001welcome this is the W City school meeting for Monday March 3rd 2025 call everyone is pres having AUM call the meeting to order please rise for the pledge of IED to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all W City school provides a relevant rigorous education matter of all relationships to ensure each student is college and free ready for success in a Glo Global Community welcome to everybody tonight's recognitions we have we're going to recognize and thank Mr Bill chiten for his accomplishment as the 2024 Rising Star Award re recipient in the association of Indiana teachers of Japanese AI TJ this prestigious award recognizes exceptional Educators was LE with less than five years of experience who
002have demonstrated outstanding dedication and potential in the field of Japanese language education I'm not sure if he's here or not no but B girls basketball well it looks like we only have four of them here but we're to make them come up here and embarrass them so come here I I know one of them's up running the clock for the sixth grade girls game um Dr cly uh asked me to have the girls come in and we were going to do it last meeting but of course we got had some weather uh we won our third straight County attorney this year um and won the conference for the only the sixth time in school history um first time in 13 years so we had a very good season we went 18 and five um I'll
003let these four introduce themselves to you just tell them who you are what great is um I'm Bry B and I'm a junior I'm Sammy wilter and I'm a senior a brook ofi I'm Jan stumbo I'm a senior uh and that kind of represents where we were as a whole because out of our 10 girls eight were seniors so uh very senior Laden Group had a great year uh we went 18-5 went 8-1 in the conference to win the conference Championship um disappointing lost in the sectional but that happens uh but probably the thing everyone remembers is like I said for the third year in a row we won the County Attorney always nice to have a three Pat so the HSA has these pins it's called champions of high school sports and uh we'll
004get them to the rest of the girls too but uh so we got pins for the girls and we just want to congratulate him on a great year yeah you're good the W High School Kathy Swan Awards okay uh it's that time of year we know that it's getting close to Spring when we start the Kathy Swan Awards uh Kathy Swan was a teacher for Wabash City schools for a long time and she passed away tragically in a plane crash when I was a teacher so it's been about 18 or or 19 years ago um and since then every year we've honored students who exemplify the type of students that Kathy loved working with and these are students that work really really hard they embody the Apache way they overcome adversity U always have a
005great attitude and and really are driven to succeed so it's a pretty special award because we only do one of these per grade level um each year so we have one senior one Junior one sophomore and one freshman really special time because a lot of these students they they do this kind of work and often don't get the recognition that they deserve and and secretly these are the kids that we all love these are all our favorite kids as teachers so this is a special night that we're able to to recognize them we're GNA start with the Freshman so we have Dr Ballinger is going to present first stand right here well it's an honor for me to be here and present um I can't see and hear or hardly walk anymore but I'll do
006my best um but I uh nominated uh gunar Kestler and I'll tell you a little bit about him he just read some of the criteria and it just kind of resonated with me and his brother is the class uh in geometry class and one of the things that first got my attention about Gunner was he and his brother were talking on the phone one day because I just was being Hy and I called one of them because they weren't school and they hung up and they said I love you I was like dude I would never ever say that to my brother even yet today I probably wouldn't say that to my brother but I was just like man these guys are really comfortable in their own skin both of them but then I I
007just observed and I'm kind of a quiet guy I just kind of observed things and I I noticed Gunner uh people who would wouldn't have a pencil he would grab something out of his backpack and hand it to them if they didn't have a charger he'd grab backpack and handed to him now granted Gunner like me and like any high school boy typically has organizational issues so his backpack is stuff full including geometry papers I don't know his names even on them but he will find it one way or another and it's just kind of funny I I told one day I said you know you have the curse the Balinger curse of organization and it kind of happens to boys and then they get better as they meet girls and they fix us somehow
008at least that's what my wife did to me uh but he's just he's one of those kids that comes in every day he's very consistent he's a good worker he's apologetic if he feels like he's done something that he he shouldn't have done or maybe he was too loud doing something uh but he's a very good Problem Solver he's a very good thinker uh the fact that he sits right next to his brother and they don't fight on a daily basis is really amazing to me uh perhaps he reminds me of me I don't know I I was a good student but I wasn't the best student I was a strong athlete but not the strongest I was a tall athlete but not the tallest if in a word I was probably Mr average and
009I think if if I had to say something about Gunner he's he's above average in the average category if that makes any sense uh so for example for me and some of you may remember this some of you may not remember the name Steve Alford does that ring a bell to anybody he graduated the same year as me you probably don't remember my name though do you James Blackman from Maran he used to dunk on us over there at Missin wall I was the team captain of the basketball team but I sat the bench now that's not embarrassing but it's just one of those average things that happens uh and then Steve alord he probably scored more in one game than I scored in my whole four years of High School uh but I've always
010saw said that uh he was Mr basketball and he stole the opportunity from me and James Blackman and then James Blackman was second I was third we were one and 19 that year we won one and 19 could have had a perfect season had I not got in and made a basket one time probably but uh I just want to to encourage gunar I really appreciate him I have no idea about your politics or anything I don't have idea about your spiritual upbringing but I just want to read two things from James 1 2-4 it says dear brothers and sisters when Troubles of any kind come your way consider it opportunity for great joy for you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow for when your endurance is
011fully developed you will be perfect and complete needing nothing um this is from a religionist Christianity from Eric matx and he quotes Romans 8:28 and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to its purpose now gner I don't know if you'll remember this day again I don't know but I do know that God will use that in your life somehow uh to develop you and I just really appreciate You' been in my class I appreciate all of your kindness and uh just and and it's been an honor working with you and your brother he caught a deer earlier in the year or he shot a deer earlier in the year and he come in he was proud and the next day the
012brother's gone I'm like where's your brother well he's a he wants to catch a deer like that I'm like that's awesome so I would have never done anything like that in high school so thank you for being comfortable in your skin and sharing that with at least me here at school [Applause] so thank you congratulations okay next we have the sophomores and actually Mrs Hudson was supposed to be able to present this but she's the Middle School swimming coach and they have a meet tonight so I'm covering for her tonight so um I have the honor ofe presenting faithin Bru I recommend this imagine that this is um this is Mrs Hudson I'm not going to do a voice or anything but I recommend well deserving students every year for the Kathy Swan award who
013have overcome struggles to be successful in school and life in general this year I nominated faithin who exemplifies the qualities that honor Kathy Swan more so than do more so than any other student I have had the honor of teaching due to an ongoing medical condition faith has been hospitalized several times this year requiring her to miss weeks at a time once she is able Faith quickly made made up any missing assignments and caught up quickly faith never made excuses for late work or asked for special privileges and by the time she made it back to class most of the work was already submitted while she was recovering at home in class Faith was always engaged in a lesson quickly raising her hands to answer questions and completing assignments promtly she never used medical issues
014as an excuse to avoid work or extend a deadline unfortunately face medical condition caused her to miss too much class time and she moved to online classes and especially unfortunately for me because I miss faith in class fortunately though uh faith has proven that she is self- motivated and successful when not in the classroom and can overcome the adversity presented by your situation I hope other students at w bash High School follow the example set by faith and work as hard as she does to overcome whatever challenges they face they face with a positivity and determination shown by this amazing person and we look forward to seeing her in the fall in person [Applause] congratulations um next we have this hly right no good this is Smith one of the things I love about W
015bash is how we we have the same group of students and advisory all four years of their High School career the students walk into my room as strangers to me freshman year but then quickly steal my heart and become mine as the days to our days together turn into years sometimes I even get the pleasure of having a few of these same students for English as well when they become upper classman this year Logan Osborne and one of his best friends Shawn Murray became two of the lucky ones to have me for both advisory and English and I say lucky because they have me for two periods in a row if you're a junior in English and have me an advisory and I don't even like myself two periods in a row so um just
016like they'd always done in advisory Lon and Sean would immediately partner up in English class and work together to get things done then help their classmates if they were struggling on something in December We Lost Sea in a car accident Logan was one of the students I worried about most as soon as I heard the news because they'd always been Inseparable I know Logan is deeply grieving right now yet he still perseveres and doesn't give up even on his hardest days he still offers to help his classmates when they need it and even helps me when technology decides to act up and I can't figure it out I'm so proud of Logan's perseverance determination and willing to willingness to help others while grieving himself he doesn't know this but there are days where he even
017inspires me to keep pushing forward through the grief process and because of this I feel that Logan Osborne is a very deserving recipient of the Kathy Swan award [Applause] I've had the opportunity to work with Ash Burns for four years now as her school counselor when thinking of a Kathy Swan recipient having been a former recipient myself I think of students who have overcome obstacles showing up each day even if it's hard to do just that and continuing to be a positive light to those you are around ask your has had quiet the senior year one many of us may not fully understand in December ashd suffered losing one of her closest friends a member of her Apache family unexpectedly knowing the difficulty of coming to school and facing final exam week she continued to
018persevere through the week I admire her strength to work through a difficult thing at such a young age and continuing to show up to school not only that she continued to show up for the Litt LH Carpenter throughout the week in our early childhood education program I am proud of her for working through the tragic lost and pushing herself to get through the week this is why we chose Ash Burns as our 12th grade Kathy Swan recipient [Applause] congratulations oh uh the board take a picture with all the award winners right see [Music] everybody con [Applause] the award winners and their families you're welcome to say or you're welcome to go thank you for coming item G on the agenda are revisions we are going to approve revision four G through H so mov all
019those in favor of appr the revision say I I opposed motion passes is there anyone in the audience that wishes to comment on an agenda item consent agenda we have minutes from February 17 2025 uh claims no donations and no financials time motion second all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I I those opposed agenda passes the next regular scheduled board meeting will be Monday March 17 at Wabash Middle School right here here again C at 6 o' there's some items of communication there is no old business new new business oh sorry the high school student council update if you guys need to be able to see this you can always stand off to the site here the side that way you can still be seen on the camera much better detect
020we so my name is uh Trevor heren I am the student body president for w High School K I'm stud body Vice so what are we doing on student council right now we are working on our Sports spectacular um I've mentioned it a couple times at the board meeting but Sports spectacular will be taking place uh the week of March 17th with our main event taking place on March 20th at 7: p.m. and it will take place to about 900 p.m. that will take place here at the uh middle school high school in the Coleman gym um we have some cool things that we're highlighting this year uh we have our newly done peach fuzz which is our boys volleyball game so we have a bunch of our uh boys uh athletes they're participating in
021a boys volleyball game where we have our girls volleyball players are actually acting as coaches um so it's kind of a competition between all grades we have that this year uh we have about 33 players who are participating so it's a pretty good turnout um and then we have our senior versus teacher basketball game this is a kind of a staple sport spectacular uh we actually have a very large amount of Our Ladies seniors participating this year more than we have in the past so we're very very excited about that um just kind of some information about sports spacular I've been trying to personally get to understand what has it been in the past years why do we do it and things like that uh sports spacular for my PO started in the 1980s um
022here at the high school and it Ed as it competition between grades most importantly importantly it was a fundraiser um so I'm trying to kind of connect that with the old way with you know bringing it in new making it interesting for our our newer generation to come and attend it we've seen some participation uh lacking the last Warriors that I've been on student council this year we're really trying to hit get those numbers up uh new things like PE Peach Buzz trying to bring against new people U moving on we have our service project our caner cause um I present the for at our last meeting that we have created a website uh we've actually made that a lot more accessible to our uh people here in our community um you can actually access
023it by going to our W High School page hitting the students Tab and down there at the very bottom you can hit that and it will take you to our website uh we are planning to sell all our current supply of aluminum cans on March 12th um this is actually a super scrap day for medical source so we're hoping to get a little more for our our amount that we have um and we are currently accepting donations from anyone outside the uh of the of the school here so if anyone has any items uh aluminum cans preferably empty um you can go on our website there fill out a house school donation inquiry we'd be happy to take those cans off your off your hands uh our final meeting for student council uh will be
024on April 8th um very sad to see it go I've had a lot of fun this year putting things together um me being a senior this is uh it's bittersweet um and then students who are interested in participating in St Council next year keep an eye out on their emails for election for athletics we don't have much going on because um spring Sports we starting their conditioning but we do have boys basketball team who had senior night this past Friday we want to wish good luck to all the seniors as they continue on their academic Journeys and their sectional game is tomorrow March 4th at 6m clubs and organizations we have a new found theater program this year R my Mrs France Ireland they were're performing Greece April 25th and 26th um this is the
025first time we've had a theater program in the last eight years and over 50 kids auditioned which was very surprising seeing as fact it's been gone for a really long time so they're really happy that they had some high numbers uh for sad there's a glove Drive March 25th they are collecting donations right now and they have some fundraising yep so uh sad right now is we're kind of getting into our post prom kind of season so we are collecting donations right now um for post prom um so they are kind of they have Representatives going out into the community um going to businesses and trying to get some donations for that um and then we have a fundraising plan so they're trying to raise also some monetary money uh for our post prom um
026so they're doing that in many different ways they have some ideas and then we also have the Japanese Olympiad IND ran by uh the Japanese IB students po band camp inan took home third place out of 10 teams at so just some other things to note we actually have the Community Foundation scholarships they are due tonight at 11:59 so for those of you who have not submitted it yet you might want get that in I might need to get home and get that submitted um we have a psse and SATs this Wednesday um as well with that our seniors uh myself included we are doing a College and Career Day on the 5th as well so some of us are taking up going their internship some of us are getting a job shadow and some
027of us are going on College visits uh and then spring break is March 28th through April 4th and then just to keep on everyone's mind graduation is May 30th oh and St P day is on the 1 of March we have approxim days [Applause] next we'll have the middle scho next we'll have the middle school student council update by de teachers [Music] stest help students [Music] amoun toite application for all students from Toth grade and every grade has a and the school is um connected with n JHS for the C you basketball league for students from second to fifth grade focusing on scall and I [Music] after challenging years I have finally um however they just [Music] be our National Junior Honor Society is Rec students for the excellent intelligence and academics dragons is they
028like for 45 minutes and this is for students [Music] 17 chess club is they 45 minutes students and is meeting up on Wednesdays after school and this is for students for of I have a part in the announ days the students of opportunity to the babies oh the other day simply interviewed students the questions how do you think will help you now and how will help you thank you for your any question [Applause] was um item C the following coaches for 2024 through 2025 High School uh track volunteer Cara Wilson for spring softball Middle School head coach got Maddie brench Middle School assistant coach Jordan Ren Middle School assistant coach we gonna move ashy ashy Cruz for Middle School softball assistant High School softball assistant second discussion uh we just thank all these people we'
029already had Ashen approved proed at middle school and she's going to move to high school that's why we did that um and uh we just I think we've got everything but one spot filed now we're looking for a tennis assistant coach still so anybody knows anybody wants to coach some girls tennis but every other spring spot is now filled all those in favor of approving coaches say I I those opposed motion passes item D board to approve the out of state overnight field trip for seventh and eighth grade students to Philadelphia Pennsylvania traveling through World strides students and sheph leave on 313 and return on 3:16 so discussion um we have a group of students that will be traveling with world's strives to Philadelphia there are 28 students three staff members and nine parents that
030are going on the trip they travel by charter bus and we'll have the opportunity to see historical sites such as the Liberty Bill Independence Hall and the bety Ross house students that are participating pay all of the expenses this is an overnight and an out ofate trip so uh the board does have to approve it questions from the board all those in favor of approving the trip say I I those opposed motion passes Item B please accept the termination of Heather lman starky effective 2925 so discussion um I recommend the board approve this termination all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes item F board to approve the retirement or to approve the retirement of Michelle H Corporation Treasurer effective January 23rd move second um I reluctant ly recommend that the board
031approve M Huff's retirement um over the past three and a half years as we have worked to improve our financial situation Miss U has been a key player in our progress um I absolutely hate to see her go but I'm excited that she gets to devote more time to a role that she loves and that's being a grandma um I do recommend that the board approves this retirement we will most likely Post in um early April so we can see what applicants are out there and once we find one we will probably ask to bring this person on and have a little ofap them um what is what's your umary out operations operations all those in favor of approving the retirement say I I those opposed motion passes item G board to approve hiring Gage
032sheel Simon as part-time custodian at the middle school and high school working four hours a night on days where we are in school second discussion U Mr she Simon is a senior at the high school his wage will be 1360 an hour that's what we pay our uh that's a starting wage for our high school high school custodians his main duty will be to empty the trash throughout the buildings um and we're happy to have Gage helping custodians all those in approver of the hes all those in favor of approving the hire say I I those opposed motion passes item H recommend board to approve a new bus three quotes were collected with the lowest being from kland this is for a Thomas bus their quote was $13,693 with the next being mallister at 162,50
033Midwest did not submit a quote this is just putting in our order we will most likely not get the bus until summer or fall of 2026 before that time we will go through the process with Crossroads to do a lease agreement as we have done with all of our buses so moved discussion so this bus will be replacing one of our 2012 buses um that bus is currently um a route bus the other two 2012 that we have are just sub buses the quotes were collected through Wilson education center um the Wilson education center provides Cooperative purchasing for schools that allows us to get some of the best pricing and it meets all the required bidding laws as Mrs hipkin shared we most likely won't get this bus until fall of 26 um and we
034will go through Crossroads to do a lease agreement we have been doing that with them since 2011 um and we will not have to make any payments until we are possession of the bus right now we have two buses um that we are paying on and one of those ends this year questions from the board all those in favor say I I I those opposed motion passes ad I board to approve employee number 2026 FMLA lead beginning Monday April 14th 2025 and continue through the end of the 2425 school year second discussion I recommend the board approve this FMLA Le request all those in favor say I those opposed motion passes item J or to approve D David fagley as whs art teacher for the remainder of the 2024 through 2025 school year pending a
035background check Mr Bagley will be compensated based on a per rated salary of $437 for 23 $654 per day so move seven ESP Mr Bley is a retired art teacher who is willing to fill in for the remainder of this year his salary is based on his years of experience and will be PR rated for the remainder of this year we are thankful that he's willing to St step in and help us out um he will not begin until the backr check is complete okay so he'll start yet this week um he's going to come in do some paperwork tomorrow at central office all have taking care of me a little bit of training on technology and then we're schedu for start great all those in favor of approving Mr Bley say I I post
036motion passes itet um first congratulations to Mr chip I think he actually walked in and then saw that we had passed them so he left um for being named the 2024 Rising St Star Award recipient um we're very lucky to have him at WCS I also want to congratulate our high school Cathy Swan Award winners I love hearing about how these students have worked hard and have relations gr and persevere I also want to congratulate our girl basketball team on a great season they were very very fun to watch um Good Luck to our boys basketball team they play their first game of sectional tomorrow night on their home floor and I want to remind everyone that Sunday this Sunday is when Daylight Saving Time begins so before you go to bed uh Saturday night
037move your clock forward spring forward one hour um and then next Thursday March 13th is our last stpd day we will have parent teacher conferences on this day with specific times for the buildings being shared later this week your chief operations officer uh my only thing is sayy sectionals are this week my history lesson we hosted the basketball section from 1928 to 1960 but the last time we held it in our own building was in the high school gym in 1947 so it's almost been 80 years since we've got to host the boys basketball section on our gym so that's what making the gym bigger did for us it got us to BU able a hose Host this and we're really excited about this week get the host seal so good luck to the boys
038tomorrow and uh hopefully we have a great week thank you items from administrators really excited about PSAT and sat testing kids typically aren't ministrators so excited to see how ours that's coming up on Wednesday and our seniors are out on a college career day items from visitors um items from board members start with show um Kathy Swan kids are fantastic those kids are wonderful I've seen them all the way through they're sweet kids um great basketball girls uh for uh the sectionals coming up good luck to the guys not only is Wabash hosting sectionals they're going on at Southwood also so it's going to be crazy with buses in this town so so keep your manners while you're driving because you know out on cast Street that's not a fun place if you're a visitor
039in this town okay um yeah it's gonna just be crazy in the next couple of weeks and everyone's looking forward to believe it or not Spring Break um I just want to say congratulations to all Cathy Swan Award winners I was in school when she passed and I remember her um so it's it's nice to see her remembered through these Awards um I also want to um say good luck to our second and third graders as they take ey learn this week um I know that's big for our household right now so and I know OJ has done a really good job supporting these students um so good luck to them and then I also want to congratulate um soulen Ensemble the students who got gold at um oh I don't know they went down
040to State and I think most of them got gold so I want to say congratulations to them as well okay Jason uh she stole a couple of mine but that's okay uh no so yeah shout out to the teachers as well who are prepare preparing as much as they could for students who are doing to I learn uh sounds like first grade and fourth grade teachers are doing some helping of the for the teachers just the little triage gift bags or something just to help the kid gr this week is it's it's a lot on teachers as well as students so um thankful thankful for what OJ is doing to try to change this up to make it as as successful as it can be for all their students um I think the other two
041students out the 13 at went State got silver so that's pretty cool too on the fire um you only the other thing I want to bring up is coach Evans is a 2A coach of the year for cross country I to bring that up last time so I think that's pretty cool um I've got to see just how he does things just from my son do across country this past year and so he's a quality coach and so I just want to bring it up all other than again Captain Awards say after all that but um the only other thing that I can think of is when Kobe said something about mik Woodson I was like great Mike Woodson wants to come like school I had no idea what you were saying so I got
042Mike wson but that was about it so I just it's so impressive um Testament to the D program that that you do that my son does not like to speak Spanish but it makes me know that he does know it I'd like to congratulate Gunner faithin astred and Logan again for the Kathy Swan winners and thank you for the teachers who had to make a decision of which students to think that would want to do that I always appreciate their willingness to do that when come to speak as well um I believe we'll be recognizing um no the Mr Evans our next one so um that's all I've got with that Brier thank you