001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all the minutes of the executive session and regular session meetings held on September 4th 2020. and the executive session held on September 11th, 2025. Your pleasure. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion board? >> Yes, it was. >> She's amazing. >> All right. And we passed that five. We had two board members this evening. Next item is the financial reports attached for the accounts payable vouchers register for September 2025 this evening you're solo >> thank you okay hello okay first we have school education that is $757,3554 then we have education form uh per That that is $68,211.15. Exempt operating post 2009 65,84410. We have school operations
002which is 398,37019. We have construction 0700 which is 187,49960. Construction projects is $7,9559. School lunch is $200,4140. Self- insurance fund which is $447,955.15. Building brickies is $552.80. School education foundation is $1,595.39. Early years initiative grant is uh $2,47. Healthy Hbert BFTS is $13,556.32. Career Coaching Grant is $82.74. Uh, Title One Part A FY25/26 is $3,596.97. PAR professional training grant grant is $7,238. Title four part a uh FY2425 is $599. The title 2 part a FY2425 is $4,26741. The title 2 part a FY2526 is $5280. Clearing accounts is $332,435.96. Self insurance clearing is 500 or sorry 53,7816. Clearing flexible benefits AF is $24,45082. Prepaid food is $53.30. Clearing SL account is $2,880.97. >> Uh, and then wait, >> yes, sorry. Uh, credit card B clearing is $6,876.61. That brings us to a total vouchers of $2,587,261.35.
003like to make a motion that the board approve payment of the vouchers for se September 18th. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion? >> And that passes again. Thank you. Are there any comments on agenda items from the audience? >> Personnel report Mr. electronic packet. You received a copy of the personnel report addendum for September 18th. Action is requested. >> Recommend the board approve the personnel reports as presented. Second >> board. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Looks like a lot of work. Thank you guys for Thank you board. That passes 5. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is the school custodial and maintenance employees recognition day. Dr. Buffington. >> Yes. Forward. In your packet, you have a copy of the resolution for um school uh custodian
004and maintenance um recognition. And I know that our our secretary will read the resolution and it or its title. Um let's just say how we are so dependent on them and um they do a great job. We were just honoring uh our director of facilities that just retired, Felix Perry. Um but the team that we have that keeps our schools clean and our facilities looking great. We couldn't be prouder of them. They're awesome team people that I I look at our schools and particularly you come into this school and people always comment how it still looks like it's a new school and so we have a lot to be proud of. So I'll turn it over to you Mr. Secretary. >> Okay. We have a resolution today uh number 2025-23 school custodial and maintenance employees
005recognition. I'd like to make a motion that the board adopt resolution number 2025-23 recognizes school custodial maintenance employees recognition day. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> I know I have uh two kids and cleaning up after them is rough. So having almost 4,000 they're doing good work. >> You're here Mr. If you would do roll call, please. >> David is absent. Don Rogers. >> Hi. >> Schultz is absent. >> For I vote is 5. Thank you. Next on our agenda is the recommendation to accept the IDE Roboind grant. Dr. Buffington. >> Well, we want to thank Tammy May for all the hard work that she does for these grants and this one um is um the grant was for $20,50 and last year's grant was $12,000.
006She um she does this for our special needs program over at Joan Martin. And um humanoid robot teaches uh communication and social skills with our special needs. Now, I will just say adults are not fans of this thing. Um, >> yeah, he does he does look like, >> but the kids love it. >> I brought him in. >> He had a mind of his own. >> Definitely a mind of his own. Um, but anyways, the kids respond to it. Um the grant now also includes access to new phonics lessons which that's very cool. Um and so we are just really proud of Tammy for always reaching out. Um the Joan Martin robot's name is Milo. You've all met Milo. He's about two feet tall. Um and he can produce a wide range of emotions so
007that students can practice that. Um and when you um have autism that is a great way to reach out to kids. So um the research shows up to 80% improvement in communication skills um and a 40% increase in engagement when compared to traditional therapy and we wouldn't have this without T. So we applaud her and we ask that the board accept the Roboc grant and authorize the superintendent to execute the documents. >> I'd like to make a motion that the board accept the roboc and authorize the superintendent any necessary documents for the >> second. >> I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> Please pass our competitive grant as well. So, it's not easy to get. There were so many applicants this year that it was a handful really that received
008a lot of >> I think that they got some pretty good publicity with the Joy Martin one though. And so, they also know that we're going to exeute whatever we get to the fullest extent because we have our our she's our specialist that will hold your hand till you get how to use it. Right. So that's very good. >> That is good. And that passes 5. Thank you board. Our next item on the agenda is the recommendation to accept the secured safety grant from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. All right. For in your packet, you have a copy of the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant. Um, it's a matching grant for 92,500. We use this to contribute, um, it's matching and, uh, it helps offset the cost of SRO's. Um, it's a little more
009than last year, thank goodness. Uh, originally when we would get this grant, it would be always be 100,000. Um, I know we're grateful for any money that for school safety. I will tell you that Greg Bata does this uh grant for us all the time and we're appreciative of that. One of the things that superintendent have long since asked legislators um why they wouldn't just give the money to the school for the SRO instead of making fill out a grant for it. Um I mean because almost everybody would be using it for an SRO. Um but saying that would that would be less work on the schools just to get that money to have it for SRO's. Anyways, we're grateful for that. Also attached in here, you will find our agreement with the city for
010our SRO's and I do want to say I'm always grateful to the city um for partnering with us and uh you know we we have a 6040 split with them. um they tried to reduce our cost by 5% because of SEA1 uh Senate enrolled act one and so um what you see in here is an agreement with the city for one year um as we are looking at you know our resources because of all of the cuts because of Senate enrolled act one. Um I can just say that it was very nice of them to try to go in and and do a little more for us. Um and we're grateful for that. That being said, um I need the board to accept the secured school safety grant and authorize uh that to be signed
011and uh agreed upon along with the SRO agreement with the city of Colbert as presented. >> Like to make a motion that the board accept the secured school safety grant from the Department of Homeland Security and the SRO agreement with the city of Hoverbert as presented and authorize the superintendent to execute the grant and the agreement. Okay, board. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> I think it's a great program and I'm very thankful for the city for chipping in. Um, love to see the SRO's there. The kids love the SRO's. Um, and the presence is definitely appreciated. Thank you board. That passes 5 Z. And our next item on the agenda is Mr. Glover with the year 2026 budget and 2026 bus replacement plan. And I'd like to before
012you start Thank you to Mr. Rogers for supplying us with popcorn. There you go. >> In your electronics packet, you have a series of documents related to this year's advertised budget and bus replacement plan. Um the form three including notice to taxpayers and the bus replacement plan. the 2026 advertised budget with detail uh gateway budget forms including the current year financial worksheet, debt worksheet as well as budget forms one, two, four, and as well as IDE state tuition support funding formula sample worksheet uh based on an adm22 with 52 virtual students. Um, I've asked Chris to share a couple of graphics as we go into some of the uh district and state trends that we're looking at as we move into the new year here. Um, much of this information I'm sure you're already familiar
013with. Um, here's a look at historical one of our assessed values. We're up about 8.8% % this year uh to over$1.1 billion dollar in assessed value throughout the district. Of course, this is great news and helps support uh the funds that rely on property tax. Um outline some of the changes legislatively as we go through tonight. But um obviously a raise in assessed value at that magnitude is an overall positive thing. Um ultimately uh we know the state limits our maximum tax levy in the operations fund. Um according to the department of local government finance our 2025 maximum levy for operations uh which you can see on the form three is 4 million 661,424. This would be an increase of 4% over 2025. That once again is the maximum levy growth quotient for the year
0144%. Um unfortunately as we know circuit breaker heavily impacts us as a primarily residential community and so um we of course have been receiving less and less of that as time goes on. Chris, you can kind of scroll down through that. Um, that's just a forecast analytic on future um, you know, projection. Nothing set in stone there. There's the detail on the val. Um, so that kind of gives you a look at where we've been historically in terms of tax cap loss due to the circuit breaker. Um, there are a number of things to look at here. Of course, reminder on the basics, right? Taxes on residential homesteads are capped at 1% of assessed value. Um, and therefore, communities like ours with heavy resial tax base makeups are particularly hard by circuit breaker. Uh communities
015that have greater concentration of farmland or commercial property uh maybe don't feel the same level of impact on this front um that we do. Right. >> Well, and we should just give that a number. This is the original circuit breaker um property tax cap. Um we lose about 80% of property tax collection with the original circuit breakers. And We'll talk more about Senate enrolled act one which is kind of like a second circuit breaker that kind of puts us from that 80% at one year uh it's like 109% and another year it's 113% and so um the property tax caps are really very hurtful to this school district. On on that note, on the forum three, you'll note um that DLGF provided a 2026 circuit breaker estimate figure at over $6.7 million. Um that would
016be an increase of 3.6 million over this past year. Now, we want to unpack that a little bit because there's a lot that goes into that, but I felt it was important to explain it given that it's right there on the perform on gateway. So, among the things to consider as we look at the history here, right, when you look at the graph, you can see the steady upward trend. Um, however, we did see a little bit of relief on that front this year in that estimated figure down to a little over $3.1 million. Uh reminder that that's um a byproduct largely of the lower debt service rate. You'll recall that we lowered our debt service rate in to under 80 cents, giving us the ability to issue bonds this year. And so we did
017see a little fluctuation in the circuit breaker as a result of that. And then >> that is just for that year. Remember we temporarily did that in order to to bond, right? >> And so you won't see that going forward. >> And so the the the the additional issue um that that plays into this year would be um the what they're calling local property tax credits. Um, this is the provision beginning in 2026 where eligible homesteads will receive an additional property tax credit potentially up to $300. Um, this in effect is is a second circuit breaker now, right? another layer of legislated property tax relief, which of course results in reduced revenue for local government units. And so um it it's it's been a challenge to wade through those changes this year as we prepare
018um the budget. Um the figure that's on the graphic there as a 2026 estimate you'll notice is lower than the DLGF version. Uh we've got about 5.3 million. Um that figure is based on a preliminary review of our uh individual circumstances from policy analytics. Um that is not final or or locked in at this point because there are still things that are um lingering out there. Um we did check both with policy analytics on their methodology and then cross reference that with the DLGF in terms of why the difference between the two figures, right? Because there's quite a bit of difference there. >> We should point out though that the DGF said use policy analytics information because they're more accurate. So, it's important that Bobby is pointing this out to you because there there is
019a distinct difference um which made us keep double checking things and um policy analytics um >> I mean like they even work with the county and so when DGF was contacted they're like they have more accurate information use the DGF so we wanted to make sure that you all knew that. >> Yeah. And and they they basically both said that the LGF estimate is meant to be sort of like the very worstc case scenario. So for starters, it assumed no assessed value growth. That number was produced prior to the assessed values being released. Those came a month or so later. And so we know that that we got that, you know, 8% plus in growth, whereas their figure was based on no, right? Um and then additionally they make sort of worstc case scenario assumptions
020in terms of the the levies for not only us but all of the overlapping taxing units like the city of for example right and so this would be sort of the perfect storm right no AV growth everybody maxing out all of their respective rates and levies which would create that mag of circuit breaker loss. Uh policy analytics is going to work with us once we finalize our bond issue for the year to get us a much more accurate figure. They can't pin it down a whole lot more than that um without having what the impact next year of the bond will be on our debt service needs. But their estimate was also produced prior to the assessed value being released. They had modeled in I think a 2% increase. So here again we far surpassed
021that. So that's good. >> It was we should all be so thankful 8.8% is is spectacular. >> Um so some context there that I think is important, right? Um, our circuit breaker loss has increased uh over a million dollars since 2022. It could well reach $2 million this year. And you can see the the trend line there. Um, it's been nothing but straight up. Um, we did start to ask questions that we we haven't had the need to ask before in light of this new legislation. um things like well what happens if the circuit breaker eats up our entire operations fund levy and then what because as Dr. had mentioned some of those reports we're receiving show circuit breaker figures in excess of our maximum levy in operations. Um, and what we learned is that
022if that were to ever happen, they would start cutting into your debt service levy um to to to hit that number, right? So typically they fill your debt service needs first and then operations just sort of gets whatever's left over, right? And so if there weren't enough to take in operations, they would start taking from debt at that point. >> And they and they also said that if you deplete your debt service, they move to the education fund. So there is a cycle there. They will will reduce and they will take what they need or you won't get what you need I should say. >> Um the the first glimpse at our situation once we got a uh policy analytics was a lot more optimistic about the circuit breaker situation. Um he he cautiously optimistic
023thought that there was a chance we actually would get a little money in operations this year. Uh but again, they can't really pin that down until we finish up with the bond work. And so, um regardless of how it pans out, we're going to see the largest circuit breaker loss we've ever seen as a result of this new legislation. Um since 2020, our 80s increased 53.8% % right and and so you know these things are just worth mentioning as part of the overall picture right because again while our operations levy technically increases the combination of limiting your maximum levy to 4% a year with circuit breaker means that we're actually receiving less in the fund despite the fact that AV has grown um leaps and bounds In the last five or six years, um our
024our maximum levy itself has only gone up 28.3% due to the limit imposed by the MLGQ, right? And uh circuit breaker has again caused our actual receipts uh to decrease by over $2 million during that same period. Right? So even though our AV continues to climb, we're not seeing that benefit on the operations side and and ultimately that's one of the great challenges that that our community faces with with these uh tax base dynamics. Um the benefit of the AV growth is more consistently realized in the operating referendum fund because it is um outside of those circuit breaker limits, right? And so we do expect um to see a little bit of growth there this year. a reminder that in 24 and 25, the state saw the rapid AV growth statewide and they limited growth
025in operating referendum funds as well uh to 3%. They they sort of cooked that up as as they were watching ads go wild and they were trying to limit the the impact on homeowners in the process. Um our estimates were that we probably lost maybe about $80,000 relative to what we would have gotten if they had not limited us um in that way over the last couple of years. However, um some good news that that with us being renewed this spring, winning um the renewal for the referendum, we get to reset to the proper tax rate in that fund. And uh The the early estimates on that are that that we should probably expect maybe an additional $200,000 or so in our operating referendum fund this year compared to last. >> Right. But going forward
026with Senate enrolled act one, we will actually lose money in operating referendum. So >> correct. >> So we got a little bit of the beginning, but it will be slowly dwindle away. >> Yeah. Over time. Um and this is Another thing that we're working with policy analytics on is to model out what this will look like in future years. Um but essentially what we expect is that yeah we'll get this shortterm bump in 26 and then from 27 till probably about 2031 as all of that new legislation that changes the deduction dynamic and the way that they assess home values is phased in a little bit at a time year after year. Um we're expecting to kind of bottom out uh around uh 2031 or so at which point everything would kind of settle in
027under the new system and then we would gradually start to climb back from from that bottom again. Um but again preliminary estimates on that are that we would expect to to to not so so the idea being okay We passed our referendum prior to SEA1. We didn't even know it was on the horizon when we went out and we put the whole project together, right? We passed it right as the legislation was being finalized downstate. Um, if that legislation had never happened, we would have expected to to levy for probably about $6 million more over the life of those eight years than what we expect to get now. So, um, that's obviously um a devastating consequence of that legislation. Um, So you're talking about six million that you would have stood to gain over the
028course of that time and then beyond that an actual reduction in revenue from our current baseline as well. Right? Where if if we pull in something in the neighborhood of $3 million this coming year that that will probably decrease to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.3 million or so. as we fall down that slope as the new legislation takes effect. It's about I mean so at early projections and we're trying to finalize all of those just um Senate enrolled act one and our regular operating budget it's about 6 million um this is about 6 million I mean we're in between that 12 12 and a half million with both of those funds um and the devastation that we'll be losing. >> Okay, so that's that. Um the the the next thing um we typically update
029you every year on uh the trends in health insurance. Um of course um we've seen some pretty hefty increases in recent years. Um I don't know if if you want to talk a little bit about how things played out this year. >> So um basically when you're looking at this graph right here, there was no increase with our providers this year. Um and um that would simply because be because they did not laser out some people on our insurance package. And so therefore um them not lasering them out um caused us to not be assessed for those people and that were lasered out of the plan. When we say lasered out, they're excluded um for various reasons of expense. And so what happens with that is then that usually falls on our self-insured account um
030and we're having to pay for those lasers. We're constantly looking for solutions um to help care for our employees. But on top of caring for our employees, having a manageable thing that does not affect the whole package. Um we were quite surprised by this to be quite frank that um we end up with the same uh the same insurance with no increase. And it's simply because we had a contract with them that they could not add lasers um for one year and they didn't add lasers as a mistake and then quite frankly what happened is then they couldn't add any new ones. So we really were very fortunate that that happened to us and we didn't have an insurance increase. But as you can see and you're looking at health care um just looking at
031the graph whether we had an increase or not it's very expensive and um we're constantly on our end looking for solutions to bring that cost down. Uh Martha Glover works in our office. She is um our specialist on insurance being selfinsured. We have a lot of third parties that help us maintain. Um so let's just talk about what those are trying to keep that cost down. Um you know like we were talking to the teachers association today just simply about the Ricky clinic. A lot of people don't realize that that keeps a lot of our employees from going to the emergency room which drives our cost up and it also costs them money when they go to the emergency room. The other thing that the Ricky clinic provides is uh certain medications um that that
032is on a docket list that we have with them. Uh it also provides other immediate care um places that they can go to keeping that cost down. In addition, we have um we have something called RX Protect that we keep in our insurance as a third party um to drive down the cost of of prescription drugs. believe it or not, sometimes the prescription drugs is where all the increases are. Um, and it's quite expensive versus your medical. So, we have that third party working with us and, uh, we're just constantly working on solutions to keep that at bay. It's very difficult. But if you're wondering why that is equal, now you know. Pretty much that's it. there. Um, an update then on uh state tuition funding and the education fund. Um, in your packet again
033you have a detailed version of the state funding worksheet. Um, here there are a variety of factors that go into that, but as you know the most significant factor is just the raw number of students that are enrolled in the school district. Um, The budget for our education fund that you have presented to you was based on an ADM count of 3929. Um, after talking with Chris uh this morning, the the current number was more like 3922. Um, which would be right kind of in between where we started last year. Not as high as where we started last year, but higher where we ended last year um in February. And so um the open enrollment initiative certainly helped to stabilize um ADM, but uh those factors that that we talk about in terms of school
034choice um and uh you know decreased birth rate, right? The smaller incoming classes of kindergarteners and the outgoing senior classes challenges on this front. >> Right. So, as he's suggesting that it was a very good move to go to open enrollment because we would have been in serious negative numbers. Um, I do want to just comment on school choice and you know, so you you can choose a charter school. uh you can choose uh like scholarship choice to go to a private or parochial school or just plain parent choice. There are so many schools that have open enrollment now. And when you also look at open enrollment, um you also now have that there's no athletic penalty for one year if you have open enrollment and you want to go somewhere else unless you're a
035senior. So what you see is you see a lot of movement um in communities. And so that total for us last year 315 and you're saying, "Well, that's a very large number." Yes, it is. So when you wonder where all of those kids are, many of those kids are in online schools. And so um you know, it's something to take a look at. Um and then you have to wonder about the quality of the online school, too. So we caution parents if they're going to make that we have an online school um and we take very good care of our students. We'd like for them to use our online school. Um these are things that are really very difficult when you're making a budget and you're going into a school year and you're trying to
036staff and you don't know what your enrollment's going to be. So you can imagine we're all equipped for open enrollment and we come out minus4 students with open enrollment. Now I would say I'm hopeful for the future. Um I'm hopeful that Cresmore uh keeps producing houses and we have kids that move in um and they get to come to our school system because it's a great school system. I was talking to a young lady today. We did our mentor program here at the high school. This is her second year at the high school and her mom wanted to move back to St. Louis and she's like, I'm begging my mom not to move back. I love it here. We have a great school system and we just wonder come back to us. Why why are
037you choosing a charter school? Um, I can certainly understand if people are choosing a parochial school, um, and they want to, you know, they want to infuse the faith aspect into their child's education. But for charter schools and you're choosing an online version or a neighboring school corporation, you're missing out. Our kids have early college opportunities here and come on back. In the meantime, um, I don't know if you noticed that um, they approved another subdivision on And so that would be good for us as well. And I'm hoping by that uh our numbers grow and we'll keep open enrollment and see what happens. Uh according to some of my colleagues, the second year is a little higher. And so we could see a different number with that in the second year because people, as
038much as you advertise, they really just didn't know. A lot of people didn't. So, we'll see how that goes. But that's an update on enrollment. >> And another quick interesting note, when Chris and I were talking this morning, we kind of realized that from this day last year, 280 a.m. count day, we actually gained some students in that couple weeks. So, there really is no telling how those things will play out. >> We might get a few more. Um we are in the first year of the new uh state bianium, right? So we've got to look at this year and next year on the funding formula front, there won't be a new budget until the spring of 2027 at the state level. For this year, um if you add or subtract one student on the
039state formula worksheet for us, that value uh is about 7 62. Um, other notable changes this year, um, the state inserted curricular materials funding into the basic grant amount. Um, last year that was just under $158 per student. So, that's one of the figures that we're working off of as we model this out. Unfortunately, the state didn't give us an updated figure for what that was. They just sort of took the whole pot of money and shoved it into the foundation grant amount. Um, this creates an illusion of a larger um funding increase than what it was in reality, right? Because we were already getting a good chunk of that money, >> right? So, what you saw is that when they said education received a 2% increase. They put that inside of that funding increase
040that's part of our foundation. And so for us, that's around $600,000. And it really wasn't a 2%. Um, so >> the first ADM count for this year is October 1st and then it'll take a few weeks until we know an official number as Chris and the state and all the other schools work to clean up the data. Um reminder that we are back to counting virtual students at 85% um for funding purposes. Uh they we were at 100% for a while during the pandemic, but they've since gone back to the 85%. The difference in funding on that worksheet between a person being in person versus if we switch them over to virtual is about $1,046. Um so so that's kind of that impact there. Of course we do have uh our own Ricky virtual school.
041This is the fifth year of that program now. Um, and we think that our virtual enrollment for the first semester could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 students the way things stand right now. Um, reminder that that program was born out of CO originally and we used federal dollars to establish it. Uh, but this is the second year now that we've had to incorporate that into the education fund completely. Um on on the other funds um the operations fund, referendum, operating fund, debt service fund and referendum debt funds are funded uh primarily by property tax revenues, right? Um as we mentioned before, the tax levy in operations is limited by the state uh both on the yeartoyear growth level through maximum levy growth quotient and through circuit breaker. Um, additionally, worldwide economic
042climate and inflation uh continues to to be an issue. Um, we have an awful lot of variable costs, remember in operations, right? Um, and and so whether that's your property casualty insurance or more notably right now the utility bills, right? Um, we're slated to to start seeing the impact of NIPCO's rate increases here this fall with another round of of increases phased in in the spring. And so this is >> it's about 17% >> major challenge for us going forward, right? Um, unfortunately those recent changes in Senate Act one only made things worse, right? We come here every year and talk about the challenges in operations. That legislation is only going to make this tougher than it has been. Um, as usual, uh, the 2026 budget is uh, structured to rely on increased transfers from
043the education fund into operations. Uh, we've got to do this to compensate for the loss in property tax revenue. We've managed to hold the line at just under 15%. We were so close this last year that the state actually thought we went over. They made an error in the calculation and we had to go back and tell them that they missed something and then we were fine. But that that's how close we're we're trying to cut it. Um and then you know ultimately it may not be possible to stay under that 15% um going forward here. We'll have to see how things play out. >> Right. I think that that's one of the most difficult things as we talk about this because you know it that education fund is all you know it's meant to
044be providing for the classroom and they allow that 15% to be transferred. If they didn't allow that right now we couldn't pay our utility bill and now that you have a second circuit breaker on top of this we are struggling like crazy. And so to Mr. Glover's point, and this is really important to note, I mean, if that's the healthiest fund and you don't have money to pay your utility bill, you will go over to that fund to pay your utility bill. Um, so, you know, we we feel like we have things in in a way where we're managing it. Um, it's just overly concerning that you're cutting it that close, right? And so, um, we hope to talk to legislators and just show them. I think You know, when we're talking about what we
045would like for them to look at, if they would just look at school corporations that are losing 50 to 60% of their property tax, if they would just look at those school corporations and provide some relief for them, um they're unlike other schools, other school districts, right? So, when you're thinking about it, I mean, everybody is going to take a hit off of Senate Enrolled Act One, but you didn't hardly anything left um because of the current circuit breaker. And a lot of people don't understand it's all taxing units that feed into our current uh circuit breaker. Whether it's the county, the library, the city, and the school corporation. We're all taxing units. We're we lose 80% without Senate Enrolled Act One. So, our goal would be to talk to our legislators to please take
046another look at those schools that are hurting so bad because of that. >> Um, of course, the challenges and operations were the driving factor behind the passage and now renewal of our operating referendum. Um, that fund has a fixed tax rate but benefits from the higher AV as it's allowed to tax tiff districts as mentioned earlier, it's also not subject to circuit breaker. It's outside of that. Um, and so, uh, again, the operating referendum, um, we know is essential to supporting our our overall operational costs, uh, primarily utilized for the transportation department and school safety. Um, revenue growth in this fund has not matched the cost of inflation. However, um nor has it matched our our losses in circuit breaker. The the original intent when it was first passed um nine years ago was to
047sort of fill the gap created by circuit breaker, but circuit breaker has run wild and and far outpaced the growth in that fund. And so, um you know, these are just things that that kind of um eat us up as we go through the process here. Uh both of our debt funds are taxed on the basis of the need to generate a levy that will meet our debt obligations for the year. Right. Um the exact debt service levy for 2026 will be determined after we issue bonds here in the near future. The number that's on the advertised budget is high. Um as as normally the case, we work to advertise higher than than what we expect um in some of these cases so that we make sure that we're able to to let for the
048maximum amounts that we need. Um you'll note this year we are not seeking to appropriate the $300,000 balance in our rainy day fund at this time. Uh we do have those funds appropriated for calendar year 25. Uh you might recall that we had concern about the self-insured fund um a year ago, but as Dr. Buffington laid out, we've had some good fortune on that front. And so um we're not looking to change anything with that fund right now. We don't expect to have to spend it this year. So that should remain intact for the time being. Um uh you've also got uh detail on our five-year bus replacement plan which we're required to advertise as part of this process. Uh Dr. Buffington and I worked with Becky Rosenbomb, our new director of transportation, to kind
049of get her familiar with how this process works um and to try to get her up to speed on our current funding dynamics so that we lay out a plan for what the next few years could look like under these new legislative conditions. Um, again, the cost of buses has increased dramatically recently, you know, I mean, so we every year we bring this to you, we're budgeting a higher and higher number for the cost of those because they just seem to continue to rise. It was just such a supply and demand issue during co um and then the prices never went back down. It's about 170,000 for a bus. Um and so it's extremely expensive. >> Um so in total the advertised budget this year at 56,797,570 represents an increase of about 1.4 million compared
050to the actual 2025 budget order uh which was only um a little bit different from the advertised budget a year ago. Um we've got a little more uncertainty this year on the debt service side. So you may see a different level of change this year when it gets finalized. The advertised budgets in education and operations are down about 3% each from a year ago. Uh whereas the operating referendum budget is increased about 5%. Um and so where you see overall increase in the budget um again that's based on the changes in the debt service dynamics primarily right where artificially held our rate down. We reduced our operating balance to a level that we don't normally let it sit at so that we could lower our tax rate this year so that we could issue bonds
051here coming up. And so now as we move forward, we're looking at future debt service rate that is likely to be much closer to what we saw previously. and you'll see that come down. Um I mean obviously the high school schedule um and some other bonds that we had come off in 2028. Um you know one of the things that we will kind of talk to the legislators about if they would consider with this Senate enrolled act no I mean like would I love to pay off our high school in 2028? I would um we we have so much to be thankful for. Um but if we could restructure that debt and stretch it out just a little bit, it would lower our payments and the circuit breaker. We could get some relief from that.
052And so that was repealed about two years ago um that you were allowed to restructure your debt. Um you know, that is not a that's not even a gift to to do it. It's a necessity. Um because what could happen, it would provide tremendous relief to us. And um I mean like I wanted to celebrate the day that we would be done paying for this building. It's so hard to believe that it's just around the corner. Um but if that could provide relief to our budget um and stretching it out just a little bit, it would certainly be worth it. But that's something we need them to do. Um that they would have to put that back in place to allow us to do that. we see that as a solution to help us um
053if they're not going to do anything to help schools and municipalities in the short session. And so um we'll pursue that. Um we're constantly looking for ways to make sure that we're we're we're doing the best that we can for our school district. So with that, um, I request the board's permission to advertise the notice to taxpayers for the 2026 budget in the amount of 31,548,25 for the education fund, $9,100,82 for the operations fund, 11,361,275 for the debt service fund, 3 4,733 for the exempt operating referendum fund and1,782,375 for the exempt debt capital referendum fund and also that the board place on the October 2nd, 2025 board meeting agenda the public hearing for the 2026 budget and bus replacement. I'd like to make a motion that the board grant permission to advertise the required notice
054to taxpayers for the 2026 budget in the amount of those listed by Mr. Glover and also that the board place on the the October 2nd, 2025 board meeting agenda the public hearing for the 2026 budget and bus replacement plan. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? I definitely want to thank Mr. Glover because this has been a tough budget. Um when you are faced with so many uncertainties and having to do checks and balances with every um you know entity that we deal with to try to make sure we're being as accurate as possible. And so, um, it's been a lot of difficult work and I am grateful for him because you have in front of you what we see to be the best solution for us going
055forward. Um, and just want to thank him. He did a great job. >> Thank you, Mr. Glover. We're sorry you couldn't come. >> I missed it. As I said earlier, I truly would have rather been there. I think he doesn't want me in his office anymore is what I really think. >> No. >> Yeah. And he's like locking the door. No, I'm just kidding. >> Thank you again for your hard work. You're welcome. >> I think it goes without saying you've got a lot of challenges there in this budget and we all do. But thank you for the hard work you put in and the good explanation of where they're at and why they're there. So, you're not going to send a thank you letter to the state? >> I will not. >> Me either.
056>> It may not say thank you. >> With that, the board votes to pass that 50. Thank you. And the next um agenda item is an update on the JOTC Raider State Championship. Dr. Buffington. >> Right. This is some really exciting news. Um And this comes from Major Brian Carroll. Uh he there were some openings at the state raider championship competition and he applied to take an additional Raider team to the competition and they approved his request. So now we'll be taking 28 cadets. Just wanted to let the board know that little update. Thank you for that. The next update announcement in report would be the Brookie Parent Academy. Dr. Buffington. Well, this is something um that last school year uh as an administrative team, we just really felt as though um we really wanted
057to have more engagement with our parents on some things that we know um because we're we're constantly out doing our research, you know, attending uh webinars, Zooms, whatever we can do. And we read a lot and just things that we're noticing with our students that perhaps they don't see. when we're seeing them at school and how can we help them and how can they help us and so um this would be uh us launching what we're calling the Bricky Parent Academy and we're hoping that parents will come and because a lot of times we'll offer a workshop and there will be five people in the audience and we think we have a lot of good topics here to talk to parents about. So, the first one that we're going to be doing um is on
058school safety. A lot of times parents don't realize um all the safety mechanisms that we have in play. And for instance, if we if we had to do if we had to secure one of our buildings and we use the word secure, um that might mean that there's something going on on the outside and we're okay on the inside, but we don't want anybody going outside, right? I mean, like we would just go over some of our posters that we teach our students about. Uh we would go over our Alice protocol. uh we would go under over um our Cooper code of awareness to talk to them about how kids can use the tip line um and we just thought it's a really good time for them to understand some of the safety protocol that
059we have and to allow them to ask questions um you know one of the schools down in Indianapolis used Alice um when they had an incident at their school and the students used Alice and the were like, "What's Alice?" And we try to tell people what Alice is. So, I hope they will come and learn about how we try to teach kids um how to use that protocol if necessary. So, we're we're calling it uh the Bricky Parent Academy. Let's just go through the other topics real quick. Um helping students to discover their hidden potential and achieve dreams and goals. Um uh Matt Whiteitman is going to help me with this. Uh as Chris King. Uh we're going to be talking about wildly important goals and pretty important goals and trying to help kids look
060at the difference between the two. Uh we're also going to we're going to show parents how to really use Skyward Canvas um and really just try to help stay on top of helping make sure that their kids are being successful with the tools that we have. The last two are really important ones to us. Um, some of the latest research coming out on the anxious generation as we see a lot of kids uh rising with anxiety in our schools. Um, we want to share with them the latest research on how to help um drastically bring that down and help their children if they do have anxiety. So, we're going to share some techniques with that. and then raising mentally healthy kids. Uh following right behind that on how to use love and logic to nurture
061confident, kind and responsible children and young adults. Uh we have some really great research to share with parents. I hope they will come out and join us. And we are going to give door prizes away. Um we could have child care too if they ask ahead of time. So there you go. >> That's a great idea. Right. Our next item of agenda is updates, announcements, and reports. Dr. >> Um, really quick, um, before I go to this, I do want to point out that doesn't include all the other stuff that we do. I mean, with freshman orientation, sixth grade orientation, you know, coffee chats, things that we do at all of our individual schools, those are specifically tied to all district. And so, I don't want you to think that like we have stuff going
062on for parents all the time. Um, those are just districtwide initiatives. Um, also on the next agenda item, you have weekly agendas from our schools and of course the always exciting to read brick center. Um, that highlights all the athletics in our school district. Um, I will just say for our Bricky fan section, uh, you know, it's really incredible and it brings a lot of joy to see our kids, uh, getting so into supporting the Brickies and, um, you know, we're doing really great. Go out there and vote for us as we, uh, as we play Andrean. Uh, I'm not sure what you guys have cooked up, Grace. What are you guys doing at >> Andrean? I'm not sure. >> T-Mobile, Jet TV. >> Well, I I can just say you do have the crowd
063going, so we're really proud of you guys. >> All righty. And the next item is upcoming activities and events. All right. Well, it's coming our way. Uh homecoming parade. Um 6 o'clock and the powderpuff game. Um those are always two great events coming up for homecoming. Um uh preparing now for your child's life after high school presentation. That's September 23rd. Uh you also have the County Self-Defense Human Trafficking Education Program at Jubilee. We had a gentleman in the audience talking about that. Um, and I encourage people to go to that. Uh, September 29th through October 3rd is college go uh and some of our dress up days. That's always a lot of fun. And then October 6, uh, we have uh tall cop and that if you are a parent, I I encourage you to
064go to that. Uh, He does the best presentation. Uh he is going to be at um the Dean and Barbara White Center in Marville. And so tall cop uh he actually comes and stays in your community for a little bit. And he makes you well aware of where drugs and things that are being sold right out from under I mean like they're right in front of you and you just don't realize it. But he also talks to you about the things that kids are being exposed to. Um the latest trends are in drugs and they're so dangerous and I think every parent needs that education. Uh October 12th is Harvest Homecoming and that would be with the Hbert Educational Foundation. Our new venue uh we are in the great hall. It's a brunch. Uh Wolf
065Gang will be performing and um it we're going to have a great time and I hope people will buy the tickets. They're at a reduced cost of $35. Um all of that money um will go towards scholarships and grants and so scholarships for our students, grants for our teachers, and I hope people will come out and support that hardworking group. Um the last thing on your list here is the aquatic center taking reservations for September through December. And if you've never had a party in the pool, um it's a lot of fun. Our next item on our agenda is comments. Dr. Buffington. >> Well, um, it's been a a very busy week this week. Um, and I just want to say, um, you know, my colleagues to the left, uh, they're they're incredible, hardworking people,
066and I'm very appreciative of them. And, um, I would just point out, you know, um, I'm glad that you guys to ISBA and you had a great time. Um, we were manning the ship back here with some very very tough things that we had to get done. Um, and I I would be remiss not to say, you know, I I've said special thanks to Bobby um, but John Mach has done an incredible job um, with rolling out our emergency calling system with strategics and um, it was a lot of work. Uh, we had Russ Melon involved with it. Um but you know trying to execute that with over 500 employees and then of course you've got our our our six buildings and then our two ancillary buildings and trying to make sure that we're protecting
067instructional time trying to cover our administrators as they learn the administrative role. Uh yesterday someone had to use that the button for I need help. Um and the administrators were able to get on scene right away. So um hard work paid off. Um I I can't thank the technology department enough for all the work that they did. Um it was a lot of work. We saved money by the technology department doing the installs and so um congratulations to all of them and um couldn't be prouder of them for that. So um we're hard at work over here and we'll just keep doing the best things for our um our students. I do have a couple of comments that are really interesting. Uh, Grace, you didn't get to see this, but yesterday, uh, Mir Ray helped
068me address the sophomores and juniors on PSAT SAT. Um, it was quite unique in and of itself. Um, and we were just pointing out to them some of their performance. And so to use a student on a panel discussion with me on how to improve their PSAT, SAT score. Um, and one of the things that we were able to highlight was just a great presenter, a sidekick for me and showing our students that their grade point average and their early college is is significant, but they don't really care about the PSAT SAT. And a lot of the times they'll say to us, "My school doesn't look at the SAT." So when they think their school doesn't look at the SAT, what do you think that they do on the SAT? They don't care about it.
069Um, so we had to address that with them that they're missing scholarship opportunities. And let's just say that your school says they don't check test scores, but there's so many spots in the program. >> Well, I'm going to look at your SAT score if there's only so many spots, right? So, we talked to them a little bit about that, but the biggest thing that we talk to them about is looking at the neighboring school corporations. We offer more career readiness than all of those schools and you all take advantage of it. Our numbers are so high with associates degrees, one year of college, but when you look at the stats on our SAT, we don't compete with them. And it's because our students are not competing academically on that test. And so, um, and we
070also had a little kind of surprise for them and drilling down in the data and we able to show them like significantly they're they're doing poor in math and so we said we're asking you to try to to like batten down the hatches in your math classes. Mir and Ray had the best advice for them. If you pay attention in class then you don't have to do anything extra and so it was kind of funny coming from a student's perspective. But here when I showed her this I said do you think that this would be offensive to show to the students? Oh, wow. No, there's a distinct difference and the national research is showing this as well. Um, where girls are outperforming boys and in our school corporation alone, our girls are outperforming boys by
07110%. And I said, so when I showed uh Marin this data, I said, what is your first reaction? And she said, we're all in the same classes together with the same instruction. Why aren't the is performing. I said, "Isn't that a great question?" And so, we kind of talked about that with the kids. We're like, "Come on, we need everybody to perform and it's for yourself and it's also for the school." I bring that to your attention because there is a serious problem with with that being one of our accountability tests that grades our school when colleges are not looking at that. And think that and they just blow off the test. That's the reality of of the children that were here. They do their own research. So, I had to make an appeal to
072them to stop acting like that, right? I need you to take that test serious. Um I had a great podcast show that'll be released next week with some high school kids talking about um perseverance and homecoming and academics and athletics and how they go together, right? Um with how you de those those time management goals and all of that is it's coming out and um it's just been a great week to be able to have kids help us lead. So today Debbie Matthysse and I met with juniors and seniors that are going to mentor freshmen and so we rolled that out today. Um we had a great meeting with all of them. They left here pretty hyped and um our key words were with them is one of the things we did at our administrative
073retreat. Let's make magic, right? And we're all about transforming and helping them be the best that they can be as freshmen. So, I want to give a a shout out to to my high school students. Um they have shown up this week for me and they've done some really cool things and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens because of the hard work they put in. That's it for me. Thank you, Mr. Glover. >> Uh, I want to wish for him this evening and it was great to hear especially for the people in his department. >> Thank you, Mr. King. >> Um, I too want to congratulate Felix. Um, I had you know, the opportunity of working in the same building with him and being able to talk to him often and and work with
074him on a lot of things and I've always been appreciative of him and he's a great guy, always willing to help. Um, and so I wish him the best on his retirement. I'm sure he'll have a great um and then I also want to um also thank Tammy May. Um she was, you know, wrote that grant for the Robo kind which was in the agenda today. Um but I I just I truly um she does a ton for our corporation. Um and uh you know she works with kids every single day. They need help technical or you know in Canvas or something. She works with teachers. She's doing PD. I'm calling her to my office to schedule you know PD on our district missions. Um and then she's writing grants on top of that. a
075lot of them too throughout the year. And so, uh, I very much appreciate her and all the work she does for our district. She's she's really an incredible. >> She really is. So, Kristen, I met with her this week because we uh we have and they have individual learning plans um after you do a checkpoint and I learn and everything has a cost, right? And so, we're trying to figure out how to use with SAT as well as I learn and the lady sends the lady the representative from their company sends me this quote and I just was like oh my gosh um and so I called Chris and Tammy I said Tammy we need your help I mean this is just so outrageous and so Tammy she takes it upon herself to to do
076some self-eing selfarning whatever and we schedule webinars with them and Tammy's like I'll just teach myself and then I'll teach the district which we've always used the train the trainer model but just the fact that we can go to her um and the money that she she has brought in and that she saves us by just doing that training we would not be a distinguished project lead the way school district without Tammy um and so um all the money that she saved us from there and the training that she's done and now we're going to tap her EL and SAT. So that'd be good. He's awesome. Thank you for Mr. Longer. Echo what's been said about pleasure of serving issues. retire know I was thinking about see a lot of things things. You don't see
077in this district where an attempt [Music] which fixing stay on top of the long schedule. So, >> you bring up an excellent point, Bill, because you know when um he converted us and we became energy star schools. I mean so you know when we try to look at energy savings we have LED everywhere and um that was his initiative and he did the grants for NIPCO to get that done and so I had forgotten about that bill and you're absolutely right that was a huge initiative that Felix took right away. >> Thank you Mr. M. I'd also like to congratulate Felix on his retirement. It's been a pleasure working with him over the last however many years. Um, in terms of the safety system, as Dr. Buffington mentioned, uh, that has been a large project,
078uh, but it's nice to see it kind of come to fruition. We've been working on that for a couple months and getting it fully implemented and staff trained on it has been rewarding. So, huge shout out to has been phenomenal with that viol as well >> and I think you know as Dr. Buffington mentioned it's already been used so we're in that first week of of it being live and it's already been used which I think just goes to show the importance of it and so proud of that but my highlight for this week is a little different Mrs. Mat and I met with a student a couple days ago uh that needed some assistance with some things and she's done a phenomenal job with that student um over the last couple months and last
079school year as well. And it just highlights that while yes, we take care of every single student, make sure they have an outstanding education, be productive citizens, we also get down to that individual level and take care of individual needs and it was it was good conversation and put a smile on their face. So great >> and when you talk about Mrs. obviously social emotional learning. Um and so she she is a wanted lady. Um I mean just a parent calling her today um seeking help. So besides your social workers and you know your you've got your mental health advisor um they take her class um sometimes and and then they just seek her for other things whether it's yoga or whatever. regulate and takes care of some of that anxiety that they may be
080feeling and um she is an incredible asset to us. So, thank you for that and thank you for helping. >> Uh I did have the pleasure of attending several of you. Um Dr. Jenner spoke and her overall remark was better than it. I think that's a testament to Felix, you know, we better found it and so I'd like to thank him for his service for the budget rights and working with him on that obviously Mr. I did participate in that training and it's good to know that we're in good hands. Last thing that I would say is I had the pleasure I guess it's still within the week. So last Friday, Miss Phillips um you may have seen on social media pictures of our mayor um who she had come in. She has a related
081arts class um about success and just trying to show students different paths that people have taken to get where they are. Uh Dr. Buffington has come in to speak with it with those kids. It's just really an arts class. Um, she asked if I come in last Friday and I did and by far it was my favorite day of the week time of the week. Um, and uh, I came back from and I had a stack of thank you cards that she does. And so I really enjoyed talking with them, asking them questions. They ask me a lot of questions. They are our Y. And I I also wrote this down from Dr. that I think she said leaders must ensure that momentum becomes habit improvements are sustained notary and the success is embedded in
082systems not just depend on individual champions I'm very thankful for that class you might get invited just Mr. Rogers, >> first of all, I'd like to apologize for the popcorn because I did not make it a little salty, I think, because I did not promise you that I will make some later in the year. >> I don't know if I can eat this now. You didn't make it. >> Well, I I blessed it. >> Oh, okay. >> Is that enough? >> I don't know. That'll be enough, but we'll see. >> I'd like to thank Mr. Glover for the excellent job. He's taking over doing an excellent job. I'd like to thank all of the students at the pantry on Saturday. It was not an easy job because it was pouring at 9:00 in the mornings.
083I was Wow, that's great. >> We had a lot of teams show up very I think it's always been award >> I don't think that's going to happen but wishful thinking >> Mr. King >> I was also able to attend the ISBA my first one I'd like to thank everybody who was there me through my first the kids appreciated you. Um I think uh if I were to say anything, I would say that hearing things like our technology department being able to um do the install on a system and help is a testament to the people who are in the technology department, but also to HR because finding qualified people and getting them in the right places saves money even if people don't the upfront cost of how much a person makes or how much
084something like that is. You save money somewhere down the line by having good people who are going to do things like that for us. It's that hidden number like you talked about with Felix that you don't know about and the work that they do to save us money you don't really see, you know, and it's very important money. Um so good job to everyone over there on that. um to for the school custodial and maintenance staff. Um the recognition day hopefully give them something nice. >> Oh yeah, >> they deserve it. Um kids, I love kids. Uh but they're messy. So the classrooms definitely need their their support. So I'm glad for them. Um thank you everyone over there for the hard work on the budget. Uh it's trying times. Um there's not a lot
085of relief coming right now. So thank you for putting in the hard work. Thank you everyone for over there trying to to work within the means that we had. Um I came into this board uh in in a position where you were already good stewards with the money. So it's not um it's not surprising that you guys are doing that. But I thankful that you Okay. I first want to thank the maintenance and custodial staff. They're a really vital part of our um school district. I work closely with Mr. Chris Connor and Wolf Gang and in theater. And so I see a lot of the stuff that he does in the school and like the other maintenance people and it's really important and as well as with the custodial staff when I'm here till 9:00
086and they're still cleaning the bathrooms. Really appreciate coming into like a clean school. Homecoming week is white right around the corner and it's very exciting. I see all the clubs starting to get their homecoming parade floats ready. Um, and everyone's excited for the dress up days and the pep rally and the football game and the dance. And so it's great to just see the students come together to have the class war but also together as brickies. And then I want to mention that HOSA is having our annual Balish blood drive on October 3rd. Um it is in honor of Mr. Steve Balish. Uh we do that every year. And yeah. Hey Grace, can you make sure that that I get that flyer so that I can get it on social media and get it in
087the newsletter? >> I think Mr. >> So unfortunately I did not get a chance to attend the ISBA conference. That's one of my favorite things of the whole year we do to the family. So I'm gonna tie that in with the Ricky um the Ricky clinic because we did end up going to the Ry um diagnose the problem. So going to the Ricky clinic as soon as walked in the healthcare provider there like within five seconds knew what was wrong. >> She's amazing. >> She's awesome. >> I don't know if I'd be able to get a uh Oh, a B. You got a B? >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, put me down for one of those. >> Okay. >> Down for one of those. >> You got it. >> And the cost is
088much cheaper than going to the emergency room. >> Yes, it is. >> Oh, yeah. I always urgent care or clinic before the ER. Always. It's faster and more efficient. >> Um, they seem to be able to provide a little bit more of an individualized care. Not that I'm e just overwhelming. There's a lot of things, a lot of things going on. And so when you do an urgent care or something like the Ricky clinic, it's a little bit more individual where you get the time that you need and that. So >> I highly encourage that. >> What would you like her be to say, right? >> To thank her for the caring and professional care that she provided >> very accurate within five seconds. That was awesome. Secondly, Mr. Glover, once again, thank you for
089all your hard work. The sides are awesome, easy to understand, and your explanation was great. I know it's a challenge with what's going on right now with the funding, but we'll get through this together. >> Mr. Rogers, I was going to thank you for the popcorn, >> but since they didn't make it, I thank you for >> figure out how to get >> But if they use your recipe, that'll be probably good enough. >> There was no way that I was going to be able to pop it yesterday. So I stopped saying I appreciate what you did. I'm sorry if it doesn't match. >> It was deeply appreciated. >> And one little story about Felix. Um you guys already kind of told a lot how great he is and everything, but He is rehabing this
090one building uh downtown and he's doing of course he's also an awesome job. So every time I pass by I kind of look to see what little thing he has added on to his project >> and u it's looking great. I'm waiting for the for the last part and then that way I could ask for a tour. But um yeah, so good luck with the homecoming week and great job on that side of the aisle for all your hard work and dedication. >> Okay. Um the ISBA I what is it? IPs. >> That's a lot of letters. Um, >> it is >> it's always such a wonderful experience. We've learned so much, but the thing that I love most is getting to spend time with my fellow board members and getting to know them a
091little bit better. Um, Brad, it was fun. Um, I didn't mind the shirts. They were fine. >> I'm a picky dresser. I just marched to the my own beat. That's all. But it was great spending time with everyone again. And you know, sometimes when you sit with Tim, he's constantly educating you all the time. >> Sometimes. But that's a wonderful thing. But most importantly, I didn't know you were a shopper. You and Stu, that was something that was interesting. >> That was fun. >> Yeah, that was great. >> I was a little surprised by that. >> It was awesome. Thank you. Um >> but now to be a little more serious. Um Mr. Glover, since you have taken on this role as the business manager, you have grown to be an exceptional business manager. >>
092Um and it shows in your explanations, your understanding, the hard work you put in, and I really appreciate what you do for our schools. You're welcome. And congratulations to Felix. I love that I asked him and Kelsey both the same question. Are you going to work or are you going to travel? And they both instantly said work. Um so the sec second street market will continue in all its glory. And that's a lot of hard work doing that every weekend and um their renovations. And they talked about the ambulance that they purchased um that they will be turning into a camper. So that's kind of neat to see that. have that in the future for them to be >> I didn't know that. Did he buy our ambulance? >> He did. >> I didn't know
093that. Tell me that. >> It's parked in his driveway. I saw it right away. Um he's rehabbing the whole thing and turning it into this camper. >> I hope he leaves the lights. I'm just saying >> but still >> but it's just you know we're going to miss him but he will be close by and and and Ryan was going to do he's going to do a great job I'm sure. So um congratulations to him and the JOTC that's a lot of kids that's exciting that we have that many that can compete. So I will end with that. Um, I also attended the ISBA conference. It was great. Uh, actually some information that was useful. Um, sometimes we don't always get that because we already know a lot of what they're doing. Um, I would
094have to agree with a lot of things that Sandy said is always teaching us stuff which I appreciate. That too. That too. And Sandy and I actually went to TJ Maxx and Tim followed us out. We were like, "What?" That's great. And um Mr. Keane learned very quickly. Just take it. Take that notebook. Take the pen. They're gonna put it in your bag. >> Take that candy, too. The kids will enjoy. I kept telling them, "Take that. Your kids will like it. Okay. He's a little shy at first. I think by the end he was good. His bag was full. It all worked out. Mr. Rogers, thank you for the popcorn. The thought is greatly appreciated. Even if your >> I thought it was pretty good. >> Even if your hands weren't actually in it
095or on it, it was still a great >> I carried it over. >> That's perfect. That's perfect. >> Yes. Thank you for that. >> Um Grace, I'm not sure how your um walk went Sunday. I hope everything went well. Oh, good. Glad to and we look on the next project. And um Dr. B uh I had a student that reached out to me and said, "How is Dr. B going to do cooking with Dr. B if she's in Indianapolis with you?" >> That was actually going to be rescheduled. So, we scheduled it back in. >> So, >> and we had a great cooking with friends. >> I just want to say that was your first one for the year, correct? >> It was. >> All right. And I know the kids always look forward to
096that. >> They were all, it's so funny. Uh, kids were like, "It smells spicy in there." I was getting ready and I said, "Well, yes, it's it's, you know, we're making ranch chicken wraps, barbecue ranch chicken wraps." It was one of the stations. And they're like, "I need to take this class." And then we had a kid in my group that said, "I'm signing up for this next week." And I said, "We only do this once a month." That's right. And so he's like, "Really?" And I'm like, "Yeah, sorry about that." Um, as I was coming out of it, this was hysterical. There were ROC kids uh waiting to go to lunch and they're like, "Is there any extra Dr. Buffington?" I'm like, "There is, but you better get down there." And they start running
097like they're running a a marathon race or not a marathon race, but like a sprint. They're running down there and I'm like, "Oh, brother." Uh, so I don't know. Uh we did have a great time. I would say um you know when I when I look at the cooking class uh our special needs population, our life skills class was in there with us. >> Um and so our students are so good with them. Um and each one of us have them in our stations and and so it it's just great to watch how everybody interacts and they're part of the group. And I I will share this part in my group. your daughter Amanda was in my group. We made special brownies. Um, candy bar brownies is what they're called. We always have a dessert.
098And there was a special instruction on the sheet besides the boxes that you have to use for brownies. And so I said to my group, "How long do we have to cook the brownies for?" And um, Summer is with us and she said, "10 minutes." And I said, "10 minutes?" And I said, "What did the sheet say?" And she said, "10 extra minutes." And I'm like, "Thank you, Summer." Because the rest of the group did not look at that. So then I said, "How much on the box do we have to do?" 39 to 42 minutes. What did Summer say? Thank goodness that Summer read the instructions. And so we did a little math in my group, but they were they were just so grateful that Summer was in their group, right? Um Aldo, uh
099Colton is uh Miss Bonnie's helper. And so it's um it's just really beautiful to watch all of that happen inside of our cooking class. Um but of course the best part of it is they get to eat. And so um I I've never seen so much food but just piled up on kids plates. But um we have a great time with that. >> Mr. Glover and we appreciate that you do that to take the time out of your day in your schedule to be here with the kids. >> We appreciate that. >> Uh Mr. Glover. Um they've all I think Sandy said it the best. Um, and the fact that um the the articulation of you being able to communicate our budget um has come such a long way. Um I can remember the first
100night and just I can tell you the nervousness and be able to communicate. Okay. Well, I know that you all know this, but I still have to say it. And um you've grown a lot and and we really appreciate the hard work that you put in. I know this one was more of a challenge than what you're used to. So, we appreciate that for um Felix. Um you know, some of the comments were made about how he was um here when the high school was being built but not as our employee. And then to be able to hire him after, what a bonus to be able to hire someone that was actually here on the job that knew so much about our high school and then to be in charge of the custodial and maintenance.
101It's almost like he was in charge of the whole building the whole time like this was his building and his baby. I'm sure that's probably how he feels. But um I just kind of now latched all that together and it's we are sad to see him go. Um I'm sure that Ryan will do just fine. >> He's doing a great job. >> But to Felix, um good luck, best wishes, enjoy his retirement. And John, thank you for your hard work with the training. There's always some new gadget that we have to And this one unfortunately was statemandated if I'm not mistaken. And um of course here you go. But no money to go with it. Surprised. >> Oh, I love that. All right. Well, with that, I'm going to um end the meeting. And our
102next meeting is going to be on October 2nd, 2025.