001that you give us in all things. We just ask that all of us take advantage of that. We just ask that everything be done according to your will here and not that of our own. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> All right. Guess we got some uh presentations, right, Alex? >> Yes, we do. >> Cafeteria director and CT pathway advantage committee presentations to the board. They're scared. You're gone. I'll >> go. You guys won't find me again. I have a lot to say. >> We're excited. >> You talk fast. >> Thank you for coming. >> We appreciate it. >> Should I have brought my lunch or something? >> Yep. Probably [laughter] cuz I'm talking too. So, >> popcorn. >> You need some popcorn. >> Where's the concession? >> What' you say? >> Thank
002you. >> I know. We need some popcorn. >> I like popcorn. >> Me, too. So, do I have to use this? Yep. >> Yes. >> Check and make sure it's turned on, Amy. >> I think you got them all turned on. >> Is it on, Matthew? Yeah. Are we good? Um, [clears throat] I'm going to start off with some really great news. Uh we got awarded we were awarded from the Martin County Community Foundation um a grant to replace two of our uh warming units that's not in our budget. >> So it was a real a real blessing um to receive that. Um, and I also just received confirmation that we have an anonymous donation coming for um, needy students um, that we kind of can use as needed, which is which is really great.
003>> Good deal. >> Um, I do want to shout out to my cafeteria crew uh, and maintenance. We kind of work together to make the kitchen um, operate. Uh, we love seeing our kids every day. Everyone's just doing a really great job. Things are coming together cooking a lot of food every day, >> which is what we like to do. Um, I do want to also take a minute while I have a microphone and shout out to Dr. Lam and my admin team. >> Um, for those of you that don't know, I just started back in July and there's just been overwhelming support um, from everyone. there's been issues and bumps. Um, and everyone has just come together and helped us out so much. Uh, for those of you that have not had a chance
004to meet Dr. Lam or talk to her, uh, I would encourage you all to. I'm really glad to see everyone here tonight. Um, this is this is this is a good thing. A lot of the stuff that I want to share, I feel like maybe the school board and my admin team, they already know. Um, but it's important. Our community is part of our team and we're a small town and so I love that everyone's here and coming together. Um, so a lot of the information that I want to share u may even be geared more to our community um than it is the people that are here um and see what goes on every day. Um, Dr. Lam has been very supportive of us. Um, we meet every month. One of the hot topics
005that we discuss is the budget. Um, this is a big concern to me, to all of us here, I know. Um, and so far, I got to tell you, some months we've been in the green, some months we've been in the red. We kind of go back and forth. Um, but it's something that we're being very cognizant of and we're watching very closely. Um, while I while I am while you give me the mic, I want to talk to um I do want to talk to everybody, but I think a lot of you guys know this. I think it's important that our community know about the C program that we operate here at school, specifically in the cafeteria. The C program basically is a state program, but it enables all of our kiddos to eat
006for free, breakfast and lunch every day, free across the board regardless. That's a program that Tammy started years ago. Um, the closest estimate that I can come to, that's a conservative estimate that I feel comfortable saying in public, is just under 300,000 free meals we have served under the C program. That's a lot. That's a really big deal. Um, it it it's been a wonderful asset to the community. >> [snorts] >> But I do want people to know that, which I think we all know, not everything's free. So the C program pays us um a percentage. They pay us 80%. So just for the sake of keeping it simple, if a meal were to cost $5, so we pay $5, the state will reimburse us $4. So, we serve a lot of meals and that's
007what we want to do. We come to school every day to feed kids, but financially you have to think of it as every meal is a loss because it's not free. It's free for the students, but not for the school. Um, and so I want to be very clear about that. And when I say that, you know, so we estimate, so right now we're a few thousand dollars in the negative. That's a victory when you when you look at numbers and you see um I do have like in November, okay, the state paid us for uh 7,929 meals. That's what we got paid for, but we served 9,911. So to to be, you know, you know, not massively in the negative, I I do, you know, I think it's a good thing. And like I
008said, we're we're monitoring that every month. Um and obviously prioritizing, you know, feeding our kiddos. Um I also did want to share um some feedback that we've had. We've had feedback from parents, from students, from staff. Um some of that's been great. A lot of it's been great, and some of it is is not always, and that's okay. Um, we've had feedback regarding um, probably this this is the worst thing. Um, we ran out of the kids favorite all-time favorite meal. This happened back in October. The favorite one of their favorite things that they love to eat, we ran out of it. And so there were some high school kiddos that they had to have an alternative lunch. That was that was a tough learning moment. You never ever want kids to not, you know,
009be fed what they want. And all I can say is we live, we learn, we look at data, we I'm big into numbers. We do production reports every day. We're serving more and more. And so we've, you know, we've grown and it hasn't happened since. We've also had lots of feedback regarding um portion sizes, certain meal items. Um, and for those of you that don't know, before I was the food service director, I've worked in both offices. I know a lot of the kids, and I love that they come to me and they'll be like, "O, we didn't like this. This was not so great, you know, or we really loved this." And I think and I and I love hearing from them. That's good stuff. Um, but they're like, "We don't, you know, we
010don't get enough to eat." That's been a concern. Um, I am not going to talk about the USDA requirements. There's pages and pages and pages of them and nobody wants to hear about that. But I do want to say there are very strict requirements about what we can offer and how much we can offer, portion sizes. One of the things that I've been trying to reach out and say as much as I can is that all kids get one free meal, a free breakfast and a free lunch, but everyone can buy more. Um, they can buy extra items if they want. Um, and I think that that's important. I just want to take time to remind everyone we are restricted as far as how much we can give them. um but they can buy more
011um at cost. I also I had a parent reach out. There were concerns about um specific specifically the breakfast menu. Um again, we live and learn. We've added um some [clears throat] like higher protein, slower digesting carb options. And the parent, you know, I I really love it. the parent was reaching out not only out of concern for for their student but for the whole student body. Um and so even when we get that feedback regardless of who it's from, I'm grateful for that because that is how we grow. Um so I'm always open. Um anyone you call me, email me, come talk to me. Um we appreciate knowing how things are going for everyone. So that's very important. Um, I also wanted to know there are some things that we've run into. Um, and
012a lot of this stuff we've we I've worked with admin and we're still working on. There are some things that we don't have immediate solutions to. Um, [clears throat] but we're going to get there. Um, we've had we've had issues with Skyward, our our point of sale system, and making improvements to that. Um, so there are some things that we haven't been able to fix right away. Um, but I do want to reassure everyone that, you know, we're working on it. Um, the future looks great. I'm excited for the future. Um, some of the things that I'm looking forward to next year, um, and I've talked [clears throat] probably to Kendra more about this than anyone, trying to have mobile breakfast parts in the high school and elementary. Um, updating our software, new computers. Um,
013our IT director, Matthew P, has been working with us as far as updating our um, point of sale. um hearing from students they want a salad and baked potato bar which I love. I think some staff might like that too, you know. Um so new things are coming. I I'm looking at incentivizing um fruit and vegetable um one of the things that uh Mrs. Gibson suggested was like having a try it Tuesday, you know, try new things. Um so these are things that I want to incorporate. Um there's one more really important goal that I would like to start next school year. Um and that that came to me. It was a forwarded a forwarded email from Tammy Cooper and it was an idea that she had had to celebrate every child's birthday in the
014cafeteria. And I love it. She had it outlined how she wanted it to go, singing them happy birthday, recognizing them if they were comfortable with that, and giving them a special treat in the cafeteria at lunch every day. Um, and that is something that we could use donations for. And we, um, we're going to make that happen. Um, so I'm happy. I'm happy that, you know, where we're at, we've grown. I'm I'm happy to see where we're going. Um, and I feel like with the team that we have here, I want to say I'm grateful for everyone as long as we, you know, we keep learning. We keep communication open, things are going to be okay. I feel like as long as I've worked here, when things get tough, we all come together and uh
015and we make it happen. Um, also I do want to say if anyone has any questions, um, I don't want to take I mean I I don't want to take up a bunch of time here, but I will stay after. If anyone has questions about, you know, logistically what we what we do in the cafeteria, I'm happy to talk about that at any time. Do any of you guys have questions or concerns >> at this point? I don't >> appreciate what you Okay. Thank you guys very much for your time. Thank you. >> We're next. >> Next. [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> CTA Pathway Advantage. >> Y. >> Why not online? >> Oh, over here. That'd be great. Okay. So, I have a feeling why a lot of people are here tonight. So, we decided
016or I decided to create a presentation. We're talking about our CTE um from classroom to career and uh we have CTE members back there that do a amazing job every day and we're just here to celebrate what they're doing. and we're going to talk about what we where we were, where we are, and where we're going so that everybody's kind of on the same page because we're here to celebrate the amazing things that happen in this building every day. And I will go back to Kendra Hobus started all of this and we're just chugging along to make sure our kids graduate with what they need to be successful. And that is the bottom line and I will say it every day. Who's Callie's hiding behind us being the clicker? [laughter] >> She said she's not
017allowed to talk. She doesn't want to talk, but I have a feeling that if we poke and ask a certain question, she's going to be able to talk. So, our pathways align with the new graduation requirements and they are you want to peek your head around the corner and say how many of them there are different new path uh new graduation requirement options? >> Oh, seven diploma options coming up as of this year. And they provide students RCT pathways provide students with real world skills and industry credentials. And the tricky part or the great part about this is with those seven graduation requirements. Kids that take these CTE courses, there are electives in these graduation pathways. So it offers them individual almost like a personalized instruction, but it also provides them with personalized experience in
018growing in whatever field they take. And how many pathways do we have? We have 12 pathways. So, um, our programs also align with local workforce needs and high demand sectors. Uh, students gain hands-on experience that will prepare them for the post-secondary experience that they choose. Whether they choose to go into the workforce, whether they choose to go to the military, where they choose to go to a trade school, whether they choose to go to a four-year college. All of this and all of what that team back there does leads to not only real life skills that we see every day, it also comes back to what is going to happen for their future here in this community. Am I okay? So, we have some economic impact. CTE graduates earn 15% higher wages and they um
019fill critical workforce gaps in our community. So on Tuesday I went to um Westgate Crane for a southern Indiana business um meeting and I have to point out that Audrey I sent her a text because on the first screen it said it talked about their local business. It had the most hits. That story about their their uh local business had the most hits on this particular on this Southern Indiana business associates website. And I sent a picture to her because it it had I thought that was great. It's a small town. But we also learned of the economic development in this area and in Westgate and what all the great things they were um talking about doing. the lady or the person we're going to approve tonight. We are going to do some microcredentiing through
020Westgate and the person who developed that program was there and talked about how the high school students will be going there to get those micro electronic credentials. Our kids we have we get we are getting seats at that table. So that's also part of our CTE. So all of these things to see all of the local um workforce development opportunities we have for kids. A lot of the what we do in our CTE classes prepares them for those jobs. Um 92% of CTE completers either enter post-secary education or sec secure employment within six months. We don't have the data for our SH students like within the past five years, but that is something that we um I strive to learn is how many of our kids that go through these CTE courses, how many of
021them either go to post-secary or they secure employment. So, I think that would be great data for us to have. I'm a data driven person. I want to see the numbers and see where we where we are, where we're going. Um so, I'm going to pass it to Kendra who started this and she's going to share the then So, first I want to just say um I want to thank Dr. Lam for yesterday she came to me and Cali and said she was wanting to do this presentation and I thanked her for including us because this is something I am very passionate about and poor Miss Eubank got drafted in at 7 a.m. this morning because I did not feel comfortable talking about her eighth grade because she knows it better than I do. Um,
022if you don't know my history, um, I became an administrator here 10 years ago. I did not start CTE here. I want to say reiterate that because 10 years ago, back when I was in school here, I see several Scholes alumni here. Um, we had three pathways, business, culinary arts, and industrial arts. said, "I don't know how many remember this, but my huge project for industrial arts was the toothpick bridge. That was that was the biggest project. We couldn't wait for it all year." [laughter] So, when I became an administrator the first time around um in the high school, I I had a vision. I wanted to blow CTE up. Um because I feel like here at Scholes we have the my vision was to offer the best of both worlds because of the community
023that we have and the mixture of students we have and my vision was to offer you know a pathway to our high academic kids. So that was the early college program and then my other my other dream was to blow up CTE for those kids that you know not everyone is geared towards college and that's okay and what can we offer those kids so that they're ready when they enter the workforce. So that's how this came about. Um, so we've gone from three to now 12. And to see um how many of those are taught by Schold's alumni, teachers who have come back um some who weren't even teaching who we have pulled off the I don't want to say the streets, but re recruited back to Scholes um to be a part of this.
024And so they are so passionate about things like this. Um, so with any idea, you you keep dreaming. You keep wanting to do more. Um, so we haven't just stopped at this. We also have a 3 to 5year goal. Um, our preschool, we're looking hard at our preschool and trying to revamp that and that program. So this is where the CDA, the child development associate certification comes into play. And that would be led by Sarah Ston who teaches um who just started our early childhood education pathway this year. She is teaching the first course in that. And we hope to be able to offer our students the CDA so that when they graduate here, they could go straight up to that preschool room and get a job as an assistant if they want. And they
025are certified, ready to go. Um we want to be able to offer welding and OSHA certification. Ethan Adams probably never thought in his in a million years he would be teaching here. Um, but we reached out to him and was like, "What do you think about this?" And he came back and oh my gosh, we have a waiting list for that welding class and what he's doing with it. and he's working on um updating his certifications and so that hopefully we can certify our students to earn a certification so that when they graduate they can go right into the workforce and and make 20 to 25 plus dollars um right away just because of what we offer here at Scholes. My dream is to expand the CTE. This is kind of the holdup. we can't
026offer these certifications in welding because we have an infrastructure problem and we know that they know that it takes money and there's been a lot of budget cuts and so that is what the holdup right now is with our welding pathway. Um, and my goal in 3 to 5 years is to see our CTE expand. Expand not only for welding, but our construction trades, our fax, our culinary, all that. Because if we would get that expansion, you would not believe what we could do and offer. Um, CAD certification. Megan Hawkins, she wasn't able to make it tonight, but she's offering working on offering that in the STEM and engineering pathway. bringing back the farm-totable program. And I want to touch on what Amy said. Amy is brand new. We got to give her grace. She's
027learning. She's doing wonderful at what she does. But she just let's let's give her p let's have patience and give her time to get her feet wet and learn. She's actually doing two jobs. Um she's not only the food director, but she's also the cafeteria manager. And so that like and she's all for this. We just got to give her time to bring that farm-to-table program back. And then safe serve certification. We want to offer that so that um our students could go into the cafeteria because like she said, there are guidelines, there's state guidelines we have to follow. And if they are certified with safe serve, they could go in and actually work in the cafeteria. Um if she's short staffed, we could send a student over there if they were certified in this.
028And we are working on that. And then this is really exciting. Um Mrs. Ston has started up rocks catering in the culinary arts program and they have been um catering for area businesses or organizations. You want to touch anything else on our goal for that? >> I just want to come back to a couple of the things but there's amazing work going on and we I I and I've talked to the board a lot about this. We're not doing anything except growing and expanding our program. We aren't closing anything down. We want our kids to leave here with a leg up on kids from other school districts. For example, Washington was supposed to come yesterday to visit the farm because they are considering putting in or building that at their school. But between you and
029I, that's not very far from Washington to Schulz. So when kids graduate and they go to apply for a job, what can we offer our kids here that's going to give them the opportunity to say, "Well, I already have that." And the other student does not. So for me, in my leadership role, I see the value in all of these things of making sure that our kids have what they need when they leave here to be successful, whatever their successful level looks like, and also being able to provide for their families. You know, that that's a big deal. So, we offer CT uh CNA courses. I can tell you from personal experience, I know how valuable it is for someone to graduate from high school, even if they're going to college or not going to
030college, and being able to work as a CNA and make $18 an hour as compared to not having that. They may never use it, but they will always have it. And for me, right here, I've watched this school. I left here, yes, but I have followed this school. And I knew coming back here that these things were already a big part of this community. And that's one of the reasons I came here. I want our kids to graduate and be successful. And I we talk about this a lot. I mean, you can ask we talk about this. We go to Cosmo meetings. We talk in our admin meetings. We talk every day. We talk about how to make sure our kids can be successful in the next part of the phase of their life because
031that reflects on us and we want them to stay here. We want them to grow. We want them to raise their kids here. As I look around this audience, some of you were students when I was here and I'm very honored to be a part of this team and Kendra has really done a good job of leading the drive behind this and she's encouraging these conversations and then now we're getting and I'm going to tell you right now, if you want to sit at a table with Calie and talk about uh CTE courses and graduation pathways, she will like it's amazing. I sat with her at a Cosmos meeting for the first time a couple weeks ago. I was like, "Oh my gosh, great." So, and the teaching staff, they're incredible. They're doing great things
032in their classrooms. They're bringing things forward that we haven't even noticed before. And I, you know, we were talking about um um Miss UIC being in one of the classrooms and just talking about how great the lesson was and what the kids were doing and how engaged they were. That's important to us. We want kids to enjoy being at school. We want them to want to be here. We want them to learn. >> I could go on for hours. [clears throat] >> Dr. Lam did ask um about making these classes dual credit and I do want to say if any of the students are interested in dual credit then they have that opportunity through our Cosmos partnership at Orleans or Mitchell. Um what we offer that's what I said earlier when I said I wanted
033the best of both worlds. We have our early college and we have our CTE trades. Um, but if we have a student that would want to take these classes as dual credit, they can do that through our Cosmos partnership. But I think we we are doing really well with what we have um going on here. Dr. Lamb asked me to share our story. So, like I said, 10 years ago when I came into this building, we had the three pathways. And I am, if any of my friends were in this room, they would tell you I'm the idealist. I I love throwing out ideas. I just don't know how to execute them at times. Um but I love throwing out ideas. So I went to the former superintendent at the time and I was like,
034I want to blow up CTE. Not literally, but I I have these these dreams and of course, you know, you can't just bring on hire anyone and everyone. Um so I was like, why you got to think outside the box? why couldn't we utilize the people that we already have here in this building? And she looked at me and she was like, "What? What do you mean?" And I said, "For example, our school nurse, why couldn't we use our school nurse to teach one period a day?" And that opened up and started our health science pathway. We have a social worker, why couldn't you use her to teach a period a day? And that opened up our social work pathway. And then from there, it just has continued on. Um, our school psychologist, we are
035very blessed to actually have a school psychologist. I know a lot of schools around us contract that out. Um, but we have one of the best here on site and she teaches um, psychology classes for us and for Orleans and Mitchell as well. Um, but I just the opportunities that it has opened up for for our kids. Um, for example, you see this little guy down here, Ben? I think that's your little guy. I was getting pictures and putting on here. It is not just geared for our high school kids. I mean, these classes are for all ages, all levels. And for example, in Ben's pathway, they they he works so closely with Purdue Extension on introducing kids to 4 and getting them started in 4. And I don't know if any of you are
0364 members. I was a 10-year 4 member and it did wonders for me. Um, but just stories like that and just the life skills. Um, I see some of the students back there. Liam, I'm going to pull you out since you're here. Uh, this boy back here, he got a internship at JNR Tool. And their exact words were, "We don't take high school students, but we're taking yours because we know all the skills he's learning in Ben Kent's class." And just stories like that. And what this program is doing for our kids is is amazing. Um, as you can see here, 10 years ago, well, so Ben came to myself when I was principal and the superintendent at the time and he had a vision of a farm and I don't know that he ever
037received the yes answer from the superintendent and I just as principal I was because we had this was an open field. I don't know if you guys remember what the field looked like years ago, but it was just an open field. And he had a vision of taking his construction trades class, building a barn, and then his a class would take care of the farm. And that's exactly what they do now. And it just continues to grow. But you see this beautiful barn here um that was built all by our kids. I mean, that's pretty amazing what we have going on here. Um this is just outcomes and impact. Um some statistics about CTE students who graduate at rates 15% higher than nonCTE peers and 64 of% of them secure employment in their field within
03812 months. Um I do want to share some stories that we have of recent graduates. Uh we had a graduate uh boy that went through the construction trades program a few years ago and he now operates his own business and he probably makes more money than I do or any of us. Um he's very successful and he said the first time he ever started doing any of that kind of work was in that construction trades um class. We have three students who have taken what they've learned from Agg and got accepted into a program out in Montana to work on these large ranches out in Montana all from what they've learned in the A program. Um, and then I've already shared about Liam and his internship with at JNR that they would not have accepted
039a high school student, but they knew just from word of mouth and seeing it what our programs do and how um experienced our kids are when they leave here with these programs. So, we continue to grow each year. Um, we're not stagnant. I don't like to be stagnant. I like to keep going. Sometimes my teachers probably get mad at me for that that I go to them with another idea. Um, but what's new this year is our early childhood education. Um, again, our goal is for those kids to graduate with their CDA and then they can go right upstairs to our preschool class and serve in there as an assistant. Um, we were able to offer the full human service pathway. What that is is that's your social worker. Uh mental health is so important
040nowadays. Used to you don't ever never heard of mental health. People wouldn't talk about it. They didn't want to talk about it. You shouldn't talk about it is what but we want to talk about it here. We want it's so important. And we offer a full pathway in nothing but um human services and then and they talk a lot about mental health. Um and then welding technology. Last year we just offered the first course. A pathway consists of three courses. your introductory course, your concentrator A and your concentrator B um before you can graduate. And last year we just in um had the one introductory and we still had a waiting list of students. This year we're now offering course one and course two and next year we hope to offer the entire pathway. Okay,
041this is where I drafted Miss Eubank at 7 a.m. this morning to talk about her. Okay, so this is a little different in the middle school because they're little, right? And they have no idea what they want to do. Um, so couple of ways they kind of dip their toe into it is in seventh grade they have 12week rotations, so they get to go to culinary and art and we do have a study hall. In eighth grade, currently they get two introductory pathway courses available to them. Um, and we're hoping to expand that next year um, for a lot of reasons. But um some of the other things that we do is a skills assessment in the middle school. Students complete an interest in an aptitude inventory. Uh we're trying to increase the number of
042project-based learning activities that we're doing in the middle school for a lot of reasons as you might imagine. It's much more engaging uh which makes my job easier as a disciplinarian. So um and then we are doing some parent student advising individual meetings especially because of the new diploma requirements and they've expanded to a complicated level. Um it's going to have to be one-on-one. So we talk about that um in their transition meetings and their IEP meetings. And then they'll have some one-on-one time with Cali in the spring when they're making their schedules um for their freshman year. So, what's coming up? Well, um, with the new accountability model, I don't know what everybody knows about that, but the state's brought back the new accountability model where we're going to get letter grades. Um, they
043recognize the new diploma tracks. That's a lot of choices for a middle school kid to make and pick a pathway and graduate and be able to do the workplace learning all before they graduate. That's a lot. So, the idea is um to open up more of the intro classes to 8th grade and instead of having two, next year we'll be able to offer them four so they can kind of dabble in different things before they have to pick a pathway their freshman year and kind of stick with it. So, um these are the things we're hoping to open up um for eighth grade students. We already do an intro to a they already do intro to business. We're hoping to open up intro to computer science. We're hoping to get um some time with Ben
044in construction. Um we're hoping to expand the education professions. So, we've we've got a lot of things that we want to be able to offer our eighth grade so they can at least try four of them um before they have to kind of pick something because I got a 19-year-old in college who still doesn't know what he wants to do and we're trying to we're trying to make eighth graders figure it out. So, I don't know. But anyway, um 85% of the eighth graders do will select a pathway before entering high school. um and 92% retention rate in chosen pathways through graduation. So the idea is they pick something after they've dabbled in it, pick something their freshman year, stick with it, and actually graduate with a completion of certificate. So that's where we're headed
045and why we're headed there. And just as we had said, looking to the future, we want our um RCTE courses are high quality and we want the credentials to give students a leg up by providing certification skills and hands-on experiences that uh other students in the community don't have. And if you noticed uh when Kendra was talking about the three to five year plan, you always have to be thinking three to five years. Um already has an extra schedule already like mapped out. So that's the way our brains are are we're supposed to think down the road. So what can we do to make sure our kids have a leg up? And we want our kids to graduate certified, skilled, experienced, and they we want to connect them to the workforce. And by all the
046things that people are doing in this community and Megan's college and career fair and all the visits and all the uh field trips and things that they're doing, they are getting exposure to all of these places in the workforce. And it's amazing that we have these opportunities for kids and it all started just with this thought and these all of these CTE um opportunities are just coming to fruition. But we want to keep pushing the envelope of how do we keep making it uh better for kids and that that's our ultimate goal. So, we want to balance academic courses. Um, they have to have academic courses with the new diploma system acknowledges students that they need that personalized option that are adaptable to their goals and ambitions. And that's where the CTE comes in. They
047get to kind of see where they want to be. And I love that we're going to kind of push that down a little bit in the middle school. The whole new accountability system is a whole another conversation that I'm sure you guys we don't want to bore you with that. But it we are looking at what makes that we want to show the people in the state or whoever's looking at coming to school in southern Indiana or in Martin County. We want them to come here. So we want to give them the evidence. We want to provide the evidence of what all great things our students and teachers and families are doing here so that they pick us. And that's the bottom line. We want students to be able to use these CTL courses to
048satisfy graduation seal requirements and make sure they do everything that Kelly needs them to do before they graduate. >> Yeah, I'm not going to touch >> Yeah, I'm not going to say a whole lot about um this. This is a requirement now for the new graduation um requirements. It's a ridiculous amount of hours that the state is saying that these kids have to have. Um, so we're going to be partnering more with local employers to offer internships and apprenticeship positions and job shadowing, but that's something I feel like our school already got a jump start on. Um, and and does a great job at it. I think that is brings us to the end. Um, Dr. Dr. Lam will close up, but if anyone wants a packet of what all the pathways we have to
049offer and exactly what those classes look like, um they are over here if you want to take one when you leave. >> We also have our If you have questions, I am available. My phone number is on this presentation. I am open to conversation [clears throat] at any time. My cell phone, anybody in here, I'm going to give it to you. 812 88831. Call me if you have a question. I will answer it to the best of my ability every time. I am here to serve this community and I appreciate >> you might tell them what graduating class the new >> current freshman >> if you have a sophomore, junior, senior, they're good. for now. >> For now. Say for now. >> For now. >> Yeah. >> No. >> Okay. Thanks for those uh presentations.
050Appreciate it. >> Okay. We need approval of the minutes from the November 13th meeting. A motion to approve. All >> motion. I'll second. Ethan Eva. All in favor? I. I. comments from patrons concerning items on the agenda. Anything there >> in general um like to introduce myself. My name is Chris Scott and I am the director capital club, otherwise known as um I'm here today to kind of face to been far too long since I've been these board meetings and the coincide practices and so forth to see me and allow you to ask any questions you may have. Um, LCBC has been around since 2006. It was founded by uh Mr. Scott Saunders who very sadly passed away yesterday. Um, I have taken over this program since 2016. We came to Scholes and we had
051a number of girls that were traveling far too far too much anticipate our Uh I was welcomed with open arms by this community kind of feel like community. Um, and the staff has been absolutely excellent to deal with, maintenance staff, inventory staff, uh, the school board, principles, and everybody in between excellent to deal with since we've been, um, we, when we first started here, people always ask me what we've been doing any good. When we first started here, there were several people that were moving away from Scholes and going to other area schools because they did not want to participate. Um, if you can Google night press right now for the 2018 2019 season, I believe the record was zero. Um if your kid isn't vulnerable that does not look very attractive in any way
052so many choices in um this year alone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the volleyball team setting season record 20.5 most during the season uh they were second place in the blue chip conference and uh they only lost one match to state championship state champion Um, probably what I'm most proud of about our program is the girls that go through our program, fall in love with the sport of volleyball, get taught many of the life lessons that we teach, and then come back to coach. That to me as a director is the ultimate paycheck. Uh, it is something that I really truly cherish. very very >> um volleyball um you know it's it's very costly. Um there was a few girls from this area that they participated in purple city program. having to
053leave school immediately after school, participate in a twohour practice and then drive three hours back. Sometimes they were getting home. Um that to me was absolutely it crushed crushed me because these girls were spending eight hours in a car after school getting home at a very very late time to chase their goals. Um, since our inception, we've been able to keep the cost very, very low. We are one of the cheapest affordable clubs in southern Indiana compared to everyone else's office. Uh, the cost for our program is $600. I've not receded out. Um, one of the problems that we face as a small club is we are hindered by the IHSAA leading school to a cross. Um, a lot of clubs will not touch high school divisions because of that. So, I know a lot
054of people raise concerns about why they see so many girls in here wearing shirts and and so on. Um, in order for me to facilitate 12 LC or 12 shoulders, I have to connect four high schools. Um, so I have to these great big puzzles I have to put together to make sure that we're competing, make sure that we're succeeding and make sure they're getting that takes every um I went above and beyond. I realized that the financial constraints of this area I have offered to set up I have one mom that paid me $50 a month for forever. Um and there's been a lot of times that I've just forg um during our tenure at Scholes. Uh I'm a true believer that one hand washes the uh unspoken things. Um I've went out of
055my way to to behave as a great guest in this facility. Uh I have repaired items in this facility three and four times over. um closet and porch in between standards net systems donated antennas and equipment net storage systems and carts but we do this alone um [clears throat] I've also volunteered in the past uh refing summer league high school summer league games at no cost sixth grade spring game to do it at no cost because I did fall as well. Um, another thing I'm very very proud of uh that we started. This is kind of an idea for uh something that was an idea of Scott's uh was we wanted to create a toy drive for a lot of his kids because we know how hard it is. last year finally looked at each
056other and said, "You know what? Let's quit talking about it." We did and I know Scholes alone got over 137 clothing or clothing items or tools that were donated to the local area. Um we're going to have it this Sunday. very very proud of that program below items completely God willing feel like Santa um we've also helped um spent several hours over the years so with summer camps team camps um several open teams um and We firmly believe that the record show not so volleyball all over the kids Wednesday championship girls section I wasn't at semi matching it would um another thing uh more access. We do have our own insurance listed as a beneficiary on this insurance policy. I've been told I I don't run very many schools. I did it was probably still
057very but I've been told that I have better insurance than most out we have been we've been incredibly cautious about what we do make sure we're [clears throat] um the reason we've been able to accomplish a lot of this and the reason we've been able to keep the the price so low due to the purchases you guys. I will tell you that if I set a certain amount of trouble [clears throat] um kind mantra or the thing that we really really uh take pride in. Um at the end of the day, these are students. Uh these are rules that they may want to follow some may confidence. I've had several goals that I school have one that you gave her any feedback at all and she she couldn't her being on my daughter didn't work
058out very well. But this is the same girl now who is she You got this. You did this. You can deal with these games that um when I took this over, Scott taught me how to go through and Scott taught me how to understand that at the end of the day, no matter what we're doing, That's always been a marker. It'll continue with that community. I want to thank you guys for allowing us to make it. I think your staff over the years past everything at this point. So >> I want to say thank you. I haven't met you and I really appreciate you coming in and talking to us and explaining things. This was very informative for me. So, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Oh, sorry.
059Thank you. I want to talk a little bit about the the softball program. Um, rumor has it that I mean I know the rumors have been flying around like crazy and rumor was that Tony Graber was going to lose his opportunity to do lessons out here. That was the rumor. Uh, we never thought nothing about it until a week ago. This past Monday, I received an email from Principal Hovas wanting to know how many girls that Tony did and how many were from Jo. So, he does 70% of them from Jo. He started out the first year he done this he started out with one and now he's at 70%. and he I checked around I didn't put it in the emails because I checked around afterwards on what was going on but the going
060rate for lessons at Southern Indiana Sports Academy which is Washington and they just now opened a new one in Lagod is $90 an hour. Evansville is anywhere from 70 to $85 an hour. Lenton is about $75 a expensive and Tony does it for 20. And all the all the stuff he uses is his. I mean, his bats, balls, everything he purchased himself. And he also coaches the junior high team, which this is going to be the second year we've had a junior high team in a row. And he uh he works with he works with quite a few girls. and him and myself started a year ago started a pitching clinic for elementary and it's still going. So, but anyway, I just wanted to give you that extra information because everything, like I said, everything
061he does, he pays for himself and he also donates supplies to the players that did not have. So, Anyway, I just wanted to throw that in because my my present or my email was kind of vague on what all was there, but anyway, I just wanted to explain a little bit more about it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Okay. >> We don't want that. point that out. Um, I've been there. You're not going to That was You can go to other And if you smile. Put your hand around. That's the right Thank you for that information. >> Anybody else? >> Okay. Reports from building principles. That's okay. We'll get you. Yeah, we're good. We're good. Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. Um, I just want to say
062as we close out this first semester, um, I just want to take a moment to highlight the work that our elementary building is doing. Um, and has done all semester. Um, this time of year, December, is very busy. Um, yet our teachers and staff, they continue to show up with purpose and heart every single day. Um, and if you have a chance, I know the beta club doing the light show this weekend, but if you just take a stroll through the elementary, you will experience um just flashbacks of hopefully your own childhood because our teachers have um transformed every single part of the hallway to make it extra special for our students. Um, and they still are showing up and delivering meaningful instruction and meeting grade level standards every day. Um, I don't know how
063they do it and how they have the energy to do it, but they are. Um, so I'm grateful for their dedication and they make our school great. Teachers, students, um, they make the magic happen. So recent highlights uh for our elementary, we have had our music program, Miss Kim Hickman and her students hosted a wonderful program last Friday. Um Miss Hickman always does a wonderful job with that. Our elementary um and high school CTE collaboration. So that's a really cool thing about being under one roof. Um, our elementary teachers partner several times throughout the year with our art, a shop, um, STEM, engineering, our culinary classes. Um, so they are able to, our young students are able to explore those pathways starting at preschool um, all through their elementary grade level. So, we are very
064appreciative um of your guys's efforts and just willingness to um allow our littles into your into your classroom. So, thank you for that. And then some upcoming events in our elementary. We have uh several events next week planned. So, we have classroom plays in the second grade. Um preschool gingerbread party, community carolling, STEM field trips for our fifth grade. Um, at Westgate, we have a Grinch themed day in the auxiliary gym and that will be for preschool all the way to fifth grade. Um, we may even have a possible surprise rooftop visit from a few of Santa's elves is what I've been hearing. Um, and I just want to say these events um are just collective efforts from our staff and teachers who have a strong sense of community and they make elementary or they
065make Scholes Elementary a special place for our children to learn. So, thank you all for that. And I see several teachers out here um in the crowd. So, thank you all. And parents, grandparents, if you have a chance to tell your child's teacher thank you, um please do so because teacher tired in December is uh is a whole other level. So, thank y'all. >> Thank you. She dropped the mic. [laughter] >> That was good. >> That mean it's over. That's it, right? [clears throat] >> Excellent for our Wonderful. What happened? >> [laughter] >> Okay, so uh also wanted to shout out to um the Rockstar Robotics teams uh who received their second consecutive champions award at the first Lego qualifying tournament held at USI on the 22nd of November. and [snorts] our Robo Rocks team
066won their robot game um and design awards and so both of those teams will advance to semi-state. So, uh congratulations to them. Okay. In terms of student programs, middle school just wrapped up um their firstearn checkpoint this uh November 14th. Um, we as my staff, when I say we, uh, we're using that information from the iLearn checkpoints with our I Ready benchmarks, um, to kind of revamp our basic skills class. So, we sent out a message that we're making some schedule changes starting in January. And the idea is to tailor their basic skills class for what the kids actually need. So, we are opening up an enrichment class for the kids who are at an above grade level to do some new and improving things for them. And then we're also going to open up
067um some more uh reading recovery type classes for the kids who need that. So, we're tailoring that um basic skills class. So, I apologize for all the schedule changes coming in January. Uh but we're just trying to do what our kids need. Um, I also wanted to let you know that Miss Hoffman and Miss Harter hosted a two-day workshop um in the middle school health classes um and they were informing students about the dangers of vaping. Uh we are looking forward to another event second semester in conjunction with the Martin County Health Department. So, um as you know, vaping is a huge issue in schools across the state, not just our school. Um, and we need to keep kids informed about the dangers um, of participating in that. In terms of athletic, right now we
068have 41 middle school kids who are participating in athletics. They're either playing basketball or cheering or doing something. So, uh, we're eager to see that participation. Um, in terms of teacher accountability, uh, we haven't had another PD day since our last, um, meeting here. Uh, but that doesn't mean we're not learning. Um, so we have several staff in the middle school who have either renewed or for me I'm getting my CPI training. So if you don't know what that is, that's crisis prevention intervention. So when we have kids who are in a really crisis state, we can better manage their behaviors. So um, got four teachers doing that. Miss Esh, Mr. Turpin, Miss Gardner, and myself. Um, and then we had a few others who renewed. Um and then we also um had the opportunity
069to send Miss Cornet and Miss Overton um to some professional development for gifted and talented teaching. So that enrichment class, we're giving those kids what they really need um to do to do great things. Um coming up is my birthday month. [laughter] Aren't we excited? Okay, so for my birthday in January, uh we're going to celebrate with the kids. And so we are going to celebrate all students with um perfect attendance for the first semester. We are going to celebrate one week for anyone who showed any kind of improvement on their academic scores. Uh we're going to also celebrate all kids with AB honor roll. Um and then we're going to celebrate any kid who participates in any club, athletic or activity because we want these kids engaged in school. Um so we're celebrating my
070birthday next month. >> [laughter] >> I heard that. >> I'm excited. It's the 17th if anybody cares. >> Get another mic drop on that. [laughter] >> It's cute. >> All right. The senior beta had um a successful event last month. Uh we brought home in the high school 11 champion awards and a total of 34 awards qualifying for nationals next summer which will be in Nashville, Tennessee. So um 11 champion and then 34 total that qualified for nationals. So that meant they were either second or third place in the state. Um our college and career fair was a huge success with over 60 booths. Um it has become so big that we have area schools who call us up and ask if they can bring their kids here because ours is better. I mean that
071that's what they say. They said we we can't pull one off like this. So we had Orleans come um and we had Lo come this year. So had three schools visiting and Megan Hawkins I want to give a shout out to her. that girl does a tremendous job at putting that together and she does a great job at making sure there's um both college and career choices for our students. Um as you know, I have mentioned this almost every board meeting. Uh the state is coming down on us on attendance. That's part of our accountability model. They're going back to giving us a letter grade now and attendance is part of that. They want to see 94% or higher. So, I have been on my high schoolers. Some back there might um not be too
072happy with me how I am on them, but I am proud to say that to date from the first day of school, they have um they are at a 94% and that's probably the highest they've been in in several years. So, shout out to our students for working hard on this. You can confirm that as the attendance officer last year. >> Yes. Very good. Um, speaking of attendance, it's also part of our final exam exemption clause. And I do have some students that aren't too happy with me on this um because they have had to make it the entire semester and only have four or less um tardies or absences. It they can't have four tardies and four absences. It's it's both. and um to be exempt. Uh they also have to have an average
073of 90% or higher in the class. So um sorry guys on that, but got to hold them accountable because it also teaches them a life skill. Uh they got to get to work on time and um so they got to get to school on time. Um final exams, they begin next Wednesday and they run through Friday and a list of exempted students will be posted on Monday morning. Um, on Tuesday, I want to touch on something that this young girl said in the back. Uh, if you would spend the day in one of those classrooms, it will bring you so much joy and a smile to your face. Um, it has been a rough few weeks around here. And I was able to join Mrs. Goodman and Mrs. Whitmer and Mr. Fischer and Mr. Goodman
074on a uh field trip to Mitchell. and we got to go to the Mitchell Opera House and the students got to vote on a Christmas movie and they voted on Home Alone, which is a great movie at this time of year. And um then we went to Golden Corral for lunch. And I laughed so much and it just brought so much joy and laughter to me. And I want to just attest to what she said these aids do. Um Mrs. Whitmer back there. I don't even know that she got to eat because she was feeding a student the whole time and making sure four [laughter] >> Yeah. >> four rolls. And she made sure the child or Miss Goodman found a a sweet potato. This this girl will not eat anything but sweet certain things
075and sweet potatoes are her thing. and she was yelling at us wanting a sweet potato and we could I didn't find any but Miss Goodman found one. I don't know where she did but she found a sweet potato. But just watching how they interact with these students I mean these students oh my gosh they just like I said bring so much joy and laughter. So um thank you Miss Gman for letting me attend your field trip. Uh teacher observations are almost complete for this semester and if you look on the back it's full of pictures. Those several of those pictures are what I have encountered when I go in and observe a teacher. We have the best teachers here at Scholes. I truly believe that. Um our students are so fortunate here. Um the Angel
076Tree program. Speaking of teachers, uh when Ann Stewart gave up the Angel Tree program a few years ago, she didn't know who was going to take that on. And we had several teachers, several I see right here in the front row, um that stepped forward and took that on. And this year 101 kids are going to be blessed with the Christmas. Um, and that Angel Tree pickup is Monday from 4:00 to 5:30, 4:30 to 6 in the cafeteria. Um, and I also want to thank Mr. Scott because his toy drive actually helps our angel tree program and we set it out and our kids get to pick a special toy out too. So, thank you, Mr. Scott, for that. Um, our first official steering committee for the micro electronics academy at Westgate is supposed to
077happen tomorrow and we will join Bar North Davis and Eastern Green as the new cohort. Um, so how we got invited to that is a team came here and they toured our school and then they did interviews and we still didn't know if we were going to get invited to participate and because they didn't know if our students were prepared if we enough to enter this and they came and after the tour I mean the guy was he said I'm not even going to wait to ask he goes I'm inviting you from just based on what I've seen here. Um, so we are excited to be the second cohort into that and our student recruitment will take place here on January 8th. And then last thing is upcoming events. The Beta Light Show this weekend.
078And then homecoming and coaches versus cancer is on December 19th. Um, speaking of coaches versus cancer, we're honoring um, one of our own uh, sweet Mera. Uh Mera Kidwell is battling a rare form of bone cancer and she went through a 10 plus hour surgery yesterday and came through um okay but we just want to continue to lift her up and pray that um for complete healing on that. But we will be honoring her at this game. Um we're actually having two nights of coaches versus cancer, the 18th and um the 19th and then winter break. I'm sure that everyone's excited for uh December 22nd through January 2nd. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> I think the beta light show is dependent upon the weather. Last I heard she possible said it's
079starting to snow really bad. >> Miss U miss you. >> Carol, you probably should roll. It's starting to snow. Mhm. [laughter] >> All right, let's move this along here a little bit. >> Uh, approval of the following for athletic programs. Terry Kerr as volunteer middle school track coach. Garrett Baitman as volunteer for all grades with boys basketball program. Jaye Harger as middle school cheer volunteer. Uh, approval of the following sponsors. FFA Kathy Overton, Pep Club, Cammy Sanders, High School Student Council, Megan Hawkins. Approval to accept the resignation of Brandy Rice from elementary teaching assistant effective December 10th. Approval to accept the retirement of Darla Hol from the central office position effective at the end of the 2526 school year. >> No, >> I second that. [laughter] >> Scratch scratch. Approval of the following junior class
080sponsor. ECA pay. Prom stipen 33 $333 for each individual, three sponsors. Haunted house stipen, $200 each, two sponsors. Uh concession stipen, 1400, one sponsor. Motion to approve those personnel issues. >> A motion with acceptance number four. [laughter] >> I told you. We got a net. >> I'll second. I'll second. >> Ethan, all in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> What you've done over the last several years. >> Definitely. >> Still got a little bit of work to do, though. So, >> yeah, you're not out the door yet. >> It's not over yet, >> right? [laughter] >> Approval of the following. Senior class sponsor ECA pay. Senior activities 413 each sponsor. Three sponsors. Senior fundraising 175 each, three sponsors. Motion to approve. >> A motion. >> Eva second. >> I'll second. >> Or all in
081favor? >> Fundraiser drama clubs to hold a breakfast with the with a princess on Saturday, February 21st uh and to use the school cafeteria. Motion to approve that fundraiser. >> Motion. >> Ethan. A second. A >> second. Or all in favor? I I Trip request FFA to pale high school December 5th for the Pale FFA Christmas party. Uh the second grade to town to uh for Caroline at area businesses and the senior citizens area on December 17th. Uh let's see. Elementary beta to Gatlinburg on March 11th through the 13th. the elementary Beta Regional Leadership Summit and Elementary Beta students to Nashville, Tennessee, June 20 20th through the 23rd for the National Beta Elementary uh convention. Motion to approve those trips. >> Motion Eva second. >> That all in favor? >> I facility usage. We have
082pep club to hold the homecoming dance on December 19th and the practice gym robotics competition February 7th here at Scholes for several areas. Motion to approve that usage. >> Motion motion. >> A second. >> Second and all in favor. >> We're on the same wavelength. We are [clears throat] >> miscellaneous approval for the tag grant application and corporation insurance renewal renewals with German American. >> Motion to approve those. >> I'll make items. Lorna second. >> Eva. All in favor? >> I >> uh bond expenditures the FEMA projects. We need to do anything with that. >> I think we should table it. >> Oh, okay. That Yeah, got you. >> Yeah, >> that was a tabled item there. >> Yeah. >> First reading of the overnight trip guidelines. You can look at that. Uh consulting services
083with with steeple. That should be is that that's not a first reading. That should be >> No, it's done. I just wanted everybody to look at the contract and >> say that we did that last. >> Yes, we did. Memorandum of understanding with uh Indiana Upland's micro electronics academy and IvyTech. That's information only. Y >> and rainy day transfer resolution transfer 15,000 to the cafeteria fund to balance the cafeteria fund. Motion to approve that. >> I'll make a motion. >> Laura second. >> I'll second. >> Ethan. All in favor? >> I. After four items, Montana Dant has received her master's degree with a salary increase effective December 28th. Approval of Emma Wineer as substitute custodian. Uh request approval for non-certified staff who were hired before July 1st of 25 and are on the non-certified pay
084scale to receive a pay increase of 50 cents per hour effective on the first pay in February of 26. Jonathan Think as high school boys basketball volunteer pending positive outcome of paperwork. Uh contract update for Audrey Gibson and a request for a $500 stipen to those non-certified who were hired before July of 25 to include all bus drivers. Motion to approve those personnel items. I'll >> make a motion. >> Lorna second. >> Annette. All in favor? I >> I >> trip request athletic personnel which includes office aid and interns to the gotoff on December 18th for Christmas appreciation lunch high school band the Orleans Pet Bam Invitational on January the 10th. Motion to approve. >> Motion Ethan second. All in favor? I >> I >> resolutions. Resolution to transfer amounts from the education fund to
085the operations fund on a bannual basis. [clears throat] Resolution to prewrite claims. Resolution transfer funds. Resolution of additional appropriations if needed. And resolution to transfer appropriation balances to close out 2025 books. Motion to approve. >> Motion. >> Eva. Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Kendra's gonna be busy. >> She is. >> Uh, daddy daughter dance move to February 21st due to facility conflict. Request approval to accept an anonymous donation to the cafeteria for $1,500. Elementary staff to use a white bus for Christmas caroling on December 14th. Parent night out backup date of December 19th of inclement weather comes in renewal of the contract with parallel for speech pathology and the M MCCF grants update. Dr. Lam will be required to sign all impact and boost grant applications moving forward. uh request
086sanction or request approval to sanction a middle middle school baseball and softball program. I think that's all under that one. Motion to approve those items. >> All motion second and Annette. All in favor? >> I approval of athletic department to send level sponsorship letters to the community. Motion to approve that fundraiser. >> Motion Eva. >> Second. >> Laura. All in favor? >> I buildings and grounds. Approval of gym floor maintenance. Got that coming up I think in I think it's this month is >> over the over the break. They're going to do the main gym >> and replacement of the center north cooling towers. Motion to approve those. >> Annette second. >> Second. >> Ethan. All in favor? >> I. And that brings us to the superintendent's report. >> Well, I'm going to keep it
087very quick and say thank you to everyone for coming out tonight and engaging and talking with us. We appreciate that. We love it when people come. We love to hear from you. Um we want everybody to um have a safe holiday season and we want to celebrate all of our kids and the beta and um Miss uh Hovus was so excited. She came back after your field trip. It was wonderful. all the great things. The uh caroling for the elementary. Are you guys in the front row going to be on that mini bus on the 14? [laughter] Just saying. >> You guys aren't singing. >> Aha. Second grade in back row. All right. Well, I can't wait. I can't wait to see it. And I'm just so thankful. Um we have completed our first semester
088and I have to say I'm the dog's gonna be tired, >> but I'm excited for her because she's going to get to have some great adventures. So yeah, thank you everyone and we hope everyone has a great holiday season. >> Okay, >> right along. >> Leave of accounting report. Need a motion to approve that. >> I'll second. >> Laura and Eva. All in favor? >> I and approval to pay claims. Motion to do that. >> All motion. >> Ethan. >> Second. >> That all in favor? Hi. >> Hi. And again, thanks to everybody for their input and their coming out talk to us. >> Yeah. And be careful going home. I >> Safe travels. >> Yeah. I heard that the snow's coming down really hard, so just be careful. >> Have a safe trip home.
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