001To the flag of the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. attached for the minutes of the regular session meetings held on December 4th, 2025. Your pleasure regular session meet >> second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? If not, please vote. Thank you board. That passes 70. Next item on the agenda is financial reports. Mr. Secretary, would you like to read those please? Okay. So school education 1,157,945 education for curricular materials 1,6262 operating 2009 89,82 school operations School lunch 187, 979. vouchers for December 18th, 2025. >> We have a motion and a second. Board, you may Is there any discussion? And if not, you may place your vote. Thank you board. Audience personnel report in your packet. You have a copy
002of the personnel report. Uh that would be for December 18th ending in the period of December 18th. Court action is requested. the board. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? If not, please your vote and that passes 70. Thank you, board. Next item on the agenda is a consideration which is a lease agreement for the Bricky Clinic with Community Care Network Incorporated, DBA P. Mr. Longer and Dr. This is faced question. city. At least termination. relatively short. I would just add that It was a great day when we opened the Bricky Clinic. Uh it's been a wonderful partnership with uh P Health that used to be community uh care network and uh it is a huge convenience for our employees and as well as for families here in Hbert. Um
003I would love to see it become an immediate care which was the original intent before CO and um you know who knows someday that may come back. I would tell you that uh our employees and the people that get served at Ricky Health Clinic um have a professional uh service that is just outstanding. And so uh this is highly recommended. We sought this uh this was a goal um that we wanted to have a clinic available to employees in the community right here for convenience and that's exactly what it is. It's convenience action. to make a motion that the board approve the lease agreement with Community Care Network Incorporated doing businesses P Health Medical Group as presented and authorize the superintendent to sign the contract. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there
004any discussion? Next item on the agenda is the agreement for clinic with community network and longer. Once again, this is a services. There is language in the agreement. records necessary requirements as far as substantially language. to add to Mr. Longer's review of this document. Um, in accordance, one of the things that we look at is the services that helps offset the cost of our insurance premiums because a lot of times people will go to the emergency room like it's their doctor. And so by providing this service um that really on people going to the emergency room which drives our premium cost down for our employee insurance. I would also add part of this um also gives them an additional place for coverage another immediate care in Valareerezo if the Ricky clinic is not open. So
005um this is a wonderful service many of our employees use it and court action is requested. I'd like to make a motion that the board approve the services agreement with Community Care Network Incorporated doing business as P Health Medical Group as presented and authorize the superintendent to execute the agreement. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion? they're not bound to listen, you know, they would take under adisement consideration. But every time we have a contract renewal, we sit and review all of that. And I also turn that over to our insurance broker like that takes care of many districts and other clients for insurance. And if he sees that someone else is offering that maybe that clinic should offer. He advises us >> for those of you who when we were building the pool um
006and it was going to be an immediate care, we did put in all of the electrical necessary for X-ray and all of that and then you know during they just they couldn't They couldn't even staff the Ricky clinic. And so after CO, it just really took a while for a lot of health care facilities to get themselves back into the groove of doing business as normal if you would, but also their cash flow, their number of employees. Keep in mind during co a lot of traveling nurses, a lot of traveling doctors getting that back up to speed and um you know at this point they weren't able to staff in immediate care. Um if if they thought that they could have enough volume here, they would increase it to immediate care. And so that's really
007what we're waiting on. We're waiting to get at a certain percentage of the volume where an additional employee could be here and that's when they would probably Thank you board. We have a 70 vote. Right. And next up for consideration is the 2026 2027 calendar. Holy moment. I'm sorry. Wow. Well, uh, we've had this in draft form for some time and now it comes to the real, uh, uh, you know, decision of approving the next school year calendar. I would happen to agree with you, Madam President. It does seem like December creeped up on us very quickly, crept upon us. Um, anyways, as you're looking at the school calendar, it's really not much different than this year's calendar, and there's really no concern on our end except to to have continuity with our partners. Uh
008we try to do quite a bit of discussion with the Porter County Career Center. You know, there's 10 high schools that feed into that. In addition, uh trying to keep as much as we can aligned with our our early college partner, IvyTech. I think the real thing that uh that stands out is that week of fall break. I do think that people need that. Um I am a proponent of it because I would just say most people will take that week anyway. And so it's just important for us to not have all of those attendance issues with staff or students. And so with that being said, uh I would recommend that the board approve the 2627 school. >> Thank you. Your pleasure. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> And
009we pass 70. Thank you. Next on the agenda is a consideration for memorandum of understanding with the Indiana Construction Roundt Foundation. Dr. Buffington. >> Okay. This is a grant that was made possible and you know I don't turn down grants easily. Um when I wrote for this I I didn't really think that I would get it but I did and and you could laugh about this but um no it's the real McCoy. So, if you are to look at your attachment, um, we received word that you could apply for this construction club grant and I thought it would fall right into line with some of our STEM activities that we're doing. And so, I asked for six clubs and I was awarded six clubs. And so, at this point, um, the program pays for $1,690.
010Um, and there would be some factors involved with this. So, $1,000 for the program facilitators, $150 for a job site visitation. So, if anybody knows a job site that I could let my clubs go to, that would be important to know. Um, and then, um, we can hire up to three high school mentors to help with the club. Uh, it's five twohour club sessions or 10 onehour club sessions. and we can have high school kids help us. For instance, one of the projects is to build a birdhouse um and just to get kids interested in construction. And so I'm really excited about it. Uh we will be looking to do this second semester. Four elementary clubs uh at each building. They would have their own and then two at the middle school. Okay. And with
011that being said, board action is requested. I'd like to make a motion that the board approve a memorandum of understanding with the Indiana Construction Round Table Foundation. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> I think so. [clears throat] Thank you. Next item on the agenda is an authorization for the transfer of funds from the education fund to the operations fund. Uh board in your packet um you will note that uh for the budget year 2025,756,966 was approved for transfer from the education fund to the operations fund. To date, 3,895,000 has been transferred and we will be requesting 1,500,000 be transferred from the education fund to the operation fund. The final amount will be calculated at the conclusion of the calendar year and this will be the final transfer of
012the year. Board action is requested. like to make a motion that the board approve the transfer as presented and authorize the treasurer of the school city of Hbert to transfer up to 1,500,000 from the education fund to the operations fund. Second, >> we have a motion and a second. [clears throat] Is there any discussion? >> I I would just like to note that um if we were properly funded, I wouldn't have to transfer all of that money out of the education fund. And I would also just say um with Senate enrolled act one I think you will unless there is some legislative change to provide some relief here I think you will see more and more school corporations have to exceed that 15% um to make up for loss revenue. I mean when it comes
013to keeping your lights on um or you know like paying your bills it has to come from somewhere and your authorization is 15%. If you exceed 15% you'll have to before a committee. Um it'll have to be publicized, but again, I would say to you, how do you pay your bills? You have to pay your bills, right? So, um I do hope that the legislative session when they go back to work, um that they will consider some things that they maybe need to reook at Senate Enrolled Act One. Um I'm hopeful for that. Thank you board. Next item on the agenda is an overnight extended study trip for the state convention. Board, in your packet, you have a copy of an overnight extended trip. Uh this is a request from Kathy Nelson. It's been approved
014by her principles and I'm recommending it to you as well. Around 30 Hbert High School theater students, grades 9 to 12 to attend the state thespian convention at uh Avon High School in Indianapolis. Students will travel in City of over activity buses leave on Friday, January 23rd, returning on Sunday, January 25th. Let's keep in mind that is in uh in the depth of winter. I'll keep an eye on the weather. U Mrs. Nelson will be in charge and presently there are three staff members and one approved parent volunteer going to chaperon. So, in uh if there is any type of weather events going or coming, we will make the best decisions to make sure that our students are safe. With that being said, board action is requested. >> I'd like to make a motion that
015the board approve the overnight student for high school students to attend convention at Avon High School, Indianapolis, Indiana. And the superintendent is authorized to cancel the trip in case of weather conditions. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Uh they win because there's different categories. They do really well at it. >> I I do believe I'm not sure what they're performing at the state convention. they do six, they're gonna win. Um, I think they might do the spoof that they did on Romeo Juliet, too. I'm not quite sure. >> Uh, so we'll have to see when they come back. I I will say they went to see six on Broadway in Chicago and they all came back and they were doing a comparison of them compared to them and
016I think they gave themselves pretty high marks which they should have. It was an outstanding performance. All right. And we passed 70. Thank you. The next is a recommendation from the transportation department. Dr. Buffington >> board. When we were doing wages uh and increases for our school employees, um there was a special wage consideration and transportation that was not put on the document. And so at this time, I'm bringing you this document because it's part of their handbook and it was not on the sheet that you all approved when we approved increases for our staff. So, um I want to review those special wages with you. So, drivers and aids can receive a higher hourly rate for their day um as determined by the director of transportation. Uh and and this is why transporting students
017who are homeless that live in foster homes and they have to travel a greater distance. Um transporting students from someone else's routes if you were removed from your route. Sometimes that happens too. Um, you know, all of these things cost them additional time and effort learning uh the learning curve that's involved with doing someone else's route or taking some taking a foster child home. Uh, transporting students on an overnight trip. Again, um, additional hours required by our drivers. It's really important to to remind the board that that they they could say no, [laughter] you know, and so like we need to make this attractive for them to take those um those routes. So, for instance, what is your incentive to do an overnight trip and and so you know trips are things that are posted
018for our drivers and it should be that they are compensated accordingly to take those. Uh in any ways um this would have been on that sheet. It was not and board action to continue to enact what we currently have in their handbook. And I would ask that the board approve that. >> Your pleasure. >> I'd like to make a motion board. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion board for? >> We do cover their hotel rooms too. >> A lot of the times if it's a three-day weekend, they won't stay. They'll come back. >> So, it's really dependent on what they want to do. If they do want to stay, we would do that. >> And that passes 70. Thank you, board. I do want to One more thing about them
019though, I have been on many a trips that they've gone to Indianapolis where, you know, a couple of times I've had to keep them down there u due to inclement weather. But our drivers with such great care bringing people back uh or taking them and just the amount of stress that is involved with winter driving and the the number of state competitions that they have to do in Indianapolis and having to make that or not. It's tough. It's just tough. But they are the true heroes of getting our kids there and back and not missing those competitions. And I'm truly grateful for them. They've come back in some pretty horrendous conditions that it was fine and then it turned on them. Uh you know, you can be in conversations with the Indiana State Police. Um
020you're monitoring the radar and everything else and then the weather shifts, you know, and you didn't let them stay. Um there's been one time I had to off in Lafayette and make them stay. Uh so I can't say enough about the drivers and the amount of care that they do and um I'm very proud of them and so you know anything that we can do additionally to to incentivize and help them um we should do it. So thank you for your vote on that. >> You're welcome. And next on the agenda item is the recommendation to accept the Indiana Department of Education Title One grant. Well, can you imagine? Here we are in December approving the title one grant. >> It's one month before last time. Thank you, Pat, for telling us that. >> Um,
021you know, I've been doing this job for a very long time. And typically, you would know this in May when I used to do this a long time ago. Uh, in our case, our Title One pays for people's salaries. And so, can you imagine if you're not approved for that amount and you've employed that many people that would be over $600,000? Um, you know, we can have asurances that we imagine that it's going to be the same, which is why we uh proceed with our our employee uh hiring and and sustaining our programming because we imagine it's going to happen. I'm just shocked that it continues to be late like this. Um, There has been a lot of federal regulations, shutdowns, all kinds of things involved with this. So, but with that said, um this
022is not your basic grant anymore. Uh as Sandy Hill, who does it for River Forest, would tell you, this is a a very hard job to do filling out this grant for this information. Um it takes hours and hours, lots of conversation. Uh, I want to give hats off to Lori Anderson who does a lot of the lead work. She'll have to get in with uh Dr. Cre and myself. Uh, we involve the technology department. We've got safety that's involved with this. There's a lot that's involved with this. And then when you look at the financial side of it, you have to look at the per pupil expenditure and compare that to your most impoverished schools. and your most impoverished school get the most per pupil expenditure. And so you have a number of employees
023and then I have to sit with Mr. Glover and go over with where did those changes need to take place. I can tell you going into this school year was very interesting because the number of free and reduced applications at the early learning center was significantly reduced due to the number of enrollments that we had. You only had 238 kindergarteners and there wasn't a lot of free and reduced lunch numbers there. They lost ground with support because they didn't have the kids number one and their perupal expenditure went down because of their percentage of free and reduced lunch. At one time we had so many extra employees at veterans because their free and reduced lunch number shot extremely high. as we're going into this school year, um, our October rates, I I'm showing a 55%
024free and reduced lunch number for the entire district. And so when I'm looking at the early learning center back up because, you know, I'm talking to Sarah Gutierrez, their principal there, and I also talked to Patrick Rya King, and I said, you have to do more to let people know they have to sign up for this. Those federal dollars are important to us and as the number increases you would hope that our amount would increase because typically when you are coming with a higher poverty poverty number you need to provide more interventions for those children. Right? So when you're looking at today's amount it's $618,10045. Uh the award last year was $671,658.54. We use all of that for interventions at the elementary for reading and math. I will say um we do have to share
025this amount with uh nonpublic schools. It's a very difficult task at times to get them to cooperate with uh the requirements of this grant. So, I can't say enough about the hard work that people do to make this happen and um obviously we need that money to provide the best services that we can with children. So, with that being said, I'd ask that the board approve uh the amount that we are receiving and accept the title one grant. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> I'll just again thank you guys for the hard work. I [clears throat] know that everything that goes into getting a lot of work. It's a lot of upkeep right on time. Thank you for the hard work. I will convey that. We'll convey it. It
026is truly a ton of work. This grant particularly. All right. And we have a 70 vote. Thank you, board. All right. Next up on the agenda items is the internet service quotes. >> Well, um, we have the presence of our director of Russ Melon here and I'm going to turn it over to him. Thanks for joining us tonight, Russ. >> Uh yes. Hi board. Uh so every so often, usually about three years, we go out for a new uh set of quotes for our internet services. Um that just happened uh this time around. So we've got three quotes that came back. One from Comcast, one from Surf, one from Frontier. Comcast is our current provider. And um if you look at the attached PDFs, you can see that the surf uh bid was lower than
027the rest of them. Um SurfMed is the is the provider right now who connects all of our buildings back to the high school. So this isn't just some unknown uh provider if you haven't heard of them before. They we're actually very familiar with now. So, um, so I'm recommending that we award the, uh, the internet the internet quotes to, uh, SurfNet for the next three years for our internet services. And I know it doesn't quite give you the tallies here, but I did the math on the side. Compared to what we're paying right now, this will save us just under $12,000 a year to switch to this uh, provider. Uh, so that goes back into operational and helps that out as much as we can. The second PDF is actually a tabulation that kind of
028um uh weights all of the different factors that I use to evaluate them. Mostly it's uh about price, but um there are some other considerations in there as well. >> Any questions for Russ? >> All right. Board action is requested. >> Like to make a motion that the board accept proposal from MNWNet for the internet service presented and authorizes superintendent or her design to execute any necessary documents. Second, >> we have a motion and a second board. Is there any discussion? >> Thank you for your work on that. Uh I remember being an audience member seeing it last time and uh the sticker shock with the numbers is always interesting. Obviously, it's a much larger uh internet service than I'm getting at home. So, >> yeah, it's there's a difference in the quality of the
029internet services uh because of the it's a symmetric service, which if you want to get technical, we can talk about that later. But yeah, it's it's uh it is amazingly more expensive for business grade stuff. >> So, it looks like the price overall went down though, not just from CRNet, but overall it went down. >> Yeah. From all the carriers and that's typical. That's why I usually do uh usually either a two or three year um request from the internet providers instead of more like a fiveyear which we do on the WAN because that doesn't really change in price very much. Um right now the the prices have gone down again as they usually do and it's kind of a stable market. It hasn't been changing as much as it used to. So the three-year
030gets us a little better savings overall compared to like a twoyear just because we're getting that threeyear discount instead of a twoyear which isn't quite as much of a discount. >> Yeah, I will say that I mean when you think about $12,000 $12,000 is $12,000. Although I will have to say Russ has to do some convincing with the sidekick over there, Chris King. Um because one of the concerns that that he would be doing is that we're going to have to change our phone system a bit and that makes me a little bit nervous. Um and he's planning on doing that over spring break and I have to pray that there will be no glitches uh when spring break is over um because we won't be using Comcast. So, see, you know, when you look
031at the pros and cons that Russ put together along with Chris King, you know, looking at it, there's more pros than there are cons because I could have said, "No, Russ, 12,000 $12,000 isn't worth it. Just leave it at Comcast." There are some other things that we will be able to do with our phone system uh on top of, you know, choosing to have a $12,000 decrease that makes it worth it because I could turn around and say the most responsive bidder would be Comcast to us because I wouldn't have to change our phone system. Um, on the other hand, as Russ has pointed out to me, um, and he did a lot of great work on this, uh, there are a lot of pros that come with changing the phone system. I just have
032to believe that it'll happen flawlessly. Right, Russ? >> Uh, yeah. I I trust the company who I'm working with on that and plus I get to demo it out ahead of time. I've already started rebuilding our phone system in it to to some degree. Um, but uh it's it's not quite as uh it's just a new system and it's more online and therefore a whole lot more flexible. But that's different topic for conversation. >> Right. So with that being said though, uh thank you for all the hard work, investigation, staying on top of research, knowing what's best for us, and it is greatly appreciated. And you know, he does he does realize he has to prove his case. Um and he does a lot of hard work on that and and we are grateful for
033it. All right. Look at that. We are 70. Thank you, board. And the next one is also Mr. Melon which is a request for proposal of the 2026 network equipment licensing and basic management. So this is a request for some new equipment for our middle school. Um it's actually sorry I should say uh that this is essentially kind of three different I I label it as kind of three different sub projects. The first bit is new hardware for the middle school which their equipment uh is end of life and needs to be replaced. Um so that is just got to happen no matter what. Um the second part of that is for continuing management for the equipment everywhere else. This is something that we normally have to pay. Um we Peggy knows it as smartet
034although it's a little bit more than just smart net. Um and the the price has is likely going up uh because everything's going up. Um one of the things that we are able to do now is run that renewal through the rate process so that we can get a reimbursement on it. We haven't been able to do that previously. um we've been paying that straight up out of operational and uh so this time I'm doing it as part of the rate process so we can get some federal dollars back on that component and that'll save us a lot there as well. Um and the third part is that it's time finally to replace our access points districtwide. Um it's the access points for technical reasons kind of all have to be done at the same
035time. I can't do those peace meal um just because of the way they're managed. It's a technical bit. Um that is the single largest piece of this whole thing. We have a lot of wireless um in here and so it might be a little sticker shock uh there on the quantity for that. Um the PDFs include the quantities of each of the items that I'm asking for in all three sub components. Um and I have estimates on what prices everything's going for right now. Um, this is based off of numbers that I've had to pull from various uh uh vendors for all the different items so that I, you know, I'm working on current prices for estimating. Um, between these three projects, I had originally budgeted about 1.2 million across the next five years. Right
036now, it looks like I'm coming in significantly under that and I'm still going to get the B rate reimbursement. So, overall, um, and I think I had a document that maybe wasn't part in here, but um uh what we're what we're essentially paying for uh will have actually cost us somewhere around $230,000 instead of that, you know, >> when it's all said and done. >> Yeah. When it's all said and done and the reimbursements come back. Thank you. Um so, you know, it's it's it's wise to run this through the e-ate program and go out for bid on it, >> right? So again, this is one of those things when we meet as a department um with Chris and Russ and we're discussing uh you know rate which we're our reimbursement is 80%. And that
037that number is based off of what our free and reduced lunch numbers are at each building. And so then the government calculates that and gives us oh you fall into this span it's an 80% uh reimbursement rate. So, as we're looking at things and Russ did an amazing job with like looking at the [clears throat] smart net agreements because those cost us a ton of money and uh it's part of their budget and then now it's -ate eligible. So, this is a a very good thing for us. The access points is a hard one to swallow. Um but you also have to keep in mind at the end of the life cycle of technology if we don't keep up with technology the way it's supposed to be a lot of the times and I'll just
038give some off uh you know some some valid examples of our headins our servers and all of the things that we do with software upgrades patches um we can't be vulnerable to cyber attacks right and so you have to be able to keep up with the technology upgrades Russ and Chris have done a really great job of staying within their budget that's of main things that we have to keep a close eye on. Uh you've gone through their budget cycle with them with the bond issuances and um this is well within their budget and um and it's actually going to save us some money um based off of the work that they've done and so I want to thank them for that and um obviously this is a bid request uh an RFP request because
039uh it's over $250,000. Right. So with that being said, I would ask that the board approved this and um we'll get going on the appropriate upgrades. >> I'd like to make a recommendation that the board approved the request for proposal for 2026 network equipment licensing and basic maintenance as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Thank you again for the hard work. >> Thank you. And we have a 70 vote. Thank you board. Next on our item agenda is updates, announcements, and reports. And this is the report from the Lake County Public Library Foundation regarding the readathon. Dr. Buffington. >> Well, there you go everyone. Um this year the uh the Early Learning Center Joy Martin and Veterans earned 377 for their school libraries. Uh, and
040the 2026 readathon will take place January 12th to February 23rd. Excuse me. Thank you. >> Our next item on the agenda is the change in January meeting dates. Dr. Buffington, you know that we have five Thursdays in the month of January and um one of them happens to be very close to the holiday there. Uh and so we are uh adjusting our meetings to reflect January 8th and January 22nd, second and fourth Thursdays of the month. >> And the next item is the updates, announcements, and reports with school information. Dr. You have your weekly agendas from all of our schools and the Brick Center newsletter about athletics. >> Next item is the upcoming activities and events and that's also you Dr. Buffington. >> Well, there's been quite a bit going on. Um, we've already had
041our Christmas concerts. I will speak to that just a moment. Um, records day tomorrow, winter break through January 2. And then the anxious generation, our bricky parent academy will be January 7. >> Next item is comments and we'll start with you Dr. >> Well, it's been a wonderful couple weeks since the last time I saw you. Uh if you've been watching some of the social media posts, we had Emily Sicilian uh win uh the Lily Grant from the Legacy Foundation. I couldn't be prouder of her shees. presents us well uh and extremely proud that she was awarded that on the very same day uh I could let the board know that one of our students uh it would be Audrey Turley she was accepted at Notre Dame and not only was she accepted at Notre
042Dame she received $75,000 scholarship per year and so these things were happening I don't think you could have given me any bad that would have stole my joy for these students. And then at this point, I would tell you then I go into I actually got a call or a text on my phone to step out and FaceTime with Mrs. Turley. And I thought it was something for the school. And I said, "I'm getting ready to start a choir concert for the senior citizens. Can this wait?" And they're like, "We don't think so." And so I said, "Let me get them started and I'll step out." Um, and then I was able to go into the choir concert afterwards. But when I facetimed, it was Audrey that uh came on the FaceTime to tell me
043about it. She's an extraordinary young lady. Um, she has started her own um, if you would internship program with us. They're it's out in the elementary schools right now. We have high school kids working for us and we call it Ricky uh Ricky superstars and they're getting tutoring and they're doing social emotional learning and these are lessons that Audrey Turley has created because she wants to be a child psychologist. So um she's done a lot of research, a lot of studying. I had her do pre and post tests with kids and uh and now I have other high school kids being trained by her doing internships and through victory kids, they're being paid. And so, it's really an extraordinary thing that she was able to to like talk about. Uh she is like a sponge
044when it comes to that sort of uh thing with child psychology. So, I'm just really very proud of her. I'm proud of all of our students, but it was a great day. Then I go into the choir concert and it was phenomenal. Um we had and Frank, you were there and you can talk more about it if you want, but I don't think you could have been put more into a Christmas spirit, a holiday spirit, than going to one of our concerts. We had close to 200 senior citizens come to the dinner that night. Only 140 of them registered. Uh so, uh Bonnie was a little bit upset about that. Um she felt like we were going to run out of food. She said she did run out of vegetables, but we told them how
045grateful we were that they came, right? and and they were dressed to the nine. Um they had a great dinner and the performance was outstanding. Our very own Grace performed a solo. Um it was awesome. It was really great. Um and in true tradition, I would be remiss not to thank Mr. Wolf, who always sneaks in my favorite Christmas tune, um Little Drummer Boy, and he always does a different rendition. This is the first time um that Wolf Gang has ever done drummer boy and they dedicated it to me up in the booth and I was really surprised by that and it was heart uh touch it just touched my heart um but it was so beautiful Grace it's one of the best renditions that I've heard and then at the very end of the
046show we had Matt Henowski who is an alumni of ours he did a light show so they told everybody to stay put and there were lights going everywhere it was just a spectacular night and I want just say just so much fun and it was great to see all of these people in our community inside of our high school having such a great time recognizing that it's their high school too, right? And so we've always tried to say that it's their high school and they had a great time. You could just tell and uh then of course our kids do that a special performance just for them and the Legacy Foundation through that grant opportunity provides the meal. Right. So um RO students, our ROC students help serve. Um, so that was really important to
047help out our cafeteria uh uh system. Um, because it's a lot of people. Then the next morning, we had our staff breakfast. Um, that went over really great and there's just so many wonderful things to be thankful for. Um, I will end my comments today. Um, during the staff breakfast, I had an unusual request, which Chris King helped me pull off, and I'm always grateful for Chris. Our exchange student, Carlo, came up to me, and um he he said, you know, tomorrow is my last day, meaning today would be his last day. He's from Italy. And I said, Carlo, I you're not staying the whole year. And he's like, no, I miss my family. I need to go home. And and and just a phenomenal student, right? And and he's just telling me how great
048it is. He's loved every moment. He's been here for four months. And he and I I said, "Well, that's just really great to hear." He goes, "But I really wanted to do one thing." And I said, "Well, what?" And he said, "I really wanted to be on your podcast show." And I said, "Really?" And and he said, "Yeah." And I said, "Well, do you have something you want to talk about?" And he said, "Well, I never thought about that." And I said, "Well," I said, "Well, we typically try to to talk about things that motivate us to be better people in society, you know." And I said, "Give it some thought." I said, "I'll be here for a while. We have our staff breakfast going on." So, he comes back to me and he goes,
049"I've given it some thought." And um and I said, "Well, we're going to have to pull this together. Do you have do you have a study hall or are you all final exams?" And at a study hall and I said, "I'll tell you what. You can email me your ideas and I'll get you out of your study hall and we'll do a podcast." So, uh, I worked on a script. Um, and it's really interesting because he has great perspective on things being here from another country and what did he actually see and learn from us, right? And, and so I said, "Chris, we got to do a podcast." So, Chris comes in, gets me set up, and he was delight if you have not watched it and I really should let Chris give you his
050perspective on it because Chris has the best perspective on it but when we were done this was so funny now you have to give your perspective when we were done he's like this is like being on with Jimmy Fallon and I was like I'm like thank you Carlo but it's really funny he's like can you make sure that my parents get the link and I said well you're going to have to send it to your We'll make sure that you get the link for it. Um, but at this time before I turn it like completely over, Chris, you should give your perspective because we and then I immediately said to the principles, you need to let the kids watch this today because it was so telling and revealing. >> Especially considering that >> it wasn't
051planned. Wow. >> But what really struck me was, you know, coming from Dr. >> and they go to specialized high schools. how inclusive it is, how much you felt welcome to be a part of all these things and how muchbody our entire liv We probably take a lot of grown up. It was and you know I had no idea what he was gonna say when I asked these questions and it was just really enlightening for him to come here and spend these four months with us. And he just was so honored to be here and he just loved every moment of it. And he did talk about hard work. He had to study and put in a lot of hard work. Um he had a couple of early college classes that were challenging to him,
052but you know, he couldn't get past like purple and gold and football and the mods and then he was talking about wrestling and then he talked about Cassie and the parade we had for her going down state. Then he talked about six and I mean like he did everything and I said I told Chris, I mean like he talked about everything. and he got it all in in 15 minutes. And so, >> Halloween as well. >> Oh, yeah. Halloween, Thanksgiving. Um, and, you know, then we talked about his family and our family and and just what it means to be, you know, he really talked about how the community, how we serve one another and we're kind to each other. And I said, I would like to think that, too. and um he just had
053such a great perspective of what Chris said we probably don't see. We take it for granted, right? And so I hope you'll watch it. Uh you will laugh at times and at other times you'll just come away saying like we have a good thing going on here and I hope that people recognize that. And then at the end we just said, you know, peace and blessings to your family and peace and blessings to our Hobart family. Um, and it was just really fun, wasn't it, Chris? Um, and other than that, I would just say, uh, it it's nice that they're ending their semester, and I am just hopeful that they get to go home and and relax a little bit before the the big Christmas holiday. And um, I would just say to all of
054you, merry Christmas, happy holidays. Looking to the new school year, uh the the new semester, I should say, after the break and come back refreshed, ready to start a new. And I do want to say that there's plenty to be thankful for. So, thank you for all of your support and thank you to all of the people to the left of me and that are not here um that um help us provide the best for our students. >> Thank you, Mr. King. >> I want to give a shout out to the middle schools. Oh yes, thank you Chris. >> They were supposed to travel down University on Saturday. They had a blast. It was a lot of fun. I was also super excited. >> That was really big. Yep. Thanks for bringing that up. I
055forgot about it. I hope everybody I should say Chris is going to Italy in May and so it was really great for him to sit in on the podcast with with Carlo. Wonderful perspective. >> Mr. longer. >> Yeah, they will also be represented by uh Mr. OA, I did tell Craig OA that, you know, like Colleen is his work wife and you know, like I'm definitely part of the extended family. Why aren't we invited to go? And he's like, well, you could go pay for your own ticket. And I'm like, aha, Colleen and I will remember these things the next time you call, >> Mr. Melon. Uh so um Xander, my youngest, was actually part of the middle school esports Minecraft team. >> Oh, great. >> So I was one of those parents, uh Jody
056and I, who came in and sat and watched all of it. It's interesting because um you would think, you know, being the tech guy that I would actually do Minecraft. And uh it's one of those areas that I have avoided um along with World of Warcraft if that means anything. Mostly because I know um how my tech addictions work and I would never get myself back out of that Minecraft hole. Um but anyway, yeah, so it was it was fun to watch them all. Um and listening to the kids trying to coordinate, you know, and hey, this is going on and that's going on and you know, they had plans and they had, you know, ideas that they were trying to they didn't come in first, but you know, they they really worked together. Um,
057and that's what the, you know, sports of all kinds is about, learning to be part of a team, learning to adapt and work and try to work out a plan and if it doesn't work out, adjust and do something different. Um, so I'm excited that uh that they're doing that at such an early level at the middle school level. So that was it was nice. It was really neat. >> That is so well explained for us because A lot of people just think it's video games and it's not. I mean, there's so much collaboration and team work that they have to do to be able to place and trust each other um to do their parts. Um I think people need to come watch esports and they would get an eyeful. It's totally different than
058what people think it is. Well, watching it like uh you know, watching the the remote session where you're really just seeing what's going on and you're listening to the the commentators making comments, those people aren't hearing the kids. We were in the same room next to the kids listening to and that's not something you usually get a chance to to be a part of. And you really do get to hear that that collaboration and them trying to work together and such. And esports really is sports. what the rest of it's all about. Schools are going to be able to particip their location's collaboration, you know, actual traditional team. >> Mr. I'd like to congratulate the sports team. That's exciting news. Um especially with the middle school group. Um to our Lily scholar, that's just amazing
059that seem like we continue to have that success here in the school city every year. And other than that, just uh hope everybody has a merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy new year. See everybody back after the first year. Thank you, Mr. Rogers. I just like to be kicking the football. >> There you go. >> Happy holidays everyone. >> Thank you, Mr. King. I just want to mention I I've attended the uh all Christmas concert every year. It's amazing. If you haven't but I also my wife and I attended the jazz band for the elementary school students who were bus >> it is wild. They enjoyed it very much. They were so into the songs. They knew the songs. They were singing the songs and clappers. Other than that, it's just merry Christmas. Thank you, Mr.
060Schultz. Anyway, thank you to all you guys for all the hard work you do all the time. Merry Christmas. >> Over here. First, I want to apologize for being tardy. there's a a train stopped at county line and I live on the other side so it's kind of a hassle to try to get around that. Um but the first thing I want to do is congratulate my close peers uh Audrey and Emily on their accomplishments. I work closely with both of them in different clubs and so it's great to see them getting the opportunities that they deserve and I know through those that they will continue to impact their communities wherever they end up um at college and after college and things like that. Um also to make a comment on the concerts. Those were
061um great to perform at, but I think in all my four years of performing for the Legacy Foundation um senior citizens one, that's the I think largest crowd that we've had. Um and then same also for the regular concert. I think combining with the middle school kind of brought that community together and connected between the high school and middle school and I hope that they continue to do that. Um congratulations to the esports team. That is really cool that they are doing that and then also seeing that kind of transfer over at the high school level. Kids are doing that here too. Um, happy holidays and I think that's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Forest. >> So, I did get a chance to see the Christmas concert for the senior citizens. We were kind of
062hesitant to go [laughter] >> I was invited by senior citizens. We'll take you either way. >> Yeah, it was awesome. I was not really much of a person has an awesome holiday. Thank you. The number one thing. Um there is another student too that I caught a glimpse of on Instagram. I don't know what day that was. Oh, today um Lenny Williams too full tuition scholarship to the University of Evansville. Um she's a three sport athletes being so shout out to >> Was that just announced today? >> Yes. So shout out to Laney Williams as well. >> That's one. Um two congratulations get hers from University. >> Did she did she did she accept? >> I don't know. >> Okay. Yeah, >> right. She did have the offer full of Evansville. I saw that today.
063Um so congratulations to her as well as the other students that are um getting some great things um done just on their next step and their next journey. What a great accomplishment to all three of them um to the middle school esports. Awesome. We now have a system. Isn't that amazing to think it all started, Chris, with something just that Dr. B said, "Hey, check this out." And here we are. Um, and I would just also like to say uh thank you all for putting your trust in me to sit here in this seat for this last year. I appreciate that. And uh I hope everyone has a merry Christmas, a happy new year, and to remember what the season is about. And with that comment, I will end the meeting.