001It's 6:00. I would call the board of trustees of the board to order. We'll begin the orders for a final will be the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next item, uh roll call of the board. Christine Ashman? Here. Careful in here? Here. I'm here. David Law? Here. Don Layman? Here. John Payne? Here. Brian [snorts] Topping? Here. Jessica McFarland? Here. Christian Thomas? Here. And Scott Ferner? Here. Our next item is special recognition. We have the WEA personal day raffle, Mr. Michael Ringle. Thank you very much. We did a raffle over the past couple of weeks um and we were able to raise $700 to go towards the student scholarship.
002And so, if you would do the honors of pulling one of those names for us and we'll announce that. It's all you. Hey, don't blame me. Whoever gets it gets it. Just make sure you pick mine. Perfect. Teresa Butler at the high school. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, our next item is recognition of visitors and public input. Um please sign in prior to start of the school board meeting and indicate your desire to speak. The board president will announce each speaker by calling the name, address, and topic. Each statement shall be limited to 3 minutes. No participant may speak more than once on any topic. This portion of the board meeting shall be limited to 30 minutes per topic unless extended by vote of the board. If there's more than
003one person on a particular topic, the board shall attempt to allow proportionate amount of time for each position. So, first person I have on the list is Shawn Johnson, uh 3268 Blackwood Way, and topic is curriculum adoption. Shawn? Thank you. Thank you to members of the board. I brought a copy of what I'm going to read to keep myself within the guardrails and and calm as well. I'm here on behalf of the community, uh my wife who's been educated here for a very long time, loves what she does, and also as a parent, holding the line >> [snorts] >> uh that often was fought when I was sitting in these seats. So, thank you for your time and for your service to our schools and our community. I stand here today recognizing that every perspective
004in this room aligns, but we're all entrusted with the same responsibility to act in the best interest of our students and families and our community. And with that responsibility, as it states in Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it." We have a responsibility to our children and and we're entrusted with that. There's a growing concern among some teachers and community members that the curriculum being considered, and in some cases already introduced, does not reflect values and expectations or age-appropriate standards of this community. They're not abstract concerns. They're being voiced by engaging dedicated teachers who care deeply about the well-being and development of their students. Some, however, hesitate to speak openly uh concerned for backlash. When strong educators raise red
005flags and these concerns are met with little acknowledgement, we have to ask ourselves, are we truly listening and are we leading? Or are we creating an environment where individuals feel pressured to fall in line rather than speak honestly? Much like concerns that have been raised in other areas of the district, we understand that education today is complex and navigating gray areas often come before us. But leadership is not about passively accepting every directive or trend that the state shoves down our throat. It's about discernment. It's about having the courage to thoughtfully adapt based on what is appropriate for the ages of the students in the classrooms that we're we're teaching and align those values to the families who entrust their children into this system. Two specific areas that are a disconnect. Big Big Bang Theory.
006Teaching that to third graders. Students raise serious questions about developmental appropriateness and alignment with faith-based values held by our company or our families in this community. There's personal beliefs and complex scientific concept that may be better suited for older students. I would encourage you to take a deeper look at what's being presented to you tonight. Not just what they're going to show you. Second, the inclusion of Greek gods and mythology in second and third grade. It's also concerning. Polytheistic belief systems and symbolic narratives have traditionally been introduced at later grade levels. That's what I learned them when I was in school. It's hard for kids to understand cultural study and belief systems. When introduced too early, it risks confusion rather than meaningful learning. Many families chose chose this community and these schools because of a
007shared foundation of values and faith, responsibility, and respect for developmental readiness. So, when curriculum introduces topics that feel out of step with these expectations, especially at early grade levels, it creates a disconnect and it erodes trust. This is not a call to reject learning or avoid complex ideas altogether. It's about timing, balance, and respect for the role of parents. I'll let you continue to read the rest of this, but I will challenge you to look deeply at what's in front of you tonight and at least make sure it adapts to the needs of our families and give some autonomy to the teachers to do what's best for their kids and their belief systems that align to our community. Thank you, Shawn. Uh next up is Laurie Matthews of 1287 Hickory Drive. Topic is staffing concerns.
008All right, good evening. I want to share four concerns on staffing decisions and how they align within our district's stated priorities, particularly regarding student achievement and support services. First, I have concerns with the decision not to refill the recently vacated math teaching position following a retirement. Given the district's emphasis on improving SAT scores and strengthening math performance, I'm interested in understanding how this aligns with these goals and the potential of larger class sizes. Secondly, I have concerns regarding the life skill program at the high school. My understanding is the new teacher that will be in this role next year is not licensed and is therefore unable to write IEPs. I'm also aware that a licensed candidate applied and interviewed for this position. At present, it appears there may be a gap in who is responsible
009for developing and maintaining IEPs for some students. Additionally, I have concerns with the staffing in the PE department. It is my understanding that a non-licensed individual is currently and will continue next year teaching PE classes and is unable to input grades while a licensed and highly experienced PE teacher has been reassigned to the elementary level. I'm also concerned about how this impacts the availability of specialized courses such as lifeguarding, which requires certified instruction. Last Lastly, I would like to better understand how attendance policies are being applied across staff. It has come to my attention that concerns about absences may not be addressed consistently. I share these concerns with a commitment to supporting our students and ensuring that our practices align with our goals and requirements. This was shared on behalf of quite a few high
010school teachers. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Laurie. Uh next up we have Brandy Henderson, um topic of the FFA update. I thought we had reached out and I apologize for the miscommunication. Um each of the kids are going to briefly share an update. We were here not too long ago, but since then um we've participated in quite a few contests um and had our big FFA week, so they're going to briefly kind of discuss some overviews and results that we've had. So, there's a number of you, so could you just state your name cuz I have Gretchen Furber, Caitlyn Lamb, Presley Zearing, Olivia Lyons, Henry Piper, and can't read this, Carly Lamb? Carly Lamb. How do you say that? Carly Lamb. Carly, sorry I couldn't read that. Carly Lamb. If you would just
011state your name before you speak, that'd be awesome. Thank you. Uh I'm Henry Piper. Uh so, a few weeks ago, we had six teams from our chapter compete in uh the district small engine comp- competition uh where they had to take apart or where they had to take apart and tool test, uh skill stations, and assemble an engine. They placed in the following. Uh Caitlyn Yoder and Jack Barney placed first. Jonah Groover and Grayson Davis placed second. Uh myself and Burnley May placed fourth. Uh Teresa Fuller and Matthew Piper placed sixth. Ella and Georgia Hazely placed ninth. Caitlyn Lamb and Burnley Penners placed 15th. Uh our top two teams being first and second will be advancing to state on April 15th or 25th. My name is Gretchen Furber, and I would like to share on
012behalf of our accomplishments at our district leadership convention, which was held at Tippy Valley on Friday, the 13th of March. So, these are our These are the members that are headed to state. I would like to just present their names and tell you what they are going to state for. Traditional scrapbook made by Presley Zearing and Ella Jessup. Plant and soil science demo, Presley Zearing and Avery Hess. Natural resource demo, Carly Lamb and and Abigail Coffin. Prepared public speaking, Ella Hazely. Freshman extemporaneous speaking, Eli Herzl, freshman prepared public speaking, Laney Yoder, and then we had two novice teams. Novice does not advance to state, but they did win first place in their said category or the contest. Novice Ag Mech Demo by Caitlyn Yoder and novice animal science demo by Brinley and Nola Penrose. We
013had 25 members of our chapter compete on this contest night. These 25 members competed in 24 different contests and out of those 24 contests, 17 of those members placed in the top three at the contest. So, um recently we had a lot of My name is Olivia Lentz, sorry. We've had a lot of members recently compete in multiple different um livestock judging in invitationals. So, um I'm here to talk about two of them. So, one we had was the Lewis Cass Invitational and we had a team consisting of high schoolers Eli Herzl, Silas Furstenau, Hannah Matter, and Brinley Penrose who placed 20 out of 45. We had an individual member, high school member, um Jacqueline Golden. She placed 126. And we had um some of our middle school members also come to this competition to
014compete. So, a team consisting of Carolyn Croner, Wyatt Brown, and Jared Wolfe, they placed 24 out of 39 in their category, which that was really big for them cuz this is one of their first big competitions they were doing with us and it takes a lot of work to go into a livestock judging invitational. And then the second one we recently have been to was Blackhawk. We members placed 12 class classes of livestock and gave six sets of reasons to explain their placings and why they placed them. So, a team of Presley Zearing, Avery Hess, and Eli Herzl placed 14 out of 41 and then a team of Silas Furstenau, Brinley Penrose, and Hannah Matter placed 27th out of 41 and this is a big accomplishment for all of our members in both competitions and
015they are still practicing for competition and they are working really hard. Good evening. My name is Caitlyn Lamb. Um I'm going to kind of shift towards what the future of North Wood FFA has for the rest of the school year. So, first off, we this week we have our Northern Classic Preview Beef Show uh how that Elkhart County Fair that we take part of with the Elkhart County 4-H Beef Club, too. Um on Thursday this week we have our setup night and then on Saturday we are there from like 9:00 a.m. till Lord knows when the show gets over. Last year it got over at like 8:00 p.m. The other year it got done at like 2:00, so it's a wide range, but um and then next Monday we have our cleanups uh where we
016go back to the fairgrounds and we help clean up the entire fairgrounds for everyone so it's back in shape for the fair in the summer. Um also we just we we just closed our officer and our executive uh committee applications. So, we had numerous applicants for our officer and exec chair positions. Um the officer positions have to complete a 15 in-person interview. Um that is based upon community members and then our seniors who decided they wanted to sit in on sit in on the interview. And then later in April we will have our anonymous like pre- approving the slate from our chapter during homeroom. And then if that slate does get passed, then we will induct the uh officer team into um Oh, wow. um We'll induct them at our spring banquet that Carly will
017talk about later. Hi, I'm Carly Yoder and uh upcoming event I'm going to be talking about is spring banquet. On April 19th at 5:00 p.m. we are hosting our spring banquet, which is where we have a year in review where we will go over all of our contests that we that we participated in this year and then we also get awards for everything such as DLC and small engines that we talked about earlier and then some of our members will be getting their degrees. And you guys are welcome to join us at 5:00 p.m. at the uh North Wood High School cafeteria. Uh I'm Presley Zearing and um I'm here to talk about Ag Day. I'm the head planner for it this year. It's uh May 11th and it's the day where um all third
018graders from all three elementary schools get to come and this year I'm planning to have nine stations, mostly of animals, but then we have a tractor station and an FFA station, too. So, they get to come and learn about all the different kinds of animals that most of us raise and obviously about tractors and then we have an FFA station to kind of explain like what we do and what FFA is, how they can get involved, and things like that. So, we're really excited to show them kind of what we do and we're still planning for it. All right. Thank you very much. Very busy, thank you. Um that's all I have on my sheet. Nothing missing anybody? Um we'll move on to our next item. And if you guys want to stick around, you
019can. If you want to leave, that's okay, too. Good job. Thank you. Good job. Uh so, we'll move on. Our next item on the agenda is the middle school agenda, which I presented before you. Make a motion we accept the amendments to the agenda. Second that. Or by consent, right? Amendments to the >> Amendments to the agenda by consent. Okay. Motion from Christina and second from John. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries 7-0. Next item, consent items consisting of board minutes, executive minutes, claiming personnel items, professional leave, grants and donations. Make a motion we accept the consent items with the amendments we voted on. Second. I have a motion from Christina and second from Trevor. Any questions or discussion
020on those? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries 7-0. Move on to action items. Consider the approval of the bids for the Wanee Community Schools facility upgrades. You have a board packet with a copy of a memo outlining from Mark Covell, we had our bids that were received this past uh 17th. What was the actual date? Um you see the three bidders that we had, uh Brown and Brown, John Mast, and Mariott, three local companies. Um we're going to recommend John Mast and again these projects are for the EIFS outside of Nappanee Elementary School. Uh we have some masonry work both at Woodview Elementary School and at the high school um and then the ceiling work at uh Nappanee Middle School in the old
021gymnasium. Is there anything else this incorporates? Happy to answer any questions you guys have. Uh what we recommend as presented. I recommend we accept the bid as presented. Second. I have a motion from Christina and second from David. Any questions or discussion? Why the big difference? Don't know. Um Uh it's a huge difference. It it it is significant. Um I will say that the John Mast Construction bid came in a little bit higher than what we had anticipated um by about $50,000. Um but again the numbers that we were utilizing to estimate were a little over 12 months old um and I just don't know if this day and age of inflation um whether they're the same higher cost right now. Um sometimes construction companies um depending on how many subcontractors they're working with or
022how many bids they go out for subcontracting work as well, they may get varying amounts um on those as well, but we were excited to see John Mast come in where they're at. We've uh worked with them in the past and uh they've done they've done good work with us, so um we do recommend them. I kind of have the same thing. Like it's a pretty big disparity. I know EIFS work, there's not that many guys doing that anymore. Hard to find them. That's kind of expensive, too. EIFS work I get that. Yeah. Nappanee Elementary The stucco and EIFS work You know, it gets pretty expensive anymore. Some of the other stuff is just odds [clears throat] and ends and like some of the bids are probably just a little higher cuz it's not just
023as cut and dry. Mark and Cody re- they reviewed the bid packets. Did it all all all Yeah, they re- reviewed all three. They did a deep dive into John Mast to make sure it was responsible and in alignment with what we um put in our specs. So. Any other questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries 7-0. Next item, consider the approval of the school bus bids. I'm going to hand this off to Amy Rosa cuz she can go far deeper than I can on exactly what it is. And again, I was hoping that Scott was going to describe it and explain it to me. Thank you tonight. Um uh per our bus replacement plan that the board has already approved, this these
024are recommendations for our 2027 buses. Um we are very pleased with our propane program. Without getting too much into the weeds, we are saving lots of money with propane. Obviously, now with new diesel costs coming on, we're going to experience even more savings, but we're very happy with propane plan. Um last year we bought three propane buses and then a lift bus. This year we're actually getting five buses for only about 50,000 more than we spent last year on four buses. So Um the propane buses are actually going to come in a little bit less this year because we did drop front AC. Don't tell my drivers right now. But Um the front AC that we're had been purchasing we're not um overly happy with. So we're going to take that off. So that's going
025to come in less. The yellow head start bus obviously we will be um submitting for some of that reimbursement through the head start program because we do we can see some reimbursement through head start. That's undetermined. And then the white uh buses that we use as much as possible to save as much money as possible with as many trips as we can take. Um but those are non-CDL driver vehicles. So we're replacing if not replacing we may even stretch that bus we're scheduled to replace a little further. We need to look at that once we get to um delivery on these buses which should be December of this year. Um we'll look at that to see what kind of mileage we have on the bus we're supposed to trade and if we can keep it
026a little longer and put that on the road even further, we will because white buses do save us money when we can get those on the road before big buses with drivers. Are the only add-ons the camera and the two-way radio? Sorry. I'll make a motion for hang on. Oh, sorry. You give motion? Yep. I'll make a motion that we accept the bids for the school bus. Second. Got a motion from David. Seconded by Brian. Any questions? So I was just going to yeah ask if the camera system and the two-way radio system are the only add-ons that we would have added. Correct. Yes. With with purchasing Blue Birds that is correct. Those buses would come speced the way we want. We would have to add the radios and the um camera systems. And in
027some cases we repurpose radios. We just have to wait to see how well they're maintained and if we can repurpose them coming out of the old buses. That's our hope. So I had asked you about the price difference from the Blue Birds to the Thomas on the smaller buses. She had a great explanation of why Yeah, there's what we're going to or we're picking. Yeah, there's multiple factors. One consistency is safety especially like with the white bus all those buses are the same. That helps the coaches know they're getting into a like vehicle. A lot of it has to do with warranty, parts, inventory. When you go into another vendor, you're basically opening up another business when it comes to every everything that goes around the vehicle. So we would have to stock add everything
028in for a different model so to speak. Um there it's really not apples to apples. When I get those prices together, we look at the spec from one bus and then some another may not have that spec. So we have to go out and kind of estimate the cost of what that product might be to add it and then we'd be adding it third party later. So those prices would be comparing the product but not necessarily the service to add the product if it didn't match the specification. And we did see that in quite quite a few different factors um from the Thomas bus to the Blue Bird. We also have um tariff money coming back from this year's purchase. So we should see about $8,000 coming back on tariff rebates plus 6,000 from the
02978 passengers. And then I listed the 2,000 tariff rebates coming back on those. Um the other factor that we should see is a $6,000 credit for McAllister because they use our buses as a demo. And if they because they've chosen our bus to demo, they give us a $6,000 credit. Coupons. I'm asking for coupons. So the amount that you have at the bottom there that we are approving the 134,000 for the Blue Bird doesn't account for the 2,000 credit. That's coming later. Correct. Yeah. And you're approving the max before we get all any of those rebates or discounts back. We're going to PO for the max but we should see we should see the buses come in for less when it's all said and done. How do you determine which buses get replaced? Do you
030go by age or do you go by mechanical records? >> Yeah, it's by age. Unless we have we've had in my 20 years I've had one engine go down and we had to replace that early. Um but right now we're on a 12-year bus replacement plan. >> [clears throat] >> So at some point do we get a couple like gas or diesel one of the other for like the long hauls to replace some of those and We will. >> on propane for? How many years? >> [clears throat] >> Since '19. We've been able to travel um to Indian back on propane. We've been to Six Flags and back. You know I mean Evansville we'd have to probably find a fuel station if we took a propane. Um we will not go to diesel. Diesel is
031in a in a pickle right now because of emission standards and the new administration federally has rolled back diesel emission standards but it's been too late for the manufacturer to to to bring that technology back cuz they're already too deep into the new emission standard technology. Unfortunately, Cummins is not meeting their that new technology so their 7.2 engine is not going to be ready and they're probably going to see um it's been reported they're going to see litigation because they're not going to meet that. So that also will be passed on to the to the purchaser. So not only are we going to see $15,000 more expensive diesel engines but we have potential we could see another five to six thousand dollar litigation expenses coming out of diesel. So not only that, DEF is a
032part of that and that whole system is becoming more complex. So diesel's kind of out of the mix. We we are looking closely at the gas the Roush gas engine which is basically the same engine as the propane. It just uses gas. It's just right now our average propane gallon is 98 cents a gallon. So um I looked at the last real solid year we had to compare if we were running a full diesel fleet on current prices not even before the not before the Iranian war prices. But our diesel prices today that we've paid this year if we were a full diesel fleet we'd be spending over $100,000 more in fuel right now. So propane is is winning the day. Do you know off the top of your head what our ratio propane versus
033diesel engine is right now? >> Yes. We have currently currently after this purchase. After this purchase? Okay. After this purchase we'll have 32 propane, 17 diesel, and seven gas. Any other questions? Thank you for your explanations. Appreciate it. And always our door's open. All those in favor of approving school bus bids signify by saying aye. Aye. All those same sign. Very simple zero. Next action item consider approval of the out-of-state and or overnight trips for the following. Ruby Elementary Robotics, Northwood Middle School Robotics, Northwood High School State Tennis, Northwood High School FCCLA National Leadership Contest, and then Northwood High School BDA BDA Nationals. And we would also ask the uh the Nyssa as well which was Northwood High School Robotics team to Worlds in St. Louis. And we recommend approval as presented. So moved. Second.
034Motion from Todd, a second from Heather. Any questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. That motion carries seven to zero. We'll move on to discussion and information. First item is textbook adoption and curriculum updates. All right. Um so textbook adoption for all of the different um content areas presented. So reading K to 5, English language arts 6 to 8, and then band for middle school and high school. Um we had parent committees and also teacher committees. And board policy is at least 40% has to be parent or community part of it. So um in your board packet there's a memo for each one laid out listing the names of the teachers on the committee as well as the parents or community members on the committee
035as well. Um for reading for K to 5 for example, um I made sure that there was a representative from each grade level um from each school. So we had equal representation from each of the three elementary schools. Each school then also had two or three parents from their buildings. So there was equal representation there as well. And then we made sure to have EL support, special education support, and then Mr. Craig was our building principal representative. So you can see the long list of names there of uh committee members who helped us. Um we Our committee started off looking at every single um state approved textbook uh from the list. There are about five uh five to eight. Um some of them are duplicate publishers. And so we looked at all of the different
036textbook options that the state has approved. Um from there we looked at which uh textbooks we felt would be challenging for our students. We wanted to maintain the rigor and the academic level that we feel like our students are up to. And we also wanted to make sure that it had ease of use for our teachers in the classroom. And that it was it met our rubric of of just requirements in those areas. From there we narrowed it down to three options. And so we were able to provide a day for our committee members to come together. And we had representatives from each of those three publishers to come in and give a presentation. And I will tell you that going into that presentation, the committee was pretty split. And walking out of that presentation,
037um it was very clear. Um as a matter of fact, all but two members picked CKLA right out of the gate as their top choice. The other two members had it at their second choice or third choice. One had it their second, one had it their third. Um so it was very very very heavy that it was CKLA um right out of after that presentation. Some [clears throat] of the reasons why were um the integration of science and social studies, which often get neglected at being taught at the elementary level. And so this would give an opportunity to continue to teach those. Builds a background knowledge for students that they often don't have. And so it levels that playing field for students by building that background knowledge. Um it integrates the phonics instruction nicely where
038right now we're pulling together many different things. So it just really helps from that instructional standpoint. And the committee after leaving that meeting felt like it was the strongest resource for our teachers that we needed to be able to move to that next level. And the conversation was really centered around do we want to stay status quo, do we want to take a step back, or do we want to move forward? In order to move forward, we felt like this was the best option. Parent feedback was all very positive from the representatives on the committee as well. Um a lot of positive comments about having integration of science and social studies. A lot of positive comments about um good discussion opportunities in school and at home based on the topics that are presented. Um just
039a lot of really positive things and excitement around the units. Um from those that were able to come in and and look at them from the committee. So from there, um that's where we landed. And so I'm not asking for approval today. Today's just discussion. So I wanted to bring that to you today. And then when we come back in a couple weeks, then I would ask for approval at that time. So discussing now if there's questions or anything like that tonight or between now and then, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Any questions on CKLA? I got some uh text messages that had concern. And so I guess the concern was actually what is being taught. Mhm. Um and how Big Bang Theory and uh the Greek Yep. Could you elaborate on
040that? Yep. Um so in third grade, in one of their they call them uh units. So in unit five, unit five is what's in our universe. And in unit five, there are 15 chapters. And in chapter 13, that chapter 13 talks about um Hubble telescope and it talks about the Big Bang. And so speaking with um one of the coaches at extent extensively about it, um she said, you know, if we skip that particular chapter, we really miss one vocabulary word that we could integrate elsewhere. And so we wouldn't even really have to teach that specific chapter. So we can approve that without that in there? Mhm. Yeah. Yep. As far as the um mythology, there is mythology. Um the unit that was referenced was same thing, third grade, unit four was stories of ancient
041Rome. And that is a unit all about ancient Rome. So there's Is that age appropriate for that? Going through it, yes. I believe so. I think there's there's not It does talk about fighting. There's not like descriptive gore or anything like that. But I do have the PDF that I can send to the board as well for you to take a look at. Um I do know that uh what was looked at originally from one of the uh people who brought the concern about was a second edition. And the committee when we first started looking at it, we were confused by second edition and third edition of the whole CKLA. Um second edition did have some more topics in all of their packaging that I would not have brought to you for approval. And one
042of our neighboring districts did adopt that edition and had some concerns with it and things like that. And then so talking to the rep, they CKLA made changes. And so the stories are not the same. They took a lot of things out. And so what was presented as concerns, I think some of that was not even the same thing that's in the third edition. I got the guy that was Yeah. I'll send it to the whole board for sure. I'll send you both the both of them. In addition, I just had a question. Sometimes in situations like this, we're presented with one option. But I talked to somebody on that committee and they informed me that while there may be a couple of things in this one that could have raised red flags, that in
043some of the other Yes. materials, uh there were far greater uh concerns with the materials selected. So we're seeing one here and hearing that uh somebody informed me of a topic that or topics that were in some of the other materials that absolutely when they repeated to me, I was like, oh yeah, that's uh Where do we get these from? Are they our own or are they coming from the state? Yeah. The state has a list of approved textbooks based on the science of reading. And the others were worse. Well, but so this is my former experience. These textbook companies are developing these textbooks for all over with minimal tweaking state by state that they have to do cuz they're a business enterprise. So what we hold near and dear here in rural Indiana or
044what we would consider issues, other places it is not an issue at all. So they're running their business model. They're they're developing materials for the broader market. Then they will be responsive sometimes and make changes. But other times, sorry, this is what we offer. Either you like it or you don't. So we could adopt the curriculum and carve out some pieces, you're saying? Um How do you do that? How do you ensure that that happens? That's a good question. Like we would that that would have to be at the building level because the it is digital. I mean they the teachers have access to it. There's no way to not have access to it. So we would have to write it in the curriculum map. And then we would have to have that professionalism that
045it's not being taught. Make sure it's excluded. But also, I I I found out, so I just Googled and went on and found the edition and looked at it. I mean, it's one I would say age appropriate for third grade, absolutely. It's being taught through a broader lens of hey, our universe. So they talk all about the planets. They talk about lots of things. Um there are Look at this. So I have a They talk about like the distance of the different planets from each other. It's literally one It's it's one chapter out of about our universe. And it's just at the end. And it says, this is a theory. This is what some scientists believe. This isn't It doesn't [cough] say this is the way that So there's a lot that our teachers do
046with things like that, the appropriate teaching of theories and At the very conclusion, there's one statement. I'll try to find it here. Cuz it leaves it like they're continuing to try to figure out more information, not saying like this is the definitive thing. It basically [clears throat] is just explaining Here's what scientists some famous scientists have said. Um This is what it looks like to them. There's still a lot to learn about the early universe. Sometimes scientists make changes to the Big Bang Theory to match what they've learned. It's amazing to think how old things are. And that scientists are still trying to find out how it all started. So they don't present it like this is the exact thing. It is this is one theory that's out there. And it it's titled the Big
047Bang, but it really starts off about >> Yeah. Hubble and scientists. Hubble space telescope and then it Einstein's theory and Hubble's theory. And then it goes into you know, like you said, imagine the distance in the space and how there's all these different theories and then they're trying to figure it out. Yeah, there's two other full pages of information not about that. There's one There's three paragraphs about the Big Bang in there. General question on the process. So, like obviously there's samples. You can't go through all eight in detail. Can you walk me through a little bit of the process like when you get to the samples, get down to the three, then like are they able to dig deeper? Cuz sample could be very like broad like oh man, what all is in here?
048When you get to that final group or that final selection, like how much are they able to go in and and look at that? So, when we we have like a rubric that we follow that looks at like he's a teacher he used to look at the content, the age appropriateness, the standards, things like that. Um so, they look at all of the samples, they narrowed it down to the three. Once they narrowed it down to the three, we had the presenters come in so that digs it down to a little bit deeper. Once we felt like okay, we're kind of leaning towards CKLA, like the majority all but two people picked this as the number one choice, then we had so many like bags of full kits and samples. They took those back to
049their buildings and shared those like the committee members shared those with their teams of teachers at the buildings. So, then the teams of teachers at the buildings were able to look at them to give input, to be able to see what it was about and things like that. So, basically the committee went back and shared the information with the whole school then and so then they were the the person mediating back and forth. What about the parents? Like is it kind of similar process for them too or >> Yeah, the parents come in. When the parents come in, they had access to like the whole kit and in most cases they had all the grade levels or at least the whole kit of a grade level or multiple grade levels. And online digitally it was
050all available to them, but in person it was at least solid sets of grade levels. That's a third edition are we talking about? >> Yes. And so, as a building principal I'll say, you're trusting that those parent reps that they're I mean, it would be a ton to read if they read through every single page of all the grade levels that are there, but they have access to everything and there's no secret here here's what it is and you know, I that was always an actually a really good process with parents and they give feedback on those things. So, Yeah, that's great to know cuz the one sample makes you think, okay, what all's under there that we don't know about? So, to have that much access is is good. Yeah, not pages, like full
051kits. Full thing. Any other questions? Based on some of the names that were up there for the parent committee, I would think that they would pretty much align with Mhm. our beliefs are in this corporation. And the likelihood of Sorry, I'm speaking out a lot, but the hardest part about this is with the the breadth of the material and the all the grade levels you have to cover and what these companies are trying to do, you're going to find something somewhere that somebody doesn't like. It's just how do you work with that in your setting? And our teachers and instructional coaches do a magnificent job of addressing those things so that we're clear with our staff as we go through, how are we using this resource? How are we doing it? And that's where Gretchen
052and does an outstanding job with like curriculum maps because nothing's a surprise when you come up to it. You know where you're teaching things in the curriculum cuz it's all sequenced out. So, it's not like teacher X is going to get ahead and they're going to come to this week and all of a sudden stumble across this topic that nobody knew was there. That's just not going to happen. And so, they'll be prepared and instructional coaches can be having these conversations, hey, we're discussing theories. This is a theory, here's how we're handling this. These are other things that we'll talk about because inevitably in discussions like that in our community, kids will say, "Well, that's not right. You know, this is this is what we believe." And then you talk about that as another way
053that people think. And so, those things come up in the classrooms and in discussions naturally. Any other questions? Thanks. So, I think some of the concerns that we heard earlier tonight were pretty well addressed. When I send the PDFs, I will send the parent feedback sheets also just so you can read the parent feedback from the committee members too. I feel like those voices are important also. I feel like they were very strong and very clear in what they were looking for and I don't know that it's all aligned. So, I just think it's important to hear it all. And correct me if I'm wrong, when you do like the selection process, like you let each of the members vote on like their first choice, their second choice, their third choice. And they turn those
054in without a name on them, correct? So, it's they turn those in. There were 13 members? Yeah. There were 15 members >> 15 members. 13 of the 15 had this chosen as their top choice. No names. Thank you for that information. Appreciate it. Thank you. Um ELA 6-8 was done the same way. Um that one was a much smaller group. That's quite a bit. >> [laughter] >> Oh, you're done. Sorry. I wish. >> [laughter] >> 6-8 um much smaller group, one teacher representative from each grade level and uh Val Engelmeier's the instructional coach heading that off and you can see the parent committee group there. Um for the novels, they used the book writing rubric for the novels and also looked at um the same textbook rubric that we used with the elementary. They landed
055at Into Literature HMH, which is what sixth grade used last year and what K-5 used previously. K-5 didn't continue with it because the state didn't approve it for K-5, they only approved it for 6-8. So, really we're continuing with sixth grade and seventh and eighth grade is now adopting it as well and I think it'll be a great tool for them to have that scope and sequence in the aligned curriculum. So, we're excited about that. And then the next one is math. I'm sorry, not math. Band for middle school and high school. Um so, those were pretty easy. They are They've had band books in the past, but parents had to purchase them and so with the change in the fact that they shouldn't be purchasing them, we really needed to purchase them in order
056for us to purchase them, we really needed to approve adopting curriculum and so we did go through a textbook adoption process, which is a little interesting when you're looking at music notes, but we did it and this is what we came up with. So, we had parent committee group and so they uh selected the titles that are listed there and so again in a couple weeks we'll ask for your approvals so that we can purchase those band books moving forward. Any questions on either of those? All right. Thank you. I'll be able to take off. Yes. You're good. Thank you. Go. Thank you. Appreciate it. I'll move on. We have another high school student athlete handbook. In your packet you have a copy of the student athlete handbook. Um all new updates are um in
057green font. Uh items that were struck were in red font. Um majority of the clerical changes had to do with uh just updates to the IHSA policy and so getting that information in line. I know there was one area where we discussed needing new documents. That was the insurance. Um we typically wait until the summertime to send out new new information on insurance based upon what our corporation uh has purchased. So, um that is a that's an update on that. Um happy to answer any questions you guys would have on that and we will plan on bringing that back for approval during the next board meeting. John? Item five, facility use and guidelines. >> Yes. No student should be in or utilizing an athletic facility without supervision and or outside their practice schedule that allows
058aligns with IHSA bylaws for in-season, out-of-season limit contact, so on and so forth. So, as I read that, um if we've contacted the coach, cuz I take my kid in to shoot. Mhm. He's just putting up shots. Yes. Now, is that technically considered open for public use? Are are we good? I want to make sure that by me bringing him Reed in to shoot shots, that we're not in violation of IHSAA. So, that's a fantastic question. >> I'll see. Uh I will run that by AJ. >> Okay. I just don't want to see us included in our handbook and then it's like, "Oh, well, we didn't intend that." I I think I think I know the intent of this is to protect us from a situation like maybe it happened before. But the way I
059read it, it's pretty narrow in that. That would have been language that specifically lived with from the I say, but I can get clarification. >> Okay. And if they may say, "Okay, the bylaws specifically mention that a parent can take their child to to do those things. If you got access to the gym, I assume as a board member then you have the ability to go in and supervise kids at night without creating an open gym scenario. However, the only thing I do know we also need to be conscientious of is that we cannot make our facilities open on Sundays. >> Right. So again, that's where I would just say contact AJ for clarification on that. I hate to I hate to give you that bad advice. No, I'll make sure because I want to
060make I also don't want to put my kids, you know, eligibility at risk. But I want to make sure that we also don't write that policy in a way that Yeah, because then next thing you know, somebody has their kid out kicking a soccer ball on our soccer field at a non time and somebody says, "Hey, There is a difference and this is part of it, too. See, I know this is not going to be dangerous. Not going to really answer any questions. But there's a difference between open facilities and closed facilities. So for example, if students want to go and hit tennis balls on our tennis courts which are open to the public, that's fine. What's different is when it's a closed facility. Like a indoor basketball court. So again, I would just reach
061out to AJ. Okay. That was my question on that, too. I have a teacher that has their son or daughter that's waiting on them and they go to the gym and shoot baskets. Nobody really there. I mean, you'd think that the teacher's kid would be okay. That they're not going to do something they shouldn't be doing under them. Yeah. Kind of follow that same question you're asking. Right. Right. Just want to make sure that we're good there with that language. I do know that was why we created the Panther Power Hour. Just to try to figure out a way to help our senior athletes that wanted to get into the facilities on campus. We appreciate the board How much is that utilized? Um Since we added that. That was just like a year ago. I
062would say Yeah. This is four years. This is four years ago. Yeah. I'm Panther Power Hour. It depends on the season. You know, we usually have like Friday we had six basketball kids that came in. It just depends on the day. Baseball boys came in in the winter utilized it. So So it just depends, you know, I might have some a lot in the week, but it's always open and so I enjoy kids that came in. We came in this morning, shot baskets and so it's it's a great opportunity for the the students. So I've enjoyed it so far. So I do keep attendance every day so AJ could probably get a a printout at the end of the year. This one's been utilized a little bit more than this year. And last year it
063was a little bit new, but you can always get the attendance on that, too. But I always I faithfully do the attendance every day. I had a question on the kind of the end. Now it's under APC, sorry. Yes. You know, when possible students athletes should enroll in athletic performance and conditioning during all available trimesters with their current course schedules. And then basically if you can't, there's a sixth hour APC mainly after school for 30 to 45 minutes throughout the school year. Students should communicate this with the director of athletic performances. And their coaches. So it almost sounds like if I'm in charge of this, that I'm pushing kids to come. I'm assuming. And this was something different in the athletic department. And this was again AJ speaking on behalf of coaches. They wanted to
064see kids taking advantage of that of that opportunity. Um And so we did work with language. I would say the original language that was submitted definitely made it sound like it was a rule. And coaches could have discretion as far as whether or not they were following athletic code rules. Where we landed was from the athletic department. I can certainly see where they would want to encourage and say this is a big part of what we think sets Northview athletics apart. And so the language was was written as such that students should, if they're going to be an athlete, take every advantage as they could to try to get into that. But if there's if the board has a some heartburn about this language, I'm happy to have that conversation with AJ and our coaches
065as well about I only concern would be those that can't drive. Mhm. And then their parents, if you know, you're expecting a parent to pick them up or Yep. whatever. That's not mandated Yep. and that puts pressure on the families. I agree. Those that want to do it, great. That's awesome. But if those that can't, there's that pressure put on them to that feel like they have to do it. I will make sure that's that's reiterated. That was something that I know I spoke with AJ about it, you know, just trying to take that bigger lens. All the pressures that are on our kids. I know some kids, I mean, your daughter, look at John, where she's a basketball player, playing maybe volleyball and then going home and taking some some high level rigorous courses
066and then trying to turn around the next morning and if they couldn't schedule APC in their normal schedule, try to get up at 6:30 and get in there and and work out during zero hour. So Definitely want to make sure our we're we're seeing the whole student in that as well. Any other questions? Please please send them to me electronically if there are any edits you guys would like to see on that. Otherwise I plan on bringing that back for approval at our board meeting. And the last item is Jessica, financial update. Okay. The cash flow statements that you received, just remember January is a three-pay month. So when you're looking at January expenses compared to February expenses across the board on all of them, it's going to be more. We have here an education
067fund. The balance We need to remember also that the balance has textbook textbook funds in it. So to piggyback on Gretchen's presentation, we are going to see a dip in the education fund balance because this year's adoption will be quite large. So we are expecting expecting that and planning for that. Um Go on. Not a lot of activity in referendum fund. Obviously there's no no income coming in because that's tax based. Same with debt service. If we move on to operations fund, the good news here is that our balance is holding steady and so that's very good news going into our Senate Bill 1 losses. We are trying to shift some expenses to some bond proceeds that we have to hopefully help with those losses that we are going to see. Um School lunch that
068fund continues to decline. We are seeing some resignation and retirements. And so hopefully some staffing changes we can see some savings in the next school year. And then finally, health insurance trust. That's a strong We have a strong balance in health insurance trust fund. We do have some large claimants coming on that were not reflected in that balance, but I am confident that we will remain strong. Any questions? That's all we have this evening. There being no further business coming to the attention of the board, a motion to adjourn is in order. Someone Second. Is that Donna? Yeah. Motion by Donna, second by Trevor. All in favor say aye. I say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay.