Because work sessions are public It's rec we're recording. So, we will just jump right in. I don't anticipate this taking an hour and a half. I don't necessarily know that it will take an hour. But this is information that we think is important to share with with you. Some of it I'm gonna move through pretty quickly because we have talked about it, before. So, we've talked about the four community engagements meetings. Shane did a great job of this, at our last, board meeting. So just wanted to share that,
we did, give information about this at our presentation to the RDC. We've shared this. How much will we need to cut? 3,000,000, 3,800,000, 1,100,000 over the next three years. As of April 8, we have made $3,300,000 in cuts, moving forward for the next school year. The one thing that I wanna point out about these just a little bit more is the ones that have asterisk next to them. We really don't feel that we can make any more cuts in those areas. We have maxed those cuts
out. So next steps, wanna talk about communication with legislators as well as looking at potential transportation adjustments for 2728. So when we think about communication with legislators, one of the things that we did, I think, pretty well this year was with those community engagement groups is asking them to reach out to legislators. I think one of the areas, that may have been untapped is sending, an email to legislators or a letter to legislators on behalf of the school board. So I'm getting ready here once we have,
confirmation from the town about what they're going to do. I'm going to send a letter to our legislators letting them know that this is what we were doing. These are still the requests we have and moving forward from there. But I do wonder if once a month, if we send a letter to our the people who represent Brownsburg, not just always a here's what we need from you, but also a here are the great things that are happening in our schools that we want you to be aware of. It to me, it's not always just a a give. I think it is you know,
give us, give us, give us. I think it is a sharing of here are the amazing things that are happening in our schools that we would like you to be aware of. So that is something I would like, to consider, moving forward, maybe even starting as early as June as having that be something that we might do. Kinda look at Brownsburg brag basically being sent out to him. I think so. Yeah. I have in the past the only big communications that I've done with them is to send a copy of our state of the schools to all of our legislators with a handwritten note.
I've not heard back from any of them when I've done that, but I still think it's important for them to see the things that we are doing. You know, whether it's information about fine arts, athletics, whether it is about some of the recognitions that we do, the commendations before board meetings. I just think it's really important that they understand that we are more than just 3,305 Brownsburg Community School Corporation, which is our district number. I I I think that they need to have a better understanding of who we are at our core. So any other thoughts of things that we could do to reach out to legislators?
Or They've already had community outreach significantly. Mhmm. I mean, you had people go and reach out to them in person at some of the sit down breakfasts and everything else. And I think the group of people who've come to community engagement, my intention is for us to continue to ask them to advocate for us. You know, and it it might not be with big meetings. It might be that we do a meeting in the fall where we share information. But then to continue to ask for people to advocate, I think, is is something good. They want to. It seems like Mhmm. The desire is give us a task.
You know, they wanna that's helpful. I do think that the more times that Brownsburg Community School co corporation shows up on the desk, even if you're not reading in great detail, it's top of mind then when when conversations come up. What good will it do if even that so they can just keep boring you forever if they really want to. They could. Right. But what I wanna be able to say is we have communicated effectively. Right. And I I think that, you know, Shane and I met with either as a group or individually,
we met with all four who represent Brownsburg Mhmm. Last fall. So I feel good about being able to say that we've done that. I will say representative Cash continues to be in touch, and ask questions and offer support when she can. I've asked her after the primaries if she would be willing to sit down and hear just some concerns that have been shared about the teacher appreciation grant and how that was done this year. And I don't think that the the concerns that we're hearing are specific to just Brownsburg.
I think that they're specific across the state. They changed the way they do that program. And and I think that there were I think the I don't know that the intent was clearly understood, and nor do I think that the teachers found it to be a very encouraging or No. It it just Yeah. Not interested at all. I said, we Kent. I don't know if anyone was happy. Right? So while it's great if you were the recipient, you feel guilty because the person that taught across the that teaches across all from
you that maybe you even sat down and filled this application out with, didn't receive it. And so then you can't be excited and you feel guilty. And then that person's up you know, it just didn't go well for anybody. And that's not what the design of that. It's an appreciation grant. So, it's just interesting that they've taken that middle word completely out of it with this new process. Right. I think I do think it's important. I know you guys have sat down with the legislators and but I think if we're asking community members, we also need to say we're we're asking you to do it,
but we're doing it too. Like, not ask somebody to do something you're not willing to do yourself. So I'm not sure how you guys feel about that. But Totally agree. I have told our, we had a community member who was really, advocating to have some of the legislators in. Yeah. But it was also for some of them, it was going to be, they're up for election during this primary. And I felt that we needed to wait until after the primary, not because of whether they're going to be elected or not, but because I just didn't want to be a campaign forum for them.
And so I think once we're finished with the May, then I'm gonna reach out to see if any of them would like to come in, to one of our work sessions. Keep the focus where it needs to be. Mhmm. And I know some of us who sent personal messages, but I think coming from the whole statement from the board is what you're looking to do. Yeah. So I think monthly. Mhmm. Ongoing. Not until this issue is resolved. But Correct. In perpetuity. I think it's a really good idea. I mean, I think we we want to share our message, and I think we have good things that are happening. One of the things that I really want to,
spend a little bit of time with with them is the whole Ball State study about this is what is expected of our students based on that that research that says, you know, free and reduced, we would expect this type of a pass rate. And yet ours is significantly more than what they would expect. I just think what we, you know, I don't wanna say we have a good product here because our our product is children and they're not a product. But I think what we're able to offer our families and our students is really good. And I think that that needs to be recognized as we're doing a lot Right.
With what we have. But as you go on throughout the year too, there might be some things like the teacher awards that you can say, hey. We followed this. The new guidelines maybe didn't work as well as you thought. Here's my suggestions for next year. Right. And then at least it's in their mind, and they can think about it and chew on it. And maybe if they get to the point where they're trying to make some decisions in the future that they would have to hey. They might have an opinion on this. Maybe we'll give them a call and see what they have to say. I remember Brownsburg sent us this mail on this. Yeah. Yeah.
So yeah. But that's that would be what I would think. Then the next thing, wanting to talk a little bit about, potential reductions in twenty seven-twenty eight for transportation. So not this upcoming school year. We think that this needs to be something that we give families enough time because this would be a change. But as we are looking at, reducing again $3,800,000, this would be a a good place for us to start that is spread across the district. So I'm gonna let Shane go ahead and talk about this.
I'm just gonna jump into the next slide. Yeah. That's great. So kind of what we're talking, we'll solve a list, kind of run through what that means. Nick's here. If you have any questions, as we dive in. This is not really a time for us to, you know well, we can talk about what three tier routing is. We don't have exactly what that plan would look like yet. That's something that we would put in place here and and really have Nixon and his team start working on. They already are. But right now, we do what I've considered two tier busing. And so, essentially, is that we either have a secondary route and an elementary route.
So you can go drive a secondary route, drop kids off the middle school, you're gonna head out, pick up some elementary kids, come back, and then that's your route. So we kinda have two tiers for bussing. And which is one of the reasons why, like, our start time at the middle school and high school are somewhat close. So Belle starts, first with Belle for middle school 07:35, 07:50 at the high school level. Mhmm. So and again, that's because we have enough drivers going going out to split up high school and middle school to pick those kids up and come back. They're not the exact same time because it's way too much,
on campus to go all the buses back at the all all at the same time, but then those folks go back out for elementary. That is nice because we can keep those times pretty pretty consistent, with starting, but it does require us to have more routes, more buses, more drivers. So a cost saving measure for us would be a three tier system. And essentially, you have designated routes, each for elementary, middle school, and high school. And the bell then that means that the bell schedule essentially has to be about an hour apart. And that's an example.
That doesn't mean that's what we that's an example where if you look at what we have right now, which is middle school, high school, elementary, you would have middle school at 07:15, high school at 08:15, elementary at 09:15. And essentially what that is doing is you're taking the drivers and they're going out and back three times. So it's the same bus, same route. You don't have as many going out at the same time, but you have enough time in between in order to make sure you get out and get back within that sixty minutes. One thing that Nick and I have talked about with this potential model
is we've to eliminate the number of routes, we'd actually have more opportunity to look at that eighty minute mark at our northern tier. So when we request to get there and maybe get back from the hour, we'd have to split that up. We may not have as as many full buses, but that's something that could be a give back to the community if this was a change, is that we would look at that northern tier and try to get them at about a sixty minute. We probably wouldn't adjust the overall time. We'd still say board policy ask for eighty minutes just to give us the flexibility, especially in the afternoons. But we think that that could be one issue that I know is in popular here in the board meeting that that could potentially be a a solution.
We think that would offer us about 1,300,000 in savings. I think that Nick was at nine routes, or how many routes? I think it was about nine routes we feel like that we could eliminate for sure just from that, that they're going for the three tier bussing. Again, this is nice because it does provide and 1.3 is a substantial number towards that 3.8, you know, almost, you know, about a third of the way there. And, and so and it does spread that evenly really across p k through 12 because this would also we'd look at maybe impacting the early childhood center as well since
they they receive transportation. You know, Nick has a lot of retirements each year. So we do also think this would be through attrition, that we wouldn't have to go to bus drivers and say, sorry. You no can no longer work here. Nick's, you know, we have sub buses and drivers and things, so we really feel like this could be accomplished through attrition. But early start time, especially when you think about, at the secondary level, they say the later, the better. We are bound a little bit by some constraints, especially with our area thirty one partnership. We can't move completely away from certain times,
especially at the high school level because we have to make sure that we get kids to and from Area 31. And then also, you talk about athletics in is in in there as well. And and so but that would obviously be a, an issue starting earlier and later on both ends. And, that would obviously have a major impact on all of our families. So, again, and because of Area 31 scheduled, the high school route, we didn't need to be the the middle or the last, in order to make sure we could still get kids to and from the they so they could participate in Area 31.
So any what questions would you have on Alright. So maybe I got this right. Since you said 07:15 would be middle school, high school. Right? Middle school, 07:15. And then high school is 08:15. And elementary, 09:15. Maybe. Maybe. But that is the high school routing would need at the very end of the day for Area 31. It would have to be Either be middle, like, the middle so the 07:15 option is not possible for the high school. Okay. The earliest option would not be possible. The second or last? Yes. Is the same thing? Fifteen is early enough to get those Area 31 kids there.
Just like now, we have kids that have to get to the school earlier to catch the bus, so that would still be the case. Okay. And then they'd get back and be able to finish the day with us for the afternoon. Gotcha. So So start so start times would be 09:15, but, like, drop off would be, like, 09:00 ish type thing. Is that that thought process? Yeah. We do about, like, yeah, roughly fifteen minutes. Okay. Would it be better if we started on the hour versus a fifteen? Or So the the question with that I was curious. Is if we do an eighty minute bus ride and we start at 07:00, that first bus pickup is at 05:40 in the morning.
Okay. So that's that's why we said 07:15. 07:15. So it'd be, like, 06:00 ish. Correct. Okay. That's where we would try to eliminate the 80 to 60. It's not a guarantee. Mhmm. And so we still would would have a substantial amount of savings there. But again, it would be great if we could make this switch but not pick kids up earlier than what we already do. I'm just trying to think about people like you at least want the high school or somewhere in the military in case they gotta help with younger kids coming home, so, like, the younger kids be last? I think that this is a situation where if we decide we're going to move
to this Yeah. We need to get community feedback on this. This would be sending out questionnaire from parents, figuring out a way to very clearly, explain this, maybe offer some evening sessions that we could go through and explain this, and then allow feedback from the community on this. I don't think that this is something that we want to make a decision. No. I don't. Yeah. Without And this was if I remember, it was 800,000 ish in terms of savings. So it's about 1.3. I think about 1.3. I'm sorry. Duh. And the assumption is that there will be challenges with this that we can't identify
until we So I would say one of the first things I would recommend that we would do would be to talk to Avon. Mhmm. Because Avon is a a tier a three tier buses system. Now what's interesting about theirs is it's not necessarily elementary, middle school, high school specific. It is this elementary. Yeah. These elementaries are part of tier one. Yeah. They have eight schools in each tier. Yeah. So an equal number. But That's interesting. But they're but, of course, they're not a campus community thing though either.
Right? They're spread out a little further. They're they are more spread out. Yes. Is anybody doing it like this that we that we're compared to? Yeah. Many people do three tier Uh-huh. But they don't keep all the elementaries on one tier. So they're doing it like Avon is. Correct. Yeah. The cater central cater is doing something. They just communicated it out, their changes and then on to this. So they'll run like a high school and two elementaries, middle school or two, and two elementaries, and then all elementaries Gotcha. To keep the number of buildings the same. Mhmm. So Decatur had to do your cost savings just like the rest of us. Oh, sure. Sorry. Yeah. All all schools are.
They have. Now They've got a much higher cash balance than I was saying a referendum, but yes. So if we went to if we evened it out, would that save us more money? Because you have fewer buses. Potentially. Mhmm. My other question is and I know a lot of our comparable schools have done this is, a lot of studies show that, you know, the high schoolers should go last and the elementary kids should go first. High schoolers tend to stay up late, need to sleep in. Elementary kids, they wake up at the crack of dawn no matter what time they go to
bed. And so I would suggest that we consider those studies and our academics. At this time, if we're gonna make this change, we might as well look at it all. Also, Kat and I were talking about the SAT scores at the high school and the potential, applying our process of use at the elementary and the junior high, apply it to the high school. And the only way to do that, Kat says, is this everyone has a study hall so that we can then say, hey. Johnny needs help here. This is what we're gonna work with Johnny on, and Susie needs help here. This you know? And so,
that would be another possibility to integrate that into this. If we're gonna redo all the schedules Mhmm. Maybe we can kill several fish. Great. Birds with those one stone. Sure. Yeah. No. I definitely think that that would be part of that community process Yes. Of putting all this on the table and having that conversation. Maybe we give it our best shot and say, here's what we'd like to do. Now I understand you have the issue with, high schoolers being there for the elementary kids, but you also have that same issue in the morning. You know, question is and they could probably
address this is what's it like to put a a elementary kid out there at 6AM in the morning? Yeah. Especially if we with the next slide, probably, is what we'll call the parent responsibility zone. One could call this a walking zone, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to walk. So we kind of adjusted the name there. But that's really what we're we're saying is that we would look to go back to increase the zone of which we will not be providing a bus. It was a half I mean, we've reduced it to a half mile everywhere.
Would be would look at increasing it back to a mile for elementary and then extend that to one and a half miles for secondary. Do you know how many roughly in a snapshot in time, how many kids that would affect? Or do you I mean, I know that's a hard question. Yep. I can get a ballpark number. Okay. You had the number of routes. Right? The number of routes. Okay. Which is how many? Four. Four. So then if you make a full route of 60 kids on a bus Okay. So, you know 240 kids. Yeah. Four total. Cool. So nine so four buses, it'd be nine routes.
Oh, totally. So it'd be equivalent to four buses. So it'd be like nine routes spread out k through 12. Would it not be one route for every elementary school? No. Because we have some elementary schools that do not have any walking or any parent responsibilities. Oh, okay. So for example, like Lincoln Elementary does not. Okay. So it would mainly affect Cardinal because you have Thornburg and Bruce Scott Crossing. Okay. Delaware Trail. So And we're gonna show you some maps about that. Okay. Yeah. That won't be So the restrictions here, it's a couple adjustments from what we used to do.
And number one is mile and one and a half mile ish. So we have strict lines here that we would not cross one thirty six. We would not cross two sixty seven. So even if you fell within that range, like, you probably would fall into that range from Brown Elementary if you head north. But really, we would keep it keep it South of 136. It's just not safe for kids. The other thing is we we used to go as a mile. It was If you had two homes and the mile line was here, you did not receive transportation. You received the bus.
And so what we are looking at now is, when I say ish, is that what's the neighborhood that is about one mile or one and a half miles and it would be that entire neighborhood essentially that we fall under the same, zone. That way it's not just such a clear cut line where why am I no better or better than this person's signature? Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. We would try to do that as a neighborhood. Is is it gonna be based off the boundary of the edge of the school or center school to, like, a walking path? Or is that just that, like, a radius? It's really as the crow flies. Right?
So So radius. Radius. Okay. Mhmm. And then it captures the the neighborhoods that fall within the guidelines that we've established, and that's what we capture within that zone. And can you take into account sidewalks and walking paths and other things too? Because it If they don't if they didn't have the sidewalk that connected, then it is not included. Okay. Good. And then that one and one and a half, how does that compare? I know it used to be longer and then we shortened it. It was a mile for everyone. We now it's a half mile. Okay. So When does that?
The Sorry. It was 07/19, I believe. Yeah. We changed that. Okay. Right about when I yeah. Yeah. I was probably the one who thought it the most. I'm gonna be honest. I'm probably the only one. So here are maps. I mean, again, the the best map that we can provide here, but you can see this is Brown Elementary. The red outline would be include the neighborhoods of which that would fall within these parent responsibility zones. So in Brown Elementary, you can see is the red, little tag there. I'm not sure what the yellow tag is. Those are current bus stops that we added when we went to a half That's
right. Okay. So we now have bus stops in there because So those are the three that are affected. Yeah. That doesn't include all of the kids that will be walking, just the kids who started walking seven years ago. That's right. And then utilize a bus. So you might have some kids that walk instead of walking to school, they'll walk out to a bus stop. Right. Okay. For whatever reason. But yeah. So those are the three bus stops that we added in 2019. Okay. The the one to the north there, that goes to, Brown Elementary. Right? Yes. This is all This is all Brown. All Brown. Okay. Gosh. I gotta start looking at labels.
I'm sorry. And then this one And so then go to Cardinal. Again, so the school is over there. It's the red dot. Again, this is Cardinal and Delaware Trail, but this would just be the neighborhood that would walk to Uh-huh. Cardinal specifically. So again, you can see this one has quite a few bus stops in it. Alright. What happens with registered sex offenders? How does that play allow them to walk in front of their house. And so that's something that we we check every sixty days. So we check for buses. What is our check for walkers? We also check for walkers too because if they have to cross and run up
one, then we will have a bus stop on the other side even if they are in a walking area. Okay. And you communicate that to parents. Yeah. But and and luckily, we I mean, there's a way around so they do not have to walk around their house. Well, and there may be a restriction that they can't live within so much Yeah. Opposed to a school. Okay. Mhmm. Yep. K. So yeah. And because we are a campus setting, that helps us. Sure. Okay. Because we most of our walking areas are Within within that in the dining room. And you said that's monitored every sixty days? Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. That's Cardinal. That wait. Wait. Go back, please.
That section to the north there, it's like it's cut out of Thornburg neighborhood. Right? The north directly behind Delaware. Is that right? That red line? Yes. Because that would be Hunters Cove that goes to White Lake. Okay. So that is actually the Cardinal. The around the red, that is the red. That's where Attendance boundary for Cardinal. Okay. And then this is Crossroads. Delaware Trail. Can you talk about the red box at the bottom? It seems challenging. I don't see a sidewalk path, but I'm sure there is sidewalk path. Yeah. So, you can do a couple of things.
You can walk to the West, and then walk through Bursa Crossing to Delaware Trail, or you can walk to the East and then go up, Northfield Drive, and then go up to Brooms and then head up to Brooms. That looks like a very small number of children. It would be my kids. There's a lot of nasty walk. That is the apartment. Too. Apart from that, it's actually more than I would expect. Yeah. Okay. If I had to guess, like, 20 under 20. Okay. Yep. So we don't have a full bus by any means. But they wouldn't be walking about a nice wet. I'm Correct. Correct. Right. Yeah. Do you have a long time in my house on Dan Jones Road,
to be honest with you? I think it was right in front of the dog park, and so on that side, it's usually where I sit. Is that off to the side? It usually go to the left. It would be nice if there was a sidewalk down the dog park. Yeah. But there is not. So k. But, yeah, there is a sidewalk that could back to to Quebec to Delaware. Okay. Thank you. Eagle. And then Reagan. As I said, Lincoln does not have walkers. And then Whitelick. Can you go back to Reagan for one second? So or but there are no homes. Geography is not my strong suit. That is if this is oriented correctly south of is it airport?
Correct. So anybody south of the airport would be bused to right to Lincoln. Right? No. That would be they would be walking to They may cross Broom somewhere to Delaware Trail. That makes sense. Okay. So this is Reagan. Mhmm. But you say it's got Lincoln up there on there. I couldn't that Google Maps. I couldn't do anything. K. So yep. So that's interest. So where where is the Reagan and Lincoln are connected. Yes. I I I know. Yeah. But where's the Lincoln kids come from? Lincoln has no neighborhoods within a mile of their school.
Really? Because they all walk to Reagan. They all walk to Reagan. So the the when we did the redistricting Gotcha. We were gonna change you from a walker to a walker to go from Reagan to Lincoln. And we the committee made the decision that we would not move kids just to move kids for that. Mhmm. Mhmm. So the kids that go to Lincoln are 86th Street or something or or they're just They're all over so that, you know, they do lock up Brea Apartments on the South Side. Go up to Golf Course Westchase. Mhmm. That area we,
k. I'm trying to think of all the routes. Rosemont is Lincoln. Okay. Yeah. Got it. But 86th Street, that is all crossroads. So all of that area is crossroads. Yeah. Yeah. East East of base or East of and so along 86th Street. So, yeah, White Lick and and Matt, you can see here that cutout which was Yeah. There's Cove which is White Lick this time. Pardon? And then those are the new trail ends of, of, townhomes. They're on 267 across from the Canons. The the bottom. The bottom. Okay. The bottom square. And there is a sidewalk that goes all the way to Thornburg,
and they can take Thornburg up to Hunters Cove within a walk. And we have about 25 kids right now in Trails End. And then we do the same for the middle schools. And and again, this is you have to zoom out farther because it's a mile and a half. Right. So if you think about the red tag there, and then you'd see that's east. So we are really the the southernmost portion of the of the district here. Would that be Northfield? Northfield. Yeah. What's the projected time for these kiddos to walk a mile and a half? Yeah.
Well, I can tell you what it is from mine. I mean, from my house to Hardin Elementary is four and a half minutes to the front door, nine and a half minutes to Brownsburg West Middle School, Eighteen minutes to the high school. So that's what we do. Mhmm. Do you think they'd walk, what, a fifteen minute mile roughly? So you're 22 if they're moseying 25? Yeah. And they do find shortcuts in places too. Oh, sure. Sure. And then this is, West Middle School, and then the high school. It's so interesting to see it drawn out that way.
Mhmm. So really the high school is in combination of West and East. But whoever lives North Of 136 is got it pretty good there, don't they? Man. No. But it's a good safety. It is a good safety. Same thing 267. We don't wanna be going across that either. Yeah. Really, Brownsville High School shows you the almost the boundaries of of the roads that we wouldn't wanna cross with 267. Right. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Thank you. That looks like a lot of work. Appreciate being able to see it that way. And they've got wall with chart paper, post its for every bus, and what it all looks like.
So they're doing a lot of work on their side for sure. And this will be implemented till not this upcoming year, but potentially the next year. Right? That's not correct. Okay. In order to get folks what we'd see is if we made the announcement to give people about a year notice, then provide the time for some feedback on sales schedules and things when we think about the three tier blessing. So if we do both of these, then that's 2,000,000 of the 3.8. It is. Yes. Okay. That's a good start. It is. And with especially, that doesn't impact any educational programs that or staffing that we were you know,
we know that we're down staffing this year too. So Do we anticipate any educational impact? For next year? If they're walking. I mean, I think with all of them, there's the question of, late arrivals. Mhmm. I think when you, have kids that are going to turn in from bus riders into not all of those kids are gonna turn into walkers. Because mom and dad will take them. Mom and dad will take them. So then you you have the risk of late pickups, which I would rather have a late pickup than a late arrival to school because then at least you're
I just wondered if you'd looked at any studies because it seems logical to me that actually they're they'd be more awake and alert if they actually have to get out and walk. They certainly would. They they do say that. Degrees, they would be alert. Yeah. But but that also that is a That's another that's another consideration. And and consider will be, you know, would that impact our decisions on to our delays with when it comes to wind chill, when it comes to the amount of snow that we receive and the sidewalks and such. So that could have certainly have no impact.
It's now the sidewalks aren't cleaned. When we reduced it to half a mile back in the day, I remember there was a significant amount of grants that were available at the time for people which would promote walking. Mhmm. Do you find any of those out at this moment? Or do you wanna make big things that you you see out is the bike bus, bus bike. What's it called? It's one of those, isn't it? Mhmm. It's where a group gets together and they ride their bikes in. Yeah. And do you have an adult who starts it and You could also do that
walking as well. Yeah. And then have a group leader and then just go pick up kids and then they all walk together. Right. Okay. And there's funding available to that sort of program? Yeah. And wouldn't there also something else for supplying your crosswalk guards with, like, gears and little hand things as well and trying to engage with something else? That we do work, in cooperation with the town of Brownsburg. Okay. So that would just be more that we would talk to them about. Alright. They they don't supply the police officer with direct traffic, do they, in the mornings to the high school? I thought that was us.
That's us. That's our people. And and the town would provide us reimbursement for our staff who are out there, like, before they clock in, clock out if we were crossing guard. Yeah. But we pay for any of the officers that are out and about that are directing traffic. Okay. Okay. Is that something that the townships could donate towards? Because you were saying that it has to be a safety thing. Yeah. No. Because it is not I'd what they would say with any I actually that's a I don't know. I know most of my questions have been about our police force,
not the contracted police, so I'd have to explore that. I do think that we did find an avenue for townships to explore through McKinney Vento. So, which is our students who are home who experience home homelessness. So and, again, if you were a student who experienced homelessness and you moved to your temporary housing is with a relative in Carmel, but your home district is Brownsburg, we still have to provide transportation to you to Brownsburg during that transition time. And so oftentimes, instead of sending a bus, that's where we utilize the car service in grand numbers.
That that is, for this year, it was about $315,000, in in transportation services just for the McKinney Vento program. So, we do think that that is an area attorneys have given us a little bit of a green check mark on of an option for townships to be able to spend their money in in the area for our students experiencing homelessness. But you were saying that the town pays for the crossing guards, and I'm wondering if that could be migrated to the townships. That's it. Now it is dollars a month a day. Okay. So it's I gotcha.
How much is it? It is not I'm not even sure. It's tens of dollars a day. It might be tens of dollars in a week. So it is a very, very small Okay. That it gets back. Gotcha. I'm sorry. Not a random question prior to this. Alright. McKinney Vento, what's our furthest student right now? I would probably have to say close to Downtown Indy. So, like, on the West Side. So right now, we are not going that far. Okay. Yeah. But it could change tomorrow. Right? And just, what's the farthest you've done for Brownsburg? Greencastle. We had to do Greencastle. We've had to do the East Side Of Indianapolis, like, East of Geist Reservoir Okay.
Before. We used to have a bus that left here at 04:00 in the morning. Oh, Mark. Then we get pulled over about once a week because they thought that it was storm. And so, yeah, Mark Mark, he's got some of that. But yeah. So the East Side Of Indianapolis is probably the farthest. Greencastle was about an hour. We've had to go down to Canby quite often. Went to Mooresville. Okay. In full time. So Okay. Right now, relatively close. Okay. Another option within transportation, again, is right now we provide transportation. If you there is a fee if you're a non IEP student at our preschool, you can pay transportation fee.
What I will tell you is the fee that we charge does not cover the entire fee that would really would have cost Nick and his crew to provide that transportation. But one option is that we can eliminate transportation period for, our kiddos at the early childhood center outside of those who have an IEP. And that's about three or four routes that we would save, and it's not fully funded. And those routes would just essentially go back to the elementaries. So we utilize those drivers to help with the elementary level. Again, this just cost savings,
but certainly would could have an impact of the number of of peers who enrolled at the early childhood center. If we do not have the enrollment at the early childhood center, then that means we would cut back on staff. So that would be the staff impact that we could the domino effect there if we've been operating transportation. How many kids then would not be able to attend the early childhood center? And then we'd look at numbers, and then that could get vaccinated. What's the normal start time for the early childhood center right now? Same as elementary. So elementary. And then you have the midday. And then it's just half day.
So they're usually are they mostly picked up by parents anyway at this point or grandparents, or is it still a lot of us? Six bus routes. Really? Yep. For morning and afternoon. So Currently, the bus routes include both students with IUPs and the peers on the same buses. So you'd still be running some buses, just less full. Well, you'd be running less. So we're looking at probably two to three buses. There was a Pick up more students on one bus than you if you had. Yeah. Yeah. We we would just have less kids on, you know, because the we we transport more that do not have IUPs currently.
I understand. And the bus ride might get longer as you try to travel further distance to pick up kids to make it a little bit more full. Are there aids on those bus? Yes. Yeah. So you're saying you don't have a number up there, but it's just cost savings because they're paying something. Mhmm. Would another option be for them just to flip the whole Could be. Enchilada? Mhmm. We can't charge IEP students, though. That's what I'm That's correct. Correct. No. I'm not fine. Yeah. No. I'm I'm asking if that's an option. I got you. Nope. That's we have to provide that. Do we have any idea what the full cost might be per student?
What's there would be different per student based on the distance that they but, yes, we could calculate kind of using the same ECA rate as far as how much of, a bus would travel with that route and then kinda look at divvying that up about the number of kids that would travel. But I don't know And make it like an average basic cost? Yes. So we'd look at that. I remember it was quite a bit. Yeah. I'm not even sure we're charging half currently. So it's probably prohibitive to ask for an entire It would certainly be prohibitive Yeah. Yeah. To payments. Now that's also it's not required service,
but I will tell you that the amount of headaches that we do not have at the kindergarten level based on being able to get kids assimilated to school at that early childhood center, I know that the elementary principals would say certainly is impactful, to them, not only just from a behavior standpoint, but the academic standpoint. Outside of the I you know, the IEP kids, this is all kids, is that the service that and and the skills that those kids learn at that level, even just how to be in school Yeah. Is is certainly worthwhile. They only take more of a we call it we have a certain age,
especially this one, more of a safety risk, not providing them with the blessing on this particular area. I understand the whole elementary and up, but even one year below elementary wouldn't be I would say, I don't know that this is one of our top choices. Mhmm. But what we wanted to do was bring all of the transportation list to you. This this is probably, in my mind, the lowest on the list. Yeah. But for us to not have it here, we felt it would be remiss for us to not include it.
And there's no walking zone for preschool. That's not a thing. Okay. Got it. We have families who walk their children. I can learn about the busing actually. But not because they're required to. Yeah. Okay. Because they've chosen to. Gotcha. Okay. And then every year, you hear us talk about DCA rate that we approve. Again, we have a calculation that we use and, that we figure out internally based on the entire cost of the of the of the fleet. Goes on the entire year, kind of the cost of maintenance, wear and tear on buses, all those things that we come out to a number per mile that we feel
like costs us to run a bus. And then we also have and this is certainly accurate, the dollar amount that it would cost us for the, for the driver. Prior to coming to you with that approval amount, we kind of look to see what did we approve last year and what seems like an appropriate increase, where, you know, it might be $60.70 cents shy of what our actual number is. We feel like it's too much to ask, so we, you know, maybe we'll do that a quarter this year, and then we might do a quarter next year, which is kind of how we have run that increase at the board,
board approval. I think we do that in November. Is that right? So something that we're considering at the ECA level is charging the full amount, and we could go back and adjust that. Again, we typically like to give folks about a year's notice on this. That way, they have opportunity to impact fees that they charge if it's, you know, performing arts and and athletics. You know, they all get charged this rate. Field if you're going on a field trip, oftentimes, the PSGs are covering that cost for the on behalf of the students. But again, it would be a higher fee that the PSGs would have to charge.
So, right now, it's not a huge number, but when we look at the difference so if we went with last year, the amount of, trips and my total mileage at the rate that we did charge versus what we the full amount, the difference there is about $255,000 dollars. So And and that's 25,000 would just basically be right back into the pockets of our families that we would ask them from or our athletics performing arts groups. Okay. So it's 25,000 for ECA trips and 10,000 for school day field trip transportation.
And that would be average amongst all the sports or extracurricular activities and stuff accordingly, or is it per the bus individual bus trip type thought process? It is charged per individual trip, and then that's that's billed then back to athletics, band, choir, orchestra, whomever is the the specific one. Yes. And then, you know, field trips go right directly back to the school. Field trips, we do kind of have a alright. This for instance, this would be this is what it cost to go this amount of mileage with this driver,
to this location. That is divided by the number of students that are in the class. And if we are gonna charge the students, that would that's how we determine how much data charges, the total amount by the kids. Like I said, oftentimes, the PSG picks up on that. We would not the the athletes and and our performing goes in performing arts are not probably charged per trip. They are just assessed a fee at the beginning, like a the participation fee in athletics, which is a $100. That money is really what the athletic department uses to help cover the cost of
transportation. So if it's gonna be an increase in dollars for athletics and band, then it's probably an increase in those fees that they're, that they're assessing back to their kids. So what I'm hearing is we're gonna need to have more home type activities as much as possible and stressing that. I will say, we have seen that with our new facilities. We are not traveling. Our folk we're we're staying home and and hosting more of those things. So that is that has been helpful. Not an option for It's not an option for It's not an option for everything, but, I mean, it's a nice thing to stress. Yep. And then this was one that again, right now, Alpha starts on Let me ask you let me ask you a question about sports
just because when we have a situation like the swim team has to go because the pool is down or track and field is gonna have to go because track and field is down. Is that taken into account? It is. We we load that in the construction cost. Okay. Perfect. Excellent. That's that's great. Because it's not their fault. That's that's correct. They will need to stay on That's part of the budget. Love it. Okay. Construction. Got it. And I think this is the last. It is the last transportation slide. Yep. But right now, I believe Alpha, Nikki, after starts on elementary, ends at the high school. So,
in that, we would essentially say, can we move it to full elementary? The reason Kat, you probably could better, describe why we've done that. When you are we've done that because our teachers do not get a prep during the course of the time students are there. So by having the time students are there just slightly shortened, it allows us to give prep period to our teachers before the school day begins. We believe we are going to do some things differently at Alpha, so we would be able to do those preps during the course of the school day. So that would be one reason for us to be able to do this.
And then additionally, it saves us a bus route because when you're using high school one and you don't have a partner or an elementary one and you don't have a partner to it, it it throws off the the symmetry of of the busing and causes an extra route. So that is alpha. So those are all of the transportation things that we've come up with at this point. Moving on, our time line is really to provide twelve months of notice. So we would like to be able to talk to people about this, potentially as early as August.
We can certainly reverse the decision based on legislation. If legislation comes through and we wouldn't have to to make this move, we do believe it's important for us to take feedback from the community and provide information about, you know, this is what studies say about start times for kids and sleep for kids and those type of things. But we would wanna be able to begin providing information to families as well as getting feedback from families, at the beginning of next semester. And then finally, I think one of the things that are is going to be very important to, to all of us in the district as we look at next year,
is really how do we support our staff when we know that we have fewer staff members next year than we do this year. We're gonna do that by keeping school day meetings to a minimum, analyze processes to make appropriate adjustment and expectations and responsibilities. We know people are going to be doing more. So if there are things that we can take off people's plates, then we're going to do those. We're going to work with our PSG groups. I actually meet with our PSG presidents on Monday, to ask them about additional volunteers as can we get people who can make commitments to coming in to maybe support midday when we're needing help in the office?
So things like that, we're gonna ask them. And then certainly that going to assess the effectiveness with the loss of positions and to determine long term staffing. We are asked on a regular basis, if funding changes, will you bring all of these positions back? Mhmm. And our answer has been, we don't know if we're gonna get funding back, so we don't wanna answer that question. But I definitely think that we will need to evaluate. I don't think that this is a funding changes and we put everything back on the table. I think we need to be very cautious and very, we need to pay very close attention to what we bring back if we bring
things back. Selective. Yes. Because if if you find out that whatever cut you made didn't really impact anything and Then why would you Why would you make it back? Because I think that there are gonna be other areas that that we're gonna end up needing to bring things back. So Right. Like, for instance, right now, we know through attrition, our number of elementary teachers is going to be less next year than it is this year. Okay. We also know that our number of special education teachers next year is gonna be higher than the number of special ed teachers we had this year. And so in some ways,
it's taking the amount of dollars that we have and using them in areas where we need we needed to shift dollars and do that. So, we started to have those conversations already. So that's where we are. That's what we have for you. Any questions? Yeah. When we start implementing this, we're gonna have some of the nice sessions kinda like, what we're doing now about budgets. K. It will be a monthly meeting, bimonthly, etcetera. What I think that we would probably do is we might just have some I don't know what you would you call them, like a town hall meeting where we have we're gonna do the same presentation three
or four times, but we'll do it at different locations and at different times so that people wanna come and learn about it. You're not gonna hear anything different. And I think one of the things that we found to be effective is having our very good friend, Jason Starkweather, record them and then put them on the website for people to see. Yeah. So that way, if you can't come at the time, but you wanna watch at 03:00 in the morning, there it is available for you. Mhmm. We're in an on demand society now. We are. But then I I think it's gonna be really important that we get feedback from the community. You know, I think that there are certainly things that we could recommend.
Here's some different scenarios. And then ask for feedback on those. I think that that would be because what we don't wanna do is say, what do you want it to have happen? And then the the number one choice is high school's first thing in the morning when we know that high school can't be first thing in the morning because of area thirty one. Right. So Yeah. That's not a did you have an online survey or how would you I think that's what we would need to do. Yeah. And so the people that even if they don't make the meetings, they can still watch it Give their feedback. And give their feedback. Absolutely. The only thing we opened up community engagement meetings to the entire community.
The only thing with this one is probably limited to the school community because only the school families would be the one impacted by transportation. So if I didn't my math is sorted right. So we're over $2,000,000. How much shortfall does that still leave us? Yeah. We have some other, ideas to share, But, honestly, some of those have to do with staffing. It's not eliminating staff. It's to look at doing some things different with staffing. And, we are looking to do an executive session so we can talk through those. K. And so the timeline is that we would start having these conversations in August if
the legislation requires? I we're gonna have to do them regardless of what legislation does. Okay. Because legislation, we're not going to know until next spring. Right. So I think it is highly likely that we would make a recommendation to do this probably in June. Mhmm. So that we can hit the ground when we get back to school to start having those community meetings and then getting feedback from the community. So they would have a one full calendar year to be prepared. Mhmm. Okay. But we could plan all of this throughout the fall with the plan of enrolling
it out. But if the legislature comes through, gives us our labor back, for example, or whatever, then we can scrap. We we could, but this might be another thing that we decide that this might be a better Yeah. This might be a better option. Yeah. Bring something back that that was eliminated. Keep this. That means the following year, we still have another 1,100,000. That one is if there's anything on that list that is potential of not happening, that would be a they did push the lift dollars to $20.29. Mhmm. But still they could still eliminate it then.
But I do think that is at least some conversation surrounding how do we allow the local units to keep that if they already have it. So that could be something that is taken care of for us. When will we know? It'll be the twenty twenty seventh session because they were considered a budgetary item. So that's the reason why they they kind of pushed it aside. They extended it this year, but they wouldn't make that determination probably till next spring. Okay. Till next really a year from now. Okay. April or early May. And can you share what the plan is for the the next community session is a tentative session or where are we at with that?
Certainly. The next session was scheduled for this Wednesday. We have notified the group that we are not having that meeting, that it was that we are tentative with that. I would believe our next communication with the, community engagement group would be following the May 14 town council, joint town council, RDC Township, Brownsburg Municipal Corporation meeting. So So were you thinking, like, the Wednesday, the twentieth? If we might be able to not have a meeting, we might be able to share information via email.
We'll get your video message or something. You know, anything there, but you have to So no meeting this week. Right. We could do a commercial. Yeah. It'd be fantastic. Great. What do you need from us right now? I right now, I don't think that we need anything. I do wanna make sure that you are aware from Friday notes of the upcoming retirement parties and the upcoming, teacher of the year support staff member at the year event. If you're able to attend those, we'd love to have you at those. And beyond that, I I think making sure that as you review this,
continue to reach out with any other questions you might have. You guys see this. Sometimes we are this close to it. So, you know, you seeing it through a little bit bit different lens is important and think that maybe even have questions that we didn't consider, or perspectives that we we don't really even have, can see. So I think continuing to look through this and see if there's anything else that that you can think of from this from this perspective of transportation, because, obviously, the one thing that we wouldn't wanna do is get to a spot where we're ready to ask for a motion and and don't have everyone on the same page.
So I think that's something that we wanna make sure that you do as well is keep us informed of any questions or concerns that you have. You know we do. Time. Yeah. Important. We appreciate that. Yep. Alright. And finally, I just wanna thank Nick for all of his behind the scenes work and for being here tonight. Mhmm. And then, of course, thanking Jason Sharpoda behind the camera. And now I think we're finished. Yeah. Okay. Great. Appreciate it. Alright. Thank you. Thank you.