001Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> calling this order meeting to order. If you're able, will you please stand as we take a moment of silence and recite 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. >> Thank you. Next on the aged uh agenda is patrons concerns and we had one person sign up. Is it Mrs. Leslie Jean? >> Mrs. Jean, please >> just as a reminder public comments three minutes. >> Sure. Good evening. My name is Leslie Jean and I'm here regarding the removal of my son Aiden Moore. The only senior in Tacumi B in the Tacumi basketball program removed this year as a senior. I want to be clear.
002I am not asking this board to choose players. I am asking you to look at how this decision was made because the process used violated district policy and federal requirements. When I met with the head coach and the athletic director, I asked for documentation supporting this decision. They had none. I met with the superintendent and asked again. Still none. When I followed up in writing, I was told the matter was closed despite the fact no documentation has ever been provided to justify the removal of my own child. I was told that all coaches contributed to the decision. If that is true, then where is the record? Under federal student privacy law, any record directly related to a student maintained by a school employee, including evaluations, assessments, team placement decisions, or reasons for removal, must be
003treated as an education record. Under district policy, the school corporation is required to maintain accurate and complete student records, including any information recorded in any way that is directly related to a student. Yet in this case, the district produced no evaluations, no written concerns, no performance notes, no tryyout criter criteria, no rubrics, no staff review documentation, no communication ever provided to Aiden prior to cutting him from basketball. The only paper given to him was a cut form handed to him the moment he was cut. a form that did not exist before that day. That was never used historically in Tacumpsy. That is not documentation. That is after the fact justification. I was also told players are evaluated every day. Every day when they're on the court. If that is true, then again, where are those
004records? Verbal explanation alone is not policy compliance. This process broke with every historical pattern into basketball. This is the first season in which two players were removed despite years of extremely low roster numbers and seasons where the program struggled to just fill the roster and play these kids. Seniors have never been cut. No cut paperwork has ever been used. Yet suddenly the only senior and a sophomore were removed. In the same year, concerns had been raised with the administration, which I had reached out to Dr. Redmond earlier in the year. Earlier this year, I I raised serious issues regarding Aiden's treatment and a separate incident. Following that, his treatment by the coach changed noticeably. The timing alone raises legitimate concern. Retaliation is not an administrative matter. Documentation failure is not an administrative matter. Deviating from
005established practice and district policy is not an administrative matter. These are governance issues and governance is a responsibility for you each as the board members. You were elected to ensure policies are followed to oversee administration and to protect students when processes break down. If there is a body of evidence supporting this decision, show it. If evaluations exist, show them. If legitimate concerns existed, show them. If nothing exists, then this process cannot be defended. Removing a student's senior year without documentation, without transparency, without adherence to required process is just not fair. It's indefensible. And I will continue pursuing this until this until the decision regarding my son is corrected. until my son is given the same opportunity that every senior before him has been given. Until the staff members responsible for this breakdown in policy, documentation
006and fairness are dealt with appropriately. I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Next on the agenda, guest speaker, Dr. Redmond. >> Thank you, Mrs. Glover. Tonight we're excited to have Mr. Shawn Georgees, the board vice president of Mission First. He's going to share with us this evening some great work that they're doing up in the Elberfeld area. Mr. Georgees, welcome. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. Again, I am Sean Georgees, vice president of the board of an organization that you probably haven't heard a lot about called Mission First. uh largely I think 90% of the board members are military veterans from this area and uh we are about three years ago we were challenged by a local community member to go beyond merely although appreciated uh thank you for your service. Uh I'm a
007Marine Corps veteran, left the Marine Corps as a as a major uh and certainly proud to serve. But I like all of us, every military member, whether your conflict was Vietnam or uh something much more recent, the transition back to the civilian community is a challenging one. We propose. We aren't proposing anymore. We're doing it. So, I'm here to ask for your help, communities assistance, and and also just to raise awareness. But got a brief video if we can cue that up that I think you will appreciate. >> Do I need to hit? >> No, no, just one second. Bring in the expert. [laughter] >> Thank you. My name is Paul Lindberg. I'm a Marine Raider with the United States Marine Corps. I served 10 tours overseas, Philippines, various parts of Africa and Europe. >>
008The first time I deployed uh as a Start over. I heard that many times over. >> My name is Paul Lindberg. I'm a Marine Raider with United States Marine Corps. I served 10 tours overseas including >> Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines, various parts of Africa and Europe. >> The first time I deployed uh As a father, it was completely different. I remember sitting there and we were getting ready to go out and do a an operation and it was the first time I really kind of analyzed my own mortality. We're always willing and ready and prepared to die for our country, but I never considered really having and needing a reason to live. He was like, "Man, you got to really you got somebody that's relying on you to come home." >> The military homecomings when the
009people the dad runs out on the football field or they get off the plane and everybody hugs them and it's great, everything's great and then that's when the work starts. Like it starts for us in that moment. >> And it's it's hard. It's hard when they they have to transition back with this this stranger that you don't know and you have to it's like you have to date and get married all over again and then your kids don't know their dad. They don't know who that is. >> My son was um five months old when I left. He wasn't walking when I now he was walking and uh I squatted down to hug him and he just looked at me and started crying. Just walked away. Uh That was like a knife in the heart.
010You know, it's like the one thing you think about what you want to do and then he would did not want anything to do with me. Man, that that's the worst. Right after I retired, I kind of had this fresh start. I'm out of the Marine Corps. This is that kind of, you know, stuff is over. And then within two weeks, I had a very good friend of mine commit suicide. And it kind of brought it all back that, you know, you you can you can leave, but it's not going to leave you. And I've got I mean, I've got more friends that have committed suicide than have died in combat. I've got a lot of friends who died in combat. You know, you wake up every day and you you have these things happening.
011You're starting on an anger threshold to say it's 1 to 10. You're starting at a six, but it just feels normal to you. So when the slightest thing happens, you're going from six to 10 very fast where normal people would go, you know, they probably bump up to a four. PTSD is not permanent. You're not broken. You're not damaged. You're not uh any of these stigmas that are associated with PTSD. >> Our outlet has always been the outdoors. It's always been like when we did a reset. That's been our way to really bond together. And since Mission First has the property, we've gone out there a couple of times and it's been awesome to see our kids get to like fish and trap and see animals. How healing that is for us to be able
012to do that together. >> Having my children and my wife, I mean, that's that's the reason to get up every day just to see them and be with them. Sorry for all the times that I've uh not been the best husband or father that I could have been, should have been. My new mission now is every day to make that better and be that dad and that husband that you all deserve. And that is a powerful driving momentum in me. Wow. Every time I see that, it just uh hit goosebumps. Those [snorts] are not actors. They're local human beings that live in our community. Paul Lindberg is from Evansville, Indiana. Alex is from Indiana or from Evansville. Those are their children. The Fish was not an actor. That actually happened while they were filming. The
013property [snorts] you saw is off of Ditney Hill Road in northern War County. We have 93 acres and a 6 acre lake. And the dream was this. What if for the first time in this country a community organized its uh resources not just its heart but also resources in order to establish a new way really it's the old way it's the only way and I and no veteran is asking for a handout when they return from whether it was combat that or a long career or or a brief time in the military, but the experience of being in the military, being away from home, and I was away for total of 17 years. You can come back, you still know who your friends and your family are, but you're in a different p you're in
014a different place than they are. and the whole rejoining as as the ride goes around, getting back on the ride and finding, you know, okay, how do I fit in? What what do they wear out here? I had to Google an outfit. We didn't used to have Google, but what should I wear? So, I looked to my wife for advice and guidance. We are uh a little bit out of sorts. It's a heavy socialization experience that happens in the military. What if there was a community that had both the heart and resources in order to assist military veterans, not just the veterans? You heard Alex's point. This is a stranger that comes back to her every time. How is he broken? Where's he at? Who where are we at in our relationship? Children at different
015levels. There's dad suddenly. What? How does the mother father dynamic work? In the 4count area surrounding us, there are 16,000 military veterans. There are 197,000 south of I70 in just Indiana. So, we're not even talking about what's happening in Kentucky and Illinois. So, here's what we're going to do. And this is the right community to do it with. We've got 93 acres in northern Warick County. Uh we've got a lake. We are now building. In fact, we just it's under roof. The first main what we call activity center is already built. Has to be finished. Uh there will be a a main cabin for programming. There will be cabins for overnight stay for four to six people. Five of those cabins. We're building a horse ecquin therapy place. Uh ecquin therapy has been proven to
016work with military veterans uh really with all human beings. And we're using local resources to serve as a hub. We don't have all the answers. Here's why no one else in America has done this. I think one a question of resources. Two is this. Because it is hard. So what do you do when something is hard? Man, you try to build a community around the problem, identify the problem, and then you get the smart people. It's going to take all of us, educators, administrators. We're going to need uh health care professionals, all of these folks and military veterans, peer-to-peer. One of the things that happens when you leave the military is that not only does your mission change, you lose your mission. The other thing is you lose your tribe. This is an opportunity to
017get the tribe back, to tell the stories that you can't really tell anybody else. Tell the jokes that nobody else really gets and to rebuild a new way of moving forward again, not just for the veterans, but also for their for their spouses. We're going to be doing programming that is specifically related to uh to that husband wife relationship. We're going to be doing a lot of stuff around parenting. One of the things we've learned from youth first for example is and no one really ever looked at this. The highest by percentage number of u of students that are having issues again by percentage are military veterans children. Now what why that is don't know. We're going to find out. Why don't we just leave this to the government? Here's why. The government is really
018good at at equipping and recruiting and training and sending us to foreign shores, right? Government, we're the best in the world at all of those things. No one brings us back effectively. You look at at uh at some the the communities that have been healthiest in the history of mankind and they've always had this strong community sort of an effort of bringing their warriors back not coddling them but just bringing them in and helping them to re-engage you know finding employment. What do I have to offer an employer? Help employers figure out what does this person represent? What skill set do they bring? How can they fit when it you can't put a you know find the right square on an org chart? There has got to be a way. This is the only way,
019the authentic way to bring uh military and their family back. We are going to figure it out again through a communitywide effort. We received an incredible uh grant from the Eli Liy Foundation community uh uh the the local organization that sort of puts all this together assisted us in uh obtaining almost a $9 million grant from Eli Liy which has basically helped us to put up the buildings. But now comes the hard part. What are you going to do in those buildings? What are you going to do on those 90 acres? We're putting the programming together now. Standby for for uh partnerships being built. Standby for questions. Standby for uh us asking what are you seeing in your world. So, super excited. I'm so happy being from Gibson County that it's happening here in southern
020Indiana and we're going to do this right. Programming starts in this coming year. the buildings, all of the buildings will be up by 2027. And uh this is going to be something this community and and we all can be proud of. >> Happy to take any questions if you have any comments. My time is probably up. >> Is this for all military veterans or just hooers? >> Oh, good question. Initially, okay, here's one thing we learned in the military. Crawl, then walk, and then run. We're going to start off with this 4count area, Gibson, uh, Vanderberg, Warick, and Posey. It's going to be our core crawl. We're going to crawl, uh, through, [snorts] and again, that's 16,000 military veterans. Uh, going to be opportunities for local employers to help volunteer out at the out at
021the center. And, uh, but yeah, those are the ones we're going to reach out to initially. Once we refine the programming, we get staffing in place. Paul Lindberg is our first and only paid employee, the one that you saw, special forces marine. Uh so it's a good pretty easy uh we felt pretty comfortable giving Paul uh the opportunity to help lead. But yeah, we're going to start there and >> so excited. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me some time. Appreciate >> I have a question. Is there any volunteer work that can be done to help? >> Stand by. It's going to be a lot of it. And we have, by the way, uh the sanctuary on the hill is the name of the site. We have a Facebook site. Uh we also
022have a have just kind of a standard. So you'll have you'll have all of that information. >> So yeah, it's going to be a communitywide effort and communitywide opportunities. >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. [applause] >> Next we have a presentation by Dr. Redmond. Don't get me too dark, Mr. Mosby. I won't be able to see my writing. Good evening. Uh, first of all, thanks for giving us some time tonight to give you an update on our strategic plan. So, as you know, earlier in the year, um, right before school started, I believe, we adopted our strategic plan for the 25 through 2027 school years. So, now that we're one semester in, just wanted to have an opportunity to talk with everyone about where we are with our progress toward
023our action steps. So, I'm not going to go through the entire plan again, but I am going to take it pillar by pillar, and you'll be able to see the action steps that are listed. And then I'm just going to talk through a little bit with you um a few of the things that we we've done so far as we've been making our way toward trying to meet those goals by the end of the two-year time frame. Um now remember when we have our summer retreat, our planning retreat, and we go through this, it normally takes us like we go in we we really dig in and it takes like about two and a half hours to get through this. But I promise we will not do that tonight. Going to go as quickly as
024possible. a little bit being able to give you an opportunity to see the progress. Okay. So, first of all, just a reminder what our four pillars are. They're listed on the screen for you. And this is the work that we live in daily. The district team, the administrators, um our teachers, uh students, and families are living in these four areas in this day-to-day work that we um approach in War County School Corporation. And the board will remember that in the summer when we go through the progress I give you a chart that shows not yet started uh exploring in progress we've met it or we've exceeded it. So I can tell you for all of the action steps we have so far which are 15 in total we are confident that we are in progress
025in all 15 with a little caveat on two of them. they're kind of sitting between exploring and in progress. And I'll point those two out to you when we get to that. Okay. So, first the staff empowerment and professional learning. This is all about collective teacher efficacy. We know that when we give teachers time and space to work together and they can build their teacher collective efficacy, which as a reminder is a shared belief that when we work together and we approach a task together that we are able to overcome obstacles and barriers to achieve a goal. So there's strong research that shows that when teachers have collective teacher efficacy, it has a very high impact on student achievement. So that is really what all of these action steps are um under this pillar for
026staff empowerment and learning. Some of the specific things that have happened so far in this semester, if you remember, we we've talked a lot the last several years about creating that time and space for teachers and groups of staff to be able to meet. But one of the areas that we wanted to focus on was increased collaboration in various content areas that maybe hadn't had the opportunity to meet before. at least meet in an organized way from the district level. So some of those groups that we have allowed this time um have had the opportunity from with the department of learning they have done what they've called road shows. So they've gone and met with groups of teachers about our checkpoint data and edmentum which is which is a software program that we use. Our
027elementary music teachers have had time together. Um middle school you're going to hear middle school a lot tonight. we we're really focusing on some things going on at that level. They've had opportunities across the district to work together to create common formative assessments. So, that's been excellent work that's coming out of the DO. Additionally, we have added our middle school counselors the opportunity to come and attend quarterly counselor meetings. Especially with the new diploma coming, there are some things that will affect the middle schools. So really trying to set up the middle schools for success and understanding of the new diploma as well. And then our district uh ENL team. So typically in any given school there may be zero instructors because there isn't need or there could be just one instructor in a building.
028So it's really important for that group to have some time together and to collaborate and work together as well. And then as far as looking forward, um, we are looking at the possibility of trying to do some alignment work with our technology field. So you guys hear all the time all the great things that we have going out on at WPCC. We would like to really work with our high school technology and CTE courses and try to better align that and give those uh folks some time together in in a collaborative way hopefully on the PD day but if not we'll try to make that work another day and then in terms of leadership as you know we have our teacher leadershipmies we have our aspiring admin this year we are in the rotation for
029teacher leadership academy Aaron Stallings has 21 participants in that this here. So, we love that we continue to have teachers who want to grow and get better. And then we meet with our assistant principles. Uh we spent some time with them last week. Uh you guys remember because you were there at the conference in Indianapolis. Uh we had the speaker who talked about um who's in your front row and and how you know who those people are and how to approach leadership. So, we did some work around that. And then we also did some things with the new accountability model which we'll bring to you another time because that will be a full presentation all by itself. Um and some other things with the diploma. A next step for that area uh something that we
030would like to try to get going has to do with some leadership work with some of our nonurp groups. So that's on my radar to try to step into that second semester um yet this year. And then finally in this area um increasing opportunities for staff feedback models and to capture input and voice in addition to all the things that you know we already do. Um I just wanted to highlight something out of the special ed department. U Mrs. Wagner and her team have organized a roundt and they meet two times a year. It involves one representative from each of our schools along with a school psych and a speech representative and of course the district leadership team and the facilitators um Linda and Leanne and Sam. So that's a great way for them to
031she sends out a Q&A ahead of time. So the participants can put things on the agenda, the leadership team can and then they do a lot of work that you guys have done with us before too where they're assessing uh tackling problems and assessing uh things that we do really well, things that we don't do as well, and then how to bridge any gaps that we may have. Okay, student safety and support. The two areas I really want to focus on here are the number two connectedness and number three the safety drills. So we know for number one and four that you can see um you know that we've hired Mindy Martin a couple of years back. She continues to do some great work and trying to define the roles of all of the different
032uh staff that we have counselors homeschool adviserss uh mental health professionals and what that looks like and who sees which student. So that her team's doing a great job of getting all of that on paper. And then Mr. Trone under number four, um the parental awareness of how to monitor technology. You'll hear me reference a couple of times. We've met with Mr. Trone. He has a whole list of videos that we would like to see developed. And then our plan is to put those under a parent hub. And so in this case, it's talking about technology, but later in the plan, you'll see some other things um that we've heard from parents that would be beneficial to them. As another example for elementary, sometimes the parents don't know how to get their students logged into
033Google Classroom. So, it could be something easy like that. How to access parent view, how to report a safety concern and all of those things. So, more to come in that area. Okay. I did want to share the results of the connectedness survey. So, in case you can't see that, um there were five simple questions. Of course, we're relying on the students to answer honestly. So there's always potentially limitations in that. You'll notice if you move from left to right, the first question is simply, I'm involved with something at school, a club, a team, something. And districtwide, we had 78% of our students who are involved with something and we're actually quite pleased with that number. Um the next column shows students who indicated they are part of a group outside of school. The area
034that we really wanted to focus on this first round are the last three columns. I have at least one trusted adult in the building. So, we always say that's so important for our students to know who is an adult in the building that they can go speak with. Uh same for their parents. And then I am the next column says I am friends with at least one student at school. And then I know how to report a safety concern. So you can see we had 93% 98% and 95% on those. What we've done then is we took for those three areas making sure they have a connected adult, a friend or someone at school and how to report a safety concern. And we took the data and any student who said no to one of
035those three things. Um we have or the building level principles obviously can see the data. So, they're working at the building level to identify the kids who answered no to any one of these things and then making sure we get a reach out to them depending on what they said no to um so that we can try to get them connected with an adult, another peer and of course obviously understanding how to report a safety concern. And then what we'll do for that group at the end of the year, we will reservey and hopefully the num those students who said no to one of these three items will have something someone by the end of the school year. >> Excuse me. Was that just high school? >> Yes. So this year, great question. Uh this
036year we just started with high school. We did have at least one elementary school who gave the survey because it was connected directly to that school improvement plan. And then next year, our plan is to push it out to middle and elementary as well. So, we just started with high school for this year. Good question. Okay. The second part of that has to do with safety drills. I don't know if you guys recall, we had a discussion a while back that our in our student group, the students were reporting that, you know, they know what to do during a fire drill during home room because that's when they always have the drills during home room. So, we just put together a scattergram. So it's always our our schools by the way always have to report
037all of their emergency drills. So Dr. Lambert put this in the data in a scattergram. So you can see by school you can see every little dot means the different times of day. So some of the schools have done a really nice job of scattering throughout the day with the drills they've had so far. Um, some of them are a little concentrated to one time of the day or the other, but clearly you can see they are working through various times of the day rather than just a home room period. And before we move on, not not directly related to an action step, but just also under the umbrella of safety, our high school, a letter to our high schools along with our videos for our new open gate system will go out um Monday
038after Thanksgiving break. And also included in that letter will be three opportunities for families to come to safety meetings where we will just do a broad overview of some things that we're doing uh making sure parents understand how to report concerns talking about our safety protocols and then we'll also demon have a demonstration with the open gate system as well. So those dates will be listed in that communication and they will be in January. We will have one at each of the high schools. So, three opportunities and parents can come to any of them no matter where their children attend school. So, look forward to those dates as well. Okay. Any questions so far? Two down, two to go. >> How's that information going out to parents? >> We will send it directly to every
039War County School Corporation, high school, family. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Email. >> We will do email. Um, Walt, do you think we can do a parent square if we need to. So, sometimes in parent square, we can like send the text message, check your email for information. We'll do both of those. Yes. Okay. Additional questions. Okay. Going to move on. Okay. Student growth and success. These are all the letters that we talk about all the time. MTSS, CTE, all the alphabet soup that we have. So in student growth and success, we have a lot of we've already done a lot of work streamlining the elementary MTSS process. So if you remember, we had this in our last strategic plan directed specifically toward elementary. In this plan, we're expanding and getting some foundational work set
040in place for our middle schools. And then one of the things that we know before the end of this two-year round once we get middle school foundation set, we are going to need to really figure out how we're tracking this through the system, how we're handing off data when students go from fifth grade to sixth grade or 8ighth grade to 9th grade. Okay, so that's something we know we still need to to work on. Um the second one, the transitions from fifth to sixth and 8th to 9th. Speaking of transitions, this is one of those areas where I would rate us right now exploratory in progress kind of hovering. And that's simply because we in we have different parts of the districts right now making some progress toward transitions whether it's in the academic area,
041the behavior area, or the social emotional learning area, but we're not streamlined across the district. So, as an example, uh the Boomville feeder system, they're doing some great work with some social opportunities and some some connected opportunities for the elementary students with the high schools. So, as an example, uh Chandler Elementary in January, they're going to have their like parade walk where all the students who have met their growth goals get to walk through the halls and it's a big celebration of their academic growth. So Boomville, I think they call themselves the yes, the pioneer squad. They are going to be there cheering on the students and that's just making a connection for those students while they're still in elementary school looking forward to potentially being a Boomville pioneer. Another example in our Newberg district,
042we have an assistant principal who is uh what his actual leadership growth goal has to do with doing some academic alignment between the two schools he serves, Sharon Elementary and Newberg Elementary and then aligning that work to Castle South Middle School sixth grade and that would be focusing in the academic area. So we have several different great things going on. Those are just two examples. Um, so lots more to come come in that area and that's a big that's a that's a big that's a big goal, big action step that has lots of little steps under it. And then finally, CTE. Um, we have uh, as you know, we're adding two additional CTE pathways next school year at the Pathway Center. We will have early childhood and computer science. And we're doing a lot of
043other great work toward the new diploma uh which we can bring that in a separate presentation about the diploma once the accountability model gets settled. Um but we're doing some great preparatory work both at WPCC and within the buildings to increase those opportunities for students in increasing AP CTE um Indiana college core which is a set of coursework that will translate to uh college credit. So, lots of good stuff there. And then finally on this section in number four, this has to do with our early childhood opportunities. This is another one that I would say we are both exploring and in progress. We are still continuing to explore funding opportunities. Um, we've met with a local hospital. We've written a for a large grant. Um, we're trying to find ways to fund PK. Um and
044then also we are trying to figure out within the build our existing buildings and uh potentially other options for being able to just expand the classrooms so we can offer a more universal PK even if that means um charging families who of course would volunteer whether they want to bring their kids to War County PK or not. So still a lot of work in that area as well, but I do feel like we're making progress. It's just going a little slower than I than I had hoped for. >> Dr. Edmond, got a quick question on that before we move on. Kind of random question. >> Do you have any idea, take a stab at the number um the number of PK kids that might if we had a program and we had all the funding,
045what's that number of kids? >> That's a great question. Um I don't have a number off the top of my head. Um, you know, we know that we have extensive PK opportunities already in all parts of our district through private PK. Um, we're hearing kind of mixed things from those groups that some of them have weight lists, some of them don't have weight lists, some of them have had families reach out to them who would like a PK opportunity but have some sort of barrier. So, um, we do believe though that if we were able to expand, you know, in in, you know, say a year or two to open it, you know, I mean, we could look at, you know, 150, 200, 250 students. >> That's I had no idea of the range. So,
046>> and that would just be in one part of the district. >> Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And finally, our last section, it falls under family communication and support. So, one of the the things in uh coordinating with mental health partners to provide parents opportunities um with parent series. We've had one of those so far this year that was parenting in a digital world. We know that we're going to try to have at least one more but maybe two more. We're looking at the topics of mental health 101 and then also the difference between stress and distress. Um, another area that I wanted to point out falls under number three, which is increasing increasing awareness among the student body of who the mental health professionals and counselors are. So again, as you know,
047we have expanded and um hired several additional social workers over these last few years and we have a lot of staff that we were uncertain if our students and families understood who they were, how to get to them, and what that looks like or what the differences between reaching out to a a guidance counselor versus a social worker. So, we really a what we asked all of the principles to do it and I asked for them to do this by fall break and I can report to you that all 18 schools have reported to me how they disseminated this information. Some of them did it through their u welcome back to school nights, teacher nights. Some of them uh have sent videos, some of them have sent flyers. I have a few examples of that
048here for you tonight. So this is a what I love about this one. This is a flyer that Sharon Elementary created and obviously it would be a trifold. So you can see the front and the back here, but it explains and tells you who the appropriate staff members are. It tells you what their role is, what they provide, how they can support parents, things they do in the classroom, how you can seek out a social worker, and it spells it out. So, this is a great example at the elementary level. Some other I linked in some other examples for you that you guys can look at later. Um, but did want to point out here just a few other middle school examples. I love on the right the council request form for Boomville Middle. Several
049of our middleles and highs are doing this. So students can access from their Chromebook at any time during the day. And they're doing it privately. Obviously, they're not having to leave class. They're not having to have that fear of asking to leave class to go to the office to ask who do I even see? How do I get to these people? They literally can just fill out this form. It goes straight to the guidance counselors. The guidance counselors get an alert. And then you can see here that the students actually also from a drop-own box can choose the urgency of the matter and then the counselors and social workers can decide who is best fit to uh address the issue with the student and then they just call them right down. So that's a great
050way to handle that. U several of the middleles and highs are are doing that. So that was great. Here's Castle High School. Again, guidance counselors and they explain there at the bottom the role of the guidance counselors different from the role of the social workers. This went out in a um at the beginning of the year meeting. They also recorded that meeting. I mentioned the parent hub at the beginning or at some point. I don't believe it was at the beginning, but I mentioned the parent hub. So complicating that just a little is that our website company has been bought out by another company. So we are in the transition of that unfortunately here mid year. So once we get through that transition I mentioned Jeff Tone is working on all these videos. Um then
051we'll be able to create that parent hub and put all those videos in the parent hub. uh we didn't want to put all that work in there and then risk or be worried that it wasn't going to roll over and obviously it will take a little bit to get several videos finished but but we're we're on our way. So what can I answer for you at this point? >> You mentioned it a couple times about um working with um middle school counselors and other aspects for the new diploma CTE and everything. I wonder when we might be able to put that on our own work session or something or an update when you have it packaged up. >> Um, that's a that's a great question and we would like to do that. Okay. Even though
052the diploma requirements are final, there's some things that are being proposed in the new accountability model >> that will not be final until December that might change how we approach the diploma if that makes sense. Yeah. >> Okay. So they there's some language in the accountability model that has to do with taking course work in middle school and we need to see where that lands. Um and then we will know what courses or how many courses we're going to have to pull down to middle which will affect what we do in high school. So as soon as we get accountability model finalized in December, we should be able to bring back some info to you um early next semester. >> Okay. >> Great. >> Okay. All right. The LA I just want to show you
053this picture, but I can talk about it. walk you back. So, this is unrelated to the strategic plan, but I did just want to do a couple shout outs. Um, on the left photo, that is a team from Sharon Elementary. Um, Gary Karen is a behavior consultant. Carrie Obur is a speech language pathologist. Mrs. Burgman in the middle is the building principal. And then on the right, we have Ashley Turner, who is a classroom teacher, and Linda Concade, who is an OT for us. They are a multid-disciplinary team who works with our ABS classroom which is an auti autism a classroom for students with autism um at Sharon Elementary and they actually presented this past week at the assistant principal conference uh I think it was Thursday and then this week today and tomorrow is
054the principal state level conference and they're presenting a breakout session tomorrow uh for principles. So, that's pretty cool. Uh, I love when people across the state want to learn and see about things that we're doing down here in Warick. So, I wanted to share that. And then the picture on the right, of course, that's Mr. Rabber, principal at Lynville Elementary, and that's his wife, Jennifer. Uh, Jean actually was the recipient of the district 11 elementary principal of the year. So, they had a banquet uh I guess that would have been last night up in Indianapolis. And so, he and his wife got to attend and they were honored for that. And Uh just want to congratulate Mr. Rabert. >> That's excellent. >> Great. >> That is great. >> Well, thank you Dr. Red Moon. Wonderful
055information. Thank you. Uh moving on to agenda items eight, consideration of items for board action. >> Did I miss something? Oh, yeah. Let's let's start with routine business first. >> Thank you, Mrs. Glover. [clears throat] The routine business this evening includes approving the minutes of the schoolboard meeting held on November 11th and approving the claims and signing the docket. I recommend the board approve the routine items as presented. >> To approve second >> I have a motion by Mr. Mosby, seconded by Mr. France. Is [clears throat] there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried. Now on to consideration of items report action. 8.1 second reading of proposed changes to policy 1350. Dr. Redmond. >> Thank you, Mrs. Glover. Dr. Walter Lambert has presented to the board an updated
056policy 1350 procedure to address the board of school trustees. This policy includes minor revisions to its existing language. The first reading of the proposed change was on November 11, 2025. The second reading will take place this evening at which time the board may choose to take action. And if you recall, we don't need to read the entire policy again. It simply is changing the do not exceed time from five minutes to three minutes. That is the only change to the policy. So I recommend the board approve the updated policy as presented. >> So move second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Baker and seconded by Mr. Skinner to revise policy 1350 as noted. We have a any discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carried. Agenda item 8.2 approve placement
057agreement with Western Governors University. Dr. Redmond. >> Thank you, Mrs. Glover. Dr. Doug Gresham has brought to the board a placement agreement between the Warick County School Corporation and Western Governor's University for consideration and approval. This agreement outlines the terms under which WCSC will provide candidates as a clinical experience with mentor teachers that align with the candidates's lure area. This agreement has been reviewed by Mr. Cliff Whitehead's office. I recommend the board approve the agreement as presented. Second. >> Is that you, Mr. France? Okay. I have a motion by Mr. Mosby, seconded by Mr. France to approve [clears throat] the agreement with Western Governor's University. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carried. Agenda item 8.3, approve a non-exclusive clinical affiliation agreement. >> Dr. Red. >> Thank
058you, Mrs. Clever WPCC principal, Mr. Drew Girth, has brought to the board a non-exclusive clinical affiliation agreement with Hamilton Point for consideration and approval. This agreement states they will provide qualified professionals and make its facilities available to Ward County School Corporation's faculty members and students for practical learning and clinical experiences. I recommend the board approve the agreement as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Have a motion by Mrs. Will Helmus and seconded by Mr. Baker to approve the affiliation agreement with Hamilton Point. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried. Agenda item 8.4 approved donations. Dr. Red. >> Thank you, Mrs. Glover. We have several donations tonight. Again, just showing how well supported all of our schools are. At Oakdale Elementary, a $5,000 donation from Prime Foods to
059be used for student needs. Also at Oakdale, a $500 donation from the Ward Public Education Foundation to be used to fund the reading revolution. At Booneville High School, a $1,000 donation from the Keep Swim Noah James family fund for the Boomville High School swimming and diving team. Funds will be used to purchase shirts for athletes, meals for away meets, and equipment for practices and meets. Also at Boomville High, a $500 donation from the Sugar Shack, Sam and Heather Schneer to be used for student field trips. At Castle High School, a $3,500 donation from Bertram Chiropract Chiropractic, excuse me, to be used to purchase a mascot for the pep club. At Tecumpsy High, a $500 donation from Old Friendship General Baptist Church to be used to purchase items needed in the nurse's office. and also at
060to come see another $1,000 donation from Old Friendship General Baptist Church to be used to purchase items for the angel tree giveaway. I recommend the board approve all donations as presented to approve donations. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. France and seconded by Mrs. Wilhelm to approve donations. Is there any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried. [clears throat] Next agenda item, consideration of personnel recommendations. Dr. Gres Gresham. Thank you, Mrs. Glover. The human resource office has the following business to bring before the board tonight. Agenda item 9.1, consideration of employment certified staff. Christy France, an early childhood education teacher at WPCC for the 2026 2027 school year. Miranda Towry, a temporary social studies teacher at Booneville Middle School for the second semester of this year, and Jessica
061Thompson, a temporary preschool teacher, AM only at Log Elementary School for the second semester this year. And the following non-certified staff, Alyssa Mackey, apps program assistant at Sharon Elementary School. Tamara Pacio Pico, 4.5 hour cafeteria position at Castle High School. Grace Ethridge, program assistant, Newberg Elementary School. And Ladonna Kelly, program assistant at Log Elementary School. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. We have a motion by Mrs. Wilhelm as seconded by Mr. Mosby to approve certified non-certified staff. Do we have any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried. >> Thank you. Agenda item 9.2 leaves. Megan Millard, library aid at Newberg Elementary School. Huey Leu, 6.5 hour cafeteria position at Castle High School. Beth Feron, language arts and publications teacher at Boomville Middle School. Alicia Zos, program assistant at
062Sharon Elementary School. Jaye Hadley, clerical aid at Oakdale Elementary School. Jamie Roshad, secretary treasurer at Oakdale Elementary School. Miranda Towry, program assistant at Boomville Middle School. Raym Pulum, nurse at Booneville High School. Ashton Wingy, 6.5 hour capture position at John Hcastle Elementary School and Melissa Schmidt, program assistant at Oakdale Elementary School. >> Motion to approve leaves. >> Second. and a motion by Mr. Agner. >> I'm Jordan Agner. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Seconded by Mr. Baker. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carried. >> Thank you very much. Agenda item 9.3, resignations. Barbara Gerard, 3.5 hour cafeteria position at Oakdale Elementary School. Resignation effective December 19th, 2025. Dean Euan, varsity boys soccer coach at Boonva High School. Resignation effective November 11th, 2025. Carissa Van Husse,
063science teacher at Boonville High School. Resignation effective June 1st, 2026. Kinder Murphy, program assistant at Log Elementary School. Resignation effective November 19th, 2025. Amy Hornby, 6.0 hour cafeteria position toy High School, resignation effective December 19, 2025. And 9.4 retirements. Patrick Cruz, social studies teacher at Castle High School. Retirement effective December 19th, 2025. >> Thank you, Dr. Gresham. >> Okay. We have any other reports, Dr. >> Dr. Gresham, did you have a report this evening? >> Okay. I thought you I thought you had something. >> Yes, just one. >> Okay. The personnel, food, and nutrition and custodial committee met on November 11th, 2025 in this building and had two main items of discussion. The first was the social worker pay scale, which you've already seen and was approved at the last meeting, but it finally established
064a a solid pay scale that we can use for social workers, which is something that we've needed for a couple of years. Mr. Armstrong and myself have been working on it, and now we think we have a really good plan in place. And so far we've received positive feedback on that. And the other uh item of business had to do with um transfers versus reassignments. Um and it occurred to me at the last board meeting when I was reading a very long list of what had been reported as transfers that many of those weren't transfers. We actually have some definitions in our teacher transfer policy that designate a transfer is when a an employee moves from one building to another building. But when a person changes positions inside the same building, it's a reassignment. However,
065we had been coming to the board uh frequently with cafeteria uh reports of someone who is going from a three-hour position to a 4.5 hour position or 4hour position to a 6.5 hour position but staying within the same building. So after the last board meeting um or maybe it was two board meetings ago, I went to the payroll department to find out if there was a reason that those had to be reported to the board uh because they were changing hours even though they weren't transfers. They were technically reassignments and they said in their mind they had no idea why we did it because we use time clock to measure all their times. The times don't actually have to be reported to the board. So moving forward, we will report transfers as we should per
066the definition of the teacher transfer policy and won't be reporting as many reassignments as we've been doing in the past. So just for your information, might be a little bit less on the transfers than what we've had in the past. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Gresian. [clears throat] >> We have any other board business? We have a student learning and growth meeting tomorrow at 11 o'clock at the admin building. And then our next policy will be December 8th at 5:45 here in this building. >> December 15th at 5:00 p.m. in this building, the personnel committee will be meeting. Then on the following morning on December 16th, construction committee will be meeting at the administration building at 7:30 a.m. We have a work session on December 15th at 5:30 and then followed by regular board meeting
067at 7. And just for the public to know, we only have one board meeting in December. So it's on the off week. It will be December 15th. Thanks Sean again for coming in and giving a presentation today. Appreciate all the work you guys are doing out there. It's exciting. >> Any other business? I just want to wish everyone happy holidays, a wonderful Thanksgiving experience with family and friends and just be safe and no kitchen accidents. >> That's right. >> Careful those turkeys. >> That's right. Meeting a journey. >> [music] [music]