001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good evening. We will call this meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Uh, let your record reflect that we do have a quorum and any late additions appear to be. No related conditions. Would someone like to make a motion for your attention? >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes. >> Motion made by Shrader. >> I'll second. >> Second by Schwarz. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Motion carries. Um letter A, public comments on agenda items. I don't believe these are okay. So moving on to routine matters minutes of regular and executive sessions of October
00216th, 2025, claims 53025 through and payrolls for October 30th and November 14th of this year. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes, claims, and payroll as presented. >> Motion made by Bunch. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Letter C, Mr. Mafy, >> just want to draw attention to our highlight of the month. Um, and these glasses for this, but uh we uh were selected recently in the last couple of weeks for the STEM integration grant for $50,000 for the school. Um, that continues to add to the competitive grants that uh we've been able to receive and Melissa Beglin's a big part of that and her role with uh the work that she does writing competitive grants. I think we're over the
003$2 million mark in competitive grants that she's brought to the district in the last few years. Um, which gives us the ability to offer so many of the great programs that we have. Um, and this $50,000 that we got will go towards Snap-On certification kits for our students that are in our auto mechanics classes, our OFS uh, crafted classes, our Toyota 4T, and our agricultural classes. So, uh, getting these kids certified in those areas will help them getting jobs someday, things they can put on their resume. Uh, so we're really excited about that. So, um, next thing we want to do here is, uh, we have our principal from Holland Elementary tonight and, uh, some community members it looks like and some kiddos as well, um, that are going to come up and present tonight
004letting us know about the steam program at Holland Elementary. >> So, Jake Moyes. >> All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Happy. Good morning, members of the or good evening members. Still in the morning. Good evening members of the Southwest Deo County School Board, members of the community here tonight, and those watching from home in the live stream. Thank you for allowing me here to speak to you regarding Holland Elementary, a place near and dear to my heart. It's been the great honor of my professional career to lead these students, teachers, and staff members for these last two and a half years. Uh the nurturing community has welcome welcomed me with open arms and it's a great joy to step into work with them every day. Uh tonight myself and a few of my students
005would like to introduce you to Holland's first steam program which stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and music. While still in its infancy, we are no less thrilled with the work accomplished by both Mrs. Landon, our steam teacher, and our students. The arts and sciences are alive and well at Holland. So, a bit of history uh to begin with, and this is about as far back as I could go. Uh 2022 2023 was be the year before I arrived at Holland, and there were four different part-time teachers teaching K5 art and music. Uh it presented a number of issues in terms of scheduling and logistics that I was eager to iron out when I arrived. Uh therefore, in August of 2023, one teacher was hired to teach K5 art and music. Uh due to circumstances
006beyond anyone's control, this teacher did resign her position in October 2023 and it was then filled from within by a non-certified assistant until she too resigned just this last year in order to pursue a career in her preferred field of English language arts instruction. So for the 2025 2026 school year, a new plan was needed. After some deliberation, it was decided that Mrs. Stephanie Landon would be the perfect candidate to lead Holland's arts program to the next level. Already a beloved member of our staff as Holland STEM teacher, we were confident transitioning her to the position of steam teacher would be a smooth and logical one. Mrs. Landon shared our goal in helping students develop a passion for the arts and sciences through a seamless instructional framework of the content areas represented in the steam
007acronym. Her own passion for science, technology, and the arts is profound and contagious. As such, for a great many of our students, steam is their favorite part of the day. Okay. So, the way that it works is all students see Mrs. Landon one grade level at a time, Monday through Thursday. It serves two purposes for us. It provides grade level teams a common planning time uh four times a week, which is a pretty crucial thing for elementary school grade level teams if you ask them. U Mrs. Landon is also given the opportunity to instruct all students from each grade level at once. So, she's not repeating lessons. She has all of the kindergarteners at one time. So, she only teaches that lesson one time. Um, an added bonus is it presents a wonderful opportunity for
008Mrs. Landon to establish solid classroom culture and climate and to build relationships with each student. Um, at larger schools where there are more specialty teachers, uh, and they might only see the students once a week. It's much more difficult to do that. the expectations, you know, they learn them at the beginning of the year and they have to remember them for that day of the week that they go and then by the time they roll around to the next week, the teacher spending the first five minutes of class reteing those expectations. So, that's a a pretty awesome thing that she gets to do. In order to make all of this logistically possible, the library was moved to an adjacent classroom uh to give Mrs. Landon the entire space for our steam lab. And if we
009break steam into its subcategories, here are some examples of what's been happening in art class this year at Holland. We start with they're finishing some art projects. Um they've learned about shapes, geometric shapes, organic shapes, preform shapes, and incorporated these shapes into their most recent projects. They've learned about the term value in art and practice putting both dark and light values of color into their work. Some pretty happy kiddos there. Pretty proud of their work. If you'd like to see more great artwork, join us Thursday, March 5th at Holland for our annual art show. Takes place from 5 to 7:00. Uh students will be exhibiting all the hard work they've put into STEM and art this year with their very own project showcase of the arts and engineering. That's one of our favorite nights of
010the year. And if you would please at this time recognize Holland fifth grade student Remington Rainey to share with us what art means to him. Hello members of the school board. My name is Rubbertton Tiny and I'm a fifth grade student at Holland Elementary. Today I want to share with you what I most like about art class and why it matters to me. One of my favorite things about art class is that it gives us a chance to be creative in ways we don't get to be in other subjects. In art, there is not just one right answer. We are encouraged to experiment, try new ideas, and express who we are. I like that everyone's project turned out different, even if we start with the same direction and make the room feel full of imagination.
011I also really enjoy learning new techniques. So far, we've learned how to draw using shading and how to mix colors. It's exciting to see myself get better at things. I couldn't do more, but art challenges me, but it also lets me make something I'm proud of. Another thing I appreciate is how relaxing art can be when I'm drawing or painting. It helps me focus and clear my mind. Give me a break from stress and helps me set so I can be better in the rest of my classes. But the best part of art is how it helps us express our feelings and tell our story. Sometimes it's easier to show something through art than explain it with words. When I finish a piece of artwork, it feels like I've created something that represents me. Art
012classes making school exciting and inspiring. Thank you for supporting art education and for giving students like me the chance to explore our creativity. Thank you for your time. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Remy. Appreciate that, bud. Um, we've worked hard. We've been practicing since we started out. >> They're doing a nice job. >> Very nice. >> Very well. Um, next in music, uh, we'd like to give you an idea of what's been happening in music. That's a subject that is, uh, near and dear to me personally. Uh, for those of you, I don't get a lot of opportunities to speak with you uh, individually. Um, I actually made my way through college giving guitar lessons and playing out on the weekends and singing in in in different bands and things like that. So, I'm uh,
013music is very important to me. genre. >> Uh uh really if it's got a guitar and you can sing it, I'll play it. But when I'm listening myself, I I like the heavier stuff. I listen to >> I listen 80s rock. You know, stop right there. >> My hero is Eddie Van Halen. So >> your hair doesn't quite fit. >> Well, when I was 17, it might have to my father's grin. So classroom instruction. And uh we've got a couple of great pictures here of our third and fourth grade students practicing for their upcoming Christmas program. One of them I got the opportunity to listen to this week. Third and fifth grade are actually singing the same song called Ugly Sweater. They have two different parts. It's a little call-in response and some polifany and
014it is hilarious because one group is all about the ugly sweater and the other group it like hates it. So they kind of talk back and forth and it is it's really cute. Um and to show all of the hard work that Mrs. Landon and the kiddos have been doing. Here's a little clip of them singing uh God Bless America for our veterans on Veterans Day. Heat. Heat. Heat. They worked they worked really hard on that. Mrs. Landon worked really hard with them on that. That is all 206 kids and some of the preschoolers as they could singing that song for our veterans. Uh it was very wellreceived. Had one uh one gentleman um come with tears in his eyes and say how much he appreciated that. So that was a a pretty cool moment
015for us. Um, our Christmas program. If you'd like to hear Ugly Sweater and some more hilarious songs that Mrs. Landon has discovered, we have our Christmas program at Southridge High School beginning at 5:45 on Thursday, December 11th. Um, so we'd love if you would join us for that. And to tell us more about what music means um to her, we have Holland's own fifth grade student, Hie Vanderhyde, to share with us. Hello members of the school board. My name is Hi Vanderhid and I'm a fifth grader at Holland Elementary. Today I want to share what I like most about music class and why it's important to me. One of my favorite things about music class is that it gives everybody a chance to express themselves. Even if someone is shy, music helps them feel more
016brave. When we sing, play instruments, or play rhythms together, it feels like we're a part of a team. I like like there's no right personality when you have everybody gets to participate in their own way. I also like learning how music works. We have learned about tamber, song structure, melody and harmony. I am excited to learn more about rhythm, meter, and ma matching pitch. Another thing I appreciate about music, it helps subjects >> the icebreaker >> helps me in other subjects. Keeping me a a steady beat helps me concentrate. Breathing reading rhythms helps me with patterns and when we move on or play instruments. It helps me reset my brain so I'm ready to learn it again forward after my favorite my favorite part of music is singing together and forming. It makes me feel
017amazing when we finish a song together and everybody has worked hard. It shows what we can do and practice together and support each other. Music class is something I look forward to every week because it's because it makes school feel creative, exciting, and full of possibilities. Thank you for supporting our music education and giving students like me a chance to learn through music. Thank you. >> Thank you, Hie. And uh finally, we will discuss uh STEM just a little bit here. Uh this program we've had for several years now. Mrs. Landon is very passionate uh about STEM. Her enthusiasm for STEM definitely spread to our students. Here we are pictures from last school year. These students are preparing for um Holland's inaugural STEM night to glow and our building was full of science projects and
018engineering projects that these kiddos worked on for the whole the entire third quarter last year. I think they worked really hard on these things. Um, and we are going to repeat that again this year. Um, this is an excellent video from this school year. Kindergarten students have learned how to program and code with Indie Car robots. Um, they create these paths with colored tiles and then program the robots to do certain things when they hit that color. I'd explain to you more how it works, but I honestly have no idea. Uh, but the kindergarten kids can explain it to you. Um, this video here is hilarious. There's one little guy that jumps in the in the in front of the camera in the middle of it that makes me crack up every time. >> Hey,
019I'm watching. It turns. Nice job. Let me see. Oh no. >> Make sure it stops the red. Hi Jud. >> These kiddos, they love this. I mean, and some of the kids in this video, you can't tell from watching it, but I mean, we have students with non-verbal autism that are coding these cars and making them turn. and some of our students that might struggle in a great many other subjects, they get to come to STEM and they've they've got their thing. They found their thing and uh it's really exciting to get to see them thrive that way. So, our nights a glow is we share it with the art night. It'll all take place at the same time. Thursday, March 5th from 5:00 to 7:00. They'll exhibit all the hard work they've put into
020the STEM and art this year with their very own project showcase of the arts and engineering. And to emphasize how important students uh to emphasize how important STEM is to our students, please welcome Holland's own Harper Brown. >> Hello members of the schoolboard. My name is Harper Brown and I am a fifth grade student at Holland Elementary. Today I wanted to share what I like most about STEM class and why it is important to me. One of my favorite things about STEM class is that we get to learn by doing doing instead of just reading about something. We get to build it, test it, and see what happens. Whether we're creating bridges out of popsicle sticks, coding robots, or designing solutions to real world real world problems. If it it feels like we're actually engineers
021and scientists. I also like that STEM class teaches us how to think in new ways. We learn how to problem solve, work through mistakes, and try again. When something doesn't work out the first time, it helps to remember that failing isn't the end of the world. It's just a step towards finding a better solution. STEM helps me become more confident because I know I can figure things out if I keep trying. Another thing I enjoy is working with my classmates. STEM projects are almost always teamwork and everyone has something different to contribute. We we learn how to share ideas, listen to each other, and make a plan together. It's fun to see how our different skills help us solve challenges. My favorite part of STEM is that it connects to real world problems. We learn
022how things we study like coding, simple machines, and circuits are used every day. It makes me excited to figure careers because I can picture myself doing something with science, technology, engineering, or math. STEM class makes school exciting, creative, and full of possibilities. Thank you for supporting STEM education and for giving students like me a chance to learn through hands-on activities. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much, Harper. When I asked Hie um if she would like to read for us tonight, uh Harper was an earshot and Harper said, "I love talking in front of people." >> Just like her mom, I had to invite her along. Um so that takes care of Monday through Thursday. So, Friday looks pretty special around Holland as well. Um, students specialty class on Friday is library led by
023Miss Rachel Kimmel and assisted by Mrs. Landon because it takes two sets of hands to get 30 to 40 students through our little library. Uh, Miss Kimmel organizes and facilitates all our fall and spring family literacy nights and includes the Scholastic Scholastic Book Fair. She is also the leader of our accelerated reader program which rewards students for meeting goals and recreational reading. And one thing I should have included on this slideshow is she's also our spell bowl coach. And last night she coached Holland's spell bowl team to its third consecutive red division championship. Um so very proud of those guys. And uh also on Fridays our students enjoy PE uh which is coached by their home room teachers which has been a lot of fun for teachers and students this year. That bottom picture is
024Halloween. They're playing a game called zombie tag. They have to keep one foot in that hula hoop. And if uh they tag the people that don't have the hula hoop, those people become zombies and get their own hula hoop. And it was hilarious. So much fun to watch that lesson. So um our next steps for our steam program is to evaluate, determine, and adjust. It's evaluating new structure, determining areas for possible improvement, and adjusting for future plans for continued growth. I like to say around Holland, uh if it works, can it be better? If it doesn't, can we fix it? So, those are uh those are our next steps. And uh again, I just like to thank you so much for your time and attention and for allowing myself and a few of our wonderful
025students the opportunity to share with you the great work our specialty teachers do day in and day out with our students at Holland. Uh thanks in large part to your support. The arts, STEM, and literacy are thriving at Holland, where we work, we grow, and we lead. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. That was really good. You You guys did a wonderful job. >> If I may, Remington, Ally, and Harper, great job. >> Encouraged to get up here. You guys did a wonderful job. Um, and it's just my part. This is one of my favorite presentations I think I've been to here because not only did we hear about our program and all the nuts and bolts and specifics of it, you brought life to it. you brought the actual people
026that are engaged in it and and it's and it's refreshing to hear, you know, our students, our young students are getting excited about something again. And, you know, school is is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be challenging, but it we can make it fun and integrate those life skills. I think it's great. So, wonderful, wonderful job. I hope to see this program continue to excel because it's amazing you can bring all of those hard skills, the soft skills together because they they're so compatible. And that's what I loved about each one of you talking about how the lessons you learn in art and music really help you throughout the rest of your day. How it helps you center, how it helps you focus, you know, and just the outcomes can be different even
027starting at the same place. So again, great job and great job teaching the message to them because that's as important as anything else. >> Thank you very much. >> Hey, wait a minute. >> Peter's jealous. >> I can get up there and do that. I mean, I can talk too. >> You guys remember a word he just said or you remember what I >> I just did one of the >> Thank you guys for being here. Wonderful. Wonderful job. Awesome. That was a lot of fun to listen to. Hey, couple more things as we move on to the board meeting. Um, we do want to draw attention real quick to William Dubon and Caitlyn Wright who were all state choir out of our high school. We're very proud of them. Maggie Greyber, what an incredible
028career at the cross country. Um, finished all state. Um, I think she was seated 33 or 34 at the state cross country meet and took that all the way up to finish uh 18th. I think it was 18th, which you had I think you had to finish top 20 to be all state. She she improved more than anybody else in her seating that day, which just shows incredible heart to do that. So >> really amazing career by her. And um also Jaylen Goodwin a cook scholarship finals was pretty special as well. Couple other things. Selma Middle School spell Selma uh South Bridge Middle School spell bowl team um state runner up in class three. Great job by them. And um also Jake, I know you mentioned last night the spell bowl team for you guys
029had a nice finish. Make sure that gets to Amber so we can publicize that more on our pages. So I think that was the primary stuff we wanted to draw attention to there tonight. So at this time we'll move on with rest of our business. And you all are more than welcome to stay or go, whatever you'd like. I think they're wanting to speak if I if I remember right. >> No, we didn't sign the sheet. >> Okay, never mind. >> Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow morning bright and early, I believe. >> NO. >> OKAY, moving on. Letter D. New business. Field trips as requested. I'd like to make a motion on >> I'd like make a motion to approve field trip requests. >> Motion made by Longi. >> I'll second. >> Second courts.
030All those in favor signify. >> I same sign. Motion carries. Number two, personnel as listed below. And continuing on to the next page. >> I'll make a move to approve the personnel as listed. >> Trader. >> I'll second that. >> Give Mrs. Julian, my stepmom a shout out for a job well done. I don't know how many years it is, but it's a lot. >> It is. >> It's been a bunch. >> What about she started at two? >> No kidding. >> All right. Would someone like to make a motion on the personnel? Oh, wait. Sorry. It was you were seconded. So, um, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I see none. Motion carries. Okay. Number three, approve the reading. approve the update to PO6610 the second reading again all these all
031these packets so >> I'll make a motion to approve the update to PO 6610 >> motion made by short >> seconded by Shrader all those in favor signify by saying I >> I oppose same sign motion carries number four approve volume 38 number one all policies and all files including non-discrimination first reading >> I'll make a motion to approve volume 38 The first reading >> motion made by Bunch. >> I'll second. >> Second by Schwarz. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Number five, approve Tyler Technology software quote. >> Make a motion to approve Tyler Technology software quote. >> Motion made by Longi. >> I'll second. >> Second by Shrader. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carried. Number
032six. Approve professional services agreement with Jack R. Kinkl and Sun Architects for the SMS renovation and additions. >> I'll make a motion to approve the professional services agreement with Jack R. Kinkle and Sun Architects for the SMS renovations and additions. >> Motion made by Schwarz. >> Second by Bunch. All those in favor signify by saying I >> oppose. Same sign. >> Motion carries. >> Number seven, approve resolution to pay claims and make transfers through December 31st of this year. I'll make a motion to pay claims and make transfers through the end of the year 2025. >> Motion made by Shrader. >> A second. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor signify saying I. >> I. Sign. Motion carried. >> Number eight. Consider bid award for additions and renovations at the Huntingburg Elementary School to
033the low bidder Cipher Construction at a contract sum of 14,234,800. I'll make a motion to approve or to consider the bid award for addition to the renovations at Honey Middle School decipher a little bidder at a sum of $14,24,800 made by Shrader second. >> I will second by Schwarz. All those in favor signify by saying I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Any other administrator, board, superintendent comments? Not being any. We'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion made by bunch. >> Second by Longi. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Same sign. >> Thank you all again. Thank you.