Meeting is now called to order. Roll call. Mr. Shapiro. >> All board members are present. >> Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. >> Next, I'm going to read our CCS mission statement, and that is that Carmel Clay Schools will provide opportunities for all students to realize their potential in an everchanging world.
And next on our agenda, we have the oath of office for our new district 2 schoolboard member, Miss Jennifer Cashion. Judge Block is here to perform the oath of office. Judge Block. your right hand. I state your name. >> I Jennifer Cashion >> do solemnly swear
>> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America >> the Constitution of the State of Indiana >> the Constitution of the State of Indiana >> and the laws of the United States and state of Indiana >> and the laws of the United States and the state of Indiana.
>> I will faithfully execute the duties of office. I will faithfully execute the duties of the office >> of Carmel Clay School Board Member District 2. >> of Caramel Clay School Board Member District 2. >> According to the law >> according to the law >> and the best of my skill and ability. >> And the best of my skill and ability. >> And uphold the Carmel Clay Schools
guiding principles. >> And uphold the Carmel Clay Schools guiding principles. >> Established by the Caramel Clay Board established by >> Established by the Carmel Clay Board >> of School Trustees >> of School Trustees >> in the Caramel Clay School District. >> And the Carmel Clay School District. >> So help me God. So help me God.
>> Congratulations. >> Thank you very much, sir. and Mrs. Cashion. Uh, first of all, welcome officially to the Carmel Clay School Board and Board of Trustees. Um, as you come up and I'll come and deliver it to you. Uh we do have a box of some
Caramel Clay Schools uh swag and gear for you uh to welcome you to your new role and we look forward to your service. Thank you so much. Next, we will move on to public comment. And we do have one signed up for public comment this evening. It is a U person
signed up from group one. And that is CCS students, parents, guardians, employees, and residents. As a reminder, participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface their comments by an announcement of their name and group affiliation.
Speakers may not yield their time to another speaker. Comments may not reference specific corporation employees, patrons, or students. Comments shall be directed to the board, and no person may address or question individual board members. The school
board will not act on or respond to questions or comments made during public comment, but will take them under advisement. This evening, we have Bruce Helt, who is here for public comment. And when you come up to the podium here, you will have three minutes. You will see the
green light come on at the beginning of your three minutes. When you have 30 seconds left, there will be a yellow warning light. I was a mayor brainer appointee to the Caramel Parks and Recreation Board when we got you folks the Monan Center and
the Monan Trail. So, I've sat in your seats before board members and I hope you'll give me some attention this evening. I'm here tonight to voice my displeasure with the decision the administrators at Caramel High School made last Tuesday regarding the anti-ICE walk out. You simply can't make
decisions like that and not expect some repercussions. I was out of town that afternoon, so I had to rely on the media for my information, which is obviously biased towards the left. So my first question to you board members and administrators is why did this protest have to occur
during school hours? Caramel High School lets out at 4:05, I believe, but the kids left school at 2:20 so they could be ready to march at 2:30. Why not be a real adult leader and say, "No, kids, that's not a good idea. You have to do
it after school hours like 4:15. I guess that wouldn't have had the same effect though for the community of Caramel that it had." And shaming all of you for putting a couple hundred teenagers in harm's way like that. Did anyone give any thought to the four or 500
inexperienced high school drivers that would be leaving the area after 4:00 that day? I know. I sure didn't think I was going to get in a near-death accident eight months ago when a local high school girl ran a stop sign and nearly killed three of us. How many kids
left school just because they wanted to skip their last class? The video showed at least four or five kids in short sleeve shirts on the march. They obviously don't come to school that day. They obviously didn't come to school that day dressed for the march. I probably would have done the same thing
50 years ago. And yes, I know their parents had to sign off the thing so their absence could be considered excused, but that's a bad precedent to start. And while it's probably cool to be buddies with some of those kids, I think back what you learned in college psychology. The male brain is not fully
developed until 25, while the female brain doesn't develop till 21 or 22. I know I did a lot of stupid stuff as a teenager, and I we all did. And like my dad said, when you look for trouble, trouble will find you. The other question I have is, would you allow a
walk out in support of the uh ICE agents working their butts off in Minnesota catching some really bad guys? Maybe you would, but not enough kids these days would have the guts to go against their liberal friends and teachers for that matter. I'm not sure why you we're even having this conversation because I don't
see what's wrong with taking tons of people off off our streets. There's murders, rapists, child pole, child molesters, and drug dealers. And don't forget our former President Obama took three million illegals off the off the streets during his presidency. No
one thinks this stuff will happen to them, but it does. Just ask Lake and Riley's parents in Georgia. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time this evening. Next on our agenda is election of officers. And this is something that we
do every year. Uh and the new state um statute says we need to do it um by the 30th of January I believe. So we are just skirting in with two days to spare. Um so again um at this time I am open to
motions. We are going to consider each um position president, vice president and secretary separately. So I will go ahead and start um with the president position. Just so I'm clear, Madam President,
you're accepting nominations for discussion. >> Yes. >> For the position of president. >> Yes. I'm accepting a motion for a nomination. Yes. >> Okay. Uh then I'll nominate John Shapiro for president. >> Do I have a second? Okay.
Second so that we can have the discussion. Okay. Um so now we can discuss again the motion. Yes. Uh so the motion by Miss Wheeler was for John Shapiro as president. Do we
have any discussion? >> Yeah. A question on procedure. Um if we're going to have more nominations, is now the time to nominate or do we want to discuss the current? Uh, >> so this motion currently is this specific motion is for the president
position and Miss Wheeler nominated U Mr. Shapiro. >> Okay. Would it be time for me to do a nomination >> for >> the same office? >> Uh, I >> or do we need to discuss this nomination first? Uh
>> it's a nomination is my Yeah. I mean that was >> I think if you've opened it nominations >> my understanding is >> you open it to all nominations I think under Robert's rules and then you can discuss >> and then we can discuss >> and then you vote basing as well. >> That makes sense. >> So I I would like to nominate myself as
president of the board. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> I'll second for purposes of discussion. >> Okay. Thank you. Any further nominations for president? Right now we have Mr. Shapiro and Mr.
Brown. Okay, seeing no other nomination. >> Yeah. Well, yeah. Are we going to discuss now? >> Yeah. Seeing no other nominations, um, we can go ahead and discuss at this time. >> Seems like I go first a lot, but that's fine. Um just uh I'll I'll uh present my
resume so to speak and uh I just think it's important for the all the board to know that I've uh I've been on the board three years. I'm going on my fourth year. Um, I have been around boards u starting
back when I was 10 years old on the student council elected as a secretary and we didn't do a lot of legislation in the school council because there wasn't much to do but we really focused on Robert's rules of orders and then I was president when I was sixth grade and we
did the same thing. So I've I've been around Robert's rules of orders for some time. Um, we have a an excellent parliamentarian on this board with Miss Nobous. So, if we get off track, we've we've got some good resource there. So, I don't see that as that important of an
item. But just talk about my resume. Um, uh, I've uh been on boards, executive teams, uh, church boards as an elder and have function in this regard for some time. I've led a boy scout troop at scoutmaster and all the way through cub
scouts to boy scouts and I've uh when I got on the board I'm retired so I have a fair amount of time. I I like to dig in to the data as I think the administration and the board knows that Roger and I have a good
interesting and fun discussions uh talking about such matters that um and I've also took very seriously when I got on the board like I said I've been retired uh for my whole tenure and I have taken um I went to 20 different events for
training and in those 20 events some of them were multiple days so I've had 37 seven individual topics uh for training for schoolboard uh items. So I feel like I'm very well qualified. Like I said, I've been on this board over starting my
fourth year. Um I think I'm ready to have a such a position for uh for whatever reason. I have been u skipped over for any kind of officer position or leazison position. Uh this is the fourth
year and uh I just find that maybe now is the time and I like I said I feel I'm fully qualified. I think I've got the most tenure on the board along with Miss President. So that's how I present myself for for your consideration. Thank
you. >> Thank you Mr. Brown. Anyone else want to speak to the discussion? I mean, I'll start by saying I think it's really awkward to talk about myself. So, um, and that with no that's
not meant as a as a comment to you. That's >> Well, it was awkward for me, too. I'll acknowledge >> I'm just being super I'm being super candid. Um, because it sort of feels like, you know, it's a middle school election and I should be hanging up a poster in a hallway. >> Got to sell yourself at this point,
right? Right. Um, yeah. Go for it. >> Right. So, you know, as I've said to uh Mrs. Kok uh and I've I think I've shared with my fellow board members um and I've said from this day
and in in other meetings, you know, my job here uh is to step up and serve in any way I can be helpful. So, if people feel like this is a role that needs filling and they feel like I'm qualified to fill it, I am happy to do that. Um I
I believe um that this role as board president is to facilitate the meetings of of the board and that requires um not only an understanding of Robert's rules which Greg uh explained, Mr. Brown
explained well. Um but it also means that unless the board gets stuck that the board president really is there to facilitate and not necessarily to participate uh in depth in the discussion and and uh debate of the
issue and and that can be a challenge at times and so just being prepared for that and um I think um that despite only being on the board for a year uh I've demonstr demonstrated that
I've sat here and been open to uh different ideas, different perspectives, been respectful of the opinions of others uh even when they don't necessarily align with mine. Um and that I'm not making the decision based on what John Shapiro thinks, but making the
decision that's in the best interests of our community, uh and the best interest of our students and our teachers. Um, you know, I certainly have plenty of experience both working with boards as a professional who work has worked exclusively in the nonprofit setting as a professional, uh, but also serving on
boards, uh, in a couple of different settings throughout the community. So, um, you know, again, I I don't want to sit here and sort of like, uh, stump for myself. I I did that to run for office. I don't feel like I need to do that
again. So, I mean, the will of the board is the will of the board and um you know, whatever you all think is is the best thing to do is fine by me. >> I can go next if you're not ready, Miss Wheeler. >> Okay. Uh I was just going to give
perspective not to sell either candidate or either either position person. I'm just going to um in addition to kind of what was already said about what the president does, I think um beyond all of those things, what I've learned in the past two years
is you you are the spokesperson for the board. And so you it needs to be a person who does fully support not ever not questioning that there aren't things to improve in the district but fully supports the district as a whole ready to support our staff, our students, our
community, our parents and you know whether that goes from um you know hard decisions we have to make um about budgets coming up potentially um potential referendum things that comes up that that you really have to be if you are the spokesperson that that the
person who is the president has to be that face of the board of unity and of for the district. That is my two cents. Bless you. This is really hard and awkward and uh I
don't love it, but it's part of the job. I would just say um for me what is important is having someone um that not necessarily agrees with me on everything but that I feel a level of
comfort with and a level of trust. And um I feel that with John. Um, I have concerns about um not allowing personal differences to
come between the greater good of the board when someone is a president. I have concerns about ensuring that the president who speaks quite often for all of us, whether it be in a press
statement or in an email response, um truly is representing all of us. Um and I just haven't seen that um frankly from both folks. So I think my vote is going to be reflective of the person I think
can do that. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cashion. Feel free to speak or not to speak since you are brand new. >> It's welcome. We're thrown into the fire. >> I mean, I have been attending for so long. It's just different seat for sure.
Um, I would echo Miss Wheeler's sentiment. I also feel that the board president has to remove all of their own personal biases from any presentation that they do to the community on behalf of the district. As you heard me speak a lot
about during the interview process was that board members need to be advocates for our community. They need to be advocates for our district. Um and they need to be doing everything to protect the assets and reputation of our district. And Mr. Brown, in the past,
you have advocated for giving some of our assets to other entities in the community. Um, and based on that alone, I would be supporting John for president. >> Any further discussion? >> Yeah, I'd like to respond to these
comments. Um uh I think Miss Wheeler last meeting used the word offended uh by some comments when I was talking about that we have some conflicts of interest
and I think we see have seen it demonstrated and I think we might be seeing it demonstrated again as far as not being an advocate for the schools and the community. Uh I've lived here 32 33 years. Uh you know I've mentioned uh
activities I've been in and why would someone run for school board if they aren't an advocate for the schools? You know I've mentioned before our son went through K through 12 through all the caramel schools. We've moved to Caramel
for the schools and um I find it um I find it offensive. I'll use that word that's been used out here. I'll use it. I think it's very insulting and demeaning to think that my uh my reason
to be on the school board and to be conserved for president has uh anything but to do for making this school district the best not only in Indiana but the best in the nation and and a top flyer. And I think um a recent
demonstration of that would have been how I have been advocating for really focusing our our strategic plan on uh bettering student outcomes across all levels of this the community of the kids we have uh in our district. And I
have had to work uh uh I put a lot of time in on writing a lot of emails uh on how that might look. And I think I've gotten uh some positive response from the board members. Um
Mr. Shapiro and I have actually met privately and worked through some details and how that might look and we drafted an email together and how that might look. Uh we're I think we got support of the board. I think you've mentioned that you want to see that we really focus on student outcomes and
making sure that all our students at all levels and all conditions and skills and capabilities are uh challenged to do the best they can and I have led uh from behind the scenes to do that kind of a thing. That's an example. Um, and I just
would like to uh uh let people hear that that uh I guess if I'm not part of of this particular group, I'm considered to be um one that is against the schools and I I just find uh it's very
disappointing and uh but that's that's the way it is. I'm I'm the minority up here and uh we'll just uh have to press. So coming back to the point of order is um we're discussing um potential candidates um I do want to address two
things um >> not to you know toot my own horn or build myself up. However, I do believe that me going to ISBA and the the three that
I've attended so far um and NSBA and I I do actually believe that it was um my thoughts that brought forward the uh student outcomes and changing our board meetings to be more student outcome focused. Um I agree uh Mr. Brown, you
immediately jumped on that and said yes, we should do that. However, I if we're going to use the word, I take offense in um in you completely um owning that. So, I just wanted to correct that. Um and I do
think I wanted to comment on one more thing that was that I think I think sometimes I see confusion um from the public and and and a perception between maybe how some people have run their campaign campaigns and then are on the board. as I've gotten to know you on
the board, I do feel like you want the best for the district. And I think I didn't think that coming in and and I'll just be honest to you, just having the the perception of things, social media and in in you know, whatever you want to call it, politics in general, I do feel
like you've done a lot of change. You've understood how hard these people here, everyone else and every one of our other school buildings, I think you understand how hard they work for our students and for our community. And so I don't know if that's been a switch or if just we really saw who what that you really do
love the schools. Um so I do wanted to clear up that I think that has been a little confusing for our community to see where kind of you're coming from. But I wanted to say I do know from working with you for three years I do know your heart is there um in and wanting to make our schools better.
>> Yeah. If I can Excuse me. >> Well I point of order. I think everybody gets to respond before you get to speaking. Yes. Right. So, let's let's do that. And again, I didn't want to go down this road really,
but I will because I feel like um there's some misinformation. I will tell you what I personally have seen that gives me concern. I have concern that board emails have been shared outside
the board by you. I am concerned that well, I think it was shared publicly. You can Google it and you'll find it. Um, I will tell you that I am concerned, for example, that you seem to separate yourself from board decisions once they
are made. For example, I heard you say last week and I saw again um in a communication from you that the group of folks that we interviewed for our open board seat like you were not heard. And
my recollection of how that went was it was a consensus of everyone in that room on who we interviewed. And no one that went in that room, everyone had a short list of three to five candidates. Nobody got everybody they wanted. And I think
it is at best misinformation to portray it as otherwise publicly. Um I'm very concerned that on multiple occasions you have gone to the state house and testified um on schoolboard related issues and not made it clear that you
are not there um on behalf of the district and you are not there on behalf of the board that you are there in your personal capacity. It's just it it seems like uh you play by a different set of rules than everybody else. And I just
think it frankly, with all due respect, and you have every right to your opinion on whatever subject you like, I think it gets in the way of the real job that we're trying to do. I I just want to do the job that we're here for and not sit
through conversations like this one and the one we had last week and listen to false statements about how I have a legal conflict of interest from people who are not lawyers when our own lawyer sat in the room when you raised this
issue and explained that it isn't a legal conflict of interest. um you know whether or not you had anything to do with the the press on that I don't know um but at the end of the day it doesn't engender trust to have you in a
leadership role and that's how I feel about it. Okay. So again our discussion is on the nominations of Mr. Brown um and Mr. Shapiro for board president. Do I have any further discussion from people who have not had a chance to speak again?
Well, I I object that I it sounds like I'm not going to get a chance to respond to uh some misinformation from from Miss Wheeler here. >> Well, I and if I if I can't then >> actually I'm the chair of this board and I run the meeting. >> So, when you want to speak, I can
acknowledge you. I'm sorry to be harsh, but I was giving Mr. Shapiro and Miss Cashion and myself a chance to respond. >> Okay. >> I was waiting for them to respond. Okay, >> they are not responding now. I am going
to acknowledge you. >> Okay. Um, yes, I did testify at the state house a couple times and the first time I was brand new on the board and I did not mention that I was representing myself. That was a mistake on my part. I
don't think that's a a horrible sin, but uh it was a mistake and I I acknowledge that. As far as shared emails, I I have not seen any evidence and I I find that you if you're going to make such an accusation and say, "Well, go look at social media," I think you should at least be able to present it. Uh thirdly,
as far as selection of the interview candidates, uh one of my candidates did make it and we had robust discussion. So, I'm not really sure what what the point was there and what I may have shared uh about that. I don't know what
the issue was there. Um, but um, it's fine. Uh, I recognize my position on the board. Uh, I recognize I'm a descending opinion sometimes. Uh, I think that the records show that I've voted in favor of probably some high
90ome percent of things we voted on. Um, and I I try to be very constructive and and Kristen, uh, Dr. President. Okay. Thank you for reminding me that it you did bring it up. It was an exciting call we had probably a year and a half ago on focusing on student outcomes. The IND
just to clear that up for everybody. The Indiana Schoolboard Association may had a recommended read right on that book. Uh great on their behalf and it's main its singular focus really I would say is on student outcomes and you called up we had I thought was a rather exciting
comment and I said boy I'm really I'm fully behind on that. That's what makes good organizations transfer to great organizations. And that's what I want. What I what I if I can clarify what I thought I brought value to the board is I felt we weren't quite heading that way. It's it's one
thing to say we're focusing everything we do is focusing on student outcomes. Well, certainly, you know, providing nutritious meals so kids feel uh feel nourished and alert in classes. Everything we do is is to help student outcomes one way or another. But the
real question is when we put programs in like we had a very controversial one get brought up in the the local newspaper and I tried to head that one off uh a year and a half ago uh on on equity grading. There's different names for it. I I'm just so I'm going to call it that.
And I tried to head that one off and um so I try to bring these things up but we're supposed to be measuring if we put a program in. We're supposed to measure the outcome. So, I got the ball over the finish line or I'm close to getting it over with by working with my colleagues. We I wrote uh several emails, detailed
emails, I I thought were constructive and positive and uh got the attention of Mr. Shapiro and and we spent a fair amount of time working through how that might look and have presented it to the board and we will be meeting with the administration and I'm I'm pretty
excited about that and I think that's that's another aspect of leadership that I bring and uh assuming no matter what happens with this vote here I will continue to provide that kind of leadership because I want I want what's best for the the our kids and uh
So that's uh that's the end of my diet tribe. >> Thank you. >> Can I call for the question? >> Yes, please. >> I call for the question. >> I know you asked me. Um yes. So again, so what I called for, we are looking, we
asked for nominations for president and the nominations were for Mr. John Shapiro and Mr. Greg Brown. So, I would move that we close nominations and move to voting. >> Okay. Do I have a second? Second from
Miss Cashion. >> How do you want to do this? >> Roll call. >> Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So, the first >> Thank you, Colleen. God bless you. >> The first nomination was for Mr. Shapiro. Am I correct or was I wrong in
that order? Okay. So, the first nomination for president was for Mr. John Shapiro. We already had a motion and a second. We had a we had a lengthy discussion. Um so, we will now take a vote. All those
in favor of Mr. John Shapiro for president signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. All those not in favor signify by saying nay. >> Nay. >> And do we have any abstaining? Okay. Mr.
Shapiro will abstain. So the vote was three. Oh, you got it. Okay. So the next position we are looking at that was just president, guys. All right. Moving on to uh vice president.
Do I get to move over yet? All right. Moving on to vice president. And again, I'm going to open the floor for nominations for vice president. >> Do I say I so move? >> Yeah. I so yeah I move to nominate
Kristen Koke as vice president because I feel like that will really help John and his new role having you there with your experience as president filling that VP role. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any further nominations?
Okay. Any discussion? And again the point of order is the motion was um for person or vice president. I simply wanted to note number one, thank you for two years of service as our president. It hasn't always been a
fun job. You have been very patient with me as a new learner. I think with all of us and um so appreciated and if you would be vice president it reminds me of often on boards they have like immediate past president we don't have that
position um but I think it would be appreciated thank you any further discussion all right seeing none we will take a vote then all in favor of vice president position uh Miss Kristen Kay signify by saying I Hi. >> Hi.
>> Right. I abstain. Our next person is secretary. So currently, well, it was Mr. John Shapiro. So I will open up for nominations for secretary. I'll nominate myself as secretary. >> Do I have a second? That nomination was
for Miss Christina Wheeler for secretary. Is there a second? >> Second for the sake of conversation. >> Thank you. Things moving. >> Um, are there any further nominations? I Yeah, I I'm I'm going to go ahead and
motion, Greg. Is that okay? >> Yeah. >> Um I would like to nominate uh Greg Brown for position of secretary. >> Second. >> Thank you. So, we have two nominations for Miss Christina Wheeler and Mr. Greg Brown for secretary of the board. Discussion.
I was going to say this earlier, but the question was called. So, I I just I think it's important to say out loud. Um, especially if people are either watching live or watching this after the fact, the conversation that's happening, I I
don't I hope people aren't getting the impression I mean, maybe they're getting the impression that it's like unhealthy. Uh, but I don't think that that's the case. I mean, I think these are conversations that we have had in other meetings and I and you know, I I appreciate, you know, I wouldn't agree
with Mr. Brown's characterization of it as being dissenting necessarily. I think that's actually the sign of a healthy board is that when we don't agree, that's actually our job uh is to have these kinds of conversations where we aren't always in agreement and we are
sort of going back and forth on things because the reality is the community that we represent doesn't agree on things and we have certainly seen that uh both recently and in the past on any number of issues uh and we will continue to see that. So, um, you know, I I I get
where you're where you are coming from in the point that you were trying to make. Uh, and I think it is it is incredibly important that we continue to have those those conversations. Um I think the challenge for all of us uh
myself included becomes how how we continue to do that in a way where a emotions remain in check myself included the level of respect is there the discourse is there all of those things and and that for me in particular
I know is a challenge um I don't want to speak for anybody else but I I think it's important that you know for the community they know that this is part of what comes with the terrorist of being in this role is that we we have these these back and forths sometimes. Um, you
know, in theory it would be great if we could sit up here and we could agree on things. And while some people think that that looks terrible, the reality is is we all should have the same thing in mind, which is what is in the best interest of the community. And we're all shooting for that same finish line,
right? Um, but how we get there, we don't always agree on. So, I know that isn't what we were necessarily here to talk about, but I I needed to get on the soap box for a second because at some point here, I'm not going to be able to do that. So, um but I I do um you know,
with all respect to Miss Wheeler, who I think could be an excellent secretary, I um and I I do think it it is important uh given Mr. Brown's time on the board that he have an opportunity to have uh a
role that requires some responsibility and leadership. Um and I do think it's an important role regardless of what some people may think about it. Um there's there's a whole lot of things that that sec that the board secretary as I have learned this year uh has to take care of. Uh it is not just
approving minutes. Um and so you know I I and uh should there be a time where both the board president and the vice president are not available uh you know they're that's the next person uh who needs to help take care of things. Um and so I you know I I
I I want that to just be put out there as something to be considered. Um you know and again I that's all >> Madame President I I would agree a secretary is an important position and one of those
important duties is you know certifying official documents from the board. You know even if maybe you didn't vote for whatever the subject matter of of that is and and Mr. I I was under the impression you didn't want the position. If you if it's something that you want
and uh it's a job you believe you can do and I think you can uh I would withdraw my nomination. I I respect you and agree with Mr. Shapiro's comment.
Yeah. Yeah. Then I'll withdraw my nomination of myself. Okay. So, if we're going back to the point of order that the nomination now is only one nomination and that nomination is for Mr. Greg Brown as secretary. Any further discussion?
I'll just add that uh um I will be happy to do that if everyone votes assume they will. Um I I want to do whatever I can to help the board and and uh if there's there's an opportunity to help lead a
little bit more and I I appreciate John's comments. I I think that's a sign of a healthy board. I remember our our previous superintendent, we had a a lively board meeting a couple years ago and we had a two-3 vote and then we had a 3-2 vote and uh I remember the
superintendent at the time thought that was demonstrating good boardsmanship. So I think having lively debate I think that's how our federal government and state governments are designed with our congresses and and uh that lively debate
brings out uh elements of the issues that one may not always understand we all have biases and our life's experiences. So I think I agree with that. I think that's a good point you brought up. I appreciate that. And um it's funny I've reflected on my own time
on the board with with these three members. We haven't had time yet, but there's been times where I've been with and against different mixes of people and and I I think that shows um that's a good way to show personal objectivity
that you're willing to listen to another opinion and possibly even consider changing your opinion. I think that's what's what makes any kind of a board or Congress of sorts or council of sorts powerful and effective. I think the uh
well enough said. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? All right. Seeing none, we will now take a vote and the motion is for nomination of Mr. Greg Brown as secretary of the board. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.
>> I. Motion carries. >> Abstain. >> Thank you. Mr. Brown abstains. Yeah, I don't move. Okay. Next on our agenda uh is appointments. First appointment for this evening is for the treasury uh treasurer deputy treasurer and approval of bonds
for treasurer and deputy treasurer. Dr. Orike. >> Good evening, President Shapiro and members of the board. Uh each year between January 2nd and January 31st, it is necessary for the board to appoint a treasurer and a deputy treasurer and
approve public official bonds for the treasur and the deputy treasure. It is recommended the board appoint a treasur and uh deputy treasur and approve the public official bonds for the treasur and deputy treas treasur for the period
of January 2026 until December 2026. The administration recommends the board consider appointing Mr. Roger Mcichael as treasurer and Mrs. Amanda Kushar as deputy treasur. Further, it's recommended that the board approve
public official bonds for the treasur and deputy treasur in the amount of $100,000 each. Carmel Clay Schools also carries a blanket bond of $1 million under the crime policy, which we're required to have uh by state law, which
provides aggregate coverage for all employees. Thank you. >> Uh may I have a motion to appoint Mr. Mcichael as treasurer, Mrs. is Amanda Kushar as deputy treasurer and to approve the bonds for treasurer and
deputy treasurer. >> Oh, go ahead. >> Go ahead, Kristen. I'm sorry. >> I get to do this now. I I move to appoint Mr. Mcichael as treasurer, Mrs. Amanda Kushar as deputy treasurer, and to approve the bonds for treasurer and deputy treasurer.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. Any discussion? Okay, we will now take a vote. All in favor of appointing Mr. Mcichael as treasurer, Mrs. Amanda Kushar as deputy treasurer, and approving the bonds for
treasurer and deputy treasurer signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh, next appointment is for general counsel. Dr. Strike. >> Thank you very much, President Shapiro. Each year it is necessary for the board
to appoint a general counsel on or before January 31st. The administration recommends appointing Mr. Andrew Mana and Church Hidden Antrram as general counsel and I will also share that Mr. Mana is in attendance with us this evening. Thank you.
>> Thank you Dr. Orike. Thank you to Mr. Mana for being here. Uh may I have a motion to appoint Mr. Andrew Mana and Church Hill and Antrram as general counsel? >> I move to appoint Andrew Mana and Church Hill and Antrram as general counsel.
>> Thank you Miss Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Coke. Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, we'll now take a vote. All in favor of appointing Mr. Andrew Mana and Church Church Hill and Antram as general counsel, please signify by saying I. >> I.
>> Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. The next appointment is for executive secretary. Dr. Orike. Thank you again. Each year it is necessary for the board to appoint an executive secretary on or before January 31st to perform
secretarial duties as required by the school board of trustees. The administration recommends appointing Mrs. Colleen Nobous as executive secretary. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ostrike. Uh may I have a mo motion to appoint Mrs. Colleen Nobus
as executive secretary? I move to appoint Mrs. Colleen Nobous as executive secretary. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll now take a vote. All
in favor appointing Mrs. Novice as executive secretary to the board. Please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Okay. Any opposed? Great. Motion carries. Thank you, Mrs. Novice. Moving right along with our appointments. Uh, next on the agenda is
the appointment for the Caramel Clay Parks representative, Dr. Orike. >> Thank you. Each year it is necessary for the board to appoint a board member to the Caramel Clay Parks Board on or before January 31st. I will now turn it over to the board to make a
recommendation and discuss. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ostrike. Uh, may I have a motion to appoint a representative of the Carmel Clay School Board as the Caramel Clay Parks representative? I move to appoint Kristen Kok as parks
and recreation. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. May I have a second? >> I'll second that. >> Thank you, Miss K. Any discussion? >> I was just >> Yes, Miss Kok. >> Briefly going to say I was on the board and um on the uh parks board in my first
year. I really enjoyed it and would be very excited to to be back on that board and part of that mission. >> Thanks. I had the privilege of serving on the parks board this past year. It is an excellent board to serve on and I know that they would be thrilled to have you back. So, any further discussion?
Okay. Uh, we'll now take a vote. All in favor of appointing Mrs. Kok to the Caramel Clay Parks Board, please signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> All right. Motion carries. Uh, next. Uh, yep. Next appointment is for the Carmel
Redevelopment Commission. Uh, Representative Dr. O strike. >> Thank you again. Each year the board traditionally identifies a board member as a caramel redevelopment commission representative during the organizational meeting on or before January 31st. I
will now turn it over to the board to make a recommendation and discuss. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Orike. May I have a motion to appoint a Carmel Clay School Board member as the Carmel Redevelopment Commission representative?
>> I move to appoint Mr. Greg Brown as the school board caramel redevelopment commission representative. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. Any discussion? >> Okay, seeing none, we'll now take a vote. All in favor of appointing Mr.
Brown as the car uh Carmel School Board representative to the Carmel Redevelopment Commission. Please signify by saying I. >> I. Everyone voted yes. Any opposition? No. Motion carries. Great. Okay. Uh, moving right along. The next
appointment is for the schoolboard policy liaison. Dr. Ostrike. >> Thank you. Responsibilities of the school board include developing, evaluating, and adopting local policies to govern the schools and students uh
through Indiana code 20-26-3-5. The school board policy liaison will serve as the primary contacts for the board members, administration, and legal counsel to rem recommend policy updates. At this time, I will turn it over to the board to make a recommendation and
discuss. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ostrike. May I please have a motion to appoint two Carmel Clay School Board's members as the school board policy liaison? Uh, I move to appoint Miss Christina
Wheeler, who has currently been serving as a leazison, and Miss Jennifer Cashion. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kok. May I have a second? >> A procedural question again. So, I if we want to do any more nominations, now is
the time. Or do we want to? Yeah, as we did before. Okay. I I nominate myself for that position. Uh, I've been lobbying for that for a couple years. Um, I've gone through my credentials before. I I would recommend that I be considered and and
Chris Wheeler for that position. Okay. So, currently we have three nominations for two spots. We have Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Cashion, Mr. Brown.
Any discussion? So I just want to make sure I've straight in my mind, Mr. President. So at this point, Miss Cashion hasn't been appointed to any committee. >> I And this is the first time I've been nominated.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Thank you, Miss Novas. We need a second of Mr. Brown. >> Good catch. >> Also a second of my motion. >> We need a second for the nomination. Sorry. >> Thank you, Mrs. Novice. >> For the nominations in general. >> Oh, second for the Do you have to pick
one? No, I I'll second uh the nominations as stated for purposes of discussion. >> Thank you, Miss Wheeler. Now, you can continue. >> Okay. Just trying to get straight in my mind who's where. So, we have um Miss
Kuket on the parks and rec Rex board and vice president. We have Mr. Brown on the redevelopment commission and secretary and Miss Cashion and I don't have an officer
position. So this is the first nomination we've had for any committee or or official liaison position. That's correct. >> That is correct. and and uh if I may so we have this appointment and then the
remaining appointment after this would be the caramel education foundation appointment. So there are these two appointments to the policy uh as policy leaison and then one appointment to the caramel education foundation that is remaining. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. further discussion. >> I just wanted to make a note for the positive of having Miss Wheeler um being a lawyer and I know she tries to separate that from her board work here, but you know that that I think that's
really helpful to have that lawyer mind um on our um policy committee. And I think I agree uh as well with Miss Wheeler that we, you know, we we selected a new board member to make sure that they were kind of get into things right away. And so I do want to make
sure that um Miss Cashion has um another POS that that there isn't, you know, one of us doing a bunch of different things and overstretching ourselves, but that we kind of spread all the appointments out. >> Thank you, Miss Kok. Mr. Brown.
Yeah, I uh made this a similar comment a year ago when I was lobbying for the position and I thought I was going to be considered for it and uh u I'm very familiar with the policies and the bylaws and the guidelines and the
handbooks. uh in fact even today I was spending some time uh going through them and uh I think I just bring more experience to the table on it and last time I made that pitch and uh I was not
selected for it but the feeling was Chris would be better qualified as a her first day on the board to be on the policy policy layers on. I also brought to the attention of the board that we had an open item that was already over a
year old to evaluate a policy and it had uh not progressed past uh a meeting or a couple meetings and I had actually done some work on it myself not even being on the policy uh committee. So um we've
gone a whole year and there's been no far as I understand there's been no progress on it. um working um the library book policy trying to trying to enhance it to make it more compatible for more parents in the district.
>> May I speak to that, Mr. President? >> That was a question for >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Okay. Uh the book removal policy, my understanding was that that motion died under the previous board because all motions die at the end of a year. So, it
wasn't something I had on my to-do list. for this board starting the beginning of my term. That was something that was voted on by folks who are no longer on the board. >> May May I allow Miss Cashion to speak first, Mr. Brown? Sure. Thank you, Miss
Cashion. >> Um, I do agree that the that Chris's legal background of writing policies that are enacted at her state house definitely qualifies her as an excellent candidate for policy. Additionally, I do feel with three children in the school,
I very much know a lot of these policies and the handbook because I live a lot of them every day and I have a lot of conversations in our community about policies and why things are in place and changes that they would like made as well. Therefore, I would be happy to serve as a policy liaison to be able to
work on those things that are directly impacting our students and our families. further discussion. >> Yeah. Um, you know, I mentioned that we had a a policy. I brought it up at the January meeting. We had a lot of discussion on it. Uh, we had a 3-2 vote
on the board. President Kay was one that voted with it. Um, I brought up as a major issue and the policy leazison committee chose to do nothing and let it die. Um, I think that's um not serving
the community well and uh we had an opportunity what I was trying to do as as policy makers is to listen to all sides of an issue and to look for a common ground solution. A solution that doesn't serve a a small majority, it
serves the broad majority. Um I had actually interviewed a lot of people in the community about some potential approaches to it. uh peoples on both sides of the uh partisans, conservatives and liberals and uh with one exception u
everybody on both sides of the issue said that's sounds like an excellent I could live with that and I think that's what we need to do with policies we need to take state law and implement it in a way that serves the community best and I I presented this I'm using this as an
example of of of some expertise I've had dealing with policy We voted to go address it and the committee was happy with that and we did nothing in a whole year. So, we're going
to we're going to stay the course uh apparently and we've dropped this item. It's the first I've heard it. >> I'm sorry, Mr. President. Again, just to get the facts correct, this is the exact same thing I said this time last year in
January of 2025. A motion of a previous board does not carry through into the next year when a new board is seated. That is Robert's rules. That is the law. And just to be crystal clear, this is what I was concerned about, Mr. Brown,
with you as president of this board. You want to be on policy, I believe, not because you have any real interest in approving the overall policies, but because you have a pet issue about removing books from our schools. And while I was not running on one issue, it
is exactly why I ran for this board. And I have no interest in changing our rules. The vast majority of the voters of this community rejected that stance. And I have done my job in performing it
the way those who put me in office wanted that issue to be handled. So if I may, I think it might be helpful context. Dr. Dudley, would you like to add some >> Thank you. >> background around the work of the policy leaison with administration.
>> Yes. So so the board did um they did vote to review the policy. The PO policy liaison, the two policy leaison that neither member are on the board, they did meet um they did review it and they determined not to bring it any further
to the board. after they met, they reviewed it, they discussed it, and it they decided it did not need to come to the board because there were no changes made in the policy. And so it wasn't just not they did do that.
Okay. Thank you. I also I I'll I'll let you speak to it, Mr. Brown, but I also think we need to move beyond the one issue and talk more broadly about policy liaison uh and see if there are additional points to make. Um and then
we need to keep moving. Okay. Um my understanding was a bit different than that. Dr. Dudley, I talked to one of the leazison as she was retiring off the uh the board and she asked me for some help and uh I went and
I met with a assistant superintendent, same position you have up in Westfield and I published a uh a letter of of that and um she just retired off the board. That's my understanding. She said she needed help. wasn't able to get anywhere. And um I just think it's not
the not the right way to address an issue because it was not brought to the board. I mean, you brought it up as uh uh that it could expire. I don't remember that ex exact thing, but to let it expire rather than bring it to the board for a vote when it was voted. Uh I
just don't understand how we're serving the community. And and I I want to speak to the word book banning because that gets used on this issue and I was proposing a way where the books do not get banned. Um they would stay on the
shelf but we would we would serve the parents and the community on all sid both sides of that issue. And there's an awful lot of parents. It was a huge issue a couple years ago and people have given up on the board. My proposal was to find a way to have the books on the
shelf, but parents that don't want to have access, have their kids have access would have the means to do that systematically. I'm a systems guy. I was in charge of business systems for 35 years. Uh my job was to negotiate um
solutions to business problems and find common ground. And that's the approach I was taking. So to use words like book banning are an emotional uh response to a very critical issue. There's a lot of parents in the community and my my big
push is to serve our customers best. Our customers are the parents and I don't want parents deciding to to leave our public school. I want them to stay here and I'm trying to put things in place that would encourage that. So, um,
as far as other things, I have a list. I just been maintain I was going over it tonight. I've got a few issues. Some are cleanup issues, broken links. Um, I found a policy that's not current. Some legislation that was put in uh last year and that needs to be updated. It got by.
So, I'm very focused on it. I've got items to put on it and I'm not a single issue person, but when I put things forward, I listen to all sides. And I was told that early on, Mr. Brown, you need to listen to the whole community. Well, I do. You know, that's why I try to come up with solutions that work for
95% of our community, not 51% or 60% or some other number. So, that's uh the end of the end of my discussion on that. >> Thank you, Mr. Any further discussion?
Someone like to call up. So we need to vote on the first nomination. Okay. So we need to vote on the first nomination first uh for schoolboard policy leaison which was for Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Cashion. So all in
favor of appointing Mrs. Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Cashion as the school board policy liaison please signify by saying I >> I >> opposed nay motion carries 4 to one.
>> Our next uh and final appointment this evening uh is for the school board caramel education foundation liaison uh Dr. Orike. >> Thank you President Shapiro. Each year the board will appoint a board member or designate as the Carmel Education
Foundation liaison on or before January 31st. I will now turn it over to to the board to make a recommendation and discuss. Thank you. >> Thank you. May I please have a motion to appoint a Carmel Clay School Board member as the Carmel Education
Foundation liaison. I move to appoint Miss Wheeler as the Carmel Education Foundation liaison. >> May I have a second? >> I second. >> Thank you, Miss Cashion. Any discussion or additional nominations?
Okay, seeing none, we will now take a vote. All in favor of Miss Wheeler as the Carmel Education Foundation liaison from the Caramel Clay School Board, please signify by saying I. I motion carries. Next on the agenda uh are related items.
Related items include establishing the salaries of schoolboard members. Dr. Orike. >> Thank you again. Each year the board traditionally establishes salaries of schoolboard members during its organizational meeting on or before January 31st. Per Indiana Code
20-26-4-7, board members may receive in an annual amount not to exceed 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed by the school corporation for their service. The lowest starting salary for a teacher in Carmel Clay Schools is
currently $45,939. In previous years, state statute set board compensation at $2,000. So, this is a new law that was enacted and at this time I will turn it over to the board to make a recommendation and
discuss on the uh salaries of board members. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Rostrike. May I have a motion to establish and approve the 2026 salaries for the Caramel Clay School Board? >> I move to establish the salaries of the
Carmel Clay School Board. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss K. May I go first? >> Sure. And we have to discuss because there wasn't a specific motion. >> Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. When we have a discussion, right? I'm sorry.
>> Oh, so would anybody like to start? Mr. Brown, has indicated you'd like to start the discussion? >> I would like to start just to just because I want to start. Last time I wasn't able to start on one. I thought this time I' I'd like to start on one. Um, we all know we're entering a period of
budgetary challenges. Um, and I think we we haven't seen how devastating or how difficult it's going to be, but we know it's going to be a real challenge. And this um, we had, I guess, recent legislation that allows us to get raises for the board.
We're making $2,000 each a year and this takes us up to 10% of the lowest salary of our teachers, entry- levels teachers. That correct? >> Yes. >> So, it's it's uh going to be roughly $4,500 something, $4,600, something like
that. Um um I I just wanted to point out where that money comes from. Um, and I really appreciate people that are sitting on either side of me that have volunteered their time and energy, uh, time away
from their families to do stuff like this. Uh, you're not well compensated, and I don't think that's why anybody's on this board. Um, um, certainly $2,000 a year doesn't give you any kind of a decent hourly pay. Um,
and that's why we're not here. I I think everyone agrees with that and I believe everyone thinks like that. So, we're going to increase that. I mean, the the state legislator has allowed us to increase that that um to like I said about 45 $4,600, something like that. Um
those monies come from the operations fund. um operations fund pays for a lot of the over pays for overhead, buses, uh some administration here and a lot of just overhead items. Um we also transfer $18
million a year from the education fund which is for classroom kinds of expenses, teachers, other things that are intended to be directly in the classroom. we we transfer uh state law allows us to do that to the operations
fund uh at our discretion. And um so what what I'm looking at is we are taking money out of the school district that could be uh funding operations uh things or educational uh things if if we
can really want to look deeply at that. We were entering an era where we have to cut monies and I think to give ourselves raises at this time would be inappropriate. Um we recently saw that we had to give a reduction of some
amount to our maintenance workers. A couple years ago we gave a reduction to make a market adjustment for our permanent subs. And I think giving ourselves uh taking advantage of this change in legislation would not be the
right message to send to the community and those uh our staff of this district at this time. So I just wanted to point that out is that we're getting paid but we're getting paid out of funds that direct directly uh cover costs of the
school district. Not that we're voting on anything right now at the moment, but I just wanted to get that couch. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. M. >> Can I ask a question of Dr. Orike, >> please? >> Um, just to clarify, I I think I'm just
remembering differently than Mr. Brown, and it could be that I just that's a lot of information in my brain. Um but the maintenance staff and sub can you just clarify um the fact the you know what kind of happened when those rates were kind of
changed what was the situation? >> Yeah. So I think it was about a year or two ago we increased the daily sub pay uh at the board recommendation and then we did a comprehensive study of the permanent building subs and we did
adjust their salaries um to be more at the market rate which did reduce their salaries. This may have been gosh this may have been four or five years ago. Um and uh we did that. We gave them I believe a year transition and then made
that adjustment per uh market analysis. So >> to follow up on the with the maintenance staff as well that was more recent. >> I'll have Roger uh address the maintenance question. So the maintenance staff u a couple of years ago, two or
three years ago, not recently. Um we we had previously had two categories of maintenance. I'll call them a skilled trades and a and a more of a technician. So less skilled. So we had two two categories. Uh there was a
recommendation made uh to me uh to increase and make them all level ones if you will. Um eventually in hindsight I felt that was a was not a good decision. uh they are not all equally qualified
and but we were having also in fairness we were having we're having trouble with you know filling positions and finding qualified people and sometimes when that happens you begin to select the best out of the applicants which may not be very good so at any rate I later made a
recommendation to to um so they got a raise and then I made a recommendation to reestablish u the level two positions um and ultimately Um we the the individuals that are currently here we
did decrease their salary uh or the schedule not necessarily the salary because we have step schedules. Um but we we increased it beyond what it from where they came from originally. So with more thought we we kind of stayed in the
middle if you will. And so so that's the background. um that was done before um or was not done uh because of lack of funds or Senate Bill one and all the conversation that you've heard. It was done because I felt we were spending more money than we
needed to um and my job when part of it is to um always put our educational program first and that's what I was doing. That's what we did. >> Thank you, Mr. Mcnite. further discussion. M Cashion,
>> I agree with Mr. Brown regarding the challenges that we're going to be facing financially over the next few years and I'd be concerned. Um I will share that I will abstain from voting this evening because I do not think it is appropriate for a newly appointed board member to vote on salary. But I'd also like for
you to consider the fact that our city council counterparts in Carmel get paid approximately $25,000 a year and receive $17,000 worth of medical coverage as well as an option. Um, so I I do think that $2,000 is definitely probably not
in line with what we would expect, but at the same time, I agree with Mr. around regarding we are going to be challenged with some tough conversations and this is not the time probably to talk about our own situations. >> Miss Wheeler,
>> thank you. Um I agree. It's you know it's not that I'm not open to the idea of having a more fair salary for our board. I just don't think now is the time to do that make
and make that change. Um it gives me the ick as the kids say. Um so without being redundant, it's not really something I'm interested in doing right now. any I I just wanted to a comment on the
permanent sub uh situation that I was I was on the board and that came up and we had a a planned um reduction of a significant amount. I don't remember the exact percent, but it was it was a market adjustment on permanent subs and
it was right after we had a a bout of tremendous inflation and a short period of time like a 24% kind of inflation and they were they were going to be market adjusted down to I I hate to pick I think the number was around 20%. It was pretty significant. Um it was more in
line one could argue with other districts and then uh the board said we need to do something. So, we challenged uh Roger and his team to find some comp compensation. We came back with $5 a day. So, it was not anything where they
were. Um I just wanted to clarify that because so often people things can sound like I'm I might be saying or others might be saying misinformation. Um, but it it's just I think the main point is what we've just talked about here is that we're looking for ways to
cut cost at this point and for the board to get a raise is not the right thing to do. >> M President Shapiro, if I may clarify, I think we're getting our terms mixed up. We're on the I think you and I understand what we're saying, but the
daily sub, a substitute teacher rate, we increase to the $5. Um permanent, we do have permanent building subs. Those are substitute teachers that come to the same building every day. They are paid at a little bit higher rate. Um this was four or five years ago. We did make an
market adjustment to them. So yes, we increased the $5. That was a couple years ago while you were on the board. I was referring to something that was probably before you were on the board, definitely before Dr. Herrera was here because I was in the position. And so, um, yes. Yeah, we did increase it $5.
Um, but I think we I was referring to a a different level of substitute compared to the daily substitute who comes to work every day. So, just wanted to clarify that. Yeah, Mr. K. >> Um, I move to at this point um to set
the board compensation at the current rate of $2,000 per year. Do >> I have a second? >> I second that. Any further discussion? All in favor of setting the board compensation at the current rate of
$2,000, please signify by saying I. I. I. or yeses and an abstension. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. Next on the agenda is consent. Uh uh on the agenda tonight, consent items
include the personnel report, claims, payroll, approval of gift applications, change orders for the Cherry Tree Elementary edition and renovations, the Carmel High School Stadium edition and renovations, the Carmel High School Polytech edition, the Carmel High School
Niatorium edition and renovations, and the Carmel High School Freshman Center cooling tower. Also included are the December 8th, 2025 executive session minutes and the December 15, 2025 regular session minutes. As a reminder,
uh consent in the meeting agenda refers to a designated section where routine items are grouped together for efficient consideration and approval in a single motion as opposed as opposed to individual motions for each item. Consent typically includes items the board must legally address, but which
should not take up considerable time. As I just mentioned, items like payroll, accounts payable, personnel reports, etc. Uh, change orders were recently added to the consent agenda, and I'll allow Mr. McMichael to give a brief summary of the change orders. Uh, before
Mr. Mcichael does that, uh, do I have a motion to approve all the items on the consent agenda? >> I move to approve all the items on the consent agenda, that being 7.2 through 7.12, as a group. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. Do I have a
second? Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. Uh, Mr. Mcichael, >> thank you. Uh, of these change orders, uh, two of them are small deduct change orders. We prefer deduct over added change orders. Um, one is an the other
or two of them are ad change orders. One of them is less than $10,000, but there is one for $170,000. So, that'll be more specific. That's at the stadium. And it uh there's two contractors. Um the first roughly half of the amount has to do
with um various electrical uh needs that we had that were not included in the original bid such as some additional electric uh unit heaters um and some work on the gr on the visitor side grandstands uh which included uh
replacement of the uh fire alarm panel as well as various other electrical. The other portion of this change order had to do with replacement of the outside doors on the visitors side. Um, and so that that's primarily the that's the
cost of these of that larger change order. Thank you, Mr. Mcichael. Uh, any discussion? Seeing none, we will now take a vote. All those in favor of approving all the items on the consent agenda, please signify by saying I. I. I. Thank. Motion
carries. Okay, next we will move on to the action items on our agenda. Next is the board of finance organization meeting. In accordance with state statute uh of Indiana code 5-13-7-6,
each board of finance must meet between January 2nd and January 31st. At this time, I will request a motion to suspend the board of school trustees meeting for the purpose of convening the Carmel Clay Schools Board of Finance.
May I have a motion? >> I move to suspend the board of school trustees meeting for the purpose of convening the CCS board of finance. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. All in favor, please signify by saying I.
>> I. >> Motion carries. Uh Mr. Mcichael, would you please provide the board with some background information regarding the board of finance? >> Yes. Uh this is likely the only time the board of finance will meet. Uh happens every year and um uh there's uh two
parts of this that I'll provide presentation for. Uh the first is the investment report and you have that in front of you, but our investments uh for the year were just under $500,000. So, um, that's a lot more than it was for
years because the interest rates, uh, well, have gone up. And so, that's a good thing in terms of investments. Um, the and and there's a a policy there relative to investments, but it's really a reflection of the law. And as you might expect, uh, we're very very
limited in what we would invest in. So, we're not investing in Bitcoin or something like that. Uh, it's basically governmentbacked securities. So in you know for most people they think of of certificates of deposit. So that's really what it is. All of our money is
invested even in like overnight uh certificates. Well you know like in our checking accounts and so forth but that's that's the investment part. The second piece is is which is more recent. Um there's a requirement at this time to present um what's called fiscal
indicators. Um in 2019 uh legislation was passed uh that created um a board that basically then provides to all school districts various indicators of the kind of the condition of the school district but also like the size of the
school district the enrollment patterns and and those kind of things. So if if I can I would uh begin to give you that presentation. It's very brief and uh but basically at the end uh the the intent here is to for the board to have
received some insight of the financial condition. There was a bad experience in Indiana. That's what led to this uh requirement. Um in Carmel's case, you know, you're receiving information every month and you will again this tonight. Uh but that's not always the case. And
so um that's what these are. And so as I said this uh uh these indicators were uh provided for in the 2019 um I'll start with the first one is just basic information uh which certainly the board knows but um our 2425 enrollment
was just over 16,000. Our net assessed value was just under 12 billion uh and the population in a community was just under 100,000. Uh by the way this isn't necessarily the most current information. This is the most current information that's provided by the state
for these indicators. Um it's not terribly old, but like you can see here we we now know the um this is 2425 enrollment, not 25 26. Um so the next item is is the demographics. And this
one I want to make a few comments on. Um I I've looked at at and you can see the percentages um of the uh demographics and this is showing free and reduced lunch spatial education and English language learners and and you'll see our
percentages on the far right for 2324. Um and they've gone up and percentage wise they've gone up considerably. These percentages are are low by state averages. I mean the free and reduced lunch in Indiana is close to 50%. Uh but
for us um for example our um free and reduced lunch since 2020 as compared you know four years later um has gone up 22%. Our spatial education has gone up 44%. And our English language learners have
gone up 63%. So clearly there's a trend here and you can see it just from the graph. It's it's not just since 2020 but that's chose that year to uh to make the comparison. And so I think that's worth noting. We've talked about it before of
having increased um diversity in the community and and also um diversity in in these three uh indicators and and um and it does have implications for our educational program and the staffing needs and and all of those things. Um
here is an ADM uh report. And you see generally we've been pretty flat for uh for several years now as compared starts at 2015. You see a slight dip after 2020 after co first it went up um in in 19
and 20 um and then it then it started to go down a bit and then back up uh a bit slightly I mean very insignificantly in terms of 16,000 kids. Um but it did go up a little bit in 22 or 23 24 25 and
now as I think you know uh this year it's gone back down a little bit and um we like it when it goes up a lot better when it goes down because the way the funding works and then finally this uh last slide will show uh again we're combining um what
was the general fund and then then beginning in and later it's the education fund and the operation referendum operating referendum And then the rainy day fund, we added that as well beginning in 2020. And so you can see here both as a percentage uh as well
as dollars and and again as we previously stated um our our goal we raised our goal to have a minimum balance of 12% as it had been eight for again that was the minimum goal not the maximum and um which is very
conservative by the way. Um and so and you can see here in 24 we achieved the 12%. Um that you're going to see later that it's it's dropped a bit this year which you you heard information previously about budgets and funding and
so forth. Um but um but it has generally um trended up as as was planned and so that's a good thing. And um I would personally like to see it go up closer to 20% but not more than that. I can
tell you there's any number of school districts that has as much as 30 or 35%. There is a point where I think money in the bank not supporting children is just money in the bank um is excessive from a you know asking taxpayers to provide money and then it's not used for what
they're providing it for. Same time we need a balance to be fiscally stable and responsible. So um the end of the day we have maint maintained financial stability over this period of time. Our balance has of cash
balance has gone up an average of 9%. They'll eventually go up more as we uh continue to uh strive for the 12% or more. And so with that that would conclude the information that I have for you. >> Great. Thank you Mr. Mcichael. Uh the first action of the board of finance is
to appoint a president and a secretary. The administration is recommending that the president and secretary of the school board also serve as the president and secretary of the board of finance. May I have a motion to appoint the president and secretary of the school board to serve as the president and
secretary of the board of finance? >> I move that the president and secretary of the school board be the president and secretary of the board of finance. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kay. Any discussion?
Seeing none, we will now take a vote. All in favor of appointing the president and secretary of the school board to serve as the president and secretary of the board of finance, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh Mr. Mcichael, can you please present the report of investments for 2025, a report of the financial
condition of the corporation, and present information regarding the district's investment program. We earned just uh under $500,000. So uh which is much better than what we've earned in previous years as the interest rate now is higher than it had been. Great. Thanks.
There is uh no other business for the board of finance. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting of the board of finance and resume the regular school board meeting? >> Move to adjourn the board of finance and resume the regular school board meeting. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler, may I have a second?
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. Uh, all in favor, please signify by saying, "I." >> I. >> Motion carries. This time, we'll reconvene the meeting of the Carmel Clay School Board. Uh, next on the agenda is the action item to carry forward of
operation fund accounts. Mr. Mcichael. >> Thank you. Uh, this is again an annual process. Uh in our operations fund, we uh choose to uh carry forward one year typically one year for projects uh that
are maybe continuing. A lot of this is a school allocation for equipment for example and rather than have that appropriation as we would say die at the end of the year. They carry it forward. Sometimes they're kind of saving up for to use two years worth of funding. So that's what this is. It's it's just a
routine that we follow. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Mcichael. May I have a motion to approve the carry forward of operation fund accounts? >> I move that uh we approve the list of operation funds accounts to be carried forward and that any account not listed
with an unencumbered balance as of December 31, 2025 not be carried forward. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Do we have any discussion? Okay, seeing none, we will now take a vote. All in favor of approving the
carry forward of operation fund accounts, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh, next on the agenda is the agreement for consulting services. Uh, first Tuesday communications. Dr. Orike. >> Thank you, President Shapiro. A recent
legislative and election law changes, including SEA1 and new referendum timing requirements have increased the complexity of future school referendums to support long-term financial planning and proactive community engagement. The
administration evaluated multiple referendum consulting firms. The administration recommends entering into an agreement with First Tuesday Communications, an experienced Indiana based referendum consulting firm to support planning and communication
efforts. The consulting firm will support the district in presenting any potential referendum request to the community in a clear, factual, and transparent manner. >> Thank you, Dr. Ostrike. May I have a motion to approve the agreement for
consulting services for first Tuesday communications? >> I move that the board approves the agreement for consulting services for first Tuesday communications. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kok. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kashion. Any discussion?
>> Mr. President, I apologize. I need to go get my asthma inhaler and I'll be right back. >> Please do that. Please don't run. Any discussion, Mr. Brown?
>> Yeah. Um, I think if we had some more background to this and Dr. Ostright and I talked a little bit earlier about I had some questions technical questions and um we don't have the precedent in Caramel to
um hire a consultant uh but like you'd mentioned in your abstract here there's there's some precedent. Do you want to could you elaborate a little bit more on that and you know the the safety referendum passed a number of years ago at 68%.
And uh it's a number one issue excuse me DMI inhaler number one issue with that I think you discovered when you were working on the strategic plan with community input with safety of our children. Uh so it seems like it should just on its own go in without any uh
risk of it failing because it would be not a good thing if it failed. But can you explain why why now we think we need to have uh an advising advising person? >> Absolutely. Thank you for your question. So there's a number of legislative changes that I spoke about um in the
abstract but um number one change is that now referendums are held on general election years or every even year. Typically we may not have taken this um referendum until 2027 but because of new new law we have to take it in November
of 2026. Um, in addition to that, now schoolboard races run concurrently with referendum. And so that's going to complicate pieces a little bit when you're looking at packs, when you're looking at raising money because it does take money to run a referendum, you
know, with the flyers and the communication and the text message and getting uh factual information out. So that complicates it a little bit. uh we're going to have to establish a new pack for the referendum because there are other packs that are going to be
supporting candidates at the same time. So, that's going to be a sticky situation as well. I also believe that in Carmel, um we're one of two districts with a safety referendum. um you can fold in the safety referendum into the
operating referendum and accomplish the same uh same um accomplishments that you want with regards to safety. I will say that um taking a look at having those having every four years in Carmel and
really it's three years because we had to bump up the 2027 referendum for safety. Our community has referendum fatigue. I mean, and that's what we're focusing a lot of our time on in the eight years. You're focusing a solid two years of that, just preparing for the
referendum renewal each and every year. I do think it uh would be advantageous for us with a referendum consultant to explore that. What does that look like? Um is that an option moving forward um in the next election that we would take
the referend the safety referendum and the operating referendum together? I think sea sea1 um tells a story that um that's something that we have to look at um to see if uh that's something that the board's interested in. I know Mr. Mcichel and the finance team um are
putting uh information and numbers together as well. So couple that couple the new laws couple um moving all those pieces together. I do think um the time has come uh the layered the complexity
that is associated now with referendums. Um I do think it's time for Carmel to highly consider this. Um the last piece I'll share is that in November of 2025. I believe there were six uh school referendums on the ballot across the state. Uh five of them passed. The five
that passed had a referendum consultant. The one that didn't pass did not have a referendum consultant. I see this as an investment. I think the ROI on this is tremendous. When you're uh looking at approximately 8 million uh $8 million a year in a safety referendum, you're
looking at $30 million a year in a operating referendum. Um the uh total contract for a um ref this referendum consultant that we're recommending tonight uh $45,000 uh throughout the referendum campaign.
And then there's also a cost for polling so that we can get really good data to really focus on um what we would like to accomplish and that's passing all future referendums. >> Thank you for that background. Dr. Orike
further discussion. M >> I did just want to make the public aware that the entire board has had the chance Well, I'm sorry, Miss Keshen. Accept >> 80% of the board. 80% of the board has had the chance to
meet with um this company um and ask a lot of questions um and have you know pretty intense conversations um regarding what the services will look like and exactly what that package would kind of give us. So I did I did want to just kind of give that information that we this wasn't the first time we've
heard this um and this isn't new information. This is something that we've really looked into at uh for well over a month. Further discussion, Mr. Brown. Um, Dr. Ostra, thanks for that elaboration. I think it's important to know what how things are different
now than they've been in the past in this regard. Um, you'd mentioned that uh the contract we're being asked to prove tonight covers $45,000. You also mentioned that and which I'm glad you did that we we will need to do a polling to see where the community is and where
we need to focus on the community and that cost we don't know exactly but I've heard a range of 15 to 30,000 is as >> yeah the range uh 15 to 28,000 is what the consultant shared with us um to take polling for strategy and messaging and
taking a look at risk assessment and so on and so forth. Okay, thank you. Any further discussion? >> I just wanted to make a note, Mr. President, that we have historically had incredible support and some really
wonderful members of our community, uh, including yourself, who've done great work on previous referendum efforts. I want to thank them. I I think we are having to take it to a a new level. Um, but I certainly um look forward to
continuing having those folks support hopefully and that's what we're working for. And and if I could add just one more thing, um I believe moving in this direction provides the most transparent um communications and transparent information for our community as we move
forward with our November 2026 uh referendum. >> Thanks, Dr. O. If I may, the the only piece I I would add, just if there's nothing else, is I I agree. I think it is incredibly important for the community to have an
in-depth understanding of what we are talking about when we're looking at renewal. This was a brand new referendum. The safety referendum was brand new to the community several years ago. Um, and I think we've all seen the benefit of what that referendum has done
in the community, both uh, you know, very visibly with SRO's in our schools, but also uh, many of us have experienced the benefit of the mental health support uh, and the contract agreement with Ascension St. Vincent uh, and some of the other uh, pieces that have have come
through that uh, referendum. Additionally, I I do know I think some of us have also heard um that there are people in the community that felt like the communication around what was in that first referendum was not completely transparent. And so I think working uh
with a consultant will allow, as you uh alluded to, will allow for this to be completely out there in the community. Um and um you know my personal two cents which I know I'm supposed to minimize doing from this seat uh is I I I don't
know that I would be comfortable um risking uh risking losing the referendum um whether it is one referendum or both referendums um for this kind of investment. I I
don't think that is good stewardship of the community. Um, so that's the only piece I would what would I add to the conversation. Miss Cashion, >> I just wanted to clarify based on some of the things Dr. Rose said that this consultant isn't to figure out how to
get both combined passed this year. I just want to make that very clear. It's more analyzing if that is what is needed and if that is the right strategy or if only the safety referendum would be on the ballot this November. Um, I just wanted to confirm. >> Absolutely. We have a lot of work ahead.
Um, nothing has been predetermined whatsoever, but all options are certainly on the table. And if I may add one more thing, I just want to say a public thank you. We have Lieutenant Miller and Sergeant Smith in the back. their leadership under the safety
referendum and hiring our SRO's in each of our buildings and the uh professional development, the guidance, uh the visibility that they've had in taking our safety referendum and making it the
top uh SRO program in the United States and the world. Um, since they're back there, I just want to give them a shout out and appreciate them tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you both for your service. Any further discussion? Okay. Uh we'll now
take a vote. All in favor of approving the agreement for consulting services for First Tuesday communications, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. We will now move on to the reports section of our agenda. Next on uh so up first is our student data report. Dr.
Dudley. >> Thank you. So, good evening. Tonight I'm sharing an overview of our reading universal screener accadians and this presentation connects directly to our district strategic plan and focuses on how we can use we use early literacy
data to identify student needs provide timely support and monitor growth. Aadian is one of our key tools for ensuring we are building strong readers for the earliest grades. This work aligns with our district
goals. our strategic goals, particularly academic achievement. Universal screening supports instructional coherence by ensuring consistent expectations for literacy across classrooms and schools. It also reinforces student and teacher clarity.
Teachers know what to teach next, and students receive instruction that is purposeful and targeted to their needs. Early literacy is foundational to all of our key initiatives. Strong reading skills support student success across
content areas and over time. Universal screening allows us to be proactive rather than reactive, identifying students who need support early, providing enrichment for students who are on or above benchmark and ensuring instruction aligns with our
instructional framework. So while state assessments provide important outcome data, Acadians gives us actionable in the- moment information. These results help us monitor student growth, inform instruction, and evaluate the effectiveness of our literacy practices
long before students reach high stakes assessments. This is a critical part of our datainformed decision-making process. So what is Aadians? What is this universal screener? So, we often describe a cadence as a literacy
checkup. So, just like a routine health screening, it gives us an early snapshot of how students are doing with essential reading skills. The assessments are brief, standardized, and administered three times a year, fall, winter, and spring to all students kindergarten
through fifth grade. And the assessments um include critical early literacy skills such as phmic awareness um phonics fluency and comprehension. And these skills are strong predictors of future reading success. Because the assessments are
efficient, teachers can spend more time using the data to plan their instruction rather than administering the test. And again the purpose of the screening is prevention. So I but identifying the students who may be at risk for reading
difficulties we can intervene before gaps widen. And then screening also ensures that students who are meeting or exceeding expectations continue to be challenged with appropriate instruction and enrichment.
So, Aadians provides a benchmark stat status which predicts the likelihood of the student will meet grade level reading goals by the end of the year and students scores reflect the level of risk allowing teachers and teams to pro
prioritize the instruction and supports. And this helps us to ensure that we're using our resources uh effectively and equitably across the entire district. and communication with parents is key component of this process. Parent
reports are sent home after each benchmark period for all of our students. And when additional reading supports is recommended, families are notified and provided with a clear plan for instruction for their child. And so this helps this transparency helps the families understand both their child's
progress as well as the support that their child is receiving. So as we look at the decision- making um process, as I said, the benchmark assessments are um all students are screened with the benchmark assessments
and then some students receive progress monitoring. So we screen all of our students. We look at that data. We validate that data with additional data that we have. If we determine a student might need additional supports, then that student may have um progress
monitoring. They may have put interventions in place, plans in place for that students to give them additional supports. Um and then we progress monitor that. We implement that um evaluate those supports and you can see that feedback loop continues to go around and as we um assess all of our
students three times a year so that we can make sure that we're making the very best data informed decisions and we're really zeroing in on where we need to support our students so that we can catch them before they get behind. We want to make sure we're catching them up
because we know that the research is very clear that our kindergarten and first grade students, we need to make sure that they have sound foundational skills in order to be successful in that reading. And so intervention is not a one-sizefits-all approach. Using Aadian
data, schools provide targeted evidence-based reading instruction aligned to specific skills based on the students needs and progress is monitored regularly to ensure the interventions are effective. And our goal is always to accelerate the learning and to move
students toward grade level proficiency as proficiently as possible. So Aadian's reading is a critical part of our elementary literacy system and it supports early identification, targeted instruction, and strong communication
with families. And most importantly, it helps us to ensure that every student has the opportunity to become a confident, capable reader, laying the foundation for long-term academic success. So what questions might you have?
I'll ask a question after that nice presentation. Um, uh, is this tied in at all with I read or is this a separate assessment? >> So, I read is an assessment our students will start, they'll take in March. that
is a um summit of assessment that all of our third grade actually our second grade students and third grade students that don't pass take. Aadians is a different type of assessment. This is it's a universal screener that our students K through five take. They're they use different probes at different
grade levels based on the grade level. um and it is separate, but the Acadians data helps us to determine um what students might be at risk for not passing I read and then what specifically what interventions they might need in order to make sure we get
them across the finish line to take iid, but they are two different assessments. >> Okay? because I I know we're uh we're offering I read earlier now to kind of identify the same thing but this is this is a more detailed uh analysis of a particular students abilities and and
areas of where they need to be addressed. >> So a cadence is looking at the foundational pieces. It's it's looking at reading um in kindergarten and first grade. They're looking at the phmic awareness which are can they hear the sounds and um can they manipulate those
sounds and then also the their phonic skills how can they take those sounds or those phonms and match them to the letters or the graphimmes we're putting them together in the written um words that is all those are very short probes
I read is a summit of assessment looking at both their foundational skills as well as their comprehension skills but it's a one time um static assessment that students are required to take um and pass by third grade or they get
retained in third grade. So our students for I read um they take it in second grade and all students across the state take it in second grade. Uh most of our students did pass um in second grade. We have it over 80% of our students pass I read in second grade and so the ones
that did not pass they'll they continue to get interventions as well and um they'll take it again in third grade. >> Yeah. I like the idea that it spans that whole elementary spectrum. It goes back to kindergarten too, doesn't it? Did I see that right? >> Yes. It the Aadian starts in
kindergarten and it goes all the way through fifth grade. Now the probes are different in kindergarten as they are in fifth grade. For example, in this one slide, um, in kindergarten, they start with, um, first sound fluency. So, do they
know their first their beginning sounds? They're looking at the letter naming fluency. Can they actually name the letters in the alphabet? Um, and then they start in the be in the middle of kindergarten, they start assessing their phone segmentation. Can they break the sounds of the words apart? In fifth
grade, the assessments are oral reading fluency, which is assesses their fluency in reading as well as their comprehension. And also there's a maze assessment that fifth grade takes um that starts in third grade as well where the students, it's a close where they're
reading a passage with words missing and then they add those words in. But that also assesses their comprehension pieces. But these are short one minute to three minute assessments. Um, most of them are given individually. The maze the students take on the computer. The
rest of them they're given one-on-one with the student where the student is reading a passage. The teacher is listening to them read. >> Nice. I like the idea that it and it goes beyond the i readad. the I read seems like now it's more of a a hurdle point milestone, but we're this I would
think would help improve our I read scores in second and third graders because we've would catch them earlier where they have some deficiencies and have a plan and so that's good. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> I just wanted to say as a parent of a
third grader, I really like getting these. It's nice. Um just for Oh, well, we have another parent of a third grader now. um we you know we get them in our email or we can log in with our with our students um ID and see where they are see if we need it really gives a lot of
good information like the the slide you had with the the red and the green and the yellow it gives that's exactly what we get um and so I like I kind of like that that I've gotten those a couple times just to see you know where my child is and and if I you know there's kids their parents can have that information as to what they need to be
working on as well >> Miss Cash You don't have to. >> I was just going to say I really enjoyed getting mine this year because the metrics are very easy to understand. But I also think it's going to alleviate a lot of anxiety of parents with kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders as they see that progress
because I know there was a lot of worry with the new legislation with I read being more of a hurdle as Mr. Brown said. Um, a lot of people were very concerned, but now being able to get these three checkpoints for the years prior to that, I think will help a lot of parents just understand the process
and know where their kid is at. >> Great. >> How long have we used Aadians? >> So, we have used Aadians is um uses it's based on the Dibbles framework. We've actually used um Dibbles is the
assessments that undergur these and we used them previous years and then years ago we used to use them under with a different company called Ames Webb. So the probes have changed but we've used them for several years. Last year we used um the dibbles for just for our K1
and two because this state requires us to screen for dyslexia. Um we did not use them in all of the buildings K5. This is the first year that we brought back that they're using all of them K5. >> One other question, it's a little in the weeds, but the plan for instruction for
students that are showing signs of struggle, does that come out of Aadian curriculum or is that something our staff work on and develop? >> Great question. So, no, that is something that our staff works on in all of our buildings. We have, you know, obviously fabulous classroom teachers.
We also have reading intervention teachers. Um and so when we look at when a student is not meeting the benchmark, we look at other data. We may also administer other diagnostic assessments to really drill down to see where the issue is and then we determine a plan of
action and that is done by a team in the class in the building. So that would be including the classroom teacher, our reading intervention teachers, possibly our special education teachers, um our principles, assistant principles are involved in that as well.
>> Thank you. I just want to add uh thank you to Dr. Dudley for your leadership. Um and uh I think this was just a wonderful report on student outcomes and what is going on inside the classroom. And as echo Dr. Dudley what she said uh thank you to our teachers. Our
elementary teachers do so much for our students and our families. Um and this is just one example of how focused they are in the classroom. really focusing on data and watching those student outcomes uh improve especially in literacy. So I
love our teachers. Thank you very much. And Dr. Dudley, thank you for your leadership. >> Thank you. >> Thank you again. Our next report uh is the monthly financial report. Mr. Mcichael, >> thank you. So I'll begin by noting that u this is relates to one of our
strategic goals uh budget transparency and stewardship. Um you can see that it relates to the uh budget budget reports that are aligned to strategic goals and referendum transparency as well as the monthly financial reporting. Um it
continue we want to continue to uphold the uh strong fiscal responsibility and transparent operations to which will ultimately result in maintaining the public's trust. So with that, I'll begin with a presentation of the U education
uh fund, the operating referendum, and the rainy day funds. Um this is uh December 31st. So that's one of the two times a year that we particularly take a look at the end of the calendar year and then even more so the end of the fiscal year and June 30th. So this year um for
these funds in total um we we ended with a cash balance of just over 15.8 million that that as you can see that's about a million dollars less than last year. Um they're not totally uh credible in terms
of comparing but but in in these funds because it's it's primarily salary and benefits. There's not a lot of carryover like there would be construction or something like that. So it is it is uh much more comparable um than than some of our other funds.
And so, and as you heard me earlier in the year about our with our budget and so forth, um, and the impact of some of the legislation and and really lack of funding, um, we we did anticipate that we would we would, uh, um, drop some
cash balance here, which is exactly one of the reasons you have it. So, so that you can you can maintain operations while you take action to because you can't allow this to discontinue and and we won't. Uh but it did go down slightly uh a little less than we had projected,
but that's not unusual because we're going to be conservative in projections. We we we don't want to assume we're going to receive money or have money that we're not. So in a a finance accounting world, that's you would if you're estimating, you're you're going
to be very conservative in that process. And so um then we go to our operations fund. Uh this fund as expected is is is it's really in good shape right now in terms of you can see the cash balance uh in this fund as compared to to last year
and um it's it's uh so it's doing very well and and where we would have projected. So then we go to our rainy day fund. There's really no activity to speak of in the rainy day fund this year. He didn't um you can see we just we had a
very small expense uh in February and nothing since then and and we have not transferred any money which we have into this fund. So we we didn't add to the fund this year. Um but it but it's so it's just been very stable. And then uh
finally the safety referendum um the balance is uh as you can see ended at at almost a million2 um which is a percentage given the size of this fund. That's good. That's uh this is in good shape right now from a fiscal
standpoint. Uh and you can see we increased the cash balance which which was too low uh a year ago. So, it's it's going up about $700,000, which again is a percentage that's significant um and was was needed. And so, with that, I'll conclude my report. If you have
questions, I'll try to respond. >> Any questions for Mr. Mcichel? >> Mr. Brown. >> Uh just a point of clarification. This is kind of this is a year-end look of sorts for us. Yes. >> Um
when we look at the education operating referendum fund sheet and the operating operations funds we if you look at year-to- date expenses which is now 12 months and we look at budget year for
the year and both categories were we look like we're overrun but we had an appropriations >> yes >> vote uh which is a very normal thing we do every year. So this if you don't know that this looks like we well we ran over
budget but um that budget has been we've been able to within the tax levy have enough headroom to to appropriate more budget. Is that an accurate state? >> It is accurate and as you alluded to it's it's not unusual that we because we're building a budget that ultimately is 18 months in advance and so a lot of
things happen. Enrollment comes in may come in high may come in low. All of these things have a fiscal impact. uh we have 2,200 employees that that turn up it's not the same people and our salary schedules particularly our teacher salary schedules the board's aware is what we call an incremental salary
schedule or a step salary schedule and so beginning teacher makes you know a little more than half of what a very experienced teacher makes and particularly with having gained a master's degree for example so there's a lot of movement financially going on over those intervening 18 months and and
uh so answer your question is it's not unusual that the um in the last quarter of the year we'll come to the board and recommend an additional appropriation. uh doesn't mean we're going we're going to spend more money but you know in most cases it's because we also have more
money to spend because let's say the enrollment increased for example we hired teachers accordingly but the budget was built on a lower number and so so for all those reasons you're exactly correct we we end up with additional appropriation many years um
and which actually increases before we get to the end of the year we've increased the uh appropriation and thus the projection Um and um and that's but when you see this it's it's it's comparing you know some numbers that were put together a
year and a half ago and uh so it's it can be misleading if you don't have that insight. >> Yeah. It might be helpful if if there is a way you could add that element in there the appropriations so you can >> because it's basically it's budget. >> Yeah it is. >> Okay. Thanks.
>> Anything else? >> Thank you Mr. Mcichel. >> Thank you. >> Next report is the legislative update. Mrs. Kok, >> I will make this brief. Um, as most of you are aware, the legislature is in session for 2026. They started actually
in 2025. Um, but they are still in session. Um, I I don't really have any really concrete things that are that are coming through yet. So, I didn't want to mention any bills, but I do want to mention that um President Shapiro and I will be down at the state house for the
ISBA state house day on February 17th. So, we will get to hear from lawmakers and um have a chance to speak to lawmakers. Um and so hopefully we can we can have a say in some of the the things that are going down uh at the state house.
>> Thank you. Our next and final report of the evening is the superintendent report. Dr. Orike. Well, good evening once again, board and president Shapiro. I'm going to start off tonight's uh superintendent report with two recognitions. And so, as we welcomed uh
Mrs. Cashion as one of our new board members, I would also like to recognize former board member Miss Jennifer Nelson uh for her incredible service to Carmel Clay Schools over the past four years. Jennifer has served our district with a strong commitment to students, staff,
and the community. And she has consistently approached her work with professionalism, thoughtful leadership, and a clear focus on what is best for kids. Board service, as you all know, and you will come to find out, uh, requires a great deal of time,
preparation, and care. And Jennifer certainly demonstrated all of that and more during her tenure. On behalf of Carmel Clay Schools, Jennifer, I'd like to thank you if you're watching tonight uh for your dedication, your advocacy, and your steady leadership. We truly
appreciate your service and the positive impact you've had in our district. We will be presenting Jennifer with a board of education plaque. she is uh couldn't be here with us tonight, but uh some of our board members I'll invite we'll go see Jennifer soon and present this to
her uh for her guidance and direction as a board member that has strengthened the bond between the community and the school. So, and then it also does have a little gavvel there. I tried to switch that out with former president Koke earlier. Uh but we will go ahead and pre
present that to Miss Jennifer Nelson, our former board member. So, thank you. And at this time, uh, Sergeant Troy Smith, could you please come forward? Um, Sergeant Smith, uh, is, uh, one of our sergeants. It's over our SRO, uh,
unit and, uh, his, uh, leadership, uh, has been with the district for many years. And so next, I would like to recognize you, Sergeant Smith, as you retire from the Carmel Police Department and from your current role as Sergeant
overseeing our school resource officer leadership. And so, Sergeant Smith has been a valued partner to Carmel Clay Schools and a trusted presence in our buildings. His work has strengthened our safety efforts, supported our
administration, and helped build strong relationships between our schools and the Carmel Police Department. Safety is not just about procedures and protocols. It's about trust, relationships, and consistency. Sergeant Smith has helped
us bring all of those to our district, and we are grateful for your leadership and your years of service. Also, Sergeant Smith, I understand you enjoy flying an airplane and your airplane. So, let me just end with this. Sergeant Smith, thank you for helping keep our
school safe and we hope you enjoy retirement that's truly cleared for takeoff. We wish you smooth skies ahead as you fly into this next chapter. Congratulations and thank you. I'm glad he was here tonight because I
believe you retire in like a week or two, right? Next Friday is his last day. 30 years in the Caramel Police Department. That is just fantastic. and I'm glad you were able to uh spend some of your last years
before retirement here in Caramel Clay Schools and we truly appreciate all you've done for us. So, thanks again. All right. And I also wanted to share nothing won't be as everything else is not going to be as special as that. I can tell you that. Um, I also want to
share uh with the board and with our community that Carmel Clay Schools has launched our official AI website for our parents and our community and ultimately our students. So, it is officially live um and up and running here in Carmel.
And so this resource is an important step forward uh for our district as we continue to support our staff, students, and families with clear information and practical guidance around artificial intelligence and education. So, as you know, this work was highlighted earlier
in the year as part of our technology workshop, and it really reflects the ongoing focus and responsible innovation, digital citizenship, and preparing our students for the world that they're entering entering because they are entering an AI world. So, we're
proud of this step forward. I'm grateful to our technology team for their leadership in bringing this work to life. So, I encourage you and the community, go check it out. This is just the beginning as they'll continue to enhance it as uh we grow with AI here in
Carmel Clay Schools. And then finally, I wanted to leave the board tonight and the community um that I wanted to share that uh the district sent out a communication today uh regarding our weather related decisions. And first I want to acknowledge that these decisions
are not easy. We understand the impact they can have on families, staff, uh and especially student learning. Uh our number one goal is number one is student safety. Number two goal is uh having our students in with in-person learning. I
wake up extremely early. Uh this morning I was driving around the district at 5:00 a.m. I continually check the uh temperature, most importantly the wind chills. I take a look at that National Weather Service chart and where we get
into kind of the dangerous frostbite uh uh wind chills that we take a look at and so a lot of thought there's a lot of variables. I do check in and collaborate with uh our surrounding districts to see what they're seeing and what they're
thinking. I do want to thank especially our uh Caramel Clay um or our Caramel City of Carmel Street department. They are the best in the country. Our roads look fantastic. We're all ready to go there. Certainly, there is a lot of snow
and we want to uh ensure that our bus stops are safe and our kids are uh going to areas that have been shoveled and are clear and so our bus drivers will be ready for that in the morning. Um but we we appreciate the partnership uh from our families as we navigate weather
situations together. will continue to communicate as clearly as possible when conditions require us to adjust those operations. Right now, we are on time. Uh but I haven't checked the weather in about 2 hours and 12 minutes. So, I'll be checking that as soon as this board
meeting is over. Thank you to the community. Thank you once again, Sergeant Smith. Thank you to Miss uh Jennifer Nelson. And thank you to the school board. That concludes uh tonight's report. >> Thank you, Dr. Ostrike. Uh just a few announcements about upcoming uh meetings
and uh important dates. Our next schoolboard meeting is on February 11th. That will be our February schoolboard workshop meeting. On February 16th, uh all schools and offices will be closed in observance of President's Day. Uh Wednesday, February 25th, will be our
school board regular session meeting. And for those of you who like to plan ahead, March 11th will be our uh workshop meeting for the month of March. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I move that we adjourn the meeting. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kok. May I have a
second? Thank you, Mr. Brown. Meeting adjourned.