001To the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation, indivisibley andice for all. Here we are. All right. Attached are the minutes of the regular session meeting held on February 5th, 2026. Board, your pleasure. Now we're >> sorry. Now we're >> Thank you. February 26. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? May place your vote. My apologies. That passes. I was not in attendance. My daughter was at swimming section, so I had to be present for that. Next on the agenda is the financial reports vouchers for February 19th and that is read by our student rep. Okay. So starting off we have school education 1,210,35354 education form curriculum mapping $44,67466 exempt operating post 209142,269.37 School operations $354,65160 school lunch $150,638.33 Selfins insurance fund
002$398,628.93 community gifts and donations $683 Building Brickies $1,874.73 Educational Foundation $384.90 Early Years Initiative Grant $230.15 Healthy Hobbert/BFTS $214.97 Community Partners $47242 Indiana Learns $46854 Safe supporting addiction free $117.51 connectivity grant $5,275 title one part A fiscal year 2526 $10,474.97 title 2 part A fiscal year 2526 $5,27 clearing accounts $462,1684 44 self insurance clearing 109,46364 clearing/flexible benefits AF $62,64.78 clearing/ insurance account $4,67.32 credit card fee clearing $17 $17423 and all of that adds up for a total of 3,325 5,321.86. I'd like to make a motion that the board approve payment of the vouchers for February 19th, 2026. >> We have a motion and a second board. Is there any discussion? Um, I would just like to point out as you were reading through all of those items, how many of those items were backed by
003grants if you noticed that there were a lot of activity happening on that and we're grateful that provides 70. Thank you, board. Are there any comments on the agenda items from the audience? Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is personnel. In your packet, you have a copy of the personnel report. You have a copy of the DCA personnel report and you have a copy of the board. Action is requested. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board approve the No reports as presented. >> Second >> board. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> And that passes 70. Thank you board. Our next item on the agenda is the of an emergency response hero. Dr. Buffington, >> that's right. Out in the audience, you know, we can
004always look at teachers as being heroes. Um, every every teacher is a hero in my book. Um, but sometimes they're called to to be emergency response heroes and that's exactly what we have today. Um, we have her principal out in the audience and I see the whole team out there that's representing and of course student teacher as well. So, I'm going to call uh Miss Craig who is the principal. She's gonna kind of talk about what happened and then we're gonna call up our our little heroes down in the second grade pod. Um and we're gonna and we're gonna recognize her. Come on up. You know what everyone I'm not one who normally needs a microphone. Those of you who know me. Um so we know that teachers wear many hats and do lots of
005different things. Um and one of the things is that we all have to be CPR and certified with the hope that we never have to use it. Um un unfortunately we have that certification and last week it was needed. So was it last week or the week before? Two weeks ago. >> Um so in Miss Buckley's second grade class, she was getting ready to transition to a new lesson. Um and a student walked up to her um doing the international symbol for I'm choking, which amazing that a second grader was keeping calm and got up out of her seat to get help. Um Miss Buckley, this is student that frequently comes to her just to chat. So, Miss Buckley's instincts for what what's going on? And the student teacher, Audrey Van, who is in now
006the throws of teaching, right? Um without hesitation, she's choking and clear, concise. Miss Buckley went right to action um and started to administer the Heimlick in the class while Audrey kept the rest of the students calm and away from the scene. And then um Miss Buckley took the student out into the pod because she needed to readminister the Heimlick. It wasn't successful the first time. Um and she got the student to cough up the piece of candy that she was choking on. Um she then brought her down to the nurse and stayed with her while they called mom um and made sure that she was comfortable and good and um just to talk to testament of how Kendall runs her classroom and creates a family. The mom and the student were given the opportunity for
007her to go home after such a traumatic experience. And the student said, "Mom, I'm good. I'm safe." And hugged Miss Beckley and wanted to stay. So that right there says a lot. So yeah, that's you know what's really great about this is that, you know, it's kind of like you know how to change a tire. Um you could write about it, but do you actually know can you do it right? And so a lot of times when we go through CPR training the hind leg and all of that, you really never think you're going to use it. It's kind of also like being on the airplane when it drops. Are you going to really like put your mask on and then take care of somebody else? And so um but you know the professionals that
008we have that work here um and they just so so lovingly care for children and take everything so seriously and that's why you stay here. I mean, so you passely pursue things in your job with with all you have and the dedication that you have and you didn't panic and you used a life saving me. You probably were exhausted afterwards, but um it was probably very traumatic up until the point and you saw she was okay. Um so we're gonna bring you and Audrey up to the podium if you would. I'll have Shuene, our student rep, help me with for being here. That's so sweet of you guys. All right. So, this certificate of appreciation is presented to Kendall Buckley for your thinking during a recent emergency with a student. Your leadership and care for
009this student was above and beyond and we are so grateful for you. We are lucky to have you in our Bricky family. We are so proud of you. Thank you for your willingness to be excellent on purpose. Signed by Dr. Bington on February 19th. Here you go. And then this second certificate of appreciation is presented to Audrey Van for your support during a recent emergency with a student. Your quick communication and awareness in that moment played a big role in allowing your team to act so quickly. You did an amazing job of running the classroom and taking care of the other students who had witnessed this. We are so proud of you. Thank you for your willingness to be excellent on purpose. Signed by Dr. Buffington on February 19th. >> For those of you who
010do not know, Audrey is a bricky. She graduated. She's doing her student teaching and we're really happy to have her in this class. >> You need a photo. Okay. We extend our gratitude for your heroism and quick thinking in keeping our bricky students safe. You are truly amazing. Thank you. Sure. >> Do either of you want to have comments. >> I did not even press my button. I'm okay. >> Well, and so for the purpose of of the board, you know, they have their little emergency buttons where they can just push it and they would get assistance. But you know what? I mean, your quick response, you you actually did what you needed to do. You could have gotten more help immediately, but I mean She needs your assistance immediately. So congratulations. Thank you to
011for coming and supporting her and to the audience that came to because you know people don't really think about how important this is. >> Yeah, let's introduce the rest of the team. Go ahead. Stand up. >> That's why I was looking for a baby out there. And you know what? And I will say, you know, I've had the pleasure of working with all of these folks for a very long time. You know, hired them obviously and just the intensity that they have and what they do. Um, you know, this is a team here that's constantly learning and growing. And I've definitely been in class. I've been in your classroom where you're like, "Look at this new technique and look at the results that I'm getting and they share it with other people and um could
012not have more dedicated teachers and we're really proud of you and we're just glad that you thank you Dr. Buffington and thank you ladies. No, you don't. If you have homework to do for tomorrow, >> thank you for coming. >> All righty. Next on the items agenda is an overnight extended student trip, which is the HHS BPA from March 8th to March 10th. Dr. In your packet, you have a copy of the overnight extended trip for our business professionals of America uh to attend the state leadership conference at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. Miss Torres will leave the high school on March the 8th, return on March the 10th. Uh the students will be representing us well um as they go down to compete. Couldn't be prouder of their presentations and we wish them luck.
013Board action is requested. I'd like to make a motion that the board approve the overnight extended trip for 2026 Business Professionals of America to attend their state leadership conference. Second, >> we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> I thought we did very well before. >> Yes. So, I'd like to see that happen. I hope that my computer doesn't huge way. She's an excellent leader. Here we go. 70. Thank you, board. Next on the item agenda is the recommendation to accept the Legacy Foundation grant from the Maria Riner Senior Citizens Fund. Dr. Buffington. >> Yes. Um John Bach helps me with this grant. Um basically there's a lot of electronic stuff that's going on. putting in the proposal, submitting it, getting it approved, doing um a followup because we've been doing
014this for a very long time. This is the the grant that helps pay for the food um that we serve at all of our senior citizen events. We've been doing this since I believe like 2009. Um I'm really thankful to John for helping me go back and forth with all of it um to get it done. Anyways, I would just tell you that we recognize the Legacy Foundation and Maria Riner at every senior performance that we do that the refreshments and the food are always provided by this grant. Uh we did have the Legacy Foundation attend the last event that we had here which was six and they were stunned um and couldn't believe our performances and it was really nice for them to come out and how many senior citizens actually come out to
015it again when they see how many of them especially attend the Christmas show. Um that's really heartwarming as well. So with that being said, I would ask that the board accept the $2,759.30 so that we can continue our thriving seniors grant and continue providing refreshments etc for our senior citizens. I'd like to make a motion that the board accept the Maria Reiner Center Senior Senior Citizens Trust of the Legacy Foundation grant in the amount of $2,759.30 and authorize the superintendent to execute the necessary documents for the grant. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion by the board? >> I would just like to thank them. It's a nice uh they're a nice evening, nice afternoon for them to come out and enjoy enjoy a good time. >> I like that
016it's called Thriving Seniors. It used to be called the Council of Aging. I would and we have that pass 70. Thank you board. Our next item on the agenda is the recommendation to accept the school city of Cobra Educational Foundation grants. Dr. Buffington. >> Well, board in your packet you have a copy of um the enrichment innovation grants. Um, and it this is really very interesting to kind of go over what happened here. I'm very thankful to the educational foundation, the Legacy Foundation. In prior board meetings, you had actually accepted $4,000 for grants or many grants to teachers from the Legacy Foundation. And so I put the application out to the early learning center. It was intended to be for the early learning center. And I had them go through an application process of what
017what would you like to apply for? And it exceeded the 4,000 with the number of applicants that I had. But I also recognized a couple of them would potentially be funded by uh by HF. And so um what you have in your packet is the proposal that we took to HF so that we could award every grant that was submitted um through legacy and the school city of Educational Foundation. So you see sensory bins and cardio druming and uh the HF approved this money and I want to just say by them doing that we were able to award with Legacy over 12 grants and it was really exciting. Uh we took their they took pictures. They they're out buying their things that they want to do things with and it's just exciting to see that
018the foundation helped us be able to award all of them and they took the initiative to write the grant. So that amount was for $1,664. And um I do want to emphasize as as Mr. at the last board meeting, we also received $20,000 towards healthcare and LPN that the HF gave the school city of Hobart as we're trying to start an LPN pathway here in school. So, I cannot say enough about Educational Foundation and all that they do for our students and very proud to be a member of that, but thankful to that group of volunteers. And with that being said, I'd ask that the board accept that. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board accept the grants and donations from the school city of Hobbert Education Foundation as presented. >> We
019have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion by the board? >> Thank you. The foundation has a fundraiser coming up too, so we can support them in 14, right? >> All right. And that passes 70. Thank you, board. Our next item on the agenda is the recommendation for the 2026 summer school course recommendations. Dr. Buffington. >> So, in your packet, you have a copy of the proposals that I'm going to go over with you for summer school. Uh it's important to note uh that when we bring you these recommendations, we really don't know what the total reimbursement figure is going to be. And that's because it's dependent on how many other people apply for summer school. And uh you know, they have one appropriation for it and it's divided by everybody that submits
020their summer school. In order for a summer school class to um to get funded and be eligible for it, um it has to be it has to be on the list that they give us. At the secondary level, you have to have at least 15 students be in the class or it's not funed. Now, um I'm going to start with the elementary the elementary proposal and this is statemandated uh we have to offer summer school for second and third graders who do not pass IE and so that's an easy recommendation for all of you to see that one my that will be paid for um obviously we hope that we have as many students passing I as possible when you get into the high school summer session that gets a little trickier Because are you
021offering it to students that possibly failed and did not get credit or are you offering it to students that are trying to get ahead and take advantage of potentially early college, some of our career technical ed pathways. Uh, and that's what we kind of look at. Well, we reviewed this last year. One of the ones that's on there that's kind of interesting is that we used to offer PE all the time and a lot of our eighth graders would take that and and if we did that probably would lose a PE teacher because I would not have enough sections to offer a PE teacher during the regular school year. So we stop um because we need them for other things during the school year. I can't fill their schedule. Um, what what should they teach
022at that point? So, uh, we did make an adjustment based off of last year and we learned some things that there were some upper classmen that did not have their PE credit. So, you see PE is being offered, but it's for upper classmen only. And government econ, these are for students that are trying to get ahead and make more room in their schedule for different electives that we offer here in the early college classes. This is a new one, advanced speech. I bet Shuene is probably like, "Why couldn't have I done that?" Um, they they didn't used to pay for it. And so, we can now offer some of these classes. And here's the other thing. IvyTech, who is our early college partner, they have to agree that we can offer it in the summer
023as well. So, we're offering advanced One of the things that's really important about that advanced speech class as we're going into this freshman class, it's a requirement for graduation. And so I would just tell you that we need to offer that and um it helps people that we offer it in the summertime. Another new class that we're offering on here, computing foundations for a digital age. Uh this is required class to graduate as well. Chris King is smiling and nodding his head. We are constantly in a uh a formative stage if you would of what that IT, computer science, AI, what does that look like? And and and quite frankly, to be honest with you, what does it also look like in the region when you have the potential of a data center going up?
024And what are the the jobs that are going to be out there. So working with state requirements, our early college partner, talking with Amazon Web Services, uh just looking at curricular applications, trying to get that foundations class finished so that it's off the the docket and you have a state requirement finished, but then concentrate on those pathways, which by the way, when you're looking at them um and just having great conversation with IvyTech and again These are not these are jobs that are in the region that they're they're jobs that you could have anywhere. Uh what do they need? Uh they need electricians, they need engineers, they need pipe fitters, they need uh computer science, they need it, um they need uh fiber optic tech technicians. And so what you actually see in this computing
025foundations uh for a digital age, not only does it satisfy a state requirement, you're going to see us come around and like really tempt them to go into a career in technical ed pathway, which by the way, IvyTech is here tomorrow going through all their pathways on IT, computer science. Um, and then we're hitting the other ones, energy, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. These are all very important jobs to the region as It appears this data center will be taking place and there will be huge demands for some of those things. Even when those projects would be completed, those are high demand jobs, right? So, we're trying to help our kids get a head start. You can kind of see by just looking at those classes right there with the exception of PE and marching band.
026Those are classes that you get out of the way so that you can take these extra classes that give you those certifications and give you those early college credits. So, with that being said, um you know, I may be coming back and saying, "Oh, guess what? I have to add a CNA class." Um, as I'm trying to to offer the LPN class, there are kids here that the the qualifications. They have to have had psych and they have to have had anatomy and physiology. But one of the things I'm trying to figure out is how to pay the instructor that teaches that class. And the only way to do it is a capstone class through career and technical ed. If they don't have an if they don't have CNA under their belt, I'm going to
027have to offer a six week CNA class. Um, so I may be coming back and amending that. It depends on what my audit looks like. Um, after tomorrow, um, we actually surveyed, we did a huge presentation. The boardroom was filled, no seats left on students here that were interested in going into nursing. Our goal here would be that when they're going into the nursing program, we give them every opportunity to get into a good program. if we do the LPN program, uh, you know, they'll they'll be able to sit and take that exam and be a nurse a nurse practitioner. For kids that want to pursue the RN, we had to have a huge conversation with them about if you get the LPN, you may end up taking a few more classes to transition to
028the RN program. And so, one of the things that we did advise them though is to get their Indiana College, which one year of college along with that LPN and it would make fewer classes pursuing the RN and all of that is really uh helpful through our early learning our early college partner which is IvyTech. I think it's really important to stress in our school district and if you talk to any of our graduates, they will all tell you I have something that a lot of people I'm going to school with do not have and that is I have one or two years of college, right? And so, um, with that said, I'm it's my pleasure to offer these, uh, no matter what the reimbursement is, the payoff for us is great, right? And so,
029um, with that being said, I'd ask the board to to accept my recommendation for summer school. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board authorize and approve the 2026 summer school programs as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Multiple at a time or is it one of these? You can only you can only take one of those. >> Only take one of those. Okay. >> Right now depending you can take online classes at IvyTech if they are a part of our program. >> If they are not a part of our program it would not count right. Um you know how many classes did you take last summer? Right. But see like whatever she was working on, it had to meet the requirement for
030associates degree for it to count here. And if she took anything that was outside of that, then it's just on her college transcript, right? So they can the way the seat time works with early college and what they have to um they it won't fit in their schedule. They can only take one class that you saw up there. If they want to take something else that like let's say they wanted to take accounting. Accounting is something we offer here. It would count if they went and took it at IvyTech in the summertime and they could take it. There are things in place. It's called Next Level. And what that means is that if it's going to earn you a certification, then there is state appropriation that it's paid for, but it has to appear on
031that list and you have to be within nine credit hours to be able to get it paid for free. It's very complicated, >> you know, and a lot of people look at it and you think to yourself like, why do we have a director of early college and careers and then our director This is a huge job. Um because we cannot let you like if we find that you are that close, we would encourage you to do that. One thing I will say though, some of the classes that our students take in the summertime at IvyTech, they find that those professors are not as nurturing as their high school teachers are, right? And so it's a little bit of a wakeup call >> and uh I think It's probably a good thing that they do
032do that because it's not going to be like that for much longer. >> But it's all good. One thing I wanted to say about the pre nursing all the early college for that another thing that does for our bricks that helps them advance is they can be accepted directly into a school of nursing for instance university students which is something because if you went to another college they only took students, you could take two years and still not. One of the things that we had to talk to the students about though with the LTN program is that because it would be it would be going through CTE um and victory training is going to be the LPN if the medical board approves it which she's going down for her second meeting in March. Uh they
033they really should pursue that Indiana College Board and they have that that would be 30 credit hours. The LPN, if you pass the exam, is worth 20 credit hours. And so, but like I said, transitioning through, you're still going to have to take the majority of nursing classes to get to that RN. >> Correct. Um, but still, a lot of our kids will do things that get them a job to help pay their their way to finish their degrees. So, we kids about that as well. So, it's pretty exciting. >> That's great because the LPN will actually get them into the workforce and a lot of times the hospital or the nursing home or wherever they're hospitals don't do anymore, but their nursing home or hospice or wherever they're working will reimburse them. >> Yeah.
034>> In that in that RN degree. And then also if they have the ICC already done, then that's almost another like just another year or so left. have the BSN so associates degree nursing. So that's actually helpful. >> It's very helpful. I do know that powers health especially like St. Mary's once they start working over there and they want to advance their degree they do pay for them to go back and get their degree. So it's it's to their advantage to stay local and get it paid for. you get some kind of certification that you can work over there. >> We have a lot of CNAs over there. I'll just say >> so I'm sure they appreciate us just as much as we appreciate them. >> Oh, we could not have a better partner than
035St. Mary's and Janice. She's amazing. She is retiring. It is public knowledge now. >> Yes. All righty. And that passes 70. Thank you, board. We are on updates, announcements, and reports. How about that, Dr. Buffington? >> All right. And we have to thank Mr. King for the famous ADM report. And um as you were looking at it and you know, I will open the floor for him to discuss it as well. This is Not unusual that the February count is lower. >> It went down 15. >> I really don't know what to say about that, but um except for it went down 50. I don't know if you have any. >> Yes, I would say open enrollment definitely helped us with that. Um to just begative, you know, is I shared those numbers with you
036going into what the the student ratio to teacher would be for open enrollment as I'm studying those numbers and a lot of people move in the summer etc except for kindergarten there's not a lot of spots left at the elementary they're here and there which is what we thought would happen right um kindergarten is the the one that we'll keep a close eye on but enment number definitely has helped us and we'll continue to do that and match the numbers that we talked about in prior. Are there any questions about 3904? >> Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is school information >> and we have weekly agendas and And the next item is the updates, announcements, and reports. And there you go. Kindergarten kickoff on March. And uh we've been working as a
037committee doing some things differently for kindergarten kickoff and we're real happy about it. We're going to do the we're going to do a kindergarten guide to coming to school. a little bit like we do the freshman guide for parents. So, we're excited about that. But that's not on that date. That's just the kickoff. Um March 2nd through 13th is I testing. Good luck to our shine. March 2nd through 31st online registration opens. This gives us a very good idea on how many open spots we make after the open enrollment process. March 4th, the Academy raising mentally healthy kids. March 7th, ROC and band orchestra mattress fundraiser. March the 11th registration for kids preschool. And then March 14th is the educational foundation. And don't forget on April 8, which >> I was gonna say that's Chris
038King's favorite. one of my favorite. >> Thank you, Dr. Buffington. Our next item on the agenda is comments. Dr. Buffington, it starts with you. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. Um, lots of love in the air last week with all the candy and Valentine's Day. It was nice to see everybody um just being in a great uh I will say I I did attend a funeral of one of our our bus drivers, also coached for us. Dennis Leonard this week and it was nice to see an outpouring of of the community coming to pay their respect for such a great guy. And um I'm really proud proud of our drivers. They they took a bus to Burns and they decorated it and they all wore specific ribbons for this and he was a
039terrific driver and so he will be missed. But while I was there, one of our little interns in the greeting people as they were coming in. And I want to say how proud I am of you at funeral home and just being a very nice. There you go. Let's just say I have a knack for helping people dress for these things. Okay, so with that being said, I do want to Thank you to Patoon. She had to spend a little extra time on Tuesday because of some changes we had to do on the personnel report, but she's a godsend. I really do appreciate her as I do and Mr. Longer and the whole team that makes this all come together. It's it's a huge job to make sure that people are taken care of and
040we're on the right track and we just have great people that work here. So, I'm all of them. Other than that, that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. King. >> Just love recognizing teachers. And I want to mention because it reminded me that fundraiser was There's a student who I see almost every day out the hallway end of the day. He carries two signs as he's leaving school at the end of the day. Mattress fundra >> Thank you, Mr. King. Mr. Longer, please. >> I'm fine this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Pas. Yeah, I'd like to just recognize the teacher and her team pretty amazing that she was able serious situation and to see her team come out and support her. That's pretty awesome. Just a reminder like Dr. Buffington said for the bingo
041coming up on March 14th bring your people with you, bring a group and come enjoy bingo. It is a fun night and helps support a great cause. Thank you, Mr. >> I'll just reiterate again. Great people. They do great things. saving kids life is a once in a lifetime hopefully never in a lifetime that you ever have to be in that situation to have teachers like her It's amazing. >> Thank you. >> Well, I definitely want to start by thanking Dr. Buffington for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the recognition process earlier for Mrs. Buckley and Mrs. Man. It's really cool. getting to read their little certificates. And then of course, as a member of BPA, I would not be doing BPA justice if I didn't say that I was I was
042excited for the upcoming state leadership conference. I mean, this year we have 16 kids going, which is like a crazy amount. I think that's my like highest that we've ever had in my four years at the high school. And every year it feels like we always have someone qualify for nationals. So, I'm really excited to see, you know, the hard work that BPA has been putting in all year long, especially with Mrs. Torres, who always puts in the hard work behind the scenes to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I'm excited to see what we bring back from state. And then I I'm I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous that they have advanced speech over summer now because I definitely if that was an option for me, like I would have
043taken that, you know, I would have taken that as soon as I could have. So if anyone's listening, definitely try to take whatever summer classes you can because they definitely help in the long run. >> Great advice, >> Mr. D. Keep me posted, right? >> Yes. Yes, I will. I just like to wish a good wrestling state this weekend. We did have six wrestling to the seaws, but He had a great send off today along with Haley who is our national congratulations. >> Thank you Mrs. Dylan. You're up. >> Okay. >> I started talking before it was my >> That's okay. witnessing another teacher becoming a hero in situation like that. You know, I think that just speaks volumes for the preparedness to really take care of the students, not just their education, but physically,
044emotionally taking care of our students. I'm grateful that she had the skills to do that today. All righty. And I'll wrap up by saying the same that it's always nice to know that our teachers are prepared. We don't always want them to use those skills, but to be able to be prepared is always important. And um to have a second person in the room is definitely helpful. And uh for those of you that don't know, Miss Van can sing an amazing cup of coffee. If you don't know that um she works at Park House, an amazing cup of coffee too. And um >> I did not know that. >> Yes. Yes, she can. And then um to the BPA and Miss Torres and and the students going, I wish them best of luck. And she
045is amazing, Miss Torres. We are so blessed to have her um as well as um people like Miss Buckley and Miss Van in our schools and uh it's because of our leadership. So, thank you for choosing the right people at the right time and putting them in the right places and we can't be more appreciative of that. And that's all for me. So, I will be adjourning the meeting.