001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] >> school board on March 9th to order. Uh four of our school board members are here. Mrs. Cinder is doing a mission trip in Honduras, so she has a good reason to not be here tonight. Uh please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Our mission statement, dedicated to excellence every day student every day. Our mission is to cultivate excellence, empowering every student to realize their full potential, and achieve high levels of learning. Our vision statement, >> a school community where all students have a sense of belonging, taking
002ownership of their learning, and find joy, passion, and purpose in their continued growth. >> We currently offer two ways in which the community can participate in regular school board meetings. The first public comment section on the agenda is for 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 comment section is for general comments and does not have to be specific to an agenda topic. If you wish to address the board during the general public comment section of the meeting, please put your name and topic on a card and give to Deb Tate Deb Hayes at the corner over there. All public comments are limited to 3
003minutes per individual with a total 30 minutes allotted for each public comment section on the agenda. And as a reminder, ours is not a Q&A, it's public comment. All right, building spotlight, Elliott Elementary. Mrs. Harold. >> Good evening. I'm excited to share with you some of our Elevate Elliott students this evening. I wanted wanted to introduce um all of those uh people that came with us today. So, I have my Elevate Elliott sponsors here, Aaron Lusk, Megan Schmittle, and Taylor Wichropka. They spend so much time with these this group of kids, and I'm so happy to have them here with us tonight as well. And then on the side of me here, I have Abby Fatemi, John Keller, Teddy Bender, and Ella Grunwald. So, without further ado, >> Good evening, members of the school board,
004administrators, family, and guests. Thank you for the opportunity to share what's happening at Elliott Elementary. Tonight, we are proud to present Elliott Endeavors. At Elliott, we love building leadership and literacy. Kate Ritter and Abigail Amador, members of Elevate Elliott, recently read a book to our third graders in the pods. It was a wonderful way to connect students and inspire a love of reading. Many classes have also been buddying up for monthly cross grade reading groups. Older and younger students read together, grow in confidence, and build friendships. It's leadership and learning combined. >> In September, Elliott focused on kindness and annual kindness walk raised an incredible $25,945. Throughout the month, students were encouraged to perform acts of kindness at school and in our community. The walk itself was the best one yet. There were games, music,
005activities, pies in the face, and so much more. It was a joyful celebration of giving back. At the start of the school year, students became an exciting saying 67. Instead of ignoring it, our staff joined in and used it as a learning tool. At Elliott, we turned fun moments into meaningful lessons. >> We are proud to celebrate cultures from around the world. In Mrs. Goings' classroom, Makai St. Louis invited his dad to teach about Canadian culture. Jona Wong shared about the Lunar New Year. Our students helped us learn from one to from one another. Each and mu- every each every each week in music class, Mrs. Speranza introduces an instrument of the week to kindergarten through third grade. Students learn about instruments from different countries and instrument families. And they practice proper playing techniques. Our
006fourth grade teachers, Mrs. Brzezinski and Miss Riley, also hosted a poetry slam with a cafe vibe. Our students studied different types of poetry and bravely performed their original pieces. >> Elliott Elementary proudly hosted its annual Veterans Day program under the direction of Mrs. Speranza. We had a record number of over 80 veterans in attendance. >> Students sang, made posters, and honored our Elliott veterans all day long on November 11th. >> With the help of our new instructional coach, Mrs. Brandt, class bands explored coding robots. There was trial and error and collaborative fun. Our students learned how to program robots and follow their directions. >> And we are excited to host our >> first annual Fine Arts Night on Tuesday, April 14th. All students will have artwork showcased and kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade students
007will perform musical selections. >> So, the kids don't know this one. Um with the help of our very generous PTO and also our um equally generous district leadership, we are in the works in making some exciting upgrades to our playground. Um in the near future, we are thrilled to plan for a partial basketball court at Elliott coming soon. >> At Elliott Elementary, leadersh- we celebrate leadership, kindness, creativity, culture, innovation, and community. >> Those are just some of the Elliott Endeavors that make our school an incredible place to learn and grow. Thank you for supporting Elliott Elementary. >> Thank you all so much. Uh, public speaking does not come easy to many people. Uh, Dr. Hicks and I were just talking about that. You four nailed it. Great voice, great pace. Um, I can't wait to
008see our speech and debate program in a few years. That is excellent. Uh, thank you all for spending your time here with us tonight. You are welcome to stay, but it is not a requirement if the students want to leave, but you can stay. All right, public comments. Uh, 3.1 comments regarding current action items. >> [laughter] >> Deb, do we have any um, the current action items? No, that's not right. Okay. And then general public comments, Tracy Martin. >> up here talking to you guys in quite a while. Um, Okay, so for those of you who know me, my name is Tracy Martin. Um, I host a podcast called Blue River by the Lake, and I spent um, the last month or so investigating heavily the uh, Munster student walkout that occurred in um, in
009um, February. So, as everybody knows, um, in the early weeks of February, students across the nation were engaged in walkouts from school to protest ICE. Students in Hammond High, East Chicago, and other communities across Northwest Indiana had successfully engaged in outdoor protests and marches that were supervised, organized, and supported by staff, and then they went right back to class. But our students, who were after they were told to go march in the field house like they're kindergarteners at a parade, and when they predictably decided that this was not a protest and they wanted to protest outdoors where the community could actually hear them, and then instead of having a safe experience like that, the school issues what I cannot determine at any other way because all of my questions about this have not been answered,
010a fake secure alert to keep the kids in the school and make it easier to punish them. And predictably, when this happened, all hell broke loose. Hundreds of kids swarmed the halls trying to get out. Fights broke out. Police and staff are standing in the doorways blocking kids from leaving. And I've received more than one report of a student that was restrained from leaving the school by police. Students locked in in the fine art in the auditorium prevented from going to the field house. I even hear rumors that Amazon was able to make deliveries, um, but yet we couldn't get our kids excused to go participate in the protest. 50 kids ended up leaving this chaos and protesting by themselves, responsibly, peacefully, under the supervision of people like my husband, who ran up there to
011make sure that during the 6 hours they stood there protesting, they were safe and not run over by some MAGA idiot in a car. We plan protests carefully for a reason, to protect people and ensure their safety. That did not happen here. So, all of these outcomes would have been avoidable had the School Town of Munster done what the students asked and helped them prepare a thoughtful, organized outdoor protest like Hammond High managed, East Chicago managed, and schools across the nation managed. And I've got to tell you, if I ever go to that school again and get told that I can't get my kid out because you don't want to let them out when there is no external threat, we're going to be having some deep words on that topic. I'm requesting that the school
012board come forth with a clear plan made in collaboration with parents, students, police, and a third-party civic group like Indivisible NY to to come up with a full protest plan. I'm also wanting an audit of the administration's deliberations during the secure alert, and I want assurances that a secure alert will never again be issued if there is not an external threat to student safety because I am tired of getting those messages. Martin, yeah. >> You may email us that if you want to to finish what your statement was. >> I got no response. I'll confess to it. >> All right. Uh, consent agenda. Approval of consent agenda. I think Mr. Begley, you're going to be Mr. Oppenfelders tonight. >> I'm going to try. >> If you'll If you'll display, I'll I'll It'll be like the
013British system. You'll be the solicitor, I'll be the barrister or vice versa. I got that backwards. In your consent agenda items, you'll find the minutes from the month uh the regular meeting last month, and the minutes from our work session following the regular meeting last month. You will also find 4.2 accounts payable voucher. And you will also find approval of payroll voucher of the register. You will find the approval of the personnel report. Additionally, you will find the overnight the personnel report, I'm sorry. The approval of the overnight field trips. The approval of the donations at both the high school and the middle school. The approval for the fundraisers from the last month. >> [clears throat] >> And those are all the items that were sent as part of the board pack and are part
014of the the consent agenda this evening. >> Uh would the board like any of these items broken down individually? Can I get a recommendation? >> The administrative team would recommend the passage of the entire slate of consent agenda items, please. >> Can I get a motion? >> Don't see so moved. >> Castro second. >> All right. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Action item 5.1, revision of 2026-27 school calendar half days. Now is this Mr. Bentley? >> Nope, it's still me. >> You said it was going to be Mr. Bentley. >> He's going to have his turn. He gets to go next and he's going to spend money. I'm just going to ask for a reservation for next school year. As the board may know and the parents
015in the audience know, currently our half day professional development days are also happening simultaneous with our late start. So we're having late starts and early releases on the same day. We tried them this school year. It mitigates the amount of time we have a staff and it it curtails the amount of learning that we can do in a day. And so next year we would like to move these half days to Wednesdays so that we have a half day, a regular half day on a Wednesday and then the next day will be a late start like any other week. Are there any questions about the the proposed move that I could answer for you guys? >> Uh can I get a motion to approve the revision of 2026-27 school calendar half days as presented? >>
016I'm see so moved. >> Miss second. >> And any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Action item 5.2, project 2026-0304 School Town of Munster bus purchase. Now, Mr. Begley. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> Uh the School Town of Munster administration recommends the approval of the purchase of two Blue Bird school buses through the CIESC cooperative purchasing agreement and they would be two 84-passenger rear engine buses priced at $238,416 apiece for a total of $476,832 and this is in line with our uh bus replacement plan. >> Can I get a motion to approve project 2026-0304 School Town of Munster bus purchase as presented? >> Castro, I move we approve project 2026-0304 STM bus purchase as presented. >> Can I get a second? >> Miss second.
017>> Any discussion? >> Um I would just like to mention cuz every time we have the bus purchases come on that as you mentioned, this is part of a plan. Um again, kudos to your team for getting every last literal mile out of the buses that we do have um and that they are safe and once we we have the opportunity as part of our plan to replace them uh responsibly and in a fiscally responsible manner, we do. So, thank you for the work that your team does and uh Mr. Melby, you and your team as well um making these plans. I mean, for the public that hasn't seen it or is on is not aware, there is a a long um kind of staggered plan to replace these buses over the years. I know
018we've slowly but surely been uh rotating our fleet. >> Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Item number six, any items that may properly come before the board? >> Believe it or not, it is time to put together the dates for the 26-27 years worth of regular school board meetings and proposed >> That's number seven. >> Oh, am I early? >> Yeah. >> Off topic. >> Usually you're saying no. >> Oh, no. Sorry, that's on me. No, I apologize. I got ready. I'm so excited to talk to you guys. >> about number seven, general information discussion discussion items? >> Well, >> Anything on that, Dr. Hicks? >> some I have some thoughts that I would like to share with the group. Um we have the slate of
019proposed board meetings for uh starting this summer and carrying through next school year. We run our meeting schedule on a July to June basis, and we need to have our July schedule properly uh advertised. And as such, you see our July, August, September, October, November, December meetings for the remainder of 26, and our January through June meetings for 2027. Are there any questions about these proposed dates? >> I would just note for the public that uh normally we meet the second Monday of every month. However, in October, you'll notice that we're meeting on a Wednesday, and it's because fall break falls on that following week, and some of our administrators and teachers and students will be out. >> I think that's the only thing that gets pushed around as a result of the the already
020existing calendar. >> Great. All right, thank you. Uh act items eight, administrative reports, uh, uh Dr. Hicks, our superintendent. >> Good evening, everyone. Good evening, members of the board. I would like to give you an update since our last time together. Uh, I want to thank you for the opportunity to travel to the national, uh, conference on education through the double ASA, the national superintendents conference. I was able to go and learn about a lot of topics, some very interesting financial pieces coming down from the federal government that I was able to learn about there, some things that will help us with our fiscal planning, and I had some very interesting innovations in AI and how districts around the country are are deploying it. Uh, I was able to come back and have some internal
021discussions. It It tends to be the topic du jour in education right now. But, I wanted to thank you. Uh, I did not plan this, but since you're here here, I will direct this to you. I wanted to to thank Councilman, uh, Nellans for the opportunity to come on the, uh, around Munster radio program, podcast, if you will. Um, it was a great chance for me to to to meet one of our leaders in the in the community that has been very kind to me, but also a chance to go on record and share a little bit about my history and some of the great things that are happening in each of our buildings here at the School Town of Munster. I was very proud to go on that program and share the great things
022that our kids are up to because they are wonderful. I want to share with the board that our high school team is going to go and meet with the Chamber of Commerce this week. Uh, similar to our endeavor, uh, a few weeks ago in look seeking out work-based learning partners, the high school is going to present to the membership writ large to, uh, explain some of the guard guidelines and guardrails that they're developing for work-based learning as we move forward, and to solicit partnerships as we consider how are we going to place all 1,500 of our students moving forward in some level of appropriate work-based learning opportunities so that they can meet the diploma requirements that will come down in 2029. So, very excited to to be there to support that team and it it
023will be a great opportunity to to gain interest from the community as to to what we're working toward. I want to I want to thank the high school civics club. Uh Mrs. Smith, I'm sure you'll also thank them so I apologize if I'm stealing your balance, but we had an opportunity along with some other local leaders to meet with our high school team in a round robin fashion. And it was fascinating as it always is whenever I sit down with students to find out what is on their mind. There were questions about school, but there were a lot of questions about Munster writ large and how my acclimation has been and what I think of it. And it was it was great to share those thoughts with our high school students in the civics club.
024It was a a wonderful opportunity. And then finally, I would like to thank Mr. Begley, Mrs. Pyrcik, and their teams. Mrs. Pyrcik has a team of one. But Mr. Begley and his team for a wonderful groundbreaking event. Um it's interesting to have a groundbreaking on a rainy day. I don't know if it's the same colloquial wisdom as weddings, but if it is, those tennis courts are going to be very lucky for a very long time to come. And at minimum, we took great pictures in the gloomy background. So, uh great event. Uh way to punt in the last second, get us in the auditorium and out of the rain. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Hicks. Uh assistant superintendent's reports, Mrs. Berggren. >> Thank you. Um just a quick a few quick
025reminders Um also to the community the end of the quarter the third quarter of school was on March 6th so just an FYI we're moving into that fourth quarter which takes us deep into the testing season and so we're going to see a lot of um emails home about specific testing. I miss Yozel's talk about IREAD-3 but PSAT and SAT day tomorrow at the high school everyone should have got emails regarding both of those things and then March 30th which seems so far away but is around the corner is the first day of spring break so everybody's aware. Our ILEARN [snorts] 3 checkpoints begin today at the middle school and they end on March 20th. A couple congratulations I'd like to share there are extracurricular whether it's athletic or our clubs are just knocking it
026out of the park and bringing home championships so congratulations to DECA they had multiple international qualifiers and 12 qualifiers for speech and debate. I know the Munster High School varsity dance team earned regional champs this past weekend the middle school dance team is going this coming weekend to state so I'm sure there's many more out there that performed this weekend that we didn't give accolades to but our teams are knocking out of the park so that's all I have for today. >> Thank you. Mr. Trippenfeldas who is our other assistant superintendent is also our HR person so he's downstate trying to find some good teachers for our future. Chief Financial Officer Mr. Melby. >> Yes if we look at our education fund you'll see something that you don't see every day you'll see a negative
027expenditure that is because of our high ability grant that Miss Berggren wrote for the district which was awesome. We spent the money ahead of time she got it approved and we were able to reimburse ourselves so that's why you'll see those numbers there those are for elementary teachers high ability certifications if I'm not mistaken And if you have a question on that, please ask Ms. Bergeron. Um and that's really any that the only thing that's out of the ordinary in the education fund. In the operations fund, I do want to point out one thing is the utility cost. Again, we're seeing those increases that everybody else is seeing, but when you're at a school district with this many buildings, it's a little bit heftier. Uh just to put things in perspective, this year are you
028or this month it was 184,000 for utilities. Last year in February, it was 104,000. So, I mean, it's not double, but it's closing in on that. Uh the year prior to that, it was 111,000 approximately. So, uh it's pretty steep. The good thing is uh in uh February, you can see our interest on accounts, the investments have done very well. The rate the Fed rates continue to sort of trickle down a little bit, but uh because these investments were made years in advance, we're still having good yields. And and the last thing I'm going to mention is in the referendum fund, uh something that you wouldn't normally see is miscellaneous revenue in February. As you know, you only see revenue in May, June, uh November, and December, but remember last month you approved uh the
029checks that were passed the 2 years. Well, it was from the referendum fund 2 years ago. We no longer even uh use uh the referendum fund for any professional development, but we have to put it back in the fund that we spent it out of. So, that's where that $31 comes from. Pending any questions, that's my report. >> Um Mr. Melby, just as we're kind of dealing with some of the major changes, um I just wanted to know how you and your team are faring thus far. It's pretty early in the process um in terms of changes that the state has made. Um just kind of taking the temperature, how you feeling? I mean, there's a lot there's a lot going on nationally, globally, and locally. So, >> I I can tell you I think
030we're very prepared for anything that's going to come. We've been in front of this for a couple years where we thought SEA 1 may have happened a little sooner than it did. So, that's good for us. Uh we have a superintendent that really understands finance, which is really really good. So, we're in good position. I don't think any school will know exactly where they're going to be until after our tax draws come in because the impact of SEA 1 will be seen then. I can't tell you how many homes have 65 years and older and military we have some reports trying to tell us that. I don't know how accurate they are. So, we're going to have to it's a a moving target a little bit, but we're prepared to hit the ball either way.
031>> It's kind of what I assumed. Are you We are still, I'm guessing, going to go for an early tax draw in May? >> Yes, sir. I'd rather the money in our accounts and we can make interest on it than have it in somebody else's. >> Thank you. >> All right, thank you. Director of Operations, Mr. Begley. >> Thank you. A quick update on construction. The tennis facility materials continue to come in. The storm trap system that will be underground that's set to be delivered this Friday coming up. So, they're going to be doing a lot of excavation, taking the dirt out to put the new storm trap system in. Um we met with the storm trap manufacturer on the 6th last Friday to kind of go over the ground plan of how we're going
032to get it in. Uh we held the ground breaking ceremony on the 5th. Uh they did some saw cutting across line clubs drive to prepare to tie this the storm trap into the existing structure so the water will flow out of that storm trap system and go towards the south towards the ditch. Um so, we've been working with sending out an Thank you, Ms. Pyrek, for sending out the messaging. We've been talking with parents and teachers and staff and parents about that might be closed down, but so far we're hoping that that Lions Club Drive is not closed down at all during the drop-off and pick up. We were also working with Powers Health regarding their employees about parking in that parking lot. Parking lot lights at Eads and Elliott, we're working with Busco and
033Sergeant to get their submittals and then we'll get that project going. New multi-purpose building central office campus circulation project I'm probably on meeting 457 with that just little meetings of little defined details with the with the architects AV design acoustical designer um everybody we've been talking going back and forth with the people that are affected with the athletic department. So we are set to go to bid that'll go out to bid tomorrow and we hope to bring a bid to you that's accepted at the next board meeting. The lockers for the stable are set to ship next week and we'll install those soon as soon as they get in. We've already moved the electric from the floor up above where the new lockers will go. And the Eads outdoor classroom is completed and I can
034share a couple pictures. I'll quick if you look here, this is them tying the storm trap system in over in the parking lot. It goes that's looking towards the north as it goes up towards past Lions Club Drive. And then up here you see the pipe that's the pipe that's going to tie in the storm trap system. And you can see that they're doing the excavation removing the topsoil and preparing the subgrade for taking it out so they can put in the storm trap system and then preparing the subgrade for the post-tension concrete. And then also there's a project we just got done over at Eads. If I wish I had a before picture this used to be um high maintenance area a lot of weeds. Uh it is an completely usable outdoor classroom and
035it can be used for um recess now that the kids can go in there and play. Uh so that was a fun little project that we just got done this past week. And then any questions, that's completes my brief. >> Thank you for the pictures. I love that. Uh director of technology, Mr. Podzel. >> I don't have a whole lot today, too, other than I've also had an opportunity to um attend a national K-12 specific cybersecurity conference. Um while there's a lot of great things that I've learned during that conference, the one thing that really stood out is the fact that I'm lucky. I'm lucky to be part of this amazing team that appreciates, understands, and values the how technology has become part of curriculum versus just something on the side. You know, there's many
036of my peers that I was able to talk to from New York, from, you know, Tennessee, Texas, or whatnot, they don't have the support that I do. But also most importantly, you guys. That this whole room, this whole team over here actually supports and understands the things that we're trying to do to not only better our students' technology experience, but just overall that we're moving forward. And we're trying to do the best thing we can to >> [clears throat] >> protect our kids from the unfortunate, crazy world that's out there. So, thank you for that. Other than that, that's that's all I got. So, if you have any questions, let me know. >> Thank you for that. I appreciate it. All right, director of exceptional achievers, Mrs. Oliver. This is the first inaugural presentation by
037Mrs. Oliver. >> Great. Um March kicks off Disability Awareness Month, so you might see some of our students sporting some um Disability Awareness T-shirts. I know Wilbur Wright today celebrated Trisomy Awareness Month or Trisomy Awareness Day, sorry, um to celebrate some of their own students. And then later on this month, we will celebrate Down Syndrome Day. Um so, make sure that you're paying attention to letters that come home so your students can also participate all of the special needs um and all of the great gifts that our students bring to uh our schools this month. Um call out and training has begun for Unified Track. I got to see our own Linda Ramos um in action. I got some pictures of her doing some stretching um and training of her students in the hallways at
038the high school this week, and the smiles on their faces um showed that she was definitely doing something right with them. So, I love to see that, and it's getting us ready for Unified Game Day. Um that was just brought to my attention that that's a big thing around here, so we are jumping feet first into planning Unified Game Day um that we will be doing on May 1st this year. Um some of our Exceptional Achievers staff got to attend some conferences as well. Um ICASE right here in Indiana, and then we were lucky enough to have the National uh Association of School Psychology conference right here in Chicago. So, our team of school psychologists got to attend that um just now or a couple weeks ago in February. So, they had the chance to
039network, gain some valuable information, and are bringing all of that back to um our staff and our teachers with some professional development. Um and then now we are it's crazy to say, but getting ready to do some transition meetings um with our students for the end of the year, and then to really talk about staffing and programming for next year. Any questions? >> Very good. Thank you. Uh Director of Elementary Education, Mrs. Use. Right. As Mrs. Bergrin mentioned, we are in the middle of testing season, so our I-Read window closes on March 13th. Parents can typically access their child's results through the parent portal about 24 hours after the assessment is completed. This is a shift and is nice for our families to have access to those scores immediately. This is the final checkpoint assessment
040before our students take summative assessments on April 13th and that opened for elementary today as well. So, they've got I-Read going on and um I-Learn checkpoint going on as well. With that being said, I want to take a moment to thank our school testing coordinators. They're working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure accurate accommodations, organize test schedules that provide optimal testing environment, which is extremely important for our students, coordinate communication with parents, and train our test administrators. Their attention to detail and commitment to our students make this challenging time of year run smoothly. So, thank you to them. In the midst of testing, I want to take a moment to highlight the achievement and growth of our elementary students from fall to winter this school year. Mid-year NWEA MAP results show our students performing well
041above national averages across all grade levels. I just wanted to take a minute to highlight a few significant increases. Kindergarten reading in the fall showed 39% of our students scoring above the 80th percentile and this increased to 58% in the winter. Our first grade reading data showed 34% of our students scoring above the 80th percentile in the fall, growing to 45% in the winter. In fifth grade math, 39% of our students scored above 80th percentile in the fall and this rose to 55% in the winter and fourth grade saw similar gains in math with 43% of our students scoring above the 80th percentile and this rose to 53% in the winter. A couple of notes as to why this is data is significant. This data compares students to other students nationwide. Even if a student
042improves their rate, their percentile may not move much if students across the country are also improving. The gains that I've highlighted reflect a strong dedication to instruction, targeted support of our students and the hard work our students and staff are performing on a daily basis. Congratulations to all of our buildings and staff. Your collective efforts are clearly making a difference. Do you have any questions? I'd be happy to answer those. >> No. Oh. Great job though. Thank you. >> Director of Communications, Mrs. Pyrek. >> Good evening everyone. Um I want to say thank you for the opportunity to attend um last week the Indiana School of Public Relations Association I had a ton of amazing um sessions but a few I wanted to highlight that I attended and um hope especially after a conference you
043don't have time to do any digging in yet but I'm hoping to get to it soon. Um guidelines for April 2027 digital 88 compliance for public schools. This is a huge um shift that is happening. Um the power of parents, the hidden content teams that you already have. So that's something interesting I um that session I attended. Um how to create um distinctive school brand. Um always looking to improve on that. Um communicating school finance. I know this is going to become a huge thing with SCA 1. And then um similar to Jeremy's report, signaling change um utilizing AI with school communications and how useful that is as a tool. Um my final point that I'd like to share is an update um to the capital improvements projects page um mailings that have gone out
044in regards to the um tennis facility um groundbreaking. Um I have been making some additions to that explaining not only um giving some clarity on um on financing that explanation there as well as pictures and that will continue to come so that there is a ton of transparency within the community, a lot of excitement so that everyone sees all the amazing things that are happening in our schools and throughout the district. So thank you Mr. Bagley as well for those photos. Thank you. >> I just want to say when you sent our the report last week and told us how many courses you attended in one conference, I was tired for you. That was I can't wait. I mean and all of them >> Wednesday. I'm like, you should have this Wednesday through Friday so
045I can come home and go to sleep. >> I That was great. So thank you for representing. I can't wait to see the changes coming. All right. Now it is time for our individual board reports. Mr. Dempsey. >> Thank you, Dr. Schwartz Wolf. Uh I want to mention it was great to see a few of our our um councilmen here tonight. Thank you, George, um Dave and Joe for for coming. It was great to see you guys. Uh I was going to mention I wanted to I wanted to bring up our guidance counselors at the high school who are right now going through all the the students from the 2029 class trying to get them No, excuse me. Ready for their sophomore year with and keeping them in line with their pathway and their seals.
046Um Mr. Snyder, I saw you walk in. So just know if all all your counselors are having to respond to as many emails as my son has sent trying to finagle the best uh sophomore fall schedule. They are working hard. And I know there's a lot of uncertainty with this degree and the requirements. And there's a lot of moving parts. So, thank you for you and your teams your hard work. Um two events coming up. Booster Club's reverse raffle is Friday, April 24th at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts. Megan, what time does that start? 6 6:00. And our district teacher of the year presentation ceremony in co- cooperation with Munster Education Foundation is Wednesday, April 22nd at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts as well. So, busy week. Thank you. >> Thank
047you, Mr. Castro. >> Uh thank you, uh Dr. Schwartz Wolf. So, I had the pleasure of attending the Redevelopment Commission meetings on February 16th and March 2nd. Um that was kind of you, Mr. Dempsey, to welcome our uh town councilman here. I uh get the pleasure of attending those meetings. Uh It is It is part of my duty, but uh it is an enjoyable to see you guys in action. I'm glad to see that you get the chance to see us in action here at one of our meetings. Um not too much to report from the February 16th meeting, but on March 2nd we actually uh they presented a um annual report to the Redevelopment Commission. This was uh no motions required. Uh this was just something that was presented and put on file. But,
048I will read that uh IC 36-7-14-8B requires the fiscal officer of a Redevelopment Commission to present an annual report to the commission before April 1st each year. Accordingly, the following is a summary of cash positions, receipts, disbursements, and investments of the various funds of the Munster Redevelopment Commission for the year ended December 31st, 2025. And it just proceeds with some financial and fiscal information from the Redevelopment Commission. So, I'm happy to share or tell you where to find it in case anybody is particularly interested in that. Um Um Mrs. Berggren mentioned a bunch of uh success we've been having. I would like to add also um the ISMA state uh competition was held and that's the Indiana State School Music Association. Uh Munster was well represented and did very well there and uh one Lucia
049Castro, freshman at Munster High School, may or may not have had a half a point away from a perfect score and a gold uh with a with distinguished uh performance. >> Takes after her mom. >> [laughter] >> Um so, that was uh that was pretty cool to see a lot of representation um and that's just another another facet of of where we perform well. Our music program is still fantastic and these kids work so hard um and are so dedicated and I get to see and hear that lovely flute every night in my house. Um and I just want to say a quick uh thank you and congratulations to our staff for the continued academic success. Um it it it just goes to prove how how much time and how much work I I I
050say it all the time. I don't think people realize how much work it takes. Um you know, being prepared, uh continuing to evolve and progress, all this work that we've had being done on our facilities. Um Mr. Begley, I know you you do these reports and people hear this list of stuff. And man, I know you're not exaggerating about the number of meetings you've had regarding these projects. And you're so involved and and our staff so involved. So, I just want to uh make sure I thank you guys all the time. So, that's all I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Castro. Mrs. Smith? >> Thank you. Um on behalf of my role on the park board, I just would like to mention um first and foremost, it's that time of year where you need to
051register your vehicle for those seniors and juniors that are going to park at Centennial Park for prom photos. Um you will get ticketed if your car is not registered. So, they opened up their website for registering their cars last week. Um I believe Mr. Nolan included something in a weekly email about that as well. Um because you will be ticketed whether you're sitting there for 1 minute or 5 minutes or half an hour, the ticket price is the same if you have not registered your car. And if you did register last year, you still need to register again this year. So, please keep that in mind. Also, like to note there are numerous summer jobs open um through our parks department, whether it be at the pool, the parks um itself, or through um their
052summer program in which they um do like a summer camp. >> [snorts] >> Um those jobs are also available and open and welcome to all Munster students. So, I hope that if you are looking for a job, you consider working for our parks department. Um in addition to that, Dr. Hicks also mentioned um I was present at the civics club meeting. I spoke on behalf of the parks department, not in my role as school board member, and two questions came up that I just wanted to share. One was um at the end of the meeting, they asked each one of us who spoke um about what [clears throat] advice would we give to the students that were there in terms of life, running for office, whatever it may be. Um numerous people, Wendy Miss, and
053others said vote, make sure your vote vote is heard. Um and one of the comments I shared was make sure as students in our school district that they always make sure their voice is heard. Um whether it be a policy that's made, something that's stated, following up, talking to a teacher, talking to our admin team. Um it is important that their voice is heard. We had a young lady speak at the parks board meeting who was in middle school at Wilbur Wright. She came and spoke about cobblestones in particular and a tennis court that would be removed. And she spoke at the meeting, did a very good job and we decided to take her advice. We kept one tennis court and are now adding pickleball courts in addition to that, but without her voice and
054without her feedback to the parks department, we probably would not have done that. They'd be all pickleball courts. So, whether you think your voice is heard or not, it is important that you speak out um whether we want to all hear it or not at times. So, um just like to mention that. In addition, the other question that was asked of me during one of the breakout sessions at the civics meeting was, "How do you feel about being a school board member?" And I said, "You know, it's an interesting question because it's humbling. It's humbling speaking before all of you as parents and members of our community. It's humbling being up here with all of you." Um the individuals here work hard every single day for our students. We may not agree with all the
055things they do or say, but ultimately I know they have our children's best interest at heart. And whether it comes across that way or not, please know that as a school board member, I feel very strongly in saying that and supporting that that I know, I may not agree with everything, but I know they do have our kids best interest at heart. And my kids have been ill-affected sometimes by certain decisions, um but I we have to do what's in the best interest of our school district and keeping our kids safe and doing what we all feel is appropriate for that. So, um it was an honor speaking at the civics meeting and um good luck to all of our kids taking the SAT and PSAT tomorrow. And, um, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs.
056Smith. I attended the tennis, uh, groundbreaking. Uh, very fun. Um, stars of the show, though, were the Talamadju twins, again, and they hopefully will be the stars this season, too. Uh, they really did a great job speaking, representing the student body and the tennis teams. I'm also the legislative liaison, and it was a short session, and it started early, so it's over. Um, there's a bill that passed concerning social media that's going to benefit our kids. And then, um, this devices, thank you. The cell phones and devices, which is going to be hard for people, but starting in July, uh, there's going to be some new rules regarding, uh, devices in during school hours. But you have that to look forward to. Uh, that's all I have. Announcements, uh, future meetings, April 13th, regular board
057meeting at 6:00 p.m. April 27th, a public work session at 6:00 p.m. Can I get a motion for adjournment? >> Gastro, so moved. >> Miss, second. >> All those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you all for coming.