11-3-2025 Wawasee Board Work Session

001Oh my god. >> You guys ready? Okay, it's 5:30 and I would like to welcome everyone and call to order this special meeting of the Wise Community School Board of School Trustees. On the agenda is the tentative teacher collective bargaining agreement. Dr. Troyer will explain the terms of that tenative agreement. Dr. Troyer. >> Thank you, Mr. Brokart. Um part of the process, the collective bargaining process in the state of Indiana includes walking through um a few formal steps. Uh at the beginning of the process, we had a pre-bargaining hearing if you remember back to I think August uh was our pre-bargaining hearing. Maybe it was September. Um and then once we come to a tenative agreement with the teachers association in terms of a contract uh we are required to um post that contract on

002the web uh which we did as of last Friday afternoon um and then uh we're required to have a tenative agreement meeting um which is this particular meeting. Uh no action is taken um during this meeting but we do present the terms of the contract uh and that has to occur I believe no less than 72 hours prior to the board um taking it for consideration for ratification. So uh this is one of those um legal requirements as part of the collective bargaining process. Um and we will present the terms of the contract and then we'll have a period of uh public comment on the proposed contract. Uh and then u barring any u changes we would ask that the board consider the uh collective bargaining agreement next Tuesday at our regular meeting. So I

003will um provide a quick summary here. Um this is the proposal overview uh compensation um which is typically the uh thing that people take a look at the most. Uh first and foremost we were um required by statute to raise our starting teacher salary to 45,000. So we will be doing that for this contract. Anybody that is less than 45,000 will go up to 45,000 regardless of how much less they were. Uh and we do that through what's called a teacher retention catchup. Um the updated salary schedule or the salary schedule was updated. Um and uh to summarize kind of in short, there's some things at the bottom end and some things at the top end that are outside of this, but for the most part um everybody receives a $1,650 increase from where they

004were at last year. Uh we were really pleased to be able to do that um because uh for the last six to eight months I've been um talking about how we probably weren't going to be able to do something uh in line with that. And so I was I was really happy uh to be able to do that. Part of the reason for that is the state um increased the funding formula uh with this last legislative session. Um and we didn't lose very many students in our student count. So it when when the formula increases that generates more revenue. Um the last number of years for us typically that's been offset by a lower number of students. Um and so maybe we haven't been able to realize the full increase that the uh formula uh

005changed but in this particular case we were able to realize a good portion of that. So that was good. Um we also are required to do a base increase for anybody any teacher that is in possession of the literacy endorsement. Dr. Wolfong, when did that change? Two years ago, a year ago. uh this she this year uh two years ago but it didn't we didn't have to do it until we got a ratification of our new contract. >> Correct. So the the state changed the a requirement for any teacher teaching uh elementary reading that they had to be in possession of a literacy endorsement by 2027. >> Yes. And um then this year in the legislative session they uh accompanied that with a base increase in salary as well uh for that. So uh we

006settled on a $200 increase and that will happen year after year. They won't go backwards. It's not a one-time $200 increase. >> That will add up over the course of time. >> Not related to the contract, but how are people how are our teachers coming with obtaining that? because there's got to be a >> yeah difficult >> I haven't I haven't looked um I haven't updated it yet this year. There were quite a few uh teachers that obtained it this summer. >> Um but there if they have to have it re by the next time they renew their license. So uh if student or if uh teachers have a 10-year license and they're planning on retiring, let's say in seven years, they they don't need to get that endorsement. So, uh, some some teachers I

007know have just elected to, uh, not obtain the literacy endorsement, um, because by the time they would need to renew their teaching license, it would if they'd be retired. >> Right. Right. >> But I I will get that number for you for next. Great. Thank you. >> Next meeting. >> Okay. Um, also we did a top of the scale stipen. Um, and I'll talk a little bit about that, but essentially the top of the scale was not adjusted last year in the second year of our two-year contract. They did receive a stipen. So, in order for them to um get a total compensation increase off of uh where we were at where they were at last year, um the adjustment in the salary schedule would have only offered them an additional $150. So, we increased

008or we gave them an additional stipen of $350 for them to go up for total comp uh $500 from where they were at last year, which included the base salary and the stipen last year. So, uh our health insurance premiums are increasing 3% um for 2026 and um we've had minimal to very modest increases over probably the last five years. I think may maybe we were one or two percent prior to the two-year contract and then we were 0% increase for the last two years. Uh and we're back into a 3% increase still. Um there are places that see a much more substantial uh health insurance premium increase. So 3% on that. Um we are also we built >> guys. Go ahead. What what do you what do you I I'm I thought I understood

009but now I'm not sure I do. Our premium went up 3% or we're giving three more percent. Or we're offsetting by 3 more percent the increase of 3%. >> Our premium was raised 3%. Okay. >> From last year. >> Okay. >> So they'll pay 3% more. Right. Both on the district side and on the employee side. >> Right. Okay. Right. Um, we were able to come up with a uh what we're calling a retirement incentive. Um, and I see that Mrs. Jones is here as well from from the WCA. So, if I misspe, Kim, please correct me, but I think this was one of their priorities coming into negotiations um this year and trying to get something um kind of back into the conversation related to retirement. Uh essentially what we're going to be doing

010is providing um some insurance coverage that will continue beyond when the um employee leaves WLC for retirement. So, uh, I think I spell this out on the next slide a little more in depth, but if they were to stay on our insurance plan at a at the employee plus spouse, um, then they can do that for one year and if they have single coverage, uh, they would be able to do that for three years at no cost to them. So, uh, we will cover the cost of that, um, through our healthy self- insurance fund, which is something we've talked about, uh, before. And then there were some, uh, smaller changes, miscellaneous changes. So, again, starting teacher salary up to 45,000. Um, these are kind of summary numbers, if you will, so they're not specific. Please

011don't quote me on that, but uh essentially if someone was at the very beginning uh beginning teacher contract at 71750 and they go up to 45,000, that's a 7 and a half% increase. U for the early career teachers, I'm calling those people that were over 45,000 already. If they were under 45,000, they're probably getting a little bit higher of an increase. But for that that first uh couple steps, it'd be somewhere around three and a half percent. Uh and for those near the top, and I'm not including the very top that received the stipens. Um uh but those were about two and a half% increase. So, uh a teacher possessing the literacy endorsement will add $200. Um so whatever row they're on uh let's say row 11 bachelor's 58400 their base salary would be 58600

012and that would remain that way um into the future. Any teacher in the 12 plus and 20 plus levels will add on an additional $350 stipen. And also just want to make sure uh that people are aware with any of these um pay adjustments because it's been a couple years since we bargained um we do a retroactive pay back to the beginning of the school year. So um and and we'll um do that with our non-certified staff as well. Um, so anything that we would determine to be a pay adjustment, they'll get a uh kind of a back pay and that will come I think on the November 26th. Is that the right date? I think um that pay. So all right, health insurance 3% overall premium increase. Um, and then I kind of explained

013the um the uh retirement incentive type of plan just so you're aware so the board's aware uh because a number of you were not on the board when the last time we did a retirement incentive. Um historically at WC those have been funded um like out of rainy day or they've been funded using some miscellaneous uh revenue. We wanted to stay away from that just because of where we're at um uh with our our fund balances, etc., our financial situation. Um but we do have a very healthy um cash balance in our self- insurance fund. So, we're leveraging that cash balance to fund this incentive uh which I think is a great way uh to do that. So, we it won't cost EDF fund any money. It won't cost rainy day rainy day any money.

014Um, and we'll use our self- insurance fund to to pay for that if that makes sense. >> Yes. We figured out that our insurance >> Yeah. the the employees aren't paying the full 3% increase. In other words, they're not paying 100% of >> the 3%, >> right? >> That we're we split that 7030 and it's gotten a little skewed. And that's what Kim's alluding to there. So, >> yeah, the the actual rate increase is not not a ton for like a per paycheck increase. >> Yep. All right. some miscellaneous changes. We did um we we have some scenarios where um a teacher may have a class and then they take on an additional class to provide coverage if we can't find a sub. >> Um in those scenarios, we are going to add a little

015bit of pay for teachers that are in that situation. We have not done that prior to this. Um, historically we have paid teachers for taking for subbing for a period during their prep, but that didn't address um, uh, teachers that are taking on additional students into what uh, in addition to what they already have. So, a little adjustment there. Um we did as part of our conversation for the teachers at the top again to to recap um the the top of the scale teachers would essentially get a $500 raise that 350 stipen and the 150 added to the base. Um and as part of and and everybody else got at least 1650. Um so we did um decide to add a longevity personal day. Um so anybody that has 20 plus years of experience so

016they would meet that top of the scale um uh component and then also those who have been at WAC for at least five years would uh earn an extra personal day that they could either use during the school year or they could sell back at the end of the year as part of our leave buyback program. So, um, we did we updated a few ECAs, uh, added, removed, updated some positions. We worked with, um, WCA and district and building leadership to do that. That was, uh, actually it worked really well this year. Um, it was the first time that we've kind of all been on the same uh, page and in the same document with with requests that were made. U,, so that was a nice process, which was new. Um and then um we

017had some informal conversations as not part of the collective bargaining agreement um to do some purposeful staff appreciation uh things that will be scattered throughout the year. Um and we're going to um use some of our miscellaneous revenue like uh potentially interest revenue that we earn um maybe um you know revenue that that that would come in through other means. um to help do some staff appreciation things. So, um one of the things, for example, that we're talking about is um getting um a pot of money um for each uh staff member to be able to per purchase some WOW gear. So, um shirts, sweatshirt, that kind of thing. Uh and so we'll be working some of that out um and talking with our WCA leadership. Um as an additional note to that, again, this

018is not part of the the collective bargaining agreement, but um it was important through our discussions that we include all staff, not just teachers in that, so we'll be lumping them in as well um to get some WC gear. So that um is something that that we talked about and I just wanted to bring that up and point it out. So uh our next steps will be a public comment period immediately following this. Uh we had the TA the tenative agreement posted on the web uh and then the board will consider ratification of the collective bargaining agreement at your regular November 11th meeting. Kim, am I missing anything? Did we hit the high notes? I pulled a lot of this information from their uh slide deck that they u shared with their teachers last week.

019So any questions and then I'll address these last two things here if there are aren't any questions from the board. Go ahead. So obviously state law I saw that that they have to we have to starting base has to be at 45K. >> Yeah. >> How many teachers jump from A to B? >> And I guess my follow-up question with that is because obviously if you don't know the number we can get that later. I just was looking at it where >> because it's a state law did they fund that? >> Do you you see where I'm going where we're gonna Okay. I have my answer. I'm just trying to I'm I'm looking to confirm here because, you know, I understand that we're compliant with state law and we did the right thing, which is

020100% I agree with and I I do agree with with all that, but I was just curious >> how you follow where I'm going where they're telling you one thing and so we're not going to compensate you for the other. So then we be we have to become magician and all that to make sure that this all works out. So >> So to to a couple points that you made, number one, there was an increase in the funding formula. So, to that end, you know, part of that increase, I suppose, could be said for, you know, could be used for getting our teachers up to that $45,000 threshold. Um, but there was nothing that was specifically set aside for schools to um get the minimum salary up to that point. Um the thing that was

021in my opinion the most frustrating about that 45,000 [snorts] which I'm I'm grateful that we were able to get it there. Um I'm sure there were places or are places that aren't going to be able to. Um but the thing that was most frustrating is that the law was signed into law like in late April or whenever early May whenever towards the end of the session and it was effective July 1. And so we had mere months to try and figure out how to do that. Whereas if we would have had a little more time that would have been helpful, but um we were able to get it done. So we're we're happy about that. I do think we still have some more work to do on the on our um beginning teacher salaries uh

022to stay competitive. And so that's going to be an area that we need to continue to focus on and address in coming years uh in in moving that up upwards. So, um, you see a lot of a lot of districts even around the state that are that are pushing or at um the $50,000 mark. And so, I think ultimately that needs to be our goal over the next couple of years to try and get there. So, >> uh, did I address all your >> Yes. >> question? Absolutely. >> Well, that's interesting, too. Effective July one, but bargaining couldn't start until >> Yeah, that's correct. also. So, it was it was a goofy dynamic that we had to work through. But, uh oh, to answer your question about the number, Kim, help me if I I

023feel like 10 to 15 maybe were were the ones that were and >> yeah, it wasn't a ton. >> I'm trying to think of that spreadsheet. >> Yeah. still a good >> Yeah, I I mean obviously I support that 100%. The really where my aim was where hey we have no issue of complying with your law. Are you helping us with that law? And to your point, Dr. Troy, yes, there's an asterct there to that law to say, hey, we actually increased funding. However, when you start breaking it down and dividing it, you realize like where did that increase actually go? So, um, okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um, so our next steps beyond the public comment, um, which will happen right after this, we typically, so first off, it's been a

024couple years since we bargained. So, you know, some people either may not be aware of this or may have forgotten. Um but historically at Wawac and I think at a lot of places um the first thing that we try and get done is our collective bargaining agreement with the teachers whether that's a one-year or two-year contract. This year we just did a one-year. Um the last time we bargain we did a two-year. Um and then we will shift our attention to non-certified compensation and any admin compensation. Um, we have not done a non-certified kind of base raise adjustment in a couple years. That's not to say that there hasn't been a non-certified increase in compensation. Um, the 25 cent an hour longevity stipen has um happened the last couple of years. Um, and our plan

025would be uh that definitely we'd like to get that done and we're working on that. Um, but we'd like to do more if we can in that as well. But also the last couple of years we've done a uh decently sized stipen that occurred um after the holidays and two years ago that was $1,000 and last year that was $500. So, um you know those those have been fairly significant um things that we've done. They haven't added to the base salary, but um that's what we've done on the non-certified side uh the last couple of years. So, again, we'll have um something put together. Um and Dr. Penrod and I have talked, I don't want to say briefly, we've we've talked a little bit about it, but the majority of our attention has been on

026the on the CBA with the teachers. Uh, and so we'll have um some information. We'll look at what we're able to do and and get that uh to probably present and discuss at our next work session in December. and then looking at a December um consideration for non-certified compensation adjustment. Uh regarding administrative comp, um historically uh at least the last few years um we have um given administrator raises equivalent to the teacher raises. Now, I will say um prior to two years ago, uh we had a formula that that um the administrative raises were based upon um the teacher salary schedule. Um and a couple years ago, we abandoned that. Uh it was either last year or two years ago, we abandoned that and just did whatever the raise was for the teachers. the administrators

027got the same dollar amount. Um, that being said, this year, um, I am going to be recommending to the board that we not do an administrative raise at all. Um, and that any of those funds that we would have allocated to administrative raises would be uh, used for our non-certified uh, raises and compensation structure. So, um that that will be my recommendation even though I don't know that we'll have a formal recommendation uh for you to consider. It will just continue uh as is but that would be my recommendation to the board unless you direct me otherwise. >> Refresh my memory too. The timing of the stipen is based for our nonerts because of the way payroll >> Yeah. the last few years we've done that stipen to occur at the so the the two

028weeks of Christmas break is a pay period and so that pay following Christmas break that we pay for those two weeks >> um the there are no hours so for our hourly staff there's no hours earned during that pay period but some of them have benefits that they have to pay for so like if they uh are on our insurance plan for example, they have to play pay the employee portion of the uh health insurance during that pay period. So if we don't do something during that pay, then they end up owing us money to pay for the benefits that that are taken out during that pay. >> Uh so the last few years when we've done that stipen, we've made it on that pay. Uh so that those um that that basically they that

029covers their uh benefits, >> right? That's what I I thought that's what that >> So our intention would be to do the same thing if we do a stipen to do the same thing. If we don't do a stipen, we'll need to figure something out, right? >> Um because I believe that pay period is still those same two weeks, right? when it's split. Sometimes we get it so that like the pay period is the last week of school and the first week of break and then the first week second week of break and the first week of school back >> then that that can cover the benefits, >> right? >> Um but when it's the full pay period over break then >> yes, >> it puts our uh nonerts in a bad spot, >> right?

030It does. So >> anything else? >> That's it. [clears throat] Comment? >> Yeah. Any other questions? No. Okay. Then are there patron comments regarding the 2025 2026 teacher collective bargaining agreement? No. Okay. Then we need a motion to close the special meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. This brings us to the work session u part [clears throat] of this evening and I'll open up the meeting by first of all thanking everybody uh for attending. I missed the last work session as I was out of town. So this is going to be a little bit new to me. Also want to spend uh a couple of minutes recounting recounting the last couple of weeks,

031toot my own horn. Um I've been in Utah the previous two weeks uh with my bride celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary which was um really cool thing. I um thank my wife for those getting us getting me to 50 years. She a lot of training going on there. Um she's not done yet. [snorts] [clears throat] However, the day before leaving, I was able to attend the beam signing ceremony at the Wise Performing Arts Center along with Mr. Lyens and Mr. Fowler. We were rained out the day before, but what a beautiful day it was to share with the students of the band, the choir, and the performing arts departments. The students gave a countdown and as the beam was raised, a beautiful crescent moon was almost perfectly aligned with the beam as it was being

032bolted into place. It was prophetic that days after that ceremony, the Wy High School band went on to win a state championship. Kudos. Before going on to patron comments, do any other board members wish to comment before proceeding? >> Nope. Okay, then we will I'm sorry. No. >> Yeah. Okay. Then we will move on to um the general patron comments. Mr. Bokart, while we're waiting for that, um Mr. Ba, I do have the answer to your question. There's 18 total teachers that would have been less than the 45,000 threshold, including the new ones that we hired this year. So, 18 total under that 45 that had to come up. >> Thank you. Yeah. Okay, not seeing any patron comments or hearing any. We'll move on to the finance report. First up is I believe maybe

033I'm jumping the gun here, but education operations fund transfer resolution. Dr. Penrod. >> Yeah, actually I'm going to take this one. >> Okay. >> Um and kind of walk you through uh some things here on this and then we'll open it up to uh discussion. So, um, before we get into the specifics of our education operation funds transfers, I want to, um, take just a minute and kind of walk through why we even do that. >> Um, I think you, the board, understand that, but, um, perhaps there's some folks in the audience that don't don't understand that or um, or at least want some further clarification. So, um I think somewhere 2018, 2019, somewhere in there, um the state uh changed um the way that funding happened and um at that time then they allowed

034for a transfer of funds between education operations fund to take place. Um, part of that was due to the fact that there were some things that were at the time in general fund, uh, which is what turned into the education fund, um, that came out of the general fund and went into operations, but the money did not come along with that. And so essentially uh you saw that there were some positions that were added into operations without the funding to follow. So the state said okay rather than change the funding structure we will allow districts to transfer money between the two funds. So the education fund is uh essentially the revenue um inside of the education fund is derived from the state funding formula. um almost exclusively it's it's not 100% but the the very

035large majority of the money that is generated in ED fund comes from the state tuition uh tuition support um operations fund then is um almost exclusively funded by uh property taxes, local property taxes um outside of again some miscellaneous revenue sources including transfers potentially um And um uh so so the the legislature put a mechanism for money to transfer back and forth between those funds. It can go both directions, but it almost never goes operations to education because that's not where the um the need typically is. Uh typically it's ed to ops. So um transfers have to be approved by the school board. Um so at our last meeting um we had put before you a resolution to consider uh any future transfers for funding year 26. Um and that then is that broad approval

036that is necessary for us to be able to make those transfers. Um, and then the transfers are reported uh annually in a excuse me, semiannually in a report that goes to the department of ed of how much money um goes from education fund to operations fund. So that information is available if people want to see it. Uh, and it's um they typically do those in a January to June and July to December uh report. Um, the IDOE advises that transfers should generally not exceed 15% of your state tuition support. Um, and this is kind of all over the board. U, districts get to choose how much they transfer based upon what their needs are. Uh, and again, you're allowed to go up to 15% of your total state tuition support. Um and the reason why

037this may may need to happen uh one of the other reasons in addition to the salary moving but the revenue not following it is that our operations fund is capped at in this case in this year's case uh 4% growth by the MLGQ. Uh MLGQ is a maximum levy growth quotient. So it essentially says that no matter what your budget is, no matter what your needs are, the operations fund cannot grow any more than the MLGQ. Uh for this year, that's 4%. So if we wanted um to to increase our expenditures and operations up to, you know, 15 million instead of uh 10 million or 12 million, um then that isn't allowed because it can only grow 4%. So if inflation or employee salary and benefits or any other costs inside of the operations fund

038grow faster than 4% that the operations fund is allowed to grow then there's no mechanism by with by which we can generate those additional dollars. So, um, you know, we talk about fuel costs, for example. Now, fuel costs have been, you know, a little more reasonable the last year, year and a half. Um, but if they were to grow 10% in a year, or if our, uh, insurance costs were to grow 10% or whatever the number is, we can't levy for any more than 4% total growth in the operations fund. And so, we would have to have a mechanism to address that deficit. and that could be done through transfers. So, historically at Wawac, we've approved a transfer resolution in October. Now, this is very small writing. I realize that, but I went and pulled

039the uh the resolution that you approved in October of 24 for calendar year 25 um out of uh board book. And then this uh the one under 26 is the one that we put before you last month. Um the one these are basically the same except for one reasonably significant difference in the 25 um resolution down at the bottom in the bottom bottom paragraph. It said uh Wawasi um that the board authorizes the superintendent and or director of finance for Wawi Community School Corporation to transfer an amount up to 15% from the education fund to the operations fund. So if we were to transfer a full 15% that'd be around $3 million. Okay. And in calendar year 25, we're on track and we will hit we plan to hit a total transfer of $250,000. So

040the board authorized in the resolution last fall to transfer up to 15%, but that didn't mean that that we had to transfer 15%. So in the resolution this year, we tweaked that. instead of going up to the full 15%, we just said up to 750,000, which has been a historical number that for the last three or four years we've used up until this uh current year. And so we felt like, okay, rather than authorizing a a huge number that we don't need, that we don't anticipate needing, we'll bring that down to 750. That's what we've done historically. And maybe we don't have to do 750. maybe we do 250 um like we did this year. So, here's some historical information just for your so you know. Um in 2019, the total transfer amount was $2.8

041million from ED to ops. They were transferring $250,000 a month uh for the first half of the fiscal year and then they did a more of a like a lump sum transfer maybe one or two times in the second half of the year. 2020 that went down to $2 million. There was not necessarily a standard month-to-month transfer amount. Uh it was more random and they did larger bulk transfers. I say they because I wasn't the superintendent uh during 2020. Uh I became superintendent in January of 21. Um in 21 we transferred $1.4 million. Again, this was kind of a random uh transfer. I believe it um the bulk of these happened um like either midyear um like in after the fiscal year was completed or at the end of the calendar year. Uh so again

042there wasn't a month-to-month transfer. In 22, we dropped that down to $750,000 and we established this $62,500 per month transfer. And we tried to make that a more regular transfer just to help with cash flow purposes. Uh and so we stayed that way for 22 uh 23 and 24. 23 and 24 were on track to be 750,000. Um but we did 11 months of those transfers. Um, and I didn't go back and verify this, but I'm assuming we didn't make the last transfer in the month of December. Uh, so again, 62,500 per month for those two years. And then for this year, calendar year 25, uh, we dropped that down to 250,000. And if you recall, the reason that we dropped that down is that we had uh some education fund um discrepancy between our

043revenue and our expenditures. And we felt like that the operations fund was in a little bit better position to um handle not having that 500,000 than taking that 500,000 out of education fund in addition to the losses that they were already experiencing. A lot of the losses that were um the education fund was realizing was due to a large drop in enrollment a year ago of uh whatever the number was 115 or so uh students in one year. So that was that was a big loss. Um and so we dropped that transfer amount. So just to give you some comparisons which again this may or may not be important. it it it may be um you know, okay, it doesn't matter that we're in the bottom 10% of transfers. Who cares? I do think it's

044worth at least taking a look at what other places are doing. So, in 24, we did our transfer amount of se uh 6875. The statewide median that year is 850,000. Uh the state average was 1.8 million. Now, I give you both of those, what do they call those, Shelley? uh statistical >> descriptive statistics. >> Yeah. But what anyway, you can't just look at average because um Carmel for example transfers $18 million from their ed fund to their ops fund. Um and and so you also have to look at median. What is it? Central tendency. >> Yes. >> Uh anyway, so you look at median also. that's kind of the very in the- middle uh the numerically in the middle uh indicator as well. So, and if we look at our actual transfer amount for 25

045um then that puts us at the 20 we're 29% of the median transfer and 14% of the average transfer. Typical rural districts um transfer anywhere from 500,000 to 1.2 million. um the 687,000 is approximately the 24th percentile. When we drop that down using 2024 data of our 2025 number, that's somewhere in the range of 8 to 10%. So that's a little bit of an estimate. Um but there was a we did reduce that transfer by 64%. I say this to tell you I I think it's important to understand just some context to the conversation as well. So, it's not just as simple as we'll stop doing the transfer and then and then we'll figure it out later. I think I think we've got to be um we've got to be there's some contextual factors there.

046So, um and finally, this piece then this is us um compared to some other districts around us um and that are kind of in our same size range. So, you know, there's districts around us that are big um and there's districts kind of in our area that are in the same size range. So, we tried to to provide some comps there as well for you. That's a total transfer amount uh per millions of dollars uh along the axis at the bottom there. So, you can see those. Again, it may or may not matter um you know, when it all comes down to it. Every one of these schools has a different um financial situation and WABC is not unique in that respect. But uh I do think we have been historically very low on our

047transfers of education to operation fund and we've also been historically pretty high on the amount of money that we've spent out of our education fund on teacher salary and benefits. So, I think it would be very much a a um a well-purposed argument if we had a very high transfer to ops and we had a very low percentage of our um ed to of our education fund on teacher salary and benefits. That would be a no-brainer. Hey, something's out of whack here. But um that hasn't been the case for us here the last few years for sure. So, I would be happy to answer any questions or certainly turn it over to you for discussion on the issue. Um, Brandon and I have talked and we'll do whatever the board wants to do. You'll you

048can take action on a resolution next week, right? >> Uh, if you choose and we can change the resolution as it was presented to you at the last meeting or we can keep it the same or we can table it and you not do any resolution. If we're going to transfer money, we do need to have a resolution um at least available. And I showed you those two resolutions just to show just because you authorized the trans uh the transfer doesn't mean we have to take it. And and that would be something of course that you would oversee as well uh through your um through your oversight duties as a board. So, if I understand, we authorized 750. Last year, >> last year we authorized up to 15%. >> Oh, the total up to 15%

049but we only took 250. That's what it was. Okay. Okay. And if we would do less than the 750, like let's say the the 250 that you threw out there and we would for some emergency or for some other reason we'd need more, we would need to just do another resolution. >> Yes, correct. If I understand correctly, Brandon, um that if we got in a situation where we need to do more transfer, the board could authorize an additional resolution um to cover that. It just there there has to be time in order for that to happen. So, you know, if we only have one board meeting a month in which action is taken and we need I can't think of a scenario, but we would need an immediate transfer. If we don't have the authorization

050there, then that transfer can't happen until further authorization is granted. There is no resolution. for 250,000. >> Would we be looking at >> makes sense? Would we be looking at regular monthly payments or we would just go back to a more random where we would um take from the education fund as needed up to whatever we I mean ultimately we can use whatever strategy you deem fit. But the reason we went to kind of regular monthly transfers was because for for cash flow purposes. Like I if we're if we know we've got to transfer 250, you know, we could just wait until the end of the year or do that at the beginning of the year and just transfer it all in one fell swoop. But the from a cash flow standpoint, it's easier to

051just make that a regular >> transfer. Now, I will also add that um that the transfers that have happened this year have been have been regular at times and not as regular at other times. So, we've lumped more months together uh you know into one transfer. So, um, it that that at at the end of the day, it matters by the end of the year what we've transferred, >> but we can do it any way that you'd like to see done, >> but you'd have to be a little bit cautious as far because you you can go education operations, but so if you overestimate how much you want with monthly payments and there's more in there than you need, you can't put it back. >> Is that correct? >> Well, no. that I shouldn't say

052that's correct. You can you can transfer money the other direction, but you'd also have to have a resolution to be able to do that. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Other questions >> really want to focus on this thing. this this the more I keep reading the more it goes down else's rabbit hole. I think a lot of us have already seen that. So just I just got to process this. I I get it. Totally understand it. Follow it. It'd be interesting to see the last 60 months, five years because it's not just us. This is low. This is this is other school districts are all facing. I read this the uh the one article about one school that's consolidating because they are way over and it's it's almost frightening on public education. So

053just making sure I'm I fully have my grips on bearing on it. That's a I got to process that more. There's not there's no question here. I'm just looking at >> So what what is your feeling on transferring uh 250? Um, I think if I had to give you a recommendation, I would ask that the board authorize a transfer of up to 250,000 and that we continue to analyze that over the next couple of months and determine is that something that we have to have or can we approach that maybe a little differently. Mhm. >> Um, but it would be nice to have the authorization there if >> so we don't have to come back in the moment and >> we don't have to come back again. >> Yeah, >> I think that would probably

054be my recommendation. I think that's what Brandon and I have talked about mostly. Um, >> so my my fear is this. If let's say we've been transferring um 750,000 over to operations and then we reduce that to 250 or we reduce that to nothing and then uh some of the legislative changes uh with Senator enrolled act one hit us and now all of a sudden oh we realize we do need a little more support from education to operations than what we've been doing. At that point then it becomes difficult you know like it it's not that it can't happen because it can and it can happen pretty quickly but do the dollars that are associated >> with the do the dollars that are kind of allocated for transfer in the education fund now get tied

055up in something else >> and then when we need to start that transfer again or if we need to start that transfer again does that become problematic in terms of untying those dollars up? Or maybe we can't and maybe we um have to start losing cash to support that transfer or we have to make cuts to support that transfer. Sure. Like that's the thing that I'm worried about from a from a U management standpoint is >> those dollars. It's kind of like our conversation related to tax rate that's been going on the last couple of months. Like if we give up those dollars, then at some point if we need them, are those dollars now attached to something else and not really available for us to bring back into the conversation without some pain in

056other ways? I think that's that's the piece that I'm worried about. >> So it's been written as a 15% less every >> yeah except for except for this current year it's it's been typically 15% resolution >> what's written as most recent 750 >> 750 >> so every time you've never touched the capacity limits >> that's correct >> what is your target this year I mean give me a range zero hopefully zero to >> zero to 250 probably. >> I mean, I'm fine with we can we can pressure you a little bit by squeezing 500 or something. I don't mind giving you some room there. I also don't mind you saying we have an okay cash balance. We see how legislation hits us >> and maybe we do none this year and then I think our

057cash is probably okay to make a response knowing that I think it's okay to make a tight when you have the cash balance to be tight and then I mean I think it's I don't I can be talked either way. I think we're still really responsible >> in any of these ranges we're talking >> but you know we do have a decent cash balance. I think there's too in any of our funds. >> Yeah, I I agree with you Andy. I think um as Brandon and I have talked process through this, we feel comfortable that the operations fund can sustain not only a a loss of transfer revenue but also you know whatever is going to happen with the SEA1 impact >> because we have a healthy cash balance there in the operations fund. >>

058We want to be careful though about letting that slip too quickly, right? and then all of a sudden we have to make an overreaction in the other direction, >> right, >> to try and get our operations fund back to a a good spot. And so I think taking a conservative calculated approach to it is probably the right thing to do given the fact that we don't know what's going to happen completely with with the tax impact on the operations side and and the the education fund doesn't have to deal with that piece from a tax impact standpoint the way that operations does. So the the ch the legislative changes only not I don't want to say only but specifically targeted our tax funded funds >> and so we we want to be cautious about how

059we deal with that. I could be on board with authorizing 500 750 with and this is just trust with this year with the the goal for you to minimize it minimize mean zero great >> you know what I mean? >> Yeah. Um, again, I think one year of being really conservative there is okay legislation hits us pretty hard on the next our next budget session. >> But I mean, I'm okay proving the number with the challenge to you to say, you know, and I think I honestly think 250 is pretty responsive, but if it can be lower than Let's let's let's strive for that. Yeah, >> that's that's something also we can and I think we'll have to talk through what that looks like, Brandon, exactly, but like we can make that more in the

060past the the board has authorized up to a certain amount and then you know we've basically transferred the amount that the the board has said you know okay 750 that's fine let's just transfer that's that amount. We can bring that conversation into the public board meeting if if you would rather authorize those transfers before they happen. >> Um then I guess >> we're not I'm not going to go to micromanage. >> Yeah. >> I think you're gonna what we're trying to say. >> I don't think that needs to be think understand if we leave that money in there. >> It doesn't go back to the state within Yes. The ed fund can be used within our school. >> So So did I hear you throw out 500? >> Yeah. I mean, yeah, let's have a

061discussion. I don't I don't think these >> for me. >> Yeah. Go ahead. For me, I like the idea of 500, but then for the monthly, just keeping that to where it averages at 250. But knowing that we have that extra 250 that we can use if something drastic does happen, we don't have to come back and wait a month and a half to >> do another revision. I don't anticipate a scenario where something would be so drastic that we have to immediately start transferring more money. I that doesn't just sneak up on us for the most part. But but I do like having the flexibility, you know, if we see if we see our cash balance dropping on the operations side by, you know, x amount per month, then it's like, okay, well, we

062we probably need to support that. Like like that's what's so helpful in my opinion about the the cash bal the end of the month cash balances that we give you in your um in your monthly financial reports. Like that's a very easy metric to understand and I think one that I've over the years have come to really understand and value more than I did at the beginning when I when I didn't see the full picture as much. But if you see, for example, our um operations cash balance dropping by $75,000 a month and you see the education fund cash balance growing by 50 or $25,000 a month, then then that's a a metric that you can say, "Oh, okay. Like we're not transferring anything or we're transferring a low amount. Maybe we need to consider

063something a little bit more." like >> that those are metrics that we can watch on a on a monthly basis and kind of feel that out. if you're seeing uh if you're seeing our for example I I pulled some information um to look at we've been transferring 750 we dropped this year to 250 does our end ofear cash balance kind of correlate with that and so for 22 23 24 shelides a lot of So these are our cash balances for for the end of year for 22 23 24. We don't have that for 25 yet. That's coming here uh soon. But we've been transferring 750, right? And and basically what you saw on the operations side is that our our cash balance wasn't growing a tremendous amount. It was pretty much holding steady. Meaning that

064on the operation side, we were using that $750,000 to for operational expenditures, >> right? >> Because if we weren't using it, you would see in theory that number growing 750 every year. Okay. If we see in 25 that number fall by let's say 500,000. We transferred 500,000 less in 25 than we did in 24. Oh, that's a number that we need to pay attention to. So, I'm going to be curious to see from my seat where that cash balance is at the end of this year because that's going to be an indicator for me of okay, where are we at with transfers? So that'll be important metric for us to take a look at as we get to December or to January I guess is what is a cash balance for operations that is healthy

065but not >> the one thing that I'll add and take it for what it's worth I I would tend to put that percentage a little bit higher on operations because our costs are a little more volatile. So the the the costs that cost of fuel, cost of um insurance rates, cost of those kinds of things, they're a little more volatile and they can jump up or down. Same thing with cleaning supplies. It's a little more inflationbased in our operations fund than it would be in the education fund. So, I would like a little bit bigger of a buffer if that makes sense. We can plan our education fund costs a little more strategically just because a lot of that's devoted to salary and benefits. That that doesn't change. >> And I don't know, as far

066as utilities, is that going to impact operations with the new performing arts being on? >> Yeah. bringing in more square footage and and also having to clean like we're going to have to add some staff >> for those new spaces. >> And until the old Melford school is gone, it's like double utilities, correct? Yes. >> So, you're comfortable still with the 5,000. you already figured that in those the performing arts and and >> in the operation side those utilities >> we're comfortable where they are where they're at right now >> I don't know that the transfer conversation I I don't know I just want to see how it plays out >> sure right >> anything else so I guess I don't know if this is the right phrasing I guess we would direct you for

067the next board meeting to come with resolution for 500,000. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Correct, guys. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> We will update that resolution. >> Great. All right. Let's move on to the learning report. Dr. Wil, >> thank you very much. Uh I have two things to discuss in the learning report. Uh the first one is deals with our on-site federal grants audit uh as a part of our ongoing compliance and and accountability for federal funding. The Indiana Department of Education recently dis uh conducted an on-site federal grants audit with our district. These audits are routine and are designed to ensure that schools and districts are appropriately using federal dollars to support student learning and to meet the program requirements. The review covered four major federal programs that we operate, including title one, two,

068three, and four. The audit team consisted of four members who were on site across the district. Uh prior to their visit, we submitted extensive documentation demonstrating how federal funds are allocated, monitored, and used. Uh I will tell you that that uh the the form that they filled that we sent us uh was 60 pages long. That doesn't include all of the documentation that we had to send. That was just telling us what we needed to provide them. Uh during the on-site portion, they conducted interviews with district leaders, building principles, and staff. And they also visited school sites to observe the implementation. Following their review, we participated in an exit interview where they shared several positive observations about our district's work. They noted that we're doing great things across the district with clear evidence that funds

069are being used strategically to support uh teaching and learning. Our processes are thoughtful and purposeful and they genu genuinely drive what we do, not just compliance for compliance sake. Uh so they took all of our documentation and went to site visits to see if what we were saying was what we were actually doing. Um they um they also noted that our the district seems to have a role that is supportive rather than dictative empowering buildings to make data informed decisions. Professional learning is intentional and grounded in data demonstrating a strong link between identified needs and the support we provide. Our teams are open to giving and receiving feedback which reflects a healthy and collaborative culture. They also commended our plans and procedures for school safety including the unification reunification training we had last spring. Said

070a lot of schools uh school districts uh just kind of not talk about that at all or if they do talk about it they talk they just talk about it. we actually did reunification um drills. Uh finally, they highlighted our career and technical education programs and uh especially those that align with community needs such as our marine mechanics program which stood out as a strong example of relevant community connected learning. Uh overall, it was an affirming visit. While we will receive a written report in the coming weeks, the feedback reinforced that our systems and practices are not only compliant but exemplary in how they connected connect federal resources to meaningful student outcomes. So, um, no board action is required. Uh, this is just forformational purposes. Do you have any questions about the on-site visit? >>

071Is this public or is this specifically for us internally. >> Uh the findings. >> Yeah. >> Um when the report comes out, I can I will share it with you guys. >> No, I mean what I'm saying is does the normal public ever see any of this? The exit interview because these are these are powerpoints. >> Typically not. Um it's it's um something that they conduct one to make sure that we're doing what we say we're doing with those dollars >> and um >> and then we we will get a report in in a couple more weeks yet uh of what they call findings of things that we need to to change. They said we won't have any major findings. Uh all of ours just deals with some documentation. Uh but they were very uh

072complimentary of our of our uh plans and um the use of funds that we have. >> How long were they here? >> Pardon? >> How long were they here? >> They were just here for a day. A day. >> There were four of them. >> Um they did on-site visits in two of our schools and um some school um personnel. Um they talked to the SRO, they talked to some of our other uh support staff um here at central office. So all four of them were interviewing different people. >> Sure. >> Yep. >> Much good news. >> It's good news. Okay. Now for some more good news. Um this uh slide is a summary of our grade 10 PSAT results um that we just received back. Um >> educ educational jargon. PSAT is >> uh

073sorry. Um this is the um it it is the test that is given in um typ it's actually 11th grade 10th and 11th grade typically 11th graders um before they take the SAT some people call it the preat uh but it's actually um stands for um preliminary SAT >> okay >> um but it's um it is aligned with the SAT >> so Um this slide uh shows the 23 24 and then the most recently the fall 2025 uh scores. Uh so the line on the left shows the mean overall uh PSAT grade 10 score. Our district is represented by the green line and you can see that we've had a consistent steady growth each year. Uh while our scores remain slightly below the state and national averages, the gap has uh narrowed over the three-year

074span. Um the positive trend reflects our on ongoing efforts to align curriculum, increase academic rigor, and strengthen instructional practices in literacy and in math. in the upper right grid um graph, excuse me, you'll see that the mean evidence-based reading writing, which is um also called the um EBRW. Uh these um three comparison groups, district, state, and nation show similar upward movement. our district's growth trajectory uh matches the the state and national trends. Again, um suggesting that what we are uh working on uh with literacy is um continue we're slowly continuing to improve in that area. The lower right graph uh shows the mean math scores. Uh math performance has shown slight but consistent improvement across the district. Um and math does continue to be an area of focus particularly in reasoning and problem solving standards

075and uh but the data does suggest that we are um we are definitely staying right in line with uh state and national averages. Uh also I want to make note of the national average and why the national average uh may seem a little bit higher than [snorts] the state uh state average. Um the state of Indiana is one of only a handful of states that fund the um PSAT for 10th grade students. most uh most of the time in most of the states uh PSAT is uh reserved primarily for juniors uh because they take that's the um when students qualify for the national merit scholarship qualifying exam. So that's what this uh what the PSAT is as well. Uh on the next slide you'll see uh this highlights our percentage of students uh 10th grade

076students meeting the college board's benchmarks uh for EBRW and math. And these benchmarks are designed to predict college readiness and indicate whether a student is on track to meet the SAT college and career readiness standards by the end of high school. And so the chart on the left here shows the percentage of students meeting both meth benchmarks, both the evidence-based reading and writing and the math. And our district has shown a rebound from 24 to 25 after a slight dip. U although our district's overall percentage remains below the state and national averages, there is uh some upward movement uh which is a positive indication that our efforts in literacy and math are starting to take hold. Um the top right graph represents the percentage meeting uh just the evidence ba uh evidence-based reading and writing

077benchmark and you can see that we have had strong year-over-year uh growth and in fact we are just slightly above the state average in in um the reading and writing. The bottom right graph shows um the math benchmark and you will notice that we we had a dip in 2024 similar to in the reading and writing uh and math does remain uh remain a key focus uh particularly around problem solving and application standards and uh we are continuing to work on uh ways to uh build our students math um skills in that area. So um again just to to reiterate the district PSAT10 performance is trending upward in both uh reading and writing and math and we are closing the gap uh with the state national average and um this data will help us with

078um determining how strong students will perform on the SAT. So they they take this as a sophomore. Uh in their junior year they'll take the SAT. Um so uh next year we'll see how how well they do there. So the PSAT is done in the fall. The SAT is done in the spring. So uh this year's cohort we'll know how they do on the SAT next spring or next a whole school year. Um year and a half basically. Um this is just for uhformational purposes. You don't have to um take any action on this. It's just for your information. So you have any questions? >> Yeah, I do have one. Yes. >> Um you mentioned in the math I think you mentioned it twice. Um that it shows weakness in I think you said problem

079solving and >> Yeah. So this test actually does help us inform. It does help us pinpoint where we may have some weaknesses in instruction and we can make adjustments. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yes. And um >> so what what would be some other categories? Problem solving and the other one you said but like computation skills, >> computation. Yeah. I mean all all of the all of the things. >> Yeah. Okay. Story problems. Whatever. Yeah. I don't know. >> Yes. Um the the the interesting thing is and and I haven't I just received these scores um not too long ago, but um we have our eighth grade I learn and then they don't have anything in ninth grade. So, so we have math from third grade to 8th grade and then we don't they don't

080have any um uh any standardized assessment uh state or national standardized assessment in ninth grade and then in 10th grade we have the PSAT and then and then the SAT. So, um I have not um taken a look at this cohort um and how they've done when they were in eighth grade. Mhm. >> Now, it's a little difficult because you're dealing with an iLearn assessment and to a PSAT assessment. Two different assessments, >> same cohort but different assessments. So, um there's some statistical stuff I'm going to do when I I get the time to see how how they did and sort of how is that gap um in ninth grade. So we can kind of get some clues as to uh the strength of our ninth grade math program and how we can um how

081we can um help our students that way. The other thing that we have to remember is the PSAT and the SAT are um are there to measure a student's college readiness >> and all of our students are taking this. So we do know that there are some students who do not want to go to college. they have no desire to go to college and um they want to go into trades or or some something like that. So um we do um you you also have to take that into consideration as well that um >> they have no motivation to try. >> Yeah. Yeah. Like here's a test I got to take and it's it is a very long test. >> Uh they take it all in one day. Um this is the first like I

082learn can be done over several days and they have as much time to do it as they want. the PSAT is a solid, you know, three hours of time. So, it it does take a lot of um stamina to to take this test as well. >> You mentioned school states that fund it. >> Um I don't um actually I tried to find that information uh last night and I could not find how many states actually fund it. >> I'd just be curious to see That national number was eight states. >> No, the national number. So >> I would like to Yeah. I don't I do not know. >> There are kids that are taking other states that they're geared up for that. >> Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. And um and also these are just our sophomores

083taking it. >> So uh that's u that's another u another element to uh to this data. But these these this this these numbers are comparing comparing 10th graders to 10th graders across the nation and across the state. >> Uh I did not do the juniors because those that um that data is really skewed uh PSAT because most most juniors only take the PSAT if they're looking to get scholarships or be in the NA national merit uh scholar um conversation. >> Most juniors are probably taking the SAT. Most juniors now take the the SAT. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, that does it for my board learning report. >> Okay, Dr. Troyer, superintendent report. >> Yeah, thank you. We're going to start with the early learning center. Um, so Mrs. Trimble is here tonight. I'm going

084to give her the uh the clicker. Um, and so we uh I think I brought up our early learning center program at our last work session. Uh, and I asked uh Trisha to put together a report for us so that you could better understand one I think um what the program is, but also uh what are the sustainability um options that are there for us with this program and what does this look like? What how does it serve our schools and our community? So, Trisha. >> All right. Thank you. Um, first and foremost, I'd like to thank the board and Dr. Troyer and Dr. Wolfong for the opportunity to speak with you tonight about the Wavesy Early Learning Center, or as we like to call it, Welk. Um, before I begin, I want to offer

085a small apology because I can't promise that I won't get a little emotional um, as I go through the presentation. It's not because I'm nervous, though I'll admit I am a little bit. Um, it's simply because I'm just very deeply passionate and proud of the work that we're doing at Welk. Wh Did I go the wrong way? Dr. Wolf Hong, [laughter] >> thank you. Um, so Walk was established in 2020 through a grant at a time when Kaskco County was experiencing a child care desert. Um, what began as a small program has quickly grown into something truly impactful. Um, I keep doing that. I'm so sorry, guys. Um, today we serve 50 preschool students, 16 infant and toddlers, and 12 school age children. Of those 78 students, 15 of our children [clears throat] of Wawasi

086teachers or staff members. That's something that we take great pride in as it shows the trust our own employees place in the care we provide. I did. Okay. On top of those currently enrolled, we have four WASI teachers or staff members who are expecting babies around Thanksgiving. And each of them has already enrolled their child to start in January when we return from Christmas break. And if that alone doesn't show the impact Welk has on our community, we already have two more expecting families who have reserved their spots for the 2627 school year along with some additional preschool spots. That kind of commitment from family speaks speaks volumes. It tells us that our program isn't just meeting a need. It's building trust, stability, and a sense of belonging for Wabasi families who want the very

087best for their children right here in our community. Um, when people reach out I'm so sorry that's not the right slide. Oh no, I do apologize. We'll just go. Um, when people reach out to learn more about Walc and realize that our classrooms are located right inside the elementary schools, they often say how wonderful it is to have all of their children in one place throughout the day. That convenience and sense of connection means a lot to families and it's one of the things that sets our program apart. We've heard for a while now that WACI has experienced a steady decrease in student enrollment. Although that hasn't been directly connected to our program, it's something that weighs heavy on my mind. Um, it makes me think of what the future of Welk might look like

088as well as what Wabasi might look like without Welk. Um, so I'm a big sports person, so just kind of allow me this little analogy. If Wahi is the varsity team, then we're the feeder program. Um, we are helping build a foundation of the future students and families who will eventually fill the classrooms, gyms, and stands of this district. I bring this up because while 5 years ago, Costco County was considered a child care desert. That no longer is the case. Most local school districts have now established their own early learning centers. That means if we were to scale back or if families lost the option to have all their children in one building, we could re risk losing those families altogether. Families who want to be a part of Wawasi from the very beginning.

089Um now I want to take a moment to acknowledge the financial side of our program. We know the number one question that probably comes to mind when we when looking at our budget is if we're operating at a deficit, why haven't we raised our rates? The truth is while currently offers some of the lowest child care rates in Koskasco County. That's intentional. We understand that fam the families we serve, including many of our own staff members, rely on affordable, reliable care in order to continue working with our schools and members. and they rely on affordable, reliable care in order to continue working within our schools and communities. Raising rates would create a burden that could push families out of our program or even out of the workforce altogether, which ultimately hurts both our community and

090our district. Um that said, we also recognize that the financial land landscape is shifting. On October 29th, each of our sites received notice from the Indiana Department of Education awarding us a high quality early learning curriculum grant for the 2425 school year. While this award is a is used oh sorry is a wonderful opportunity, it's important to note that these funds are restricted. They can only be used to purchase approved highquality instructional material and related professional development. These funds cannot be used to offset operating costs, payroll or other day-to-day program expenses. At the same time, we are fa facing significant headwinds f uh financial headwinds. The Indiana Family and Social Service Administration has announced that no new child care vouchers will be issued until 2027. And the state has implemented reimbursement rate reductions of 10

091to 35% for providers under the CCDF. and on my way program, preschool programs. These changes directly affect many of the families we serve. Fewer new families will be able to access voucher supports and some of our current families will see reduced assistance, both of which reduce the tuition re revenue that we depend on. Even so, I think it's important to share that our numbers what our numbers look like right now and what they could look like if we were over operating at full capacity. So, as you see on the screen here, um these were our based on our financial reports in September. Our expenditures right now are $249,968.99. Our revenue was $273,827.38. So, while we do have a deficit, we are making some of that payment back. And I think Dr. Troyer even mentioned at

092the last work session that that has decreased by $100,000 in just over a year. Um the progress reflects both the demand of our program and our dedication to keeping it sustainable for the long term. Our goal isn't just to maintain what we've built. is to ensure that families well in I'm sorry that Welk remains a strong affordable and trusted program that continues serving Wawasy families well into the future. So if we look this is what we could look like at full capacity. Um it would mean that we would have 16 infants and toddlers at $175 a week. That's an annual potential of $145,600. At preschool, we would have 60 students at $150,000 a week for a potential revenue of $468,000. And the grand total at 76 students would be 613 oh, I'm sorry, $613,600. I

093am not a math person, so I do apologize. Um, and that big number is obviously without expenses. That would just be what we would bring in. As a nonforprofit, we really want to stay like right at the black level. We don't want to lose. We don't want to gain. Um, we want to remain committed to transparency, responsibility, and thoughtful stewardship of every dollar we receive. Whether it's through tuition, state support, or grant funding, every financial decision we make is driven by one simple question. How can we best support the children and families and staff of Wawasi? Um, the impact of Wel goes far beyond child care. Every day, we're building the foundation of future WBC students, not just academically, but socially and emotionally. Our classrooms are built on the high scope curriculum which focuses on

094active hands-on learning and helps children become confident, curious problem solvers. We also use conscious discipline which supports children in learning how to manage their emotions, build strong relationships, and develop empathy, skills that benefit them far beyond the classroom. But the impact doesn't just stop um with the children. Our families tell us again and again that Walt gives them peace of mind. knowing that their little ones are receiving high quality care and early education just down the hall from where their older children attend school. This allows parents to stay focused at work and stay connected to our district. We've seen firsthand how this strengthens relationships between families and the school long before kindergarten even begins. And then there's our staff. Passionate educators who pour into the hearts into their hearts into nurturing nurturing and teaching our

095youngest learners. Many of our teachers have had their own children attend Welk or still have little ones enrolled in our program. That says so much about the trust and pride they have in what we do. Our team shows up every day with patience, creativity, and dedication. Making sure every child feels loved and safe and ready to learn. I think we already looked ahead. I do apologize. Um, as I wrap up tonight, I again want to thank each of you for giving me the opportunity to share about Wabasy Early Learning Center. Um, transparency has always been incredibly important to me. Um, and I want you to know, I apologize, guys. I skipped an entire section. Is it okay if [laughter] I go back? I am so sorry. I don't know what happened. First, my slides were

096out of order and now this. >> You're doing >> Oh, I appreciate that. Um, yeah, I'm I do apologize. So, one of the things that I did want to um recognize tonight is that as I brought up earlier, many of our surrounding districts also have early learning um centers. They actually use some of their district's education funds and other um internal revenue sources. While Welk, on the other hand, operates primarily on a tuition and external funding um it brings in. That means every dollar we receive is carefully stretched to meeting staffing, supply, and facility needs while keeping our program accessible and affordable. Um, additionally, we are proud to partner with our district's developmental pro preschool program to serve four children with identified special education needs and exclusive classroom settings. Um, the district does receive special

097education funding for those students and it may be worth exploring whether a portion of these funds could be shared to help offset the staffing and resources cost associated with their participation in our inclusive classrooms. Um, I believe Dr. Troyer had mentioned if we needed more like actual numbers, he would be able to locate those for us. Um, so as we continue to grow and strengthen, well, I would encourage the board and district leadership to consider exploring similar avenues of support for our program. Um, even a modest uh assistant from the district funding sources could have a meaningful and lasting impact, helping us maintain affordability for our families, retain quality staff, and continue providing the level of quality and care that Wawa families have come to depend on. So now as I wrap up tonight, I

098would like to thank you again for giving me the opportunity um just to share about WAVY Early Learning Center. Um again, that transparency is incredibly important to me and I'd like to continue to have the opportunity to do so moving forward. Um I want you to know that everything I've shared tonight comes from a place of honesty and deep pride. pride not just what we're doing at Welk but by the meaningful work happening across the entire Wawasi district. Um I truly believe that Welk represents the best of what our school stand for that care connection and community. We are growing future Wasi students, families and educators. My hope is that as a board and as a district, we continue to see and value the impact of this program, not just as child care, but as

099an investment into Wawas's future. At this time, I'd like to open the floor for any questions you might have. I'll do my best to answer each one, um, but also in full transparency. Um, I just want to say that I am fairly new to some of my leadership roles and so if I don't have an answer for you tonight, I promise to get it to you just as soon as I can. >> Thank you. Although I did skip around a little bit. I appreciate that. >> Well, I would say um first of all, thank you for taking the time to come. >> Um and and you did fine. It was great. uh appreciate all all of your um when you when you started um you talked about being very passionate >> and that's very obvious

100that that you are very passionate about it >> and that's very important. It it's um very important role that that >> our early childhood learning centers do also >> um you're not only passionate but you mentioned pride and that you take great pride in it and and that's a powerful >> thing and you should feel proud of what you're doing >> incredibly powerful our staff. I do have one question. It would be I don't know if it's I asked maybe two years ago when we were first exploring the early learning centers and I don't know if you have any uh new data data, Miss Dr. Wilong. >> Are we still seeing gains on the kindergarten I don't know just not kindergarten entrance exam? appreciate you bringing that up because that's a note I wrote down

101here that I was going to to mention uh after questions. But uh we just finished up um our universal dyslexia screener which uh is a beginning of the year assessment given to all kindergarten first second graders. So, uh, just this the sa this morning I went through and um looked at students that went through WELK um in now they are kindergarteners and then all the other uh kindergarten students and the Welk students outperformed the um the other the other group um there I think there were 17 um students uh something like that that that came from wealth that are now in [snorts] uh in our elementarymentaries. Um and so um yes, they're they're they continue to to perform at or above uh students that aren't in our prek program. Uh a lot of that has

102to do with the the curriculum. Well, obviously the instructors, but uh the the high scope curriculum they use is uh based on it's evidence-based on uh cognitive science that is developmentally appropriate for students of that age. So, when you go into one of their classrooms, you're not going to see them sitting at desks. You're not going to see them doing worksheets. You're going to see them doing developmentally appropriate activities for prek students. So, um, it's preparing them for kindergarten. It's not just a mini kindergarten, mini first grade. Um, so, so I, um, uh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I hope that if you guys have a chance to visit one of our prek classrooms, um, that that you can. It's, um, it's some great stuff that they do. >> Pardon?

103>> Contact you or >> if you email me, we would love to set that up for you. Um, our preschoolers do not know many strangers. So, they stranger danger. >> Yeah. They have no problem running up to you and they want to know who you are. And so, I think that would be really wonderful for our preschoolers to see. >> Okay. you guys. >> Uh the other the other thing I would like to mention uh that that as has an impact, not only does it impact our staff that have students in the prek program and it it also um impacts um our high school students uh because our high school students are able to get a work uh work placement um in uh Welk as well. Mhm. >> Um and Trisha is going to be

104working with um Hannah at the high school and with Tina Schmucker uh with our CTE program to develop more ways in which our high school students can use career pathways and workbased learning to embed our students into um uh into the uh well program as well. >> Right. >> So beneficial for both. >> Yeah. So, it's helping our students, it's helping our staff, it's it's helping our I guess just to say it's helping our uh our students going into kindergarten, it's helping our high school students, and it's helping our um our staff as well. >> Yeah. And and adding to that then, when it comes to our high school um students, you were just talking about the PSATs and how some students are just completely unmotivated to even go to college. Um, one of the

105benefits that I've seen by having these high school students join us is it gives me the opportunity to explain to them, you know, if we decide in the long term that they might be a good candidate to then become staff of Wabasy Early Learning Center, we partner with with what is known as the teach scholarship. It's affording right now seven of our 12 teachers to get their higher education degrees in education. And so it gives me the opportunity to not somewhat mentor these high school students, but just explain to them, is college not on your plate because you can't afford it? Then let me tell you how you can because the teach scholarship right now covers 90% of their tuition going up to their associates degree. They pay for 5% and then Walt pays for

106the other 5%. I've never had a teacher pay more than $26 a semester. >> Yeah. Um, and now the teach scholarship goes all the way up to their master's degree. But once you go to that level, then it drops from the 9010 to 8020. But still, I don't know how many people can get their master's degree only paying 10% of what their college tuition would be. >> Right. >> Well, thank you again. Great presentation. >> I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trisha. Moving on to website and communications. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to have Dr. Wilfong, if you could pull up our website. I just wanted to update the board briefly. Um, every time we have a meeting, I feel like there's been feedback that comes our direction and we're constantly making

107tweaks and what we feel like are improvements based upon the uh feedback and info that's coming our way. Um, so one of the things that we added um after based on the conversation that happened at our last board meeting was trying to find a more um obvious place for our public notices to be uh posted to. So we've added a link up there public notices if you click on that Shelly. Um, so the way that we've set this up, we've got we have to do um notification of different things throughout the year and sometimes those can be hard to find. So we will post any of the current public notices under that link there. In our case right now, the one thing that um is is of uh current current um attention is the tenative

108collective bargaining agreement. So, we've got that posted there. Uh once that thing is done, so after next week's board meeting, if if the board approves the CBA, um then that would shift down into historical public notices. Um and we've broken those up into finance and education. We've also moved our contracts over to uh this public notices as well because um those are required to be posted. Uh, so we felt like that was a good spot to to post them for ease of finding them. Um, we're c we're continuing to try and improve um the website to try and improve the uh information that's available. I know Wade has worked tremendously uh hard at um trying to get things up and done in a timely fashion. A lot of that information that we've t talked about

109the last couple of months is um posted in our department pages. So, uh the operations stuff um the projects that we kind of have on the quote unquote list um that is all available uh to you under the department um section. So, still a work in progress. Um but we are using that feedback to um make changes and make things easier for people to find. The other thing um that I want to talk just a little bit about was um more broadly speaking like a communications uh update but really not even necessarily communications focused. Um we got a an email um from Lisa Croll, who I don't believe is here tonight. I haven't seen her. Lisa um has been very involved in our meetings here the last uh few months um and has um offered

110different suggestions over the um over the time that either we've met or she has talked in a public meeting or we've met with her in a smaller group. Um, and one of the things that she mentioned in an email last week or the week before um was this idea of having a group that could get together that could be representative of the community more than just board representation um but could give us feedback and input on different things. Um, I responded to Lisa um that I thought that was a really great idea and um I I have often wanted to and haven't done so put together something like a an advisory group um to some extent that um helps get input and feedback to the superintendent. I think we could expand that even just a

111little bit more um to include a member or two of the board um like a uh I I think I referred to it in my email back as like a Wasi advisory council um in which we could pick or somehow select I'm not saying that we would necessarily be the um sole determinant of picking but um perhaps a representative or two from each of our three communities um and some of our stakeholders that have been um at at uh you know certainly the meetings over the last few months uh I think would potentially be interested. I know that I spoke with uh Mr. Bokart earlier um this fall about a conversation that he had with Mr. hery out here. And um I think it was Kurt's suggestion perhaps that um we get together maybe once

112a month or something like that with a board member um and and maybe a couple community members and just talk through some things. And as that idea has rolled around and then Lisa kind of followed that up with her idea in the email, I think there could be some real value to putting together um this kind of advisory group. Um and that then becomes a mechanism by which the board and myself um get feedback and input. Something as simple as like, hey, we tried to find the contracts on the website and we can't find them. Have you considered doing this to help improve that experience? Um the idea of somebody having to come to a board meeting or even a work session for that matter um and give that suggestion during a public comment period

113seems a little silly when we could have a group and a and a vehicle to allow that type of conversation to happen. And I know that over the last three or four months there's been a lot of suggestions and some of those suggestions we have said, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Um, that makes a lot of sense. Let's see if we can fix that, update that, change that, whatever it is." Um, and it's led to some improvements. And and so I think again the the possibility of having a place where those kinds of conversations can happen um in a in a more casual kind of free flowing setting I think could be valuable. Uh and so I would be interested certainly in putting something together. Um, I know that the thought of having to add

114another thing to your plate as a board member is a lot. Um, but what I would hope is that we could potentially lessen the um amount of individual conversations that you're being asked to have and perhaps centralize that uh into a uh maybe a little more broad group that could meet once a month or whatever that is determined to be. um and I think could be beneficial and valuable to us as a district. So, I wanted to throw that out there. I know I re I responded to Lisa's email and kind of outlined some of those things, but I also included you as board members in that response as well. Um because I think there could be there could be potential there. So, >> I know those those representatives could then become a conduit to

115their local communities to bring those things to the to the front. Yeah, I think you know sometimes board members are looked at um as part of the system and so maybe people don't want to go through board members individually um and they would prefer to go through some someone else. We've seen some of that happen over the last few months. Um but I also want to be protective of your time. Andy made a comment here a few months back like the money that I get paid for my 40hour a week job being a board member doesn't come close to what I am putting into this. I I I think there's some realization of yeah that's that's a that's a deal and your role as a board member has expanded exponentially over the last few months.

116I think it would be good if we could kind of centralize some of those lo uh conversations into into one space. So that's not to say you can never have a conversation with a patron for sure. >> But having the place to bring that would be helpful. I think >> I think so. >> Yeah. I welcome that idea. >> Yeah. >> 100%. I feel as if that not just a it's a it's a to your utilizing your term a nice conduit but you know just I think all of us have had a lot of conversations with a lot of people and it would it would help you know um I'll just use you Mr. We had a great conversation outside and he had some great ideas like wow you know this is you know does

117he eat up his three minutes hey ab the same way he's like a b c there. So that's a huge opportunity because really it's it's the school getting everything gets better at that point because there's more. So I welcome that I'm not bad about that at all. I think I've been a part of conversations with some of you as well with community patrons and I would say almost universally every one of those conversations that I've been a part of have been very positive. Um not in the fact that there hasn't been criticism or you know frustration or whatever expressed but like after you can get that [snorts] on the table it's like okay so how do we address this how do we move forward >> and I think having something like that would be again

118I've said it five times but it would be very beneficial and I think it would take some of the pressure off of perhaps the three minute time frame at the board meeting or you know trying to get across maybe something that's more substantial than what can be expressed at a board meeting. >> It seems like a mini and less formal community engagement process that we had what three years ago now. >> Yeah. And you know some of the folks in the audience are part of our um part of our alliance. You know these kind of conversations have been happening. We've had two alliance meetings um that have been really great and um there's been good suggestions come out of there. There have been good suggestions come out of small group conversations with you know a

119board member too, myself, two or three community members, that kind of thing. Like there I think we have shown a willingness to address areas for improvement in our organization. Sometimes it's a matter of we don't know that that's a a frustration point. >> And so if somebody would say, "Hey, it's really annoying that we can't find >> right >> something silly on your website like Lisa did last month." And it's like, "Okay, well that's really easy to address." >> Other things are maybe a little more substantial. But >> yeah, >> I don't know. I would be curious. I not we haven't had a lot of audience participation, but you know, Kurt, I know that you mentioned that to Don here a couple months ago and um you know, Rob, you've been a part of a

120lot of conversations. Would that be a benefit to you or value? Would you see value in that? >> Yeah, I would definitely see value in it. The one thing that's different from the last session to this one was and Don, you weren't here, but we were able to bounce engage some of the questions that we had as the bullet points went through. I kind of raised my hand up. You looked at me, >> but no, I I understand. I understand. But then you have patron comments at the end, but it kind of places stuff like that out of order too >> to where, you know, I had a very basic question. We eventually got to it at the at the end, but >> I feel the work session that we had last time was a

121lot more beneficial. It was you know, as the first time, but we were able to, you know, as as we went through the finance part, you you guys, you know, Don, you said, "Hey, is there any questions?" You guys internally talked >> and then I was listening and if >> it didn't have that point brought up, it's like, "Hey, give us an opportunity just because when we had that last work session, >> it it engaged different conversations that you guys didn't have the >> point that we were trying to get to." So, do this this secondary meeting that also gives us an avenue that comes up after these meetings are done you know that that we can we can revisit those things and I don't think anybody sitting out here is looking for you know

122attack or anything like that it's just clarification I think it would be fantastic >> and and I don't I wouldn't look at that as replacing the work sessions I think the work sessions have been a good start and they they provide their um area of of interaction and engagement, but I think this could be maybe on a deeper level that can't take place because of time constraints or because of agenda or whatever like and and things that completely are unrelated to agenda items that we're working on that you could bring to the table and say, "Hey, we don't understand this or there's a big group in the community that does not understand this. What does this look like?" I I think it's fantastic and and Don, I would I would ask that you guys collectively,

123you know, say whether going after these work sessions whether or not that we can have just a little public comment at each >> it keeps it in order versus outside when we did it with last time it it was you know but it I think it helped on topic at that point. So that's I like the way you guys are. >> There's a lot of people that aren't comfortable talking. >> Well, I did see your hand and then I got sidetracked and didn't come back to it. >> That's okay. >> Sometimes that conversation is much you know, more information that makes sense. >> No, I think it I think it makes perfect sense. And I think I I think sometimes there's things that perhaps are just misunderstandings because of education or what you know like

124if you've never worked with something and you don't understand how it works and and that gives us an opportunity to maybe explain something uh and and we may arrive at the end of the explanation and still not be on the same page or still not agree. But so many times over the last four months, I've had very pleasant, productive conversations with people and we may not agree at the end of the conversation, but it's been a different tone. And so for me, I would almost I would always rather sit down, hey, let's sit around the table and talk through this a little bit. And at least then you can understand where I'm coming from. You we can understand where you're coming from. And maybe there's some more Um, more respect both ways, I guess. I

125I'm not sure. I I just think I I would always rather operate in that fashion than under the pressure of a board meeting. So, >> I think the dialogue where we are now. >> Sure. >> So, I think it's a great idea. You know, I get that unfortunately we're in a situation where you know I know it sucks honest to >> sure. Yeah. >> Okay. Any anything else? Okay. Okay, let's move on then to the um calendar. Dr. Wolf, >> thank you very much, Mr. Wilkart. >> These these are going to be items that will be under the additional action items probably um next month. Yeah. >> So, I'm presenting the draft 2627 school calendar for review and approval for the next board meeting. This calendar was originally developed and approved in tandem with our

126202526 calendar and mirrors that structure closely. The start and end dates, scheduled breaks, professional learning days remain consistent to support continuity for families and staff. We have also received a three-year waiver from the Indiana Department of Education allowing Wawasi Community Schools to utilize three instructional days as professional learning days each year. This waiver is valid through the 202728 school year, providing both flexibility and stability for our long-term planning. Developing and modifying a school calendar is a complex process that extends far beyond setting start and end dates. It requires balancing state instructional mandates, teacher contract perimeters, and community expectations, all while keeping student learning at the center. The district must carefully weigh the need for professional learning, adequate instructional hours, and restorative breaks alongside considerations which has alignment with neighboring districts. Families value longer summer breaks

127and predictable holidays while teachers need time for collaboration and planning. Each ad adjustment affects multiple layers, transportation, athletics, child care, and community programs, making a calendar design both strategic and deeply complex. The calendar has been reviewed and recommended jointly by the WCA and calendar committee. And at this time, I request that the board meeting approve the proposed 2026 27 school calendar at as presented at the next school board meeting. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Scroll down to the April 27. >> April. >> Yeah, that's good. >> Okay. All right. So, not to throw a wrench in this. When is Good Friday, that is very key because Yeah, I think we all know. Yeah, there was one a year that we didn't it was our issue where we actually

128did not realize it was Good Friday. It fell on there. So, I don't know >> when that is, but >> So, Steve, we actually did realize it was Good Friday at during conversations about the calendar. So, there were there were essentially three dates that >> it'll be the third >> that we had to look at in 27th >> in 27 27. There were there were three dates that we had to look at that if we wanted to be done by Memorial Day, >> if we wanted to be done before Memorial Day, then it was either Good Friday, >> the um the day before Christmas break, which was late that year, like the 22nd or something. What was the other one, Shel? >> Uh we could start a day early. >> Uh I thought there was

129>> I thought there was another day. Anyway, it was like all bad choices. >> I thought I remember this conversation. >> So, the committee talked and it was like, okay, of all the bad choices, this is our least bad choice maybe, but there is certainly a group of people that that's >> the most bad choice. >> So, it like it's just picking one of the dates. And maybe it's not necessary that we get done by before before uh >> No, I understand. I understand. I I do actually >> that was the conversation >> because I knew that was asked a lot and I thought, okay, I'll just I don't mind bringing that up, but I do remember that conversation you and I had. So >> what what date did you >> 26th March? >> Oh,

130so for for 27 it won't be an issue. What about 26 the 3? The 20 The 26 would be this year's calendar, the 25 26. >> I was just looking at 27. >> Okay. >> That's I'm looking at 27. >> Yeah. So that particular calendar 26 27 it's not an issue. >> And Good Friday is early that year, too. >> Yeah, it is. Yeah. And I know it's I I'm not uh discounting the complexity of trying to make sure everything's set. >> Yeah. I mean, like doesn't matter to me. I I go I work >> the day before Thanksgiving. >> Yeah. I mean like it >> it's like which which point I understand. >> I got you. >> And we could we could also look at starting on a Tuesday instead of starting on a

131Wednesday. >> So >> if if if the if the Good Friday thing is >> a big enough >> is a big enough deal. Now granted, it's not an issue for this calendar, >> right, >> for 2627, but if it is in the future, we could start on a Tuesday that year and have good Friday off. That would be fine, too. >> But then teachers have to start on the seventh. >> Yeah. Then they're starting on the Friday. They're starting on Friday because they start right now on a Monday. >> They do Monday and Tuesdays. They're two teacher days. So yeah, that as she said, there's all kinds of complexities with building these are >> schedules and you have to have 180 days minus R3 waiver days and you have to fit around all these different

132things and >> and you have to try to balance first semester and second semester. >> Sure. Sure. >> Yeah. Again, I'm not discounting the the work and labor that went through there. I'm just addressing an issue that was brought up question myself. Um, why do we have a whole week off forward? >> I don't know, but I think it's amazing. And I think our staff >> I think our staff actually love it because by the time they get to to October, they're dead and they get to have a nice uh week-long recovery. But we changed that a couple years ago, Rob. Um, I don't know. I think we're in our third year of a weekl long fall break. And I've actually heard a lot of positives. I don't want to say nothing but positives, but

133I've heard a lot of positives on it. So, I think I think there are people that like it. The people that don't like it are the football >> the football people because the sectional is always on one of those weekends and the band, they don't like it either. So, we always have requests about those two things, but I think everyone else likes it. Just I'm generalizing, but >> that's why That's a good question though. >> Okay. Automated >> year contract. >> Wade's going to come up and talk um about this automated logics contract. So, we put that before you in the board packet for consideration. He's done some work to try and get this contract in a better spot uh that he feels um a little more comfortable with from a savings standpoint. and I'll

134let him give you the details on that. By the way, we're both new to this um uh building controls thing. So, any specific questions will probably have to be given an answer later. >> I know some things. I'm not real good on HVAC, building controls, building automation, but service contracts, um I'm not new to. So, what I'm trying to do is to make the contract work for us, not just a vendor. Um, for the past I don't know how many years, we've been on a year-to-year contract. So, what I'm going to put in front of you is a five-year contract with no escalation fees um beyond 3%. So, it's just going to go up 3% every year. >> [clears throat] >> This market is kind of volatile. Like they've went from 2% to 12%. In

135between like 10 years past. So I want to try to lock that into 3% for us and add some benefits like um after hours emergency contacts because that's when it happens. We're not in school. It's midnight. Things go bad. So, I've added in four to eight hours of emergency um service. So, we're looking at total this went from a standard package to an enhanced package and it's only going to cost us about $1,000 more a year. So, any questions? I don't think I know enough about it to [laughter] ask a question. >> Well, wait, you're you're recommending it. >> Yeah, >> obviously >> I It's a great vendor. We've worked with them for years. This >> Tell me why I don't like it. >> Why I don't like it? >> No. Tell me why I

136don't like it. >> Why you don't like it? >> Yeah. >> Because we're having somebody else spend money. I mean, yeah, we're using somebody else. >> Okay. >> Outside of that, you feel or you believe I'd like to do everything internally if we can, but with this particular thing, there's hundreds of controllers in each building and we don't have the manpower to staff. >> Sure. >> To keep watch over this kind of thing. >> Okay. >> And decipher the reports. Um, that's what they get paid to do. >> Yeah. It's fine when it's working, but when it's not. >> Good. >> All right. >> Thanks. Dr. Wilpong, you're back up with the support plan. >> Very much. So, as you know, the director of special services position continues to be one of the most difficult

137administrative roles to fill, especially midyear. Uh rather than rushing to fill the position with someone unfamiliar with our systems or students, our focus uh needs to be on stability, compliance, and continuity of services through the remainder of the school year. Tonight I want to talk walk you through the proposed interim plan that will carry us through the end of May. The goal is to ensure uninterrupted services for our students and staff while maintaining compliance with state and federal expectations and legal responsibilities. This plan also gives us time to conduct a more traditional and competitive search for a permanent director with a July 1 start date. So the interim structure is going to use internal and external expertise. Nor uh Northern Education Consulting will serve as our primary external support providing about 10 hours per week

138on site preliminarily pime primarily focused on elementary and preschool compliance manifestations and placement changes. They also provide virtual support as needed for a variety of services including second secondary level manifestations during the high school maternity leave window in November and December. Encompassing Education will provide professional learning around 504 documentation and four individualized coaching session for each elementary special education teacher before the end of the first semester. and we will use feedback from that to determine the support needed for the spring semester. Jennifer Phillips will continue to manage the middle school programming and serve as a teacher record for residential students. She'll also complete the excess cost grants and provide support on an asneed basis at a rate consistent with our current teacher contract. Car uh Carly Fagen Snder will continue to o she is our

139current uh special ed coordinator. She'll continue to oversee high school programming and manifestations with temporary coverage by Northern Education Consulting during her maternity leave. And finally, I will continue to oversee the additional departments that fall under special services, including early learning, nursing, English learners, and high ability. I'll also coordinate all services provided by the people mentioned above and serve as the direct contact for special education related issues. Importantly, this plan is costneutral. The combined services provided will not exceed the cost of a full-time director of special services. This approach assure ensures three uh key outcomes. Compliance so we can fully adhere to IDA and article 7 requirements. Continuity by providing ongoing support for students, staff and administrators across all levels. and fiscal responsibility by using strategic use of an internal and external capacity without increasing

140the cost. It also gives us a space to run a proper recruitment and interview process for a permanent director, someone who will be a long-term fit for Wawa C. This interim plan allows us to maintain maintain stability and high quality service delivery in the short term while setting us up for thoughtful and successful leadership transition in July. And so I'm going to request that you approve this plan at the November board meeting. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. I guess that didn't show up very good, did it? >> It showed up fine. Oh, on that one. >> Um, I also want to add that as part of the total proposal, Shelley has included um the different contracts and different um >> agreements that we would have to cover all this

141stuff. So, um for your consideration at the November meeting would be approving all the stuff related to this plan as well. So, we can get the contracts done, we can pay uh the people that are involved in this, etc. So, says it's cost neutral. >> It is cost neutral from from when you look at what our previous uh director salary and benefits >> compared to what the cost of this is. It's the same. >> It will not exceed that. >> Correct. And and like like uh Northern Education Consulting, we would sign a contract with her to come in and provide those services. 10 hours per week of onsite. Is that right? >> Yeah. >> 40 hours isn't enough. I mean I mean you know like >> um it's what we what this is going to

142be somewhat um fluid as we see how this works. Uh we're going to um with both Northern Education Consulting and Encompassing Education um we're going to uh see how it goes for the next two months and then um consider reconsider what we need to do differently moving forward in second semester. However, whatever we determine, it will not exceed the cost of a full-time special ed director. >> Well, I'm only saying that let's say since you're going outside for some of these services that can be a bit more expensive. You come to us and say, >> you should. >> Yeah. >> I think the other piece uh of of this is She's going to give us more time than just the 10 hours that she's on site. >> I know. >> But okay. >> Yeah. >>

143In other words, if we need a little more to cover what we need to cover, then that's okay. >> I I will I will be monitor >> I will be monitoring um our monthly expenses because uh the way the way uh Northern Education Consulting is set up is on an hourly basis >> uh for virtual and for in person. And so, um, if if we need to increase that, um, amount, um, as long as I'm I'm I'm thinking as long as we don't exceed the allotment of funding for, uh, what we would normally spend. Um, and so I'm going to make sure that we don't go over that. >> As far as our search, uh, do we maybe it's expanded as far as it can go or can we expand our search? Well, so right

144now is just a very it's not it's not a very good time to to look for a director of special services. It it's an incredibly difficult niche uh career. >> Um and uh we did have a couple of candidates that um would qualify, however, they had no experience. And I think having someone with no experience come in in the middle of a year in middle of the year um given all of the things going on um I don't feel like we would be setting up that uh person for um real success >> uh in just starting out as a new director. And so, you know, a school our size, um, chance odds are we're not we're gonna find we're not going to find someone who has a lot of experience. Probably a firsttime special ed

145director. And so, the best time to put that person in uh in place would be in the summer when they could have a few weeks to acclimate themselves to the district. uh get to know our systems and processes, get to know the people, get to know the teachers instead of coming in one day and um us throwing them in the deep end. So I want to make sure that that that person is set up for success, >> right? >> And the best way to do that is is um is to wait, >> right? >> It's going to put a strain on everybody else. Um but we'll manage. I appreciate that foresight. >> Yes. >> Tell me about that. Ask me about that in April. >> That's not real wood. >> Any other questions? >> Okay.

146>> Yes. situation that yeah recess myself but yeah I mean I would like to get a better understand how much money as a school district question was you get extra funding for designated students of a certain special ed and with the way that article seven and those processes we were wondering how many just by pure time it takes to go through the assessment process the afternoon and the morning environment I didn't understand it all how is it even possible to identify the full breadth of kids that would be in that category and be able to get the state support for them. >> So, so the state support that we get um >> are we missing kids? >> It it you know like the state the the amount of money that we received from the state

147for special ed does not cover all of our special ed um costs. So, but um but to as far as identifi identifying students, we we do um we have in the past and we will continue to um utilize uh outside uh school sites to do some evaluations. Um evaluations take a long time. Um and and so but we do contract with outside um outside school sites to to do some of our uh ours as well. Do >> you feel like we're I know you don't know this answer. I think saying let's say we've got 10 kids that we missed and these kids would be additional $4,000. I mean does it make sense to put more resources to identifying those kids? Not I'm not trying to put the kids on the spot. I'm just trying to

148get them helps get them the proper Yeah. So, so I think I think what you're you're asking about is um like do we do we um identify uh like are we not identifying enough people? Is that what you're >> Well, to me the process is so cumbersome that even if you identify getting a kid through the system where they are designated >> Yeah. >> as such but everything works I don't know. Yeah, it's it is it is it is very there's there's a lot there's a lot to it. >> Okay, so so a couple of things. One is um in before we can test someone, we have to know like what their what their present levels are and are they making that's the whole RTI response to intervention. Um it's it's where are you going

149to make a change and are they pro are they making progress or not? Uh that's why like for example it's very difficult to identify a kindergarten a kindergartener because they're coming some are coming from prek where you may ha where you may know some are coming from who knows where. So then it becomes are is this student behind because they have a disability or are they are they behind because they uh just have never been exposed to those things. And so you have to give um you have to be patient with those younger students to to try and figure out who needs that uh that information or who needs that testing and who doesn't need that testing. Um the te testing is is very expensive and also um we you know h as a parent

150how you know how do I don't know how to say this >> I think I think what he's I think what he's asking is like because of the amount of work and the huge process that it goes through >> that you have to go through are we missing kids >> and because if let's say we would miss 10 kids, do we then not generate dollars that are associated with those 10 kids? >> What I would what I would also say is that if those kids were identified correctly, >> that there would be additional resources that would have to be allocated to servicing those students. So, we may have to add another special teacher. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean it it >> I don't know that I look at it as like >> I think you're

151right on the right track, but I'm just going to go by numbers when she was like 59 I believe she said we had the district. >> Yeah. >> My my question my concern to that is of those 59 are we missing funds to do a better job with that? Are we are we losing the funds? Because am I correct in saying according to the state upon the $97 for kids to $4,000 for each kid that is part of that program. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm I'm wanting to know is it I'd be all personally if it's another individual. I think I shared with Mr. I'm all getting another person in here to make sure we all make sure we have that resource. And I think I I think those funding determinations are made because of

152the identification that that the that the student has. So like if it's a learning disability, for example, a specific learning disability, that's going to be funded differently than if it's a a moderately handicapped individual like that. That one's going to be much more funded than an SLD is. And so I don't know that I don't know that it's that it's a matter of like is is there a way to generate additional dollars because we're missing something. I I think we're >> and I don't even think it's that I think it's time. >> So some kids take so long and we only have so many people. >> Yeah. >> So that we're not getting maybe it should happen but we can't get to their testing until later in the year. That's what I would think of

153more than >> we're not qualified people. But it's >> I and I don't mean it as a money maker. I'm saying [snorts] that extra money would be spent to better serve. >> I think also we have to put things in like we we this year we received the finding that we are we are actually overidentifying kids. >> Wow. So, so we have we have to be very careful about um identifying the wrong students because um that that actually that that cost us money. >> Wow. >> And where who where did that finding come from, Shel? >> That comes from the state. Um and the state gets it from the federal federal program. So So we have to advocate um I don't have the amount of money $130,000 of special ed money has to go towards

154um rectifying that in our district. >> Wow. >> And so and so instead of so it is it is incredibly incredibly complicated which is one of the reasons why since we don't have Jennifer Phillips here we need to hire some outside consultants to come in and help >> because although I have over 30 years of experience in education and I think I have a pretty good handle on education uh special education is a whole different a whole different piece >> and um and I think that that's just complicates everything >> when layer on special education it's not like we can we identify a kid as special education and we can sprinkle magic pixie dust and all of a sudden he's not a problem anymore. So, um I if if anything um once a student is

155is identified as special education, it takes even more resources and we have less ability to do some of the you may want to um educate that student a certain way because because now you have the office of civil rights due process rights that you know there's all the it adds a whole new layer of legal obligations which again is why um filling the director of special education is so difficult. Go ask a director of special education in any corporation that had to deal with the due process and they will tell you it's the worst thing that they've ever had to go through in their professional career. So we just have to be very careful when it comes to special education. question that was devoted keeping track of the numbers so they can just process we've

156discussed that but again it's uh funding we do have an admin assistant for for special education. >> That's just one person. >> We've got one one special ed director. We don't have one special ed coordinator and one admin assistant. That's all we have. >> And well, that comes out of the ed. And and again like like Dr. said last time, "Well, we want to we we want to save money here and we can't spend money here and you know, we want to save all this and and yet at the same time, well, we need to hire more people." I would love to hire more people. I really would love to hire 10 more special teachers. >> But it's very hard. Are you talking Because if you're talking like cost effective of a special ed teacher

157teacher paper, you can't just let an admin or um an administrative secretary do that paperwork because you have to be specifically aware of that child. And I when I was at Wy, they were still giving teachers days to do some of that paperwork. They which I highly recommend because that they they need those days to do >> and the other thing not anybody can do special ed. >> Yeah. And the other thing we're doing this year for our special ed teachers is the change in IEP programs is that we're um also paying them for uh two hours for every IEP they have. So we're we're giving them additional funding for IEP work um that they have to do. Um On average, just so you guys get a little idea, on average, when a new kid

158comes into the program, it could take a special teacher anywhere from an hour to about two to three hours to just do paperwork just for that kid, >> like a brand new IEP. And then every year they have to do an annual case review, which can take about an hour of just paperwork to do that. testing which each individual kid could go anywhere from three to four hours of each special ed teacher has to teach that or test that kid. So it it takes I mean the paperwork really truly does have to come from the teacher because they're the ones that know the kid. They tested the kid and there's really not a good solution to that. My question would be are we testing the the right kids. Are we are we doing the RTI

159process to test the right kids? And what is our our school site would know this, but how many kids are we testing versus how many kids have qualified and are because that will tell us are we truly testing the right kids. >> Yeah. And I I have that I have that list somewhere in my Google Drive. Okay. Um but but and I can look um but the the the idea is we want to make sure that we're testing the right students like like Julie said like we want to test the right students >> imagine being a parent and saying hey we think your kid has a learning disability and then they don't >> get >> you know and um and it's it is it's just one of these no-win situations you're going to find yourself

160Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Other items. >> Okay. I >> I have none. Anybody else here? >> Go ahead. >> Yeah. I was part of this is our last last work session. We talked about it. Um I was part of a meeting uh with the uh fire and Mr. Troyer and our CTE. It's not going to happen as early as I wanted it to. >> Not because of me. not because of you. Um, but there's a bridge program that we entered into so we can get to fire one and two. Um, that that is in the process still, but there's a little bridge that they they were able to work in to fill that gap to try to get some interest to uh make that class be bigger when it does roll out.

161So, I just didn't want to leave it out. I know what on our agenda, but there was the last work session that we talked about. I just had a one quick item. Um, I got an email that I forwarded on to you, um, from, uh, Liz Wringler about a petition, I believe, going around to so >> um, look at the name of our new performing arts center and Cindy Thornberg and, uh, I think the request has been made to um, to name the facility after her. Um, we do have the intera place for the auditorium. We have not done anything with the name. I know Mrs. Bonner was here. She's still here. >> Um, and has submitted some information. Thank you for that, Mrs. Bonner. >> Um, and I think the last page or something

162has, uh, some info about the naming as well. So, there's a conversation going on about the name and naming. Mhm. >> Um and um I I know what the board the last couple of years has thought about naming facilities after individuals. And so I think that that's going to be something that um that this board is going to have to consider one way or the other uh at some point. So um perhaps maybe taking the information that Mrs. Bonner gave reading through that and then um if you want to reach out to Liz, you have her email as well and um could could talk with her about that as well. But I did tell her that I would uh discuss with the appropriate people including the board um the the issue and let you guys

163determine how you want to handle that. Okay, >> you got one. Go ahead. >> Yeah, I I meant to mention this during finance. I think uh as you guys remember, we were when we were doing a few months ago, one of the big variables we did not know yet was our AV, right? Well, I think we got some good news on AV that uh I don't think it's a huge we got to get some numbers from Steve will really to get dialed in, but I think we have an opportunity to um let our tax rate drop a little bit and um still be in okay shape um with the understanding that I don't know how we AV may be impacted the other way in coming years, which it probably will be, which means means we

164we may have to go, you know, the other direction and and uh bring them back up to the levels that they're at now. But we're we said we look at the AV when it came out. It came out better than we thought. We were worried. And so we're going to we got to get the exact numbers, but I just thought it's a bit of good news. I think we have an opportunity to offer um or or allow the tax rate to fall. Um, I just don't know if it I mean, I don't know if it's a forever thing because there's a lot of things changing, but I wanted to make mention of that because that's a bit of good news and we're blessed to have an AV come through that gave us some reprieve and

165we can let that fall a little bit. I just don't know, don't ask us the exact amount. We're still working through that and we're going to be as aggressive as we we can without being silly. So, I just wanted to that's all I had. >> Yeah. And I I would add to that if if we are able to get some information put together on that in time for the meeting next week that we would have that ready to go perhaps during the finance report. >> Um and so we can take a look at that as well. But >> yeah, any other Okay, that brings us to patron comments on the agenda items. Are there any patron comments? Um, I feel like I do have to bring something up because we talked about operations in general

166and Steve and I, we know we agree to disagree on this, but I'm going to say it publicly because um, we keep approving like we've had 1.5 million go through in the last four years. I don't think you're understanding like you're saying sure you can have 500,000 but what exactly is that for when we have all this bond money that we're using for bigger projects and things in operations and I get gas costs more I get things cost more but we all have a budget to figure those things out and if we didn't that would be a huge problem but the other problem I have and this is not because the woman who just put that special is now in charge of a million other things that she's never going to sleep. Her salary is

167taken out of fund and has been for years. So you're not only giving 500,000, you're then giving another salary on top of that. And our entire salary difference this year, we were able to do with like $430,000. So it could have been double because we're taking way more than that. And the parents and still. So, we need to look at the operations fund and figure out how to get that in order because we cut 889,000 from the ed fund last year and here's that our numbers were found ways. We looked at hard things. We helped do that. We looked at high school numbers that were low. We lowered different things. I mean, we cut that much and are able to have decent class sizes right now and different things. The hard work still needs to

168be done on that side. And if it's not done, it's going to keep happening. And I'm going to be honest, I'm not fighting for like a race for me. Like I'm I'm there. I'm done with the raises and all that, you know? I get a little bit I didn't get on the $500 on their salary isn't even an hour. But what I'm saying is we've got to stop just saying it doesn't seem like much when we have a $22 million budget. But we already have salaries we have to maintain. So to go any higher or do anything 500,000 is a huge deal and no one ever say they say we're taking it and it's legal because it's under 15%. I get that. But what I'm saying is what does it look like? What exactly like

169what are we in shortfall because our general's good our operations is pretty good. Our rainy day is good. And you can't put money back for operations in the general. You can run it through rainy day and then put it back in the general but that's the only way you can do it. So, I unfortunately I understand this a little too much to be I get it. I've been watching this for years, but those amounts are a big deal. And when it was 750,000, it was a really good deal. And we were asking, but it can't just keep that there. That's what I'm asking. I like the same thing. And you guys shared with us what they were what intentions were that our enrollment didn't take a huge hit this year. >> Last year. >> What's

170that? >> It the enrollment hit was last year. >> I know. I said our enrollment did not take that big >> Oh, okay. Okay. I thought you said our enrollment did take a huge >> hit. I said our enrollment did not take that big of a hit. >> Gotcha. >> But still a little a little bit. So our our education continus >> I think it's a fair question. when I was saying I'm not saying >> I'm not even talking about salary. talking about pulling money from funds to go back and forth this and that. I think she hit me nail on the head and I agree with you. We can't have operations fixed because we have no value on agree with you% but there is checks and balance >> and it seems like the good

171old good money I'm sorry education fund. I mean we can we can work a budget with fun because we're not going to take that. >> So there's a lot of points that were made there. One to go back to Kim's point and she she and I have had numerous countless conversations and to some extent we have to say we agree to disagree. I the only thing I would push back a little bit on you, Kim, is that the operations fund has made cuts. Two two or three months ago, I brought up in a board meeting that the operations fund had made $335,000 worth of cuts or something for this coming year based upon some things that Wade had put together for me. Um, I I can't speak to years and years of cuts, but I

172don't I genuinely don't know how, especially our business department can run any more lean than what it runs now. Like I I would ask you, Kim, respectfully, who do you want me to cut or what do you want me to cut out of operations to try and reduce that? Like I I see you shaking your head. I I I genuinely want to know like what would that look like? because I don't I don't know where we would make cuts on the operations side. >> And I get I understand that. I get that. But I think we also like you said in the past, we want this, we want this, we want this. And we build something bond neutral >> that needs someone to clean it, someone to run it. >> but we do that knowing

173we're going to have to do that. But that shouldn't the education. >> Yeah, >> that should have been already looked at. And I get it. Like that's what I'm saying. I get like I get how this all works. But >> and I I think >> and I had a really much longer speech and I did say in not speech I did say in there that you have made some cuts but like not like nearly as many. >> I don't I like Yes, the numbers 800,000 versus 300,000, but the ED fund is three times as big as the operations fund, >> right? >> Like I I think from a percentage standpoint, it's probably >> and I would never say what specifically, but what I'm saying is that's where I think we need to start looking. >>

174Yeah. And I know that's a Kim, that's an unfair question for me to ask like who are you going to cut in the middle of a public meeting. I just from from a general From a general standpoint, I I do question like where would those cuts come from? Because okay, like we've talked o openly the last couple of months about a communication position. All right, that person's gone and we don't like they've expressed interest in having a position. We don't know what that looks like. We haven't done anything with that. Maybe that doesn't come back. I don't know. Okay, so that's a position. But there there's stuff that now disappears when we cut that position. So that's maybe deemed as a non-essential. I would consider it maybe essential, but that's okay. But like I don't

175know where else to cut like we already have a a a contract CFO, you know, and and so like there's been conversation about hire a full-time CFO. That isn't a cut. That's an ad. and and some of those things I like I would be I would I'm genuinely being serious Kim I would love to have a conversation about what do we cut and what does that look like because to me from my perspective we run so lean I don't know what else to cut >> and that would be your board's perspective to look at yes >> I know I know but when but the I think the suggestion is made a lot that like oper operations needs to take on some some some of the cuts. I just don't know where that exists. And yeah,

176we can talk about it, but I don't know where that exists. >> I think that if we can push it and the fact that your balance you inherited a nice balance, but the balance has been pretty flat. >> Yeah. >> So, it's it's not being hoarded. It's not growing the cash balance. So, it's being spent. And maybe you can look at where you want where it's being spent exactly. Um, and that's a fine question. I mean, We can we could go like you said we could go a year without it and watch and see if it drops. I mean I I don't I think it's um their percentage cuts to their budget were higher than the percentage cut and the silo conversation they're having to me is insanity by the way us versus them and

177we're all wall to see but it's crazy but that's fine. Um I we could we could do a more detailed analysis and do this is where the spend goes. Yeah. >> On operation we can do that >> and show it to you. I mean, but I know it's being spent because the overall imbalance is basically flat year over year over year >> and and from when they were doing a million and a half to two million. >> Yeah. And I think that's why I put this up here because I want to show that like during my time as superintendent that number has fallen dramatically to the point where we're now having a conversation about >> zero >> and it started at 2 million plus >> 2.8 with cost going up. We dropped that to 250.

178I get you want it to be zero, but I'm proud that we're going in the right direction. >> Make sure we're full there though. In all transparency, that's what in 19 we have a lot more students, so there's a lot more money out of there. >> That's fine. >> Our operational cost didn't drop though. So that's that to be transparent 2.8 is a lot more than 250. What you said is true. Both things can be true, but we've done a conscious effort to drop that. Now, it's not to zero, but to say that we haven't made a conscious effort to drive that down because I remember being shocked when I first got here going, "Holy crap, that's a lot." And we thought going down from 1.4 to 750 was a win. >> I also think

179Rob, it's it's important to note that our enrollment has dropped, but our total amount of revenue into the education fund has actually increased. >> And it's increased because the state has increased the funding. separate accounts in the fundamental. >> No, but but even since 2019, we're bringing in more revenue now than we were in 2019. I I'm I'm completely guessing, but every year we wouldn't be able to afford raises if not without cutting staff. And we've given raises maybe not every year from 2019, but but a decent number of raises. So our our revenue has grown in the education fund. Similarly, it's grown in the operations fund because we're allowed to grow by 4%. But some years the revenue in the education fund minus um enrollment impact, you know, what was it a couple years

180ago? I think the ED fund formula grew by seven and a half or something. Se six and it was a lot. Anyway, >> so >> I don't know the numbers off the top of my head, but I did a comparison from 2016 to 20 24 last spring and I think it was 10 like we had lost 10 staff members and we had lost 500 students or something like it was it was a it was a 20% versus 5%. TW 20% loss in enrollment, 5% loss in staff. >> So, we flip that around. >> I I don't know. >> I know we've cut some administrators, too. >> Yeah. I'm okay. >> Yeah. We only have 15 administrators in the whole district. >> That that's including building level and district. Like 15 administrators for 2500 kids and

181five buildings and CTE and the other stuff we got going on. It's at work. People may disagree with me, but I see other districts that are way heavier than we are from an admin standpoint. That doesn't mean that we don't need to keep looking at it. We that's fine. We can. But we're we're pretty lean when it comes to admin. And in the places that we haven't been lean in the last couple of years, we've made some adjustments. So, I would def I would defend some of the decisions we made. And that's I think that's like that's where Kim and I, you know, kind of arrive at this point of like, okay, well, do you agree to disagree? Kim, you make some good points. And if I was sitting in your seat, I would think

182the exact same thing or or or I would at least want to approach it from that perspective. Like it's not that I disagree with what you're saying. >> All I need. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. And then I'm told not to gateway because we're probably not in trouble with how >> we're saying that. Yeah. I'm saying, you know, might not be completely accurate. >> Well, it's it's it's not that it's not accurate. It's that it isn't always apples to apples. So, some places report just base salaries. Some p places report base salaries and benefits and and all this. You know what I [snorts] mean? >> Well, when we sit down, we'll we can talk $100, right? >> Yes. >> We can talk. >> But but I am serious. There are there are places that

183when it comes to salary and benefits, they only report salary and other places like we do report salary and benefits. So it's that is not standard across the state. Okay. Anything else? Okay, then I we don't need a motion. We're we're just done. Thanks again for coming.