001I 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. >> Sorry, totally. Just lost track. >> Please, I'm here. David Coffman >> here, >> Don Layman here, >> John Payne >> here, >> Brian Tommy >> here, >> Jessa McFarland >> here, >> Gretchen Thomas >> here, >> and Scott Croner >> here. >> Thank you. Now it's time for recognition of visitors and public input. >> Having none, we'll go to a motion for the amendments to the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from Trevor and a second from Brian. Any discussion or questions on those amendments? Hearing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose, same sign. >> That motion
002carries 6. I'll take a motion for the consent items to include the amendments we just approved. >> Make a motion >> to approve the consent items. >> Second. >> Motion from John and a second from Kurt. Any questions or discussion on those items? Was the uh red regimen in the addition or is it consent? >> The red regimen one is the additional action items that >> we have a question on that. So they're staying night the high school. >> Yes. >> Is that what that is for? >> Yep. Um we can discuss that now or be discussed when we take action on that. That's that's not a consent item. >> Oh, sorry. >> Sorry. I just saw the packet here. >> Yep. >> All right. Any other questions or discussion hearing? Hearing none. All in
003favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Same sign. That motion carries. 6. Action item A. Consider the approval of the sales/disposal of equipment. >> Um, we're back and get a copy of memo from AJ and Mr. Razor is here. Uh, they just have some additional equipment that they want to do some fundraising for. So just asking your approval before we go about selling some of those items and hopefully uh adding some additional funds to their uh their accounts. So I would recommend approval as presented. >> Motion to approve the sale and disposal of the token. >> I'll second motion from Trevor and a second from David. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. Same sign. That motion carries 6. >> And if any of you would
004like some of those items set aside because you want to buy them, AJ's right here. So, just let me know. >> Uh, actually B, consider the approval of the additional mentors at Wood Elementary as listed. >> And I would recommend approval as presented. Motion to approve the uh Yeah. mentors. >> Thank you. as listed. >> I'll second. >> Motion from Perk and a second from John. Any discussion or questions? >> Background checks. >> Uh they do background checks. >> How does this dated confidence come back? >> He uh you know had a sketchy past deserves you think everyone deserves a second chance. >> Car washer. >> Yeah, his work. It's questionable. Matt, that's the only thing that's a nice job washing his car. questionable circumstances proposal. >> No, exactly. >> I have an amendment to
005this. >> Uh hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Same sign. That motion carries 6. Act consider the approval of the mentors at Nap Elementary. >> And once again, we recommend present. >> Make a motion that we approve the mentors at Napony Elementary as listed. Second >> motion from David and a second from Brian. Any discussion or question hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> All post same sign. That motion car 6. And the final action item is consider the approval of the out of state and or overnight field trip request for the Northwood High School Middle School ski club and Northwood High School Red Regiment to BOA performance in Indianapolis. We would recommend as presented and happy to answer any questions you got. Motion >> motion to approve
006the outstate overnight trips. >> Second >> motion from Trevor and a second from John. Questions. >> So the band is then the night or night. Correct. >> Correct. I read this. It's great. >> So how many shop rooms are we going to have? uh they're going to have they're that's exactly so we had this conversation um Zach our new um band director they have a really early morning competition on that Saturday morning and so uh as opposed to driving down the night before and getting the hotel room spending extra funds and putting extra pressure on families um he came up with the idea just hey can we just sleep at the high school get up early the next morning and head down and I told them uh absolutely and I commend them for coming up
007with that creative uh type of solution um But you need to follow our policy on any of our state field trip. And so they do have the criteria in place for I think it's 16 shadow runs. No, no, no. It's nine plus six more adults. So I think 15 is what they have. Yeah. Sorry. There we go. 9:15. So they meet the uh 12 to1 ratio that's necessary. >> What time are they? >> Uh it is early. Yeah, it's like 5 a.m. No, no, it's not. >> No. So it like it's not required, right? Like if somebody lives in Napony and wants to sleep in their own house, they can and then just have to show up. >> You know, I can't answer that question. I don't know. >> That makes logical sense. >> Yeah.
008I mean, I guess it's like >> I I don't know what the band director is requiring on that. I just know that his suggestion was that they they would sleep there and that way everyone could get on the bus. or you're not worried about that one or two kids who doesn't get up and >> you're waiting on the bus and the bus has to wait and then >> if it is the board's desire I will make Mr. in case you're aware that you know if there are families I wish to stay at home and available. >> Okay. I would think if the parents would like to have their students stay at home instead of that that would be prov I don't think anybody has ever been regarded stay on an overnight field trip and so
009um I don't know why we would I just didn't ask that question but um if that's the board's desire I think that's a reasonable request and I can make sure that that's passed >> along uh band room uh they're going to be separated boys and girls will be separated there'll be appropriate supervision in the rooms with them >> how hallway. >> I did not get down specifically. >> The chaper will be in the hallways between the two rooms. >> There will be some chaplain actually in the rooms with them to make sure that no one else is but again they're going to be separated by um the appropriate locations. Boys and boys keep them in there without >> Yes. >> Yep. out there. >> All right. Any further discussion or questions or comments? >> Hearing
010none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All post same sign. That motion carries 6. I'm sure they'll accept additional chaper roles if anybody wants to also sleep at night. >> All right. Discussion items. Um, first item uh, discussed is a teacher appreciation grant. I know I've had some conversations individually with each of you. I know I sent some information to you guys. Um, state of Indiana previously had a teacher appreciation grant. If you recall the board policy that was required to be reapproved every single year in which we uh, dictated the amounts that were to be awarded. um high all teachers who received a high effective rating received a certain amount and then teachers that received an effective rating um received a lesser amount um by about 25% less than what the highly
011effective teachers would receive. But essentially all teachers who were highly effective or effective received an excitement and that usually ranged between $400 and $700 on an annual basis. Those were always awarded around Christmas time. During the last legislative session, the state of Indiana made changes. And so what we previously knew is the tag awards no longer is in play. And so as much as we would like to continue in that um um arena or in that that manner um that simply is just not an option and the state of Indiana will not allow us will not rece those funds and allow us to distribute them in the previous way. So, uh, this this past week, we were hoping we were going to get sooner, but it did arrive finally on September the 12th. Uh, we
012received guidance on how the new teacher appreciation grant, uh, will be distributed. And essentially, um, it is going to go to only 20% of our teachers. We cannot award it to more than 20%. Um, and so that had us initially with some reluctancy. The last thing we want to do is create uh turmoil amongst our staff um between those that receive it and those that do not. Um and we've had had the opportunity to um I guess discuss internally what's the best way to approach this. Um where we are landing and where I'm recommending the board is that we do move forward with receiving these funds. Um it is going to be a difficult time these next few years in education. um changes in laws with Senate Roll and uh property tax reform. Um also
013um additional funding because of uh current state of our economy right now, we're not going to be seeing huge gains. And so um as I'm advocating for um increased funds to be distributed to schools, I know exactly what every state legislator is going to first comment is going to be and that is did you guys receive and take the teacher appreciation grant funds? If we say no to that, I can guarantee you I know the conversation is going to end pretty quickly of, well, if you're not willing to take the funds we did issue to you, why are you here asking for more money? Um, so with that in mind, um, the good news is I just need to respond by October the 3rd, I believe it says on there, um, the job form. Um,
014that we as a district are going to take it on. So, I want to have some discussions with you before we would move one way or the other. Um but we don't need to come up with our plan by that point in time. Um we've already shared some discussion with a few teachers. Um my plan next week or next month would be to go into the buildings and have further conversations with teachers on kind of the why. Um I'm leaning in this direction or we would be leaning in this direction. Um and then Gretch and myself, Jessica, the principles, the teachers, uh start developing a plan to figure out how we would go about reporting this. Um we know um the way the law is written um I think we can develop a way that
015um maybe we take some of the sting out of it where it's like we're picking and choosing who the winners are and who you know doesn't receive the funding would be our goal would be as you see kind of the um the description you scroll down just a little bit the eligibility ility. Um the goal would be um without getting great great detail because we don't have it yet would be how can we utilize these funds to lift up um our teachers that always go above and beyond. What I mean by that is we've got teachers um textbook adoption. I'll do it. We've got teachers we need help mentoring another new teacher. I'll do it. We've got teachers who um are always staying after school to analyze student data and help the MTSS team, you
016know, develop intervention plans for kids. I'll be that teacher that does that. It's it's the same teachers over and over and over again. Often times, John, you're nodding your head. You know, they're they're kind of a victim of their own circumstance that they volunteer. So, what do they get? They get more work. And so what we're wondering is can we can we create a job description that lives up to exactly what the state of Indiana wants us to do um that would formalize those people that do that extra work constantly go above and beyond. So yes we'll receive the money yes we'll reward the teachers but what we're going to do is maybe finally start to reward those teachers that always go above and beyond. And there'll be some teachers that you know if it
017was the croners we can't right now. you know, we've got three kids that are in after school activities and and I'd love to receive that money, but I'm just not in that position right now where I can dedicate all this additional time outside of my normal work hours. And so, um, we may have, um, you know, I, so I I I think what we'll find is that we'll be able to trim this down to, um, really truly award those folks that always go above and beyond, but um, uh, to finally be able to to to reciprocate them for for their hard work. Truly, in my mind, appreciating them for doing more than what the normal job requires. So, that kind of gives you a glimpse. I don't have the fine fine details Gretch and I
018have been kind of working on. What does that job description look like? What does the you know the um what's that called? The tree, the chain of command. Um yeah, what would that look like? Um what does that process look like of going through and screening um the applicants? Um and I our hope would be in the next two or three weeks to have that plan more formalized so we can share that with you. That was a lot. I probably spoke for beyond my time. Facebook, but um thoughts, questions, suggestions, comments, complaints, insults, I'll take it all. I mean, I think as you read through all of the details, they're making it fairly clear on several of the items. So although there will be some disgruntled people, it lays out pretty clearly what you have
019to do to be awarded those different levels. So and even getting into the progress or the exemplary growth idea. Well, here it is teachers. Here's what one year's growth is on this measure. Did you go above and beyond that? So I think it's you're exactly right. We we need to take it it's going to be it'll be important how we communicate it and I think it'll be important how the building administrators also unpack and communicate that with their staff too. >> So what is your initial feedback? I've already told you how much I'm not going to go through but how what's your initial feedback on teachers? So, initial feedback, uh, this started back in May when we did monthly check-ins and we kind of updated on the legislative sessions. I mean, no one likes this.
020Um, and the initial response, the impulsive response was, don't take the money. It's not worth it. It's just going to cause problems. Um, but the more and more we kind of thought about that and now that we're into the negotiation process as well, it's like I mean, we're probably talking $80,000 here that we would hold and give the teachers. I I just struggled. I just really struggle saying we're not why would we say no to giving our teachers more money even if it's just a smaller pool. Um I just don't want to be as a district in a position where you know we had an opportunity to pay our teachers more but we chose not to because it's hard and it's hard having some of these conversations. Um, again, what we don't want people to
021believe, and this is going to take a lot of conversation, that just because you don't receive this, we value you any less. That that's not that's not what we're trying to do, regardless of the position the state put us in. What we're going to try to do is again lift up those that are always going above and beyond. And so, if you're a teacher in your life right now and you can't do these things, hey, we love you. We're we're proud of you. We're grateful for you. and we're going to compensate you as best we can with what we can. But if you're a teacher who is always, you know, taking on those additional responsibilities, um, thank you. And this is what the state of Indiana has given us. So we can we can say
022thank you to you on that one. >> And I get that part. So how many teachers do we have? What's 20%. >> It's 38. They've already ran the numbers for us. So it's 38 teachers. >> We have just under 400. >> 380 teachers. >> 180. >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. How many how many do we normally have highly effective or effective? >> Um, majority of our teachers are Yeah. I would say less than five teachers. >> So, the majority normally gotten that. >> Yes. >> The only ones that didn't receive it were brand new teachers who didn't teach the previous year or teacher that taught in a different district. Um, everyone else that returned from the previous year, um, unless it was one of the few that didn't receive an effective rating or better, would
023not receive the funding. And so, honestly, to me, that's That's a big piece is continually get out and speak with those teachers because that's around Christmas time and I don't want our people to um budget thinking that that $400 or $650 stipen is heading their way. Um so that's part of the reason why we need to make sure we're communicating this. >> So our past stipens have been in the $400 to $700 range since >> 400 to 650. I don't know if we've ever made it up to 700. I don't think so. So I I know I said that I misspoke, but I would say between 400 and 650 is traditional. So you can think I'm totally stupid for this. That's fine. So 150 teachers that don't even qualify. So what would happen with 10
024negotiations if 150 times $650? So $97,000 basically is what would have typically gone out to the mass. Um I don't know where we're at on negotiations and raises and all that. What if some of that was held back for the rest who don't qualify for this but yet still are effective or high are highly effective or effective. they could still qualify for a stipen that they're traditionally getting and do that for this year and see where this goes with all of that and something like this that would at least say thank you and a pat on the back and say yeah we appreciate you but >> sorry >> I don't know I'm just y >> something that would be able to at least show I mean again yeah you're you're taking it away but still
025give it to him so it's kind of a a give and take, but yet >> if you're you're not going to get a stipen because you're ineffective or approved needed or however that is on the scale, then you don't need as much of a raise to begin with. So, those that do still qualify for something just about >> Yeah. It's it's it's a I mean, traditionally when we get in the room with with the teachers um you know, they want to see as much money as possible on that base salary and so um I think that would be kind of a difficult I mean I'm sure they can understand they'd like to see more money. We'll settle on this and can you give us even more as well? >> We'd love to as well. >>
026Absolutely. >> I mean there's no doubt we'd love to. >> Yep. So, um I mean I I I can certainly we can have that discussion because you know again maybe people would feel more appreciated that way. Um but that's I can't say one way or the other. I just know my my past experience when we sit in negotiations is they want to see that going on salary and we all probably would. So it's it's there. >> Um I I guess I would say I definitely agree leave money on the table when you go to our teachers. So I do agree with that. I guess one question I know how long the previous setup that we had um how long was that in place because it just be interesting to see if the state is going
027to I know we never know but like it's just like man all the work to go into this you kind of wonder like how long this possibly be in place but do you know how long was it 2012 was that the first teacher appreciation grant >> it's it has evolved um don't quote me by 2012 2014 was the first year somewhere in that range um if you recall the first teacher appreciation grant did not go over well because they based the money that this that each school system received based upon student performance on the IEP exam at that point in time. And so we end up having were schools that were very affluent and um perform whose students performed very very well received large amounts of money and then yet schools that maybe served uh
028students with much greater needs and their performance was not as high received a much much smaller pocket of money. um that lasted about two years and then the state kind of realized this didn't really feel like appreciation for maybe some teachers that were working really really hard in some challenging areas and so they they standardized it and they said okay you know here's one pot of money you're going to get it per student um that was about 2016 and everyone distributed it the exact same amount whether it was highly effective or effective the state then said no no no no you need to differentiate we need to at least have a 25% differentiating factor and so around 2018 all schools adjusted their tech their teacher appreciation grant policy and that's where we're pretty much standing
029for about 2016 2018 moving forward >> this is in the budget for two years right >> correct >> but it they don't if every school opted in yes then there's not enough in the budget for >> that was the other thing that was interesting thanks for bringing that up so this is a two-year um budget and they'll they'll I'm sure modify it um years from now depending on how people do this or they just take the money back and say if you don't want it you know we'll use it other otherwise. Um but uh as Gretchen noted if you took all the teachers in the state of Indiana and calculated the lowest amount of siphon $3,500 and 20% of our teachers received that they didn't budget enough money. So I think what the state is
030counting on is there will be some school corporations that won't take the funding. Um, I just would not advocate that we be one of those schools. I think I think we can figure this out. I think we can figure this out. Um, just give us some time. And that's the good news. Again, as opposed to awarding it around Christmas time, this doesn't need to be awarded until I think May of of this year. And so, we've got some time to figure out how we want to go about this. >> So, if we had somebody like AJ and get 7500, he could split his, he give half it to somebody else. I'm divided out. >> We would never tell a teacher how they they use their money. >> Put me in a 10 different tax bracket.
031>> Any other questions? >> You guys are good. I mean, you're all thinking the right things. I mean, this is the same thing we've been thinking about for the last two weeks now since this rolled out. So, um, as you have additional thoughts, please, please let us know. Uh, next item is an enrollment update. So, I sent this to you guys over the weekend. Uh, some better news. We're uh we were actually down around 26 at the end of last Friday. Uh, we gained uh I think three students over the course of the week. So, now we're just down 23 from previous fall. Uh, but still up 13 from where we had projected. And so, if things hold tight, we'll actually see a little bit additional revenue from the correction period based upon what we
032sent to the state for for projection. So, uh, that's where we're at. Um I'll do one more presentation um in October after the official count date has been and then we'll we'll run the number of students to show you where students are going. So any questions on that? All right, last one is our financial update. >> Um in your retirement you have a financial update through August 31st. Um we'll just kind of go briefly into um each of the items really quick. Um first is education bigger. You'll notice here that in July and August the basic grant um in that we received is quite a bit more than what we had been receiving in June. Um that is if you remember from my budget presentation a portion now of what we're receiving each month is
033textbook reimbursement. And so about 36,500 of that 40 to $50,000 increase that we're seeing needs to go to textbook reimbursement. And so I'm I'm tracking that separately. So of our 7 of our 7.4 million um balance in education fund about 929,000 goes to textbook reimbursement. Um couple other things again along with that textbook reimbursement you'll see some additional expenses in this 6300 or 63,000 line which is textbooks and just at the beginning of the school year we needed to buy some consumables. Um also notice that it is a August was a prepay month um along with January. So, those two are comparable um as increased salaries and benefits. Um June was also another high salary month because that's where we paid out our retirees in June. Operate operating referendum. Um again, not a lot going
034on here um because this is a tax supported fund. So, you're not going to see a lot of revenue outside of June and December. Um, I do predict our last um tax settlement will be right around 449,000 um for the operating referendum. If everything holds true, if we if the expenses are about the same September through December um as last year, um we will see a decrease overall in our fund balance between about$1 and $150,000 decrease. Debt service, not a lot to talk about here. Payments will be due again in December. will receive a tax settlement in December. Um, operations fund. Um, not a lot of great news here. Um, this line here, the local income tax, if you remember in my Senate Bill One presentation, that amount will be going away um at the
035beginning of 2028. Um, so that is something that we need to start planning for now. Um, again, this is a tax supported fund, so we will be um like we saw here in June, we will see pretty big deposits um of property tax and miscellaneous um tax income. My my I think we're going to have about 3.78 million of property taxes. A couple other big ticket items. Um in July, uh we did some carpet replacement and the wood view or I'm sorry, the Walker gym floor. So you'll that there purchase of buses if everything if we our expenses are about the same as what they were September through last December and given the 3.78 million in property tax we will be seeing a decrease of about a million dollars in this fund portion of the
036one impact that um >> you guys have any questions about that >> before it impacts us >> so say that again >> so Good. Great. So, our expenses, as you can see, are more trending more than what our I'm sorry, our revenue is less than what our expenses are. So if everything continues the same um September through December, we will be down another million about 1.1 million before Senate Bill one passes and we'll start seeing those impacts next year. Which is again why as we budget for the next round of the bond issuance, you're seeing a ton of traditionally operational type expenses getting pushed into that bond because we've got to one of two things going to have to happen. You can expect that decrease for spending which we're not seeing. I mean fuel is
037getting more expensive, heating's getting more expensive, you know, all things that we do in operations is just not getting less expensive but less revenues coming in. And so we've got to figure out a way of increasing that. And one thing we we may need to do even though we've never done this and it's going to have an impact on teacher salaries is you do have the opportunity to transfer from the education fund to operations. We're one of the very few districts that have never done that. But it would appear it's starting to catch up with us right now if operation expenses have just grown and grown and grown. So we're trying to figure that out. We want to preserve that education fund as much as we possibly can. Um and that's why again you're seeing
038with the debt service this next bond issuance is about 3.5 million. It's going to go to purchasing buses rather than coming out of operation. It's going to go to replacing carpet rather than that coming out of operations. So other questions on that were like a year ago can't remember this like was that the trend last year of a similar drop of about a million and then >> the second question would be what about what would be the goal if we're going to not have to take as much from operations to build that back up or to maintain where we're at currently? The goal would be, I would say, to spend exactly what we're bringing in and not continue to eat into our cash balance would be >> the goal. Just to maintain, >> we're going
039to have to get creative with how we're we're spending on things right now. Um, I don't think there's a whole lot of fat in our operations budget. You know, we transport kids pretty efficiently. Um we run three we don't get kids all at the same time. I mean that's why we can run multiple shuttle routes. It allows us to reduce the number of school buses that we have to purchase and maintain. Um we do our energy efficiency checks. We um I know John and Ryan um try to be as frugal as possible with our spending. Um but you know things are just not getting any less expensive right now. And so, um, that's where we're challenging some folks to think a little bit different than what we have in the past and how can we
040continue to try to push that that need to be even more efficient with our with our resources. >> So, the last few years we've had construction projects and we've added a lot to the >> transportation and baseball is really it connector building. Um but nothing that we did in the football field or the track would increase a lot of the operational expenses. Um we added a little bit of square footage. We added some square footage at Walker which is necessary due to the growing size. Um but transportation that's not here. I mean we can show we've actually saved money in operation as a result of that building right now. Um because we're maintaining our own um buses now as opposed to having them serviced somewhere else. And so we're seeing savings there. Um that's that's
041not really causing additional expenses. Um we had to add a staff member in order to take care of the field drains, but >> that's not a million dollars. That that that comes out operations. Yep. Comes out operations, but that's that's not a million dollars. That's, you know, and and protecting the investment that we we spend our money on. So >> um it's not because our footprint is just getting so large and we didn't budget that appropriately. It's just I mean cleaning expenses, cleaning materials are are much more expensive now >> which we do. I mean going into construction projects and hey the more you have more you're going to maintain >> which we are. >> So we budgeted for that >> some of the you know you had mentioned earlier David you know has that
042trend been occurring? It has been. Um it really started about two years ago three years ago but we budgeted some operations because we had like a very healthy cash balance in operations at that time. was close to 90%. And so we spent some of that down, putting it into the transportation facility, knowing that that would eventually be uh some savings. We waited a couple years and took out um some operations funds to replace windows at Woodview and at Walker Roof Set. And so we there were a couple big expenses that we knew was going to draw that cash balance down, but they were onetime expenses. Uh what we're finding now is that just normal day-to-day operational type expenses are really catching up with us. And so again, that's why our strategy has been what can
043we pay for out of our debt service fund and preserve as much of that operations budget as possible. And again, I think we have close about 3.5 million this upcoming year. That's normally would have been mostly operations expenses. Other questions on that? Okay. Um moving on to the lunch fund. Um not a great um overall balance about $315,000 here. We did take an increase in our um lunch prices this year. Um you will see that there um remember that there is a delay in receiving our reimbursements um our federal reimbursement. So we will start seeing those come in in September. Um obviously we've got some increased um in our food line because we started school. Um, good news is our health insurance fund. We're at 3.9 million and doing well. >> Any questions? >> Which
044will result again since we are self-funded on insurance. Um, we will see a minor increase, not significant. Um, still looking at probably about 2%. um which >> if you look around what's right now >> and so again as we're as we're having conversations with our teachers that that's a huge um >> rather than seeing a 20% increase like I'm hearing from some of our colleagues right now and I'm sure some of you guys are working in the private sector probably looking at that as well. Um, that's going to be good news for our teachers when we sit down and and finalize the the contract. Any other questions? Okay, that's all we have to present this evening. >> All right, there being no further business to come to the attention of the board, a motion to
045adjourn is in order. >> Second motion to second. All in favor say I. I want to text a few more questions. I know we're going to go