001Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Welcome everyone to the School Town of Monster July's meeting for the School Town of Monster Board of School Trustees. Let the record show four board members are present. Dr. Ingred Schwarz Wolf will not be here this evening. Uh let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America, the Republic 1.4, public comment information. 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 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 comment section is for general comments and does not
002have to be specific to an agenda topic. If you wish to address the board during the general public comments section of the meeting, please put your name and topic on a card and give to Deb Hayes at the start of the meeting. All public comments are limited to three minutes per individual with a total of 30 minutes allotted for each public comment section on the agenda. Uh item two, there are no public comments at this time. Item three, consent agenda. Mr. Trippen, Mr. Dempsey. The consent agenda contain contains items 3.1 and 3.4 as I will uh briefly go through those. 3.1 is the approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting on June 9th, 2025 and then uh the minutes of an executive session held on June 11th, 2025 and then another executive session
003on June 16th and a third executive session on June 24th. Again, those are available online for anyone to review. Uh and it contains item 3.2 the approval of the accounts payable voucher register as presented, item 3.3, the approval of the payroll voucher register as presented. And item 3.4 the personnel report which includes the following recommendations for employment as presented on the screen, the following resignations as presented on the screen, and the three professional learning requests as presented. With that, the administration recommends that the board approve with one motion and one vote consent agenda items 3.1 through and including 3.4 as presented. Would any board members like any of the items broken down individually? Is there a motion to approve consent agenda consent agenda items 3.1 through and including 3.4 as presented? Cinder, I move to
004approve the consent agenda in its entirety. Is there a second? Castro second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any naysay? Motion carries 40. Item 4.1, donations. The administration recommends the donations be approved as presented. Is there a motion to approve the the donations as presented? Casture. move we approve donation as presented. Is there a second? Smith second. Any further discussion? Yes. You'll see displayed on your screen and then obviously uh for everyone else there are donations at Wulbright Middle School as presented um for IDA which is inclusion diversity equity awareness club and then the uh donations to the girls uh tennis team, boys and girls track and choir teams as presented at Munster High School. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say
005I. I. Any nays? Motion carries. 4 Z. Item 4.2, athletic sponsorship donations. The administration recommends that the board approve the athletic sponsorship donation as presented. Is there a motion to approve the athletic sponsorship donations as presented? Casher, I move that we approve the athletic sponsorship donations as presented. Is there a second? Smith second. Any discussion? You'll see there's one for uh this time. It's uh the sponsorship for Burns Kish. And I do believe it's a renewal if that's correct, Mr. Nolan. Uh but I could be wrong. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any against? Motion carries 40. Item 4.3, fundraisers. Uh, the administration recommends that the fund fundraisers for Wilbur Middle School Minster High School uh be approved as presented. Is there a motion to approve fundraisers as presented? Motion
006to Smith. Motion to approve fundraisers as presented. Is there a second? Send a second. Any further discussion? As you'll see displayed on the screen, uh, the Wilbur Middle School requests are for Science Olympiad and Wilbur Middle School dance team. And you can see for the types of fundraisers there with the projected profit. And then we also have the projected uh profit and the fundraisers for theater and choir uh that have been um presented for approval. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. Any against? Motion carries 40. Item 4.4 MHS replacement cafeteria tables. I think this is Mr. Begley. It is uh we're recommending the approval of purchasing uh 15 lunchroom tables at a cost of $75,815 from uh Sharp School supplies. The current tables that we have, the seats are
007failing and breaking and they're resulting in if you go by there sometimes you see an orange cone on it and then we have to then purchase the replacement seats which are quite expensive. Mr. Nolan, do you have anything to add on that? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the MHS replacement cafeteria tables as presented? Cash, I move that we approve the replacement of the MHS cafeteria tables as presented. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item 4.5, project 2025 0530, the school town of Monster furniture replacement for Eids and Elliot. Uh we're recommending the approval of nine classroom sets both at Eids and at Elliot uh for a cost of $241,361.94. Uh this will be coming out
008of the 2024 mortgage bond that we set aside for furniture replacement. Is there a motion to approve this project 2025 0530 the school town of monster furniture replacement particularly Eids and Elliot as presented? Ender so move. Is there a second? Smith second. Any further discussion? I would just assume this is same sorry I would just assume this is same thing like this is a necessity. some of this stuff is at end of life like furniture needs replaced because I think some sometimes there's questions from the public like well is this just you know we're just getting a little bit nicer stuff we're kind of wasting money's tight right now and these these I think we've gotten every ounce of use out of this stuff that we possibly could have I would I would just add
009yes u and then also I can comment there as a priority over and so now it's their turn. So the point on that was the next CFO down the road. We don't want all of the furniture bought at one time because then you're going to have to replace it all at one time. So when you're seeing a lot of furniture and people are think they're just replacing what they bought. That's not what we're doing. We're just going piece by piece and we're actually getting to the end of new furniture in all of our classrooms. So uh this is a great thing for me anyhow. And I was going to add to that, uh, we have several rooms that are already complete that were purchased years in advance in those two schools. So, this is just
010part of that plan, as Bill said, to stagger the purchases over time frame. So, you don't have to worry about all the classrooms, furniture, end of life at the same time. So, this is really just part of a larger project we've been doing that we've staggered out over time frame. And I would just one more thing, uh, speaking for Mrs. bevil. She uh the chairs that she had and she has currently we're about to replace. We had ordered those earlier. Those are failing and she has been asking me to get those switched out for several years and we've been chipping away and and after this purchase we are just about complete throughout the whole district. Excellent. Thank you very much. All those in favor of the motion to approve project 2025 0530 furniture replacement, please
011say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item 4.6, Monster High School student handbook. Mr. Nolan, briefly as presented last board meeting, there are no changes in there other than a couple typos that we found. couple little formatting features just to make it a little bit easier to read, but it's policy-wise it's what was presented at the last board meeting. Okay. Uh is there a motion to approve the Monster High School student handbook as presented? Castro, I move we approve the Monster High School student handbook for 2025 2026 as presented. Is there a second? Ender second. Any further discussion? Uh, I do want to add that we may do a couple technical corrections if there's name changes or anything like that. We probably won't bring that those back for board approval. I think we made
012the comment last month there might have been a reference to Dr. Heler in there as superintendent. So, obviously those types of things if there's any names that change, we'll do that as a technical correction without coming back for board approval. Real quick, Mr. Trifendell. and anything like that, any type of anything that I mean nonconsequential is the wrong the word, but but if it's not I guess if it doesn't affect policy or doesn't uh necess necessitate some type of board action, then you guys are okay to change, right? And that's uh just so you know, we even do that for for board policy, we call it a technical correction. If we find a typo, if we find a name change uh based upon a placement, those are technical corrections that actually even in board policy
013don't require board approval. We usually bring them to you guys for board policies, but that's something that can be done. I just wanted to make sure people realize that. So, if you see that there's a wrong name in there or there is a typo, let us know and we can still fix that without board approval. Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion to approve the MHS student handbook 202526 as presented, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 40. Item 4.7, meal prices for 202526 school year. We're recommending that the um meal prices are accepted as presented. This will show a 10- cent increase from last year's um uh school lunch prices and school breakfast prices. Is there a motion to approve meal price change for the 202526 school
014year as presented? And there's so move. Is there a second? Smith second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item 4.8, alakart prices for the 202526 school year. Mr. Begley. Uh, each year, uh, Mr. Askum from Chartwells. We uh go through and look at what the prices of these uh different alocart items costs locally in different stores and uh we look at that to also make sure that we're um in line with the local prices and then uh uh we look to sell this to the students at the lunches and breakfast. Is there a motion to approve the alocart prices for the 2025-26 school year as presented? Castro. Oh, go ahead. Smith. Motion to approve the alle cart prices for the 2025 2026
015school year. Is there a second? Castro second. Any further discussion? I did just want to make one note that these prices as uh Mr. Begley said, these are items and products in alleart that are not funded by the federal program. So obviously the lunch price is going to be much less than the aloc cart, but these are items that we get no subsidies for. So we pay the same amount that a local business or store would to basically uh re receive these products. So we have to make sure we're not losing money on them. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 40. Item 4.9 St. Paul's food service contract for the 2025 2026 school year. Uh recommending we approve the St. Paul's uh food contract. This
016is a contract that we've had for several years. It's been a symbiotic relationship with um St. St. Paul's. Um we uh require them to purchase 90 meals per day uh which makes it advantageous for us to um generate income through the food service department and it helps the students there that and I look at the St. Paul's kids as our kids uh that get a nutritious uh lunch every day if they want to go through the lunch line. Is there a motion to approve the St. Paul's food service contract for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Castro, I move we approve the St. Paul's food service contract for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Is there a second? Uh Smith second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say
017I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item 4.10, 10 project 20253319, the MHS athletic parking and storage improvements. Mr. Begley, uh we're recommending approval accepting uh accepting the bid from Hassie Construction for $1,447,95. Uh we put this out to competitive bid. We did have several bids come in. Uh it was very competitive. Uh I believe the other bid was about $40,000 higher uh than Hassis. Uh, this construction project is going to increase the storage area over by the um baseball soccer field. It's going to create the parking lot that's been that space that's been vacated by moving the soccer field south. Uh, and then it's going to uh provide an entrance way uh for people to park and then walk down for baseball and football games and track events and soccer games, all that. So,
018it'll give us some more flexibility. is also going to help us greatly when we're having the I call it the mother of all storms a mini ball play swim event where we just need additional parking how many parking spaces is it going to be Mr. I'd have to I knew you were going to ask me. I believe it's 100. Yeah. So, if if people can walk in to those those events from the the south side of 35th, will we have a somewhere where people will be able to take money or Yes, we will. Yeah. Is there a motion to approve project 2025 03319, the MHS athletic parking and storage improvements as presented? Castro, I move we approve project MHS athletic parking and storage improvements as presented. Is there a second? Smith second. Any further discussion?
019Um, no. I just want to comment that I appreciate your your commentary about this and and the description and why we've done it, why this was a consideration to begin with. Um, again, I believe this is coming from that mortgage bond. Um, you know, you talked about making sure that we're we're bidding this out. These are all very reputable companies. Um, and again, I think as you mentioned, there are times that this is a need. Um, and it it's helps with with risk mitigate. To me, it's all about risk mitigation and traffic mitigation, and you know, we've seen a lot of chaos in those areas. So, hopefully this is this will go a long way in in mitigating those risks. So, thank you. It was also nice to see we had several businesses from across
020the border bidding on these projects as well. And it wasn't just two people that bid. I think it was five or six different companies that came and bid on this. So, it's nice to see some of the It seems like there's less projects out there and they're trying to get it be a little bit more aggressive. Um I do have a quick question. Um is there going to be some type of pathway from the parking lot that connects around that area? I mean, how is that parking lot? Yeah, there there'll be a internal sidewalk that'll go inside the fence that would go down to the um baseball area, football, soccer, and then it'll also be um a pedestrian gate where they can get out off onto the corner of 35th and Columbia. So, it it'll
021give that flexibility if we have spillover from a swim meet that they can park there and walk across. And then when we're looking to build the new uh fieldhouse, we'll have additional parking there. And they'll enter that parking lot from 35th, right? Correct. It's going to be the same gate that we have. No, the actual cars. Yeah. They they'll come off the where that gate is over by the storage building. All those in favor of the motion to approve 20253319 MHS athletic parking and storage improvements, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item 4.11, project 2025 0701, fine arts entrance improvements and Ballard installation. Uh we have some money uh in the 2024 mortgage bond. I believe geo bond. He does the money. Uh if if you had a chance to look
022inside the new facility, it's it's looking great. Uh it is beautiful inside, but when you come outside, it's a little overgrown. So, we have some money to one replace the concrete there. And uh we are looking to change the signage and uh also with the safety grant put some ballards out in front to prevent any vehicular traffic that could go into that that entrance. So this this project will uh provide that and then we'll we also continue to go around the different campuses to put ballards in front of those main entrance as a safety feature working with the the safety committee. Is there a motion to approve project fine arts entrance improvements and Ballard installation as presented? Smith. Uh motion to approve project fine arts insurance improvements in Ballard installation. Is there a second? Any
023further discussion? I did want to just add I appreciate it. Um, when you talk about ballard installation, I just want to give uh recognition to both Sean and Kim Pyrick who developed some beautifully decorative safety ballards that will look extremely nice, but provide that extra layer of security and safety for our entrances. So, they did a really nice job of designing those. And I know I don't want to take too much time, but you guys need to know the amount of effort and energy that goes into these decisions. And uh Kim kind of gave me I haven't seen the final, but the initial stuff she gave me was just gorgeous. And to say that that's a safety feature, no one would even know because it's it's so well done. Thank you, Mr. Trippen Feldus. All
024those in favor of the motion to approve project 2025701, fine arts entrance improvements and ballard installation, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 40 item 4.12 authorization for the assistant superintendent to hire staff prior to the start of the 202526 school year. Mr. Tribelis, uh this is a pretty typical um request in July. We still have about four to five positions, teaching positions that we have to fill. Um and if we don't have another meeting in July, uh it'll be after teachers start before our August meeting. So, we usually make this request for the superintendent, but obviously we're in transition. So, this gives permission for uh myself or Colleen, either one of the assistant superintendents to to give the recommendation to the board at this time. Uh we definitely would love to have that
025so that we can make sure we're fully staffed for all of our students. Uh we're pretty close to finalizing all those hires now. We just couldn't get them all in by this date on July 7th. So, again, very typical of something we do every year. Um and if you ask Mr. Castro, this is for teaching and staff positions, not extra new positions or administrative. This is going to be for current open positions or if we get a late resignation from someone uh for a teaching or like an instructional assistant position. Is there a motion to approve authorization for the assistant superintendent? So, it would be Mr. Trmanis or Miss Callie Bergen to hire staff prior to the start of the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Casture. I move we approve the authorization for the
026assistant superintendent to hire staff prior to the start of the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Is there a second? Smith second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Item five, any items that may properly come before the board? I don't believe there are any. Item six, general information and discussion items. 6.1, Elementary Handbook. Ellie, uh, these are just updates that align us a little, um, more succinctly with the middle school and the high school um, handbooks also. So, I will start on page five where we have um, aligned the absenteeism law. CA 282. Um, and we took out our old just Indiana code that was stated and we very specifically again put in the same verbiage into the um into our handbook
027as the middle school and the high school also have in theirs. Second, on page nine, oh, I take it back. Page seven has a half day to participate um in any extracurriculars. We didn't have anything um in our handbook stating whether there was um regulations for for uh participating in extracurriculars. So new it says that they must be in attendance for at least half the day in order to to participate. Um after page seven on page nine um we added the tardy consequences. Again all a part of our new Indiana code. Um, so after a seventh tardy, a letter will be sent home. After the 15th, a parent will be contacted. And that in our typical range ends up with a parent support plan, also something that aligns with the absentee law as well. Also
028on page nine, dress guidelines, we again aligned to hats and head coverings. So that our verbiage was the same as what the middle school and high school says in regards to um not excluding head coverings such as hijab or turmans. Um but hats are not permitted in accordance with that policy. Um page 10 and 11 we deleted the old harassment and bullying language and again aligned which is all of page 12 and 13. So now our new text is aligned to our current schoolboard policy in Indiana code. Um some highlights there are that social workers will provide training andor anti-bullying prevention programs. Our social workers are already doing that on an annual basis. Um secondly, the administrator or social worker will inform parents of all students involved in alleged bullying incidents. That's already happening as
029well. Um, and then there's a little bit of tight language about the investigation must uh occur within five school days and the conclusion needs to be completed within 15 school days. That's all new to us. U moving on to page 13 in personal items at schools. We had already included cell phones, radios, audio video players. Kids didn't even know what that was. Um so naturally smart watches are the new hot topic in fourth and fifth grade and uh so it is also um to be kept safely in their backpacks or at home which would be even better. I'll move on to page 14. We added um a sentence about warm weather. So we had always had the below 20 degrees and with a windchill below 10 degrees um regulation about indoor versus outdoor recess. that
030you stay in if it's cold. We had to um add the now it's too hot to be outside. So that is the heat index above 90. On page 15, we added some party food guidelines just to accommodate our um peanut and tree nut allergy kids. Um and then also again trying to focus the party around the fun of a party rather than the um exorbitant amount of food that comes into the building and again in a limited amount of time with an hour for parties. We would like to stick to the games and they all happen in the afternoon after a full lunch already. So um our opinion is that you know four pizzas and 42 cupcakes and other candies not always necessary in an hour. So that's helping us there. Uh and then lastly,
031uh the nurses asked us to just add the statement on page 20 in regards to and again following Indiana code and um that they students will not be part will not participate in school if they don't have their immunizations on record after 20 school days. That's just updated. And there have been no changes to our student discipline or consequences section from 20 p 20 page 20 on. There are no changes. Questions? Any questions? No. But I think John Dhy will be for former board member John Dhy will be thrilled about that heat that heat uh provision you put in there. So wasn't necessary a few years ago. It is now necessary. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Borisma. Item 6.2. Mini Mustang Handbook is use Good evening. Just concluded our first year with the mini Mustang program.
032And during that time, we gathered ongoing feedback and reflection from teachers, from administrators, central office staff, parents. Um, and so much of the edits that you see there will be a reflection of that feedback. Um, you'll notice some language and formatting changes throughout the handbook. Um, we tried to streamline redundant phrasing, repeated curriculum descriptions, and things of that nature. But if you turn to page five, you'll see a curriculum update. So, we are moving from high scope curriculum to replace um and we're replacing that with Frog Street preschool curriculum. Both of those were aligned to Indiana early learning standards, but we did make the shift based on feedback from administrators and from our teachers. Um Frog Street emphasizes a play-based learning, monthly themes, conscious discipline. Um so, we're excited about that new curriculum. If you
033move to page six, you'll see an update regarding rest time. Um there's additional clarification for families on what this looks like in our program specifically. Um that we have time for students to nap or rest. So some of this stems from questions that we received from parents this past year. Um yep. So rest time It's probably the page numbers are with the edited handbook. That's okay. There we go. Thank you. Um, so we received questions from parents and then we included those things in the handbook this year. Um, continuing on refined enrollment requirements. We added two additional areas to this section. Um, so you'll see participation in the developmental screener that took place last year, but it wasn't a requirement and we felt strongly that our students joining the mini Mustang program should participate in
034that screening for several reasons, including early identification, um, which touches on child find that we f thought was important, helps with transition to the program, and then it helps our teachers inform instruction. Um and then we also included a parent acknowledgement of our discipline policy. So parents are now signing off on the discipline policy for the program. So that is now included in that area as well. Um moving on to tuition and payment clarification. There is an added power school parent payment portal. Um and there's some instructions provided in the handbook this year. Um and then we also included the updated cost to the program and that's reflected in this section as well. School attire um should be coming up. Okay. So um there's no major changes to school attire. We made some slight adjustments
035and that was mostly based around safety and being prepared for weather and outdoor play. So that's been included in that section. Um arrival and dismissal. So, we included additional information on arrival and dismissal procedures as well as how to handle those. We included a section on late pickups. Um, that doesn't happen frequently, but if it does become an ongoing issue, we wanted to make sure that um we have a section that addresses uh that area. We also included a section on school closing and delays. The program is not in session if we have e-learning days. And so, um, making our parents aware of that ahead of time, I think is helpful. Uh, health and nutrition and safety, we included the physical exam that was in place last year, but we didn't include it in our
036handbook. So, we made sure based on nurse feedback that we included that. And then we reinforced food allergy guidelines, including no peanut and nut products. We also included safety drills. Um, those were taking place across the board in our prek classrooms. Um but for many of our families, it's their first time with their child coming into the school and so they may be unfamiliar with what that process looks like. Um and so we provided additional guidance to them so that they can support that at home as well. Uh there is a section on child find which was new um that we added. It just includes information on um finding and evaluating students with a suspected learning disability. And then down a little bit we touch on communication tools and we made some shifts to this
037area as well with an emphasis on canvas for classroom communication optional use of dojo um and clarified the use of powers school for our families as well. Uh celebrations and birthdays. We removed a section about invitations for birthdays based on feedback from administrators and teachers. They did not feel that that was an issue. So we took that away from the original handbook. Um, and then we did make some edits to our behavior and discipline section. So, we needed some greater clarity on procedures for how to support students with maladaptive behaviors, as well as a greater level of transparency around possible outcomes if those behaviors become a frequent safety risk um to the students and staff in the program. Things that include a shortened day, timeout from the program, or possible removal. Um, so clarification around
038that was included. And then we did a comprehensive behavior guidance policy that includes a requirement the family signs uh and acknowledges the policy so they know what to expect going in. That concludes the edits that we made. Any questions, guys? Thank you, Miss. Item 6.3, Wright Middle School Handbook. Mr. Yvanovich. Thank you. Uh some of these are very similar to what everybody has done so far. Um on page two, we start with updating our mission and vision statement um to just uh reflect the districts. Um, on page seven and eight, we updated our physical information. Uh, exactly what uh, Miss Borisma talked about and our immunizations uh, chart from the state. On page nine, we slightly altered our lost and found procedures. If you've been to Wilbur Wright, you have seen our lost and found
039uh, section. It is substantial. Um, but we just wanted to clarify that and uh if uh if families need to find something where where to go and what to find um in what spots. On page 11 and 12 um we updated our absence policies to reflect state code. Um we also changed a little bit of the wording to uh be more similar to the high school instead of limits on um that section will be excessive absences. Um and then we also stated um the new state policy. On page 14 um we updated our truency consequences um again slightly once again to uh reflect uh the new expectations and to be in more in line with uh the high school. On page 17 um we updated assault to battery again. Um this is uh again to
040be more in line with uh the high school but also uh assault is not something that is stated. Uh so we wanted to clarify that and also clarify some of the wording on consequences if there is a battery at the school um and what those consequences might look like for a battery on a staff or a battery on a student. Um, we also have on page 21, we updated our bullying investigation policy to reflect uh, Indiana vote again, just like everybody else. On P and if I'm going too fast, please slow me down. Um, on page 22 and 23, kudos to Mr. Nolan and his team uh, with the, uh, artificial intelligence work. Uh, we updated our wording on AI and uh, plagiarism within Wilbur Wright and what that might look like for us. Um
041it is uh slightly different but again in line with uh um again our our plagiarism uh code moving forward. On page 34 uh updated our testing calendar to to reflect the I learn checkpoints and uh some of the changes we made to our NWA schedule. On page 37 uh we clarified grade point average. Um so when we implemented it, we had to write down the date that it started because we had some eighth graders that were enrolled um just on that first year. Now all those kids are post that date. So when they come in as sixth graders, we start with the GPA um calculation. On page 40 and 41, we have our athletic programs uh based by season. Um that's hopefully going to be helpful to our students and our parents. Uh we've done
042some messaging around that just so as they come in they know when we are offering certain sports on 41 you'll see that uh football clinic has been changed uh to seventh grade football which is what it is. It's not necessarily a football clinic for everybody. It's for seventh grade football. Um on page 43 we also added a marching band which has always been a thing um somehow overlooked and not never added as an activity. um and now we have a ton of our kids uh participating in it and so we added that to the handbook. And then finally on 44 and 45 um we just put some clarifying language in there um about final forms uh physical information and the date for physicals for extracurricular participation along with um again the uh attendance policy for
043participation in afterchool activities. That's all I have. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Item 7.1, financial report. Mr. Melby. Yeah, I'm going to start. I I've been smiling most of this meeting because I can't get a a fond memory out of my head after Mr. Begley was talking. Uh I was talking with my wife and I've been in schools for 50 straight years, kindergarten through now. And we always talk about teachers and we talk about coaches, how impactful, but all the other people in the buildings are that impactful, too. Mrs. Shive, Mr. Castro, please be careful. Mrs. Shive uh was my lunch lady. Absolutely love her. Brought a smile to my face every day. And uh I couldn't stop thinking about her. So that and that was over 30 years ago, probably 40 years ago. All
044right. With that being said, uh we do we're doing our quarterly report as usual. You know, this is something that S&P really likes to see. It helps us with our ratings. And I wanted to do something a little bit different. So, I wanted to compare last quarter's numbers with this quarter's numbers. I remember uh reporting in April and I remember a couple times some faces like, uh, is that really going to be true, Bill? And so on. So, I wanted to show how it worked and compare them side by side. So, if you look at the investment totals by year, I remember after the first three months going, hey, we will hit $3 million again. And and I had a couple looks like I can do the math. You multiply by four, you're not going
045to get close to uh 3 million. But if you look at this July report, we are h more than halfway to it. The reason why is we ladder every one of our investments and we're lading them out. I know I get our tax draws in June. We can ask for an early tax draw and me being a little bit on the nervous side wonder what if we don't get the tax draw on time. So I have a lot of uh the bonds maturing in May and June. So I know those are going to be larger months. Same with July. August will also be another very good month as well. So that's the first thing I wanted to point out. If you turn the page, obviously underneath that is the uh investment income policy that we
046have. If you look at the overall investments and again in the left column, you see the banks that we have that won the bids. So that's where the money is sitting right now. the amount or the principal that's with them, the source, so in other words, what uh fund it's coming from, the rate that we're getting, and the purchase date and maturity date, so you'll know when everything's going to mature, when everything's happening. The thing I want you to bring uh down to is that final number. We have significantly less invested now than we did three months ago. And that could be shocking at first except remember a lot of this is coming from the 2024 mortgage bond that we've laded out and we are spending that money and we have to spend it at
047a certain rate. So we know that money is going to come off. I just don't want anybody looking at it for the first time saying because that would be a shocking number how much it's decreased but we knew that was going to happen. Then we go to the meat and potatoes in the education fund uh through six months with transfers again transferring money from the education fund to the operations fund. You see the dollar amount is over 14.5 million which is 47.89% of the budget. They do not use that amount. Transfers do not count when it comes towards the budget. So actually we're at 12.6 six approximately which is 41% right where I like to be sitting when it comes to uh using the budget. Remember the cash sheets don't exactly match up to that
048number. And the reason why is you can encumber things from the previous year. So if we had a bus, we encumbered it, we were going to purchase it, we want to get that done, it may not come in, so it may not show up until the next year, but that will not count towards this budget. accounted towards last year's budget. In the operations fund, um again, through the first six months, we're over 4.3 million and 32.36% of our approved budget. That number is low because we did purchase some buses out of the 2024 geo bond and that was something that we approved here and got the ability to do. Remember, we are still working on catching up on our buses. Our buses passed inspection, I do believe, on the first run on June 12th. They're
049all good. But again, remember, we're not going to exchange a bus just because it can. If it's a good bus, we're going to keep that bus going. And we have fantastic mechanics. So, kudos to them getting it uh passed on their first try. What's that? Oh, and they're watching. Uh and the last one is a referendum fund. This one again, if we look back three months ago, it would normally scare me if we said the percent of total budget that we were spent was over 25%. We were close to 27%. But remember, we have that one time big hit in January for insurance. So that skewed the numbers and it's now come back to where it's normally going to be. We spent approximately 5.4 million and that's approximately 44% of our approved budget. If you
050have any questions, I'm more than welcome to go over it or I know you've had a little bit of time to look over the cash sheets if you want me to go over that. Otherwise, that's my financial report for this month. Any questions? No, but I would just like to comment and I I say this every time we talk about investments, investment income, the bonds that a it's all very conservative but very effective. um because that's how you operate. And B, there's nothing on here that is, hey, we I I decided to buy a bunch of uh a bunch of Dogecoin or a bunch of uh you know, stamps or or rare coins or anything like that. These are all approved. These are all, as you said, they're laded out. Um it's safe and secure
051investments. There's nothing that anybody could would be afraid of and and this is all the public can see all of these investments and all of of you know what we have here. So yes sir there's only like three things that we can do. We cannot buy Bitcoin. We cannot do all those things that sometimes may have a better return. Our numbers are very conservative but we do do a good job. My team does a great job. We bid it out. Get the best numbers from the banks that we can. And you can see uh the returns are pretty good. Thank you, Mr. Melby. Item 8.1, assistant superintendent report, Mr. Tripenthalis. Um, other than the personnel report, which we talked about a little bit and uh the need for a few positions, I think uh nothing
052further at this time. Item 8.2, director of operations report, Mr. Begley. Thank you. Uh we are continuing with our construction over the uh the summer maintenance on the facilities. Uh the fine arts is the big project that's going on right now. Uh we're ready to get that classroom turned over. We did have an issue with the floor that had to be resolved. Um so that did delay us a little bit, but that's now ready to be turned over. Auditorium, the seats being installed. Uh the projector screen has been installed. Looks great. We It is a a vast improvement. Uh stage floor has been installed. Uh, and while we had the stage floor up, we were able to, uh, install some additional microphone and monitor pockets. So, that wire that used to lay over the floor
053will no longer be there. It's going to look very sharp. New pit cover for the, uh, when we do the spring musical, uh, we take that out. It's a much lighter system, so the people that install it and put it in, take it out, are very happy about it. It's a much uh more aesthetically uh better looking u cover and it is a great improvement. Uh the lighting uh we've gone to an all LED lighting that's been installed should be finishing up today or tomorrow. U the two things, one that one room that hummed because it had all the transformers. We don't need that anymore. So all those transformers have been removed and the LED lighting is going to be u it's not going to we were starting to have a problem where it was
054about to fail. It was blinking. It was depending on when you would if you dim it. As soon as you start dimming, it would start flickering. We no longer have that problem. It's going to be fantastic. And if you get a chance to go in there, if you'd like to come, I certainly recommend come seeing it when it's done or even if you'd like to see it while it's uh the construction's going on, it is uh looking really good. Transportation, we still are waiting on our two uh 84 passenger buses, but uh we're expecting those in the fall. And as like Mr. Mel, we said we've really have improved the um fleet over the last couple years. So, our our buses are are much newer, much nicer. Um and then all our buses that did
055go through an inspection passed on June 12th. So, kudos to our mechanics for getting that ready. That there's a lot of hours of preparation where they're going over the checklist and making sure everything is working and they're going through basically a u a pre-insspection to do everything the state troopers are going to do when they state troopers do get there. And uh because of their efforts, we got all the buses through on on a first time go. Uh food service uh we're going to be installing new combi ovens at Eids and Elliot this uh summer. And then we're looking to get um we do have a longer lead time on the serving lines, but we'll be replacing the serving lines over at Eid. So it's going to be a much nicer uh serving area for
056our students. Penny, any questions? That completes my brief. You guys have any questions? Mr. Beum, you anticipate the auditorium being done by the start of school. It's going to be close, but uh they're they're wrapping it up. Uh they're really kind of in the back of house. It's amazing what on Thursday uh it was, I don't know, thousands of boxes cuz all the seats came in an individual box. It was a lot of cardboard. Um they had to get them laid out and that was the setup part took a long time. Uh, but after they got everything lined up and ready to roll, those things they're they're flying as they're putting them in. Uh, there is some floor patch that needs to be done, they kind of there's a an epoxy down. There's a little
057spot that's missed, so they have to come back and fix that. Uh, then after that, we'll get the carpet down. But it's it's moving along. Yeah, I I anticipate it's going to be done. I don't want to jinx myself, but it's it's going to be ready very soon. H has has DA have they come back to us with respect to the traffic study? They did uh we did meet with us and uh Dr. Heler and I we we met with them and they are with a draft uh study and they're wrapping that up and they're going to finish that and I'll present that to you guys as soon as I get it. Thank you, Mr. Begley. Item 9.1, individual public comments. I don't believe there are any. Item 10.1, individual board member reports. Miss Cinder.
058Hi. So, um, no new action this month on, uh, my subcommittee for the strategic plan implementation, but I I wanted to just share um, and maybe this is coming from Mrs. Cinder, the mom instead of the board member. But my son started at Frank H um, in the early childhood education program when he was three and a half. Um, when he went out in the rain, he would scream and cry. He had so much sensory sensitivity. He could not eat certain foods. He had um all kinds of challenges. And sorry, with the support of the team there, Eids Wilbur Wright um Monster High School, many of you know he just graduated. He's starting at Purdue this fall um in the actual actuarial science program with 76 credit hours. He is a junior and he has
059a 4.0 GPA. um that would is unbelievable especially for a kid um who had so many challenges but so much support every step of the way. So really appreciate um this district and the team and uh uh what what we provide for our kiddos. So thank you. Thank you Amy Mr. Castro. So, I actually have not been able to attend a town council meeting and the subsequent redevelopment commission meeting. Uh, this one is tonight. Uh, and the last one was one of the meetings that we had to have for uh a board meeting. I believe it was an executive session. Um, so I don't have any anything to update on that, but I will follow up with uh the new town manager um and uh probably uh Wendy Miss who's the clerk treasurer. Um, I
060have spoken to the new town manager and have invited him to um, attend a board meeting. Um, and I know there's some things going on. So maybe as we kind of get uh, through our transition period um, I will have uh, either you or uh, the new superintendent reach out um, and talk to the town manager um, because it's always been such a very good symbiotic relationship with the town. Um, and I'd love to get off to a good strong start with that new town manager. Um, and that said, I just want to, you know, kind of follow on that. It's been a busy few months. Um, I know it's summer and and, you know, but there's activity all the time, but this right now especially, it's a time of transition and everybody's really had
061to step up. I mean, I want to thank everybody in this room especially for for, you know, going above and beyond for stepping up, for having events. Um, you know, I had the opportunity to attend the Junth um, celebration and it was great. It just speaks to the passion that the community has, that Mr. Yvanovich has, that, you know, it's summertime. People are not taking it easy. Um, so thank you for for doing that, for your effort. Um, but especially now, I mean, it's it's there's some unknowns. You know, this is a time of transition for us. Um, there's some uncertainty. So, more than anything, I want to thank you for the trust that you all have in us in this in this school board. Um, we've been putting a lot of time, a lot
062of effort, a lot of thought and consideration into our future, our leadership, our community, what the expectations are from you all in this room, um, of leadership, and what the community expects. So, I just want to say thank you as we work through this is this is this is our biggest biggest job. This is our one employee. We have to make sure that that we get this right. So, thank you for your support. Thank you for your patience. And most of all, thank you for your trust. Thank you, Mr. Castro. Miss Smith. Um, first I'll start with my park board report. Um, our park board has been meeting um twice a month over the summer, which has been super fun. And um we have been working through the plan for replacement of um the view
063restaurant and building facilities over there. Um and our final recommendation should be made tomorrow evening that will go to town council for next steps. Um but we have come up with a really wonderful plan that I feel will serve our community well and be very useful for all different age groups, activities, interest, etc. as well as um continuing to connect pathways through our community. So um I do think the community input we received um has been wonderful and supportive and helpful in guiding us through that process. Um with that said, I'm going to move on to part two, which is my um role in leading us through our superintendent hiring process. So to date we have conducted interviews with both permanent and interim superintendent um as we were unsure of due to our proximity of
064time if we did find the right candidate what that would look like in terms of hiring date moving a family potentially etc. Um we were unsure if we would need a interim superintendent and so um we are actually now in final negotiations with one candidate. Um we want to sincerely express our um appreciation to Steve Trip and Feldus for stepping up to help lead our district during this transition period. Um it has not been easy. We've had many meetings. Um we've had a lot of communication in terms of just making sure we are covering what we are supposed to be covering and meeting all um requirements by law. Um we also cannot express our gratitude to the entire admin team. Um many again are sitting in this room um for their patience and dedication as
065we navigate this change in leadership. Um as many of you know this is a confidential process that we have gone through. So um we have not been able to share many details with anyone um other than the individual sitting here on this side of the table. So, I know that's an uncertain time um for our staff who continue to um work and conduct the business of our school district necessary so that we have a phenomenal start to our school year. Um more information will be coming uh forthcoming very soon in regards to our next steps with hiring a new superintendent for the school town of Monster. I will also note I actually pulled it up quickly on my phone um just to make note of this because um this is one change from when we
066hired Dr. Heler to now is that the Indiana code regarding superintendent contracts and the public meeting requirements were changed as of July 1st. So the process that we went through to Dr. Heler that maybe our community members are expecting will be changed. So notifications will be forthcoming. So, please look for that information um in the very near future. Um we want to ensure we have dotted our um eyes and crossed our tees to make sure we have handled this process correctly on behalf of the school town of Monster. So, thank you all. Thank you, Miss Smith. Um there was a very brief Monster Education Foundation meeting in in June and not much to report there and we have not had a PTO president's meeting uh in in some time. So, nothing to report. Um, as
067part of that, I I want to mention really quick, I think it's worth mentioning, Kristen had brought up how many applicants had applied for for the superintendent position before summer school. Mr. Nolan, what I was told by Mr. Snyder is that we had a 94% graduation rate and maybe after summer school at Monster High School will be almost 98%. That 98% graduation rate and and I don't think anybody should be surprised why so many people would want to come to the school town of Monster and and lead this district. Um I want to echo the comments that my fellow board members made with respect to everyone that is working in this building and and the other the other uh our other principles and assistant principles. We realize that we are asking a lot uh from
068you guys everybody uh right now. It's a state of transition. Everyone is aware of that. Um, but it it will be short-lived and we appreciate the fact of everything that you guys are doing for the school town of Monster and we appreciate your flexibility. It's not lost on us that there's a lot lot of other things that you guys could be doing just your your normal day-to-day jobs or taking vacations. Uh, but you guys put yourselves last sometimes and put the school district first. So, thank you very much. Um, and that won't be the last time I say that. I'll say it the next time that we meet here again. Um, with that, we're going to move to adjourn. Is there a motion to or excuse me, next steps? Our next school board meeting right
069now, our next regular schoolboard meeting for August is August 11th at 6 o'clock. Um, with that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Send her motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? Cash a second. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Motion passes 40.