001He's nothing. Good job. Listen, I see that real quick. time. >> Yeah. Watermelon. Good evening and welcome to the school town of Monster Board of Trustees regular meeting April 13th uh 2026. Um please note all school board members are here. Uh stand for the pledge of allegiance please. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag >> of the United States. Republic for it and stand one nation under God, indivisible, >> liberty and justice. >> Our mission statement here at the school town of Monster, our mission is to cultivate excellence, empowering every student to realize their full potential and achieve levels of learning. Our vision statement, our vision is to be a school community where all students have a sense of belonging, take ownership of their learning, and find joy, passion, and purpose in their continuing growth.
002All right. Item 1.5, public comment information. We currently offer two ways in which the community can participate in regular schoolboard meetings. The first public comment section on the agenda is for addressing current action items that are on tonight's agenda. These comments must be submitted by noon on the day of the meeting. The procedures for submission are posted on our website under board of school trustees. The second public comments section is for general comments and does not have to be specific to an agenda topic. If you wish to wish to address the board during general public comments section of the meeting, please put your name and topic on a card and give to Deb Hayes before the meeting or now. All public comments are limited to three minutes per individual with a total of 30 minutes
003allotted for each public comment section on the agenda. Uh 2.1 comments regarding current action items. Deb, there are none. Thank you. and general public comments. We do have Michelle Wliger. Know me. My name is Michelle. I'm a local attorney, but I'm also more importantly with three children in the monster schools. >> Tommy's in sixth grade. I have a senior, Eleanor, um, who plans on attending IU Bloomington. Um, and I have a junior, Caroline. Both of my girls are currently playing varsity softball. And this is a comment I've put off for a number of um years. Uh our girls, our varsity girls do not have a dedicated field. Um our fields that we are playing on, as you well know, um our town property, I have traveled the country playing elite travel softball. Our fields are
004some of the worst fields I've seen. What what you may not know and may not understand is that the um the dugouts, the concourse, and the buildings that surround the fields are nice. They're wonderful. The problem with our fields is the actual playing surface. Um the gravel is dangerous. My uh junior Caroline, who uh plays third or short for you, um reports that uh it's full of divots. It's super hard. It's tough to slide. Um it's dangerous. It's prone to rolling ankles. It takes weird hops. I prepared a demonstrative exhibit because I am an attorney. Um, so I'm going to turf and who has nothing. Monster is sharing company with River Forest and Whiting in the area for varsity teams that don't have dedicated the people and you might not know also is that in
005this area once they're crown quite like five of the snakes top have teams. So our competitors have infinitely nicer facilities um they have their own dugouts that their own batting cages. What really sort of upset me was when the decision was made to prioritize boys fields over girls. And maybe that's not how it went down and that's cool. I'm looking today from the board to make a commitment to prioritize girls sports, to prioritize varsity, women's softball. Um, here's the problem with not having a dedicated field. The condition last week it rained, the boys played, the girls did not. Um, we don't have access to dedicated practice fields. We don't have dedicated cages. The boys do. Um, we cannot generate concession, fundraising, invites. We will never host sectionals. Um, the timer is really alarming. So, what
006I'm asking for, I know that this is not something that I can achieve while my students are here playing ball. What I'm asking for is a commitment to make this a priority. I'm asking for the school board to tell me when that commitment can be made and to set reasonable deadlines that allow us to achieve some v a dedicated varsity field for our girls. >> Thank you, Michelle. If there were comments that you didn't get to make, you may email us as well if there's Right. We look forward to it. Thank you for speaking tonight. Uh Deb, any others? Okay. Thank you. All right. Consent agenda. Mr. Trip and Feldus. Oh, what did I miss? Oh gosh. Sorry. I apologize. I'm trying to fly through this. Uh let's do um Monster High School. Mr. Nolan.
007All right, we get to do a little highlight uh this evening of Monster High School. And this is an exciting time for us to highlight our National Merit Scholarship winners here. These are the uh finalists for the National uh Merit Scholarship Awards for this school year. Uh these students don't know yet whether they have earned any money or won anything yet. Those are going to start coming out this month. I think the 22nd is the first release of like corporate winners and then it'll start to trickle through through here. But it is still quite an honor uh to be in company of these six students here uh represented tonight of Monster High School. Uh just real quick, overall, state of Indiana, I think had 333 uh uh National Merit Scholarship Award winners making it to
008the round of about 7,000 across the country. We've got six of our own here. Uh so we're going to highlight those students tonight and uh we'll do some pictures and we'll get them out of here. So, uh, Ian Cabinus is not here tonight. Um, I have Anastasia. Um, my think she's here. Where's Anastasia at? Right there. Um, uh, Anie Olik is on here. Yeah, she's here. Uh, Eva Parmik, Ava's here. All right. Uh, Aditia Tumarilli right there. And Jenna Craig is right here as well. So, you guys want to do some photos and we'll get him out of here. >> All right. >> Hi, girl. Kim's not here. So, where do you want us? Hey, do you do you want do you want to do them over here real quick? >> All right, let's do
009them right here. >> Take them. You guys, >> we're in them. >> Yeah. Aren't you guys usually in the picture with the >> Whatever the merit scholarship people would like. >> Let's do it. Yeah. >> Oh gosh. All right. Hey guys, we got to step outside real quick to take the picture according >> what >> the board's not going to go. >> The board's not going up. Okay. the kids. >> Yes. >> Okay. Oh yeah, Holly Hobby is good too. Some are easier to >> Well, I was going to say congratulations to them, but have have a good picture. Um, yes, and I apologize for um almost missing the presentation, but I will not jump ahead again. So, congratulations. It's it's amazing how many finalists we get every year. Um, and it's so nice that
010we can honor them tonight. All right. Uh recognition presentation 4.1 Monster Education Foundation grant presentation. Good evening, good afternoon. I am Lyn Epley. This is Jenny Williams and we are representing the Monster Education Foundation today to award all of the March grant recipients. For those of you who don't know, we are a nonprofit organization comprised of about 25 volunteers who raise money in order to give grants for unique and experiential learning in all five schools um involved with the school town of Monster. What I'm most excited for today is that today we have several March grant recipients. Um and so far this year with one more grant cycle to go, the education foundation has awarded $98,000 worth of grants just since August of this year. So it speaks tremendous volume about our teachers and our
011staff and our participants who continually think about unique um ideas to bring to the classroom things that live outside the school town of Monster Budget. Um and we are thrilled um to have that level of participation. So without further ado, I think we'll turn around u and go that way, but we'd love to um introduce you to this month's grant recipients. Oh, okay. teachers, when your name is called up, we have a pin for your lanyard and then we'll take a group photo. >> All right. Tonight's grant recipients include Mrs. Garcia from Elliot in the amount of $1,50 to bring the Scales and Tales traveling zoo to Elliot for the kindergarteners and structured learning class at Elliot. Congratulations. >> Next, we have Miss Lux Lusk from Elliot in the amount of $1,50 for the first
012graders to attend the Moonbase Explorers program at the Challenger Center. >> Next, we have Mr. Gordon from Monster High School in the amount of $1,200 to provide pocket constitutions to the senior class. Thank you. >> Next, we have Mr. Sarah from Munster High School in the amount of $3,000 for production equipment to help his students broadcast quality professionallike media. Next, we have Miss Sookki from Monster High School in the amount of $8,900 to purchase new cameras for her photography classes. Congratulations. >> Next, we have Miss Mezer from Wilbur Wright Middle School in the amount of $800 to support the new comfort dog, Sasha, coming to Wilbur Wright soon. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Mitchlac from Wilburite Middle School in the amount of $6,000 to get new equipment for the robotics program and expand
013the program. >> Thank you. >> And we have Mrs. Irvin from Wilbur Wright Middle School in the amount of $740 to purchase math support materials for her sixth and seventh grade classes. Congratulations. >> Extra time. >> Right. Somebody gets to hold that check. Somebody in the middle. Interrupt, but you know Thank you all for the uh taking the time to fill out grants. Are they all right? So, thank you all for coming and for filling out the grants and MEF, thank you so much. We could not do these extra classroom projects without you. Myself. Okay. Consent agenda five. Um, Mr. Trippenfeld. >> Madam President, the consent agenda contains items 5.1 through 5.7. I'll go through each of those briefly before making a motion. Uh, item 5.1 is the approval of the minutes of the regular
014schoolboard meeting held on March 9th, 2026. Item 5.2 is approval of the accounts payable voucher register as presented. Item 5.3 is the approval of the payroll uh voucher register as presented. Item 5.4 is approval of the personnel report including the following recommendations for employment as displayed on the screen and online. uh the resignations as displayed, terminations as displayed, non-renewal of agenda contracts, and then professional learning requests. And again, available online on our website includes the approval of overnight field trips, which include the overnight field trips for Monster High School for the boys soccer and monster girls dance. We have approval of donations for Monster High School, first of all, uh, ranging from choir to the bowling club. Make sure I included all of those in there. And you can see the individuals and the charities
015that made the donations. We also have donations from Wilbur Wright Middle School which include uh the one donation to orchestra as presented. Then we have approval of fundraisers again for Monster High School and for Wilbur Wright Monster High School includes the following cheer, speech and debate, boys soccer, boys volleyball. Cheer again, girls basketball, dance which is page one and then page two for fundraisers, dance, speech and debate again, best buddies, girls volleyball and choir with the amounts and the um activities listed for fundraising as displayed. We also have fundraisers for Wilburite Middle School. They have one that they u presented for approval, which is the Wilburite robotics team. And with that, the administration recommends that the board approve with one motion and one vote consent agenda items 5.1 through and including 5.7 as presented. >>
016Would the board like any of these items broken down individually? If not, can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> Dempsey. So moved. Castro second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5. Action item. Uh, presentation of the schedule of school board meetings. We have been working iteratively with you as a board to find dates that work for all of you and me, but mostly you for the board meetings for starting in July through the end of June of the next year. As you look at this draft, you'll see that they begin on uh July 13th uh and run through, like I said, June 14th of the next year. Uh you'll notice that there are some changes, but the rationale for the
017change is on the draft uh calendar. Um so looking for the board to approve these items so that we have our slate of regularly scheduled meetings set starting in July and running through June of 27. >> Can I get a motion to approve the 2026 27 schedule of schoolboard meetings as presented? Castro, I move we approve the 20 the draft of the 2020, excuse me, that we approve the schedule of schoolboard meetings as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Dempsey second. Sorry. >> Any discussion? We generally meet the second Monday of every month. And the only reason we would change that is if we had a conflicting meeting, which we do in October as well as fall um break. So, we try to stay on Mondays, but that one's going to be on a
018Wednesday. So, could get crazy. Any other discussion? All I >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 50-0. Action item 6.2, the uh NWSC membership request for 2627. Dr. Hicks. >> The School Town of Monster. Uh uh I believe the School Town of Monster would benefit from joining the Northwest Indiana Educational Service Center. As the board may know, we already receive some of our bids through our service center partners throughout the state of Indiana. Buses being the most uh visible uh example of this. We receive that benefit, but we are not members. So, they do not receive any of our uh uh membership dollars. Uh as you may know, when I was in the other in uh east central Indiana, I was our district there was a member of the service center. service center comes with a
019variety of uh leadership uh opportunities for a school district and opportunities for professional development. I believe the school of town of monster would benefit in both regards. One, we can be a regional leader given our performance. we can help our uh other school districts in our area continue to have thought partners as they continue their growth and we can also receive professional development so that we continue to grow because while we are great at many things, we all have room to improve. Uh so it's both of those things. We also have an opportunity to do some cooperative purchasing through the the um service center so that we can drive the cost down of some of our uh normal durable goods that we would buy. most notably paper. They get a good price on paper. That's
020one of many examples. So, it is a mutually beneficial um uh uh opportunity for us to lead and learn and realize some savings. There is a membership cost of 365 a student be approximately $15,000 uh over the course of the first year. uh given the fact that we've not been a member prior, I I I know it will be a learning curve for our administrative team to utilize all the benefits. But as someone who sat on the board of a service center, I can help our team see all the avenues through which they can lead and learn and the benefits that we can realize as a school district through the service center. >> Dr. you you anticipate that we'll save at least how much it's going to cost to be >> typically you realize your
021you realize above your membership cost annually. So when you think about the reduction in cost of some of the goods that we can purchase through the service center will come close to that amount. Typically you see the most bang for your buck when you join in regionally collaborative grants. We should we should see that return on investment swiftly. And if we don't then it won't make sense to do it in year two. Um, are there what which other of area districts are you aware of that are a part of this? >> We pulled that up the other day and I don't I don't >> there's 17 um I believe I believe the number was 17 districts locally from Lake and Porter County that are also u members of the our region uh service center. >>
02217 are we the only ones that aren't? not not not the only ones, but some of the uh side of the coin that is not a member of the service center. >> Well, that's kind of what I was asking like we're not this isn't we're not pioneering here. We're not like well we're going to be the guinea pig. I mean this is done this. You have experience and >> well trod ground. >> Yeah. And the most important to me is the the fact that you've had experience with this and it's not something we're going to pay for and not use like any like any membership like oh it sounds great and then well we never reap the benefits. >> Correct. we because we've shown interest. They have opened up their affinity groups for our team.
023We've had principles attend. We've had central office administrators attend. We're already uh benefiting from some of the thought leadership even before membership because that that's how you become a leader and start to grow. So, >> do you think legislatively um based on our Northwest Indiana district compared to the rest of the state, it'll be advantageous for our districts to work together? um because some of the problems we face are not the problems that the rest of the state faces. So when he was mentioning this to me at the agenda meeting, I I thought that was an interesting thing as well as the professional development. Um >> legislators tend to listen to executive directors of service centers because it's not one school district, it's 17 in Lake and however many in Porter and uh the same
024executive director runs northern Indiana service center. So he has a large number of school districts. He gets to speak with one voice to represent all of those districts. We would be among those. >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve the NWISC membership request for the 2627 school year as presented? >> Cinder. So move >> and a second. >> MC second. >> Any other discussion or questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Action item 6.3, textbook adoption, McGraill Wonders. Sorry, I forgot who was our elementary textbook adoption team met throughout this school year and worked very diligently to um go through each of the vendor options. We did observations in other districts. We had vendors come out and speak with us. They did a
025thorough investigation of all materials and came up with a recommendation of moving forward with wonders for the next six years. Um, and they provided us with a uh professional development plan as well to go along with that. So that would be our recommendation. >> I would like to commend Mi Miss Yos for driving the price down. She negotiated hard with the vendor, made them get out their pencil, made them sharpen it, made them sharpen it again, and made sure they threw in the professional development it will take for our teachers to be successful long term, and she made them pay for that, too. So, she really did a good job in >> that is Bill Melby pushed that on me. So, I learned a lot from him. He modeled it for me first and then
026I went ahead and moved forward this year with it. So, thank you to him as well. >> Well, thank you for the extra effort. Is there a motion to approve textbook adoption McGraill wonders as presented? >> Dempsey. So moved. >> Second. >> Castro second. >> Any questions or comments? >> I just want to make a quick just general comment and you you addressed already, but I want the public to realize this wasn't like, oh yeah, it was cool. We liked it. We just went ahead and approved it. Again, that you did a lot of work. I mean, not just the negotiation part, but you know, you said you met with your team, the textbook adoption team that you met over the course of the year. this wasn't a a oneweek decision. Had a couple meetings
027and, you know, decided, yeah, this will be fine. Um, and I just want people to realize that not only the amount of work that goes into this, but also the thought and consideration and is this the right, you know, regardless of price, is this the right thing for our students? And we talk about that all the time, how, you know, above all, it's it's what is best for our students? And that's that's you're you and your team are proving that and um I think that speaks volumes to to how we operate. So, thank you for for that effort. >> Um, sorry, lost mic, please. Um, okay. Yes. So, do I am already I am off today. I apologize. One train and I'm frazzled. Um, okay. So, but did we vote for this already? >> I
028don't think we voted yet. Okay. Do we have a motion in a second? No, we don't. No. No. No, no, no. We're still on textbook adoption, but I don't think we voted for that yet. >> This is embarrassing. >> Can we lose this tape for >> Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5.1. If we voted twice, we extra like it. All right. Uh, action item 6.4 Cisco hardware for new buildings. Mr. Podzle was going to present. I'll go ahead and take this and maybe a little help from my friends if I need it. Um, we have the opportunity to go ahead and buy some of the more durable goods for the multi-purpose building. Um, and for the technology needs, the wires, the switches, some of the racks. We're
029seeing technology prices go through the roof. They're now starting to put in their contracts. I we just sent a contract to to Miss Miss Jones for the first time that basically had a clause that said this is today's price. When you go to buy it, we'll tell you what the actual price is that you're going to pay when you buy it. So, we're starting to see technology prices uh get exponential. We also um will realize savings longterm in some of our bond spin downs if we can go ahead and and procure some of these pieces. So, uh Mr. Podzle and his team worked really hard to say what are the things that we know are durable, will last, we can buy early, they're going to retain their value, and they're going to be needed for
030this structure versus computers. We wouldn't buy computers now for that building because it's 2 years hence technology is exponential. We wouldn't make that choice. But the wiring, the Ethernet cable, that's industry standard and as far as we can tell, it's not going anywhere. So, these are all durable goods through Cisco that we would like to go ahead and buy, store, and put in the new building as soon as it is constructed. >> Can I get a motion to approve Cisco hardware for new building as presented? Buildings as presented. >> A motion. >> Castro, I move we approve Cisco hardware for new buildings as presented. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion or questions? Um, just kind of along those same lines, the same kind of we've talked um, especially at length
031with with Mr. Begley about, you know, some of these nonsexy behindthe-wall things and wiring and and things of that nature that everybody's doing this work on and it's it's hard sometimes when, you know, it's like, well, this is for a future project. This is something that's going, but it it's needed and technologies moving at such a fast pace. I mean, you're talking about pricing, you know, all all this crazy AI stuff costs a lot of money that other companies are using and utilizing and power and and technology and hardware that is driving up those prices and that is only going to get worse as time goes on. So again, same thing. Thank you to Mr. Ple and his team and and I'm sure Mr. Begley, you had some hand in this. So just a lot
032of hard work and and we're doing the best we can to stay forward thinking. So thank you. >> I I to add just two things onto that. um in doing projects there's a couple things that are long lead time items. One is mechanical and two is technology. So leaning forward in the saddle and having this on hand when the project starts is good. And I've done several projects with Mr. posible and uh we have done a lot of owner provided technology equipment to include the the uh the servers and the um cat 6 cable and and just to uh the QPA that stands for qualitative purchasing agreement and what that is is the state negotiates uh low prices with different vendors uh and that way uh we're guaranteed the lowest possible price that uh since
033the state negotiates it any other um uh municipality can also use that QPA to secure pricing. >> And I guess it's also important to note that the funding is this has been planned and it's part of our um big bond that we need to spend down in a timely fashion anyway. So this is a good time based on that bond for us to spend that those dollars. All right. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries 51. Action item 6.5 uh presentation of the 100003 flex waiver. Miss Bergen. >> Yep. The uh administration is requesting the board approve um our ability to apply for the 103 flex waiver. It'll allow us to engage um we're going to reduce we're requesting to reduce the number of instructional days by
034three um to provide for monthly professional learning, curriculum development, and staff collaboration. We did apply for it the same waiver in 2024 and that resulted in our early release days which we had three of this school year. After communicating with our staff, families, sitting down as an administrative group, um we're requesting that instead of the early release days, we would be it would be more effective and more beneficial for our our students and our staff to have full days. state of Indiana requires um schools to provide 180 days of instruction. We are also a performance qualified district which does give us the ability to um reduce our amount of days without applying for the waiver. However, we and we don't we are not sure if that will still um be um if we'll still be
035able to do that after the new school grades come out under the new formula. So, we're trying to be proactive. Um, as you can see from the document submitted, we are still going to meet, although we will not meet the minimum amount of days, we will meet the minimum amount of minutes um and the minimum amount of hours per day. So, there's three different criterias for school um for their school calendars. One of them is the 180. We're requesting to only have 177 and use three full days for professional learning collaboration. Can I get a motion to approve the 2026 1003 flex waiver as presented? MC so moved. There >> a second. >> Smith second. >> And discussion or questions. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item number
036seven. Any items that may properly come before the board? There are none. General information discussion items. 8.1 draft of the 202728 district calendar. The two versions presented by Mr. Trippen Feldus. >> Before I begin, anyone in the audience do not think this is the final calendar. The word at the top does say draft. So don't go posting it on social media saying we have the calendar for the next in two years. Just want to preface that because every time we discuss these before the board approves them. They are not official. Um I did want to kind of briefly talk through we do have two versions for you to review. uh basically because that um version two is going to incorporate the 1003 flex waiver that Miss Bergrren just mentioned. So we have a version that
037if it's not approved by the state, we can go with version one. If it's approved by the state, we can go with version two. But I will share what version one looks like as you'll see a little bit of difference. We also have colors on the calendar, but we also have figures. Those figures are there for ADA compliance for future years. So, uh, what I've discovered through this process is that screen readers do a better job identifying things with figures than just colors. So, you'll see there's going to be some interesting little figures around days and I'll try to explain those. So, uh, just for the benefit in both these calendars, we have a school start of school date of August 11th. Um, you'll see these figures a ahead with the I think those are
038pent pentagons and then there's some stars there. Uh these are going to be our our new teacher days and then the 6th, 9th and 10th will be our teacher work days before school starts. Uh the 18th that figure uh is a half day for our middle school and high school similar we have now because of openhouse. So we run openhouse at those two only the those two schools have half days as we do right now for that day. Uh the elementary schools can run it a little bit different schedule. They don't need to do that. Anything with a solid blue is a day off as you guys can see for no students. The 15th is right now in this version a half uh PD day which I'll show you the difference in version two. Um
039then we get down to October. That square means it's the end of the grading period. You'll notice the big thing with this calendar is a week-l long fall break. So that occurs from October 11th through the 15th. You'll see another half day on the 19th. This is something we'd like to try this school year. It is going to incorporate it will be the open house. I'm sorry, parent teacher conferences. Sorry, I knew I was going to do something incorrect and Dr. Hicks is going to correct me. This will be our parent teacher conferences. We are trying to pair that on the same day that we do uh the PSAT testing at the high school because if you notice that all of the grades there, well, at least 9 through 11 have to do three hours
040of testing. those students aren't very much in probably the mood for anything else after three hours of a test. So if we do the half day and then we start the parent teacher conferences maybe a little earlier in the in the afternoon for maybe the virtual and possibly in person a little later in the afternoon to early evening. So that's going to be a interesting new try for us. We found a couple school districts uh uh specifically West Lafayette that does that and and they had some really good results from pairing PSAT day with parent teacher conferences. perfect timing for it. Um, you'll see uh these orange uh hexagons are the e-learning days for our election days and that would be obviously in 2027. You go, wait, that's an odd year. That's our municipal election
041here in uh the town of Monster. So, that would be an election day for local. Nothing changed for uh our Thanksgiving. Still have that Wednesday off. We would go through December 22nd. those two days. Remember, as we do the high school, we do uh half days with the uh final exams there. And then you'll see our winter break picking back up on January 5th for students. That would be the teachers return on the 4th for a records day and then the fifth return. The rest of the calendar looks pretty simple with our our pretty much similar with March, the last week of March being spring break. Because the way Memorial Day falls, we can we can finagle Good Friday and Easter Monday off both. So we have a little bit more of a a a
042shorter little second break there in April. We have another asynchronous learning day, the half days for the high school, teacher work day, and then summer break begins. And we are done before uh Memorial Day on this calendar. And I will show you version two really is exactly the same except you'll see this little squiggle and this little and this right here will change the 2nd of November and the 19th. Those two days will turn into days off. and everything else stays the same. Those would be days off for the students and full days of professional development for our teachers instead of half days. So with that, any discussion you'd like to have or questions you have for us? And what did I miss, Dr. Hicks? >> Only one note, May 2nd is a primary election
043day. >> Yes, >> that's it. >> That would be a presidential primary election day, too. So, >> we have shared this draft with our PTO presidents. We have shared it with uh our district advisory. >> Yes. To get feedback >> which are our teachers. >> Yeah. >> Um I had one question just on the fall break moving to a week. What was that the the where was the thought behind that? I'm sure I know you had tons of input back and forth and where that ultimately >> couple things really three. One we looked at our own attendance. If you look at the attendance in and around our shorter fall break, a lot of many families extend and so we're we're already hurting our own attendance rate there. Secondly, I've been in a district with a
044week-long fall break and what it does in terms of morale and what it can do for retention are pretty powerful tools. And and thirdly, it does mark the end of one grading period and the beginning of another one. So it buys us a little bit of time there as well. >> Is that the only reason that specific week is picked because of the ending of the grade period? The reason I bring this up is we've talked about this when I was a PTO president as well is that that is a very challenging week for high school kids because if you're in a fall sport, you're still in your fall sport. You do not get to enjoy that week off. and pushing it back further would allow those students to have that opportunity to take a
045fall break with their families because there's that little bit of a window between when fall sports stop and winter sports start. It's very small, but at least it would give more families the opportunity to have that fall break. >> I'm going to I'm going to speculate as to the reason we picked this week and I think it was because of our career center kids. Is this do we know if this is the Hammond or >> there are two reasons. The first reason as you stated was it is it's like an end of the grading period. It's a very it's a very natural place for a break. And the second thing was because we could not do it the week following because we have to do PSAT uh at a certain in a certain time frame
046and that's the time frame that next week is usually when we do that. Um we looked at later uh and then we thought that might have been a little too far after the second grading period started to be less natural. Uh, but it is it is really at a choice. We can kind of determine and try to put that where it is. Um, but that's kind of how it fell out right now whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. We had the same argument with spring break as a recovering baseball coach. >> Players never could enjoy spring break and there's a father who knows that right now uh sitting on this board I think uh because softball too. So it's one of those things we realize. Um I don't know. Fall is a little bit different
047because there is that spring doesn't really have that time. They they butt up almost immediately. Fall does have about a one week window where it could possibly fit in. That usually falls November. Usually that first week of November >> school district we used to have those days off as part of election time. We would have that Monday, Tuesday off, Friday, Monday, Tuesday typically when we started here and then it got moved to the middle of October. >> It got moved up. So I just think there should be some consideration for that at some point. The other item >> other problem Kristen though is just like football volleyball they they aren't done like it doesn't it's not all fall sports at the end of the same time. >> Correct. Most are done by the end of
048October by the end unless they're going to state for volleyball which has happened obviously. Um the other item I just want to bring up which I've brought up to u Mr. Nolan and Mr. Yvanovich is the open house for middle school and high school on the same night. It would be very nice to have that separate. >> That was actually one thing we've talked about. Um that that could be something we do. It seemed to be a little bit more difficult for some people. Um but it's something that we could look at. That's we also had that same conversation uh multiple times because we were looking at maybe like the 18th and the 19th. >> I just think there's a lot of parents who have kids in both. >> Yep. >> That really struggle to
049make a decision about where to go, where and how to show up. and um it's hard for them. So something we should consider. >> Yeah, we're we're looking at different options with that one. That is something that we we actually had that on the on the proposal at beginning. So I agree with you there. >> All your work. >> So with those comments, anyone who's watching online or there, this is not the final calendar. We've brought these to the board and they have changed. So please don't distribute it to your friends and say we're going to have fall break on October 11th. It's just a first draft. we can make edits. >> So, we anticipate that the board state board of education will rule on our flex waiver hopefully by the end of May. >>
050Their next meeting is >> hopefully I think they meet before we do. >> My goal is to finish it tomorrow and or to submit the application tomorrow and then at their next board uh board meeting they approve them on an ongoing basis. So, we won't know which of these two versions we would consider with the whole days or half days until then. And we can we'll get our pencil out and take a look at the athletic schedule and see if there is a sweet spot in there just to consider it. I mean, just to have the data to share. >> Absolutely. But at least we can show parents that we evaluated that option and seriously considered it even if it doesn't work out. Is there anything stopping us from doing the days the Wbrite and
051the high school open houses on different day different nights starting next year? >> The only thing that prohibits us is that we we have a half day for our faculty and I don't think we I don't know that we'd want to go to separate half days so that those work. You know, it it that is one of the considerations. you know, again, would want to have a conversation with those administrative teams to get some feedback from them about trying to split them out. Um, you know, even if we did e even if both had that options that day and options another evening that were different evenings, it would at least buy a secondary window. We we can have a more expanded discussion about how we could do that. It is also true that they're they're
052they're close by. I'm not saying it's easy, but it is. Turning the double play is also somewhat manageable. >> Overlap and you're actually it's really challenging. >> That's what we're going to we're going to try to work on that a little bit more. And uh just so you know, uh yes, we can. It just it will require board approval though because the calendar's been approved already. So, you can do a you can do a revision or an edit to that. >> Any other questions? Thank you and everybody that worked on the calendar. I know this is a um always controversial every year, but appreciate having the two years out, too. I think parents and families really appreciate that. Uh item 8.2, student athlete and parent athletic handbook, Mr. Nolan and Mr. Schultz. >> Okay. >>
053Evening everyone. Thanks for having me here. Um, I'm going to give a brief overap of our student athlete and parent handbook that we hope to have approved for next school year. Um, the athletic handbook establishes a clear, consistent framework for the operation of our athletic programs. Uh, document outlines expectations, policies, and procedures for student athletes, parents, and coaches to ensure a safe, structured, and positive athletic experience aligned with our district's educational mission. handbook was developed through a collaborative process that included consultation with our school's legal council, guidance from professionals within the National Intercolastic Athletic Administrator Association, the NITAA, and input from other respected athletic directors in our area. Um, also I'd like to add I'm nearly finished with our um it's called the quality program assessment. throw another QPA at you with the meeting, but
054it's a program offered within the NITAA that will gain our athletic department in the school town of Monster with national distinction. Um, so this was helped developed as part of that project. Um, this handbook along with many of our efforts, you know, have been applauded throughout that process. Uh, the goal of this work is to try to create consistency across our programs while also increasing transparency, clarity, and alignment with our processes and expectations. I'll hit on just a couple of the the key points. Not going to go line by line. Happy to take any questions. Um, as you know, we offer 22 IHSAA sanctioned sports and we serve approximately 650 student athletes annually. This year, happy to report we're at 680 right now. Um, you know, we are hoping to continue to provide an elite
055student athlete experience while promoting our academic achievement, sportsmanship, and personal growth. and we think this document is going to help us with that. Uh, one of the areas of focus was consistency across our programs. One issue in particular we've been facing as each of our coaches or programs have maybe had different uh rules in place for attendance, behavior, communication, things like that. And we're trying to make that consistent at least at the minimum standard for what we expect for attendance of our student athletes and what the progressive discipline is for that. if a student athlete fails to meet those expectations just to try to keep it consistent across our 22 programs. Um we talk about playing time, team selection, program structure. Um we also reinforce IHSA academic eligibility requirements. Um part of that also is
056talking about attendance and the importance of that. So we talk about the minimum school day participation for our student athletes to be able to participate in practice or competitions. um trying to connect that academic piece to the athletic experience. Um we also talk about culture, conduct, leadership. Uh want our student athletes to serve as leaders and role models in our district. Um so we've tried to clearly define expectations for their sportsmanship behavior and social media use. Um some of those expectations were also uh structured for parents and fans how we expect them to act at our events as we are monster. Uh we talk about parent communication as you know we've already uh established using sportsu as our official communication platform but making sure our students parents and coaches understand the protocol for addressing any
057uh maybe complaints they have or confusion about the program. uh trying to promote student athlete independence while having the appropriate amount of parent involvement um and really try to encourage them with the language in this handbook to be solutionbased um and try to be positive with one another understanding what our mission is. Uh we talk about safety and compliance, making sure that they understand about physicals, our baseline testing for concussions, and having proper documentation. Uh everything in this handbook fully aligns with our IHSA regulations and district policies. Um we also include clear communication about transportation, how we utilize our equipment. Uh we also talk about our our financial state. Uh try to have financial transparity transparency in here. Um so we outline our participation fees and what exactly their purpose is for. Um reinforce how
058our athletic department is funded through people coming to our games, buying food at our concessions. uh sponsorship, donations, uh and our team fee structure. Um you know, we're just trying to create a document that people can easily refer to. The hope is that this is approved and then would be uploaded to final forms for next school year. So parents and students have an opportunity to review it, sign off on it, and same for our coaches, it would be included in their forms that they would review and sign off on, make sure that they understand everything included in the document. Um, but we think that this handbook represents a comprehensive effort of our team um, to establish those clear expectations and be consistent across the board with our 22 programs and any we may add in
059the future. So describe the process again thus far to get us to hear and then you know we're obviously here to solicit feedback and if you have uh extensive or comprehensive feedback that you want to give in writing for consideration we can certainly do that and then the the the hope would be to get it board approved as a as a function of the student handbook. I would assume it would live simultaneously both in the codified student handbook and in final forms where parents are most likely to come across it for for their student athlete when they take care of the rest of it. But go ahead and outline the process you've already been uh been through with your team and and with um Angie. Yeah. So, uh, this process really started over a year
060ago when I, uh, was selected to be part of this QPA program with NITAA. And, uh, this was one of our modules that we had to work on. And, you know, this is my third year here, and we've tackled some challenges each year, try to help improve things, get 1% better every day. And this was something that I've been wanting to do for a while. Um, I just needed the right information and people in place to help us get through it and make sure it tackles some of the challenges that we face. So about a year ago started with the QPA program. I got some of these parent and student athlete handbooks from all across the country. Also collected some from the region. I sat down with Beth Raspapovich, our assistant AD, and we started
061highlighting things that that we liked, things that we wanted to make sure we included. We reflected on our own experience as athletic administrators um and really started putting this together. Uh Beth did a brunt of the work of organizing the document and then we met many times to refine it so that I could present it to this QPA uh with the NITAA and collect their feedback. We got it to a point where we felt really strong about it and wanted to present it to the board and our attorney um to consider any adjustments that we needed to make. Uh Mr. Nolan had a chance to look at it numerous times. Dr. Hicks, you had an opportunity to review it. Um so we feel like it's in a really good place right now. We have made
062several adjustments and uh within the last couple months uh given the feedback from our attorney from Mr. Nolan from >> they also presented to our our teachers and the coaches through the district advisory committee. So they were provided those this document as well >> as a recovering language arts teacher. I can tell you that uh when you submit your work sometimes you don't get the kind of feedback you want. But I will tell you I was pleasantly surprised when we sent it to Angie and she was she she was very uh generous in her praise of the work that you've put forward and that was impressive to me that you that you took the time to do that. So I appreciate that and it it's a a testament to the work that you've put in
063thus far. Obviously the board will have opinions about it. Many of them have had student athletes, so they understand how things have been, some history that that even may predate your arrival. But I I would hope that by the time uh you guys go to look through this and and make it our our final student athlete athlete handbook, it's a very comprehensive document that helps us hold ourselves to the standard that we want to uh attain. Although a lot of the things in here are not necessarily new um kind of unregistered procedures and policies that we've always practiced at the high school um or or things that we've developed over the last few years, Mike and I um you know trying to get everyone pointed in the same direction. So you know some of the
064operational things we want to make sure parents, the public, and the coaches always know like here's operation and how these things work. These are the consistent baselines. >> All right. Any questions or comments? >> Mr. Schultz is one of the more common questions that I get uh is about pledge violations. Is that in here? Is how we handle >> the pledge violation is in our student handbook which we have linked in the document. Um, also in final forms, our um, families, the students and the parents, they sign off on the pledge as a separate document within final forms. They consent to that every year. Um, so that information is included several times. So, >> does it include like the process of what happens if someone if we are accusing a student of a pledge violation,
065the procedure that we go about? Yes, it clearly in the student handbook and in the information they sign off on final forms details um how we receive the information, what our next steps are, how we put our committee together, um what the committee considers, and then what the appeal process is, what the timelines are. Um all that information is clear in there. And then when we do go to a hearing in those situations before we start sharing in any information I always open up and say okay you know just so you know after today's meeting you have x number of hours or days to appeal any decisions that are made we have x number of days and hours to get back to you in writing with any decision that the committee um has rendered. you
066know, given the case by case, uh, we've made some adjustments to it over the last couple years as well to, we think, better capture what the current experiences for our student athletes and hold them accountable. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. Schultz, um, one item that we heard quite a bit about from parents was a consistency in um, if they're missing a game or practice for illness, another event. um out recruitment efforts etc. I don't see that addressed under attendance. It just states for states for chronic attendance. So would that be something that we need to address as well in terms of if you're unable to you're out sick, you sit the bench one game, you do this, you're out two games. I have no idea what it would be, but that seems to be
067something I did not find in your book unless it's somewhere else. >> No. So that is something that we believe, you know, our coaches as varsity head coaches have the ability to kind of narrow the scope um and have their own attendance policies. That's why we wanted to kind of have a general guideline here um and address missing practices, missing games, things like that. We do have excused policies. We there's expectations on communication, how kids and families are supposed to communicate that. You know, we've had situations where, you know, an in-season athlete uh over winter break uh decided to go on a cruise instead of being part of the team that he or she signed up to be a part of. And, you know, we have to address those differently based on the level of
068communication that was provided, how much forethought was was put into it. So, the objective of this document was not to put a specific guideline in and say if you miss a practice, no matter what sport you play, you're going to miss the next game. That's something we want to give the co the coaches the opportunity to decide on. Um and the objective with that our coaches are in the process of submitting their team rules to the athletic department for next school year. So those also can be added to final forms and those will only pop up, you know, if you select baseball for example, you would see the baseball team rules pop up and you can review those and sign off on those as well. So that will be >> that will be forthcoming. Yes,
069that that will be coming and that's something that we'll approve and upload to final forms as we receive them and approve them um within the high school administration. >> I just want to make sure. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Any other Oh, sorry. >> Go ahead. I'm not killing it tonight. So, >> Mr. Schultz, I do have another question. Can you give us a definition of it states here at the very beginning of our mission of our athletic program as we provide an elite student athlete experience? What is an elite student athlete experience? >> And that's something that we're currently exploring. We're going through the process with our coaches of defining what our core values are to help narrow the scope of that and really pin that down. Again, it's an overarching statement and I
070think it can be defined uh one student athletes experience uh can vary from anothers and what one can perceive as an elite athlete experience maybe because they're the star player, the player of the year, conference MVP, all those things. And for other student athletes, it could be they made the team and they're part of something and they feel like they belong. Um, so we didn't want to pin it down that every student athlete is going to get exactly this experience because I think each individual experience is valuable and we need to collect that feedback. Um, so we're hoping to add some core values to this over time. um put, you know, a little bit of a strategic plan together so that when we're making decisions on student athletes or how we operate our athletic department
071that it is within the scope of our mission, our vision, our core values, and making sure we're reflecting back on those on a daily basis. So, yep. >> Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. Schultz, for coming tonight and presenting this. Um, also very happy when we see these things that they've been vetted by our attorney cuz you know we're going to ask that. So, thank you. >> Also very pleased with the feedback. So, good work. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, she does a pretty good job. So, thank you. >> All right. Item 8.3, 2027 budget calendar. Clearly not Mr. Melby. >> I will be the standin for Mr. Melby. A not so good one, but I'll do it the best I can. Uh, Mr. Melby asked me to share this with the school
072board. It is the proposed um calendar of events for the annual budget for 2027. Um we can make any changes, modifications if needed, but we wanted to share these at a public uh meeting beforehand. Does need approval, but again it's just how it works. You'll see the dates in there. Really what you need to look at September 1st would be the first time we that you would meet as a group. That would be a work session as you guys are fairly familiar. That's the budget workshop or a work session. And then we plan to have the public hearing and then the formal adoption on two different regular uh scheduled board meetings. That would be September 14th. You'll see down there in October 7th. So the idea would be that the if it was approved on
073the 7th, it'll be uh posted in a gateway which is the uh Indiana's virtual upload system. Um and then provided to the DGF, which is the Department of Local Government Finance. So that's the proposed calendars. If you guys have any issues, please let uh Dr. Hicks or obviously Deb know if we need to make any changes to those. My question to you guys is would you want us to try and move that budget workshop up to a work session adjacent to the um August date or you know if it's not September one that that one is the most malleable date the um the advertisement date can uh can move around depending on how quickly our papers are responsive. And the thing that I that that he touched on that is true is you typically want
074your hearing at a regular board meeting and you want your adoption at a regular board meeting. So those are the those two we'd like to lock in some men. But that September 1st date we can move earlier. We just can't go too much later. We won't make our advertising requirements. >> Yeah. We have to advertise for 10 days. So there has to be 10 days between the advertisement um and the public hearing and then there has to be another 10 days between the public hearing and the adoption. So, uh, it's the two board meetings work well to get us those 10 days. Um, we just probably don't want to go any later than September 1st for that workshop. >> I like the idea of having it as a separate day than our August meeting if
075that's what you were suggesting because that is a heavy meeting and it's hard to do this and do a full budget meeting in my opinion. So really go ahead. Oh, you did not going to disagree. Oh, okay. Um, all right. Any other comments? All right. Thank you. You did a good job, Mr. Trippenfeld. Uh, administrative reports, uh, Dr. Hicks, our superintendent. >> Given our, um, pending executive session, I'm going to be brief. >> Challenge. >> Yep. >> Um, I would like to thank the board for the opportunity to go to the APSS uh district 1 meeting, the Iasbo district one or the ISBA. Boy, it's a lot of letters, guys. I'm um district meeting. I had the unique opportunity to get two legislative briefings in the same day. I've not been the same since. I
076don't know. it untethered something but really appreciate that opportunity to be briefed on those topics and for the opportunity to spend time with members of the board that were able to go um have been putting a lot of time into the calendar a lot of time into construction I really want to thank uh Mr. Trippen Feldus for leading that calendar work. It is a labor of love. No one's ever all the way happy with a calendar. Our goal is to make everybody just a little upset. Nobody a lot upset. So, we really kind of threaded the needle. I really appreciate that work. Uh construction uh we'll talk about in the executive session, but it has been incredibly time inensive. There's been a lot of work since last uh board meeting and today, some of which
077has been communicated to you, some of which you'll learn about in the executive session, but it has been uh really an intense labor of love on Mr. Begley's part. Uh he really uh has a lot of uh sweat equity in this uh building and really appreciate the work that he's putting in. Uh, I want to tell you how exciting it is to to sit down and have a staffing meeting about 2627 because that means I've been here long enough to sit down and have a staffing meeting for 2627. And uh, we we have some information that we will bring back around to you next month so you have a sense of where we are in terms of class sizes, our anticipated staffing, those sorts of things. So, we'll set that we'll set that time with
078you. But pending any questions, that that concludes my update. All right. Thank you, Dr. Hicks. Uh, assistant superintendent, Miss Bergen. I'll be quick, I promise. Um, we are very excited to host Math Bowl tomorrow. Um, Miss Boursma and I, um, along with Dr. Hicks support. Um, we were asked about three weeks ago to host. We made it happen. We're excited to host tomorrow. So, um, we'll have 12 teams from our region at Monster High School. Thank you, Mr. Nolan, Mr. plaz for supporting us and um our technology team. Also just want to say thank you to MEF Lynn and the board. Um I'm lucky enough to get to sit with you and what you guys do for our students is and our staff is amazing and I just want to make sure that everyone knows
079how grateful we are. Thank you. Last but not least, the official I learn window has opened for the state of Indiana. Um that is taken in grades three through eight. Um each school will individually notify parents when those tests will be occurring. Um another small note on attendance part of our school attendance or I'm sorry our grade our accountability grade is based on attendance by individual students. each student is is represents a specific number for the school town of monster and we'll do a presentation on this in the future but um attendance is extremely important not only during time but all times of the year and so I just wanted to add that caveat in there that's all I have any questions thank you Mr. Trip and Valdis. >> Not much more to add except
080that uh I wasn't here last month obviously because I was at IU Bloomington. We were doing the rounds for all the teacher recruitment. Uh met a lot of hopefully very good potential candidates, a lot of elementary, not as many secondary. Uh so I was going to report back we have just started that process of talking about 26 27 and staffing. So it's very interesting uh where we're going to be and we've done the ADM estimates. So we we feel pretty good about those. Uh, and then I think I'll just probably stop there and wait. Oh, there was one more. I apologize probably twice to you guys for this. I'm working on 38 uh, schoolboard policy revisions that we may need to figure out where we want to present those at in the future. But, uh,
081I've got 30 of the 38 kind of ready for other people to read first. No, I have not given them to Miss Jones yet because, uh, I'm not done with them. I want to make because she's, like you said, she reads them with a fine tooth comb. So, she makes me uh go through them a few times before I want to give them to her. Uh don't like the student telling the teacher what mistakes they made, but that's how it happens a lot. She does it very very well, I might add. She does it very well and very respectfully. Uh doesn't make me feel like an idiot when I make stupid mistakes. So, I appreciate that. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions? Um do we have a financial report? >> Okay. >> I get
082to step in. Uh two reports for you guys that Mr. Melby uh provided to me. The first one obviously is our normal cash statements. I'll talk about and as you can see we're through the first three months. So it's the first quarter. So we'll do a little uh summary at the end for the education fund. You can see that our revenue is very consistent, very on track with what we expect. The expenses in the education department. Our education fund you can see are running right on track with our projections. I just want to remind you guys obviously as you know January shows a much larger expenses because if you remember January was a three pay month when you're when you're uh 50 when you're every two weeks that's 26 weeks out of that. So two
083months apply to that. So you'll see that these are tracking very similar for uh February and March. So nothing out of the ordinary there. Actually it's easy for me to display this because they're about as ordinary as they get when it comes to months. Uh the next is the operations fund and as you can see again not much revenue obviously outside of May and June which will be coming up with tax draws but you can see our normal revenue that's pretty consistent there and as you can see we're very consistent with uh February and March with our expenses uh when it comes to salary and staffing and there's really nothing we just had a nice little a little lower utilities bill if you see uh for the month of March which is nicer probably some
084of the temperatures a little bit more radiant there but right on track. And then the third would be our referendum fund. Obviously, the only time we usually get revenue in that is usually May and June when we get our tax draw. So, you see pretty typical nothing there. And again, as you look very consistent with uh looking at really close to what uh February and March were. So, we're running right on track with that as well and nothing out of the ordinary. Um if there's no questions with that, I'll pause. I do want to uh provide a little quarterly report if doc uh I almost call him Dr. Mr. Melby uh provides you guys with a uh a quarterly summary so you guys have a handout there. I do want to share with you just
085that. So basically takes those three months that I just looked at for every fund and it gives you a little statement of where we're at. Uh he always starts with our investments for the year as you can see uh our investments where they're located from January to March and compare them to the previous years. So again, right on track with where he thinks we're going to be there. Uh the second page actually lists all of those investments. And I will preface this. The investments are all CDs in local banks. So we're not going out to the to the market. We we can't we can't legally and we wouldn't want to right now anyways. Uh but those are all of those listed. What you can see is how they're staggered and tiered. The ones that will
086come due in 2026. We also have ones that will come due in 2027 and he's starting to uh go out in the next page all the way to 2028. So you can see as those CDs go through and those investments and I will give Mr. Melby a pat on the back. Uh no other school district does that extent of CD lading as we do which is one of the reasons why we have consistent income in the in investments if you look for the last two or three years. So he's done tremendous work on that. You can see the total amount invested uh on the next page. Uh I did want to give a quarterly statement for each fund. Uh the education fund right now is right on track. 24.38% of the budget is expended and
087remember we've had a three pay month and the vast majority of the education fund is salary and benefits. So we're tracking under that 25% as you would for the first quarter. Uh if you take out the uh transfers that we do from education to operations, it's actually down to 20.7%. Uh but the actual expenses because that transfer is considered an expense is 24.3 but it's to supplement that um operations fund. The operations fund as you can see is actually trending even better. Um the percent of the budget is 16%. Um and the reason for that is a lot of times if we don't buy a bus or two those larger expenses don't pop in as quickly. So if you don't see those large expenses in the first quarter you won't see that as much. So,
088uh, tremendously, uh, good with that, but obviously we're it's planned for and when those expenditures come in, we'll be ready to go with those. Uh, the referendum fund is trending over 25%. Almost 100% of the referendum fund is salary and benefits. Uh, almost all of its teacher salary and benefits. So, that's again with the three pay month happening in January, it's going to up it a little bit. But the other reason why we're over that is uh the a referendum fund is basically supporting all salaries and benefits with probably one exception and that is our property liability and casualty insurance which is an annual fee of around $900,000 that we have to pay in January every year that has been expended out of the referendum fund. It saves our our operations fund from that. So
089that one expenditure obviously at $900,000 as you can see of a first three months expenditures of about 3.5 almost a third of that uh really probably about more closer to 40% or um 30% of that is going to be um that one expenditure that comes once a year. So that will track better and look a lot better come June and it'll be probably closer to that 50%. it still may be slightly over that um because again so that is that's an annual payment so it's a year long. Uh with that are there any questions that you have for the investments or the quarterly reports of those three major funds? >> Uh no but thank you for filling in for Mr. Melby. I know that's a lot of extra work for you but we appreciate it.
090Uh director of operations Mr. Begley. >> Thank you. I'll briefly go over some of the projects we have going right now. the tennis facility. Um we've been dealing with some weather over the last couple weeks. Um we do have the storm trap installed and grading and detention pond earthwork took place last week when uh we when weather was permissible. Um the stable locker room has been completed and uh is being used by our teams. uh the Wilbur Wright Middle School improvements. Uh we're putting that out to bid with bids due on the first and we're going to be working in the guidance office, the media center, the band area, and we're going to fix up the bathrooms, all eight bathrooms. And then also the friend athletic complex updates. Uh we'll be doing improvements to the
091bathrooms, the training area, and the concession building. And that project is uh the bits are due on the 1st there. Um, with transportation, we have our driver appreciation um, on the it was on the 28th. We do want to move it to the 29th because we have several field trips out during the day. So, we'd like our drivers to be able to enjoy the lunchon. The PTO has graciously uh, donated that lunchon and they've done an excellent job every year. I'm very appreciative of of them. And then Mustang 2 is um, in the state of Indiana. It's ready to go to graphics and we should have it in our vehicle fleet in the very near future. food service. We're working on to end, as crazy as it sounds, end the year reporting and uh document
092storage. So, we're wrapping up the year with food service. Depending any questions? That's all I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Begley. Uh director of technology is not here tonight. Is there a report? >> Not beyond the Cisco, >> right? That's plenty. It's always expensive when he talks. um director of exceptional achievers. All right. Um I first want to give a shout out to um all of our staff and students who participated in the Best Buddies Bowl last month um to raise money for our Best Buddies program here at the high school. Um it was a great opportunity to see not only the students come together to participate in the games but also how many parents, family, staff members and community members were also there um to cheer them on. Best Buddies is also happening at
093Wilbur Wright this year with activities being held after school during which our exceptional achievers and their buddies have a chance just to spend time together and build friendships outside of the school day. And we're incredibly excited for all of these students along with our peer pals and our elementary students um to participate in unified game day, which just as a reminder is May 1st um in the morning at Wilbur Wright. Also, as the end of the school year approaches, all of our teams are really hard at work planning transitions for those students of ours that are moving up from one grade level to the next, which sometimes involves going to a new school. Um so the students in Mr. Dolman's class have been visiting the high school regularly. Our fifth graders had a chance to
094v visit Wilbur Wright last week. Um, and our prek team has been meeting with the parents and the elementary teachers to make it a smooth transition from kinderg or from pre prek to kindergarten next year. Um, I also want to report out that our I got a message from our high school team today. Um, that they have been really busy in a lot of their meetings just celebrating the success and growth of our juniors and seniors. Um, and the staff has reported how much joy they have in sharing this information with parents. Um, just to remind them that sometimes that progress takes time, but due to the hard work and dedication of our staff and students, it does come. Um Janna Marriage, Colleen and I had a chance to meet with Mark Booth um after
095his presentation here. So we have started the process um of identifying staff members to serve on a special education leadership team that we will be developing. Um these staff members will be asked to serve as building liaison and they really will represent kind of a variety of staff members throughout our exceptional achievers department. and together we're going to work on setting goals, priorities, and developing an action plan specifically for our department based on the results of the recent audit um just so that we have a really good plan moving forward to improve the resources and services that we're providing to our students here. Um and then lastly, I want to recognize Miss McCcluskey and the exceptional achievers team at Elliot who are celebrating um neurodeiversity awareness month. They did a hosted a breakfast and did
096a presentation for all the staff members last week um and are continuing throughout the month um just to share additional resources and information um and celebrating with spirit week this week. So love that they're celebrating neurodeiversity. Do you guys have any questions? Thank you, Miss Oliver. We appreciate your time. Uh director of elementary education, Miss We approach the end of this school year. This is a meaningful time for both reflection and planning. It allows us to look back on the growth of our students, consider opportunities for continuous improvement, and begin preparing for a strong start to the next school year. But just as importantly, it's also a time to recognize the many successes across our schools and celebrate the accomplishments of our students, staff, and community. Last Wednesday, we had the opportunity to do just
097that at the Indiana Literacy Achievement Celebration. This is a statewide event held at the Indiana State House to recognize elementary schools that meet or exceed the 95% pass rate on the I read assessment, which measures reading proficiency. Both Eids and Frank Hammond were recognized at this event. We are incredibly proud of this achievement and the collective effort of our students, staff, and families who made it possible. Last week was a week of celebration. So, I also wanted to take a quick moment to congratulate Kelly Borisma on her completion of the Indiana Principal Institute and Latoya Edwards on her completion of the Indiana New Administrator Leadership Institute. These programs reflect a strong commitment to professional growth and leadership development, and we are proud of their dedication to better serving our students and school community. This accomplishment
098is especially noteworthy as it comes uh in addition to their demanding administrative responsibilities extra time and effort in an already very busy point of the school year. And then finally just schools are hosting their fine arts nights this week. I want to thank our teachers for their amazing work to bring these nights to fruition. These events are a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their creativity and for our community to celebrate their talents together. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our director of communications is not here this evening. All right. Board reports. Mr. Dempsey. >> I'll try to be quick. Uh we got we received two pieces of of business uh tonight that required a lot of work. Mr. Trip and Feldus. I want to mention and highlight the fact that and we already
099did, but I want to do it again. With the amount of feedback that you get from the community and some of our our groups such as PTO, the calendar is very easy to just do it without asking for feedback and just whipping it up and thinking this is what we've always done. But I give you and your team a lot of credit for amending it and changing it and being open to the feedback that I'm sure you're not short on on getting. Uh Mr. Schultz, I appreciate all the work that you and your team have do with the athletic handbook. It is a living and breathing uh piece of business that is constantly going to change just because of the uh the society we live in. There's going to be a day, I don't know
100when, where name, image, and likeness is going to be in this handbook. I don't know when, but some states are already doing it. And can can you imagine that conversation? How much we're going to have to start paying our our high school student athletes? That will be an interesting meeting. Um anyway, April 24th, I wanted to remind everybody that April 24th is the boosters reverse raffle at the Center for Visual Performing Arts. We believe it starts at 6:00 p.m. Uh that is a fun evening and all the money goes towards our booster club. And last but not least, um I am I am spoiled because as the board liazison I get to spend time with the monster education foundation and hearing what that $98,000 has been awarded since August of 2025. If you take a
101minute and and think about that that $98,000 has been given to back to our classrooms all because of the work of Lynn and Jenny back there and the rest of the board that they do every single month for the school town of Monster uh is truly amazing. And the Monster Education Foundation will only continue to become more important as Senate Enrolled Act One uh takes its grips on public education. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Dempsey. Mr. Castro. >> Uh I just want to say quickly March 16th and April 6th I attended the redevelopment commission meetings for the town council. Uh nothing major to report from those and uh I'll just quickly mention I had the chance to attend the ISBA regional dinner. Um always interesting and a little scary to hear those
102legislative and legal updates. Um there's a lot of things that we're working on as as Mr. Dempsey mentioned. Thank you to the community for for stepping up and and helping us mitigate some of that stuff and and finding ways to keep our district moving forward because it's a challenge and it the challenges are just going to get more and more uh difficult as time goes on. So, um we'll do our best to keep in front of those things and keep the public informed of what we're dealing with. Um and keep in mind a lot of things that we're going to be seeing in the coming months are mandated by the state. These are the laws is what we got to do is we got to follow. It's not our choice. It's not monsters choice. wasn't
103a board decision. It's not a policy decision. It's what we're being told to do. So, we'll make sure everyone's informed, keep it uh and keep working together to to accomplish those things. So, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Castro. Mrs. Smith, >> I do not have a report. Brief. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cinder. >> Good evening. Um, I'd like to start by thanking my fellow board members for their leadership and communication while I was out of the country last month. I truly appreciate the time, care, and commitment that you each bring to this work, and I'm grateful for how seamlessly everything continued in my absence. I also appreciate the regular updates from Dr. Hicks and his leadership team. I know those take time to put together. Um, they really help me
104stay aligned with our district's happenings, and your communication and leadership are truly valued. I had the opportunity to attend our transitional education program step into spring event alongside many of the leadership team here. This was a wonderful experience to see our students putting their life skills in action and celebrating their growth, energy, and accomplishments. I enjoy being a part of the we are monster awards honoring Angela Tarabia Eids. Her commitment to her students and and our community is inspiring and she truly represents the excellence that we strive for across our district. As we look ahead to the end of the school year, it's fast approaching. I want to wish all of our students, our staff, our families the very best as they prepare for finals, celebrations, and transitions. It's a busy and meaningful time of
105year, and I hope it's a successful and positive finish for everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cinder. I just want to mention that I also attended the Indiana School Board Association regional meeting in Marville last week. And even if we all can't go with our busy schedules, we share the information that we learned. So if the district's paying for some of us to go somewhere, we bring back educational materials that um I delivered tonight because a lot of that is um the benefit of being part of the Indiana School Board Association is that they help us with not only training but legislative updates. Um, and I think it's valuable for all the board members, even if we can't go, to share that information. All right. Uh, announcements, uh, future meetings, April 13th, tonight. We're
106a little off the time on that, but it says we're going to meet at 6:30. Um, and then May 11th, regular board meeting at 6:00. Can I get a motion for adjournment? >> MC so moved. >> Cash or second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Never. Uh, we are adjourned. Thank you all for