I shared there was several of our colleagues as it was King this is nothing but a track for you because how are they going to even enforce it oh and by the way if you violate any of these that board packs I understand and agree if I'm violating the above Ventures Provisions the remainder of the board and

082take appropriate measures included and not limited to you excluding my participation and executive sessions well they've done that already limiting information shared with me as a board member that's pretty much happening limiting my ability to speak at a board meeting now you are witness that um adopt a former censor outlining outlining the basis for my favor and follow the contact now who is going to enforce this attorney Conrad if that's the case I'll be gone within a week this is utterly ridiculous there's no need for this we already have Indiana School Board Association code of ethics you didn't even include the major themes that we do higher fire superintendent and children are first not mentioned anywhere here so I will ask you to table it redo it and to spend four hours can you visit

083the board set and and set around four hours to talk about how we're gonna help these teachers and bring all these curriculum get these academic scores up wouldn't that be something if we sit around and spent four hours doing that it comes up some solutions but you're going to sit around and put together a document that literally tracks Carolina Blake King I'm not stupid I'm a college educated woman and I know what I've been when this is something that's primarily here for me this is outrageous yeah that's all I understand okay comments from other board members trustee Spencer I said it when we were in there in there on April 1st why don't we go ahead and table it take it off of our new business because it did not include all board members and

084I said that from the beginning trustee Blake King has voiced her concerns can we not take it off so that it's something that we can all talk about and come to agreeance together all right other comments from board members I would Madam president trustee Murphy if they don't show up what are we supposed to do again with the board compact so last year um president Zumo actually shuts me several times he actually cut me off said no more on that discussion so I know it involves all of us it's not just one board member so sometimes when things got heated he literally asked me to stop talking as to censure when I was on the board of the prior time the prior board tried to censor me then but then the isba talked him out

085of it so this is all stuff that boards can do but they don't actually do so again with the executive session that happened when the prior board too so when people are linking information out of the executive sessions we didn't hold executive sessions for a while so this is all stuff that's built on History that's not just the current history but prior histories the board compact again we don't need Children First our Duties are to excuse me excuse me statute excuse me actually we're having a really hard time hearing up here and I need you guys to to please be quiet because we're having trouble hearing do we need to recess Okay so we have statutory duties and in Statue it doesn't say children first that's part of the isba code of ethics which was

086adopted when I was Prior on the board yes it is to hire and fire the superintendent it also is to set budgets and approve and adopt them those are statutory requirements which do we really need them in a board compact if we already know statutorily that those are things we're supposed to do so we have children first already in board policy what we're doing is adding on to it's in the issu trustee Murphy has the floor please yes I respect you when you're talking please respect me so again we have the isba code of ethics I am not really willing so usually what happens someone gives me a call ahead of time is like hey I've got some concerns can we table this to this is like a gotcha moment it's we're coming in it's

087like hey can we table this now it's like well why weren't these concerns raised ahead of time everybody knows I sent an email out over the weekend with my questions to give the superintendent plenty of time to respond to them and I did ask one question of Mr Kurtz during this meeting that I didn't send ahead of time it happens but these are things that should have been dressed ahead of time so we knew that we could have tabled it we only have one business meeting a month right now we could add in a special meeting like next week but again are you are we suggesting that we have another training Mr Balch is booked for months it took over two months to get him to come here so I don't see how this is

088going to happen I release the floor Madam president trustee Spencer this isn't I gotcha moment because I expressed these concerns from the beginning so I don't want to say that this is a gotcha moment because I've been saying this I said on April 1st trustee Blake King needed to be a part of it she was not going to be in agreeance with it did I not say that I knew she wasn't now we're here she's saying she's not in agreeance with it she's asking us to table it can we for once come together table this and talk about it later I'm not saying take it off completely let's redo it all and it's a definite no that's not what I'm saying I'm saying can we table it she has concerns she has not been able

089to attend we already know that this is that's been an issue for all of us can we table it so that the five of us can go over it together address the concerns the four of us addressed our concerns already when we were there if there's five of us that's all I'm asking and it's not a gotcha moment because I've been saying this now since April before April 1st are you suggesting the upcoming Public Work session on May the 3rd because I'm trying to compromise here I'm good with that all right I'm that will work for me as well I'm concerned because we already have items slated for May 3rd I'm going to be honest with you like it's we already have we have a really full agenda so we're either talking about holding an

090extra Public Work session for voting on this now either voting it up voting it or voting it down because we have a motion in a second on the floor um it if it's voted down it's something that could come it can come back in another form um but we already we've got to vote on it regardless we already it's weird to have a motion in a second so we have to vote it up or voted down or the person takes away yeah the lawyers who made the motion can also withdraw I'm sorry the right to interested in my team the member who made the motion can withdraw emotionally as well I I I'm sorry Monica I didn't hear anything you said I said the member who made the motion can also withdraw the motion I

091trustee Murphy again would you be open to withdrawing the motion again with certain things in place when are we going to discuss it and at what meeting would it be back on the agenda for revolt I think we can fit it in on the third if if trustees want to share their concerns with it ahead of time then we can just address those things in the public well but I've I've tried that I sent multiple emails to the entire board trying to get people's feedback and concerns and I I didn't hear no one responded to this item yeah I know it was a week late yeah no one was except for what we got from Cindy so we know we've tried to do that already it was already presented to all the members um and

092there was there were no comments from anyone with with concerns on the additional changes that needed to be made um I I specifically asked if anyone had an issue with it being on the agenda today like I didn't no one responded to that so um that's kind of where I'm at at the moment all right again if we can get it on May the 3rd do we already have a public work session scheduled for the ninth we we do not um May is kind of troublesome um there are several different activities like where are they gonna have to adjust our schedule and they okay um so I'm not I'm not saying no I'm just saying we'll have to look at the calendar um to be able to to try to pick a day that would

093be favorable to everyone and that we can get the space um is the 16th still a regular board meeting that's one of those dates that need to change because of a Community School's visit to Cincinnati uh somewhere I have this the list um so we have we do have a meeting schedule in April I'm sorry May the 3rd we're going to add an executive session probably to the front end of that at 5 30 that Public Works session is probably going to be pushed back to 6 30. um Tuesday the 16th is going to have to change to May 23rd um and that would be for the executive session and for the regular meeting on May the 3rd we've already had to shift to the Wednesday because of election day so the 16th is out

094I mean I guess if we picked another if you wanted to pick another day that week or we can take this conversation offline to try to figure out the calendar again you think May third is possible superintendent all right I formally withdraw my motion I moved a table the compact to the next regular business meeting May 23rd it's May 23rd May 23rd all right very good we need a second and a vote uh do I have a second okay so we have a motion in a second to table this item until May 23rd is there any discussion on the tabling of the item my final discussion trust your boy King in the event this is the public needs to know number three is I agree with my honest and act and also to participate in

095an annual review of the board's performance by using isba recommended instruments again this has a back story because uh the two evaluations I do trustee about Kim trust you very clean this again Trustee of order trustee Blake King all we're discussing is the tabling how are you doing is discussing the tabling that's it that's the only thing that's on the floor publicly available it's on board Docs it is it's it's on board docs okay all right so we've had a we've had a motion we've had a second we've had discussion all in favor to table this item until May 23rd please signify by saying aye any opposed all right moving on to Item B these I am recommending the approval of the contract with Freeland Trail attorneys of law for Dave Dixon to provide our

096labor Attorney Services in the amount of 8 000 per month all right do I have a motion for this item Madam president trustee Murphy I move that we approved the contract with Freeland Freel as presented second question in a second is there any discussion on this item any discussion on this item one question trustee boy King Chelsea Viking thank you is there a dollar amount of dude yes yes it's a 50 50 sorry eight thousand per month I thought he was a retirement um the contract is with Frio and Frio Dan Friel is retiring Dave Dixon is an employee of Freeland Friel so he'll be the one providing the services uh it is a 50 savings over [Music] tonight but um all right um we're not We're not gonna do this We're Not Gonna We're

097not gonna do this let's let's get focused and I'm the item at hand here okay so we have a motion we have a second we've had some discussion is there any more discussion super nintendent Motors or anything you would like to add on this item no I believe I believe is that it is a represents a 50 cost safe that we had wonderful wonderful all right so we've had a motion in a second we've had discussion all in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed can you post all right hearing none this motion has passed 5-0 we have a new contract with Freeland Freel moving on to item C uh Mr Kurtz you want to explain item C in in D welcome back Mr Kurtz thank you again uh item C is an

098engagement order with uh Thomas W Peterson Law Office uh the Peterson Law officer Thomas Peterson specializes in being a legal counsel with respect to uh building corporations Bond issuance and referendums so his services are needed for the administration to bring the board a recommendation to pursue a referendum in the future as you know our operating referendum will expire at the end of next year and we really have three opportunities to have that considered for Renewal that would be November of this year or may or November of next year so he is an attorney that specializes in those activities I believe Peterson law has worked with School City of Hammond in Prior years I've worked with his law firm with other school corporations and I believe Ms Conrad is familiar with his specialization and expertise the

099contract amount is not to exceed 3 500. all right um thank you for that explanation do I have a motion to consider this item I moved to approve the contract with Peterson Law Office second is there any discussion on this item any discussion on this item discussion it seems like we have trustee Blake it seems like we have some kind of timetable for this many public work sessions no we haven't had a public work session on it yet shared basically a timetable um about a referendum and uh I'm just curious how clear is the Lord on this timetable I've never heard but I just heard about you so really we're putting together a team of subject subject matter experts so that we can formulate a recommendation to bring to the board so that hasn't happened

100yet because we don't have all the expertise and all the team members that we need to give the board a formal record recommendation to consider so we have to hire all these results okay 45 11. fifteen thousand the last meeting is there any more there is the next one is item D is also tied into the same initiative just give us a bridge I think develop a timetable first time I've heard it and then we expected taxpayers to pass the referendum and they need to know the Bible what we're doing if I don't know they don't know thank you all right we've had a motion we've had a second is there any more discussion on this item or whatever it might be helpful trusty or uh attorney Conrad board membership might be helpful for you

101to know that one of the things that is complicating anybody looking at a referendum right now is that there are some pending legislation that has been going through the general assembly that is tremendously going to impact on the question for which can be on the ballot so it's very premature right now to try to to get some of these pieces together as we wait to see what the general assembly is done in terms of doing a timetable um because people who are doing timetables right now are going to have to throw them out the door and start all over again because if the general assembly changes the question that goes on the ballot then it they have to go through another process to recertify that question with your election board so Mr Kurtz is you

102know putting the team together as a piece of this but we're also kind waiting for the general assembly to conclude some of what the changes that they're finessing right now with referendums thank you return to Conrad other comments or from the board or questions superintendo I'll just say this is consistent with the board strategic plan goal number five to pursue these funding sources so we're moving forward with it aye aye any opposed have today okay we have four in favor one abstention this measure passes move on to item D Mr Kurtz item D is recommending uh the board approve an engagement letter with policy analytics LLC uh this is along the same lines policy analytics specializes in looking at property taxes assessed valuations uh working with the township and County assessor's office working with the

103county auditor's office to ensure that we we have all the correct data to formulate the question that we would put and recommend to the board policy analytics also helps or would double check some of the calculations that are required to be made by various government agencies that then get formatted into the question that would go to the voters they they really have a pretty good reputation in the state of Indiana with working with the general assembly in a nonpartisan way and really have a niche and looking at property values and assessments and tax rates so I'd recommend the board approve this all right do we have a motion to bring this to discussion Madam president trustee Murphy I move that we approve the engagement letter with policy analytics LLC as presented for a second second

104the motion in a second is there any discussion on this particular item Madam president trustee Murphy just to confirm they're going to be doing like at the last referendum we had a laptop we could go and put your house in there and figure out what the increase would be they're going to be doing that type of thing again yeah so policy analytics will work with Baker Tilley Municipal advisors to ensure that that information is available and it's accurate and stand behind that data so that voters taxpayers business owners get good quality and accurate information that we can stand behind thank you great any other discussion hearing none all in favor of a proving item D here the engagement letter with policy analytics please signify by saying aye aye any opposed all right if it's four

105in favor one abstention this item is approved we will move on to item e thank you Mr Kurtz trustees I'm recommending the easement agreement between the City of Hammond and the School City of Hammond this is the south parking lot expansion to the Area Career Center across the street from the Civic Center so they can have more event parking since the football field took up a lot of their previous parking city is we're basically leasing the property to the city they're going to incur all the cost for improving the improving the property all right do I have a motion for this particular item by the president trustee Murphy I move for the approval of the easement agreement between the City of Hammond and the School City of Hammond as presented second I have a motion

106in a second is there any discussion on this item any discussion on this item all right hearing none all signify by saying aye if you're in favor aye any opposed any abstentions I'm I'm going with the voters uh five to zero and that this motion has passed all right f trustees I am recommending approval uh of the agreement with national institute for excellence in teaching niet with their educator Effectiveness preparation and support system Michelle you want to explain that a minute sorry yes on the National Institute for excellence in teaching this is an agreement that we have with them annually and this is just to renew our our thing with them her contract with them so the state of Indiana requires us to have a feature evaluation system that's research based in nit who is

107who we've been using for a very long time and this is the licensing fee to manage that whole system in the amount of eighty three thousand fifty dollars out of Title II I also see this is tied to our strategic goals number one and number two Student Success and retention of students and staff do I have a motion for the approval of this item Madam president trustee Murphy I move for the approval of the agreement with national institute for excellence in teaching as presented second I have a motion in a second do I have any discussion on this item been a president trust you Murphy I actually sent a question I think it got missed by the superintendent with all the rest of my scent my question was don't have a problem with the contract

108as we've been using them for years this the issue this past year has been the union stating they don't understand the rubric and worry about incorrect evaluations has this issue been addressed and resolved and I can resend that if you don't I don't want to do it gotcha right now I can resend that um you know like I said I don't have a problem with the contract just want to know if so they made some changes to the rubric a year ago that were more student Behavior focused than teacher Behavior focused that was presented in detail to the board they did not give us an option we we inquired if we could go with the other system and they were they told us no like this is the only rubric that they would support um

109so I I have not heard abnormally low evaluation scores or anything of the matter I think there was some fear about it because it was a change but I have Michelle have you heard of of of teachers in Mass scoring much lower on the new evaluation versus the current one no I've been keeping up with uh Gladys ulstrom every Friday along with our principles and I have seen that in the information and data that she supplies us thank you no problem Mr President trustee Spencer uh so it's actually for Mr Miller this is an annual contract so it's 83 000 annually it is I guess I just have a question you can answer it later um if you can't answer it now is this not something that we can do in-house on our own can

110we not develop our own and save quite a bit of money so it is something if you had to have a research based evaluation system the free one that the state has is Rise anybody can use rise or you can do a modified rise which means you take with the state housing and customize that evaluation tool prior to my time here Hammond had a very significant investment in the tap model in niet and it's just been something we have continued but it because you you your your teacher you understand when we change the rubric it it's disruptive to teachers and their sense of comfort so it's been one of those things that um I I don't think I'm mistating anything the unit hasn't asked us to jump to the rise or some other evaluation tool

111or to even consider it I'm I'm open each one has its like you talk to teachers who in Rise districts they have things they like and don't like about it you talk teachers in IIT districts they have things they like and they don't like about it I'm not sure if there's a perfect tool but if that's a priority for the board we can we can take a look at that thank you sure all right um we have had a motion we've had a second we've had some discussion um all in favor of this item please signify by saying I I any opposed opposed all right so this vote is for one this motion passes I'm gonna make a note let me just one second I made a note of that to uh trustee Spencer so

112we can have more conversation about what what we want to do next year okay if we want to evaluate like send it to committee or whatnot okay um we'll move on to item G the approval of the contract with Chris Young I trustees this is for our our ioe sponsored South Shore summer of learning conference that we're hosting paid for through that Grant and the amount of 1400 Chris Young is a speaker for the conference all right um do I have a motion for this item Madam president trustee Spencer I'm sorry I motion for the approval of the contract with Chris Young second we have a motion in a second is there any discussion on this item trustee Blake King of Student Success we're telling our students instead commitment to diversity equity and inclusion improve

113Communications at all levels United District community the contract amount is fourteen hundred dollars did we not appoint Ms Smith as our Dei director slash mtss uh and what does this man this person's background in Dei and uh it also in regards to Dei it's just on paper as far as I'm concerned especially with this Glory we spend all this money [Music] this is part of the summer of learning conference we get grant money from the state to to host this conference for schools all across the district um or not I'm sorry not across the district but all across the area various schools come and this money is like designated uh by the state for us to bring in uh special speakers so it's it's not exclusive payment benefits from this program but it's not really

114a School City of Hammond program per se is that correct superintendent Miller correct they look for a sponsoring School District in each region of the state and we we were the ones selected for this region of the state so it's not an employment trustee Blake I'm sorry I'm sorry superintendent was speaking no he was trying to respond to you he didn't say that he was trying to respond to you superintendent movie okay I um Mr benich leads the team for booking speakers I did not ask him that question um I know that he's done an excellent job in years past and having high quality speakers I can get that back to you about Mr Young um about his his background in Dei I will also say that Miss Smith does not start to July 1st

115she is the principal at Burns six until that date and time so she does not assume those new duties until July 1 and this conference is in June [Music] Madam president trustee Murphy I actually meant to say excuse me say this earlier under donations I am just wholly gratified to see how many people has given us money to make this a great conference like it always been so this outpouring of money and people coming to volunteer help out the people who go in there you're going to get fed you're going to have great programming and just a really great place to be on those two days here at the school City of Hammond yes for sure for sure all right any other comments on this contract any other comments hearing none all in favor please

116signify by saying aye any opposed no all right vote is four one uh this contract with Chris Young has been approved item H superintendent Miller this is a your book agreement I'm recommending the approval of the yearbook agreement with Life Touch for Scott Middle School do I have a motion item president trustee candelario I move for the approval of the yearbook agreement with life Lifetouch and Scott Middle School as presented second I have a motion in a second is there any discuss Ion on this item any discussion on this item hearing none all in favor placing Goodbye by saying aye any opposed any abstentions all right vote pass five zero all right item I trustees or less new business item is a cola a cost of living adjustment of 5.6 percent for our Head Start

117employees this is a pass through through Geminis there's no cost to the school system item I motion for the approval of the Head Start cost of living adjustment they simply King we have a motion in a second is there any discussion on this item any discussion on this item hearing none all in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed any abstentions all right I'm gonna move on to this item passes um move on to our calendar uh trustees what you have before you we know we need to make a few adjustments too May 3rd we're scheduled for a public work section I'm asking that in executive session be added prior to that Public Work session the executive session would be at 5 30. the public work session itself will begin at 6 30.

118on May 16th that date interferes with the trip being arranged through the union to visit Community Schools and we definitely don't want to to take away from that opportunity so I'm suggesting we slide that meeting to Tuesday May 23rd and there would be an executive session at 5 30. the meeting itself would begin at six o'clock so that sounds agreeable to everybody um I'll get with superintendent nowhere after the things that we have kind of identified we need Public Work sessions on if the schedule does look like it's going to be too heavy on May 3rd to try to get that all done in one night I know um our executive sessions have been running at least three hours so if it's uh if it looks like it's going to be heavier than that I'll

119work to identify another night in May that we can try to schedule okay yes the 16th is canceled yes we're doing the 23rd and we have nothing for the 30th at this time correct thank you and the 23rd would be an executive session as well as a regular board magazine okay all right trusty Candelaria public expression second period regarding General matters First Community member is going to be Yvonne Tucker [Music] okay welcome back thank you for your patience thank you thank you um I guess I'll just try to be quick and if anybody has questions I'll answer it um there's no graduation for the eighth graders I'm not just a parent of a child that's an eighth grader and we had a graduation already for my daughter but it's not just about hers about all

120the students making it through the pandemic is a step in itself but to not be motivated to still go forward is really robbing the kids um with a sure Foundation we're a non-profit organization if you guys are not going to do eighth grade graduations we would like you to allow us to step in and do the eighth grade graduations for all of the Hammond eighth grade graduates all right um can you hang around afterwards for a couple of minutes that way a superintendent Miller can get your contact information so I have been trying to get in touch with um the superintendent and I'm not blaming you because you've got quite a bit of Gatekeepers around you uh but I've been trying to get in touch with you for over a month I've been being given

121the run around I have showed up to this building and I have been passed to person to a person to person to person and that is why I am here today so that I can get the answers I need it's really a yes or a no question all right I I promise you superintendent Butler will will take a minute to get some more information so then they can figure out if that is a good fit or not or get more information a new commitment other than he'll he'll get your contact information and talk to you a little bit more after yeah this is my issue um several people have told me that including the people that have told me they've written up things and and sent it and I'm not blaming superintendent I'm not because

122I didn't talk to him so that wouldn't be fair to put that on you but I've talked to a lot of people that have said that they've done that so I'm trying to understand uh you're going to get a villain in person right after this meeting yeah right if this means no problem who's going to speak to you okay to get some more information okay personally please yes I would like to thank you all right thank you very much next Community member HD Johnson okay again I live at 7412 Forest Ridge Drive Schererville Indiana I want to talk about the disenfranchisement of one of your colleagues Mrs Carla the king we all watched the news and we saw where two representatives in Tennessee were being disenfranchised we're being disenfranchised they were voted out of office

123because of their voice you're not actually voting Carlotta King out of office but you're using methods to silence her there were other thing I see codes I'm pretty sure you have to be because Governor Holcomb passed a law 88 2021 enrollment act 1437 that deals with virtual meetings for governmental agencies there were stipulations in there that would allow your colleagues either to attend virtual meetings one thing you needed to be able to see them on the screen the next thing you needed to be able to hear them the next thing all they had to do was give you one simple reason not tell their life story health military that was enough but there's something wrong with this body I would think that you would want all of your colleagues to be in participation when you

124have meetings I would think that you would not want to disenfranchise anyone but you seem to do that were Carlotta King the other thing I want to say is listening to your failing schools and since it was inappropriate for me to say it in the first half I guess it's appropriate for me to say it now you pay Scott Miller 813 and four cents no license no doctorate degree and I think you make the most you can't get money address excuse me directly I think he makes the most money than any superintendent in the state of Indiana accurate not that's not it okay well close to it with no credentials right but you seem to continue to give him races fulfilled schools but you want to ban Carolina King from attending virtual meetings thank you

125all right thank you next Community member the Mia Chandler come back can you pull the mic thank you the last two board meetings voicing my concerns to advocate for your long-term Subs now please help me explain why you need Kelly Services for covering Subs if you maliciously strategically retaliated against me talking about the union and asking for your subs to be in the Union and then I get let go on I received my letter my email 3 30 and then the emails stated that I was no longer needed for my job assignment that I was put there and I've been dedicated and I've been loyal to the school City of Hammond and to these students all of my kids have been in the school City at Hammond my God I got my senior graduating but

126beside the point I'm not understanding why I came here to exercise my first amendment and then you have people here talking about they want the kids to Advocate advocate for themselves and speak up for themselves but yet icon to advocate for not only for my voice but for others and I get let go of a job assignment that I've worked with the school City of Hammond for over five years wow please make that make sense hmm so yet again I'm here to address the issue about the the subs having PTO having not be treated like slaves and robots the last two meetings you said oh I'll have a representative get back to you from your school your school building that's how you got back to me by letting me go for my job assignment yeah

127you said you said our students are to be put first I've been there from day one and then we had eight eight weeks left of school and then you just uproot the one person that they bonded with can anybody explain that to me no no okay so explain to me why you need Cali Services because you say you keep you keep Subs in place but yet you're still short-handed and you're forcing your long-term sub to cover team time and plan period I can't we couldn't do our job if we're constantly covering other people's classes once upon a time it used to be a team effort where they send out the email and everybody picked up and we worked as a team that's not working as a team you're using us long-term Subs as as robots

128and slaves and that's unfair all right I'm I'm sorry thank you trustee Candler all right next Community member is going to be trustee Blake King [Music] an environment that is not safe to disagree in is not an environment focused on growth it's an environment focused on control and that's been my situation for the for the last School Board needs I don't even know where to start in my opinion since everybody has an opinion Mr Miller informed me what to do at 103 PM I followed his instructions to the letter but yet I sat in front of a dark computer becomes the president and later learned and sent me an email that this excess counselor had made a verbal opinion and they ran with a verbal opinion because that was part of their agenda in an

129executive session where no votes are supposed to be taken Luke H Brooke access counselor decision was anti-inclusion anti-democracy anti-equity anti uh it was sexist based on generalities without proper investigation he never took into consideration proper notification and that's the biggest complaint on the open door law I was given absolutely no notification that I would not be allowed to attend March 21st brought me virtually so that was a gotcha moment but again to develop a document and say that is she can do it to me this super majority on this board has accepted his opinion hands down without any thought given to Dei planning down by Dr good law well he's gone our strategic plan all this stuff costs money tons of people from the community met with us what they did to me does not

130adhere to the 3D plan report Dei over 60 pages certain stepped online civil rights so again I stand on number four as my reason for not being able to attend virtually imminent domain is to me based on what Prestige Murphy I mean trustee Miller I'm sorry your time is up your time is up trustee boy King trustee boy King can you go ahead and cut the mic please please cut the mic [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music]