Madison Co. Schools Board Meeting - May 14, 2026

001presentation the Barnyard musical. Yeah, musical through there you [laughter] go. Yes. Through a partnership between classroom teachers, students, and music teacher Mr. Neil, who's phenomenal, students participated in a crosscurricular learning experience that combines music, literacy, research, creativity, and family engagement. Students explored a variety of farm animals through research activities, learningformational facts, and developing a deeper understanding of each animal featured in the program. Students applied their learning by composing both informational and opinionwriting pieces connected to the animals and themes from the performance. In addition to the academic components, students and teachers worked together to create costumes, decorations, and props that brought the production to life. The program also emphasized movement, performance skills, and family involvement. Students learned and practiced dances as part of the musical experience and invited family members to join them on the floor

002during portions of the performance, creating meaningful opportunities for connection and celebration. The Barnyard musical highlights this creative collaboration and joyful learning experience taking place at MKA while showcasing the importance of integrating the arts into student learning. Mr. Neil and [snorts] Miss Stacy, >> I'm just going to give a little more information while they are coming out and getting ready. So, this will be something new for you all. Um, something you've not seen before. Our students this year have really worked hard with increased rigor in instruction, in literacy and in math. And I don't know, their parents know this, but you may not know that they are basically six right now, but they're going to be 24 tomorrow. So, they're grown. Um, and they are very confident in their skill set and ability, and they wanted

003to take the reigns in a lot of their learning. And we thought, what a great way to let them do that and have autonomy in that with an authentic experience of music and dance and things that are interesting to them. So, we pushed them out of their comfort zone. We threw a brand new music program idea at Mr. Neil at the last minute and he kind of just handed over the reigns to them and it was amazing. So, I'm really happy that they're going to get to talk to you about some of the things they did for that. Um, one of the things they won't share because Mr. Neil's a little humble, so I'm going to share on his behalf. This year, we have included our families as part of our program. So, in this

004program, families got to come down to the floor and do some dancing. We do have some photos and videos. We're not going to share [laughter] because I am in some of those and they're just not it's just not appropriate. So, it it was a fun fun time. So, being able to get the whole family involved in student learning this year through programs has been a step in the right direction for MKA. So, all right, Mr. Neil, let's bring them on up. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> All right. Howdy, folks. I'm Mr. Neil, the music teacher. A lot of you know me. That's why we're here. All right. Uh, Miss Stacy said all the good stuff. So, how about I let some friends who really know what they're talking about? Come on over here. Now

005we're just a little more. >> So they made all the decorations for them including Hold it up for them so they can see it mixed all including some of these really cool chickens. They did they did them in their classrooms. They worked so hard collaboration between all the teams, all of the team and all the teachers. All right. >> All right. Tell you >> whose class we >> now tell us all about that fancy shirt you wear. So, we took the shirts outside and we put the tie dye in the bottle and then and then we squirt the tie dye out on our shirts. >> And was that was that a lot of fun? >> Pretty silly. All right. Now, we got to learn something, too. So, tell them about some of that learning we

006did. Do that a little bit. Tell them about how we learn about >> Well, We learned [laughter] >> that's all though. [laughter] Yeah. We s >> Yeah, that's okay. Hey, Mr. No is a little nervous, too. Takes a little practice. How about we show them our song? >> Yeah. So, each team um are the different animals. The cows, the pigs, the goats. Cows, pigs, goats, and the chickens. Our funky chickens. That's why they got her legs. Now, you see how Mr. Neil said there wasn't enough room for us to do the whole funky chicken dance. >> Yeah. >> And how I said we can't really do the cows forest line because we ain't got enough room. >> That's why we're going to do the musical. All right. Go ahead, Miss Doson. Sing loud, boys and

007girls. Stay back here just a little. You sing it. Here we go. >> [clears throat] [music] >> Happy again. What do you think, man? Sure. >> Which one? We did our work. It's time for them to do their work. So, ready? You're going to follow Mr. Neil. Parents, we'll see you in just a second. Follow. Follow. >> Let's give a big hand for the bar. Good job. Mr. Ne, >> good job on the music there, honey. >> Yes. Thank you, >> Mr. Neely. And I may need a Kleenex. We've got daughters graduating next week and that >> brought it home. Yep. >> Good job. >> Thank you all. >> Good to see you. >> We were hoping to keep the chickens. >> Yeah, I want to see the chicken. Yeah, I was see Yeah. >>

008All right, y'all. I'm gonna do my best to get through this. I'm an emotional mom right now. [laughter] You got it. I'm just gonna tell you here. Have to get the water. You're good. Okay. All right, we'll move right along here. Um, next up we have a recognition, Mr. Ne. >> All right, we have a surprise recognition tonight and we're going to recognize our very own Mrs. Becky Coyle. [laughter] >> You're going to hear it for what? So, Mrs. Miss Co serves division 2 uh in Madison County and she was elected in November of 2000 and sworn in in January of 2001 which puts her 25 years of service on Madison County Board of Education. Becky has served under six superintendent during her tenure. Glenn Marshall, Mike Coddle, Tommy Floyd, Elmer Thomas, David Gillum, and

009myself. You can rank those later if you want to. [laughter] Don't do it now. Uh, Miss Mrs. Cole exhibits the true meaning of being a servant leader and continues her f focus on people and purpose. What I feel are the main traits of being a servant leader is compassion, character, and competence. And Mrs. Cole exemplifies every one of these. We're so proud to give this award to you for 25 tough years. This is some some are good, some are bad, but what you have been through is second to none for the service of Madison County schools and our board of education. So, please with me give a big hand to Mrs. Becky Cole for her 25 years of service. Yeah. Here. >> I don't need much to have to cry on the same It's all

010>> I'm sorry. I think she may have the third longest tenure. maybe two people in Woodford count or Shelby County that has a longer uh tenure of being on the board. So, um kudos to you. >> What's it take to beat them? >> You got five more years [laughter] >> and they're >> I got two more to go through here. So, no, it's been You said it's been some tough years, but really it's been all good because we've had some excellent board members to work with and superintendent. >> I do enjoy every bit of it. All right. Can't thank her enough, so we'll move them. Okay. Uh, next we have audience comments regarding agenda items. Do we have anything, Miss Tammy? Next on the agenda is our consent agenda. Uh, these are the things that

011we see on a regular basis that that are recurring from month to month. So, the items to be approved in our consent agenda are the minutes of the April 16th board meeting, claims, superintendent personnel actions, leaves of absence, technology surplus, and the following out of state field trips. Madison Middle School 7th grade trip to Chicago, Illinois, November 7th through the 8th. Codle Middle School archery trip to Daytona, Florida on June 17th through the 21st. Boonsboro Elementary on that same archery trip to Daytona Beach June 17th through the 21st. Madison Central volleyball trip to Cincinnati and Mason, Ohio on July 20th through 24th. And Madison Central KEDC organized trip to Washington DC through the 10th and eight shortened school day applications. Are there any questions on our consent agenda? Okay, I need a motion to approve.

012Oops. Motion by Mr. Rutherford, second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? I >> motion carries. Next, we have our monthly reports. And with us tonight, first is Miss Angie Wilcox. Excited to have Miss Angie. She's here to talk to us about MTSS and the school counseling services. >> Yes, thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for um I'm going to start off with highlighting MTSS in Madison County Schools. So, multi-tered systems of support. When we started last um school year, you know, principles academy and then our district MTSS meetings, I thought we need to do a quick review and our focus was on engagement, right? So, I thought, well, let's do something that will remember MTSS. So, I just randomly thought, let's do this with principles. And I did a clap. Mr. is like I'm

013going I know what you're about to do. And I did multi-tiered systems of support. And then that was our Oh, wait. What do those three [snorts] stand for when we clap? Tiers of support, layers of support that we give students. In what areas? All areas. Because we're here for academics, we're here for social emotional, we're here for attendance, and we're here for behavior. So all of those things go under that umbrella. And then of course support. we're going to do whatever it takes to to get them through. Um, so I just kind of wanted to start with that because as you know, yearly I do this, I kind of just wanted thought about that and for you all too, right? Um, and most of you back there like, yeah, I've been there, done that. Uh,

014so I just kind of wanted to also talk about we talk about engagement, but we can't get to engagement until we get those babies in our buildings, right? I thought about those little kindergarteners. They were excited to go to school every day, I bet, to do that because that was engaging for them. So, just tying that back in. Well, what do we do? We got to get the kids into our safe, welcoming learning environments. So once they're there, then we can layer on the support. So our monthly meetings at each school, it was neat to hear the conversations. We have schools that are doing um you know, greetings at the door. They are they are now being intentional with the kids when they come in, fist bumps, high five, let's make our own little handshake.

015Some of the kids can't wait to get there first thing in the morning just so they can have that connection. So that kind of gives them that motivation, maybe that little extra support that they need. We have schools doing um relationship building where they team up and they mentor. So let's say an adult takes a kid and says, "You know what? I'm gonna spend we call it a 2 by10 strategy, but I'm gonna spend two minutes 10 days with a kid and just say for two minutes talk to me about something beside your homework. Like let's just talk and it builds that relationship." And I've seen schools use that one year and then you can't break the bond. So you no longer have to go do your 2 by10. Yes, I do. I want to

016know how they're doing in the next grade and the next grade. So, I think that's really cool. Um, so I just kind of wanted to highlight some of those things that we we think about those tiers of support and engaging kids, but we got to get them there. And so those strategies have helped increase our attendance. Um, also kind of wanted to talk about thinking academics and goal setting. That's also within that. Once we get them there, we can layer on that support. So, our schools are doing goal setting with kids, whether it be I ready, whether it be behavior charts they're using, and they're meeting with the kids individually and they're showing them what it feels like when they get to that goal that they've set. And it's so neat. One day I was

017at an elementary school and the kids were coming out and they couldn't wait to tell even the bus driver, I met my goal today. And so, it's just it's just cool to see. So, I just kind of wanted to highlight some of those things that as schools meet monthly, they are looking at data and trying to problem solve and not just admire anymore. Problem solve. What are we going to do? And they're putting these things into place. So, just wanted to share that. Great things going on. Um, I also wanted to highlight our school counselors. They have um a big role right now, right? Um, they have a focus of academics, social, emotional, college, and career ready. Well, right now it's testing time. So, they also are the building assessment coordinators and they have organized

018that so students can show what they have learned and show what they can they are capable of doing and meeting those goals that they've set. So, just wanted to shout out to them for everything they do throughout the year, but that number one right now. Um, and then testing's going to be completed and now they're focused on transition like how are we going to make it a smooth transition from that fourth grade to fifth grade or that 8th grade to high school. So counselors are now, you know, stepping into that transition role and helping that do that. So just all those things that they do, I just thank you all too for supporting them. Our student support workers are also a big shout out to them for helping with the engagement of wanting kids to

019be there at school and those check-ins that they do. So, >> Miss Wilox, those monthly meetings that you're doing, who who is who are you including in those? Who's at the table there with you that you're helping? >> So, at the MTSS meets, each school has a representative that comes to the district MTSS meeting, right? But then monthly each school has an MTSS meeting. So, their goal is to have a teacher or from either grade level or if they do content areas. Each school does it a little different. If they are in content areas and they'll send one from a content area, there is a school counselor on there. Um, an administrator, there's FRC's are involved on that. Um, some schools even include their nurse on that which I think is amazing because that also

020plays a part. But >> I think that's great. It just lets you guys really collaborate and work together. I like that. >> You're doing a great job. Thank you, by the way. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else have anything for Miss Wilcox? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you and your whole team. >> Thank you. >> Next on our agenda is our construction report and we have Mr. Jonathan Smith here with Branson Construction and update us on a couple things going on. >> Good evening. want to update you. Uh, of course, first on Madison Middle. Um, I guess one of the big things Madison Middle had concern and I know others have the grass is just not coming in at Mass Middle, but I met the contractor last week and they are going to

021come back this fall. Of course, now is not the best time to sew grass because it's not going to come up. So, they have agreed they're going to come back this fall, redo that. There's some landscaping that's died throughout the year. Of course, that's part of warranty. those old all those items be complete this fall. Better time of year to do that. Better chance of flipping. So, got a few punch list items, but Madison Middle's pretty well wrapped up. Uh want to go on to Waco. Uh lot of stuff going on on Waco. A lot of block being laid. Um lot of steel going in there. Um there's uh several contractors of course, electrician, plumber, all those guys are keeping up rough in as we're laying laying block and getting steel set. Uh this is

022that uh front advent area. You can see a lot of that block is going up, the gym in the rear. Uh of course, we've got the deck and stuff on it. Should be roofing it here in a couple weeks. We'll have roofing going on. Uh this one of the classroom wings. You can see the flashing over the top of the windows and down at the seals. U see the steel starting to go up on some of that classroom wing. You see that kind of in the background. Um this is the front uh what's called tornado shelter wing. You can see there's a lot of block, a lot of steel in that that's steel right there that carries that mezzanine level above. Uh all of that steel's getting set. Um this this kind of overall picture

023you see the gym, those two front columns are the main entry into the building. They've got that steel set. They'll start tying it back into the building as block goes up. Uh this is one of those mechanical mezzanines. You can see there it was shored up. We've poured several of those concrete above. You can just see the shoring in there. They put that in there till the concrete sets up. And then you'll see here one of these when it comes out. That's one of the hallways. And you can see that mechanical mezzanine above it. So coming right along. Uh a lot of work going on. Like I said, a lot of steel, a lot of block going up. Uh take advantage of a lot of this good weather we had. Uh Mickey, our superintendent, they're

024working some long days and long nights. So, uh while we got good weather, a lot of contractors been out there. That's just kind of an overall shot. Looking towards the front of school. You see the gym there to the right. Uh the classroom are to the left. So, everything's progressing really well out at Waco right now. Any questions on Waco? >> No. >> The uh geothermal uh this is out at White Hall. I think there only like 16 more wells out of 48 uh to be drilled over at Whiteall. Uh they're coming right along. They've got two rigs out there. Uh keeping drilling going. Um they're uh they're moving right along there. And obviously the tie in back to the building will not be done until school's out because we got to go through that

025back parking lot there at White Hall. Um but they're they're progressing really well there at White Hall on the Geodal. Um, Foley and Southern. Uh, this is inside of Foley Middle School. You can see the grid lights going back in. Uh, we're going to start putting seal in next week. All the HVAC, everything's done above. We're going to stop or start dropping sprinkler heads uh this next week. Most all the classroom have grid lights in. You can see we still got the covering on the floor. That'll be one of the last things we do. When they get the ceilings, everything done. We'll pull all of that up, get the classroom clean, work our way out on this phase and to fully uh this is one of the computer labs. Again, you can see the grid

026in lights in everything above is done. Just another classroom. You see the ceiling ceiling tile stack there ready to go in start next week. Uh this is the egg shop. Uh that's new unit duck work that's been put in the egg shop. Uh they're keeping it running. They're kind of using that space as where we're storing some of this duck work as we're putting it up. But you can see those new runs of duck work up in the egg shop. So going really good at there. That next phase will be turned over hopefully here in a couple weeks. And when you get out of school, I think the 26th to 27th, we're going to be there starting on the rest of school because there's a lot to do this summer. So we're going to be

027right on the tails of last day for kids. We're starting that next day. Uh, White Hall. Uh, we actually have a meeting uh next week, kind of a pre-demo planning meeting because same thing in White Hall. Last days 26, we're starting the 27th. We're not going to waste any time. We got to get in there and get stuff covered so the demo guys can follow and we start taking stuff out so we can get new stuff back in. So, um, move right along their white hall, too. >> Any questions on any projects? >> No. >> Thank you so very much. appreciate your work. >> Uh, next we have Mr. Tony Thomas with Sam Carr. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Jonathan did a good job on covering several of those jobs so I won't do any

028repeat there. U, >> so I will start with the former Madison Middle renovation which is going to be the day treatment center. Um they put got the hollow metal doors in front and on the right there you can see the new security camera and they call it an AI phone but they'll be able to see that inside so somebody has to push the button before they get in. As you step into the stairwell you're locked again. That's a card access you see on the left. Uh walk into the vestibule. Again you're uh kind of stopped right there and that'll be the offices on the right. The classrooms on the left. Um that's one of the nice new offices. You can see you know paint and ceilings and lights and uh nice new flooring that's been

029put in there. So, it's uh Northern has really done a good job bringing this along. That's the construction company, Northern Construction Company. Um done a good job bringing that along. Um and that's the new door. It's the first time I saw the new doors and they're just they're beautiful doors. I take a picture of it, too. But again, you can see the flooring there. Covers a lot of clean up to do as as well now. But, uh you go upstairs, couple of classrooms upstairs. Again, the ceilings, the lights, the flooring, the painting, all looking really good. That's another one of the upstairs classrooms as well. Um the progress has been really good. Oh, and over at the uh cafeteria building, the only thing that's a part of this contract is is the fire alarm, but

030of course Madison Countyy's doing quite a bit of work in there as well. So through my assessment, um they'll be done, but we were shooting for June 1st, so that uh you know, Madison County could take those facilities over. Don't see any problem with that. Any question about the day treatment? Um if not you have a a few agenda items later on your list um regarding Kit Carson uh design development plans BG2 BG3 you all pretty familiar with the standard forms and and the process um so if we go into Carson this is just a master plan it's about a 60,000 uh square foot school about 35,000 of it was renovated about 11 12 years ago the other areas still needed the uh renovation if I zoom in on the front entry area. Uh you

031can see the large area, that's the cafeteria. Hasn't been renovated since 2006. Down in the bottom is the office area. U hasn't been renovated a while as well. So um the office area will get a little more than some of the others areas because it'll get new flooring, get painting, of course, some new ceilings and lighting. The scope for the whole school of course is complete HVAC replacement, exhaust fans, things of that nature. um wherever we can salvage uh LED lights that are existing, which is probably half the school. Those will be re reinstalled. Um but new ceilings everywhere. I do want to focus on uh well that's the that's where uh zoomed in on the office area where it'll get a little bit more of a renovation. Um you see the MSD classroom that

032is area one area that's going to get altered a little bit. Again, this is design development, so nothing's finalized, but um you can the room to the right was a resource room and now we're calling a utility, but it will be uh you know accessible from the MSD room um be ADA accessible, wheelchair accessible toilet room um and then stove and sink and things of that nature for for the students to learn washer and dryer uh things like that. So that is an alteration uh to this particular facility. Um, another section of the building, uh, is pretty much HVAC, lighting, ceiling, things of that nature. I am going to zoom in on a couple of the restrooms because we are replacing some, uh, plumbing fixtures in this area, just so that you know, there's a

033little bit of plumbing going on as well. Uh, two of the classrooms, you can see where I have red notes about new cubbies and shelves. Couple of the classrooms, uh, will get some cubbies and shelves that you've seen in all the Kit Karen, White Hall, Daniel, Silver Creek. Um, if you're just a reminder, that's what they look like. Uh, they were computer labs before and of course the computer labs have changed because everybody's got a Chromebook now. Every room's a computer lab now. Um, so they'll get the cubbies and the shelves and there's the shelves along the wall which are so important in elementary schools. Um, so a couple classrooms with that. This is the back section that's 30 plus years old that hasn't been uh renovated at all. So [laughter] it's old HVAC system

034will be completely replaced again. ceilings, uh, all new lighting, um, and you know, painting the quarters, a few lockers. I believe that's the fifth grade wings. So, they want some lockers in the quarters, um, instead of into the classrooms. Um, and that is pretty much the design development plans for Kit Carson. Your BG2 reflects pretty much what I just went over. The BG3 should match your BG1, which is also your what you're going to approve later, which is a $5.5 million construction cost. Um, so that's the BG2 and the BG3. >> And this is our next geothermal HVAC project. >> Yes. >> Um, and there will also be, and that's a good point, the the geothermal project that you bid will also bring wells to this facility as well in the back and tie into

035a whole new geothermal system. Any questions for Mr. Thomas? >> Thank you, Tom. >> All right. Next, we have Mr. Mark Woods with our monthly financial reports. And Mark's also going to give us a little finance 101 class. >> Good evening. How are you all tonight? >> All right, we will get started with >> our bank reconciliation. As of April 30th, the district ended with the reconciled balance of $120,569,36324. Uh you can see there, that's actually down from this time last year. We've just seen all the construction projects that we're pouring the money into. Uh you get your bond money up front, you put your construction funds into it up front, and then you spend those down as the projects go. So that makes sense that we would be down. Um, of the reconciled balance

036we have 36,999,434.73 in investments. Those rates range from 3.228 to 4%. Uh, we've gotten some of those up. I'm working with another bank. I'm trying to get all the accounts set up so that we'll be able to put some more of our funds in there. We take our money, [sighs] we invest it as it comes in because we get a lot of it up front. We invest it so that it times out and we get our cash flow as we need it, especially as we uh head into the summer months um and the months that we don't receive any tax funds. So, we have it timed to where it will come due. We will get those funds in our bank account to be able to use for operating costs during those months. In addition, you

037also have uh the revenue expense report for April and you have the balance sheet. Um and I just wanted to take a minute to kind of go into the balance sheet because that's a wealth of knowledge that uh you all are presented with each month. So, [snorts] um given recent news, we've all seen it. Um many districts around the nation are dealing with financial problems. So, um especially in our state, we're seeing it. Um, and it seems like the more and more I talk to people, they're starting to have concerns as they move forward. Uh, we also had some recent u media posts about our own district. So, I felt it might be important to discuss this a little further with the board. You know, um, it's my responsibility to provide factual data to this

038board. I do that each and every month. I provide that data straight from our software. No manipulation. It is straight from our software. you get those copies of those reports. There have been other school districts that don't do that. Um, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to provide you exactly what it is that I'm looking at every month. [clears throat] You know, I chose this profession because um, I do like numbers as you can imagine and numbers are finite. Numbers themselves do not lie. So numbers can be be manipulated um for personal agendas but by themselves they are reliable. Um the numbers that uh we're going to discuss from the balance sheet those numbers have been audited by our auditors. That report was provided to you just a couple months ago. Uh financial

039presentation is one of the main parts of an audit. Uh they have to attest that I am in compliance with GAP. So, um, [clears throat] you do have those numbers in front of you. >> We just approved those last month. >> Yes. Uh, no, the, uh, that was to approve the new auditor from the RFP. Uh, that was in January. >> Yes. >> I think it was at the January meeting that our independent auditors came and presented to the board. [clears throat] So, it's been stated that our general fund balance for fiscal year 25 of 51,163,35362, [clears throat] excuse me, was 52% of our budget. That number is not accurate. For FY25, we had a total budget of 192,568,865.20. that general fund fund balance is only 26.56%. So you can see there is a disparity

040in that number. If you only compare the fund balance against our general fund budget, the general fund budget was $143,224,7171. That's 35.72% of the general fund budget. Now keep in mind the general fund is not independent of the other funds. Sometimes KDE pushes that but that is not accurate. If we have problems in other funds, the general fund has to pick up. For example, if food service were to run a shortage, the general fund is required under KRS to pick up that shortage. We have to have enough funds in the general fund to take care of any other fund. If a grant source failed or any other thing, we would have to make those commitments out of the general fund. So when you look at it, you do have to look at the entire budget,

041not just the general fund. You take the general fund fund balance against the entire budget. [clears throat] So I would like to take a look at the actual fund balance itself. So the breakdown of the fund balance, you look at that number, it seems like a large number. However, not all that money is available for us to use at this time. $3,268 $268,56 is SPDM carryover. That belongs to the schools. We do not have the right to use that money. We carry it over and the schools use that. It was allotted to them. They use that each year to take care of their operations in their school. $773,83418 sick leave payable. That is a required by Gatsby 54 and KRS157.420. It is a required statement on our financials. What it represents is half the liability

042for sick leave payouts for anybody with greater than 25 years of service. It is half of that liability. The true payout could be, as you can tell, would be about $1.4 million. We're only allowed to um put half of that on our books. Future construction, $12,291,867 291,86721. We have that money back to help with the geothermal projects. We went into this knowing that KDE was not going to let us use any of our funding upfront. They told us because it was not had not met the timeline that we would have to fund that. Those funds are starting to go out. Um you have a bond sale that you approved during the finance court. part of the BG1 you're going to look at later has money out of these construction funds that are put back committed

043um I'm sorry year end POS1,545,18011 those are obligations that our schools made by year end that had not been paid yet [snorts] committed funds. So the these are funds that the board has committed back to take care of operational needs as we see fit. Some of the examples are maintenance fleet. We have money to help us if we have a bus go down. We have money to take care of athletic facilities. Those have to be repaired. We have three athletic facilities that have turf. Each time you replace the turf, it costs about $600,000. >> It's expensive. you have to put that money back and you have to have money back in a savings to be able to cover those things in the future. You cannot rely just on your current year money. Athletic facilities we

044are not allowed to use our restricted funds on. So those are examples of things that are in there. Um just this year we have had and you will see a PO coming in for it and requesting to approve the purchase for bus lifts. That's um $470,000. This money, part of this money we've put back is to take care of things like that. Bus lifts are expensive. We're um maintaining safety in our bus garages. We had a transformer at the Philips building that we walked in one morning. No power. Everything's gone. Come to find out, we had a transformer blow. We managed to find it at a good deal, but that turned out to be a $50,000 fix. you have to have money put back to take care of those needs. You can't rely on just

045your current operating money for the year. Um, we have some technology needs in our elementary schools. We're going to be taking care of those. That PO you will be seeing coming to you. We are going to be taking care of those. We have these funds put back to take care of that. That is all that's in the committed funds. We also, as we went into it, we knew that we wanted to do some raises prior years and we knew it would take a while for our taxes to catch up. We put a little bit of money back during COVID into that fund so that we could have time to catch up. Those funds are being brought in. I've shown that to you on the budget. They're coming in each year so that we have funds

046to help sustain the raises we've done in the past. Unassigned, which is the contingency, $1.9 million. That makes up the $51 million total. So, let's talk about the contingency. Um, Commissioner Neely, I believe you were in a superintendence meeting recently where um, KDE is recommending that schools carry three months in their of payroll >> in their contingency. We have 11.9 million. It takes $3.82 million to run one payroll. We have three payrolls, not three months. We would have to double our contingency in order to have three months. So, as you can see, we are not in meeting what KDE is now recommending. We would have to double that number. I have worked diligently with this board over the past couple of years to get that number up because at one point we had $5 million

047in our contingency. We need that contingency in case funds are stopped. We had a near stoppage last year with the Fed. We would not have gotten any money in on any of our federal funds, which includes food service. We would had to have continued feeding kids, and we want to feed kids, but we would had to have funded that each month until the Fed opened back up. We'd run close to $40,000 a month in reimbursements. It would cut into it quickly. So, that's why you have a contingency setback. Now, um, in the social media post, it did state that an MCA would be asking for pay increases. The numbers that were pro that were in that post did not reflect the total cost to the district. As proposed, the increases will cost the district $9.15

048million. when coupled with the step raises that they are receiving for the year and the required fringe benefits FICA, Medicare, unemployment work comp, TRS and CS. [clears throat] This is not sustainable over time. Our district cannot sustain that. >> And that's per year, correct? >> That is per year. When you make commitments to payroll, it is perpetual. It is from there on each year. [clears throat] Pay increases have to be funded out of current revenues because they are perpetual in nature. You can't fund increases on any savings that will be gone after one use and do not replenish. Um the current proposal will deplete the contingency and the committed funds in three years. We would be facing same issues as Faget County is currently facing. um you know that that's something that that we have

049to take very seriously. I mentioned we'd have to be able to fund raises out of current revenues. School districts only have two main sources um for the general funds seek and local taxes. House Bill 500 was the budget bill that passed during this current legislative session for this bianium. The bill contained a provision that will reduce SEK funding for Madison County only by $2.9 million over the bienium. So over the next two years, we will lose $2.9 million in SE. This provision, as I said, only affects Madison County. I'll discuss that more u when we do the tenative budget um that is scheduled for next week um with the board. reductions in SEK have to be made up with local tax dollars. However, it's not a dollar for dollar. When you have a loss of

050a dollar in SEK, a um the tax money come in and it's not dollar for dollar. For every dollar of seat that we lose, we replace it with 80.8 cents. That's due to 17.7 cents going to fund the facilities um due to our three nickel taxes and one half cent going to the Madison County Sheriff's Department for collecting our taxes. We are required by law to do that. We don't have a choice in it. Given the statutes that limit our local taxes, it becomes difficult to offset the deficit in one year with our local taxes. Finally, I want to share three numbers with you that are important to me. total number of people employed by Madison County Board of Education. Every financial decision that I make and that that I give to the board is

051with the care of their lives in my hands. I do not take that lightly. 11,500. That's a total number of students enrolled in Madison County. On my worst days when I don't think I can find a way to make it happen, I think about and you saw those kids up here today, those smiling faces, those kids that are eager to learn. I think about those faces. I know that my work and the work that my team does affects each and every one of those kids. We want success for them. We want success for their lives. We make decisions to ensure that Madison County Schools is going to be here to support them for years to come. Long-term decisions projecting out over multiple years to see what is viable for Mass County Schools. And finally, 110

052million. [clears throat] We've seen that number in the news recently. That's a number of reasons that I want to continue to be Madison County. We are a strong district. We are a great district and I don't want to be Faget County in the future. That is my finance report. I will take any questions you may have. You gave us some excellent information, a lot of extra details tonight. But I understand why that we need to know it all again because we do know this. You have presented it to us several times, but again tonight just to recap on what is in there just because what's been said, but I appreciate you, Mark. I do trust in what you're giving us. >> Thank you. >> I think we say it every time. The transparency that you

053and your department provide for us is unmatched. I believe in this state. the the mun reports. I can see if somebody gets reimbursed for $10 for gas. That's how granular our report is every month. There's no cobbled report that's presented to us. We we have the entire thing. We have it a at least a week in advance that we we look at everything and the transparency is is what you all have done and done so well and we appreciate that. I think we do the the best job we can with what we have to work with. >> Yes, we do. >> And I like you do not want to be like our neighbors to the north. >> Yeah. It goes back to I know we've had districts around us that have given large raises over

054the years, last couple years, then all of a sudden this year when uh diesel went up for like I don't know how we're going to afford diesel for school buses. >> Stretching yourself and we just we're not going to do that here. We have to make sure we we can operate each and every day no matter what happens. If we lose a transformer, we can fix it. Kids go to school. If diesel goes up, we buy diesel. We don't we don't worry about it. You know, whatever happens, we've got the contingency funds to take care of any catastrophe that might happen to Madison County. And that's what it's about. >> Well, I think we're all appreciative and it's sad to know that we're going to see the loss in our state funding. So, we're appreciative

055that you keep us updated on all of those numbers and how disappointing that number really is >> and very unexpected. >> Yes, that was >> it was it was a late ad to the House bill. Um they did spread it over two years. It originally was going to be all in this school year. Um, in fact, when I contacted the financial division at KDE, um, I contacted the head of their division, uh, Chay Ritter and spoke with him and he was unaware that that was even going in to the bill. So, uh, he began trying to do some digging, but, um, we we were trying to watch that up front and you know that that's a big hit to our school district. >> Yes. Anybody have anything else for Mr. Mr. Le? I don't know

056how smaller districts do it because the loss of that is >> theirs won't be as big obviously, but it's still >> tremendous. >> In comparison, it's just as big, you know, >> right? >> Okay. Can I get a motion to approve our monthly financial reports as presented? >> Motion by Mr. Rutherford. Do we have a second? >> A second. >> All in favor? I >> next is uh to approve the fiscal year 27 sitebased allocations and staffing positions. I know we've all had a chance to look those over. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Woods? >> I appreciate all the hard work that's you and Mr. Neely and everybody else put into these allocations this year and and keeping us where we need to be and uh making sure we got the right people

057in the right positions. well and sitting down with us and going over individually with us to so that we understand it and the terms of what's happening >> and it's very much a team effort. Um we sit down with all the schools we have two meetings with them um and it is a team effort. We talk about the needs of the school and as you can see um you not only do you have what includes their section six funding at this as we know it at this time for next year. It includes the dollars that the district is committing um based on the average teacher salary for each of the schools and it includes the additional positions that are being created through the allocation process. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Can I get

058a motion to approve the fiscal year 27 sitebased allocations and staffing positions created by allocations, special ed case loads, and section 7 requests? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Coyle. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> And a second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? [clears throat] >> Next on the agenda is to approve our finance auditor contract. I know we talked about this last meeting as well, but can I get Do we have any questions? >> We don't. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the contract for our finance auditors, Patrick and Associates? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Ber. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor? >> I. >> Next on the agenda is to approve our revised BG1 for

059our geothermal project. What's going on? Anybody have any questions on that? >> Uh I think this is the one that um so post bid we're getting ready for the bond sale. So this should be your uh geothermal that includes um the Foley Southern and the um uh Whiteall. We're packaging all that together and that's what will be sold during the bond sale >> and that work is already commenced. We're just getting the bills. >> All right. Can we have a motion to approve the revised BG1 for our geothermal and HVAC projects? >> I move. >> Motion by Miss Brock. Do we have a second? >> A second by Miss Bford. All those in favor? >> So, next on the agenda in relation to that item. Bear with me again. Here's another resolution authorizing the Madison

060County School District Finance Corporation to issue and lease our revenue bonds. to adopt a resolution of the board of education of the Madison County School Board in Richmond, Kentucky, authorizing and approving the execution of a contract, lease, and option with the Madison County School District Finance Court and any further necessary instruments. Approving the execution of continuing disclosure procedures and the ex execution of tax compliance procedures. approving certain architects and engineer plans for the construction of certain school building projects and approving the plan of financing for the cost of said project. Can I get a motion to approve the resolution? >> So move >> motion by Mr. Rutherford. Do we have a second? >> A second. >> And a second [clears throat] by Miss Brock. All those in favor. >> Next on the agenda is to

061approve the revised paydate schedule for fiscal year 26. anything on that? >> This is just to go where [clears throat] the checks will be given all throughout the year. >> So, this would um change the process to be similar to what we ran last year to where um the only month they would not receive two checks would be the month of July. Um they would receive two checks right at the end of the end of June to um to cover those months. July we have too much close out to do and we can't issue any checks. uh then they would again receiving August 1, August 16th, um September one pay instead of receiving all their checks by June 30th. Now, uh employees would have the option to request to receive it the old way by

062June 30th, all um five checks that they would normally if they were five checks um or whatever variance we have. So, we have different levels in there. Um they do have that option to request that. Uh just so the board knows and anybody else knows, we still have to process everything by June 30th. Just because we pay on different dates does not mean that we uh get the month of June off from what we've all we always have to do. We have to process the payroll, the retirement, the health insurance, everything. Um all it means is that um the files are sent to the banks at different times and they're held as basically issued checks and sent out in enough time for it to be processed. So, you're saying they get two checks all throughout

063the year except for the month of July. They'll get one lump sum check. >> They will get those. They will get um the money to cover the month of July they will get by June 30th. And um they'll get two pays that on them will say July 1 and July 16th, but they will actually receive those in their bank account because we can't >> with with all the year-end processing. Um there's conversion that has to happen in Munis to be able to roll people over to the new year and um when that happens we have to have people out and then I also have to close down the books for the year. Um and I have to lock out everybody districtwide out of our system and I'm the only one allowed in it at that

064time and it takes a full day to do a close out. The other option was the five. >> The other option was the way which is what was approved um earlier this year and um which is what we had been done all the way up until last school year. And um for a 187day teacher, they would receive five checks by June 30th that would cover them for that period from July until they get their first check on September 16th. And I think there was a survey done and most folks chose to do what we're going to do today is spread it out. So >> yeah, >> I think Yeah, >> that's what I've been hearing throughout. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions for Mr. Woods? >> Do we have a motion to approve the revised

065pay schedule for fiscal year 2026? So move >> motion by Miss Burer. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Laura. >> Yes. Thank you very much. All right. Next on our agenda is uh I think we have Mr. David Livingston with us to talk about our insurance. >> Hello, sir. >> Good evening. How are you all? >> Good. How are you? >> Good. Good to see you all as well. Um, I guess starting out like we always do, we um kind of talk about the marketplace and one thing that um the insurance marketplace there's still really only three carriers that are or four writing in the state um for this past year for and um a couple of

066those have now said they're not taking any new business for and Um, one of them, Liberty Mutual, has started non-renewing some districts around the state. And so, the reason that is is because for about the last five years, for every dollar that the insurance company has collected, they have paid out a $135 in claims. And that all stems from the fact that the state of Kentucky does not have tort limits or damage caps. which means what may pay out in Tennessee may pay out 250,000, 500,000 or 700,000 as a cap. In Kentucky, it pays out in millions. Um, law firms are now beginning, the large ones we see advertising all the time are now beginning to focus on Kentucky and on school districts, cities, counties, governmental entities because at the end of the day, in

067my opinion, they're viewing governmental entities as bottomless pits of money due to the fact that you're never going to run out of money because you can always raise taxes and that's the way they look at it. So, we're actually working on um some legislation right now to where these schools could be recognized as the Commonwealth and all the public universities are recognized. The Commonwealth of Kentucky and all the public universities have damage caps and their damage caps. when there is a claim um usually they can claim uh full immunity but if there is something that has to be paid it goes to the claims commission and the maximum it pays is 250,000 for an individual and 400,000 per incident. So over the last five years if those kinds of caps would have been in place

068for school districts in Kentucky instead of having 135% loss ratio the loss ratio would have been around 65%. which means we wouldn't have been seeing these double-digit increases in insurance that we're being seeing for the last five years. So, we have a bill that's been drafted. It's been shared with the legislation with the legislators. Um, we actually shared it this past session, but you all are probably aware that they were trying to get some things done from a litigation reform process with the Chamber of Commerce. We only want this passed for school districts because at the end of the day, it's all taxpayer dollars and for every dollar you have to pay for insurance or deductibles, that's another dollar out of your general fund. So, if we can get that to get those caps in

069place, um it would see tremendous progress in insurance. It would drive more competition into the marketplace and at the end of the day fewer claims and fewer payouts or few lesser payouts and will would allow for um reductions in insurance premiums. So that's what's been kind of going on last year. >> And and to David's point, public school districts are the only municipality that are not subject to that limitation. Is Liberty Mutual getting out of just big districts or school business? All >> it. >> No, they're not getting out of school business all together, but they they're >> the larger district. Yeah, mainly larger districts where they're seeing um >> a lot of cases >> a lot of opportunity for for claims and with the you know there have been claims around the state that

070have paid out anywhere from >> I know of probably 10 or 12 that paid out three million and there I know of one in the state that's paid out 11 million this last year. So, um it's very vital that if um if we're able to get this going, we're going to be working with um hopefully be able to have support from KSBA, the Kentucky School Boards Association, and the Superintendent Association to help us maybe try to push this across the finish line next year. Um because it is taxpayer dollars at the end of the day, and that's what we want to do and try to save. So, um the other thing is when we finished up with renewals last year with the school districts that we work with, we realized that um we might be

071running out of markets in the state of Kentucky with what's going on. So, we began reaching across the marketplace across the US and and starting to talk to um other brokers and carriers to see what's going on to see if they would have any interest in coming into Kentucky. Um we normally don't talk about options insurance group, but we're we're the 42nd largest in the nation. So, we we have a broad reach and um some really good leverage in being able to talk to carriers and and getting them to be interested in the state of Kentucky. We began speaking with um some folks that work for Obsidian Insurance back in August of last year. Have been going [clears throat] through process and analyzing all the data from all the schools we work with, which is

072a little over 80 school districts. And in December, they said, "Let's do it." And then in uh late January or so, um we finally made the final commitment to for them to write business in the state. They write schools in five other states. They also do uh cities and counties in the other states. They only do public entities. They don't do manufacturers or contractors or anything like that. So, they're an A minus rated company. Um if you [clears throat] know, Ky is an A minus rated company. The reason they're A minus is because they focus in one area of business. If they spread out their wings and did multiple areas of business across the United States, then they would be rated higher, but that's what puts them in that category. So, that's what we've brought

073to the board tonight is to um present Obsidian and also bring you your KI renewal. Um, on Obsidian, it's about a 4.9% increase over the expire. Um, which, you know, we've we've been seeing double digit increases the last four or five years. There are a couple things on here. Um, there is cyber into the policy and it has a $2,500 deductible. Um the wind hail deductible with most carriers right now it's either per location which means per address or it's either per building. So it's 100,000 per location or it's 100,000 per building. Um Obsidian when we were working through developing the program the insurance program through them they agreed to do the wind hail deductible per occurrence. So if we have a huge windstorm or a huge hail storm and it affects four locations, you

074have one deductible. >> That's amazing. >> Otherwise, you would have had four different >> deductibles. And we've had that the last three years. >> Yes. Yes. And knock on knock on wood, we don't have to go there, but it it's very important that because people don't realize deductibles are part of your insurance cost and it's part of your total cost of risk. So, as we did this, we were trying to figure out how do we save you money? Not, you know, how do how do we do it best at the beginning of the policy period, but if you have those kind of losses on property throughout the year, how do we save you money in that aspect that you weren't intending to spend on uh claims? >> Um, your property increase, which is due to

075KDE mainly, was um a 2 and a half% increase on the total value. So out of that 4.9% 2 and a half% of that is basically your property increase. Any questions on the obsidian? I know you all have had an opportunity to see everything. So >> you pay over $2 million almost three for your insurance. 2% is pretty good. Or 4%. I was afraid we're going to be double digits. It's >> still high. It's crazy. Yeah. And that's, you know, when you talk about the premium, it um you're also talking about $859 million in property. So >> you're the next couple years you'll be when you bring on Madison Middle into that number and anything else that you bring on and then the KDE rate increases on the per square foot rate, you're going to

076be approaching a billion dollars in property very soon. Any questions on that one? Okay. Um, workers compensation, uh, basically the the the role of that is your, uh, experience mod, which we've talked about each year has increased from a 0.97 to a 1.09. I know that um, Elizabeth has sent out Elizabeth who does our risk management and loss control for folks that may be watching or in the audience. Um she comes in and does um training for fleet for maintenance custodial for food service and um to help try to keep down workplace injuries and because it's very important for us. It's not for the staff to be able to go home safe at night. And so um she just sent out an email last week I believe and we're starting to schedule for the summer.

077So, we're working with uh staff to get that scheduled and do some training for uh for your folks here in the in the district. >> That used to be our biggest worry several years ago was work comp, but through HR and um Houchins and and Elizabeth's work, we we really got that down. It was >> it's it's up a little bit this year, but you've had a couple of um >> larger pops from an injury standpoint that have driven that. >> So, you know that every three years is when it changes >> or it changes every year based on the prior three years. So, um, we'll be looking at the experience mod to start trying to figure out what's going to happen with it next year to be able to share that with you and

078show you what's going to happen for uh, what 2728. >> Well, I appreciate your word. This uh, it's very welcoming news. I was scared to death. >> Thank you. >> And I know too much. [laughter] I was really worried. So, this is this is really good. I know it's a lot, but it's so much better than what I was expecting. Does anybody have any questions? Can I get a motion to approve the continuation purchase of the insurance package with House Insurance Group for liability, property, workers comp, fleet, umbrella, and pollution as presented? >> So, move. >> Motion by Mr. Rutherford. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> And a second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? I. >> Thank you so much for your work. We appreciate it. >> Up next on

079the agenda is um a change order number three for Waco Elementary. If >> we have any questions on this, we need to approve a change order number three for the Allen Company uh for Waco in the amount of $11,280. Can I get a motion? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Berker. Do we have a second? >> A second. Second by Miss Frock. All those in favor? >> I. >> Next is change order five for Waco Elementary to Bransom Construction in the amount of $2126. You have any questions? Can I get a motion, please? >> Motion by Miss Coyle and a second by Mr. Ruford. All those in favor? I >> you. Next is to approve the BG1 for the HVAC renovation project at Kit Carson. Tony talked a little bit to us about that.

080This is our next geothermal project. Any questions? [clears throat] Right. Can I get a motion to approve that BG1 for the Kit Carson HBAC renovation project? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Frog. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Burford. All those in favor? Okay. Next on the agenda is to approve a BG2 and a BG3 and design development for the HVAC renovation project at Kit Carson. >> It's all the same thing, just the different BGs. >> Can I [clears throat] get a motion? >> Motion. Motion by Mr. Rutherford, second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Next is to um approve the renewal of the next path education software. I know Mr. Ray is here if anybody has any questions on this. >> M tell us

081a little bit about this. >> Will you tell us what this is? This is a pretty big expense. Just so everybody knows what we're talking about. >> Mr. K, it's good to be here this evening. So he gave me some notes to share with you all on that. We moved to Next Path. Next path is a better product and cost less than we were using prior. It's where we warehouse all of our data. of the assessment behavior and attendance for teachers with reading. It going to be math plans next year. That's where that is warehoused at tracking interventions and progress monitoring. All of our assessment that is in there and helps make decisions, look at decisions as far as next steps from MTSS. I should have Miss Wilcox speak about this because that data they

082referenced that they utilize that's taken from this. Um, one of the features that I really like about it, it has AI analysis on the side. So we'll go ahead and break down all that data and kind of give you recommendations, questions to consider and things like that. So it's our data warehouse where everything kind of feeds into from all the different areas. Uh one of the other things that it does is auto notifications. So we can have it set to where we'll go ahead and notify principles once uh students go over a certain threshold in attendance uh for grades. will also notify if they kind of, you know, kids are going below a certain level for grades and that way they know what steps to take and try and intervene in helping our students. >>

083So, our teachers are pleased with this program. >> Yeah. Okay. Do we have any other questions, Mr. R? All right. Can I get a motion to approve the renewal of the next path education for the 2627 school year in the amount of $54,735? Some >> motion by Miss Coyle. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Mr. Ruford. All those in favor? >> I keep. >> Next is to declare our bus surplus. I know we've all seen that. Any questions? >> Can I get a motion to declare the bus surplus, please? >> Some move. >> Motion by Miss Brock. May I get a second? >> Second by Miss Burkard. All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Next is to approve the I say this right? Les Leego Corporation the Norman

084Story and Associates purchase. Uh these are the new bus lifts that we need. >> Yep. That's a Richmond bus garage. We have two bus lifts that currently >> don't work. >> Danger. Dangerous. Very dangerous. Yeah. >> So those those are two bays that they can't work on buses and it's it's been a ongoing issue. So, uh, they need to be fixed and so we're going to get new ones. So, they got quotes and it was the best quote they got. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? All right. Can I get a a motion to approve the Norman Story and Associates purchase order in the amount of $474,472? >> So, move. >> Motion by Miss Frock. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor? Thank you. Next is to approve

085the Madison Central Chromebook purchase. 114 Chromebooks from CDW for $39,786. They'll be paid with their >> catch funding. Any questions? >> All right. Can I get a motion, please? >> So move. >> Motion by Mr. Rutherford. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. Second by Mr. Hawk. All those in favor? Thank you. Next is our Encore Technologies purchase. These are the whiteboards if I remember. >> In the elementary? Yes. >> Yeah, whiteboards in the elementary. This is for eight elementary schools. Uh MKA already has this. Uh Boonboro and Waco were all done or Waco is being done, but Boonboro was done as part of their new construction. So, this would be for the remaining elementary schools to get the nice whiteboards everybody likes. Correct. >> Do we have any questions? >> No. I'm just

086glad we're able to provide this. Yeah, >> I know they like it. >> At least from what I've heard. >> Yeah. >> All right. May I get a motion to approve the Encore Technologies purchase in the amount of $597,470.72? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Coyle. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Mr. Ruford. All those in favor? I don't know [clears throat] you. Next is to approve the uh purchase of Commonwealth Food Service equipment at Silver Creek Elementary. Any questions? >> Can I get a motion to approve the purchase of two ovens for Silver Creek Elementary from Commonwealth Food Service in the amount of $39,500? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Ferford. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Miss Frock. All those in

087favor? I >> I >> Next is to approve our KEEDC membership. Any questions? >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve the 2627 membership of the Kentucky Education Development Corporation? >> So move. >> Motion by Mr. Ruth. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor? >> I. >> Next is to revise our main meeting. We're wanting to move our meeting from the 28th to next Thursday, the 21st at six o'clock. Can I get a motion? >> Move. >> Motion by Miss Ber. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? >> I. >> And next we have um Mr. Ben Willil Cox. We're going to talk about our new SRO positions for our new police force. >> Thank you very much. And

088I've been given a time limit, so I will try to speak to that. I [laughter] promise. Um, just a little bit about myself. If people don't know me, my name is Ben Wilcox. I've been hired as the police chief for the Madison County Schools Police Department. Uh, I started I grew up here in Madison County. I graduated from the Round School, Bri Community. Went to school at Eastern Kentucky University, got a degree in police administration, moved to McGomery County. Um, after starting as a deputy sheriff, the Coline incident happened and I was made SRO. uh was SRO for six years, married a beautiful lady from Esto County, brought her back to Madison, um started at the police academy, and in 2019, I was appointed the state school security marshal. I presented you all at that

089position several times throughout my career there. With that being said, I've watched the evolution of law enforcement in schools. I've watched the evolution of SRO's. And what we're doing here in Madison County is going to be phenomenal because we're putting more police officers, more kids. We are um in 2019 when I started the marshall's office, there was 468 SRO's and there were 11 school-based law enforcement agencies. They weren't really even schoolbased law enforcement agencies. That didn't come around until 2022 when HB63 gave us the ability to build our own police department at a school system. All the other districts that had what they called, it's a long story, moved over to that. We are the 45th district in the state to start our own police department. We didn't stay the newest long. McGoffin County started

090theirs two weeks ago. So, it [clears throat] is a process that's going on in our state and it's just becoming phenomenal as we can build for our kids. Now, there's a lot to do. All the stuff that you see police officers driving around and wearing and having we've got to come up with. And so, it's a going to be a hard process and a quick process. I can guarantee you that there is no grass grow underneath my feet. We're going to make this happen. um cars, guns, equipment, tasers, everything else is nothing compared to the most important thing that we need to get and that's what our officers. And I am so excited because I have been so many folks have reached out to me, officers that I've know, officers that I work with, officers

091I don't know that are very, very interested in coming and working here at Madison County. So, I have no problem with filling some spots that we're going to have here very soon. I've got some very excited schools as well. um that are ready to have officers in their schools. Now, I'm very familiar with the school safety and resiliency act. That's what started the SRO program here in the state, the training that was involved and of course my office in the marshall's office. It's 47page document, but there's one line in that 47 pages that is actually a law that says every student in the state of Kentucky is to have a trusted adult. Now, I don't know how we count that. I don't know how you you measure that, but what you do is you put

092trusted adults in schools and you put them with kids. And that's what we're going to be doing with trained professionals that are trained to take care of a critical incident. And that's what makes me so happy because these guys and gals that are coming in as SRO's are there for one thing only and that's protection of kids and staff and they're going to spend a whole lot of time working with those kids. Now, another thing about relationships. We're starting a new police department, but we need help. The last four weeks, I've met with every police agency in this the county. I've met with county officials. I want to make sure they know where we stand as a police agency. And I had one very hard question asked me by a chief of police that said,

093"Are you guys just going to be a bunch of security guards? Are you going to be the police? We're going to be the police. We're going to work our own cases." I said, "I'll call you if I need you." But that's a force multiplier here in Madison County of how many officers we end up getting to putting into our schools. So, that being said, we're still keeping our relationships because our departments that have worked in our schools already already have relationships with those kids as well. I'm super excited though u I have pretty good network here in the state and with starting a new department, it's very expensive. So, a lot of times you reach out for help and that's what we've been doing for the last month. And I just got to give a

094shout out to Independence PD, Catburg PD, Louisville PD, McGomery County or Madison County Sheriff's Office, Glasco PD, Boone County Sheriff's Office, Burnside, Kentucky Sheriff's Association, the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police. All those agencies has either promised or already given a surplus to start our agency. And that's either very, very low cost to us or just say, "Hey, come pick it up. It's yours." >> Wow. So, the fact that we can reach out and hopefully someday we'll be able to do the same thing for another agency starting up, but that just is phenomenal for the state of Kentucky. So, I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to do this. I am super super excited. I love that I failed at retirement because I just really like to do this. And I will

095say within my 27 years of law enforcement, I spent eight months as a focus and finish teacher at Madison Southern. That's what I left to come to here. And actually, it was very hard to lead my kids. Never thought in 27 years of law enforcement I had bathroom duty, but that was a definitely an experience that I will treasure. But thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions for us? >> I think we're all very excited to have you. >> We are excited. >> Not only you, but but the wealth of the connections that you have around the state that is going to put us, I think, above and beyond everybody else starting out their own police department. >> I appreciate that. And I we have some wonderful teachers here in our building right

096now. So I just want to make sure and know that I want to make sure that you continue to educate them as and just so that they know what's going on and preparedness for them as well. >> Absolutely. >> Continuing education. >> We're working on a lot of training this summer. We're going to be doing a lot with our teachers, a lot with our staff, and I'm very very excited about that. >> That's good. >> We're excited too. >> We're so thrilled to have you. >> Thank you so very much. Appreciate it. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. [laughter] >> You talked really fast. >> You had 11 seconds left. Good work. >> You can come every single month. >> All right. Let's um >> This might be the first meeting. We

097haven't had a policeman here, right? But I guess you're gonna say you're here. >> We've got one here. >> Oh, I didn't see. >> All right. So, we need to create and ratify 19 SRO school resource officer positions, approve their job description, and approve the salary schedule. Can I get a motion? >> So, move. >> Motion by Mr. Rucker. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> And a second by Miss Frog. All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. And that's for the 2627 school year, by the way. Uh, next is to create and ratify two teaching positions at Whiteall Elementary that will be paid with school funds. And this is for their 2627 school year. >> Any questions? May I get a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >>

098Motion by Mr. Rford, second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor? >> I. Next is to create and ratify a general aid position at Kirksville Elementary for the 2627 school year to be paid with school funds. We get a motion. So move >> motion by Miss Berford. Can I get a second? >> A second. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh yeah. Sorry. Motion second by Miss Brock. All those in favor? >> Thank you. Next to approve the 2627 contract for therapy services with hands-on therapy. Any questions? This is just every year. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> All right. Can I get a motion? >> Some move. >> All right. Motion by Miss Coyle. Can I get a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Mr. Ruford. All those in favor? >> I. >> Next is to

099approve our occupational therapist contract. This contract will run August 10th through June the 1st of 2027. It's a 146 day contract. >> Any questions? Can I get a motion to approve the occupational therapist services contract with Britney Lrange? >> So move. >> Motion by Miss Ber. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Coyle. All those in favor? Uh you next is to approve the 2627 agreement for orientation and mobility services for our students with visual impairment and authorizing Tracy French as provider for those services. Any questions? Can I get a motion to approve? >> Motion by Mr. Ruth. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> And a second by Miss Frock. All those in favor. [clears throat] >> Thank you. And next we have our superintendence report. >> Okay, we got

100we got a building full again in front of us and and I know they're they're wore out because the last couple of weeks. uh they've been on they've been on it with uh with the testing and all the things with so I want to thank all of our teachers and administrators and staff classified and certified and all our students and parents for the last two weeks and we we focus in on last last two weeks but for the 164 days that we've been in school which we still have six more but uh I want to thank them for that. Also, um, our schools and districts, we celebrated, uh, teacher appreciation last week. Uh, we want to again reiterate appreciation for all of our staff members for what they do, both classified and certified, um, for

101their continued hard work and dedication to our students of of Madison County. Um, and like we said earlier, it's it's coming hard, but we have graduation next Friday and Saturday. Madison Central on Friday night, Madison Southern Saturday morning. it will be here before you know it. So, um we get a lot of folks that are excited to be at EKU Friday night and Saturday morning for culmination of uh their school experience, which we're all excited to be there and be a part of it. Um next week, we've we've still got sports going on. We got baseball and softball district play will start next week and region after that. Hopefully, some of our schools will be playing on into June. So, good luck to all of our students as as they continue their um quest to

102to reach regional and state playoff action. So, that is my super. >> All right. Thank you very much. All right. Do you have any comments from the board? >> Just thank everybody for such a great year that they put in. Hard believe it is over. I mean, it just feels like it's going to be August before we know it. >> That's right. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> but we know that our teachers do take care of our kids along with other people in the school building. So, we do appreciate them. And last week was teacher appreciate. I never had the opportunity to go into the schools to say anything, but I do appreciate everyone that works in our school systems. >> Absolutely. I think that we all do. >> That goes without saying. We know you

103guys are the the heartbeat of what we do. Anything else? Okay. Uh, next we have public comments. And I think it looks like uh Miss Susan Centra has asked to speak. >> Hi, how [snorts] are you all? >> Hi. How are you doing? >> Can you all hear me? Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Um I wanted to say thank you for for hearing me out tonight. I appreciate you all and even in times when it may feel a little tense, I really do appreciate the work that you guys do and and we and I appreciate all of you all for coming out tonight, especially after KSA testing because seriously, it's been a week. It's been a week, right? Um all of my friends here who are in the trenches, thank you. Thank you. Um

104so I'm going to be quick tonight. I promise it's been a long night because this is pretty simple. Uh like I said before, according to what our district has reported to KDE, this is the the numbers I have come from KDE. Uh every year since 2018, our fund one balance has grown from 18 million to 51 million. And that's an increase of about 33 million in seven years. What reported by KDE was 22% of our budget is now 52% of our budget. Again, what KDE has said, um that's gone not like unused, but I understand their earmarks. We know, we understand that Madison County Schools is one of the largest employers in the county, but we are continually losing classified and certified staff to other positions in other districts because we haven't been able to

105stay competitive. Since 2018, inflation has grown by roughly 32% nationally. The average house price in our county has increased by over $100,000. And while the district has given some raises throughout the years, we have not just not been able to keep up with inflation and and the cost of living. Those raises, while needed and very much appreciated, have not been enough for us to actually catch up or even feel it in our paychecks. We do not want to find ourselves in the situation that our neighbors to the north have. Uh we also cannot ignore that we carry one of the highest fund one balances in the state only behind Jefferson and Boone County which we are not comparable to at all. And while we understand that some of this money is our legally required contingency

106and some of this is money is already committed and some earmarked for future projects. We are simply asking how can we look at investing some of this back into our people with such a large amount and the expertise of our finance department and their smart investing. How can we work towards using some of this money and the interest we make off of our investments towards recruitment and retention of our employees? There has to be a happy medium that we can that can be reached to ensure that we remain strong financially while ensuring that we are properly reinvesting our taxpayers money into attracting the best employees that we can. As you know, we are asking for a $5,000 increase across the board for our certified employees and $3 an hour for our classified. Those total again

107over nine million annually. And while that feels like a lot and this number may feel not sustainable, let's consider a couple other things. Our fund one balance has shown steady growth consistently over the years even with fewer seek funding dollars and some other hits to our bud to our budget. Our fund one still shows continual growth. We lowered taxes last year and are still collecting more in taxes due to the rise of the housing costs. And Madison County is the fastest growing county in the state. So this can will only continue to increase as the years move forward. We will continue to grow. Our tax base will continue to increase. And you have my promise that KA will continue to fight tooth and nail for increased seek funding for our schools. We have a great

108starting point for providing raises now to our employees and we have the formula for continual growth in the future. So, I ask, how can we work within our means together to move forward toward helping our folks out in this incredibly trying times? Gas prices are skyrocketing, as we all know. Going to the grocery store is just painful. Housing and utilities seem to be higher each month. In a time when our teachers and support professionals must deal with more and more complicated situations at work regarding student behaviors, mental uh mental health issues, increasing demands from our state requirements, intensive workloads, and so much more. Taking a concerted effort to invest in these educators is much needed. We appreciate the efforts this board has made to increase salaries over the years, and we are asking for that

109continued support. Now, times are tough, and we all feel it. Let's figure out how we can utilize this $51 million to recruit and retain the most talented employees for our district so that we can continue to be on fire for the future together. And I do appreciate you guys. Thank you. >> Thanks. Thank you. Well, we certainly appreciate everything you all do and thank you so much, Miss Centra, for advocating and uh you know, give us some things to think about here. >> Um yeah, Susan, I appreciate that. We we are very transparent with each other [laughter] sometimes more than uh you know more than we should but um the communic the communication between the two of us has been really good u and it will continue to be so we'll >> I forgot to

110say thank you for the case schedule I appreciate that we >> well we listen we you know the the survey show the board wanted that and so yes yeah absolutely so thank you >> thank all of you Okay. Anybody else? All right. So, now we need to enter into executive session required by state law for the preliminary discussion of the superintendent's evaluation for KRS 156.55716 C. >> I'll make the motion to go into executive session. >> Motion by Miss Perper. Do we have a second? >> Second. Second by Miss Coyle. All in favor? I. We're >> in executive session. Thank you all for coming so very much. >> [music] >> Okay, we are [clears throat] out of executive session. >> Well, we have to >> I'll make a motion to come out session. >> It's

111late. Sorry. >> We're ready to go home. >> Okay, so we do have some action from our executive session. We have just completed the superintendent evaluation for Mr. Randy Neely for the 2526 school year. We are required to evaluate him in the following areas. Strategic, instructional, cultural, human resources, managerial, collaborative, and influential leadership. In addition, each year the superintendent is presents to us three goals for the coming year and we are required to also evaluate and score those goals. We are required to evaluate each standard that I just read on a scale of one to four with one being needs improvement and four being exemplary exceeds the standard. I am happy to report that Mr. Neely received exemplary exceeding the standard and all seven standards as well as his goals. Do we have any comments

112or discussion? >> Thank you. All right. May I have a motion to approve the superintendent's evaluation as presented? >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Frock, second by M. um Coyle. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Need a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Ruford. >> Second by Miss Burford. All those in favor? >> I see y'all. Thank you. Bye, Brandon. See you later. Put out that fire. Go put out the