001We ready? >> Okay, it is 5:30. I would like to welcome everyone and call to order this regular meeting of the Wallace Community School Board of School Trustees. We begin the meeting with the pledge of allegiance and vision statement led by Dr. Shelley Wilfong and the invocation led by Mr. Mike Casey 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. are confident, well-rounded citizens who positively impact their communities. >> Father, thank you so much for this community. Thank you so much for staff, students, community members. Thank you forward. Amen. >> This brings us to good news. Um Dr. Troyer, if you could inform the board of the good news items. >> Thank [clears throat] you, Mr.
002Brokart. Uh few items for you this evening. Um first off, congratulations to Coach Salazar in the wrestling program. They received an IHSAA exemplary report recognizing them for the tremendous display of competitiveness and sportsmanship from all of them as they face Belmont. These actions reflect and demonstrate what it means to be a Wawasi warrior. CTE program held a discover CTE event at Wawasi Middle School. Director Tina Schmucker was proud of the CTE students that were involved. Um they were eager to share their experiences with the middle school students and were instrumental in helping every everything run smoothly. Mrs. Schmucker was equally impressed by how engaged the middle schoolers were and how well they followed directions. The first Discover CTE event was a success. I talked to Mrs. Schmucker the other day as well and they're planning
003a discover CTE um evening to go along with the discover wall uh event that happens I think in January uh January or February. So that'll be coming to the high school as well. Um Syracuse Elementary students will be warm this winter thanks to some generous donations from people and groups of the community. Students in need were gifted with hand knitted hats from patron Nancy Cannon. Thank you to Mrs. Cannon for her thoughtfulness in creating these handmade items for our students. The school also received coats and gloves from the Wallace Kowanas Club. Uh bottled water and snacks were also donated to the nurse for student use. >> [clears throat] >> Ball State Department of History professor Sheay uh recognized one of WA's own former students, Josie Sabin, as being particularly wellprepared for college work. Uh, Professor
004Sheay wishes to thank our staff for an excellent job they are doing in preparing highquality college students. Thank you to the chair of the Ball State University Department of History, Professor Morris, for taking the time and energy to reach out to us and share this with us. I think uh Mr. Walmer shared that with me, if I remember this correctly. um both of our first time ever getting something like that from a uh university in which we had sent a student to um that they contacted us and said thanks for how well they're prepared for uh Ball State University. Uh we appreciate the good work happening at Wallace High School. So that was pretty cool. All three WAWY early learning programs have officially been approved as LLE providers by the Indiana Family and Social Services
005Administration. This certification confirms that our programs meet all required state health safety and compliance standards for early learning providers. Uh this certification also ensures that we continue accepting child care development fund vouchers uh which many of our families rely on for afford donations were received from the following people and organizations people and organizations and businesses. Uh thank you to the Knights of Columbus for their donation of $830 to the Wawas High School girls. donation of $6,000 was made to WC Middle School Tribe Incentive Program. This program is a positive behavioral incentive program that allows students to earn tickets for positive behavior and redeem them for items such as fidgets, uh personal items, food, snacks, etc. They can also choose to save their tickets and redeem for even larger items like blankets or gifts for family
006members later in the year. Wy High School Super Mileage received $800 in donations from Debbie Lair, uh, Bert Engineering, and Northern Lakes Insurance. A $1,000 donation to the Wise High School band was made from Kevin Walker. The DECA Club received a $100 donation from Diane and Wendell Miller. Thank you to the Builders Association of North Central Indiana for their $500 donation to Syracuse Elementary for student needs. Uh, women of today made an $800 donation to Syracuse Elementary to help provide food for students over winter break. And thank you to Lassus Brothers for their $4,520 donation to the Angel Fund uh to help pay down unpaid student lunch balances for the students of Wall Street. >> That's good news. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Troy. Are there any questions? >> Then at this time, I need
007a motion to approve the good news items. >> Is there a second? Second. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Now is a part of the meeting that we set aside for patron comments. We [clears throat] allow each patron to have three minutes to address the board president. We would ask that you stand in front of the board, state your name, and if you reside in the district, and then proceed with your comments. Is there anyone tonight who wishes to make patron comments? Uh Kurt Hersy, Southeast side policy. I want to add to one of the good news items that I think has been overlooked just because it's been in the shadows for a while. Um, I've been a part of the
008building trades program, the president for over 20 plus years. And for at least the last 15, we have had our students give out um Thanksgiving meals every year. It goes to the uh schools. We we break it down. We work with uh New Market here in town. We pack a mini bus full of meals. We get uh uh anonymous names that need to be handed out. And then we take a day with our students in the classroom, pack these meals, get them distributed, and they go out. Another thing that we do is Christmas time. So, as soon as the Thanksgiving is done, Christmas presents happen. We have a form that gets filled out, and it's it's an outreach program that we do that we spend a lot of money on. Every year it goes anywhere
009from eight to almost $15,000 depending on what the need is. And so if you see the building trades kids, you know, thank them for it because we're taking time out of the class and out of the time to build the houses and everything like that and and they spend a lot of time there. We also get a lot of volunteers to help with the shopping as well. So um our board members, they go out, they take time out of the day, hours and hours. I can't tell you how many hundreds of gifts that we buy and wrap and and get going there. So I kind of want to add that uh Dr. to your good news items and uh it's it's something that we've done for a long time that just it's it's in the
010shadows of it, but maybe grab those kids to the side and and thank them for it because it goes a long way. The feedback that we get from it is tremendous, too. um when everyone comes back they we usually have some nice notes and stuff like that but uh it's a program that we funded and it's funded not through the school but it's funded through the percentages that we get off of the houses that we built going through there. So it's it costs absolutely nothing. So that's >> how long >> it I think it's probably almost 18 years now we've done that. >> Yeah. So yeah, um on average the the past couple years with the prices of everything has gone up significantly and then once people kind of got word of the program um
011we we we have a monitoring system to make sure that it's it's not being abused but it's extremely high compared to what we started with on that. So sometimes it takes two days just for the kids to wrap them in school. And and if you go into one of those boardrooms that we set up, it's mindboggling. But we have an entire system. It's a code system with numbers. There's no names. There's very few people have anything. But it's it's >> pretty neat to to see. So if you guys get time, we're we just did the Thanksgiving one. We're going to start our our shopping season here pretty soon. But if you get time, I'd recommend go in that room when they're doing the the wrapping. It's it's a lot >> and there's there's a lot
012of people that get involved with it, too. So, >> that's the the first thing I want to do. The other question I had is just a pool update, too. And it might be in report that you have coming down, too. So, I would I would just ask to see what the status of that is as well. Yeah, I um I sent um our people a text here this afternoon and asked for a pool update. Um specifically the tile work over Christmas break and the boiler uh were the two things that we talked about. Um we are going to be pushing back the tile work to occur um probably in April. Um that was going to occur over Christmas break and the pool is going to be shut down. So, we're going to have that open.
013Um, and we'll do the tile work later. Um, the boiler has had um some mechanical issues. I don't understand half of this stuff in here, but you probably will. Uh, it basically it's been tripping. Um, and there was um a two-way valve instead of three-way valves. And um we have primary engineering and core mechanical that are working on it. They have a short-term um solution for it probably a couple weeks and then I think longer term um we're looking at the boiler over at the old Milford school is actually relative in relatively good shape. Um and so we'd like to be able to bring that boiler from Milford over to uh the middle school for the pool. Um but that won't happen until um certainly the students are out of the old building and into
014the new building. So uh that's a longer term um solution, but we're we're doing everything we can to keep that uh operational until we get that solution in. Uh and then subcontractors have started working through the immediate punch list items. Uh and this work will continue through times in which uh that don't interfere with the swim schedule. Um and we'll pick up pace after the swim season. So um that's the update. >> So when the the pool's down, obviously the the swimming team goes to the high school. Do are we still working with Goan for the dive team? because right now they're kind of left out when the Wallace middle school pool is down. >> Yeah, I don't have the specific answers to that, but I would assume so. Um I'll check with Mr. Dodie
015and find out. >> Okay, thank you. >> Yeah, it's going to be open. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I know we had a like the first week it was scheduled to go down, but that's open now, so that's good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Awesome. [snorts] Thank you guys. Well, thank you for sharing that, too, because um as you said, um that's kind of in the shadows. I I you know, I tried to keep up with building trades and I didn't know you guys were doing that, but then I also didn't know that every sport does some kind of a service project. Like the wrestling team, I think, does something similar to what Building Trades is doing. So, I'm really glad you brought that forward. Uh that's exciting to hear. >> Yeah, it's it's really good. We've
016also had people throughout the years come to us and say, "Hey, we need CT. So there's there's a lot of stuff that happen with the money that we raise through the percentage that we get on the houses. We don't charge any money on labor. We charge money on materials and subcontract. funding for schools, our vans, our programs, everything like that. But then we also give our students at the end of the scholarship money, go on to school, they can take that scholarship money. >> No, thank you. Having been a part of that um before you can work your way up um Dr. Hy um having been a part of that I know if any of you are interested in shopping they're always looking for shoppers to go get get these gifts. So get in get
017in touch with Kirk uh to do that because they're uh they're always trying to find the last minute shopper to go out and get a bunch of gifts. >> Okay. Well, first of all, thank you all for for being part of one of the most important pieces of our community, right? Our kids and their education and their experience. You one of the big reasons a lot of us come back here is because of our childhood memories, our mentors, right? And Wesy High School, middle school, elementary school gave me some of the greatest mentorship that I I have ever received in my education. And so I come back to you all with that gratitude. you know, starting back here, I it coming back home was hard as a grown-up because you hear a lot of the
018challenges that we're up against. And again, when you have so much gratitude towards a system that gave you so much, it's hard to hear that stuff. And one of those areas I think that we're we have struggled in is is team sports and and what receipt and you know, people tend to point fingers, but when you look at our records, it's been an issue for years, decades, right? So the question becomes is how do we do a better job for our kids that are growing up here to be competitive, right? We may not be state championships, but how how do we be competitive? And so having been part of the Wawas Alumni Association, we started teaming up with the Lakeland Youth Center in the school to ask how can we do um a stronger approach
019for our team sports. And so we had a couple quick discussions and I think One thing that I would like to see is kind of that athletics discussion move into the realm of the workg groupoup sessions to include the youth center, to include our community, to include the alumni association, um to try to figure out a way forward to um improve our team sports overall. Um so that's basically what I'm here for. Again, I know academics should and always will take priority, but I'm hoping that we can carve out some time for how do we do um team sports a little more competitive at WC and I think I've got the Lakeland Youth Center. They're they're on board on having those conversations. I know the alumni association is I can't imagine the community is not
020>> right. >> So that's all I'm requesting here today. So thank you guys again. >> Well, thank you for being vested in the the WC alumni but also this process of of working on our athletics. Uh certainly athletics is what grabs the headlines. We'd like academics to be headline grabbers, but um it is athletics and so thank you and thank you for stepping up. >> Dr. Troyer, did you want to add anything or No, >> no, I mean >> I mean about the work session as well. >> Absolutely. Um we've been meeting we've had I don't know two or three different meetings probably here throughout the course of the fall. Um and actually during our work session on Monday, this this past Monday, um they had a group that was meeting um that were how
021many were there? Probably 10 plus >> 10 to 12. >> Yeah, it was a it was a pretty big group of people um community members, um the uh LYC folks, the alumni association people. Um Brent Dodie was in that meeting as well just trying to brainstorm and get some collective thoughts about what what are the next steps that we as a district but also we as a community need to be taking to u better more positively support ultimately the success of our athletic programs at the high school level. Um we have we have had um definitely uh pockets and periods of success but no sustained especially team success uh over the course of 30 plus years. And um I think we have a really invested group within the community that is very interested in making
022investments into our athletic program as an aligned system from youth sports up through varsity level sports uh at Wahi High School. So, um, in talking with them, we had a follow-up meeting, uh, last week. Um, and in talking with them, I felt like this would be a good conversation to bring into one of our work sessions. And they're really interested in going um, they're they're they're wanting to to take the next steps. And so I said, "Well, um, let's kind of pencil you in tentatively to our January work session, um, and get the groups here and they can present some of the ideas and the conversations that they've been having. So, I'm I'm really excited about it. I'm thankful to the group that they're wanting um they're wanting to move on it and and they
023want to see some definitive next steps. Okay, you know, what are what's going to happen? What are the next things? Who who needs to do what, etc." And um I think Brent and I both thank Ross last time we met that like hey we appreciate you guys willingness to take initiative and um and and keep it moving build some momentum. So >> we appreciate you both too. I mean you guys met with us and feel like we've already made some bridges to some of the challenges that we've already identified. So very grateful for that time. >> Yeah absolutely. We also had some uh additional conversations and you can feel free to sit down, but we've had some additional conversations about um gym space and we're working on um a platform that we can launch that
024kind of shows access to all of our gyms. Um when things are scheduled, when things are open, um I think it it's going to be helpful for a couple different reasons. um one being able to to identify and have some data that shows the use of our gyms and and probably a little bit more uh more broadly speaking our facilities in general. But um it will also help some of our teams that are desperate for gym space to identify if we have any areas that are open and available. It may be that they have to, you know, have a practice out at Milford or have a practice down at North Webster. Um, but those facilities do get use now as it is. So, um, yeah, we're putting together this system. We're hoping for a launch
025after Christmas, uh, as kind of a pilot and, uh, we're excited about that. So, there's a lot of good conversations happening about um athletics, youth sports, um and and really the the focus and emphasis has been a lot on trying to figure out how we as a district can help facilitate alignment from our varsity programs all the way down to the youth programs. So I think that's going to be one of the big um tickets for any chance of success is getting that alignment in place. So >> more to come at the work session. Sorry. >> So no, that's what I was just going to say Dr. H. probably um you would agree that your interest and your loyalty to Wallace stems back to your captaincy days from the WC boys uh soccer team. >>
026Absolutely. groups. >> Yeah. >> I Yep. Any other patron comments? >> Hi, my name is Brandy Barry. I'm actually an employee of Wawa School District. I am a specialed parah over at uh Syracuse Elementary. Formerly from two 2020 to 2024 school year. I was over at North Webster. And then from 2024 to 2025, I decided to take a break and started substituting. And I was a substitute all of almost all of last year, mostly over at Syracuse. I built a great rapport with the kiddos over there, with all of the teachers. Mrs. Brock is an amazing principal. I loved working for her and I just decided, you know what? I'm going to go back and be a parah. I decided that based on the fact that every year we would receive a raise and every
027year we received something at Christmas time because it was really hard that year, last year subbing. We got to Christmas time and January came and we're like, "Oh, I haven't been subbing and none of that." So I, you know, I was like, "We'll go back." back and then summertime hit and we got the email that we were all in it together and we weren't going to get a raise and we weren't going to get our Christmas stipen and I was like god dagger, you know what I mean? So, but I came back and I love my job and I love working for Karen Brock. She's an amazing principal and I love being a parent, but I'm not going to lie to you, it's crossed my mind a time or two to go back to subbing.
028It's a lot more flexible and I don't want to do that because I see the value of building the rapport with the students and being there as much as humanly possible as I'm scheduled if that makes sense to not miss hardly any days this year. So anyway, I just wanted to come represent the special ed paras because I know it's on the table about receiving >> a raise. So sure, thank you for >> No, no, thank you for coming. Yes, I think we'll have an answer. >> Any other patron comments? No. Okay, we'll move on to grouped action items. We all received these in our board packet on Friday and have had an opportunity to review. Are there any questions about the grouped action items? Then I need a motion to approve the grouped action
029items. >> I make a motion. >> Is there a second? >> I got a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. That motion carries. Next up [clears throat] is additional action items. First up under additional action items presented by Dr. Troyer is item 8A, the financial report. Dr. Troyer, >> Mr. Brokart, I don't want to call you out, but you did skip my superintendent report. >> Oh, I did. I'm sorry. >> I'll do I'll do that at the end. It'll be fine. We'll get Mr. Beasley out of here a little quicker that way anyway. But, uh, we can go right into the additional action items. Before Before we do that, Before we do that, I do want to, um, introduce our new transportation director, Mr. Jeff Drum is here
030today. Um, and he is planning to start, I believe, on Monday. >> Is that correct? Um, and Jeff was selected out of a um out of a hiring committee that included, uh, Mr. Bokart as a board member. uh Mr. Wireball and myself and then we had two of our bus drivers as well representing uh the bus drivers on that group and uh we're excited to offer um Mr. Drum that position. He uh accepted and was eagerly awaiting your approval. So that has been uh granted now through the group action items. So I want to introduce Mr. Drum and give you just a minute to uh say something. Tell us a little bit about yourself and u and uh why you're excited to be at Wise. I know you got some Wallace connections. >> My son
031goes to school now and then >> former student as well. >> All right. >> Welcome. >> Yes. Welcome. Got a Got a Wobb shirt already. Y >> yeah, >> we got him outfitted, right? >> Yes. >> We're excited for him to get started and um moving our transportation department forward and um establishing some stability and consistency for the next 27 years. So that for sure will be happening, right? Anyway, all right, on to the next items. >> So you are you sure you don't want to back up to your superintendence report? Let's get that. >> Okay, we'll we'll we'll do that. >> Um Mr. Dyson is in the uh room tonight. I saw him back there. Um and I spoke about this at the work session last week, but I know that uh several of
032you individual board members have met with Jeff. Um he and I have also um met a couple different times and talked about um communication needs, marketing, PR, etc. for the district. Um Jeff is definitely interested in taking a look at um what it is that uh we need um what it is that um some people uh want as it relates to that space. Um he has definitely some expertise in that area. um and is is um in the beginning stages of putting together a plan uh to bring to us in January uh that would um identify some of those things. So um just wanted to report out on that and uh I would anticipate that in our upcoming work session in January um that Jeff will be here to present some information and talk a
033little bit more about it. uh at that time, but wanted to uh continue to put that on your radar and make sure that uh we're aware of that that that uh we're in the process of building what that looks like. So, uh Jeff's um like I said, interested in coming on uh beside us as a consultant and um helping us identify what we need um as it relates to communication, marketing, and uh public relations. So Jeeoff, you want to add anything to that? That's it. >> All right. We'll have some more definitive information in January. Go ahead. Or did you not have anything? >> Okay. It looked like you were ready to add something. All right. The other cool thing I wanted to report out this this just happened today. So, uh, fresh off the
034presses, I guess. Um, earlier today, Mrs. Nathaniel and I met with Wawasi Middle School student Kendall Sheeran about her desire to put together a similar um students getin free uh plan for Wawasi Middle School athletic events. And I'm glad Mr. Hiles still sitting in the room uh because this will be uh something that I' I'd like to um bring to the alumni association to see if they would consider supporting in some capacity. Um she's done a lot of work on this and has been a main driver in getting the conversation going. Uh she's done some research on what that number would be if um WY Middle School were to be able to provide the same entrance for middle school students uh to events. Um they had I think had the conversation perhaps earlier in the
035year and um obviously you know we're past um about half of the events that would have taken place. So that number has come come down, but um as Jamie and I talked, we anticipate probably somewhere between $2 to $3,000 would cover uh the cost for the middle school students to get into events for the remainder of the year. Um and I'm really interested in working with our alumni association. I don't know if you've had that discussion or not, but it it seems um that it would um be a a perfect starting point anyway. Um, and then I'm also willing to explore uh other potential donors to see if we can put something together. What I what I said this afternoon was that I want to make sure that if we start this, you know, like
036Mrs. Nathaniel's really interested in seeing what what would this actually look like and you know what would be the impact in terms of the amount of students coming and does that um necessitate for example us to have more supervision at events or whatever. Um that being said if we're going to do it I want to see a path forward for us to continue to do it. um and I don't want to just offer it this year and then all a sudden pull that back and say, "Oh, sorry. We're not able to afford that or we don't have a funding source or whatever it is." So, um I think that'll take some conversation uh with some of our community partners to figure that out. But, um I definitely think it's a possibility. Um, and I told
037I told them today, I've got some um some donation money that's come to the district that if if it comes down to it, I think we can make it work uh even without outside sources and support, but we can't make it work forever. So, we've got to figure out what that plan is. Um, you know, looking forward into next year. and um I think the middle school students are really excited about it and uh and um they they want to be able to bring that program there. So Kendall would like to actually come to uh either our board meeting or work session in January. She's excited about doing that. Um she wants to talk about it and present a little bit of information uh about it. And so I told her that the January time
038frame um because of the short notice, the conversation happening this morning um I didn't think it was fair to ask her to be here tonight. So uh she would plan to be here in January. Um but I think it's a really cool opportunity. I think it's awesome that it's student driven. Um and um I want to offer my most sincere [snorts] thanks to her for advocating for herself and her classmates and Wisey Middle School. Um, and I would love to be able to see us work together to find a solution to make that happen for our middle school students. >> Well, I think when they have ownership in in helping to raise those funds, it becomes more meaningful and and becomes part of the culture of the school. >> Yeah. >> So, >> yeah, we
039need to reward that kind of drive. >> Absolutely. >> That's that's pretty exciting knowing Kendall is just spearheading. Yeah, it was really cool because she sent me an email here week or two, three, a couple weeks ago. Um, and her dad had reached out to me and said, "Hey, um, she's interested in contacting you. Um, just look for her email." And so, >> uh, I was finally able to connect with her, um, today. And she gave up a little bit of her lunch to come down and meet with us. So, it was really cool to see um see middle school students leading a charge on something like that. So, >> um kudos to her. >> Yep. >> That it superintendent report. >> That's it. >> Okay, then you can go right into the financial report.
040>> Okay. >> All right. I'll walk the board through our November 2025 financials. Uh you have the full report in your packet. Um, starting with appropriations and expenditures, our ED fund uh shows year-to- date the expenditures of a little over 21.2 million, leaving an unexpended unexpended balance of approximately 926,820 with about 233,000 encumbered already. Uh, we have an unencumbered balance of roughly 693,000. That does put us at 96.87% encumbered. um which is higher than we would normally anticipate after November. Um but I think this is uh another reflection of our first half of the calendar year and actually re realistically our first eight months of the calendar year through uh August um with our um revenues that were uh right at or just even a little bit less than what our expenditures were. Um and
041that was on a regular month and not on a three pay month. [snorts] Um so um that data continues to support the staffing adjustments that were made uh following last year. Um and you can see now that in the education fund, our month-to-ate revenue is higher than our month-to-ate expenses. Um meaning that the adjustments are working uh which is a good thing. A final note on our education fund. If you compare our beginning of the year balance to our current balance, you can see the differences uh there. And this further solidifies the point about the adjustments in our education fund. So, um I do know that on those monthly uh reports, you may look at that and say, "Hey, we're we're earning, you know, 200 and some thousand more in revenue than we are in
042expenses." Again, that doesn't account for the three pay months. So, in the three pay months, we still earn the same revenue and our expenses goes up by a third uh off of what's in a typical month. So that cash just like in our uh operations and debt service that cash accumulates it has to accumulate and then it gets dropped all in one swoop uh on a three pay month. So those happen twice a year. >> Just want to keep that in mind. But I I did look back at uh a revenue or a finance report from I think it was April and our month-to-ate revenue and month-to-ate expenses were almost exactly the same. So that didn't account for those three pay months uh in which those adjustments happened. Debt service continues to perform as projected
043uh with the remaining unexpended balance of 6.56 million uh which aligns with our payment schedule for the remainder of the fiscal period. Um we did just uh issue a bunch of wires uh for debt payments. So that will look probably significantly different u next month. Um, in operations, we have expended 8.37 million year to date. Uh, leaving just under 2.9 million in unexpended appropriation. Again, this is consistent with seasonal spending patterns and maintenance, transportation, and other operating costs like utilities and insurance. Uh, Mr. Beasley is going to talk about here a little bit. Um, a final point regarding operations. We do expect our semi semiannual tax settlement to arrive later this month. Uh so that will bring our operations fund balance up to uh up by approximately uh 3.2 million before the end of the
044year. So that's coming the other part of that tax settlement goes into our debt service fund. So looking at cash on hand, all four major funds remain in a strong position despite drops from beginning of the year cash balances. Uh all funds are able to support stable cash flow through the transition into 2026. At the end of the November, the education fund had 2.66 million, debt had 2.69 million. Um, operations had 2.65 million and rainy day remains unchanged at 2.46. Financial position remains healthy uh heading into the final month of the budget year. Happy to answer any questions, but otherwise would ask the board to approve the finance report as presented. >> Are there any questions? [clears throat] Then we need a motion to approve item 8A, the financial report. >> I make a motion.
045>> Is there a second? Second. >> Got a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 8B is consider endofear payment resolution. Dr. Troyer. >> Yeah, this was an item that we did not talk about at our work session last Monday. So, I want to give you just a little reminder as we do each December. I'm asking the board to approve the annual end-of-year payment resolution. Uh because revenue will continue to come in through the final business days of December. And because we will incur claims that must be paid before the end of the 2025 budget year, this resolution authorizes um us to process the necessary payments. Uh we will bring the full voucher register and any needed appropriation transfers back to the board at the
046January meeting for formal approval. This is a standard mechanism that allows us to close out the fiscal year cleanly and remain [snorts] compliant uh with any state deadlines and endofear uh transactions that need to occur. >> Questions? Nope. Uh we need a motion and a second to approve. Excuse me. So moved to So moved. Okay. Um and a second. [clears throat] >> Second. >> All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Motion carries. Item 8 C is consider selling obsolete equipment resolution. >> Yes, this this item uh requests board approval to dispose of, discard, or sell obsolete athletic equipment, including some gymnastics and uh old pool timing equipment. much of this equipment is significantly aged um and uh is no longer usable or no longer usable because we replaced it with newer equipment. Um
047this action allows us to clear space, maintain uh our standards, prepare for uh future equipment needs, etc. Uh the resolution has been reviewed and is ready for board consideration. We did add, just so you're aware, uh, when we originally released the board packet on Friday last week, it just had the gymnastic equipment, um, and then Mr. Dodie and I talked. Was that yesterday, Tammy, or was that Friday afternoon? I don't remember. Anyway, we talked and, uh, Tammy um, was able to pull that original resolution out and replace it with the new resolution, including the, uh, timing equipment. So that was reflected if you looked at it last Friday and said, "Hey, I didn't see that in there." Uh that was an adjustment made yesterday. So >> right, >> we do have uh buyers interested in
048some or all of that uh in various groups, but we need this action to take place before we're able to do that. >> So it's just going to be sold outright or there be an auction? >> Um it depends. >> Okay. >> Depends on what it is and um who it's going to uh there are processes. If we're going like a a state taxing agency um one agency to another or entity I should say one entity to another then we can make that just a direct sale. >> If if we're not doing that it either needs to go to auction or it needs to go to some um kind of like bid procurement process with an advertisement in the newspaper. Okay. >> Uh so it depends on who's going to buy it. >> Right. Questions?
049>> No questions. Then I'd entertain a motion and a second to approve item 8 C, the resolution selling obsolete equipment. >> Got a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Got a motion, a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 8D. Is consider non-certified staff compensation. Dr. Troyer? >> Yes. Thank you. Over the past month, we've completed a comprehensive review of our non-certified staff compensation. Uh, I am recommending a 50 cent per hour wage increase for all non-certified employees retroactive to the start of this school year with the exception of if they're not if they are a new employee, they will not get the uh they will that will only be 25 cents. I'll explain that. >> It's yeah, the longevity would be part of that. So,
050this includes the standard 25 cent longevity increase that you get from one year to the next, and it includes an additional 25 cent uh base wage per hour increase uh to help us remain competitive and support recruitment and retention across our classified groups. So, to your point, we had that coming. Um, and um, again, I just want to clarify if they're if they're a non-certified employee and they started this year, they will just get the base increase, not the longevity. So, for most of our employees, they'll get the full 50 cents. >> Um, additionally, I'm recommending that our regular route uh, oh, I want to also say I I did say it, but I skimmed through it pretty quickly. That will be retroactive to the beginning of the year. So, we'll go back and figure
051your hours based upon uh how much you've worked from the beginning of your calendar year, whether that was the start of school or July one for our year- round employees. And so, this first pay will include a lump sum um >> whatever you back. >> Back pay. Thank you. >> So, that'll be coming your way as well. Um, additionally, I'm also recommending that our regular route school bus drivers receive a $5 increase to their daily base rate. Uh, moving them from $100 to $105 before mileage. Uh, these adjustments will reflect uh market realities [snorts] and uh commitment to supporting staff members or keep our schools running safely and smoothly. So, uh, I would ask the board to consider those adjustments. Okay, >> questions. Nope. Then I need a motion to approve 8D, the non-certified staff
052compensation. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 8E is consider the discontinuation of the afterchool program. Dr. Troyer. >> Yeah. I want to make one more point about um about wages as well. We did bring up at um at our work session last Monday um the idea of taking a look at some wage adjustments for some of our in particular some of our um nonfully our part-time paraprofessional staff. I know Dr. Wilong has been doing a lot of work on this. Uh we'll hope to have something put together uh for you to consider uh at the work session in January and then maybe uh for action as soon as the January board meeting. um we're we're
053we're having to take a look at um the funding sources and where where how we're going to pay for that because it's a a reasonably significant impact on education fund and uh some grant funds as well. So, uh stay tuned for that as well. But we're looking at um at uh some plans to make some adjustments there. So, I don't want you to think that we haven't continued working on that. I didn't. >> Good. I [clears throat] know she's been every day I come in there's a different iteration of a plan. So that's good. Um okay, our afterchool program. Uh Dr. Wilfong talked at length about this at our work session um essentially discontinuing our afterchool child care program at our three elementary schools uh due to very very low participation. Uh we've been working
054with uh those families to let them know that the a change could be in the works and literally I think five students would be the potential impact because uh a handful of them are moving uh anyway and won't be in that program. But um if there are no other questions that we can answer, I would recommend um moving uh forward with discontinuing the afterchool child care school age program and approving uh Dr. Wilfong to put together the waiver submission to the IDE uh for the latch key waiver that we discussed at the work session. >> And just to rec this is an elementary only program. >> Yes, elementary. Could you recap those numbers again of the participants from each school? >> Yeah, one student at North Webster, four at Syracuse, three at Milford, and the
055three at Milford are moving. >> So, the five at the other two would be the ones. >> And to be break even, >> break even, we need 15 students per site. So, 45 students >> uh in that range, and we're eight. >> So, >> yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? Then we need a motion to approve item 8E discontinuation of the afterchool program. >> So move. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. That motion carries. Item 8F. Please consider the insurance renewal. Dr. Troyer. >> All right. Mr. Beasley has been waiting eagerly for his time uh as part of our annual insurance renewal. Scott Beasley is here tonight um and has provided a detailed update on our 2526 coverage
056proposal um overall looking at a 6% increase which is favorable given the claim activity for the year. Uh I don't want to steal the rest of his thunder but um we good news again in workers comp. So, I don't know. We just keep >> just keeps coming. >> Keep doing that. But, uh, I'll turn it over to Scott and he can update us and then after that we would ask the board consider approving the renewal. >> Okay. Does everybody have a copy? >> Do you need one? >> Yeah. No, I'm good. Yeah. >> All right. >> Yep. >> No, thanks, Dr. Troyer. Um, appreciate it. That's uh well said there. That's it's another good year with uh the renewal considering some things that happened throughout the year. Um, you know, some of it just not
057in our control. We had a uh wall fall down during construction. Uh I was actually told by my son, he's like, "Dad, what happened to the wall that was over there at the high school?" I'm like, "What? What are you talking about?" So, I drove over there in the middle of the night and it was down. So, um but anyway, that that's just part of that's why we have insurance. So, that was a pretty big uh payout on that. Uh paid out close to a quarter million uh for that. But we worked uh directly with Want went smoothly. Great to work with. Um they had engineers out. They just have to determine what um you know where it was, if they were at fault, who was at fault, but basically came down to you know
058the the the wind that we had. So So that was that. Um we got that taken care of. I think it went relatively I think smoothly from from everything on our end. Um so we also had some uh you know looking down the list um we had some auto claims. nothing too terrible. Uh you're going to have that with as many vehicles as we have and you know things on the road. Um we did have six auto claims. So when you're when you're looking at the total package um that I provided in the in the packet. Um I get it. Sometimes it's looking down there. It's like, "Oh man, why can't we piece the auto out? Why can't we put this over here?" It just doesn't work like that with, you know, if we were
059to tell Liberty Mutual, "Hey, thanks for your help on everything else. We're going to move that." They'd be like, "Well, we're not going to do the rest." That's just kind of how that works. But what they do with uh work with us on is okay can we find some uh premium relief on this side of the business which might be the property side or might be on the you know uh workers comp we have with a different carrier but um so when you're looking at that yes it's up a little bit but we did have the six claims to try to mitigate that. Um, so what what I do, we started working on this back in October. Um, and when we kind of put everything together and and and massaging everything and doing the best
060we can with, you know, dealing with Liberty Mutual, the carriers on everything. Um, there there's quite a bit of information that goes into it as you can imagine. You got the buildings, you have all the autos. Um, so working with Dr. Penrod, we got all the information we needed. Dr. Toryer, we had um, you know, so we we're on it early. We also went out to some other carriers. Um, I do this every, well, I mean, every year I feel like I need to, but if every three years I'm going to shop it out, see what else is out there. I'm sure you're all aware where there's not that many options for schools. I mean, you have you have some, but there's not there's not multiple carriers that are out there that are jumping up
061and down, right? School corporations. It's just the way it is. Um, Liberty Mutual has been one of the leaders in this industry for over 40 years. uh you know so well they they actually purchased Indiana insurance that was who it was but then Liberty bought them but um they're a phenomenal company uh when you look down coverage-wise what they offered um they do schools and that's kind of what I say you know I mean we're we're going to look at other options there's you know companies such as selective uh the handovers uh but once you get into certain property values they they kind of get out of that that space um I did talk to IPE in regards to the workers comp um we made it down about as far as my email with I'm
062like here's what we're working with. Here's the current mod and they're like we we can't we can't touch it. So, so that's good news. I mean, we do that just so we know. I wanted to know too. Um they contacted me. I reached out, had a meeting with them. They came to my office. I showed them and it was basically that was about, you know, that was about it. So, um which which is good news for us, right? We're in a good spot. Uh they've they provided great service over the years and and continue to do that. So, um, the biggest thing I will I'll end on the work comp because that's always the good news, but, uh, there's really no bad news, I guess. I mean, the the up 6% I was super thrilled
063with that in the market and what we're looking at. Um, you know, we've been seeing over the last couple years higher increases than that. So, when I got back the total package at 6%, I was absolutely thrilled with that. Um, and the the main thing that I would say is good news is we did have a big uh that was in March. We had a it's called Core Logic. It's a big appraisal company. That's who Liberty Mutual hires. Uh they came out, did a full appraisal of all the buildings. Um everything that we have. It was much needed, way overdue uh to do. It cost a lot of money to do that. Um so with Liberty Mutual, uh Dr. Pinrod and I decided it would be a good idea to have that done this this
064year. I think that was done in Yeah. March of uh 25. Um so that was done. Um did result in $64 million of replacement costs increase. Uh, so with that comes some more premium dollars, but the good news is getting more in line with building costs. As we all know, back in, excuse me, um, when the new elementary I I still call it the new elementary, I think it was built what, six years ago, but, uh, the price of that and then if we were to build the exact same building, uh, which you're all well aware, uh, was more than double what that cost six years ago, five years ago. Um, Kurt, you can attest to the the building cost and all that. So, we felt pretty imperative that it was like we needed to
065do this, get it done, get everything up to date. So, we did. So, it was kind of sticker shocked at first. It's like, oh my gosh, 64 million in property value. But, I will tell you, Liberty Mutual was unbelievable to work with on this because I was like, look, I mean, that's going to be significant premium dollars and you can look at the difference from last year to this year. It it was pretty good in my opinion with that. So, um so with that was 64 million. So, that brought our total building um we have everything on a blanket. So that means you know if we had a say we had the high school insured for 170 million and it cost and there was a total loss and it was 200 million to replace it
066we have a total of 294 million. So we would have the coverage that's why you put it on a blanket. Um it's it's it's the best type of coverage and the way to that when you have multiple locations how you cover how you cover it. So um that was the biggest change was that. So we went from 230 million to 294 million in property value. You can see that on there. Um, so we were able to keep that still at a at a um, you know, that was updated. So that was the biggest thing. But like I said, Core Logic, it's awesome. They have all these fancy uh, you know, drones and you know, all the all the things that come out. It's actually pretty cool. Um, you know, to see it and how they
067come up with it. So that was that was uh that was good. So that's that's the biggest change. Um, no change in any other like coverages. I won't bore you with all that unless you had any other questions. I can answer that. Um uh the other change when you're looking you will see the deductible on the auto. Um we had it at 2500, we bumped it to 5,000 to help a little bit. Um and uh from looking at that, um just the way it's done is if if we had a claim and it ended up being $2,000, I'd rather that be paid out of pocket because it's going to help us to have less claims on the auto policy. So we all know that. you've been, you know, handled your own insurance probably on that,
068but um not a huge change in that going from 2500 to five because if we had a claim for 2,800, I would suggest paying that anyway. Um so we decided uh between Dr. Pinrad and I and Dr. Troy are talking that a 5,000 deductible was was uh the right way to go. Um umbrella coverage has stayed the same. Um and you'll go down to the work comp. Uh it is literally I think I said this last year if you recall I said it's the lowest mod I've seen and out of all the commercial accounts that I have. Uh a 68 mod is extremely low. You can ask anybody in the insurance industry or if you own a business and you know anything about work comp mods it's fantastic. Uh when I first took over I
069believe this is my 11th year doing the uh handling the school's insurance and being a partner with you guys. Um when I took over the mod was a 1.65 which is horrific. Um, and that was one of the things when I when I first took over uh the school, we were paying 171,000 just for the work comp. And then you can see this year and now not a lot has chang, you know, slight payroll changes, but it, you know, throughout the years it stays pretty there's not a lot of changes in payroll. It's not like it's half of what it was or anything, but you look at the premium. We're at $63,000. I mean, it's it is unbelievable. And that's why when I showed it to some of the other carriers that inquired and when
070we're looking around, they're like, "Uh, yeah." I mean, we're not going to touch that. So, that's the good news. I mean, so the mod dropped down a little bit to 66. That is with Summit Insurance. We moved that, I believe, three years ago. Um, they're phenomenal. Um, that's all they do. They're monoline work comp carrier. Um, I have a lot of other businesses with them. Uh, so they're great to work with. Claims have been great. Um, so I don't see any need to, you know, uh, to move that around. So, that's in great shape. Um, we had we had a great year with claims on that side as you can tell. That's why the mod dropped a little bit. So, we're in really good shape. Um, work comp keeps, uh, performing well and it helps
071the overall package and, you know, so that's good. But, uh, I appreciate it. If there's, is there any other questions I could answer on the insurance or something I missed or I know it's everybody's favorite thing to talk about. So, >> I appreciate the work you put in, Scott. >> Really? >> No, I appreciate it. It's uh, yeah, like I said, it's uh, uh, We're I'll be in contact with you, too. So, if not, if uh if not, you know where my office is. Uh you can come find me. I'm right behind McDonald's. So, you and I will be working a lot together and and in my staff. So, um there's a lot of buses, a lot of things, but um we we'll help you through everything. I mean, it's uh you got questions, we'll
072help you answer it. Uh you can come down to my office, we'll we'll have everything. We can go through it. So, so I got it on your side on that, but you and I will work a lot together because that's a big piece of what we're what we're doing. So, No questions. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you guys. >> Thank you, Scott. >> Yeah. >> Every year, Scott, I try to get you up towards the front of the agenda, and I don't know what happens between what I say and what >> It's true. >> Yeah. >> Anyway, if there's not any other questions, uh, we need a motion to approve our insurance renewal. >> So, move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. And all in favor signify
073by saying I. I opposed. Motion carries. That brings us to other items. I guess one other item I would have is the um holiday repairs pay the the um the number of weeks I think that our pairs go without is that going to be >> so that [clears throat] we're not doing a midyear stipen this year. >> Okay. Okay. >> The reason we've done a mid-year stipen at different points, especially the last couple years, is because there were a per there was a period of time in which our um pair of professionals would not receive a paycheck, >> right? I knew that >> they still may have benefits coming out like if they're on our health insurance plan, >> right? >> Um but this year, the first week of Christmas break is on the one
074pay period and the second week of Christmas break is on the next pay period, >> right? And so we don't have to um account for there's not going to be a a pay that is missed, right, >> for those folks. Okay. So >> yeah, that's that's all that's what I was wondering. >> Last year that happened and that was one of the reasons why we chose to do a stipend >> last year rather than um pay a pay raise, right? Yeah. >> We we look at that every year and evaluate, okay, how's this going to match up? >> Sure. No, >> makes sense. Yeah. >> Any other items? Now I need a motion to adjurnn. >> Is there a second? Got a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I
075opposed. Motion carries. Thanks everybody for coming.