001[Music] All right, it's 6 o'clock. This is the Wash City School Board of Trustees meeting. It's Monday, April 7th, 2025. Please rise. Oh, roll call. Everyone is present. Okay, having a quorum, um, I'll call the meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Welcome. Wash city schools provides the relevant and rigorous education founded upon relationships to ensure each student is college and career ready for success in a global community. Welcome again. Um, we have some recognitions tonight. We have the OJ Neighbors Kathy Swan Awards. Hello. Thank you for joining us tonight. Um, tonight we have the honor of presenting a Kathy Swan award
002to um, a student in each of our grade levels. Uh Kathy Swan was a teacher who um worked at the high school for many years and um she lost her life in a plane crash with um some other people from our community. and we wanted to honor her legacy um by recognizing a student in each grade level who um shows a different kind of strength and a different set of skills. um one student that has been presented with challenges that they've overcome and in that journey they have maintained um a strong sense of morality and integrity and moving forward and continuing to be the best that they can be. So tonight we get to share uh those students with you and we will start with the first grade student Grayson Butcher and Mrs. Cornet is
003going to be here to present the award to him. Please make sure that you can be seen that the child can be seen on the camera over here. Have him over here. Stand in front of Mr. Stand. That's great. Walk him out. Hi, my name is Caitlyn Cornet. I'm a first and second grade teacher in our dual language immersion program and this is my student Grayson Butcher. Grayson Butcher has worked really hard this year. This is his first year being in our Spanish dual language immersion program. We have seen such a positive attitude in him each and every day. He is the student in class who is friends with everyone. He's a great example for other students in our class and his tenacity and attitude is something that I feel like needs to be acknowledged.
004I am so so proud of you and I'm so glad that you ended up getting to be in my class this year. You are such a wonderful little boy and you are so sweet and so kind and I feel so lucky. [Music] [Applause] Our second grade uh recipient is Mr. Jace Reed. Mrs. Alicia is going to come up and say a few words about you. Hi, I'm Mrs. Galott. I'm a second grade teacher. I'm really excited to talk about someone very special today. Jace. This year, Jace has shown so much persistence and resilience, and I'm incredibly proud of him. At the beginning of the year, Jace was in the rise room. Jace came in my class for part of the day. But after a while, we realized that he needed to spend more time in
005the rise room to work on some skills before he could come back full time. Even though that wasn't the plan we all wanted, Jayce didn't give up. He worked really hard, learned new strategies, and kept practicing. After Christmas break, something amazing happened. Jace decided he was ready to try again. He worked hard and before we knew it, he was ready to be back in class more and more. But the real turning point came when Jayce said something that really shocked us all. He looked at Mr. Clancy and said, "I don't need you anymore." And just like that, Jace was back in my class full time. No hesitation. He made the decision and we were all so impressed. Jace, I want you to know how proud I am of you. Every single day, you show up
006with a smile asking, "Did you miss me last night?" And I can honestly say I always miss you when you're not here. You've shown everyone what it means to keep going even when things are tough. Your determination is inspiring and I can't wait to see what you'll accomplish next. Congratulations, Jace. You deserve it. [Applause] Our third grade recipient, Parker. This is Stacy Fry is going to present the award. All right, good evening everybody. It is my honor and pleasure to introduce you to Parker Chesca. Um he is um first of all just an amazing student. Um, despite facing personal challenges, he has never given up. Instead, he works hard, stays determined, and embraces every opportunity to learn and grow. But what makes Parker truly amazing is his exceptional creativity and artistic talent. He's able to
007create the most amazing comics here and here and easily connect what we're learning in class with his artwork. Um, he recently was able to make a new character for his comics, Mr. Tomato Cook, because we were learning about tomatoes. Mr. Cook is our vice principal and he's a big fan of the comics. So, he got to be featured as our tomato cook. Your ability to express ideas through your art and creativity is a gift that inspires all of us. We are so proud of you, Parker, and we can't wait to see what you do in the future. Good job. And our fourth grade recipient is going to present. Okay. I am Mrs. Kpatrick and I am DJ's fourth grade teacher. When it came time for fourth grade to choose this year's Kathy Swan recipient, we
008did not hesit hesitate. Mr. DJ Herodan immediately came to mind. And today, I stand here with excitement, ready to tell you all about his this incredible student. At the beginning of the school year, DJ joined our class through the day, arriving around 10:30 and staying through dismissal. From the moment he walked in, he jumped right into our reading lessons and classroom routines like he had been there since the 8:00 bell. Though he was quiet and reserved at first, so there was one area where he always found his voice when it came to anything that involved writing. That was something he usually prefer preferred to avoid. As the weeks went by, DJ began to open up more and more. He became an active participant in class discussions and he eagerly tackled any challenge put in front
009of him so long as it didn't involve writing. But then something remarkable happened. One day, without encouragement, DJ simply started answering written response questions. No reminder, no pep talks, just quiet determination. He decided on his own that he was ready and he did it. That kind of self motivation and growth is something truly special. Before we knew it, DJ was back in class full time, fully engaged and thring from the moment he stepped foot in classroom. Each day he walks into school ready to learn and grow. He's enthusiastic about everything from group discussions to board games, card games, worksheets, and even taking the role of the teacher from time to time. His love love for learning is infectious and his perseverance is inspiring. What makes DJ progress DJ's progress even more impressive is that none
010of his none of this came easily. The confidence he shows now, the willingness to participate, to write, and to lead. It's the result of a real effort and determination. He's had to work through challenges that many students never face. And he's done it with great strength and a heart full of perseverance. Every step forward has been earned and every success is a reflection of just how far he's come. We're so proud of the student, the person he's become, and there's no doubt he is more than deserving of the Cathy SW. [Applause] We're going to take a picture of the board with the winners over here. [Music] Okay. Stand behind you. Stand in front of us. All right, guys. [Music] Good smile. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you so much for the teachers who
011put in the time to select the students and then to come present them. Um, you're welcome to stay or you're welcome to go. It's up to you. [Music] car. You look so Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to comment on an agenda item? [Music] Item eight, consent agenda. We've got minutes from March 3rd, 2025. Some items of claims. There's no donations tonight and no financials. I'll accept a motion to accept the consent agenda. So move second. All those in favor of accepting the consent consent agenda say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. The next regular schedule board meeting will be Monday, April 7th, 2025 at LH Carpenter Early Learning Center at 6:00. There's some items of communication. That's the wrong date. Is it the wrong date? Yeah, it's April 21st. April 21st. Good
012catch. Today is the 7th. Today is the 7th, April 21st. Um, items of communication, old business. Item A, the board the board will conduct its second reading on updated 6010 purchasing policy. Um, recommend the board then adopt this policy. I read it the first time. Is there anyone that really wants to hear it again? Uh, no. Okay. So, I'm going to skip reading it again. I'll accept a motion or discussion. No, I can just share that this is an update to our current purchasing policy. Um the previous policy did not set limits. We are following a sample policy that includes limits provided by the Indiana ISBA state attorney. Um and as this is our second reading, I recommend that the board approve the revised policy. Okay. Um I probably need a motion and a second
013first before we can vote on it. So yeah, I'll accept a motion. So second. All those in favor of approving the updated purchasing policy say I. I. Those opposed. The policy passes. New business. We have the high school student council update. Okay. It doesn't library doesn't come up. While we're waiting to get started, I'm Trevor Herren. I'm the student body president. I'm Karen Wilcox. I'm the student body vice president. I'm Abigail and I'm the senior class president. Director So, what are we doing on student council? Uh, we have just finished our sports spectacular. I'm happy to say that the seniors did take the win. I do have a picture there. I love this picture of Happy Abby Hipkin and as well as Greta France. I'm very excitedly happy that we won this year. uh which
014does mean the seniors get to receive for the first time the official trophy. Um this is a new thing that we're starting. Um this trophy will be passed on each year to each winner um as we go on forward. Um I'm happy to say we had 149 attendees which is very good. This is kind of our base number we're going to kind of stick with the next couple years kind of understanding this is what we can have and kind of knowing for future years do are we doing better? Are we doing worse for our attendees? We're trying to redo and try to get our sports attack to be something that more people in our community want to come to. Um we are finishing up our cans for a cause. This project is going to continue
015until May 6th at which time we will begin to kind of break down our our bins and we will sell all we will take all the money that we have and we will then donate it to a cause um that is yet to be determined. Um if there is anyone who has any cans, you are welcome to go to our website by going to the Wish High School website, going to the students tab, and scrolling down to the very bottom. you can go to uh the cancer cause link there and then you can either fill out a a donations inquiry or you can reach out to myself um either via email or just reach out to the school. Let me know if you have some donations for me. We'll be glad to take those off
016your hand. Uh our final meeting of the year so the 20242 student council is actually tomorrow. Um so we will be finishing up our things. Um we will have applications available for the 2025 2026 student council uh beginning sometime this week. Um, and they will be due on April 17th at 8 PM. So, I actually am receiving my five years at the Honeywell. Um, so I am actually gonna dip. I leave in the hands of my Belstone Council members to do the rest of the presentation for you. Thank you. Um, so for athletics, we've got boys track and field. The 4x800 relay actually won the indoor state title this past week. Um, the team finished fourth. The next their next meet is tomorrow, April 8th at home as well as the girls. Baseball has a
017game this Wednesday, April 9th at home and softball has a double header this Saturday, April 12th at Fremont High School. So, some of our clubs and organizations, so the theater program, which has been brought back, they are performing Greece and it'll be on April 25th and 26th at 7 p.m. And I don't know about everyone else, but I'm kind of excited to see that. And then we have SAD who just had their annual blood drive or by annual on the 25th and they collected 27 units of blood from all with all of their donors. And then we have the prom committee in prom is 33 days away and proming king and queen voting begins today and they have been having donut fundraisers in the connector every morning. So this year our club Victorian will be
018Kim McQuart and our solutionary will be Emma Weaver. And we we have top 20 lunchon for for the seniors and on April 10th which is Thursday this week at Honeywood Center. And we have book fair on April 14th through 18th. And we will have our midterm of this quarter on May 18th and our graduation day will be on May 30th. There's approximately 33 days left of school. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Item B, under new business, we are to approve the FMLA leave for employee number 3089 starting 32425 through the end of the 2425 school year. So moved. Second. Discussion. Um I recommend that the board approve this FMLA leave request. All those in favor of approving the request say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Item C, approve Lori Gunderman to be the long-term
019substitute for the remainder of the 2425 school year for employee number uh 3089 FMLA leave. So move second discussion. U Mrs. Gunderman is willing to fill in as a long-term sub for the remainder of the year. As a substitute teacher that has a valid teaching license, she will be paid sub pay for the first 15 consecutive days. After that, she bumps up to the daily rate for a beginning teacher um for the remainder of the year as long as she doesn't have any breaks in employment. Those in favor of approving the substitute say I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Item D. Board to approve the Monasuri school at WPC to use a WCS school bus and driver for a field trip to Science Central on May 8th, 2025. The Monasuri school will cover the cost
020of fuel and driver wages. So move second discussion. Uh the Monasuri school has requested the use of one of our buses and a driver. Um earlier in the year we did something similar for St. Peas. Um we are able to fulfill that request. They will leave after our morning routes and return in time for the driver to run their afternoon routes. They paid for the fuel cost and the driver wages. Um we're happy to collaborate with this local school and give their students the opportunity to go on this field trip. All those in favor of approving the trip say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. E board to approve to offer driver's education for the summer of 2025 at a cost of $400 per enro. Students may also opt for the online classroom portion only
021for $40 or the driving only portion for $360. So moved second discussion. So we again would like to offer drivers training this summer. Our rates for the year have remained the same as they were for 2024. The costs that we incur in incur including fuel um car rental and then our teachers um is covered by the fees paid by the students. Do we pull from other school districts? Uh I believe we do. Yes. Okay. Are they the same? We we we offer it to ours first. Um, and if we have any openings, then we will. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Item F, approve Sierra Phillips for a maternity leave position at Wash City Schools scheduled to begin April 14th, 2025 at $85 per day. Note that the date
022may move up or back due to the nature of the leave. So moved. Second discussion. U, Mrs. Phillips is willing to fill in as our long-term sub um for the remainder of the year. She's currently our permanent sub at the middle school and high school or did she get moved into a parent position? Uh permanent sub. Okay. Um so we are moving her out of that position mainly just to ensure consistency in that classroom. So we have the same person for the rest of the year. Questions from the board? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. The motion passes. G. Four to approve Kristen Petruno as a volunteer guidance counselor at WMSWHS for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year. So moved. Second discussion. Um the board has already approved Mrs. Petrinu
023as the guidance counselor for next year. We're requesting that she be approved as a volunteer in the guidance department for the remainder of the year to allow her to begin tackling the learning curve of her new role. All those in favor say I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Item H. Board will discuss applications submitted for open board seat and then appoint a new member. So moved. Second. Discussion. So we had one application submitted for open board seat and that was Mrs. Connie Gorman. Mrs. uh Gorman is a retired WCS teacher and we're thankful that she's willing to serve in this position for the remainder of this calendar year. Questions or comments from the board or Mrs. Borman? I reviewed her application. I felt like it was a solid application. She's got insights understanding of our school
024district. I feel like she's a good fit from my perspective. She was an excellent teacher. She'll make an excellent board member. Absolutely. My daughter had her perfect teacher according to my daughter. Yes. So I will make a recommendation to approve Connie Gorman. I'll take a second. Second. I'll third. All those in favor of appointing Connie Gorman to the open board seat say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Welcome Connie. Welcome Connie. Item I, board to accept the retirement of George Steve Howard effective March 18, 2025. So moved. Second discussion. U. Mr. Howard has submitted his retirement as a bus driver. We want to thank Mr. Howard for his many years of service to WCS as both a bus driver and a custodian. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Item
025J, approve the following resignation from EMT Middle School softball, Madison French and Jordan Ren. So move second discussion. Uh these young ladies had a family issue come up and both needed to resign. So you can see the next item we have some people replace them. So just thank them. All those in favor of accepting the resignation say I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Item K, approve the following spring coaches. Middle school head softball Jennifer Wagner. Middle school assistant softball Charity France. Girls tennis volunteer Kristen Ford. So moved. Second. Discussion. Um Jennifer was our head volleyball coach 23 years ago. So sometimes you come back around. Charity helped with the high school softball last year, so she's been part of the program. And Kristen was our varsity head coach last year in girls tennis, but she doesn't
026have that ability this year. So she's just gonna volunteer and help. So, all three with experience. All those in favor of approving the coaches say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Item L, approve hiring the following certified staff. One, Hannah Wrigle as second grade teacher at OJ Neighbors effective 48 2025. Two, Caitlyn Cornet as second grade at summer I read teacher beginning May 27th, 2025 and ending June 19th, 2025 at $35 per hour. and three, Stacy Fry as third grade summer I read teacher beginning May 27th, 2025 and ending June 19th, 2025 at $35 per hour. So moved. Second discussion. Um, Miss Wgle has been filling in as a long-term sub in uh our second grade classroom since January. She has enrolled in a transition to teaching program and has obtained an emergency permit. So
027we're pleased to hire her permanently for this position. Mrs. Cornet and Mrs. Fry will serve as our summer school I read teachers. They will be paid uh three and a half hours per day. We will again only do summer school Monday through Thursday each week. Um this year we are required to provide summer school for second grade students that scored in the atrisisk category of iid. Um second grade students that are required to attend summer school must attend at least 90% of the sessions. If they do not, parents will be required to meet with school staff to develop an individual reading plan for the 2526 school year. We also are required to provide summer school for any third grade student that did not pass. Students have been identified for summer school are required to attend.
028Both our second and third grade students that attend summer school will have an opportunity to retest. third grade students can take um retest at before the end of the school year. So the exact numbers that we will have um may fluctuate if we have some students that are going through remediation now and they would pass before the end of the school year. Um and we just want to remind that if a student is in third grade and they do not pass I read by the end of summer school um they have to be retained in third grade next year. This is a law that we are required to follow and every public charter and state accreditated uh private school must follow it as well. When they are retained, will they have the same teacher as
029they had? Um or is that up to the teacher and the parents? That's probably something that we would discuss. Okay. How are these um stipens or uh I guess this summer I teacher salaries paid? We do budget. um for summer school and so we have it in our budget to pay it and then once summer school is completed usually by um August September we have to do a final report and then based on all the summer school that was offered throughout the state we will get reimbursed for some of it um my hope is that because they are making I read man uh I read remediation mandatory at second and third grade that that will be reimbursed at 100% Um but we'll see how long will center school run. Um it is for 15 days.
030It's uh four weeks. The first week is only three because of uh Memorial Day and then three weeks of four days. Okay. All those in favor of approving um the hiring say I. I. Those opposed I abstain. Motion passes. Thank you to the teachers for being willing to give up a little of your summer for that. Item M, approve the following classified staff. One, Jessica Baker at OJ Neighbors Cafeteria, effective 47205 pending a background check. Two, Brandy Brewbaker at WMS cafeteria, effective 4725, pending a background check. Three, Adrienne Pelffrey as summer I read pair professional beginning May 27th, 2025 and ending June 19th, 2025 at $11 per hour. And for JC Wolf, a summer I read par professional beginning May 27th, 2025 and ending June 19th, 2025 at $11 per hour. So moved. Second. Discussion.
031Uh first we want to welcome Miss Baker and Mrs. Brew Baker to our cafeteria staff. Um, Miss Pelfrey and Miss Wolf will serve as summer paras. Miss Pelfrey will go will work with both the second and third grade. Um, and then Miss Wolf will work with our middle school program and each of those get paid three hour per three hours per day um for that position. Questions from the board? All those in favor of approving say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Thank you to the Paris as well. Items from administrator, items from superintendent. Um, first I want to start by saying that I hope our students and staff came back refreshed from spring break from now until the end of the year. It feels like an allout sprint for everyone. Um, with this time
032of year come state testing, the iLearn window actually opens next Monday. I know I uh OJ is starting next Monday or next week. I think the middle school is going to wait. Um but they will get information out to their families so they know when testing is occurring. Uh congratulations to our OJ Kathy Swan award recipients and our spring sports are underway. I want to wish all our spring coaches and athletes good luck and I sure hope that the weather starts feeling more like spring for all of our teams. Amen. item from COO. Well, last week while uh people were either off or out or gone or not here, uh we had some excitement. So, I want to thank uh Chad Nickham. I want to thank Aaron Heiden and Justin Bale from remotely working. Uh
033we had to get some things put back together with some power and some internet. Uh and those guys did a good job. But most importantly, while no one was paying attention, two of our four boilers were already demoed out of the building and gone. Um, and so those guys took advantage of spring break and uh so two of our four boilers are already cut up and out the door. So um so there's a nice uh update on the project. Yeah. Items from administrators. Super excited to attend the top 20 lunchon on a Thursday. That'll be our top 20 um students of the senior class. They represent our very best and brightest and it be a good day of honoring them. Just a reminder, we've already had kindergarten kindergarten roundup and preschool roundup, but you can
034still um do your pre-enrollment for those two. And vouchers opened April 1st. So those are our on my way pre-K vouchers for four-year-olds. Um so you can at least get take advantage of those for four year olds. So do the student or do the parents just call or stop in to LH car? call us and we'll walk them through. Okay. Okay. Other items from visitors. Welcome back, Brian. Trying to get back in the routine. Other items for board members? Jo, um there's a book fair next week. Yes. At the library at high school. They're looking to raise some money to buy some books. So, great time to buy, you know, those older kids some books for their Easter baskets. I just want to say congratulations to the Cathy Swan winner award winners. Did I cut
035you off? No, that's fine. I was trying to say you didn't. I just want to say congratulations to the Cathy Swan award winners. Um, it's always great to see and I love this age. They're so excited to to get that award and it's it's infectious. So, I congratulations to them. Okay, Jason. Uh yeah, Captain won awards. Uh this I'm gonna miss next time. So this is my last one of the year. Love seeing these kids just line up when they get the award. And some of them surprised, maybe not on the others, but that's really cool to see. Um just these chairs are awesome. Just coming in feel like I'm not I'm sitting at an adult level. I'm not not like I have to squat all the way down to the ground. That's awesome. So
036these testament to what a a book thon or whatever you called these what you call it fair book fair a book fair could do Payton did that uh raised some read uh seating for reading is what I called it so I think that's really cool these are awesome so uh other than that congratulations to your first uh Mr. Cook's first week as a assistant principal enjoy this from welcome back and Mrs. Warnock as well. We're very very grateful for what you guys do. Okay. I wanted to congratulate the Kathy Swan award winners. Um congratulate the boys 4x800 relay indoor track team on their state title. It would be neat to recognize them at a board meeting. And then I have a message from John Gascoll at the Wash Carne Carnegie Public Library. If you have
037not been in to meet our new director, he's wonderful. you should go in and introduce yourself. But the message is right now the library is going through a um what's the word I'm looking for? Strategic plan. Thank you. And um so they are they have a survey on their website that you can go and take. Just um we want to find out the direction I'm on that board. You want to find we want to find out the direction um that you would like to see the library take. and they will there will be listening sessions on Wednesday, April 23rd at 5:30 p.m. and Friday, April 25th at 10:00 a.m. Um, and again, the survey is on the library website. So, the more people that take that survey, the better. That's all I have with that.
038We'll adjourn. Thank you. elementary school kids down here.