001It is now 7:00. Hello. The time is now 7 o' February 5th, 2026. I'd like to call the meeting of the School City Hbert Board to order. Please stand if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation, justice for all the agenda. Next is the approval of minutes. Um the board >> I'd like to make a motion that the board approve the executive session board of finance and the regular session minutes of January 22nd, 2026. >> Any discussion? Make Davidson. All right, that passes 4. Next item, financial reports and we have none this evening. Next, are there any comments on agenda items from the audience? We'll move on to the next personel report is next. >> Mr. Mic, you received a
002copy of the person reported. >> Make a motion that the board approve the personnel report and the addendum as presented. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? You may vote. Okay, that passes 5. Next, we have a resolution. Um, Secretary, would you like to read the title of the resolution? Yes, we have a resolution number 2026-2, the National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. >> Is it okay if we read just the title or would you like the whole resolution? Audience, is it okay if we read the title? >> All right. >> Any discussion? >> Well, I would just like to point out that know you school resource officers, you automatically think of school safety and that is their primary role, but we should never forget that they're mentors to our students. They seek them out
003and uh it's just a beautiful relationship that they have with the officers in our schools where they're trusted and they know they can go to them for help or you know they just want to talk to them and I'm extremely the resource officers here for the work that they do because if it weren't the individuals that they are to want that type of relationship with our students it's just been an amazing program and I I just can't say enough about how proud I am and it it does my heart good when I see kids going up to them and they love being recognized by them you know Monty White is out in the kids ask him for candy and gum and um you know but when they're having trouble at home they go to them
004and say what do you think and that's what we really enision with this program and that's what keeps us safe here but I think it also sends a very important message that you know law enforcement is here to help you right and I think we've done a very good job of that police officers and I can't thank the city enough for the partnership that we have with our SRO and who knows Okay. >> Absolutely. >> They don't have the city willing to take their part, do their part to help the school. So, that's nice that it's a partnership. A lot of cities don't share the cost either. >> No. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board adopt resolution number 2026-2 as presented. >> Second. >> All right. It is a roll call
005vote. Please vote electronically as well. >> David Cosbade. >> Hi. >> Don Rogers. >> Brad Kee. >> Hi. >> Stuart Schultz is absent. Frank Porz. Sandy Hill. >> I is absent. At this point, I just might I want to mention that um we do have two board members not here. One became a grandfather again tonight. So that was really something special for Mr. Schultz and Mrs. Guthrie was unable to attend tonight. So I'm filling in for her. for the first time ever. >> You're doing great. >> Let's just keep in mind so something really important. >> Next on the agenda, we have a public hearing. I would like to open the public hearing on the determination of the need and potential sale of Ridge View. Dr. Buffington or Mr. Longer. >> That's right. Mr. Longer
006will being during this presentation and this uh during this public hearing we have some considerations for the board to take under um as you know we opened Veterans Elementary in 2020 and uh we ceased to to use View at that point except for the tenants that are in there um which offer school after school and I'll get to that in just a moment. So, Mr. King, go ahead and go to the next slide. So, let's take a look at some of the objectives here. It's really no longer viable in the school city of corporate operations due to age and cost to retrofit and upgrade it as well as current demographics showing current facilities are sustainable for the enrollment that we have right now due to low birth rate and school choice. Uh the next objective
007up there operating fund deficits are greater with Senate enrolled act one. Um you know obviously selling the building you would get one you know uh revenue source and then it stops. It's not recurring but every little bit helps with um and the cost of operations. It's it's another building in the facility that we're providing repair and maintenance for utilities. Um, and so that would offer some budget relief as well. Let's go to the next slide. So, I'm going to explain all of these for you um in detail and if you have questions, please make sure that you ask. So, this building was built in 1955. Um, and as we were reviewing this building and looking at at the time, you know, there was like 4,200 students in And then just looking at, you know, were
008we going to add on to that building and the problem that you have there in terms of you could add on to it, but there's also space on the back. And so looking at the ADA compliance that would have had to have happened and then looking at where would we put those additional classrooms and how many would we have to put on by the cost. We did a cost analysis on that. It was practically what you could have built veterans for. And so here we were. We have a piece of property on Wisconsin Street. Are we going to retrofit a 1955 building for our needs at that time or are we going to build on a site that we already own? And it was pretty close in cost for what we needed. And so obviously
009we decided Veterans Elementary. And so, you know, there's a lot of things that you have to take into consideration uh when you're thinking about this uh the infrastructure for the technology that we use today. Um but the the biggest cost really was adding on those extra classrooms and the elevator cost etc. that you would incur uh with the classrooms that are on the basement floor. So, to upgrade and retrofit the building uh for what would have been required today. It just it's not recommended uh in comparing it to construction cost. And so that's the approach that we took and I I stand by that um to this day. We have a beautiful building that accommodates our needs for practically what it would have cost to try to retrofit that building. The building is not currently
010used for instructional purposes. U by our staff uh because Veterans Elementary replaced that facility in our inventory. The building's no longer required for district operations and it's recommended to be removed from our active facilities inventory. It's not part of our long-term plans um for facility use. Again, I'm going to repeat low birth rate, school choice are contributing factors in some of our lower enrollment numbers currently. Future growth currently is sustainable in our buildings and long-term facility plans. We have a plan in case we need to do more. Let's go to the next slide. So, when we're looking at the operating fund deficits um with So the district loses over 80% of our property tax revenue and that's from the original circuit breaker. You know most people uh in our state incurred that back in 2009
011Lake County and St. Joseph counties were exempt from that until 2020. School city of Hbert knew that was coming. We went out on a referendum in 2018 to prepare for 2020 to uh provide for transportation. We never asked the public for more than anything to pay for transportation. We actually sat on that referendum money for two years. We did not use it until that actually kicked in. Then obviously last year, you know, we went out to renew the referendum uh just for transportation. I will say while we were presenting this out in the community and I know Mr. you were there. I'm at the Maria Riner Center and the legislators were looking at what was the bill that became Senate and Act One and you had the senior citizens of our community saying you didn't
012ask for enough money. Uh it was very obvious to them that we were going to have problems and um you know what the public really doesn't understand is how far back you have to go to plan on a referendum and you have to put in that preparing to let your public know that it's going to be on a ballot and actually how much you need and you're asking for. We've never over tax we've never asked for more than what we need to operate. Um and this did not change the tax rate even in the renewal. And so you know we've operated very frugally and I would just tell you that Senate enrolled act one It puts us in a very noin situation. We're close to no zero property taxes. So it's like enrolled act now
013is like a second circuit breaker to us. And so when you look at it, the operating budget will continue to see revenue loss that leaves nearly zero in that fund. And then the renewed referendum that is for eight years will lose over$6.5 million due to So, you know, one of the things that is is um is interesting in this is that the goal post change all the time. You know, when we built this high school, I want to point out that the original circuit breaker um we were not exempt from that in this building by one year. Now, what does that mean? Well, when the law was enacted for the We were the year before that was enacted and we had petitioned to build this building. We did not have one signature against building this
014high school. Fast forward a year later and our neighbors that are around us were on a referendum and their building and capital projects were exempt from the circuit breaker. We missed it by because of a rule change. And so, you know, one of the things that I take great care in trying to explain to people, these are not things that we have done, right? Um, we're playing by all of the the rules that we're supposed to, but unfortunately, it's putting us in a situation where there will be no operating uh revenue coming into our district at all. So, when you think about that and you think about just their rates by 18%. Our NIPCO bill is $2 million. And so where do you pay your NIPCO bill from? Your operating budget, right? There will be
015nothing in the operating budget. Uh and so it forces me to transfer the 15% out of the education fund, but I'm here to tell you myself and other colleagues will be forced to probably take more out of education and put in operations because So, some of the other things that I always try to make lawmakers aware of, you know, casualty insurance, workers comp, cyber security insurance. Um, people really don't understand how much those insurance pieces run a school corporation. And then of course, you look at your ancillary employees that cannot come out of your education fund. They're not allowed to. Uh, and they have to come out of the operating fund. You have SRO's pays a portion of it. We pay a portion of it. Our school nurses, maintenance, custodians. And I want you to
016think about this for a second. The custodians that we have right now during cold and flu season, you cannot imagine what their jobs are like right now in sanitizing and cleaning. And so people don't have extra. They have what's needed to operate their school and run it safely and orderly. And so these are things that that are they're not appealing and they're not fun to talk about, but they are reality. Let's go to the next slide. And so when you when you say like why is this impacting us? A lot of people don't realize that has low A and they're primarily residential. A lot of people think well wait a minute here like you've got South Lake Mall um you have all of these things and we don't you know the city the civil city's
017boundaries are larger than school city often here is that due to sea only 4 to 17% of property tax levy le levy remains um for the operating budget And it varies year to year. The next three years will be critical for school city of the next three years. Um that's where we primarily take the hit. Um and I was talking to um to people about this because you know if you're losing 80% now and the next three years leaves you at practically zero because it's 93 to 97% loss. I love that I'm gonna get 199,000. Um, and you know, thank you for that. But that's not going to pay the bills without a transfer or without intervention from legislators to do something about this. And so, as I'm talking to people, they look past the
018three years and they're like, "Wow, even when your high school is paid for, you're still going to be sitting at 73 74% property tax loss. Why low AB? highly residential and other taxing units. There are other taxing units that we have to be aware of that affect us as well. So when you put that all together, it is the perfect scenario for why we land the way that we do. >> And you're referring to assessed values. >> Assessed value. Yes. Thank you. Let's go to the next slide. You can definitely see here where um you know, you can start to see where this in 2026 where it starts to fall off and um it's just a scary it's a scary proposition. And so when you're looking for solutions, not only talking to your lawmakers um
019and then you you have to start problem solving on the inside. You know, we've run a very tight ship. Uh our class sizes last year I cut 1.4 million out of the education budget. And when I did that, we all realize what happens when I cut 1.4 million there. I get to transfer less because I have less in the education fund. However, I'm prepping for what if I have to transfer more than 15%. I have to run as lean as I possibly can without cutting programs. And what that really means is higher class size, right? And and that's what is ending up happening with that. Let's go to the And so what you see here are these unfunded credits. And then like if you're going to look at 2026, uh our projection of loss is
020is 4.3 million. Well, our operating budget is about 9 and a half million. I can transfer about 5 million out of out of the education fund. This is this is tough work, right? And so you have to be looking for temporary bandaids and solutions um to try to overcome some of this until perhaps maybe our lawmakers can take a second look at this and see if they can't figure something else out. You know, when I share with a lot of people uh looking at the levy um and what we levy and what we can levy for our students, we are one of the lowest in the state. We're the fifth lowest, $348. The state is in Lake County, we are like blast and and again I'm going to point out to you low A highly
021residential and other taxing units and so you know that's a topic for another day but what would I really like to see happen there should be a ceiling um that when you're losing more than 50% of your of your property tax revenue that our our lawmakers realize that they have to for those schoolporations. It's not by their design that that's happening. All right, enough of that one, but let's go on to the next slide. So, cost of operations and repair maintenance. Um, right now, I mean, it cost us about 68,000 to keep that building right now. Um, paying our utility bills, etc. That would be our internet's there. Obviously, insurance cost, our utility cost. repair maintenance cost around 20,000 at View during 2025. Now, these figures don't include our man hours that are required for
022uh maintenance and our ground crews and uh we are responsible under the lease condition because we own the building that we have to do proper repairs and preventative maintenance. And so, you know, there will come a time where we would have to do over there whether it be roofing as etc. So let's go to the next slide and this is where I'd love to let Mr. Longer tell about this slide because it is quite complicated. It doesn't look complicated but it is. All right board, you'll see that there is a highlighted area on this uh aerial and that highlighted area is the parcel that is shown on the county records as being owned by the school city of Hbert. The majority of that parcel was acquired in 1953. pieces that are 150 ft wide on
023each side of Barn Street Extended there on the north. Those were acquired in 1959. So that comprises the footprint for Ridge View. You see two parcels that are marked with dark lines on the bottom corners of the parcel. This board previously authorized the transfer of those parcels to Shirley Hines Trust for preservation in their natural state. They are uh to varying degrees considered wet and uh the school city and Shirley Hines has been in agreement for a number of years that allowed Shirley Hines to manage those parcels. The board voted to transfer those to Shirley Hines and that transfer is in process but has not yet been completed. We're waiting on some action from Shirley Hines to finalize that. So I have marked those out to indicate that those parcels are not included in the
024proposed sale of Ridge View because the transfer is already committed to Shirley Hind. The appraisals that were done uh did not include those parcels in the appraisal. So they're not included in the value that was placed on the parel. >> So what is the current status and use of this vacated building uses the as the YMCA. Uh these are mainly pre kindergarten, preschool. Uh you do have some after school activities happening there as well. Uh we do let uh the homeworks use the space in the basement. They have some things there. Their simulation things are down there. and it's just an extra place for them to go when they're wanting to use their simulation equipment and we were happy to allow them to use that because it's downstairs and that age group will not be
025going downstairs. All right, there we go. Next slide. And so when we're looking at the appraisals, as Mr. Longer uh had alreadyuded to this appraisal group did one appraisal and if I get the name correctly Thank you very much. Um and so um a little later on in the agenda, we would be presenting those to you as a board for your consideration to accept those. Let's go on to the next slide. Uh because this is a a very important slide to us. You know, when you're looking at your property and you've done you know, it's your property and then it belongs to the taxpayers in the community. Once that building was vacated, unless it was being properly used and leased for educational purposes, which it was, um, our students can actually go over and use
026that simulation equipment by the EMT, our preschool, our latch key program goes over after school as well. And so, we were well within our means to use that building. um as it was vacated um for K12 instruction. So if you did not have that building being used properly by what the statute would allow, then you would have to sell it to a charter school or university for a dollar. And then when you start looking at the Indiana code and and looking at chapter seven and looking at what might exempt you from having to sell it to a charter school or a university for a dollar, it would be that you have to share your referendum dollars with a charter school. And so when we went out for renewal, uh we sent out to the charter
027schools that we given a list that we would have to include and invited them to share in the proceeds of the referendum. Two charter schools accepted that and so therefore we fulfilled the requirement that would exempt us from selling the property for long. >> I think that that pretty well sums it up. The the statuto provision uh that Dr. Buffington is referring to that we have complied with. provides that if if you have met those requirements that exempts you from the application of the the chapter the entire chapter. >> Thank you. Next slide please. So um I want to reference this because there is a part of the provision of that chapter that we inform the public and uh on what would be happening. And I do think that most of the board members here
028would remember this and anybody in the public that came to one of the referendum presentations, it was on it was in every presentation that we made them aware of who the uh the charter schools were that would be participating in the referendum proceeds. Right? As a matter of fact, the public kept saying why why do they get to do that? And because we were following the statute and so I am giving you a that's what the slide looked like. I have the slide deck there that you can reference and that was at every public presentation that we did. We informed the public that we would be including the charter schools in the next slide please. So based on the information that I have presented to you here this evening, I would ask that the board
029take into consideration and determine that Ridge View is no longer viable to the school city of operations due to age and cost retrofit and upgraded as well as our current demographics showing that the facilities that we have are sustainable for the enrollment that we have and it is recommended to proceed with the sale of the property. At this time, I'd like to open up the floor for discussion from the board and the public. Anybody interested? Just have a question. Um, in reference to the real estate people or experts that we've dealt with up to this point with this property, do we believe that there'll be any negative impact or a problem? per se with the Shirley Hines parcels being taken away from that as a negation is something maybe that would halter the sale. >>
030I think if you look at the appraisals that uh are attached to I think probably the next agenda item you'll see that one or both of the appraisals address the parcels that we're talking about indicated that um You know to the extent that they are wetlands are in a natural state that they did not impact the the value of the property when the appraisals were initially done. Okay. It was not clear to me that the appraisers understood that those parcels would be excluded. So, I went back to the appraisers and I asked them to take a look at it with the understanding those parcels were excluded. One of the appraisers said it did not affect his opinion of the value of the property. The other one made a slight adjustment. So, the numbers you have
031do not include those parcels. Okay? And they did not have a significant impact on the overall value. and they were, you know, they're not, it's not grass, it's not paved, is just wood. And >> now to give you a little historical perspective, um, those of us who were here when we had wetlands that were created by a broken tile on this property, you know, we had to exchange the Army Corps of Engineers. So, it does not matter who owns that property, you aren't going to be able to do anything with that property. It's wetland. And if you want to do something with the wetland, you're going to have to deal um with the government and do some sort of exchange with them. And you know, we didn't prepare for that on this property. Um it
032wasn't known to us that there was a broken tile out there that created some wetland, but it was costly. We ended up having to do an exchange with the Army Corps of Engineers and I think it cost us probably that it wouldn't be useful to us or anyone that would be buying property. >> Thank you. And keep in mind you have the Gordon and Faith Grinder Nature Preserve directly to the south. Okay. So surely Hines has other property in that area that they've been involved in preserving and this is joining some of that really. >> Any other comments? >> I would I would just like to to make two points clear. Okay. One, prior to the legislation that was passed dealing with school districts if they had unneeded property having to offer it for sale.
033Okay, at a discounted rate we had this property when Ridge View ceased to be used for school purposes by the school city. It was leased to the type of entities that exempted us from the that sale process and now we're excluded from those sale requirements because of the referendum. The other point I wanted to clarify just for the record, Dr. referenced the fire department using the lower level for storage of and use of their simulation equipment. And she referenced students having access for anyone who is in the audience either here or remotely that may not be aware of it. The school city partners with St. Mary's and the fire department and we have an instructional program that teaches EMT skills. And so this is not just providing space for the fire department. This is connected
034with an educational program that is offered by the school. So that that qualifies in my opinion. That's actually a dual credit and so they are afforded the ability to go over and use that simulation which we're really will hearing on the determination of the need and potential sale of rich. Next item is a recommendation and acceptance of appraisals of property. These are the appraisals we discussed that Mr. Longer talked about in the presentation. You have attached copies of the appraisals and I'd like to take a moment to explain that both McNowski appraisal company and Veil are wellknown appraisers in Lake County and joining counties and have both business for decades and we have the school city has used them in the past on multiple occasions on my recommendation. Mr. is to a large extent the
035goto person in Lake County for appraisals for condemnation purposes and he has extensive experience in testifying in court in support of his valuations. And so I requested that each of them provide an appraisal of this property so that the board could have some understanding of its value and the implications of selling the property in terms of revenue generation. Prior to rendering their appraisals, they toured the building with uh with Ryan and myself and had an opportunity to inspect the building and the both inside and outside. So that you know their appraisals were based on a current inspection. And as you can see we have uh two appraisals. One set the value at 1,300,000. The other set the value at a,242,000. So for purposes of of fair market value. Customarily we would use the average of
036the two appraisals put you at a million271. as the fair market value of the property based on the work they have done my review of the appraisals that was the work product and the reputation of each of these appraisers. I would recommend that the board accept each of these appraisals at this time and that acceptance of the appraisals is a necessary step if you're going to use those appraised values recommending that the court at this time accept the appraisals for school as presented. Second >> discussion discussion. One of one of the reasons for the relatively quick turnaround on the appraisals was because the two of them had just recently completed appraisal of another school district. They were familiar with the comparable recommendation passes in favor item. We have Resolution. Resolution regarding the sale of the
037property sale of the real real property owned by the school city of >> Okay. Do you have before you a resolution that I have prepared that is intended to document uh what we are doing and the findings necessary if the board determines that wishes to to sell rich okay as Dr. Buffington has explained um you know we've not been compelled to sell that property up to this point but under the school powers act and arguably home rule you have the power to sell property if you find it is unneeded. So, in order to be able to sell the school, the board needs to determine that the property is not needed. It's not currently being used by the school city for instructional purposes. Dr. Buffington has explained that we don't anticipate a need for that building
038based on our projections for future enrollment. So, the board, I think, has enough information to make a finding that it And although we've kept it up to this point, we can no longer afford the luxury of having the building even though it's exempt from sale and bearing the cost of maintaining that property. So the resolution includes a determination that the property is not needed. It includes reference to acceptance of the appraisals and it includes language finding that the property is excluded from the application of 20-26 which would require us to offer the sale market value. So the procedure for the sale, which you may be somewhat familiar with from when we discussed the sale of the Union Street property, basically is we would publish a notice in the newspaper. A copy of a proposed notice
039is exhibit resolution and that notice outlines the requirements in connection to the sale as well as the procedures involved. Exhibit A describes the parcel and exhibit B describes the parts that are being conveyed to Shirley Hind. So if you take a look at uh exhibit C, you can see that the process is that we advertise, we indicate when we might start accepting bids and we can have a period of time that cannot exceed 60 days where bids can be submitted. A bid that uh is submitted. It's an open bid and biders have the uh opportunity to review submitted and any bidder can raise their bid if they want to do that. So somebody submits a bid another wants to raise their bid. There are certain uh requirements as as far as who could be biders.
040And that's indicated in the notice and notice indicates it be sold for not less than the minimum bid, which is fair market value based on the two appraisals and contemplates a cash sale. In other words, you can't sell it on a contract or carry a mortgage on property cash. Okay. Contemplates that once all the steps have been completed and the school city is prepared to deliver a deed to the property and the bidder would have time thereafter to submit the proceeds. board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. So determines later not comfortable with any of the bids, they can reject all of them. And the biders have the the ability when they submit a bid to include any conditions that they feel are necessary as part of the terms of the bid
041that they're submitting. attached to a bid to determine they don't want to accept that condition. So the resolution is intended to authorize the publication of the notice. You will note that the resolution also author the superintendent in consultation with the board attorney to exercise the option that is provided by statute at any time to elect rather than go through the bidding process to list the property. So that that option just as it existed with the exists here. So that is a possibility. But in the absence of that then we would publish the notice twice in the paper and then we would see what we receive as far as bids and the period of time that is open for acceptance of bids cannot exceed 60 days but the bidding period can soon receive one or more
042bids that are considered to be acceptable. We don't have to wait a couple months to see. Does the board have any questions about the resolution process? Technically, there's a provision in chapter 7.1 that says that we notify the Department of Education if there's a building that's covered by that chapter and we claim it's exempt. There's a form submit to the Department of Education. Technically, we're exempt from the application of the chapter. So, arguably requirement. We will however submit the information to the state department of education if the board passes the resolution with an explanation why we feel we're excluded from the application of the chapter. So that if the state has a question about it, there's an opportunity that problem resolution makes it clear that by authorizing the submission of that notice, we're not waving
043any claim that it's not that it's exempt. We're not waving or giving up any exempions or exclusions by notice to department of education. Just seems practical to let them know so that somebody contacts them about it or whatever. Is that everything? All right. Um, we just want to make a change um to resolution 20 26-2. It should be 2020 6-3. >> So, Secretary, would you like to read the title? >> Um, yes. So we have the board of school trustees, the school city of Hbert resolution number 2026-3, a resolution regarding sale of real property owned by the school city of Hbert. >> Is the title okay? >> That's acceptable. >> I recommend the board adopt resolution number 2026. as presented. I'll second >> discussion. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Okay. Need a resolution. This will
044be a roll call vote and vote. >> Uh David Cosby, >> hi. >> Don Rogers, >> hi. >> Brad King, >> hi. >> Steuart Schultz is absent. Frank Pors. Sandy Hill. and >> and that resolution passes. Five in favor, zero post. The next agenda item is a recommendation to accept redevelopment commission education and worker training grant. In your packet, you have a copy of the grant award for $26,000. Uh these grant awards the grant funds will be used towards the purchase of a tririccaster vision and viser uses the latest technology which by the way um we needed an upgrade down there. And we are forever grateful for this grant because it is costly equipment. And so um the tririccaster will uh allow us to to combine audio and video from multiple sources along with graphics
045to produce a professional level broadcast. Tammy May does an an incredible job of writing these ancillary grants for us like project lead and this redevelopment commission grant and We are just proud of her. Thank you to Chris who's always our sidekick too as we're trying to figure all of the cost and the proper equipment that we need to do the upgrades. So with that being said, I'd ask that the board accept the grant from the redevelopment. >> Like to make a motion that the board accept the grant from the redevelopment commission and authorize the superintendent to execute the necessary documents. >> Second board may Any discussion? >> And if you need any details about exactly what this piece of equipment does, Chris will give you a quick lesson. And that passes five in favor, zero
046post. Next item on the agenda, we have an overnight extended study trip for the Key Club state convention. In your packet, you have a copy of Key Club uh being able to attend the state leadership convention down at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Indianapolis, February 27th through March 1st. It doesn't exactly get us through bad weather, um but I'll be monitoring that. And they would school bus will be in charge. They'll participate in workshops learning about servant leadership and bring back what they learned. Um I highly recommend this and obviously I would let you know that um if there were if there were really bad weather I would have to cancel. I don't like doing that. But I will say um to to hold truth on my word the theater production got postponed and the
047state even postponed it. So um you can be rest assured that we watch the weather very carefully for these sort of trips but this is a wonderful opportunity for them and action is requested. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board approve the overnight study trip for the key club to attend their state leadership convention in Indianapolis as presented. that you >> discussion. >> I would just like to say real quick that I think it's amazing to see how Kanas helped support the club in the fashion that they do and tonight was their biggest fundraiser of the year and I stopped in there before I came here and see young lady Grace singing the number of people community that show up for that to help support our students is really really something that's
048special about the university that went and served and made it >> and this is the first year I didn't work it so you picked up. Anything else? And that passes 5 as well. >> Next item, updates and announcements. >> In your packet, you have a copy of our weekly agendas with our staff and the brick center newsletter that's always exciting with updates on our athletes. You can read that at your leisure. >> And finally, comments. >> Well, um we are well into second semester and uh being able to do some really fun things with uh you know, obviously athletics and things like that. I would uh suggest that everyone check out the latest Ricky Experience where I interview the four state lady medalist in wrestling and uh they give you their perspective on uh having
049self-disipline in the sport that they are in along with their multiple sport athletes and their academics and then they talk about having significance and impact on other kids and it's really a great uh it's a great podcast and I love featuring our students on it so that if you would have a lot of winter sports trying to wrap up right now and we wish our a lot of luck with that. And I will say I just love that our students uh embrace being excellent on purpose. And so tonight at our schoolboard meeting I was so glad that came because tonight is uh going to get a be excellent on purpose award. And so I was contacted by a parent and you've been ting their daughter and then she wanted to paying and said no I'm
050not taking any money for that and I don't even know if the student told you that they got 16 on the math test >> you know and sometimes it's really interesting you know, here's her mom coming to me saying like, "We have to give the excellent on purpose award." And um she so wanted to to just reward you. And she said, "My daughter just never thought she was good at math." And um you know, sometimes as hard as we try as educators, sometimes their peers are the person that does the breakthrough. And so that's what you were able to do for this individual and gave her confidence as well. And so her mom was so excited to tell me about it. So, formally, we're gonna give it to you. We can do it after the
051board meeting so that we don't stick here's your my school. Great job to you. And um and the last thing that I would tell the board about tonight, um the young man that was with his mother at the city awards, um that insisted that his mom get um I went over there this week and I allowed him to present his mother with a B excellent and um that obviously was noticing and calling us when the crossing guard was not doing well and she noted that and probably saved his life. And so at this point I guess what I would say is that you know these are these little things that that people notice now and they want to recognize people and so that makes me very happy and you know we we were well into
052the 2000 last year. I'm sure we'll surpass that this year. And I'm just proud of our students for trying to to be excellent on purpose. And you know, the girls that did the podcast from the wrestling team, you know, I loved when they when we talked about what do you do when you feel like quitting and you know, like you have a bad day and they just gave some extremely good advice. And I think that that's why our kids are doing so well and being excellent on purpose. They know how to push through and if they can't they know where they can get the help to do that and so um it's been a very rewarding week just to listen to those kind of stories and um I really appreciate Chris uh and Greg actually
053we had to film in the studio because I had six guests on the show and it's hard to do that in the in the podcast studio back there but we had a great time at it and I just think that we can all just say this is what makes this community strong is that we have people that want to help other people like and um they want to serve other people they want to be excellent on purpose so I just thought I would share that with all of you and if I forgot anything you know I'll just chime in the other talking >> I want to thank as well for writing that everything else she She writes these grants every year. She seems to always train mention of the podcast. It was a great podcast,
054but It was in the studio that is exciting so much more. Next, Mr. Longer. You may have noticed flags at half lost. Monday, we also lost retired K9 officer York. as a K9 bail at city court for a number of years tried to join us tonight the new He lives across the street from me. When I was leaving, Sire was barking and trying to get out of his cage. He wanted to come here tonight. Thought that was kind of >> I was first teacher. >> Okay, next. I'm sorry. >> Just echoing the comments that Dr. made earlier about the SRO. It's a group of finest, but they really do dedicate themselves to our students. We are so fortunate that we have SRS in our elementary schools. starting that relationship such an early age and that
055relate and appreciative of their efforts um during the school day but then also in the evenings and on weekends when things are happening call away and that you know doesn't always go really nice to see you allelcome Dr. I would capitalize on that administrator read several articles watching because as we know there's not necessarily a positive example and how discourse takes place and things of that nature. And I bring that up as a means of saying I think locally set those examples right at the same time with our SRO and with our community members serving student singing and serving chile and meeting with you know our student body to Dr. point on purpose is so I can't say that all this stuff out there is rainbows and butterflies but we're doing what we can with
056what we've got here last week we had a education foundation meeting just passing along a couple highlights from that Um, we do still have an open board position for president. Anybody knows anybody who might be interested in that? Um, definitely looking for someone. Um, wanted to highlight that the education foundation um, supported Dr. Buffington and the school city with futuristic idea of having an LPN program here at the high school. um donated uh $20,000 uh to her discretion to use for whatever equipment and things that they might need to get that program up and running. Um so that was pretty exciting and just future looking forward March 14th is the date of our moose bingo for the education foundation probably our second largest fundraiser for that. So please come out and support that. Um bring
057family and friends and uh it's a fun night. Uh I haven't heard anybody mention it, but I wanted to recognize publicly. Uh, congratulations to our two young board reps who were both announced as Hall of Scholar winners week. So, pretty exciting stuff there. I know that especially with dual credit classes and uh that top group of 15 kids is a pretty tight race sometimes and percentages and tens of hundreds of points and on their grade point average to make those decisions. So, congratulations that both of our young ladies are are sitting on that uh recognition. Um we are hosting I believe swimming sectionals right now as we speak uh for the girls and I believe we are hosting wrestling regionals this weekend. So, Mike Black and his crew that's a lot of work on their
058end and obviously our our staff here at the high school and our custodial team as well. Um Just one last thing echoing off of what people were talking about the resource officers. Um I think we have an amazing group in our school city and um one of the things that I think we see is our younger kids in our elementary schools. They they will look up to their SRO's. they are like a safe space um um almost like a hero to them in some aspects and they see them and that so you were teaching kids at a young age to respect police and to know that they're a good they're a positive thing and when you get up to your older group of kids here at the high school or middle school um kids that
059are struggling and have problems whether it's at home whether it's in their personal lives they make those relationships and I think that they have somebody that they can turn And I just think that's uh tremendously impactful. And um our our group is amazing group. So just like to highlight that. >> Um before we go to coach Rogers, uh anybody from the audience have a comment? >> Mr. Rogers, >> I'd just like to thank the table over there for all the work they've done. I know it's more Indianapolis and backs don't really care down there. We're doing what we can >> and also the extra work very important I think not only this award very important I think >> she's got we'll make sure she gets another wallpaper Um, I echo everything that they're saying. I
060totally agree. The administration has worked very hard. You do a very good job. We appreciate you very much. Um, from a parents perspective for from the SRO's, um, we appreciate the critical role they play in school safety as well. Um, more so than just the interaction with the children, knowing that they're here and and that they're using their trained eyes and their skill sets to uh to make sure that the schools are safe and secure and that the students are protected is very appreciated. It grants a piece of mind as a parent of two children in the school district. to know that they have those eyes watching. I appreciate them and I'm glad we have >> I I wanted to start by saying off uh thank you very much for the be Oop tonight. I
061was not expecting that at all. So when Dr. Buffington was talking about I was like oh my gosh this sounds familiar and I was like wait is this about me? I was like, "Oh my gosh, it is." But >> well, you contacted me to tell me you were coming tonight because you were working and I said, "Oh, well, maybe you can come afterwards." >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Hbert Kowanas, for letting me leave. Originally, I was supposed to get out at 8 and then I don't I don't know. I guess today we were just scooping chili too fast or something, but we got out like an hour earlier. So, I I scadaddled over here and I was like, "Let me let me hopefully I didn't miss too much." So thankfully I didn't. But yeah, uh
062I I just remember um the person that I'm tutoring now, it was someone who I hadn't really gotten the chance to know before tutoring cuz we didn't share too many classes together, but I remember when she reached out like the moment in that moment and I was like like wow like I can't believe someone would feel like um put so much trust in me that you know like in a time of need that they would be willing to reach out over something uh as personal as academics because it takes a lot of courage to do that and And I think that just speaks to the kind of community that we've built in Hobert that our peers feel, you know, that they can trust their peers and they can reach out if they need help. So
063I I really I really love that. Uh thank you to everyone. Uh my senior year has been great. The couple months are winding down with Hollow Scholars coming up and I can only attest that to everyone on our board, our SRO's, our community, everyone that's working really hard behind the scenes. So, thank you all for that and I'm looking forward to these next couple of months. >> Awesome. >> Great. >> I was so sad that I couldn't be here for that announcement, but I was in Indianapolis. my chauffeer drove me there, but I felt like we had already cancelled it one time on you and had to move it. So, I told him to carry on and now I was just bummed that I didn't get to be here for it. But, of course, I'll
064be at the big celebration, so that's what counts. >> I just want to say with it being like second semester, it's cold outside. Uh, it gets dark at 400 p.m. Seeing the little victories in the community is definitely keeps me going and it definitely keeps other people going. Seeing Jujin get a BOP, seeing the girl wrestlers succeed at their sport, um the people at sectional swimming right now. And just seeing those being highlighted is definitely something that keeps me going to that finish line. Um and as I know it, uh keeps others going as well. And then the SRO's are definitely something that are very important to our schools. I think it teaches students that cops can be around nothing bad is happening. Um they aren't always just associated with like trouble or crime or
065things like that. They're here for safety. That um is very important even when there isn't ex something happening right in the moment. And I think that um that I think that um like connection and um trying to find the word relationship. There you go. the connection relationship is very important for um the students as well as SRO's. So um I just want to say that >> Mr. Okay, it seems like Mr. Cosby took all my uh items, but that's okay. Uh once again, I'd like to thank the young ladies here to my right for making all the scholars is a very difficult list to go on. I'm very competitive. So once again, congratulations for all your hard work. of study I'm sure uh stress and but now almost relaxed got like two more months so
066that'll be fine. Um once again uh good luck for the swimmers who are swimming right now. Uh the lady swimmers um will be able to advance to regionals and uh Hbert High School is hosting the uh wrestling regionals this this Saturday uh which should be fun and once again very competitive and um hopefully the weather warms up to where we're able to enjoy the outside. >> Thank you Mr. Forest. Um, finally, just a quick word to uh what Mr. Creek had started uh down that road with culturizing um our community in our school. Um, one of the things that I've noticed that is part of our culture is we teach our students at a very young age to set goals and those things have transferred on. For my own children, I know my daughter sticky
067note on her computer with her goal. But a goal without a plan is just a dream, right? So I have a question for our two hall scholars girls here. Um when did Paul scholars become a grade when I so I didn't originally go to Hbert and I joined Hbert in sixth grade so I was kind of getting the hang of things. I was new to the district and I had no idea about Hall of Scholars until the day that they announced it for the middle school um in 8th grade and then when I found out about it I had also found out that I was very close to getting into the Hall of Scholars and I had like I had no idea. So, um, knowing that information, I was like, "Okay, I can definitely then
068in high school reach that goal if I did it without even knowing it existed." And so, ever since then, I pushed myself to um get to that goal. I think for me it's always been a matter of even if I didn't necessarily know about hall scholars at the time like you know whether I was in middle school or whatnot I know a goal of mine just personally it's to always do my best you know always put the you know my my foot forward you know no matter what kind of obstacles are in the way or whatnot and then for me especially doing my best uh definitely is in the realm of grades for me like for me it's like I I always try to do my best on tests, quizzes, things like that. Try to
069prepare beforehand. And even if it doesn't go well, it's like, you know, if it didn't go well, that's just a lesson for next time, you know, to try and fix something and do better. So, I guess somewhere along the way, like, uh, the hard work, you know, on paper, you know, through tests and things like that kind of transformed into a vision of, you know, what's the step beyond that, you know, I'm working hard now, like what's the end goal for me? and then it just worked out that Hall of Scholars is something that helps recognize like you know like the top 15 and whatnot. So that ended up helping. But I just know no matter what like for me it's always been just do your best and work hard and then along the way
070you'll you'll find those opportunities that will open doors for you. So >> yeah I do want to say within today I did use your example with the upper classman mentors. So we met with the mentors today the upper classmen that are challenge to mentor the younger class and they were not in good spirits today and you know I had to remind them and you know as an educator we see this pretty regularly where kids are not doing their best and um we don't give up on and so I had to like really bring them in with the other two sponsors I'm trying to help them they are just bummed they're like these freshmen are not listening to And I said, "Well, you were in that place before, right? And so don't give up on it."
071But I was able to use your example of how you were able to help a peer and sometimes you don't know that you helped that person until sometime later. And so, um, we had some good discussion, but you may want to come to the next mentor meeting because we could use a little a little more, right? >> It was a tough day in there today. And so I just said to them, listen, no matter what, um we're all human. We all have bad days. And so listen, it's pushing through and showing up and they will thank you for it later, right? And and so um you guys want to come join us at the next meeting, I would really appreciate that. Um because actually what we're going to do, we are going to use the
072upper classmen now that we have our first year under our belt. We're going to have tweak the curriculum for the next year. We want to learn from you what you think we should do better. >> Sound good? >> Sounds like a plan. >> There you go. >> All right. Thank you ladies for that response because I think it gives us a lot of insight as about having high expectations for oneself but also our school having high expectations for our students. And that may look different for one student than another. High expectations for one might be you're graduating and we're celebrating that graduating. So, we're not all on the same plane, but we can all have high expectations. So, thank you. And with that, I'd like to