001with the new change with the gaming laws that all that money is supposed to go toward pension and reducing that liability so I'm hoping next year when we do this audit we'll see a large decrease in that liability so won't help with the local dollars but it will help I think with the overall financial report let's start on page four and I'm hoping you you have your copies there as well page 4 is your opinion letter it is an unmodified opinion and that means that your financial statements are presented fairly and all material respects and we use that terminology because we test we don't look at every transaction so uh you know some years we'll test Food Service some years we'll test title one uh we always test payroll and there's certain things that we
002always test but there's other things that we test sort of on a rotation to make sure that over several years we've tried to look at everything Pages 7 through 13 is your Management's discussion and Analysis and I'm not going to go over that but it's a really good place to get highlights of what happened last year things that I'm I know that you're aware of but sometimes we forget what all we have done during uh the past year so that's a good place to just sort of remind you of what went on during the year we'll start looking at numbers on page 14 14 is your districtwide financial statements and it includes all your assets and all your liabilities so this is where we see that large pension liability in that large opep liability uh
003and this year you know that the total of those two are about $17 million so I'm hoping to see that go down because you'll notice at the B bottom when it says unrestricted in column one we have a negative $18 million so if we can get rid of that pension part of it we can actually as a districtwide start being positive again it's not something I think you need to be concerned about because you're not going to pay that out over you know the next year or two and as uh Josh just said your rate for your um cers went down this year so so um you know hopefully your budgeting will be a little bit easier from that then on page 16 is your balance sheet which you normally see on a regular basis
004this is all your regular governmental accounts and under general fund uh third line from the bottom you'll see unassigned at $2.2 million that is about an 8% uh contingency and that is up from last year about 2% so you continue to do a good job at staying within your budget we did have some excess uh expenditures this year that we'll talk about in just a few minutes feel free to stop me at any time if you have a question or whenever you want on page 18 is where we look at our income and expenses uh again uh you'll see that uh Revenue in general fund did exceed expenditures by 141,000 so we had a little increase and that helped increase that unassigned fund balance we did have a an increase in some of our expenditures
005we as you know you had a 3% raise last year uh for your employees as well as the steps so we did have some increases in some of those expenditures then if we look at Food Service on pages 20 and 21 it also includes your daycare which is a much smaller um Enterprise but your food service uh has 599,000 in cash that is a decrease this year of $32,000 and there was a number of reasons for that but if you look on page you'll notice that the net change was 213,000 a lot of that is because some of the things we do in Food Service are non-cash items uh we have to include their portion of that pension liability um so it looks worse than it really is then we'll get into our notes to
006our financial statements those go on from page 23 all the way over to 57 having trouble sleeping at night you might want to take a look at those um it really is a good place though for you to get a feel for how the school does business what funds have what responsibilities and what purposes um so take a look at that if if you um have a chance but let's look at our budget comparison on page 61 61 so this is where you know compared to the budget that you typically approve in September um what how that looks to actuals and you will see some negative amounts there most of those negative amounts are created because of on behalf payments on behalf payments are payments that the Kentucky Department of Education PID pays for you
007some of that is pensions some of that is health insurance those kinds of things those numbers vary from year to year and so budgeting them are is really difficult um so most of those variances are really created because of that you'll notice in revenues all of those are positive and then I'm not going to talk a lot about p 62 but if you're looking at page 62 you might be a little alarm and you shouldn't be uh 62 is your budget comparison for your fund two which is your Grant programs the problem with this report is the budget is based on current year grants only and the expenditures sometimes carry over for example your Co money the budget was done two or three years ago we still spending money this year so those negative amounts
008are because we're really not comparing apples and apples we're comparing apples and oranges so I don't like this report and I really wish we didn't have to do it because I think it's misleading uh for the general public right then let's look at page 77 and 78 that's your federal programs we received this year $1.4 million in covid money that money was all ran out as of September 30th of this year so that's going to be significantly less but there's also going to be some additional decreases in just your regular funding of your title money so um I want to say maybe 15 years ago the feds decided that they were going to decrease Federal funding by 10% each year U they didn't quite do that but they certainly have decreased it over the years
009so that is part of your problem with trying to keep up with your budgets because expenditures go up each and every year but revenues don't always match that and then let's look at our management points which start on page 87 we corrected all of them except one last year and that had to do with a model procurement violation um and the violation this year was not for the same vendor as last year but we did have one that we didn't bid that we should have bid um but the good thing about this is this year we have nine management points when I started doing your audit report we had 48 the first and what that tells me is management really considers these things that need to be looked at and corrected and so each year
010we are correcting them one of the reasons we have management points every year is because we do test different things every year so we may test something this year we correct it next year but we've looked at something different so we have new management points so that's why we continue to have management points it's not because we're not correcting things it's because we're looking at different things be glad to answer any questions that you might have or if there's something I didn't cover that you would like for me to cover I'll be glad to do that as well um I do want to thank the staff and I also want to tell you that um this is Josh's first full year the physical year that we're uh doing and I was very pleased uh with
011his work um and somewhat surprised I would tell you that last year when they told me that were hiring a math person I was a little nervous but he has done a wonderful job he's also attended a lot of trainings that have helped him and so um I think you've got a a good finance officer that I hope will stay for like answer any questions that you might have I would just Echo the comments that you made about Josh I've known him since he was a little boy I've watched him grow and mature I watched him as a teacher I watched the quality of his work both in the classroom and here so I would agree with you 100% he does an exceptional job and we're blessed to have you thank you I agree job
012thank you I get to see a lot of new Finance officers and one of my little pet pees is that KDE does not do enough training or give them enough support and so it sometimes will take two or three years before they really know what they're doing uh and it's a difficult job so uh you're very blessed to have someone that has done such a remarkable job in such a short thank you very much all right thank you can I get a motion to approve the audit report motion to approve Scott Brown second Steve carmichel with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown Steve carmichel Sunny ventre James Char it uh construction payment uh summary number 14 for Anderson County Middle School SL
013U savle project BG 23-13 uh consideration to approve payment uh summary number 14 in the amount of uh $2,681 69 to Cordell construction uh for miscellaneous vendor supplies for for project bg23 d130 motion approve Scott Brown second Steve carmichel the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Hy Tres James Sergeant uh construction payment number seven for saffle project bg2 24- 295 consideration to approve payment uh to BNR Construction in the amount of 23,8 $24.88 uh for uh what is it retainage uh of the saffle uh structural project um contingent upon the receipt of the key core uh for the external door there any questions most approved BR second Steve carmichel with the first and second can you have a roll
014call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel S Fess James Sergeant yes uh bg4 approval for saffle project BG 24- 295 consideration to approve bg4 uh close out document uh for saffle structural project BG 24- 295 to approve Scott Brown uh with a first and second can I get a roll call vote please sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny F James Sergeant yes uh construction payment to Solid Ground uh consideration to approve payment to Solid Ground in the amount of $8,750 uh for special inspections for saffle Street project 24- 295 structural repairs are there any questions or Suzanne would you like to add anything to that special this the last payment on that three of them this this is the last payment for the special
015inspections for the construction of the cafeteria structural repairs um there is Solid Ground is also um has a you have a contract with them to do crack monitoring at a couple of facilities and that's still ongoing motion approved Scott Brown second Steve car Michael with a first and second can I go roll call vot please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny F James Sergeant uh construction updates uh Stephen Osborne was not able to be with us this evening and so I will will um summarize uh the items at the HVAC project at the middle school and saffle Street um there still are several things that are outstanding um that we are aware of and that we are working on um some of those items are some controls issues and some
016items are getting some of the the uh units um the right parts the right programming in order to complete the controls uh we have a a meeting coming up um early Wednesday morning where we uh will have all parties that need to coordinate on site and and hopefully make a a great deal of uh progress on those items so they are being addressed and they are uh being worked on um there the um security glass at the secure entry vestibule uh some of it was installed over the weekend uh there still are a couple of things that need to be adjusted uh I think that uh Terry and Brian Hoskins walked that this morning um and there were a few more things that still needed to be adjusted um that will be done as soon
017as we can get them as soon as codell can get them back onto the site uh there is some U Hardware on the mezzanine of above the uh multi-purpose room uh we had installed two new access doors that go into those mechanical mezzanines uh for uh creating access and bringing up new equipment uh there is Hardware that is outstanding on those that still needs to be uh addressed so uh and there's uh a scussion rings on the sprinkler system in the ceiling uh that uh had the wrong size excussion ring installed um that is now being remedied or they do have the correct size and codell themselves are going to be installing that um so just to assure you that there are still some outstanding items uh we understand the frustration of of those that
018are involved at the at the school uh we are listening to them and uh we will be uh keeping on the contractors to to get that completed any questions I believe so thank you thank you very much next item is uh payment to Ros tent Architects uh consideration to approve payment to Ros torent architects in the amount of $ 1,1 96 for kfic CS and District Facility Services Scott Brown second Steve carich with first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes SC Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny fent James Sergeant uh donations over $1,000 um motion to approve the following donations over $1,000 uh Bluegrass energy uh pennies uh to uh backpack buddies in the amount of $2,000 uh Lois Todd uh to Anderson County School uh prints
019uh in a value of $ 17,32 uh Edmondson Plumbing to backpack buddies for $1,000 uh Jennifer uh Winer to uh backback buddies uh for $1,500 and blue door homes $1,000 to backback Buddies motion to approve Scott Brown second Steve car Michel with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny vent James Sergeant uh a quick comment yeah go ahead the Press were those those are awarded to the folks at the of yes sir yes sir that's a great question so we did have a large donation and some of them went to the hall of academic Excellence recipients and so they were able to um to pick an old schoolhouse print um and take it with them we also had donations
020um ad Cory Seer um had an event for the Athletics as well and there was um if you'll look behind us you'll see a print that was in County High School print that was done several years ago Mr fr Tre you'll remember that um he during that time Lois Todd did that print for Anderson County high school and that was donated to all the recipients um and all of these donations will continue for the recipients until we do end up with no more left she also donated if you'll see around the room um additional prints of our beautiful lburg you'll see our court house you'll see downtown Lawrenceburg you'll see um lover Leep you'll see Tyrone Bridge just a a lot of prints for our office and we did have them framed and we're going
021to have them put up some in our boardroom some around the office and in the spring you'll you'll see a ribbon cutting for that um but um we're very grateful for her she donated a lot for our um our recipients for our Athletics as well as our academic but also to our office so thank you for pointing that out I appreciate that very much let me just add one more thing I know we appreciate you know Bluegrass energy and Edmonson plumbing and all those folks who make donations we're we're grateful as we all know we need all of resources that we can get so we appreciate our community I just thought that the prince at the hall of academic ex Excellence program that's one of the most outstanding programs I have ever been a part
022of just to be able to watch listen observe it was just an exceptionally well done thank you what a a great positive uh reflection on our community so I don't know all the folks who are involved in that but at the last board meeting I really wanted to mention that I thought well I won't get a chance but since I am getting a chance I'm going to just say I've attended a lot of different events and activities over the course of 32 years plus that was the most exceptional program I've ever attended in those 32 years so the folks that put that together yourself and others y did an outstanding job that was just a very quality well done well-deserved program and I was very impressed with that so thank much thank you for saying
023that next up is safety update number two would un so we partnered with Alicia parum uh with Homeland Security and she brought in different special agents uh one of whom uh actually had apprehended somebody in South Africa dealing with online victimization of our kids so uh like the FBI deals with uh local or uh us issues Homeland Security deals with the same issues but there's a Nexus or connection to something outside the country so that's what uh Homeland Security does so some of these threats aren't even from threats within the United States but it's around the world that could be in our houses with our children and posing a danger to them and you've got to know what to look for so the guardian uh we rolled it out to the faculty and uh then
024we rolled it out to families uh superintendent Mitchell and assistant superintendent Harley and I and the uh people from ardian Miss parm we uh had fun hanging uh handing out candy at the uh trick-or treat and then we had a parent event at the ACs Auditorium so we we rolled it out to faculty and the families and then after that we rolled it out to students so uh everyone was presented with this kind of information age appropriate of course because uh at elementary level you're dealing more with don't talk to strangers and the new way is don't talk with people online and uh please only play with people you know online the gaming thing not uh some of the more serious stuff so was based on their age level it depending on the degree we
025went into it or they went into it some of the key takeaways this is really interesting teenage boys are a group targeted by perpetrators from cold deoir and Nigeria on gaming sites uh pretending to be girls or boys of their age uh to get pictures or bribing them with gaming currency like robu I don't know if any of you all know what Robux is but kids that play games that's their currency to buy avatars or some something to do with how their their character looks or something so but that's what kids want for some of these things and uh so sometimes they will groom them and then they will even try to get them onto sites to talk with them oneon-one that may not even be a gaming site but it could be something like
026Pinterest so she talked to parents about you know what are some of the apps you see on your kids's phone if you have a 13-year-old kid that's looking at that has a Pinterest app how many if you all know what Pinterest is that's more of I guess hobbies and and crafts and that kind of thing you might have to ask yourself why is that or another thing she said look for two calculators because one calculator might be hiding an app that's a secret um and one of the big things they talked about is just be careful what you're posting on Facebook and how you're posting it because every picture has uh metadata attached to it and if you have your location services turned on and you're posting stuff then people can actually use that data
027to see where you are so she really encouraged people to make sure your location services is turned off also on Facebook um you know think about what your kids are wearing and that's one of the things we'll talk about even with us things we need to look at if if if they see uh uh they online if especially if they have it public that's the other thing she said for all the kids make sure that you have your online profile turned to private so that only people you know can look at it but if they have it public and they see Anderson County Bearcats and you say that you're dropping them off every day at whatever practice you've given people that may not need it some information everywhere right so that was one of the
028things she really talked about with parents is really think about what you're posting and the information you've got online and really think about protecting uh how much information you're giving out um so kids were uh encouraged she tried to make kids promise of course you know kids playing gaming that's but she was trying to get them to promise that they would only play with friends they know in real life and never let a stranger join their group and again by turning off their location for uh pictures Next Step so we received a situational awareness bulletin from Homeland Security about artificial intelligence and deep fakes involving C uh csam CSA a m I'm I just don't even like talking about but anyway you all can see that so basically uh one of the things we need
029to start thinking about is how and we need to train parents be careful about how many pictures you're putting of your kids online especially highdef pictures cuz these people now can take those pictures and manipulate them using uh artificial intelligence to make things that are unspeakable so you've got to really be careful about the stuff that you're uh putting out there uh and uh you know the more that you have it there the more someone could use that to make a deep fake look more realistic so one of our next uh steps Mr Drury and the other uh he's going to open a dialogue with other cios in the Reg uh to see what others are doing and like can we put uh uh some uh Anderson County watermarks or what can we do to
030prevent our pictures that we post and I think that's this AI stuff is relatively new and the when gp5 comes out I mean that's going to be another level to this the chairman I'm sure could talk more about this than to all of us but you know we're really going to have to be careful all of us about what we're putting online because of these kinds of things um but anyway we're going to start thinking about what a as a school district we can do to better protect our kids and to give that information out to the parents a lot of stuff stuff that we really don't want to talk about but we really need to talk about because parents need to know what's out there and how we need to protect our kids thank
031you very much let me just say something quickly here I'm a parent I'm an older parent our children are grown but I had a chance to listen to the young lady speak and I wish the turnout had been larger for that because what she had to share was really important for parents to know about stuff that's online that kids are participating in that parents are participating in and not understanding the possible consequences what can happen you know you're talking about pictures and the information that's that's available to Predators I don't want to be I don't ever want to be afraid but it was scary to sit and listen to her talk about the kinds of things that people have access to that we're willingly giving them that we just don't realize and um I I
032wish every parent could have heard her speak just to share the the brief time that she had great information that all of us need to hear about thank you we have one we have a twostep uh log on for the staff and stuff they log on yes yeah yeah the I Guardian program is it's exceptional um mine one of mine is is your face you know face is ugly as mine it's trouble hard for me to get to go through it's true just tell the truth you have any more questions if not much Ronnie thank you Ronnie uh next item is the uh secc um School Improvement plan good evening um I always love to talk about our school U Mr Fess I will not give this opportunity again so I have to say this
033real quick and it will lead back to the school um I think I was in the last group of teachers that were hired under your tenure in this uh early summer of 2005 and we were in the old central office building and you you gave us our little talk you know you gave us our charge to go out and how important that was and when I came out of school I had been a par educator part-time here and I I went back to finish my degree and when we came out there were so few jobs in Anderson County and we were all just like counting the jobs and I went out and I sent emails to all the principales and Miss Mitchell gave me this really kind email sort of just saying sorry there's no
034room in the end or at Robert B Turner but um luckily um Miss Melissa monz mccy hired me and when you gave me that talk that day I went out and Miss Cammy Alexander she'd been cheering heing me on cuz she knew I started as a parah and I went to sign my contract and I was so excited I I started crying and I couldn't hardly see and we were all laughing because I couldn't see to sign my contract and this District took that girl who started as a par educator and has afforded her so many opportunities I have been a teacher an instructional coach a reading interventionist um and now a principal I um got to work full-time at two wonderful schools ECC and uh Robert B Turner Elementary I've been very blessed and
035I promise you when you told me that day and I knew in my heart I have put everything I have and I've been very proud to be educator in Anderson County Schools um and I think under your tenure we started the early I could be wrong but under your tener did we not start the Early Childhood Center in the old building which is Now cal so so leading into that I want to talk about this school how lucky and people hear me say this all the time I'm very person of faith and you know one of The Parables says a wise man builds his house upon a rock and how the Cornerstone scripture talks about that Cornerstone Anderson County Schools puts a lot of resources people time money our directors um some of them sitting
036here go over in the mornings and help our little three-year-olds out of cars um but this District puts so much into the most vulnerable the youngest that we have this beautiful school and if you are a three four and 5 year old preschool kindergarten child you have a world that's built exclusively for you and just how blessed we are to have that in this district and um just starting with our mission um just to say uh I'll just use this part our school PR otes a safe nurturing and positive environment where fam staff and Community work as a team to set a foundation for a life lifelong uh love of [Music] learning and I'll just quickly talk about our demographics uh this year we have around 325 students um we have 185 preschool students uh
037we just scened we're adding six more headstar is sending us three more so that we can meet the needs of some students they have we're pretty well right now with the classrooms we have we can hold 200 we're pretty well going to be full soon in that uh kindergarten across the districts numbers were a little lower this year you can have we usually can have anywhere from seven to nine kindergarten classrooms we have seven this year we have 100 around 140 kindergarten students um 63% economically disadvantage managed um students receiving qualifying special education our preschool program a state funded preschool program is set up to really uh Outreach to get those at risk population and um so pre uh preschool 44% receiving special education services and kindergarten 22% and 15% minority again as I talked
038about our district um really supplies resources well I just can I bounce back okay and um gets a little nervous up here we have 28 certified teachers uh which include um teachers special education teachers instructional coach counselor principal we have 26 classified that's a high number and because of regulations we have a 10 to one um staff to student for preschool and a 12:1 staff to student um ratio for kindergarten and that includes par Educators our office cafe and custodians and we have a nurse and SRO and our um resour Family Resource coordinator that we share with Ward that is our staff there are some great people in that picture and I'm very blessed to be able to be a part of that team um some of our Community Partners is the Early Childhood Council
039in Anderson County uh Family Resource Lawrenceburg Sheriff's Department our wonderful PTO Anderson County library and we really um love being uh working with the community and with our families we're a very family oriented school we have to it's sometimes it's hard to skate the sa you know to to balance safety and family but we love our families and we're glad to have them with us I'm just going to focus on a couple of things here our long-term goal through 2027 is that 80% um of course we know every every student but a realistic goal of 80% of all students leaving ECC and reading and math will be at 80% proficiency and those are children that are leaving uh from kindergarten uh we do the map assessment which is an assessment that used across the country
040and across our district and it stands for uh measures of academic progress um so far that was through 2027 last year we got very close to that goal we had 72% uh in reading and 73% in math proficiency right now let's look at where we are we take every kindergarten student across the um Kentucky entering K every every student entering kindergarten takes the bance screener this is very valid and good data because this is one inone uh one-on-one assessment it is a scripted assessment that everybody has to follow and um everybody has to retrain every year to Proctor that assessment um data shows that um the wording is a little tricky on this 59% of uh kindergarten uh students um students that are entering kindergarten are not on level so we start a little bit
041of disadvantage um of where our kids are starting kindergarten um 41% were considered on level as they entered kindergarten so we have some work to do so I want to focus on what have we tried to do at ECC if we know that children coming in are all already behind what can we do so we we we changed a couple of things this year um in the very first day we started and again and that's with District support because on our level we are given interventionist and that takes money and that takes resources but so how are we using them are we using that wisely so we decided within the second week of school we had assessed our children on basic learning skills in math and reading and we had small groups started within this
042second week of school and we pushed our math interventionist and our reading interventionist into our classrooms so we were able to see after 40 instructional days when the map the beginning of the year map test was taken that 63% of ECC kindergarten students were now on level so so um that's pretty well again a lot of this just speaks to the things that we've done but I pretty well sum that up that what you're doing we know that uh when our children come to us we have a little bit of work to do and another thing I want to speak to is that the district has done is we' taken advantage of the math Grant from the state all of our elementaries have a math coach um I'm I I don't consider us I consider
043us An Early Childhood Center but our elementaries and our Early Childhood Center another thing that we have done um people have heard about the science of reading a few years ago Mr Alexander and I had conversations at Turner that the the science of reading was was um was a great movement across the country and it was coming and and um some families were suing districts um because what are we doing to provide better reading instruction well the state of Kentucky address that situation by starting the reading acmy and again our district is always on the Forefront when things can be done and things are available to us we always Jump Ahead in that we we lead in that and so our district made sure that all of our teachers took advantage of the new letters
044training and it's some of the best training that um I have a new teacher from Franklin County and she said this is one of the best trainings that I've ever taken and again our district put their money with the mouth their mouth is I mean I don't think I said that right because I'm nervous but teachers had to do over 70 hours outside of the classroom of extra work and our district paid them to do that and so now every just looking at my school every K teacher that I have interventionist classroom teacher all have had that letter have finished their letters training our coach two of my and then you go oh What About Preschool when preschool was offered that training we have two out of five of our preschool teachers have already completed
045that training too so I just want to say that in Anderson County that when the newest um research is happening and things are doing that we we are answering the call and we're making sure that our children are getting the best instruction and so I'll just want to wrap this up and again this just sort of speaks to some of the things that we're doing that I just wrapped up but this is who we really are when you see those faces we believe in developmentally appropriate we are just not um a paper pencil school we do do paper pencil pcil but when our children just recently they have to do how-to pieces and writing in kindergarten so when they had to write about how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich our kids make
046peanut butter jelly sandwiches you got to do it to write about it right um they made pumpkin pies they um they made pizzas I had a teacher carrying in a bag of groceries one day I said what are you doing she said well I went to the store to buy some stuff to make pizzas and they made pizzas but then they wrote about it look at those um when math they use um manipulatives they um Hands-On learning unifix cubes and that type of thing uh it's a wonderful place I invite you all to come visit anytime and uh we do say the pledge at ECC and um there is our Littles and we're just so proud of them and like Miss Mitchell um says it's to me it's like Disney Land in the education world
047thank you all I'm amazed it really working in a corporate world versus you all's world is just so much different and I didn't realize what work all the work you all do uh until my wife went to work for Franklin County Schools U you know she comes home at night and I'm sure each of you all do the same thing I've seen her had to come home at night sat down and cut out things for jamar's class craft I've seen her come home and have to do a a class online because she didn't get it done she didn't have time to do it and I'm and I'm like well you don't get paid and then I see her she uh comes home late and I said why are you late tonight well the parent didn't
048pick up their child and I can't leave till the child leaves and I have to lock the building up I you know and I'm like but you don't get paid no extra I know but that's my my duty and but I'm in a world that when my 330 HS the CL I don't do nothing unless there's a paid for 331 and if I work one minute I'm paid and it I'm thankful for what you all do uh it's it's just like my wife you all do it because of the love you sure don't do it for the money and I'm very I'm thank from the bottom of my heart I thank each one of you all what you all do thank you Mr Ali next up uh saffle Elementary School uh Improvement plan uh Todd
049wridge so Mr Sergeant I agree we have to there's nights such as last night we get a text at 9:00 saying there's no power and it's a dark dungeon at saffle street so Mr Terry's on the phone Mich Miss Mitchell's on the phone like I was just there and we had power so I left the house went over and it was pitch dark kind of creepy walking into the building um but there's tons of things that we do outside of school hours or that people don't know about that we do behind the scenes and it's because we do it for the love the kids um um we love what we do we love the staff that work for us we love Anderson County schools and that's why we do the job that we do um
050first ECC is a huge um enrollment part of saffle Street and the kids that we have um without ECC we you know the things that Robin mentioned we have only seen an increase of phonics um of the curriculum work that's being done at EC so it's huge to see that K roll over into one and there's still things that we continue to grow on um that we know that we can make better and we're excited about that work so thank you Robin for your work at ECC as well um first thing I want to introduce is our team we have a new team at saffle Street we've had some rollover so as far as instructional coach U math coach um our guidance counselor um this is us in a daily in a daily basis kind
051of getting down on the kids levels we have started a new house system um looking at our school culture and our climate and the safety um it did drop on our KSA at the end of the year testing and on student survey so we knew we had to incorporate something and get something started at school so we attended um the cke summer workshop and where they in um introduced The Ron Clark Academy and the house implementation just trying to get a self- belonging of kids at school making them want to come to school um wanting the parents to come to school so we have implemented the house project we got a $5,000 Grant from Rotary Club this summer um to help us get started with that and we have four different houses that all kids
052are a part of and they're part of that house all through their education um at saffle street so I am the team leader of House of rever and we are House of dreamers we have goal oriented Minds we set goals for the school we set goals for home we set goals for their families um Al Turismo our house of givers so they are always finding ways how can we give back to the community we have a drive going on right now with all four houses um that that team has helped us with with um the um animal shelter we have senior citizen we have um Bradford Square and a nursing home out of Frankfurt so we're having to drive all through the holidays that we're going to take and deliver to them we also have
053the Amistad house which is House of Friendship how do we build groups within the school how do we work on friendship how do we um build that self- belonging at saffle so that's what that house of Amistad is and then the house of isab bendi which is the house of Courage how do we help become a free a a a true belonging at saffle Street and how do we fight and how do we build that courage um within one another huge huge um incentives for the house we have seen seen our attendance also climb um looking at not only our house days but also just special days that we have we try to plan special attendance days um house color days you might come into the school and you'll see us dressed and Royal blues
054and sparkly blue shoes because that's what the kids want us to dress like but when it increases our ATT end it's the meaning of that the program is really working not only does it help build a self a belonging at school it's also helped with our engagement pieces within the classroom how do we bring that excitement back into the room um where kids want to attend school so we're really excited about this so I'm there in the middle um Katherine clouse is there in your right in the green is a bendy shirt which is our guidance counselor and then Miss Lauren Southerland our new instructional coach there um in the black of Amad house next just wanted to Showcase some of our kids um not only our present kids but also some of our past
055kids they you'll see their front center stage um three of the five kiddos were presented at the Academic Hall of Fame um just a couple months ago the presentations that you were talking about three of those bright shining students came from saffle Street we're so very proud of them and everything that they do um throughout their career here in Anderson County we also have students in the far right there you'll see um we had a reading night that is at light up lawsburg we always try to participate there and bring the love of reading to children so we we provided reading buddies to our to Anderson County students I think we passed out 250 reindeer reading buddies um and we shared Christmas stories throughout the evening there at the bottom below there um you'll see
056two students working on some of our CA um curriculum some of their read aloud books working um in the middle there we just had a family bingo night how do we get back to our community so we had a free event we had almost 200 um students and family there we had donations we just had a free fun night where families could come out and come to the school we gave away T TVs Chromebooks tablets um just donation pieces that people throughout the community have donated that we can give back during the holiday season so just a good way to get families back in um to help relieve some of the stress just to make them feel comfortable and be part of the school Miss Mitchell attended um played some bingo games with us so
057we had a great night with that and then you also see some of our fabulous teachers on the left there um doing a Kagan structure think per share um just helping with our academic discussion we've been working on that inside the classrooms and then there at the bottom just making sure that those standards are congruent to lessons that we're completing walkthroughs and that everything that we do inside the classroom are congruent and it's standard based next is the overall account accountability weights I know Mr Murphy has gone over this before um just looking at those KSA scores looking at where we um scored overall last year and then our goals and where we're working this year so just a reminder that it's reading a math combined score 51% of the weight looking at science social
058studies and writing at the elementary level and then also looking at the quality of school climate and safety then you have the overall performance categories blue green yellow orange and red for overall um score rate last year we did drop a little bit we dropped to 54.4 um we were six points away from being in the yellow category but we did drop um we have realized that and we have set goals and we are on a weekly basis looking at time data and I can say right now we are nowhere near the orange category so we're proud of the work that we're doing um districtwide not only at saffle street but I know we're doing it districtwide and we're really making good strides there um so we did drop last year and it dropped us
059down to that orange category where we dropped we uh maintained there in reading and math um and then we declined in science social studies and writing and we also declined in our school climate um and safety overall they um right below the three in the F fourth row there you can see our KSA goals compared to where we fell last year last year in reading and math we had an overall um combined score of a 54.3 we um set our goal to a 70.8 for science social studies and writing we we at a 52.9 we set a goal of 70.4 and then the overall we um fell at that 54.4 and our overall goal this year is at 85.1 and that's what all of our growth indicators included there I can say um when I
060talked about that we do meet weekly we have data teams weekly that we meet with Miss Mitchell and Mr Murphy and we also meet with our teachers um we look at our Friday standard check so we have exit slips and our Friday standard checks of congruent questions just to see what was mastered throughout the week and then we compare it so we have a real time data um inside of our KSA calculator that we look at so at the end of the November we um were standing for a reading math at a 73.6 so we're well we're three points above our goal and then in science social studies and writing we were at a 77.1 so again there we're way over our goal um and that is though just the standards that have been mastered
061so far at the beginning of the year so we're about halfway through so looking at 50% of the standards we are well above our um goal and our KSA calculator there how are we making strides there in our growth model we are increasing proficiency and dis uish in reading math science social studies and writing um decreasing our novice and Apprentice in all the categories and then also improving our um qscs survey through that quality of school climate safety survey we have our weekly data teams that we are meeting there um weekly admin meetings we are also using our Friday standard checks um to help us look at the data and make sure we're tracking that so at anytime we can enter our exit slips or our Friday standard checks into our KSA calculator which is
062using used at the end of the school year to give us a real live score um where we are falling at any time so that's been really neat to get up and going um to show teachers to really give them a true standpoint of where we are um we had a faculty meeting this afternoon and we pulled all of our data up and we pulled the KSA calculator up just as a checkpoint um to see where so teachers could really get a good feel of where we are at this time of the year we're also working on with our quality control um across the district looking at our common assessments looking at Exit slips making sure that um our questions do have the dok level of the standards that we are making sure that all
063of our questions short answers erqs are congruent and up to standard on all of our common assessments we're also implementing um the SDI model and the station teaching model through CK and that they have helped us model that in our third fourth and fifth grade classrooms um making sure that we are really looking that specially designed um instruction um for students that are struggling we have really focused on our mtss plan as well making sure that we have the programming um for tier 2 and tier three on top of our core instruction um and I'm proud to say that that's up and goinging as well really looking at student data putting names on the numbers and making sure that we're moving kids um so we're really excited we've um we've realized what where we fell
064last year and already making good growth by mid year um this school year reaching our goal and that's it any questions so thank you Mr W next up uh CDF [Music] approval Mr Murphy good evening Gentlemen of the board and superintendent Mitchell as well as guests thank you all for being here tonight I appreciate the opportunity to uh stand before you and deliver our comprehensive District Improvement plan um it's kind of nice to follow the uh preceding schools because they give you a lot of information that's similar or that will be included in my presentation as well so that means you get to I get to be brief tonight so you're welcome all right so um goal one uh basically we have several different goals uh that we have in our C dip it is
065a comprehensive document um I hit the highlights and the and the surface for you because we can be here all night long talking about the C dip there's multiple goals there's a lot of objectives strategies activities funding sources that are tied to it responsible roles and so on but ultim Ely uh we want our district to thrive and do well and be not just a high performing District which we are being in the top 19% of the state is no small feet uh top quintile of the state if you will um and I can tell you that Anderson County Schools is in a very positive trajectory which I'm proud to report um thanks to miss Mitchell's leadership the leadership of our principes directors um leaders at the school level uh it takes a village and
066it really does in Anderson County Schools it takes everybody from the school bus driver picking them up in the morning to the cafeteria worker that feeds them in the morning and at lunch the par Educators that we have um and everyone in between the support staff at our schools are phenomenal and um they have to be in order to be in the top 19% of the state um Miss Mitchell um is very proud of our district um she's um exerted a lot of effort uh to communicate how proud we are as a school district um the Hall of Fame uh Excellence was one of those ways to do that tell our story um we know that if we don't tell our story someone will tell us tell it for us all right we want it
067to come across in a transparent way that's the right way to do it I can tell you that Miss Mitchells sets high expectations all of the directors and principles will attest to that I only have to look at their faces they're all nodding so um with that said she sets high expectations when we meet those expectations I know what her next comment's going to be what's next all right so when that when we meet that level of expectations she sets that bar higher for us and I appreciate that I like being stretched I like being challenged I like to um be a part of a district that is moving in the right direction because we have comprehensive systems that are working and it's evidenced by the data before you so all that being said jumping
068into the goals um by Spring of 2027 some of these goals are long-term goals and some of them will be on an annual basis but Anderson County Schools we want to increase our percentage of students scoring proficient distinguished in Reading to 70 across the board 70% that is as measured by our state Summit of Assessments why 70 why not 80 as you saw in ecc's presentation well we're not there yet across all of our levels and we want to get there um once we get there we'll set that bar higher but the reason that you see these metrics before you is because when the data is crunched and you look at top performing schools without any hidden issues that means they don't have any Gap issues with lower performing subgroups and so on as well
069these are the numbers that you see in those top 5% of the school district so this is where we want to be this is where we need to be for our students um by Spring of 27 as well um we want to make make sure that our students uh score uh in math and reading um again at 70% uh across the board that's pretty easy to remember 70% proficiency across each level for both reading and math moving on to the next one goal two is centered around our state assessment results in science social studies and writing that's a combined indicator measure by Spring of 27 again easy numbers to remember right 70% across levels across each of those disciplines or content areas goal three is our achievement Gap goal in Anderson County Schools we have
070a little over 50% uh free reduced lunch um I was a student that was on free reduced lunch growing up so um when you have a significant population of your um student body that uh is uh in an identified Gap area um it's almost like there is no Gap because a lot of students are identified in that Gap one Gap that we know that we have is a smaller subgroup is our students identified under special education and um that is one that we know that we're at risk of of being um for uh being identified for targeted support or Improvement or um some other labels Federal labels that can come as a result of having a gap group um that is identified so what we try to do is uh look at that specific student
071that we know that we're at the most risk R um and our students under special education do receive the most support um but they also have significant challenges as well um but ultimately our goal is to um reduce the percentage of students in that special education Gap group scoring novice in reading and novice and math to 20% or less across all levels as measured by our state Summit of Assessments our goal four is centered around our students are identified as English Learners all right we have a lot of students that come from households that they're not their Lang native language that they speak in their household is not English it might be Spanish or it might be um Japanese or it might be Chinese and so on as well so ultimately we we have a
072growing population this is a growing population in our district and um we are charged with making sure that they reach English proficiency or English attainment as quickly and most and efficiently as possible so we know when students can access the English language they can be immersed in that environment and they can throw drive and do well with their peers um with functioning as a citizen uh with life beyond school and so on so we want to make sure that those um students that we that are identified as English Learners reach English language proficiency uh to 70% as well by their commensurate peers uh in um as measured by the weda access State Summit of assessment the weda access does measure um English proficiency as well goal five is the qscs goal or the quality of
073school climate safety indicator as Mr walridge alluded to earlier and that's one um that we want uh across our schools to be at least High indicator status on that survey because we believe uh very deeply all of our administrators all of our teachers Miss ratl indicated all the extra time um Mr Sergeant also alluded to how important you know it is for educators they put in that extra time and they do it a lot of times in the goodness of their own heart because they want their kids to do well and they want to have a safe and um environment where they feel welcomed and accepted and they feel like they have a voice and they have a trusted adult or more than one TST trusted adult that they can talk to about things that
074they need to talk to um so that is is a goal of ours is to make sure all of our schools have that high indicator status goal six is postsecondary Readiness this is what I like to call the life Readiness um goal and that is that all of our students across the board um at 100% by Spring 2027 um as demonstrated through the State education agency's post-secondary Readiness Criterion there's multiple different Criterion that are listed um that can qualify students as being uh postsecondary ready um they can be u in a variety of ways they can take benchmark assessments such as the ACT they can um show proficiency on AP exams they can get some type of work Readiness as well or a credential or um some technical credential that can allow them to show
075career Readiness as well so ultimately we want all of our kids to be ready when they graduate and walk across that stage we want to have high confidence that each one of those kids we've done right by them and we've prepared them in a way that's going to prepare that's going to allow them to be successful in that next transition in life goal seven is our graduation rate um it's a big one uh we want all of our kids to graduate on time with their peers um we want to make sure that our graduation rate reaches 100% by Spring 2027 as measured by the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate um you know there's probably nothing in terms of a k through 12 education that families are more proud of than seeing their their uh Young
076Folks walk across that stage and that's a special moment for all of them and uh that's something that all of our kids deserve and if they put the time in and the hard work and the grit that it takes to get there then we should make sure that we support them all along the way how will we continue to grow I'll read this real quick we develop our district by exploring and implementing educational best practices strategies and processes we grow by taking calculated risks and embracing each failure as a learning opportunity for our growth and development we improve by systematically enhancing processes that elevate efficiency and quality with respect to safety preparedness and responsibility ACS is implementing a solid plan together for the common good of our students and school Community our unified plan is
077based on key core work processes that are time tested and proven to be effective you can see those key work processes below ACS non-negotiables are listed up there we got everything from number one building positive relationships with all students daily and that's where it starts and that's where it ends um number 10 at the bottom is making sure we look at those data dashboards and we do that very regularly we do that here in this very room on a monthly basis with our admin team we do that at some schools on a weekly basis and teachers do it on a daily basis with their kids so continuous Improvement is better than delayed Perfection that's a quote by Mark Twain had to share that with you today thank you all very much I appreciate your time
078what questions do you have for me thank you very much Mr Murphy very welcome can I get a motion to approve the um uh CDI um plan second Steve carich with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny F James sergeant uh next up is B bus purchases consideration to approve the purchase of three propane buses uh cost per bus is $163,400 uh before the $25,000 uh EPA rebate uh ending cost is $138,400 per bus uh for a total of $41 15,350 uh delivery expected by July of 2025 we brought this information to you earlier in the year um as we had that opportunity to get that $25,000 rebate per bus which is pretty um a pretty significant savings
079um as you all know we take pride um and keeping our Fleet the best that we possibly can for the safety of our students and our staff um um unfortunately Mr Harley isn't here this evening um the last minute he was UN aable to be here um but I will say Mr um white um has worked very closely uh with Miss teriana Conway and Mr Harley um to um to to get the information together to um also give you the best possible number quote um that we can get and that savings for um for the overall um ability to get more buses for the district as we possibly can any questions that I can answer for you this evening or Mr White is there any additional information you'd like to share this uh as Miss
080Mitchell said this was previously approved and this will not actually hit our budget until 2526 so we're approving it now to take advantage of the EPA Grant and go ahead and get them ordered but they're not going to deliver them until the next school year and so we're not going to have that expenditure um technically on the book until then yes six I believe off the top of my head yes we do have six as far as I know they are Mr F I do not drive a bus and I don't want to speak for the transportation department but I haven't had any complaints from Mr Harley about him telling me to go look at something different I will say Mr fer that's a great question to Mr Harley was an advocate for this he
081um wanted to at all possible see the board approve the buses which would give us the maximum um sa uh safety but also the savings for um getting the the highest quality on the road that we can for our kids buses are quieter and fights on gas gas I'd say burn burned a little bit they Burns much cleaner there's less main second Steve carmichel with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scot Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny Fess James Sergeant uh next up uh Cal calendar committee members consideration to approve the calendar committee members for the 25 for the 26 27 school year calendar um one change this year chairman and that would be Becca Hayes for a Community member as a change with Tamara
082Smith with Tamara Cassidy it's a Tamara and Becca replacing Chassidy y motion to approve BR with a first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny Fess James Sergeant next up uh Surplus property uh consideration to approve the following Surplus property um I'll let yall look through those but any questions regarding the Surplus one from the high school for the white room um ad um say your requ making that request in the other for saffle Street principal wridge is making that request for some um library books to put in the hands of some children any questions motion to approve Scott Brown Steve Carm with first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown
083yes Steve carmichel senan TR James Sergeant uh purchases over $110,000 uh consideration to approve the following purchases over $10,000 um let you all read through you do youall have the breakdown um there's two um one for ERS County High School um classroom furniture for three uh CTE classrooms uh in the amount of $ 26,6 to30 uh from worington based uh on a previous service quality of this vendor I apologize there's a typo there so it should be Worthington it would be it should be 27,999 2.70 um for Worthington and um inter County High School um folks are making their request to go with that option um to um just for the service and basically the quality of the um of the equipment okay and the next item is um for inter scy High School Chromebooks
084um for the family and uh customer science classrooms uh or consumer science classrooms utilizing State contract uh for the technology purchase um lavic funds uh will be used uh for the purchase of from uh bis I get that wrong every single time uh in the amount of $ 32,5 180 for your information the leac funds are State funds for Career Technical education specifically and our um High School does a really great job of working spe specifically with those programs to get the best possible upgrades they can for our teachers and our students so they can um continue to um to do such great work that they those programs are amazing and they do great work for kids any questions that we can answer second Steve Carmichael with first and second can I get a roll
085call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny Fess Jason James sergeant uh softball deck approval a consideration to approve the construction of a spectator viewing deck at the Anderson County High School softball field uh this will be located behind the Outfield fence to allow additional viewing opportunities uh over the windscreen and the fence for parents and Spectators uh deck material cost is $1,982 most of which will be donated uh softball program and parents will cover the rest as well as any labor costs for any questions you have we do have our girl softball coach um Aldridge here this evening along with some of the folks that are going to um do the work and uh first of all thank you gentlemen for your uh work and your support
086of the program thank you coach for bringing this item to the agenda are there any questions that we can answer for you I would just say thank you and compliments to the the coaches parents and absolutely people for making this possible so thank you all for doing this that one did have a ramp if I yes sir we did um yes sir the uh ramp is added and you will see it here on the screen okay second you need help let me know be glad to canun the are I don't either user I'll recommend Scott so I'll recomend SC yes sir thank you Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny Fess James Sergeant uh next up is Anderson County High School uh junior varsity lacrosse approval uh Corey Seer athletic director is
087requesting the creation of junior varsity lacrosse team uh Mr Seer will provide an update uh to the board on the projected startup cost so based on last week or last month I should say I went back and made some um you guys wanted me to make some amendments um you mentioned having 15 people instead of 20 um I was able to get the startup cost to just about $88,000 which seems to be a number we keep coming to today um that um that's for the expenses and you can see the uh the breakdown between um you know the the balls the Nets the jerseys helmets how much is the bits expense pretty easily um I was able to find cheaper back stop Nets um and two goals um that's pretty standard for the goals it's
088pretty it's heavy steel um and the assigner fees um and this is something I wanted to also talk about and Miss Mitchell and I talked about too um and sort of what Mr sergeant had mentioned in the session before before this really what I'm looking for if we don't have enough kids to come out and play then we won't have a team and these costs would be moot um what I'm looking for is an okay and this would probably be a startup feed that I would need if the we had enough um since our last meeting I've spoken to some people we don't have a coach obviously so I can't call a coach I spoken to some people in The Who interested in Lacrosse in the area they're going to see if we can get
089some more kids to come out and if they can't come out then we won't have a team you know what I'm saying but I do want to have that as an option because the Spring's coming up soon and if there is the interest I'd like to to go ahead and do it I've had schools reach out to me trying to schedule games because um they thought we were going to have a team we might have a team and so I like to go ahead and have that option if possible um and if not you know obviously we won't but I I need we need to sort of make a move on this I I tried to cut the cost almost and half of what the original cost was um and trying to find some cheaper
090options um and the only option that I'm not going to change obviously on the cost per good was the helmets because we have to have really good stuff on that but um really what I'm looking for is just an okay and and and also you know we start off on a JV program if we don't have a lot of guys come out but this if you would if this is motion has passed and we eventually have enough I'd like to go ahead and make it a varsity you know um an option if we had enough kids just based on the KSA guideline of having twice the number of people that would be on the field that start a program we're not there yet but maybe a JV program could be a start um and then
091you know we we add more we add the more we'll have a varsity program Okie doie I have a obligation people in the community come to me in order for me to be a to ieducate today I met with a lady by the name of Abby ja KSA boys team 45 girls team also told me you've already registered Anderson County as one as a team and I asked her question and on your defense I asked her the question she said the email went out June to July that you all were required to put application in by November but that doesn't mean that you're going to have a team all right I know that you didn't start here to July so I know that you didn't get you were in the if I can make a
092point in between there I did they said who thinks are going to and at the time I thought we might I need I wanted to go ahead and put her name in there just in case because if we didn't then they wouldn't have included us in our district stuff so I did say the plan was to have one yeah yeah well and she told me that she told me she said that doesn't you're not obligated because he's got it registered that doesn't mean you're obligated but the reason why we wanted to know who is out there because there's a problem with coaches we we are not finding enough coaches do this she said another thing the reason why there's only 43 and 45 because of the cost it's so expensive start a lot of school
093districts very helpful know not you I know I know that you just came on and I know the deadline that she told me was November you had to do it and like she told me that doesn't mean you're going to have it's just mean there's a possibility and I but and like I said I did this research came for am but one of just it does have significant cost for the students um this is this is would be our cost the $8,000 is um there are significant cost to the players the the pads the kids pay for the elbow pads they pay for the gloves are over $100 per pair and they rip a lot um I know I go through about $7 or $800 worth of stuff I pay for every year for my
094son that's not going to be covered by this it is an expensive sport um Anderson County does not have a huge Legacy of um of Lacrosse and of being able to have sports that have that level of cost the costs that are associated sports that are extraordinarily expensive to be competitive in things like tennis um and golf um we golf we've done well tennis we don't have as much and it's a very expensive sport having grown up as a tennis player um lacrosse is another one like that yeah reason why the people that club support you're not going to have anybody to play don't it in won have she gave me the list of the schools that signed up the the girls costs are much less it's not it's it's not a huge contact sport
095they don't wear pads and stuff like that they don't have helmets and so the startup cost is significantly less that was one of when I told her about my concerns about the expense that was her next comment she it's a Springport yeah and it will have to be played at there's lacrosse field at the park we'd have to do that our Fields um at the high school would have a hard time maintaining it our football Field's not wide enough um for a lacrosse field and our soccer field is wide enough and long enough but my plan is to put Middle School soccer on there as a way to you know let families be there so it would probably still be at the park that that that's going to be an issue for us that we're
096going to have for a while is um in terms of supervision I can tell you the spring is the hardest for us because we've got four we have baseball and softball for high school baseball softball and both soccers for Middle School um and so it will be one more and if we add volleyball that'll be eight sports that we have to supervise during the Spring what were the startup costs was it 14,000 plus total start up um the cost I I got the cost down to about $8,000 um now the stien now no not a not a single girl came to the interest meeting so there wouldn't be a girl so that stipan would only be for one coach not for both um a little over 10,000 yeah that wouldn't include transport NOP now the
097the way that but I mean the officials would the I mean yes you're 100% right it doesn't include Transportation it doesn't include um officials now usually the officials get paid out of gate although to be fair lacrosse does not bring a huge amount of people so we would probably go into into debt on that I'd pay out of my own pocket on that you know so when I had like we talked about this last meeting um when I had the the session to do it we had 12 people show up plus one I know couldn't who I had in class um that's the ksaa has asked for us and if you I don't know if you talked to Abby about this but the ksaa says if if you're going to start something up you need
098to have at least twice the number of people who play on the field so a basketball team we have at least 10 guys coming out or 10 girls coming out there's 10 people on the lacrosse field at one time they recommend you have at least 20 um it's a sport where kids get are going to get hurt they're going to get hurt that's just it's like football um so you're going to have somebody get hurt you're going to have a couple kids not make tendance it's going to be tight that's kind of why I'm asking for you to go ahead and give me the authority to start it if enough if there's enough people interested and if there's not then I will won't won't do it until we get more kids another thing she said
099Mr prin and I sat beside the Clark County Board one of another things she told me is concern uh it it's like football there the the injuries I me you know lock on wood my son's never been hurt but a lot of his teammates have had some pretty my my um nephew played and he's had a concussion in two torn ACLs well that's what I wanted to start with a JV team because if we have a JV schedule it'd be easier to cancel if we don't have kids coming in um also the the state has come the KCA has come out with eight regions our region know this doesn't matter because we want to be competitive our region includes South oldum um traditionally traditionally very wealthy schools are good at lacrosse um and um in
100South oldum is they play they play a multi-state um schedule so it kind of like being in a football district with SX so if we um if it was approved um and we have a team I could make a condition of hiring a coach that um the team would become season eligible if they were able to raise x amount of dollars that would be true I can tell you that from a perspective of an ad for me to go out and raise money for something that may or may not happen I would feel um I I don't know that how morally I would feel about that that people would give me i' say listen if we can raise money well will do this and they raise money somebody gives me a th check and we
101end up not having a team and then I've just taking their money so I think what it would what would maybe make sense would be to say okay you guys say yeah you can have a team and then you get a lotted x amount of dollars and then it would be contingent upon some A number being hit and the coach would be on the hook for that does that make sense P was a superintendent and they wanted to start volleyball and our board attorney Bob his son was not soccer and he wasting to be on soccer field and they come and Mr here they had concern I would I would also point out that Mr trest gave Travis Harley $10,000 to start the Middle School baseball team when he asked generous most people said you
102was conserved What what schools in thisa so our district um this District would have the three like were we that's why I had to go in and say that we may be doing it so they can set up a district um it would be Collins and Shelby and the oldum schools would be in our district our region Shel is awful um Collins is pretty decent I mean they're decent for a public school that doesn't have any money um and then um South oldum is considerably good um but other than that those schools have been playing for a little while five you know less than about 10 years I'm still a little bit confused on the numbers are we talking you have to have twice the numbers or you'd have to have 20 khsa recommends you
103have at least 20 people to to field a team based on like it during the game if you've watched lacrosse a lot there's only 10 people on the field but there's going to be 20 kids play because the amount of people that get hit the amount of running you do they Sub in and out a lot so Woodford you know my son's on Woodford they're very good between their freshman all the way through seniors they've got about 40 kids and and they're really good well because he only we we only had right you're 100% right we only had we only had 12 come and and you guys asked me for a way to reduce it and the board suggested that I move it from 20 kids down to 15 kids which is one reason why
104the number went down are we looking to approve this in on young people Sig up to play I'm I'm looking for your guidance on this like um essentially as an athletic director I want to offer as many options for our kids as possible because I think it's good for the kids and it's good for the school I I don't want to make it like well we might not be very good so we shouldn't do it well there's a lot of sports we're not very good at but we still do it and it's good for kids so um or they start off not very good the volleyball team started off not very good we got pretty good right the soccer team started off not very good we we got better so um but you're right this
105is one like with let's say volleyball or even soccer the up CA has nothing to do with per per child but something like football and Lacrosse do because of the contact nature of it um so you know I I'll be honest with you I try to be as honest as possible um if if you don't approve it I'm G to sleep fine tonight you know but I also want for kids who want to do it I want this option for them but I can't lie about the cost because the cost is what it is I mean we have to we could make our kids have to buy their own helmets but I would caution you that's it's a poor idea um and so The Upfront cost is what it is and then it's you know
106in your the hands of the wisdom of the of the board to make the decision if you think we're going to get a bang for the bucker that or not I'm not going to be offended either way I I would think that you know fund ra any fundraising that would happen would really go towards you know some some of the student driving some of the student costs down um you know the gloves and some of the some of that type stuff that's I that's generally what a lot of the yeah I mean I and and I got I can't stress that the schools that play this are usually more fluent schools and the kids who play this are more fluent I can tell you when I go to state when I go to tournaments all
107over the country with my son I am predominantly the poorest person there I personally don't care if one sports team wins one time what I about them active getting along with each other not embarrassing us when they go out of town and participate working hard at it if they lose they lose I'm still proud to say I'm part Lear to get along with each other they're learning how to work hard and they're learning when they go out in the community away from Anderson County they repres all I care don't our football never wins game I agree with everything you said but I want to win yeah I can tell I can say as an athletic director I do hear about it sound like a basketball coach I heard I'm still confused on this are we
108approving this based on it you'll have 20 kids who sign up to play is contingency or are we saying we're gonna that's what I'm asking you that's what I'm asking you sense what I'm asking you is this here's what I'm asking you I'm asking you to give me the right to start the team if enough kids show up and I've given you the per unit cost that's really all I can say because if 25 Kids come out there I just can't only get 20 of a helmet and if 15 show up then the numbers are what they are um that's the problem with I mean I want to forecast it for you but I also want to be honest that you know right now we don't have a lot of numbers eventually maybe we will
109um and what I was hoping is you guys would say okay listen you have the right to start this if you want I I we we Grant you the right to start this program if I feel not enough kids if less than 15 kids come out I just don't think it's it's doable to have a schedule because of but if 20 kids come out then it's possible but if 20 kids come out that also means that we have to pay for those 20 kids so it's up to the wisdom of the board to make that decision because I can't tell well we can't take you where we've made we've already got 20 you know what I'm saying and so that's that's the hard part about this is there's an unknown part of this I agree
110with you and I believe if we have 20 kids come out and we're obligated to pick up the additional five that we're talking about whoever yeah I'm hoping that you get the 20 kids that's what khsa recommends that we have I'm going to hope kids at about which is not crazy well I prob home doing homework other things well one of the one of the I I will caution you I did I didn't do it for a reason um and the reason is is because I don't want people to come in and like this is a sport like football where you have a higher attrition rate and if you have a whole bunch of people come out and they decide after the first practice they didn't like get hit in the mouth and everybody quit
111and now all of a sudden we're on the hook I didn't feel that I thought that would be disingenuous and so I didn't want people who may or may not coach to be able to sway your opinions on that I'm trying to give you the information without any with with a dispassion essentially I think it'll work hard to make it work that a motion I'll make it a motion to approve second SC excuse me BR with a first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve Carmichael yes Sunny fantz James sergeant to be straight on this then what I'm going to do is now that we've given this I'm going to have another group if it looks like there's going to be interest then
112I'll move forward but if there's not going to be enough then I'm going to hold back but what I feel like you've done is given me the right to next year not have to come back and ask again if I we do have more interest is that what I'm hearing correct five additional kids that we need to put in sure sure think kind of built in there like I'm looking at 20 kids that's you I didn't hear you all I I I did I've had some people reach out to me um who are interested um that's another problem as as Mr sergeant said it's it's a sport that does not have a dir of of coaches out there and it's a sport that if it's going to be it's it's physical then you want to
113have a coach what they're talking about um and I won't get into the manner of people specifically but there's we'll put it the other thing is we we put it out there if no one applies then no one applies and if we don't have a coach we a team and that's just that's the problem with starting up a new program and there's a lot of unknowns um particularly when we haven't started up a a sport that is this physical since we started football whenever we started foot this this would be the second most physical sport we have on that you know as a as a school system it's fantastic if you haven't seen it it's it's really fun like watching soccer and hockey put I think now that it is I'll say semi approved that
114um it gives a chance for in following years yeah exactly and to really say you know we already have the approval if if we go towards it sounds like it sounds like based on Mr Carmichael saying if we get to 20 then we've got a team K say recommends we have 20 all of you make excellent points but um we have we have it approved and and I what I'll do is I'll work with Miss Mitchell when I find stuff and she can keep you guys appraise where we're at so we'll move on that even though I didn't we'll get you a lacrosse hat [Laughter] thank you uh next up is early graduation approval uh consideration to approve early graduation approval for those three students that believe everyone has the papers and their packets as
115you all know that quick question is there an age requ on this at all you have to be 18 to get graduate early 17 you can graduate early there is no AE re age requirement is they have to reach so some students um are 17 when they graduate and some students are 18 so it's that they complete the requirements they're able to be eligible so the age limit is not 17 or 18 some of these letters are incredible that's why I was asking and there's no need for a parentless they're emancipated at 18 there is an involvement and the parents do sign off on it second Ste carmichel the first second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes to Brown Steve carmichel Sunny F James Sergeant uh next uh
116this should be an easy oneou for the Anderson County Sheriff's Office for the SRO program as you all know we do typically have a two-year agreement with um the Anderson County Sheriff's Department we're very fortunate that we have the partnership that we have um we have a sheriff um and sro's who uh who are just like family who work super hard for our children who um build strong relationships with students staff and families and um we are very blessed um unlike a lot of other school districts and communities to be able to have seven sro's within their district one per school and then an extra one in or in in case we need to have additional support at one of our schools so so um there are no changes to this mou um the request
117um is to continue um with the seven um with the same um exact um support um we are blessed um to have um been provided with additional funding from our general assembly this past year um supporting $20,000 per campus um that is doesn't quite cover the cost of our Sr um we also have additional funding um from the state department um to allow us to have um again additional funding for that and our sheriff's department does pay partial salary for two of our SRO with all that being said it is expensive um there's additional request um as I shared um earlier um that would allow them all to get a salary increase like the rest of our staff here um and so that additional cost would be approximately $8,000 um with no changes to the
118contract except for that that allows them to get the same increase that um the uh the all the officers are getting um with the sheriff's department that change would come January 1 and not July one different than the school district because our salary schedules are approved in May for the following school year starting July 1 there's runs calendar year so that change would be January to December um any questions that I can answer for you you I think I think we have one of the best SRO programs in the state um I've had a lot of dealings with them personally and they're fantastic um and with that I want to make a motion to approve thank you I'll s that thank Joe for all his hard work to save money and all and I also
119want to I agree with both of you and I want to say thank you to John M all of our SOS um they are fantastic they again do so much for our children besides um they build relationships they talk to children they build those strong relationships with children so that that when they do have things come up they can talk to families and are able to uh to ensure um the best possible outcome for students and families and they are great with our staff as well so I agree we have we are very blessed to have Sheriff milum as well as all the SRO in our school so um thank you for that with that with a first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes thank you Jason Collins yes Scott
120Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny Fant James Sergeant next up is 2025 uh board meeting dates this is a year that I will not ask for any change to the second Monday unless you all make a request for a different Monday or a different day of the week so this year is odd every one of the dates falls on the second Monday and no deviation from that that I could find um if there is something that I missed I apologize in advance um but at this time it's the the request is for the second Monday of the month in every month for the 25 calendar any questions comments that okay well there any questions motion to approve Scott Brown second Steve carich with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes
121sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel Sunny Fant James Sergeant uh election of chair and vice chair for 2025 Mr chairman two comments please first of all there's not a board meeting that goes by that I'm not incredibly thankful for folks in the bo District for giving me the opportunity to serve on this board it wasn't something I looked for wasn't something I ever imagined but I'm incredibly grateful to the folks families and the young people and just be able to serve on this board secondly I've been in a lot of situations where you have uh chairs Vice chairs coordinators directors facilitated meetings um and I think our board all the respect and humbly works very well the way that it works and I've never been one of those folks who felt like
122you ch things just for the sake of changing and I think what we have going here works all of us have the opportunity to speak and to share to have opinions to agree and to disagree to be respectful of varying ideas and thoughts and processes and to ask questions when they're they're needed and to speak what we have to share so I'm very grateful for that so this is not necessarily A a motion but I'd like to get other input on this but to change where we are from what we're doing I think that Jason and Scott do a great job serving as our chair and our vice chair my feelings would be that we do things in place for the new year I do have a comment when I first got on this board
123it was October I mean November my first board meeting was December I remember just as well as yesterday lean was the chair and Berita young was nominated young one of the things Lee told me said sge uh we have a gentleman's agreement here every year we rotate this and give each person an opportunity to serve that way the politics nobody gets their feelings hurt and that way and for years that's the way it always was that being said I kind of had in my thought of Scott Jas Scott stepping up as chair and you turn and step up ice chair just you know and that was my thought it's nothing to do with Jason it's just the way I was back in the old days that's the way it was and it always I I
124accept it that way and always knew that's the way it's going to be and it and people didn't get their feelings hurt and you know everything went that way and every year next year prce year went to the cheer the way it always feeling is not hurt and I'll second motion I would like since you didn't make a motion I'd like to make another comment before you motion last year someone asked me about being chair or vice chair and I appreciated that I was yeah I remember you I was was a tremendous honored to even be asked and this year somebody asked and again I appreciate that that's genuinely kind of been there been in those positions where you facilitate and chair and do various things and I I appreciate the opportunity to do that
125and I think any of us could serve in those positions but what I'm saying is we're really blessed with the way this board's working when something is working well I don't think you change it just for the sake of rotating and I I don't disagree with you my wife reminds me that the chair of the Green County down in Greensburg Kentucky it's a beautiful place by the way the chair down there is Marcy gof and she's been the chair for 25 years must something well now I'm not saying these guys should stay for 25 years I'm just saying something works well when something works well don't change it keep keep working well and so I'm I don't have a problem I'm just telling you the way that's the way it was when I came here
126uh in 2010 it was all and we over those years kind of problem that way but whatever it is you know whatever you would like to make the motion I don't another just saying and I'm a very traditional type person but I would I guess make the motion that if Jason is willing and Scott is willing that we continue with we have work here guess with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny FZ James Sergeant tojn second Michel with the first and second can I get a roll call vote please yes sir Jason Collins yes Scott Brown yes Steve carmichel yes Sunny Fess James Sergeant we are adjourned back