001some type of Yeah. >> Now it's named superheroes using that name. Yeah. >> Glad you cancelled the baseball game for us. >> I know. Do what I can. >> I couldn't figure out why it was canceled, but did a great They didn't have any pictures. >> Like, is that a thing? >> That's what Joey's like. >> Anybody can get up there and pitch. Not any. >> What grade? What grade is this? >> Seventh and eighth. That >> Greenfield eth didn't have enough interest. So >> So they say >> Chris Davis tell me that Chris had to pick up John. He was like, "Nope." >> Craig Davis. >> Greg, >> did you get my text? >> I told him they were scared. >> Oh, what? >> My email. >> Yeah. >> I text you back. >>
002Oh, it didn't come through. Let me send you an email. I had to get a new computer and We will start with the pledge of >> allegiance. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you guys for coming. We will start the meeting with the memo from Dr. Henshaw. Any comments or questions or highlights you want to hit on? >> You don't have anything to add. >> Any questions or comments from the board on the memorandum? >> Hearing none, we will move on to public comments. Um, if you are here for public comment, please just state your name and address and keep your comments to three minutes or less. Any takers? >>
003I don't know if I'm able to do this, but >> I'm actually a Yorktown citizen now. So, >> West Thornberg 443 North Cherrywood here my Yorktown area. I know when we gather together for meetings like this, um, our focus often lands on the areas we need to improve, grow, or fix or remove from our corporation to become better. I'm thankful to be part of a district that does not have the mindset to grow, to never settle for anything less than our best, and to look for opportunities to grow. And I can tell you as I work alongside staff in this district that there's never been an administrator, a teacher, or a staff member that has looked at something we were doing and said, you know what, this is good enough. Everyone here wants better for
004our district. And that's why we do accomplish a lot of YCS. However, tonight I want to take just a few moments um to not look at what we need to do differently, but what this district and community has done, right? It's been just over a year. This is a lot easier in the shower. Uh it's been about a year since my family and I faced something very unimaginable. And although I know no words or acts of kindness can ever diminish uh the hurt or explain the pain that we felt as a family, there were some pretty amazing things that took place. Things that honestly have never had the opportunity to say thank you for in an adequate way. This district and the community have been so good. My girls and myself over the last 13
005months. The administrators in this room, Stacy, Kelly, my Sturgeon, Dr. Hen, the board, uh you guys have been amazing and there are so many things uh that you all have done for me uh and my family that no one will ever truly know. Uh still things that this incredible uh administration team does for me every day, my school, what they do every day. And uh I want to say thank you. Thank you very much. Um have a motto that I share with my staff as often as I can. And it goes like this. Y is blessed with the best and I truly believe that and I get that in as many times I can in meetings and emails and uh things I send out to staff. But honestly, uh I feel like YCS in the
006Yorktown community is truly blessed with the best. And I'm proud to say I'm a Tiger now more than I ever thought I would before. So before we focus on what we can do better, I want to take a moment and focus on what we've done right so far. This community, this district, these amazing staff members are doing so much behind the scenes that the average person would never know. Coming from someone who felt the comfort of an entire community and districts around them, his family during the worst nightmare, we are doing a lot of things right. things that a test score, scoreboard, any other measurement that the state or federal government gives to us will never tell the true story of what we accomplish here each and every day. I'll end with the statement uh
007that was made during our last strategic planning meeting at the second to last one. as the room filled with concerns and ideas and things that we needed to adjust and change as a district and things we could do better, which I'm thankful for those moments, a dad spoke up and he said, "Can we take a moment and we think about everything goes right from the time our kids walk in the doors until our leave until they leave. There are so many things that our staff, our teachers, our administrators, bus drivers, custodians, everything they do right so we don't have issues. so we don't have big problems. Things we'll never even realize happen because they're done right the first time. So today, so thankful to be a Tiger. Want to publicly say I'm thankful for Dr.
008Install, Dr. Sturgeon, my administrative team. You guys are amazing. Thank you guys for taking so good of my care of my family, my girls, and uh I'll forever be in depth to that. There's none other place I'd rather be uh than here at Yorktown Community Schools. So, thank you for giving me a moment. >> No, I appreciate that and appreciate you. And I said, we do look at a lot of the negative things sometimes. So, it's it's good to hear a positive and anytime you want to bring the positive, your three minutes is not limited. So, thank you guys. U all right, moving on to the consent agenda. I don't think there's anything I will point out here that we I've got on here adjustment of middle school times for 2627. The board previously approved
009adjustment of of high school and middle school times for next year. And as we work through the planning on that, we feel like we can actually move middle school times back a little closer to what they are. And uh I think everybody's on board with that. Jeff's not here, but he's on board and has been out and practiced some of the routes. And so would ask that you go ahead and do that so that that can be announced and put into all the planning before next year starts. >> Dr. Hel, can you go over those times again? So it was like PBE. I'm sorry. >> How about >> Yeah, I'll start PVE and Y. There is no change. So our will be PVE is 755 to 220. Y is 750 to 220. The high school
010is 840 to >> 320. >> Um so >> 315 >> 350 >> and did we ever discuss like what time the doors would be opening for the building? Is is that going to change? >> We'll continue to evaluate those. I mean there are all kinds of those details. We have discussed it at the administrative level and some of our planning for that. We've got some um transport between buildings for teachers, kids that we we need to make that covered. And so there's a lot of moving parts, but we haven't made any official announcement on that. >> And that to me that's principles probably won't agree with me, but that's an easy fix because we just, you know, we figure out we need to have somebody to staff that and we can adjust that versus We've
011got to make all the buses. >> Thank you. >> Motion to accept the consent agenda. The second >> first and second. Do we have a uh motion to approve? I'm sorry. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. 5-0. All right. I'm a little rusty. >> All right. Moving down to 4A on reports. Strategic plan updates. >> Yeah. And we're going to talk about strategic plan later, but um just want to kind of try to keep you up to date on some things that are connected to the draft plan that we're continuing to work on. Um, and you know, special ed was a topic in there and Heather Seagull has been over to Delaware Community Schools, met with Amy Larby, who's their special ed coordinator, has a couple Yorktown
012connections herself to look at their programming and also to discuss future cooperative planning uh in our special ed co-op and how some of those services will be shared and configured in the future. Um we we have a good plan in place to house we have a retirement to house our new behavior specialist position primarily at Pleasant View starting in 2627. Um, also I reported to the board in in this report that uh we had 20 applicants for our assistant superintendent position and we're actually in the midst of interviewing in the first round uh seven of those candidates and so that process is moving along and we'll definitely get some input from the board going forward before that's all finalized. And then uh enrollment and enrollment planning is another topic that shows up in that draft
013plan. We did revise our transfer enrollment timelines slightly for 2627. Um, and what we did specifically was we established an earlier cuto off date with a potential May lottery rather than doing that in June. You're required to have a lottery by law if you need a lottery. Um, and then once the lottery has established the priority order, then you can take additional applications on a first come first-s serve basis. So, what that does is it allows us to do a better job of giving people direct answers as to whether or not they're going to get in sooner. Um, and I would say that what we have seen so far, I mean, it's just April, but our transfer applications are higher for 2627 than they were for 2526. And I think everybody knows that we were
014down about 50 students for this school year. So, that bodess well for the future. I'll just continue to try to update you monthly on some of those things that are connected. >> How do we inform the public of our capacity? Generally, >> um so we've had um a popup on our website that has some transfer announcements with links and then we have a page on our website with transfer information that's always up to date for the next transfer um deadline because we have both fall and spring and capacity is listed in there on that on that form and you approve that >> each time. I don't know if you guys get this, but it seems like well, I guess we post any public information on our facilities or the town posting the feedback's always our
015school's full, they can't take anymore. We don't need housing, we don't need this, we don't need that. And I think from a teacher capacity standpoint, that's true. From a building capacity, in some cases, PBE, I think we have capacity for those, but it seems like the public's misinformed of our capacity from a building standpoint only. I understand there's a teacher student ratio that >> is of concern as well that's part of that conversation. >> The town reached out I think that was probably in the fall. It might have been last school year. I can't remember. And I had a conversation with Chase as well as Ryan Gernon and kind of went through some of the mythology of that discussion and a lot of it's around housing supply and apartments and so forth. Um, but the
016short version is that the the board in identified that 3,000 was probably going to be a high water mark philosophically for the district. And if you run the math on that, that's roughly 225 students per grade level. And so after that decision was made, we have then touched every school facility and spent about $60 million to do that. And so those 225 grade level capacities were what informed what was built in every project that we've done. So then we go back to um that's typically where our cap is set for every grade. Some of them get over that. you know, we we have it's our next year's junior class that's about 240 >> and that was a gigantic class in kindergarten. So, we really haven't taken new transfer students in that class for a long
017time. But people move in and there's, you know, there's coming and going in the enrollment, but 225 is our target. And boy, I somebody should be able to tell me this principal's will, but keep and that's 225 inperson students. So, we've got virtual students. Um, we also have IIEP students, which that's a whole different discussion. They're they're students that show up on our special ed programming, but they're not physically enrolled here. They may be at Heritage Hall or some place. Um, and I think it is fair to say that the only there's only a couple of grade levels that are currently over 225. I mean Stacy has a couple maybe eighth grade currently so there is capacity in terms of the physical space. I don't know if you guys get that same feedback but it
018seems like that's the immediate answer to any new development is >> we don't want it because the schools can't handle I don't know that that's entirely true from a building only standpoint. So, >> well, and the other piece of that, and this was a piece that I shared with Chase, is you have to remember that a quarter of our enrollment is transfer. And so, again, the the state, for good or for bad, has put us in the position where money follows a child. So, if you want to give raises larger than a 2% increase or so forth, you have to have some enrollment growth just to exceed inflationary costs. So one of the comments that I've made we're just under 700 transfer students I think is the number and over time what we would do
019you know if as capacity is built in district then you start to restrict your transfer applications. Now can you execute that perfectly where it never exceeds 225? Probably not. But that would be the philosophy. If you've got the build out for 3,000 students and 2200 of them or 2100 of them are resident, then you have capacity to take 900 more resident students. You just have to figure out and once somebody's admitted as a transfer student, they're here >> until they choose to leave. So, >> we definitely watch all those factors. Would it be fair to say an in district student from a revenue standpoint would bring in more revenue because you're getting the real estate tax piece assuming they have a house? >> Um, I mean, yes, but you you can't there's no way you
020can connect that. I mean, they're obviously they're probably going to pay property tax, but from a strict uh state funding piece, it it does not matter as long as they live in the state of Indiana. Virtual students are funded at 85% of inperson students. Should there be a time like where we should maybe revisit what we consider to be our cap of 25 per classes? And I would nothing against our high school or middle school, but just with the behaviors and the issues that we have been seeing consistent, especially maybe more at our K through two level that maybe a classroom of I was shooting from the hip, but 20 is much more manageable or we could be offering more direct education. That's that's >> that's a lot of number I know like per grade
021level but I don't know if our PTE principal would agree or not or disagree or that's just something I was wondering about if we don't have enough classes in place to house or to adjust to the behaviors that we are seeing that maybe if we had smaller class sizes it would be easier manageable correlation. >> Yeah. I mean, there's there's lots of research out there on class size, and you're you're introducing a different variable, which is behavior and exceptionality. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think we should have a joint discussion of building capacity versus the correct teacher student ratios and especially with behavior issues, how they've changed over the last decade. Okay. All right. Any other more any other comments on the report for strategic plan updates? If not, we'll move on to item B, softball
022facility planning update. Again, just an update. We had the page turn meeting with the committee that you've assigned to do this. This is a site plan that has been presented and uh Mr. Kelly represents you on that committee. Miss Brewer, Mr. Hiden, Coach Penrod, Brian Wagner, myself and Rachel Nixon are all uh involved in that and we we went through it, I'd say, at a granular level and I think there was agreement and and Fred Prazo from context design felt good about that and then also Dr. Sturgeon wants to pull up that other attachment and go down the H. So that's uh the the concept of the aesthetic design and I think our our coaching staff and our school administration are comfortable with that concept and so we're at the point where they are drafting
023the bid documents currently and he told us that our page turn I think that was on April 10th does that sound right? Um that his hope was to have bid documents to us by the end of the month. So moving right along on that. >> So that would essentially put us was an expectation of starting the summer and finishing. It's >> that's the hope. I mean that's that's the impression that I took from him the last time we discussed. So I think that's his intention. >> A couple of notes just kind of report back and Stacy you can tell me if I get any of this stuff wrong. But I think as the base bids came come in talked about different alternatives or alternates that the biders will provide. Um so things that will be
024outside of the scope would be the electrical and the um light poles. Brian has essentially agreed to handle all the electrical. Anything that has to do with electrical ruffles, anything that has to do with electrical, including buying out the light poles from the co-op. Is that correct? >> That's right. So, there will be some, I think, coordination with our staff and the construction teams on that part. To me, it's some risk, but we talked through that. Brian seems willing to take that on. Um, so I think we just need to be aware of that when we get the bids in. There will be some additional costs. I think the intent is Brian is over a local electrician to handle that work. >> So I think he liked it from a control standpoint and we save
025a little bit of money from the co-op for the light. >> And you I mean it you also get the opportunity to spec the brand of light you want whereas a lot of times if you put it into a bid package there's a comparable or whatever and sometimes you end up with >> some brand that you you wouldn't have intended to buy on your own. So, that will be an ad. And then the alternates we have uh would be really just two things for the most part, I believe, which would be the dugouts. They're specking those as fence dugouts. The alternate would be basically a CMU stone. Um, and my guess is we would we will likely go that direction depending on price, but essentially that little side area is storage that you see there.
026If you go all fence, you basically can't have storage in the dugouts. I think that was a a real need that they pointed out through that process. One for the groomer for the turf and two for the softball equipment. So I think that keep that in mind as we get those alternates in that if we don't go with the alternate there you essentially have no storage. The the al alternative to that would be do something similar to tenants where you have an out building for some of that storage. So, um, the other would be essentially the the gray or I guess the the white boxes there, that's all concrete. The one behind home plate is going to be designed thick enough to essentially do a standalone feature setup with a press box that could be
027bought by a co-op. Uh, so it'll be outfitted that the concrete's thick enough to facilitate because I think there's a lot of back and forth on do we need bleachers, do we need a press box, what does that cost? So we are getting a price from the co-op for that structure itself. The base bid will not include any bleacher system. Um, is that correct? >> Right. That's right. Okay. >> I think we settled on we probably need the bleachers in the press box and then they can decide if we want to add the ones on the side for additional seating at some point. But Paul didn't seem to have a good option without a press box besides putting a tent there to really operate a game effectively. So >> I think that will end up
028being a need, but it will be outside the base bid. Um >> you said the bleachers are also outside of the base bid. >> Correct. Uh the third alternate would be the back stop essentially either being a stone or like a netting. I can send you this via email, but essentially the netting would go all the way down to the concrete. Option two is actual CMU brick that kind of goes along the back side of it. So there will not be a ton of alternates, I don't believe, but there would just be some separation between base bid. And for the most part, a lot of these things that Ryan's describing, we can buy through cooperative purchasing very easily and know exactly what we're going to get. And then the last thing that we are providing
029is um essentially the hauling of dirt. It will be on the schools from basically the football field, the existing of the softball field. The subcontract will be responsible to essentially build the burm on the outside of the outfield. So we will be able to get rid of I think pretty much all the dirt at the football field. >> If you like Tiger Mountain, go take pictures of it now because hopefully by the end of the summer all that will be over at softball. I think I hit all the high level kind of alternates or outside scope items. Batting tunnels are included on that um third base side, right? >> Stacey, do we still have like a I don't think we have like a school athletic booster, but we have like per sport athletic booster. >>
030Correct. So, at the existing softball complex, they did like a fundraiser for the blocks and it looked like the is my understanding that the boosters did that. Is that something that >> we've talked about that? >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Thanks for bringing that up. That was my last point. So, Tom and I met with No, it's perfect. I forgot about we met with the foundation because they did want directive of what the school board had wanted the foundation to do. They they have a feeling that they have they have people that want to participate. They want to have the personal impact for that. But I think ultimately we want to get the project right. So it's twofold of we want to do the project we think is the best fit but also not or
031still allow people to get involved in that. So I think Scott's now met with maybe you or is going to we talked by >> Okay. So some so I think they will have some all but it won't be a campaign for the softball field. It will be some direct ask for bricks potentially for the back stop the dugouts. there could be a naming rights to the field where you basically enter by the concession stand by tennis. Um and so there will be some options that the foundation will propose to the board to say do we want to go raise these things with the intent of whatever they raise we either use it for this project or it's less we have to have out of pocket for this project we can recycle elsewhere. Is that kind
032of the messaging we gave? >> Yeah, I think so. >> I agree. I think so. Yeah. >> Isn't this a bonded project? So, how could we give >> it naming rights? >> Yeah. Well, I mean, you could I suppose you can give naming rights to anything that you want to give naming rights to in in response to an agreement. >> I believe that you have sufficient funds available. I mean, we'll see where the bids come in to complete the project with money that's already held by our trustee bank from our bonds that we sold last year. And that was probably my discussion with Scott from the foundation is we don't have the same kind of need to raise money as we did with football. Um and so rather than getting focused on trying to have
033all kinds of small gifts, large gifts, whatever, we can we can do basically a turnkey project on our side of it as the owner. If after the fact um along the way we want to have some things to personalize it and they want to do that through the boosters, I think we can provide that opportunity. Um I will tell you one of the things Scott said was maybe he has a sixf figureure donor for naming rights and I said well I think that's a schoolboard decision number one. Um, if it's six figures, we probably would be interested in talking to them, but I don't see the same level of interest in trying to have five and $10,000 donors for a project that we can pay for ourselves. So, if you disagree, you know, you're free
034to tell me and we can go a different direction. But I just think if there's an opportunity from a sponsorship standpoint, preferably larger than smaller, and I and I told Scott it'd be great if we could consolidate um the schedule from, you know, we have a lot of 10-year commitments to the football project. So, you know, the school corporation funds it on the front end and then we get >> we get 10% basically every year for the next 10 years, which is great, not not discounting that. But if if there w if there was interest, especially for a significant gift, you can consolidate that over a shorter period of time. if it could fill in the difference between wire dugouts versus masonry dugouts and things like that. Um, I mean, I think it's definitely worth
035considering, but that's just my opinion. >> Yeah, because you might have a scoreboard sponsor. I mean, I think some of those things exist just at a smaller level than football, but >> yeah, >> if we get 50 to 100 grand or whatever the number is, it's either money we can put towards these alternates >> or it's money we just don't have to spend, we can use elsewhere. I I think I'm anticipating your question is they're not literally going to be paying for the scoreboard. They're going to pay for sponsorship to have their name on there and then that money flows back into our operations fund or our rainy day fund. Um and and again in exchange for those naming rights as long as they're current on their payments. Well, and I do recall, and I
036don't want to put put that onus on her necessarily, but I do recall Rachel mentioning that some some maybe non-traditional sponsors, like they have maybe some seed companies and some ad companies that might have an interest in in this project where they might not have an interest in any other projects or or opportunities that we have. And I I think I'm pretty sure I had a similar conversation with her that again we're we don't want to turn down anybody that wants to be a sponsor. But again, the difference between this project and football was the justification the margin of excellence to use the foundation's term to go and add some additional things to the project was the fact that there was private sponsorship. here. The board is making the commitment to fund the facility with
037taxpayer money up front. >> Sure. Um, I have a couple of other dumb questions, but I'll ask him anyway. So, I think this is probably a trick on Mrs. Brewer's part, but I was trying to find out the difference between option E and option F, and then option G and option H. >> Glad to answer that. So I I can see G and H look the same and E and F do. So it's one of those puzzles, right, Stacy? Where there's three small things in the picture that's different than the other, right? >> So the difference between G and H, the strip on the the sidelines. Those have the moan look. Um and on H it's the solid green. >> Do you want to pin so you can circle the differences? You see that? >>
038And then that the that combo those two. If you'll stop there, >> if you look at the side, >> if you notice the angle uh by the batter's box, see how it's squared off, but then there's a slight angle. If you go to the go up to the next set, no, I think the other way. Yep. So, we've got the angle. That's a true angle, and that's because the wording is behind um home plate, >> so it would be crunched and wouldn't look appropriate. So, >> uh, and then obviously a Yorktown tiger. Again, that's solid. The other one is the moan. >> I'm gonna have to go home and study. >> It's okay. We started with many more and we picked. That's right. >> The first two have your 10 tigers on the side. >>
039I do. There you go, Jason. >> See where that has the hash mark >> in out in foul territory. >> Right. >> if you go to the last one, it's green. Okay. So, it is one of those hidden things that no one would ever be able to pick out. Okay. And so, was a decision not to do the Yorktown and the Tigers along the along the the inside of the baselines on the >> It'll be like design. >> So, we got it to those final four and then asked our coach which one he liked best. >> Okay. >> And we were going to be happy with any of them and so that that is what he liked. we have supported with. >> Okay. >> Um and then last question I had >> there is >>
040again this is probably ignorance on my part but we had talked at one point in time about >> scale >> turf outfield turf infield >> and none of these have any turf infield. >> It's all it's turf. >> It is turf turf. Okay. All right. Even so I don't think it's scale. >> It's the turf that they're >> that was in the page turn that discussion about what color the infield would be. >> Yeah. Because I know all states infield at the at their stadium the dirt. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. This might be a dumb question, but like I know concrete is very expensive, but those little hashes of like grass area behind is that dugout or storage on each one? >> That is the um that's your dugout. >> Uhhuh. >>
041And then behind that there's grass. >> That's grass. Yes. >> Do we see that as a nightmare to try to maintain? >> Would you just go ahead and concrete it, stone it, do something like Well, you already have framers in there. I know it's additional expense to concrete, but every time you try to go in there to mow that, that's I mean, I don't know if it's a mower's width. >> Oh, that Yeah, that's just probably bigger than what you think when it's to scale. >> I was trying to find there's nothing in here with a scale on it. >> I think we're also limited on the finished space, too. So when you have kids that get there and they're they're not it's not their turn to be on the field yet and they're going
042to try to soft toss and things like that. It's better for them to be have grass than to only have concrete. >> Okay. >> Because I guess the rest of it will be grass too. So they're going to be mowing the rest of that too. >> Say like the inlets >> is what I would be. We can ask for it if there's an alternative option and see what see what he has available. >> Is the red space on that is that storage or is that just more turf on the next to the dugout? >> That's the um where the pictures warm up as I guess. >> Okay. On each side. >> And I will tell you that Mr. Scher did not plant this area in. So >> if you need to want to complain about
043the dust and the spray, you can call Mr. Scher. But no, he I appreciate him. He's been flexible before when we built tennis and so he got the site plan. I sent it to him and he did not plant in there. So >> he needs to plant pumpkins in there. Going to just have a pumpkin field trip every day over to your town field. >> I will say there was a lot of input. I think athletic director Stacy, the coaching staff, I think about a lot of feedback on this. So appreciate his input and getting it to the right spot. So >> we had a lot of dialogue too about seating because you know what's the culture now? A lot of people bring chairs. So we have the option to bring in tip and rolls.
044The burm we think is going to be amazing features. So people will be able to sit. >> I don't know how clear we made that but in the outfield there will be a burm for spectator seating. That's where a lot of that soil is going to go and that if you had a contour to plan you would see that. So >> yeah be good for the girls in the field forever. So like they deserve this. Um the one question I had after a meeting was at some point they were talked about secure not just secured areas but like for ticketing. >> Was that discussed last time? I can't remember. >> Talk about fencing around um the perimeter of the space that we'd be able to follow up from tennis. >> Okay. >> Uh to have
045access. >> But it doesn't go around the because it would be hard to really get that all the way around the burm, right? So like people could theoretically still walk. I mean they wanted to kind of >> Yeah. I think I think that it was you know there's a design to kind of herd them to that space. >> Yeah. >> So that was discussed at some point. So that is not included. >> Uh and I feel like it wasn't necessary based upon directing them through by the concession stand if they want to walk all the way from the Y to get to the BM. Hey, you earned your seat. >> Yeah. And th this project also includes in the base bid enlarging the parking lot. Uh it's about it'll be about three or four times
046the size of what it is now. >> I guess probably not on that but on the first rendering where would this access then the >> Oh well okay so >> want to have that conversation >> well I didn't want to have that conversation but just in view in between >> that decision had to be made today. Oh, >> and the initial request from the town or their preference from the town manager was right where that dotted line is in between tennis and softball. And I the feedback I got from you as well as our maintenance department was they really just felt like that was probably not a good idea to try to incorporate and we're sort of under the gun on time. So, I said, you know, we can certainly discuss other alternate points of
047access. And the last I heard, there was some discussion about maybe even using the paved trail system to get up to the water tower and then having a gate through from our property. And I think that's probably a more acceptable alternative than this. Okay. The plan was to to use our existing parking lot and then drive through the facility to a gate to the east. >> So So the they asked us last Thursday if they could do it and the deadline to make the decision was today. >> It was our deadline. So they asked knowing that we're in this process and and offered to pay for whatever cost it would take to incorporate it. But this is a deadline from context design who's our engineer. I mean, they're they're trying to get the bid documents
048out. >> Hey, last question on the on the softball facility. I promise at least for me. >> I got one, too. >> For me, um, is there any kind of gateway kind of an entrance into into that portion >> that is not included in this project? I will say that early in the concept of the sports park master plan there, that was something that was mentioned was elements. That might be a great thing to get a sponsor for elite printing gateway. >> Might be a co COI >> that that could be a discussion with Scott though. If he's selling a sponsorship, maybe you make it part of the tennis and softball facility. >> Well, if you did have a technically a facility sponsor, that would you could use some of those eggs to create some
049sort of a gateway there and obviously that would be the spot to put >> I think that >> Welcome to TWWG Field. >> Yeah, the theory. Anybody else want in on that? But >> I just make a recommendation that it always be paid in one lump sum. We're not gonna spread this out over 10, 15 years. >> The I think the theory on the on the gateway element was it's something that you want to put once you have the park more fully developed and it's reflective of you're entering into Yorktown Community Schools or Yorktown high schools. >> I know. Not that we we Mount Vernon is the model, but Mount Mount Vernon has a pretty nice for baseball, softball, and the football track facility has a nice little, you know, a couple of brick pillars
050in it in a little little archway. >> I took a picture of I think it's Greenwood has something similar to that. And they got some like plaques on the side that people get >> gives a little more direction, a little more of a finished look to it and kind of directs people where to go. I will say if somebody offers us 50 grand, I will take it over five years. I would support that we should or if anybody wants to personally offer me $50,000, I won't turn it down if they tell me it's going to be over five years. So >> would you? >> Personally, it's a little bit different than using taxpayer dollars to fund a project and hoping that they come through. >> But we're funding what I think in this case, it's
051the lens of like we're doing this project. If we can get other support, it can go towards any of our, you know, our boosters >> or others, you know, other needs that we have. It doesn't have to go specifically to this project. We have to we raise sponsorship money. Right. >> Right. >> So that's what I'm looking at is like we'll take any dollar we're going to get. We're still going to do the project that makes the most sense and that's what we've communicated to the foundation board. Correct. So >> yeah. And I think the one thing I've tried to communicate is we appreciate their work. We just asked that they let the school board make the final decision about those naming rights or sponsorship agreements, which they did. >> More soft questions. >> Next,
052>> um, as it relates to bleachers and um the fencing, there was some discussion. Do we know, do we ever figure out what it's required to be able to host regional semi-state? Is this going to allow us to do that for number of seats and gate control? >> We that's been a topic that's been discussed. I don't know that we reached any hard conclusions on that. >> That was not discussed on the last meeting, but I think that was an outstanding question that somebody was supposed to report back, but I don't think that ever came up on the last call. Right. >> No. And it's capacity too. So that burn is included in that capacity as well. So I mean I think there's has been an intent that dependent upon whatever main structure of bleachers
053we end up with in order to support press box that we have the capability for tip and rolls at various intervals along there as well. Um so as far as being able to provide seating that will happen. It's just it's just going to come down to what makes the most sense for the bigger purchase. I I don't know what the requ that would just be kind of a bummer to build this girls have a you know successful season and then it's like oh yeah you can't it's regional because you're >> let's get that answer because that was an ask that we are supposed to get back and I don't think it ever came up on the last call so before Fred finalizes it >> know that would know that information okay >> but I believe
054that in the meeting before that we had discussed the BM >> counts. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, as long as we're good. >> Well, but if the burn counts, but if you don't have gate control back there, right? I thought that that was trampled on. >> Uh, we would have the capability to funnel into that space. >> And I mean, in a worst case scenario, if we identified a weak spot on the backside, like if somebody was walking through the path and coming through, we could always set up another um ticket taker station. >> You'd basically have to go around the concession stand to go. So you basically funnel through the tennis and right to the right side whatever it is. I would just personally be disappointed we went all the way through
055this and it's like no you can't. >> Yeah. So I think we should confirm what we have designed. Would that be acceptable? I don't know if they can give their stamp of approval on our design that I think would be a good move. >> What do we feed into now regional wise? >> Oh dear. >> Sorry Stacy. >> You know it's middle of April. I violated my I violated my last question >> or I'll almost miss Tom. >> I'm just curious what what's the facility look like that we play at now. >> Oh, we've played in some regs that are not nice. >> Right. And it's going to vary from >> realignment cycle to realignment cycle. >> Right. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Twin legs. At one point we went up to Twin Legs. We
056can check on that. >> And I'm I'm guessing Paul knows it. I'm sure Fred probably knows it, too. >> Nope. >> No more softball questions. All right, let's move on to item C, SAT scores. >> And Miss Brewer and I just had a conversation. We don't really know the status of how public all this is, but we have the data. And I'll just say typically I report on our our SAT scores at the high school and we're again well above state average in in both areas. And so I just want to commend Stacy and her staff at the high school and everybody in the queue behind them that that they build upon. And so that's something to be proud of that we consistently have SAT scores that are well above state average. So just wanted
057you to know that. Nice job. >> Great. >> Any questions, comments on SAT? >> Only question I have is is uh u why do not just our students but students in general do so much better on the English portion of the test versus the math portion other than math is hard? >> That's why math is hard. >> You're asking for my philosophical answer. >> Yeah, just a scholastic aptitude test to let you know your ability to go on to higher education. >> Sure. >> If you think about the number of students and career paths that are math and scienceheavy, um reaching those those higher level scores is probably pretty statistically aligned with the students that are going to be math and science heavy in their majors as well. >> Gotcha. All right, let's move on
058to business topics. Item A, a agreement with context design. >> Since we spent all that time talking about softball, let's maybe approve a contract with context design. So, we they've been working for us on this. They we had a contract with them that was primarily for the football project, but since this is a different project, I felt like we probably needed to reduce this to writing and get it approved. So, very similar to what their contract was from the previous project. Well, do we have somebody that's going to be overseeing the direct project? Was that >> And that'll that'll primarily be context design that they would be they would be doing that >> like a general contractor. >> Well, there will be I would assume there will be a general contractor that's going to have
059the low bid, >> but then they'll be working through context design. So, on the football project, um the submittals and all those things were flowing through Fred make a motion to approve the agreement with context design. >> I second that. >> First and second. Any comments or questions? Just a comment that given the since we're we're on the same piece of ground basically given the issues we had with the soil uh compaction and how that's impacted the the surface at at uh at the tennis courts that hopefully we we've learned something as we put this in because we're we're have a lot of concrete that's going to be around behind that. And you know, I'm assuming that that that that Fred and and company are aware of that. But >> yeah, >> again, we don't
060want to go through the same thing where where we build this thing and then a year for or two years from now, we got concrete busted up and we got people pointing at each other that, you know, the soil that the core samples are were somebody else's responsibility and that it was prepped right and etc. And what I would say is context was not on that project, >> right? >> Um, but I will definitely revisit that with him. >> Yeah. I just think that he needs to be fully aware of what we went through on that side. >> He he has all of the >> of the engineering reports and so forth from tennis and he asked for them early in this design process. So >> yeah, great. >> I have a first and second.
061Uh, all in favor say I. I. >> All oppose, same sign. Motion carries 5-0. >> Closing comments from the superintendent. >> Uh, I want to first recognize Claire Burke and Dominic Braw who are third graders and we got word last week that they will be recognized as national math stars. This is a new program um that the state has and they placed in the top 2% of Indiana third graders on iLearn. So that's a pretty phenomenal score and there will be Mr. Thornberg I alerted him will be getting some materials for them to recognize that achievement. Also want to on the same topic congratulate the YS math bowl team. They were in the top 10 in the state in their division which is the orange division. Right. I don't know what orange means but um
062so that's a that's a big win. Mr. Huber and Mr. Thornberg can tell you the names, but we had some students that was that last night >> that were recognized for their essays by the committee on integrity enhancement that's been around for a long time. >> 1500 submissions or something like that. And so the details on that >> every year uh it's open to all Delaware counties. They choose two students from each school and then they do overall top three from all those. So, um we had a third place winner. >> Yeah, it's uh his Nathan's sister won. So, family picture about that. They did a good job. >> Very excited. >> It was good to see Yorktown. We were the only school that was only multiple division winners. So, good. >> It's a great
063program and it's if you know Joe Schmaltz, it's now run by Joe Schmaltz. He's the chairman of that. So, a fitting leader for that committee. >> Um, and I I wanted to mention also, we talked a little bit about the transfer process, but just want to emphasize that we're moving our lottery date deadline up to May 8th and we'll continue to take applications after that, even if we have a lottery. So, we have a waiting list. But when you think about the numbers, um, our enrollment fall off last year, uh, probably shorted our revenue somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 to $400,000 over the course of the year because we didn't get funding for students that didn't come. And uh you know one of the very first things that that Cara and I do when
064we look at those numbers is as we get ready to bargain you know we try to take new expenses and account for those and then whatever additional funding new funding we think we have then that is the pool that goes in for teacher contracts that determine teacher compensation for the subsequent year. So, you know, more enrollment means more opportunity to make sure that we keep our teacher compensation competitive. >> Are you saying that's because like a a family might have had more than one child and they needed a lottery for one of their grades and the other grade they didn't. So, then they pulled them out if they didn't win the lottery. >> Uh, some of that happened. I don't think that was a huge number, but that that is a factor. So, if we're
065full and they're So, if they have a student already enrolled in in their household and maybe it's a kindergartener, which we don't have a lottery for kindergarten, but let's say it's a first grader, and then those students by statute go to the top of the list. They're not subject to the lottery. And employees children by statute also go to the top of the list. But if they're students that are totally new to Yorktown, and we had a few where maybe it was a family of three and they could only get two of their students in, then very often they end up in a different district because they're not going to split their kids up. >> So, we want to try to plan a little better for that. We had three or four grade levels last
066year that we did not take applications in because we were so far above the cap. Well, then you just have some natural attrition. As you know, you have 225 students in a grade level. Some percentage of them are going to move away, go somewhere else. So, we had some grade levels that we did not meet our cap. We didn't have a waiting list because we didn't take applications in those grades. And so, we had no waiting list to go back to and say we have room in this grade to back fill some of that space. So, we're going to go ahead and have waiting list. That doesn't mean everybody will be accepted at the end of the day. will still continue to look at our caps, but um I know I've said this before, I'm
067sorry to repeat it, but my second board meeting at Yorktown nine years ago, um we were having this discussion around transfers, class size, capacity, and what I said was, I've been in declining districts and I've been in growing districts. Uh they both have their problems. I will take the problems of growth over the problems of decline any day because that growth gives you the ability to add positions. It gives you the ability to keep compensation competitive. Whereas all over the state of Indiana, people are deciding who they're going to riff, what programs they're going to cut, and we're not in that position and we want to try to avoid being in that position if we can't be. >> I also will share and um boy, I can't remember what day it was that we met
068with policy analytics. Was that Friday? last >> Thursday. >> So, policy analytics gave us an updated report on funding particularly from the property tax and that was updated after our budget order and uh we're getting ready to have our first tax draw and so I can give you some updated information. I actually told um Barry from policy analytics that his slides were better than watching like an Oscar winning movie for me because of all the finance data that was in there. But some of you will remember and I'm I'm giving away the plot line here, but um one of the slides I don't remember seeing it before that he gave us was net operations levy per pupil by district. And um Yorktown is the lowest in Delaware County and we're I can't remember now, was
069it $1,500 or something below state average. And so when when you have that experience of saying,"Well, why did they have that, but we don't have that?" Or, "Why does it seem like it's so hard for us to address some of these facility issues or capital issues?" You'll probably remember, it's been three or four years ago that I did a similar report, probably not nearly as slick as policy analytics was, but told you exactly that, that we're well below state average in what we collect per pupil in our operations fund. And we're making it managing it. Um, but it it has an impact and it's, you know, millions of dollars a year that we don't collect that other districts our size do collect. And if you compound that over a decade, that's a lot of facilities
070money or a lot of transportation money that they can expend that we can't. So, I'll share more in May. I haven't had time to work that into the agenda since we got the report. That's all. Do you do you have staff recognition that you need you want to do? >> We are going to postpone that till next month. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Board comments start certainly Mrs. >> Thank you all for all that you do. I know it's the end of the year and we're all tired and worn out and so you're almost there. Thank you. >> Um yes. Thank you and thank you Mr. Thornberg. So, I appreciate you very much. Um, so last week, I think it was last week, I don't know, it's been a rough couple weeks here,
071but we attended the ISBA um update, legislative update, and I'm just curious if we're ready to fully implement our cell phone policy for next year. If anybody's following that uh that bill that's coming through, I guess, or policy that will be driven out. Um, DC trip was amazing. Thank you to our middle school staff and admin for putting that on. Um I'm thankful that our kids get that opportunity to do it. I would make the recommendation to maybe mimic a school that's on the east side of the county and add the flight option next year or or by the time that our third graders are in eighth grade. That would be nice for us older people. Um I was updated recently or another um school and I were chit cchatting just about calendars. If there
072was a way, and I this might be addressed at our strategic planning, but if there was a way to put all information into one form of communication or calendar, like we get an update from middle school or we get an update from the high school and we get our parent newsletters and those are all great and we have teachers that use Remind me or Seesaw or Class Dojo or all the things as well as then every coach is using another form of communication whether that's Twitter or Facebook or whatever. But if all of that information could be in one centralized place that was more easily accessible for all parents, you know, just a they were questioning that too if we were using something and I said no, but it's been brought up before and I
073know it needs to >> and I will tell you that that is one of the things in the strategic plan is a communications audit with that concept to try to centralize and streamline communication. That'd be nice. I appreciate that. Um, and oh, I noticed they were breaking ground on the new housing addition over off of that. >> Yeah, more so the Dr. Horton project. So, >> yeah, it's moving along quickly. So, maybe more more students for Yorktown. >> Good news there. >> I think that's it, >> Mr. Simpson. Okay. Um, Wes, thank you for all you do and thank you for your comments. Um, I think it really illustrates that uh um we're more of a family than than just a collective bunch of employees who work for the school corporation. And uh again, thoughts
074and prayers with you and your girls all the time. >> Uh thanks to everyone for for coming. Um, just to piggyback on on what Vicki said, I think it's a really good point on the cell phone policy. Um, you know, there are board members around the state that don't even know that this policy is coming and are going to get blindsided by it. And this is one of those things that I think the general public I bet you vast majority of our parents really don't understand is statemandated and and is going to happen and that students will not have a cell phone. I know corporation wise you can either choose I think to say can't even bring him to school or you can bring him to school but it's it's in your locker from bell
075to bell. Right. >> Right. And so it probably would be a good idea for us to have maybe an overcommunication plan. Yeah. >> Of how we're going to tell parents about that before the start of the school year because that's one of those things where that causes you to move your schoolboard meeting to the auditorium because you implement it and all of a sudden a bunch of people show up and are unhappy about it. So >> because it it was watches as well if I was reading through that smart watches or smart devices. >> Yeah. Any communication device like that in mind. Can you tell the difference between a Fitbit and an iPhone? Sure can. Hooked up to their >> Yeah. >> And as a high school parent, has already communicated that with parents. >>
076Yeah. >> We're doing a practice on this Friday. >> I heard about that. Awesome. >> Sure. Students will love that. >> Good point. It's a good point. >> Um, last comment. Um, I saw in the memorandum from Dr. Henshaw that um, Chief Walthire uh, and his crew did a safety audit on the district earlier this month. Um, and we're waiting on a written report, but uh, uh, he had indicated he was really pleased with the implementation of the recommendations from last year. So, thanks to Dr. Henshaw and the staff for staying on top of that. That's a major board prerogative to not just kind of status quo that and to make sure that we are doing anything and everything we can to make sure that that the buildings are safe. And one of the things
077we've talked about in the past is that I think has got to be part of our safety plan too is making sure that our staff is safe. We the the natural tendency is let's harden the buildings and let's do everything we can to make sure our students are safe, which is the right thing to do. But like it or not, we're in an age where we got to make sure our staff is safe as well, too. And that's not only from outside threats, but also from, you know, student behavior. So, uh it's an important uh thing that we've got to really focus on. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Yeah, I don't really have anything to add that hadn't been said, but as always, appreciate everybody by coming and Wes, thanks for
078for all you do for us, man. Appreciate you. >> Mrs. Gwood has one more comment. >> Sorry, just one. I just wanted to also thank our eighth and nth grade counselors and um all that had a part in helping our eighth graders transition over to high school. So, getting their schedules done. I know that's been a multimonthlong process. And so as a parent that is getting ready to experience a kiddo going to the high school, I appreciate all the communication and receiving much more from the school than I am from him. So greatly appreciate that. >> Did you also want to uh throw your hat in the ring to volunteer to be the DC trip kind of the >> absolutely not taking a chaperon? >> I still need a massage and a chiropractor appointment and
079>> yeah. So no. Okay. >> Flight option, Tom. >> I would have picked a flight option. My bus got lost. So, >> I'm just saying some folks had a flight option >> last year. >> We would fly Del when I was in high school many years ago or middle school, we would fly for the day at Delta and then fly back that night. >> Did that. >> You'd leave at like 4 in the morning. >> Option. >> Did you hear? Did you hear the perf people finance? >> Yeah, it's low. We can't afford that here. >> We can't have those nice things. >> Well, no. Uh, thank you guys for coming. I think the positivity, you know, you walk around in the spring, it's just really encouraging in Yorktown, all the positive things going on.
080It's just kind of a breath of fresh air on some of that stuff. And seeing the kids do all the sporting events outside, people walking on the trails, people going downtown. There's a lot of positive things. I think there were some postings about the the ribbon cutting which was super great to kind of have everybody celebrate that but I think some of the feedback through that of how happy they are in Yorktown the things we produce the staff that we have the education's produced all the things are very positive so I think you kind of hit it on the head Mr. Thorn birds like yes we strive for perfection but sometimes we land at excellence and that's kind of kind of the the idea but you're still focusing on we got a lot of positive
081things going on so appreciate you stepping up because usually when people get on the podium it's negative negativity so appreciate you. So we will call the meeting journed at 7:02. >> Thank you guys. if I go >> I was hoping to put this picture I'm not sure if anybody knows