Now called to order. Roll call. Mr. Shapiro. All members are present. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisibley for all. Quickly before we get into our presentations, um our the current board has decided that at every meeting at the
beginning of the meeting, we are going to read the Carmel Clay Schools mission statement. That statement is Carmel Clay Schools will provide opportunities for all students to realize their potential in an everchanging world. Our first presentation this
evening is the young artist with Miss Rice. Thank you with Miss Dr. Dudley. Yes, Mrs. Rice was not able to um be here this evening, so I'm pitch hitting for her. Um but I'm very excited to be able to honor our young artists this evening.
And before I do, you can see the wonderful work behind us that will be in our boardroom for the next six months um of our fabulous artists here in Carmel Clay Schools. And none of this could be possible without the support and dedication of our art teachers. So, if
you are one of our art teachers that is here this evening, if you could please stand to be recognized and thank you so much for the support that you give to our students each and every day to really take that um their talent and all of our students have talents in a lot of different ways
and to help to shape them and you can see just the fine work that um our students do. And this is just the two-dimensional art. Um in our buildings, we have lots and lots of examples of great three-dimensional art as well. And it's just amazing to be able to um see the work that they do. So
students, when I called your name, if you'll come up and you'll get a certificate from Dr. Bayersford and then if you'll come um to the front of the dis here and stand there and we'll get your picture when we are all finished. So we'll start with the high school. We have Gavin Zent, a 10th grade student at
Carmel High [Applause] School. We have Ruosshi Ren, an eighth grade student at Carmel Middle. Sam Thomas, a fifth grade student at Cherry Tree [Applause] Elementary and you can stay up. Yeah, go
ahead and stay up there and we'll take everybody's picture. Amelia Walker, a second grade student at Clay Center [Applause] Elementary. Otis Richardson, a second
grade student at Carmel Elementary. If you want to pick him, he's right over here. Olivia Mer, a seventh grade student at Clay Middle School. [Applause] Joey Manning, a fourth grade student at Collegewood
[Applause] Elementary. Gashiho, an eighth grade student at Creekide Middle School. [Applause] Brianna Cventes Deus, a third grade student at
[Applause] Forestdale. Holden Bonner, a third grade student at Mohawk Trails. [Applause] Michael John Lit, a fourth grade student
at Prairie Trace [Applause] Elementary. Evelyn Adams, a first grade student at Smoky Row Elementary. [Applause] Cameron Garin, a kindergarten student at
Town Meadow. [Applause] Lucy Ye, a second grade student at West Clay [Applause]
Elementary and Litty Williams, a third grade student at Woodbrook Elementary. [Applause] And boys and girls, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful artwork. We very much appreciate
that. And Mrs. Novice is going to take a picture. And then parents, you'll have the opportunity um to take pictures as well. We'll have our students stay up here and you'll have the opportunity to take their picture. Let's give one more hand for our great artists. Thank you so much. And you guys
can go back and find your seats. Great job. Up next, we will recognize the CCS 20252026 Armstrong Teacher Educator of Indiana University, Dr. Dudley. Thank you. So, it's my distinct um pleasure to
announce the selection of Mrs. Adrien Chiba. Um if Mrs. Chiba could come on up [Applause] here. So, Mrs. Chaiba has been selected as the 2025 2026 Armstrong Teacher of
the Year for Indiana University School of Education. Mrs. Chiba, an instructional coach at Mohawk Trails Elementary School, was nominated by her principal, Dr. Jennifer Green, and selected by a committee of IU faculty and former award recipients. The
Armstrong Teacher Educator Award is an Indiana University program that recognizes and supports outstanding Indiana educators. The award provides financial support, opportunities for professional development, and a chance to collaborate with IU faculty and students. Approximately 10 to 12
teachers are selected each year. So, we got to congratulate Mrs. Chaba for receiving this great honor. [Applause] Congratulations. Oh, Mrs. Tya, if you
could come on up. And we also have one um young artist that came if that she wants to come up and get her certificate. It's Brianna Cerventes Deus from Forestdale Elementary School. [Applause]
[Applause] Next, we will recognize the Carmel High School World Winter Guard State Champions, the Carmel High School Ambassadors Showquire National Champions, and the Sandra and Allen Chapman 2025 Director Appreciation Award
of Excellence, Mr. [Applause] Ki. Thank you. Good evening everybody and thank you for taking the time to recognize the accomplishments of some really special kids in our performing arts department. Um we'll begin by recognizing our world winner guard who
won the IHSCGA state championship. A worldclass winter guard is one of four winner guards in Carmel Clay schools and represents the highest performance level of those groups in world class. The World Guard was named the 2025 Indiana High School Color Guard Association World Class State Champion at the state
finals on March 22nd and continued on to represent CHS at the Wintergard International Finals where they finished as the worldclass runnerup nationally. Their 2025 production was titled Hush and was a beautiful blend of artistic and athletic choreography set to a coral version of the famous children's book
Goodn Night Moon. We'd like to recognize each of the senior members of the World Guard tonight and congratulate them on both their state championship and their contributions to our color guard program over the last four years. So, our seniors this year are Ava Adair, Sophie
Breedlove, Caris Connelly, Ruth Dirkson, Lucy Eckleberger, Jillian Johnson, Cassie Kelly, Brooke Newborn,
Chloe Park, Ella Podney, Cat Robinson, Kennedy Surman, Eevee Smith, Alexa Terry, CC
Welsh, and Kira Yesh. It's our 2025 Carmel World Winter Garden. Yeah, we don't need pictures of me with them. [Applause]
And next, we'd like to recognize the ambassador Show choir for their national championship performance at the Showquire Nationals held on March 20th through the 22nd. The ambassadors had a very successful competition season this year with their show the road to Elorado about a group of people on a search for
the lost city of gold. They placed in the top two at every competition they attended and took home several best vocal visual and show design caption awards across their season. Their season culminated at the show choir nationals hold hosted on the stage at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. 10
groups from all over the country from Los Angeles to Connecticut competed for the title. The ambassadors won that competition along with the best vocal and visual captions and unanimous first place votes from the entire judging panel. We are very very proud of all of these hardworking students. We've got
three of those ambassadors here tonight representing the group for their student officers and their director Kyle Barker here. So, representing our ambassadors are Ellie Andrews, Luke Curry, and Sully Signs.
[Applause] [Applause] And finally this evening we would like to recognize another CHS choir director Katie Coons who was awarded and is the recipient of the Sandra and Allen
Chapman 2025 director of the year appreciation award of excellence also awarded at the show choir nationals. The Chapman Award, named for longtime Fort Madison Coral Directors Allan and Sandra Chapman, is given annually at the Showquire Nationals to an outstanding conductor based on nominating letters from students, parents, communities, and
colleagues. Congratulations to Mrs. Coons on this award. [Applause] And I just like to thank all of you so very much on behalf of the entire performing arts department for your recognition and support not only of these groups but for all of our ensembles um both at the high school and
all over Carmel schools. I know that Dr. Barard's going to speak in a little bit about a few of our groups more recent accomplishments at the end of the meeting tonight. I'd also like to thank everybody who attended the production of Big Fish uh the musical at the high school over the last weekend. another just resounding success for our kids.
So, thank you all very much this evening and have a wonderful night. [Applause] Next, we will recognize the Steven A. Backer Carmel Clay Schools Teacher of the Year, Dr. Orike. Thank you very much. Good evening, President Kay, Dr.
Bears Ford, and members of the board. It's an honor for me tonight to introduce to you all this year's 2025 Carmel Clay Schools Teacher of the Year. Please come forward from Caramel High
School biomed teacher Craig Harper. [Applause]
And instead of me talking about Craig and sharing all the phenomenal things about him as a teacher at Carmel High School, I'm going to let his students and his colleagues and people who are close to them share that with you this evening. Mrs. Novice.
Craig is one that always turns the attention to kids and and as calm as Craig is, um, you know, he makes the magic come to life in a classroom. He really his his class is more like a conversation. He takes the time to talk to us and also understand what questions
we have about the certain topics that he's teaching. I like best that he covered a lot of topics that we don't usually [Music] see. Craig is one that always turns the attention to kids and and as calm as Craig is um you know he makes the magic
come to life in a classroom. He really his his class is more like a conversation. He takes the time to talk to us and also understand what questions we have about the certain topics that he's teaching. I like best that he covered a lot of topics that we don't usually see uh in a lot of other
classes. So, it's not just like biology or chemistry. It's looking at the healthcare system itself. He just has like a lot of energy and he makes just like the class fun. Like when we were like learning about pancreases, he would always like tell us to like thank our pancreas and just he just makes it like
a like really fun and interactive for everybody. Um I find myself thinking about things he's told me about public health um or the system in general from his class um even like three four years later um whether it's stuff I see in the news or things I'm exposed to in my classes and I think that's really a
testament to the care that he shows in his class and you know the value that he provides for students. When Mr. Harper teaches he's very calm and he has a lot of humor to what he does. He makes you feel very comfortable and the classroom is a very safe space with him. Craig was
also the first teacher to teach biomedical science at Carmel High School and it has grown to become our most popular fouryear career pathway. He really checks in with you like he checks in on how you're doing. All our tests
are FRQs. So really he gets it might sound crazy to a freshman that oh man they're FRQs so how am I going to do on the test? But it really gauges like where you are and you where you are and he takes you and he builds you up. When
I walked into the class, he made everyone seem like that they were worthy enough and smart enough to do whatever they put their mind to. Craig Harper is one of those teachers who goes above and beyond to get to know his students. He knows them academically obviously, but he really gets to know them, their passions, and their interests. You know,
before I went into his class, I was kind of thinking I would be a standard biology major, but after, you know, talking to him more and learning about what like different majors actually have to do, I'm honestly interested in some of the stuff that we did in his class like public health and the social determinance of health. That was like
something in the like medical healthcare world aspect that I had just never learned about before I talked to him. He helped me and motivated me to choose my decision to go to Purdue Honors College and major in neurobiology so I can go down the pre-med track. Another thing Craig does very well is he finds
additional opportunities for students to um bring their interests and passions forward to the community. So almost every SRT he would invite a new person or a surgeon or some sort of you know industry leader to come and talk to us and that allowed us to network and build
connections with these folks and actually I ended up uh shadowing one of the u one of the surgeons that he invited out and it was just a great way for me to gain some insight into the medical industry and what it's like to be a surgeon. We know that Craig's impact goes far beyond the walls at
Caramel High School. Uh these past four years at Michigan, I've been super involved in public health and health policy, including getting to do some work at the American Public Health Association in DC. You got me interested in public health. And next year, I get to go to medical school at Harvard. And I credit that to you and all the other great teachers I've
had for teaching us how to think differently and to pursue our passions, which I can confidently say I translated over here to IU. uh his passion and dedication for teaching uh have inspired so many and they're one of the primary factors in me finding my passion for biomedical sciences. Just his passion
for teaching inspired me to volunteer at rural health clinics while I was in college and eventually pursue a career in medicine. So thank you so much Mr. Harper. You know you came from a long line of educators with your mom and dad and your brother Steve in administration but it really was more than that. Even
dating back to high school your attention to detail every every single day shown through to me clearly your commitment to excellence on a daily basis and most importantly your unwavering support and loyalty to your team. Remember that six-year-old first
grade student in my class and I always knew that you were destined to do wonderful things. Thank you for your dedication to education. He just keeps motivating us and he's such a positive person to be around and he's just a light in a room and just spreads
positivity wherever he goes. We couldn't be happier for you, Harp. I'm proud of you. Hope things are going well and continue to go well and we wish you all the best. Congrats again. Many congratulations, much love and lots of
warm fuzzies. Craig, congratulations for getting Caramel Clay Schools Teacher of the Year. So much better than I could have ever done. Uh, congratulations, Mr. Harper. I do want to let the community know that Mr. Harper now moves to the state level
teacher of the year competition in the state of Indiana with the Indiana Department of Education. So he will represent Caramel Clay Schools moving on this summer and uh we look forward to him uh progressing in that process as well. And this is an extra special award
because it's nominated by the community, by students, by peers, by parents, community members. We had over 500 nominations this year for our teacher of the year recommendations across all of our 15 schools. And Craig was our
overall teacher of the year this year. And I do want to say one last special shout out to the Carmel Education Foundation who endows this award. Um, and it is the Steven A. Backer Teacher of the Year. Mr. Backer was a board president here in Carmel for many years
until unfortunately he passed away due to cancer and his wife has uh kept this award going in his name. So, a special thank you to the Backer family. Um, also to the Carmel Education Foundation and a special congratulations to your teacher
of the year, Mr. Craig Harper, [Applause] And parents and community members, you are more than welcome to stay for the entire meeting, but we will take a brief break if you wanted a picture with your artwork. um or for to give you a chance
to get home since it's a school night. We will now move on to public comment. Per board bylaws, speakers will be placed in group one and group two. Those in group one, which consists of CCS students, CCS parents, guardians,
CCS employees, and Carmel residents, will be permitted to speak first, followed by participants in group two. As a reminder, participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface their comments by an announcement of their name in group
affiliation. Comments may not reference specific corporation employees, patrons, or students. Comments shall be directed to the board. 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. When your name is called, please go to the microphone and state your name for the record and you will have three minutes to speak. There will be a timer right there on the podium so you can gauge your time. And each of you again will have three minutes and we
thank you for participating. Let's get started. Up first, we have Keith Pitsley. And then second is Davidclar. It's a pretty heavy book this this uh your book that you have in Carmel High School, but you got a lot
more students. Okay. All right. Well, first of all, my name is Keith Pittsley and I've been a a parent and a grandparent, but I have to tell you, my friend Karina Rosenthal showed up on time and by the time she got to the head
of the line, she ran out of time and they wouldn't accept her presentation. I'd like to relinquish my position here as the first speaker and let Karina speak because what she's speaking about is different than what I intend to speak about. So Karina, would you mind coming
up? Here's your speech and deliver it, please. Thank you, Madame President. I think it's just a matter of order. That that was out of order. We It's unfortunate. I don't ever want to keep somebody from speaking, but I have a concern about enforcing the
rules equally for all people. Is this something that is acceptable to the board? I've not seen this done before, so please help me understand. Well, and I can explain um to the public this evening, the the rules for signing up for public comment are to be um by 5:45
p.m. and then you sign um up with one of the one of the white cards um turned in. And again, then we put you in uh groups depending on where you live. Um I'm open to the board input at this point. Uh, did I understand that she was in
line and the time ran out before the line was um exhausted, so to speak? I I would think that um that they met the intent of being here on time and should be given a chance to speak. Yeah, that I don't have a problem with
it. I just wanted to note that it was different. I mean, I when I was a parent, I arrived here during COVID when we had capacity limitations. I got here 25 minutes before the meeting started. Didn't even get in the room, let alone allowed to speak. So, uh I understand the frustration, but um I would hope
that we could do our best to treat everybody the same under our rules. So, appreciate your uh entertaining my question. Uh thank you for the question. I um don't have the rules or the policy right in front of me, the bylaw in front of me to see about giving away time to someone else to speak. So, um I'm I'm
honestly unsure of the answer. So, at this point, I think we could just move um forward and allow it. Start the clock. Good evening. My name is Karina Rosenthal and I speak tonight as a parent, a community advocate, and someone who believes deeply in the power
of education, accountability, and community. The policy before you tonight is more than administrative update. It's a meaningful response. I spoke up because I witnessed something that was deeply wrong. Alarming and hurtful anti-semitic
messaging displayed died in elementary school with no oversight from administration. I couldn't walk by and do nothing. This proposed policy establishes important guard rails to ensure that family celebrations like international festivals remain joyful,
meaningful, and respectful for all participants and community members. It sets clear expectations for displays, aligns content with anti-discrimination standards, and creates consistency across schools. And yet, despite these thoughtful improvements, I've heard
troubling rumors that some schools may consider cancelling international festivals altogether. Not just because of the perceived burden of compliance, but also due to concerns about administrators needing to navigate complex global and political dynamics. I recognize that this may be challenging,
but standing up for our kids and ensuring they are protected from harmful messages and displays while fostering genuine respect for all cultures is the kind of challenge worth taking on. I want to say as clearly as I can, please don't cancel these festivals. My family
and I, along with thousands of other families, love international festivals. Our children look forward to them every single year. In a community that can sometimes feel like a bubble, these events are among the few opportunities for students to truly see, taste, hear, and experience cultures beyond their
own. To suggest that these festivals might now be cancelled because someone, particularly me, raised concerns about discriminatory cont. sends a deeply discouraging message. Is that really what we want to teach our kids? That raising your voice leads to something being taken away. That when following
through on direction from leadership feels difficult, we simply choose not to. I never wanted these events to disappear. I wanted them to be safe, inclusive, and enriching for every child. So tonight, I want to thank the board for your work on this policy. I
urge you to adopt it. And I ask our administrators and PTOs to see this not as a burden but as an opportunity to do these festivals better, not to abandon them. Because when it comes to addressing anti-semitism in our schools, we collectively as a community have much
more to do. And even when it's hard, we must do better. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is Davidclar. [Applause] Thank you uh Madame President, members of the board. My name is Davidclar. I'm
the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. I want to thank you for the opportunity to quickly uh submit public comments on the policy 5261.01. Uh as you can see tonight from the presence of Jewish community members as well as previous number of previous
meetings uh this is an issue that is really at the heart of our community uh and of the utmost importance. And so we we appreciate the board's attention to this matter. We appreciate the uh the communication and the outreach that we have been able to have with uh with
Carmel Community Schools administrators and teachers on this issue. and we appreciate you uh bringing this board policy forward tonight for uh for your vote. I also want to thank members of my community for making their voices heard with the with the board. Uh I will just
quickly follow up uh on Karina's comments and thank you for for letting her speak just uh just also to add my weight to the the rumors that we have heard about some questions and challenges for the implementation of this policy and the events going forward. This is of course not the
intent that our community had for these events. It was just to provide some some guidelines and uh for those events and some direction moving forward. We would of course stand at the ready to to make sure that we are helping the uh the board and the district implement this
this policy that is going to be voted on tonight to make sure that it it's able to be utilized effectively and as Karina said uh provides an opportunity and not a burden for for uh Carmel community schools uh to implement. So, I think that would raise a really serious
concern among our community that we would somehow take the blame for these events that have been uh cherished in schools around the Carmel district. Uh take the blame for them being eliminated or cancelled in the future. So, we want to make sure that that does not happen. But again, thank you for your work on
this on this policy tonight. We appreciate your support uh tonight as it's voted on. And again, stand ready as a community to help you implement it in the future and continue to address uh the the serious issues um that uh we face not only here in Carmel schools but
in in school districts uh across the state with growing anti-semitism um being faced by by our Jewish students. So, thank you [Applause] Next on our agenda is consent. And
tonight the consent items include the personnel report, claims, payroll, and the minutes from the April 15th executive session, April 15th workshop session, and the April 28th regular session schoolboard meetings. As a reminder for the audience, the consent
part of our meeting is our designated section where we group items together so we can consider and approve them in a single motion. So these are the business part of our meeting again that are payroll, consent, claims, and then minutes from
meetings. Do I have a motion to approve the items listed on the consent agenda? I move to approve the consent agenda. Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you, Jennifer. Any discussion? Okay, we will now vote. All
those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Dr. Ostrich, I believe you had a few um comments regarding this consent agenda. I do report. Thank you very much. As we prepare for next school year
and bill retirements, um we have a few administrator announcements to make this evening that were just approved at uh with the consent agenda. The first I'd like to recognize Mrs. Sarah Insep. Mrs. Insky brings over two decades of
experience in public education, including 13 years of administrative leadership within Carmel Clay Schools. She currently serves as the principal of Forestdale Elementary School where she was has been known for her collaborative leadership style, her strong
relationship building and deep commitment to empowering both students and staff. Throughout her career, Mrs. Inscap has led human uh capital efforts including hiring, evaluation, professional development and coaching of more than a hundred uh employees
annually. Her people center resultsdriven approach makes her a strong asset to assist leading the district's HR team as our next director of human resources. Congratulations, Sarah Ensky. Sarah, thank you for being here
this evening. We appreciate it. Next, we are going to recognize our new assistant director of special services, Mrs. Rachel Nice. Mrs. Nice comes to us from Warren Township where she currently serves as the assistant director of exceptional
learners. In this role, she has led efforts to support special education programming across the district, provided professional development for staff, and helped ensure compliance and best practices in serving exceptional learners. Mrs. niece brings a strong
educational background to this position, earning her director of special education license from Indiana University. She holds a master's in business administration and educational leadership from the University of Indianapolis as a Woodro Wilson fellow
and has a dual bachelor of science degrees in learning and behavior disorders and elementary education from Murray State. Please join me once again in welcoming Mrs. Rachel Nice to Carmel Clay Schools. And finally this evening, it is my great
pleasure to announce to you that Mr. Toby Steele will be serving as our next director of facilities for Carmel Clay Schools. Mr. Steel has been a dedicated member of CCS for nearly two decades.
Since 2014, he has served as one of our assistant principles at Carmel High School. And prior to that, he was a highly respected social studies teacher and coach in our district. In his current role, Mr. Steele oversees daily operations for Carmel High School's
expansive campus of over 1.3 million square feet, serving more than 5,000 students and hundreds of staff. He has led operational management and coordination for several major construction and renovation projects including the natiatorum, Greyhound
activity center, the performing arts renovation in addition, the polytechnic expansion, and most recently our stadium and tennis facility uh renovations. Toby's strong leadership, exceptional organizational skills, and deep understanding of school operations and
construction planning make him the ideal candidate to step into this district-wide role. He brings with them not only extensive experience but also a collaborative mindset and a steadfast commitment to student safety, operational excellence, and student
engagement. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Toby Steele on this well-deserved appointment as our next director of [Applause]
facilities. Thank you, Dr. strike. Excited to to welcome all of them here, new roles and and brand new to the district. Thank you for being here this evening. We will now move on to action items. And our first action item this evening is the authority to
hire certified and non-certified staff and accept resignations from May 20th, 2024 through August 25th, 2025. Dr. Barisford 24. Thank you. This is excuse
me. Thank you. We come to you every year about this time to ask for the authority to um immediately hire and accept resignations. Um as we get into the what we call the very fast and heavy hiring season, uh speed is it matters. So this
enables u myself and Dr. O strike to uh hire both certified non-certified staff accept resignations um through June because at the end of June I'm out of here. And so then we had to to reup and add Dr. Herrera. Wave your hand back
there Dr. Herrera. And she's going to get that authority starting on July 1st uh when she becomes assistant superintendent. And then that'll carry all the way through the end of August. So uh uh the purpose of this is just to accelerate the hiring process as it's pretty uh competitive at that time of
the year. Thank you. Can I clarify the dates? Should it be um May 20th, 2025? Okay. So again the the what we are looking at today is May 20th 2025 which
is tomorrow correct through August 25th 2025. May I have a motion to um for this item? Madame President, I move that we grant Dr. Barisford and Dr. Orike the authority to hire both certified and
non-certified staff and accept resignations from May 20th, 2025 through August 25th, 2025 and give the same authority to Dr. Orike and Dr. Herrera July 1, 2025 through August 25th, 2025.
Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Thank you. Thank you, John. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion carries. Our next action item is the materials
adoption. Dr. Dudley. Thank you. Um, so last month at our board meeting, I brought to you a proposal for new materials that um will be used in our um new courses or our modified courses at Carmel High School um starting next
year. And these materials were selected from um teachers um and administrators as they looked at the standards, looked at um how to support those courses. And then parents also had the opportunity to come and review these courses and give
us any feedback as well. Thank you, Dr. Dudley. May I have a motion to approve the materials adoption? I move to accept the materials adoption. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Greg. So, the motion
on the table is that we are voting to approve the materials adoption that Dr. Dr. Dudley just outlined. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, we will all take a vote. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Next, we have several change
orders. And I was going to see if I could have a motion to approve the change orders as a as a group. And even though we are going to approve them, potentially approve them as a group, Mr. Mcichael will still share information on each separate item. The items are item
5.3 change orders for Cherry Tree Elementary Renovations. Item 5.4 change orders Carmel High School softball complex. And item 5.5 change orders Carmel High School Polytech Edition. May
I have a motion to group those orders together? I move to group change order 5.3 through 5.5 together as a group for voting purposes. Thank you. May I have a
second? Thank you, Greg. Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, we will take a vote. And again, what we are voting on is we are grouping items 5.3 through 5.5 on the agenda, putting them together as a group. If you are in favor, signify by saying I. I. I. Motion
carries. All right. Now, Mr. Mcichael, thank you. Can you give us some information? Yes. The first change order for Cherry Tree Elementary is approximately $7,000. So, it's a fairly insignificant cost for the project. It had to do with some a minor but
necessary modifications to some structural steel. Uh the second change order is actually a net zero change order. It shows for $18,000 because one contractor did work that otherwise would have gone. So, it will lower the other contract to offset
that to zero. The third change order has to do with the Polytech project at the high school and um it has a a back charge in it as well. So the net for that is $45,000 and most of that project or change order has to do with some
updating of some security standards that have have were not there when when this uh project was bid and awarded. So but those are necessary as well. Thank you, Mr. Mcichael. May I have a motion to approve action items 5.3
through 5.5? Thank you, Greg. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? And so again, the the motion on the table right now is to approve action items 5.3 through 5.5. Right. Seeing no discussion, we
will take a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Our next action item is the adoption of policy 4540, the schools and government agencies policies. Dr. Dudley, thank
you. Um so back in um after the executive order protecting American people against evasion that was issued on January 20th, 2025, our attorney suggested that we review our current policy uh
4540 and um the policy liaison and our attorneys um made those recommendations that you see um that was shared with you at our last meeting. Thank you Dr. Dudley. May I have a motion for this action item
and it's the adoption of policy 4540. I move to approve policy number 4540 on schools and government agencies. Thank you Chris. May I have a second? Second. Thank you John. And again we are talking about action item um for the
adoption of policy 4540 the schools and government agencies policies. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll take a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Our next and last action item
is the adoption of policy 5261.01, parent involvement in education. Dr. Dudley. Thank you. The policy um liaison committee reviewed policy 5261.01 01 um parent involvement
in education policy and um suggested changes to this policy as well as our administrative um guidelines were also changed um in accordance to this policy as well. Thank you, Dr. Dudley. May I have a
motion for approval of this policy? Madame Chair, um I'd like to simply make a motion to amend the title of the policy, not the substance. I don't I think parent involvement in education is
a little bit misleading and would move to amend it to the title only to family celebrations because I think that's mostly what the policy is about in substance. Okay. So, the motion um that um Miss Wheeler is has put on the table
is to change the only the title of policy 5261.01 to change to family celebration. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, John. Any discussion? Did you want to give more
information on Okay. Any other discussion on the change of title? Yeah, we're going to vote on the motion, the title change. Yes. Yep. We're voting on just the title change first, then we'll go back to the original one.
Yes, you can discuss the title. Mhm. Um, does it need to be implied that these are family celebrations on school grounds or or is that Well, if it wasn't on school grounds, we wouldn't have any authority over it. So, but happy
Okay. Any other discussion or comments on changing the original for sure. Okay. So again, we're looking at the motion um that that was given and then seconded was to change the title of policy 5261.01 to say family celebration
celebrations. I just would comment that I think it is a more accurate name of the scope of the policy. I mean it's we're not talking about all parental involvement at schools like the other one would kind of imply. So I think it's better identifies
the narrow scope of the policy. Okay. So we will then now we're going to take a vote and what we're voting on is is Miss Wheeler's motion to amend to change the title of the policy. So what we are voting on right now is changing policy title
5261.01. and changing the title to safe family celebrations. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Okay. So now we are looking at this policy as adoption of policy
5261.01 with the title family celebrations. Do I have a motion for approval of this item? I move to uh adopt policy 5261 family celebrations. May I have a second? I second. Thank you. So, we are looking at adopting
policy 5261.01, family celebrations. Any discussion? Yes. Uh, couple of things. Um, I know I mentioned this was there's a little email conversation, so I just
want to reiterate something that we talked about. Um I had um we had gotten some feedback from the community after the first reading of this policy last month
um to clarify some of the language that was in administrative guidelines that went with this policy. That was some I thought some excellent feedback specific to how we um speak
about other cultures that may reside in other countries. The example that was given, if I'm remembering it correctly, uh was that if I were um showing up at family, if I was showing up at an international festival with my family
and we were tableabling on Israel, it would be accurate to be talking about Jewish people and Christian people and Arab, like that would be accurate. So for me to only talk about Jewish people would be excluding other cultures that were there. And so the suggestion was
made to tweak the the language. And so um Dr. Bersford shared with us some revised language in the administrative guidelines so that we are being accepting of that but we're basically not speaking negatively of other cultures. So we have made that
adjustment in the administrative guidelines. So I think that's a really good change. So I want to thank the people who are sharing that feedback with the board. Um I would encourage people to continue to share feedback with us. Um because we're human. we're not going to catch everything or see everything. Um, so that's number one.
Um, secondly, I I also um want to make sure that our our staff understands um certainly my opinion that as a board
what we're not trying to do is place undue burden uh on anybody by by anything that we're trying to do here. Um, we certainly understand the amount of work that it takes to do the jobs that our principles
and assistant principles do every single day. And so I believe that there are a number of different ways for this policy to be put into place and the guidelines that are being proposed that do not
require a administrator to physically be the person that necessarily checks off certain boxes to fulfill the requirements as the guidelines are laid out. So, um, I would hate for there to be unintended consequences. And
so I think should this policy be approved and the guidelines that go along with it, it would be very useful, my opinion, for everyone to take a breath um and pause for a moment
before anything else happens uh and we make any decisions that potentially are unintended consequences. The last thing I would say for now, and I'll certainly let anybody else speak, is, and I shared this at the last
meeting, but I do think it really bears repeating, um, is that this addresses one piece um, of what I believe to be a larger conversation that I really hope that we can continue to
have. Um and that is a larger issue that I believe is going on within our school district. That is not just about anti-semitism but certainly contains anti-semitism that is going on within Carmel Clay
schools when these anti-semitic uh events and incidents have taken place. We've also heard from other members of our community and other minority groups who are sharing other stories um that are going on which to me indicates that
there is work that needs to happen. I don't know exactly what that solution is, but it indicates that there's a problem. And so I believe that it is important that this board hear from our
administration that they have they are making a commitment to take some tangible action steps to address these underlying issues in the very near future. And I think I will feel more comfortable um to
hear what that commitment is. That's all I have to say right now. Well, you're very hard to go after because you're very eloquent. Um, clearly there is a problem that we must address. And as we take office,
we dedicate ourselves to not following our own personal will all the time, but the will of our constituents. And I know that these events are near and dear to the people's hearts in our community.
Even though it is very difficult to create a policy that I feel will make sure that everyone is safe from ever experiencing these hateful acts again. But limiting them certainly can
limit our children's exposure to other cultures and allow the diversity in our community to shine forth. And that is one of the shining lights of what Carmel has
become. So I echo John's thoughts that we would continue to explore development opportunities for our teachers, our community so that we can become
better. The children in our community who espouse these ideals are hearing it from our media, from our uh elected officials, and maybe even in
their own homes. And so I stand by the feeling that these are teaching opportunities where we can encourage our community to be bridgeuilders and an example for the rest of our state. Um,
again, I don't know that this policy can address every problem that we're having, and we were only trying to fix this immediate problem as we explore other policies that we can
change and implement within the whole selection of our policies. So, we want everyone to be mindful of that. This is not the end of our work. This is only the beginning. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Um, I wanted
to express uh complete agreement with Mrs. Rosenthal and Mr. Scar's comments about the um desire not to have this policy be a a chilling effect on our family celebrations in particular
international celebrations. And Mr. Pitsley um if if you have anything you'd like to contribute is he still here or did he leave? Oh, there you are. Sorry. Um please feel free to contact us uh separately. Um, thank you for allowing
your time to be shared. Um, definitely want to say personally that was not my intention to end these types of um, family gatherings in schools. What my personal intention was was to put a spotlight on it to raise awareness and
hopefully to raise some cultural sensitivity. I think, you know, unfortunately, most of these things are pretty easy to see if you look um and tell the difference between what isformational and educational and what
is hate speech, what is discriminatory, and what is harassment. um that I mean so black and white we shouldn't have needed to do this but I'm very proud um that we acted and also wanted to
share uh the same feelings that have already been expressed this was addressing a certain issue but believe me I know and others know that there are other opportunities to get better there are other opportunities
uh to address and Um again encourage everyone to um share with us in a manner in which you are comfortable what your own experiences have been and what your children's experiences have been in the
community. Can't do it right now ma'am. Sorry, but if you want to uh uh share that information with us, you know, uh ccsboardk12.in us um would be a great way to do it. And um thank
you. I just gonna say CCS boardcs. Sorry, it's the longest email. Just if I know it is it's it is also on our website, but yes, CCS boardcs.k12.in. us. We do love hearing feedback from the community. So, thank you for those who've reached out so far.
Um, I just would like to add uh just briefly that we talked about this at the last meeting where we're talking about the policy that it is very limited and I agree with you. It's we shouldn't really have to have policy for every single thing along these lines because we we
already have about a 10-page policy on non-discrimination and anti-harassment that deals it's driven from federal law. So we have lots lots of words here and things that we need to just implement. But I I'd say we're
dealing with the culture of the school district and I don't mean the culture of a particular people because we have lots of peoples in our district. But I believe that u what we're trying to achieve is is an allincclusive district. And I think I agree with things I've
heard tonight about these international festivals as being a great way to um make that come about. I had an opportunity to attend one earlier this year. I don't know when it was January or February and it was wonderful. I mean I sampled all kinds of food uh saw about
cultures and it was uh it was it was great and I think it's a unifying kind of an event. So I I absolutely agree. I think we need to keep these things going. Um, I will add this to what I've already heard. I agree with everything I've heard is that I
think the culture of a district or any corporation is defined by what we tolerate and what we don't tolerate. And I think we just need to be very active in uh in sending the message that when things happen that uh we tolerate, we
make that known. And things happen that we don't tolerate that we make that uh known too. So that's all I wanted to add. Thank you everybody for your for your discussion. I'm just going to briefly add um I do want to echo what several of
you have said as well as Mrs. Rosenthal that these the events are are really great for our community. We get to see our neighbors and see everything different places we've come from because Carmel is so diverse and that's what makes part of it great. It it's that's what I love about it. going to my own
kids um international festival. So I think that is just something that that we will continue to have to push as a board um you know making again we we that was not something we wanted to happen either either it was to have unintended consequences. Um so we as a
board are are going to continue to work with the community and um with administration moving forward. I'm going to read the two parts of our guiding principles that I read at our last meeting because these we these are sitting in front of us at every single meeting. Our mission statement that I read at the beginning of the meeting as
well as our guiding principles. So we have these to look at every single meeting. The first two are students are at the center of every decision. A safe non-threatening learning environment is essential. I I witness each and every one of us looking at these every meeting. This is why we make these
decisions we make like the decision we're making tonight. the decisions we make every single meeting. We hold students in our hearts and our heads every time we're making a decision. So, I want I want everyone to know that um that that's always what we are thinking about and it's important that we that we
keep being able to move forward um with that in mind. All right, that was a great discussion. Um so now we're going to take a vote and so I'm going to repeat the the motion since it's been a little bit. So you are moving to um adopt policy
5261.01 family celebrations. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Next up we have the staff and student services report. Dr. Orike. Good evening once again. And uh fresh off the
press, we have our strategic plan focus group feedback that I'd like to share with you as we continue to develop our strategic plan here in Carmel Clay Schools. And so just a reminder on the timeline, uh we started this process
back in September of 2024. um back in October uh through December, we uh developed and implemented our CCS community survey, presented those results to the board. I believe that was January. Um and for the past three to
four months, I've been conducting listening sessions and focus groups across the community, and that's what I'm going to focus on uh this evening. In addition to that, um this summer I will be bringing a draft of our strategic plan uh to the board um more
than likely in July um based upon community feedback, based upon research, based upon best practice, uh and our vision for what we want our schools to be here in Carmel. And then in August, uh we hope to bring it for a vote and
then we can move forward. Um, taking a look at the strategic plan groups that I met with, I met with 32 different community groups here in Carmel over the last three plus months. Um, in and those
were all in person. Uh, in those groups, uh, we asked four open-ended questions that you see on the screen at this time. Um, and as part of those, I want to thank the school board members for attending those as well. Um, I know you attended some of our larger gatherings
with our open community groups that we held or uh with certain uh community groups. And so I appreciate the board's engagement as part of this process. I think that's fantastic. And of those 32 strategic plan focus groups and new superintendent listening sessions that
uh I held and we held uh that encompassed over 500 individuals. So if you take that and divide by 32, about 15 people in each, some more, some less um but 500 people um and that's in addition
to the 4,500 responses we received on our community survey that I talked about and then also the 61 employees that we did um with our Dr. Herrera did with our stay interviews. Um and so we engaged a large um a large uh amount of our
community members as part of this process. And so some of the strategic plan focus group as you can see that we met with multiple CCS students. And if you saw the title screen there, those are three pictures with our students that I held groups with parents,
teachers, counselors, social workers, staff, and administrators. Um, I've held the, as I mentioned, the two communitywide forums that were open to anybody in the community, and those were very well attended. I met with the Carmel Education Foundation, the Dad's
Club, the Kowanas, the Lions, the Rotary, the the Greyhound Council, our CTA, which is the Carmel Teachers Association, as well as a one zone. Um, and then in addition to that, I met with community faith leaders. and I met with our uh community pack groups in here in
Carmel as well as our city of Carmel leaders. I do want to give a shout out to Mayor Frinkham uh who was very engaged in this process and well as well and our elected officials and our city leaders uh that were a part of this process to provide feedback. So I'm
grateful for everyone who lended their time in order to give feedback to our district. So I was at all 32. I read all 32 of the notes. So instead of the butcher paper that you see in a lot of groups that are really big, um what we
did is we had computers and the people who were here for the bigger groups, they got to type in their responses into a Google form. And so I gathered all of that feedback. Um in others, I personally typed the feedback in the smaller groups. And so, not only was I
there, I read all the feedback, gathered all the feedback, um, and I analyzed it myself, which I'll show you in a moment, but I also put it in AI to analyze it. So, just to say, oh, Dr. O is not, uh, you know, tilting all of this information. I wanted another source to
take a look at it as well. And so, here are the top three uh, positive themes that were provided as part of those 500 individuals and 32 strategic planning focus groups. Number one was outstanding staff quality and care. Teachers, counselors, social workers, support
staff, widely praised as caring, committed, and responsive. Um, number two, strong acade and these are in no particular order, by the way. Um, strong academic and extracurricular offerings. Um, the board saw a recent workshop on some of those offerings from our
polytenic. Um but the academic pathways, AP, IB honors courses, clubs, extracurricular activities are uh valued at both the middle school and the high school levels. Um and then our commitment to student safety. So our SRO
program came up time and time again. Um and I'll share some more with that later, but our safety drills, our secure facilities, um and the strong safety culture are frequently highlighted as strengths in the district. And then our top three areas of growth um as shared
through the strategic planning focus groups. So communication and family engagement. So while some schools excel, others struggle with clarity and consistency, especially with our non-English-speaking families. That was a theme across many of our strategic planning focus groups to ensure we're
taking care of our multilingual learners and their families. Um mental health and social emotional uh support. Uh continued investment in the mental health and training has been requested through this process along with concerns about student stress, behaviors, uh
emotional regulation, finals right now that students are taking place and the stress that not only the the students themselves but their parents sometimes uh levy on our students and I'm guilty of that myself as a father with a sophomore. Um and then also
transportation and parking around Carmel High School. So, uh, I'll start with the parking. That was the A number one from our Carmel High School groups, student groups that I met with. I see Ben Oslander out there, and he was raising a fist to the, uh, number one parking spot
uh, issue for Carmel High School. So, that was uh, that was their number one issue when I met with students at Carmel High School. And then also transportation. Uh many parents uh raised uh concerns including our walk zones that we currently have. Um our
lack of bus drivers that we continue to recruit and then some double routes at the elementary level where we drop off a group of kids off the bus and then we have to go back out and pick up a clo a neighboring a close by neighborhood and then drop them uh drop our students off
on a second route. So eliminating those um at uh in our district. So then what I did is I took all of my notes and um put together some uh additional themes and some you'll see are the similar and some you'll see might be different but
communication was a theme across a majority of our strategic planning focus groups and so they want us to proactively tell our story about Caramel Clay Schools celebrating uh successes acknowledging challenges as we did this evening um and then transparently
communicating key issues and initiatives across all grade levels to continue to build trust and understanding amongst our community and especially those who don't have kids in Carmel. They may have had uh children in Carmel at one time,
but they don't they're not uh up to date on uh the things that we're doing as a district and those celebrations and challenges. So, what can we do to engage the broader community as well? Uh financial transparency was a theme that came up um especially in some of our
open um community forums that we had and looking to enhance uh knowledge of our uh and understanding of school finance by developing clear accessible tools and resources for our community um including some mentioned an online platform. What does that look like? How can we develop
that? how can we uh maybe partner uh with the city of Carmel, not just on uh the financial piece, but uh a lot of areas uh with my meetings with the mayor and with with our uh city leaders. Um and then taking a look at communicating those budget structures and funding
sources. Uh Mr. uh Mcichael does a nice job here at the board meetings, but you know, how many people are uh watching the board meetings every week? And so how can we get that out broader to our community and taking a look at that. And then this was something I really heard
across the uh themes was um classified staff compensation and benefits and support. And so taking a look at a comprehensive review of our classified staff compensation and benefits to ensure that we're competitive um and we
have alignment to the district's goals to attract support and retain high quality support personnel. So that was a theme across many of the groups. Um and then this came up a bunch and those of you who have uh children right now um those of you who are currently working
who utilized uh artificial intelligence or AI um we are just scratching the surface educationally but also in the world. And so what can we do to integrate AI responsibly by equipping first of all our teachers with practical
tools and training but then introducing students to these foundational concepts real world applications. How can they our students utilize these tools to be uh successful and then something for the board moving forward potentially um is
ensuring that our policies are clear um ethical secure and effective. Um, and so that might be something we look at as a board as well, uh, under AI. And so that was a theme that came up quite a bit, uh, under technology use. And so, uh,
finally, taking a look at student and school safety, time and time again, I heard about the safety referendum, and we cannot lose our caramel police officers, our SRO's that are in every single building, our elementaryaries, our middle schools, and our high school.
Um and so wanting us to prioritize the renewal of the safety referendum uh so that we continue to have our safety measures to protect our students at every level. Um and I'm grateful for the elected officials that I met with um at the at uh with the city of Caramel. Um
that that was a that was a strong theme for them as well. Um also academic excellence came up time and time again. Um, first of all, celebrating our academic excellence, but also ensuring that all students all students achieve
at high levels by taking a look at those evidence-based practices, monitoring progress, student outcomes, closing achievement gaps uh among student groups through differentiated supports and broad access to learning opportunities.
And so those were the themes that as I was in all 32 of these focus groups um that I took copious notes, read everything was there that I saw. And so um I want to remind us of the um survey that we did because we did uh uh
administer that in December, presented on that in January. Um as I shared, over 4500 respondents, including our students at our middle schools and Carmel High School. Um, and then I wanted to share the themes that I presented in January
that came from the open-ended responses from uh the uh the survey. And so, as you can see, some consistency here with what I heard from the in-person um strategic planning focus groups and engaging the community. A lot of support for our teachers and staff. Um they did
um the sense of community was highlighted back in December and January. And then the high standards, high expectations uh that we have for academic achievements with our students areas for growth focusing on those middle range students, middle level,
ensuring adequate resources uh for our uh middle achieving students. Also, student safety was seen as a positive but also seen as an area of growth for us in the district. Um and in talking to our director of student services and safety, David Woodward, he says that's
the sweet spot. We don't ever want to compromise on student safety and we want to continue to get better. Um, and then communication and transparency which you saw is part of those focus groups and especially it says right in here parents in the community and those without uh
children. And so I thank first of all I want to say thank you to all 500 plus people who came out. Many of them were in this room uh right here uh that provided feedback to all of us. I want to thank our school board. Uh first of all, this opportunity uh more than
likely is not possible without the transition uh with me as uh taking over the superintendency and having this year because it takes a lot of nights and a lot of time to focus to dedicate and we're committed as a board uh and as an
administration. And so with that, um we will uh get this uh uh presentation uh posted on board docs right after the meeting. But with that, I'd be happy to uh entertain any questions the board might have. Dr. O, I just wanted to say thank you.
Um, this is really exciting for me and not only to see all the feedback, but it was hard when you're a board member because we we didn't want to influence the feedback. So, we monitored and watched, we didn't, you know, really
participate. And um so much of what you presented is what I heard in the couple of meetings that I um participated in as well as just in my talks with other parents. So I really think this is going to align well um with future plans and
I'm excited to see the final work product and thank you for your many many hours of effort. Thank you. I did want to say the most challenging part of hosting the the listening sessions and the focus groups was I couldn't respond to every comment. I wanted to respond to every comment. Shayer, yes, absolutely.
That's what we're doing. And no, that might not be accurate, but that's not the purpose. The purpose was to listen to our community, and I feel I feel like we did that. So, thank you. Thanks, Dr. O. Looking forward to the full strategic plan. I um I think it's really neat just from the conversations
we've had as a board to see some of the symmetry that lines up a from what the community has shared with you um some of the themes that you've pulled out of the community's feedback and some of the things that uh the board has talked
about as as we are developing goals and just that there's a lot of overlap. Um, and so as we're sort of setting some measurable items of things that we want to work towards, um, and things how we're going to measure our success,
where the community wants to go, um, just to see how all those puzzle pieces will fit together just be a really neat project. So looking forward to uh to seeing where it all goes. So thank you for the work so far. Yeah, I'll just add a comment. I think uh it it's going to be an important
reset to uh to take a stop and stop in the road and look where we want to go and opportunities particularly for improvement and uh I'm excited about it. We've been talking about board goals and how it all is going to align together
and I'm excited looking forward to uh this fall when we get to implement it and then next year when we get to track our progress and see where we can go. Thank you for your work. Thank you. The only thing I was going to say is I think you you have not seen the
the the last of the board being part of community listening sessions. That is something that um we are working on um so that we can continue to listen to the community. This was not just a one-time thing for us. So that will that will be
forthcoming. Thank you, Dr. Strike. Up next, we have the monthly financial update, Mr. Mcichael. Thank you. So, we're through four months out of the year and um so I'll begin by uh making comments on our education
operating referendum education funding. Oh, wait a minute. It went away. Hold on a minute. I got to turn this I'll take the blame on that one. I mail logged out every so of my presentation.
Is it me? Just a minute. I didn't practice for this though. Now we got almost there. Tada. All right. So, I'll start with the education fund, the operating referendum and and the rainy day funds.
Uh, as you know, we combine those. Um, by the end of April of this year, we our ending cash balance is 10.9 million. Um, you'll see on last year it was
9.6. Um, so we're about a million two up. But there's three things I would point out. One is is we have three mill almost $3 million more that we put in the rainy day fund. So that um you have to account for that also uh we held
money back as I made uh the comment I believe last month that we held money back in the first year of the bianium so that we would have enough money to give a 1% raise in the second year. So we're doing that. So that's that'll have a negative effect in terms of the balance will go back down a bit. And then the
third piece uh less significant is most of this funding of course is is uh or at least the referendum funding is coming primarily from property tax and as you know we get that um essentially twice a year. We'll start receiving it
early in next month. Uh but this year is is it grows over time with inflation and so forth. So which means that um if we were getting it every month as we do the state support then we would be receiving a little bit more which means that has a
negative effect on the cash as well but then that will catch itself up in May and June. And so when you account for all of those we're really tracking pretty close to where we were last year after making those adjustments. And then in our operations
fund, um, we're showing a negative because again it's property tax that we haven't received yet, but we are still spending money. Um, and so we're showing a negative balance of 1.7 million. Last year it was 5.3.
Um, the single largest thing is is last year at this time we had transferred $5 million into this fund from the education fund for those things that aren't permitted out of that fund anymore. Um, and so that was a a majority of it. When you take that into
account, it brings it much closer. Um, and then again, we on the other hand, we we held money back for the people paid out of that fund as well. So it's having the same that's having the same impact as as it did in the education fund. And
then uh and you can see here um you know again last year we were we were down you know almost $5 million which again that's typical um and because it's property tax and so that'll catch itself up. So, as you
know, when we get to June 30 at the end of the fiscal year, that's that's where we really take a close look at things. And again, the calendar year as well, but uh because the state funding now is coming on a fiscal year basis, June 30th balance has become more
significant than than December 31st, which when it was all all the funds included property tax. Okay. Okay. And then as I said, the rainy day fund uh we have 7.5 million in that fund and last year it was about three three million
less than that. And uh that's contributing to our uh slow but steady growth of our overall cash balance in those three three major funds u which was a stated goal starting about three years ago. So we're we're getting close
to that 12% balance where in years past we we would have a minimum of that's minimum not maximum. Uh we would have a we would have a minimum of about 8%. So we up that minimum to to 12 but it takes
a takes a while to get to that point. That concludes my report. Thank you Mr. Mcichael. Any questions? All right. Thank you very much. Next, we have the superintendence report. Dr. Bareris Ford,
thank you very much. Uh really, what a night, huh? We've got uh just fantastic. Uh public might be aware, but we had a board retreat. Um actually had advance or at least a training. Um you like to retreat, we like to advance. Um, and uh,
the board's uh, working very hard on their board goals and uh, and I appreciate that and uh, and your efforts to get better. And then uh, and then we hear from Dr. O Strikes. I told you he was going to blow it up, didn't I? Did I tell you? He was he was good. And uh,
and that's a lot of work. 32 different venues of listening to her is a is a long hall over a year. And uh, but look at the benefits that you're reaping out of all that hard work. So you take a nap sometime, but but you got a little ways to go. uh to get that job done. Um one
of the cool things about Caramel Clay Schools is that uh and it was here seven years ago when I started. There's just a part of the culture here is get better. Uh and uh you know and we find out that we can do better when we work together and uh and that's really the only way it
happens is when together we're better. And uh and it's when we stop collaborating, stop working together and we start and divisiveness takes over is when really any organization, any community and any school system is going to suffer. So one of the secret sauces of Caramel Clay Schools is that we we do
we work together and uh and we may not align in in different a lot of different things, but when it comes to our kids, we're going to we're going to lock arms and we're going to work together and make sure our kids are taken care of at the highest level possible. And uh that is from the the school board and uh all
the way down to the you know the to every every person every corner of the district and most important of course being the teacher and the student in that classroom and that moment of contact when those two get together. So uh anyhow just proud of the and it's really fun to see the the progress being
made and uh that the district's not gonna you know they always ask you know are you uh you know are you coasting? I said, "No, we're not coasting." Because if to coast, you have to go downhill. And we're not going downhill. We're we're going uphill. And uh and we'll
keep working and working to uh to get to the highest level we possibly can. I didn't want you to know that tonight um is my final school that I'm representing. And I am representing the Greyhounds of Caramel Clay High School.
And uh the I got the chief, the head dog back there, Dr. Ferris is in the back row and uh and I want to do a shout out to them and uh because they're the administration administrative team is what I call the big house and uh and the
big house um I don't think I can do this much longer. Sorry. Um the big house um you know people ask me that question. How in the world do you operate a high school of over 5,200 kids that come
every day? And uh you guys want to know because I'm going to tell you the list right now. It's because of Shade Watson who is assistant principal in charge of student services and he she works primarily in the freshman center. It's because of Britney Weisman who's assistant
superintendent of student services and uh she also operates 200 clubs and uh and oversees that. It's because of Katie Overbeck who was a Carmel Clay School teacher of the year just a few years ago and now she's assistant uh principal in charge of student services and uh and
it's because of CJ Glander the assistant principal of student services working at the the uh you know the 1012 side. Uh, it's because of Valerie Peele, who is assistant principal of curriculum instruction, who corrected me from my report last time
where I said we did over 4,000 API exams. We actually did over 5,300 AP and IB exams and uh and those are all getting finished up right now. Um, so um, it's because of Brad Siver,
assistant principal in charge of interventions. He's the guy that's been leading our charge in CTA to CTE and our polytenic uh programming. It's because of Amy Skeitten who is the assistant principal of freshman center and student activities. Um she's going to be putting
together a little party called graduation on Thursday and uh she is the ultimate party planner and don't cross her bin because she's very detailed about everything she does that uh she they're good because of Joe Shaller. He's assistant principal of assessments
and scheduling and staffing. Uh that's that's a business that goes on and on. You met Toby Steel, the assistant principal of operations and finance. Uh and and then of course there's one more person shout out to be Christy Smith who's our coordinator of special
services. Uh, also we have department chairs and uh, we just have a lot of really good high quality teachers and educators and IAS and and just every every corner of that building. It's all about having quality people working for our kids and with our kids and serving
our kids. And then of course there is the principal of Carmel High School, Dr. Tim Ferris back there. Let's give him a shout out and a presentation. He's kind of the he's kind of like the mayor of the city that never sleeps. Um you can go into Carmel High School at any time of the day on any day
of the week and I am never alone. That place is on fire. That place is working every day and uh and so I couldn't be much uh I just couldn't be prouder of the the of Carmel High School and the things that they've achieved. So, I think it's a good segue to go right on
into my report here. Um, you met a lot of the the the talent that we have in the high school this this evening, which was kind of nice. Um, I didn't want to give you a report because I had done the preempt that the state music competitions were all going
on. And once again, Wind Symphony 1 won the ISMA state concert band championship, state championship, their seventh in a row. And I was really worried because this is my seventh year and I wanted to run the table and uh just to be the superintendent of that great group and uh they did. They won
number seven in a row. Our symphony orchestra was uh the state runnerup orchestra. our ambassadors that you met the three captains of that tonight uh were um the state mix choir state runnerup and then our wind
symphony 2 and our concert was a we see wind symphony 2 is a concert band finalist and then our greyhound sound uh was in the univo choir state finalist. So, what that means is um out of the finals, which is a finite number of
bands, um and we had two of our choirs and two of our bands in the state finals, which is pretty remarkable all by itself. And I want to do a special shout out because we have two people that are retiring this year that have made a lot of that music happen. Uh
national caliber people, and that would be Mike and Greta Pot. And uh Mike Pot has been a the band director at at Caramel High School for several what do I say decades maybe and uh and his wife has been at at
the middle school level and so the farm system is in place and uh so it's we're going we've got some good people to to step into those positions but we're certainly going to make miss the boats and that we'll still see them around I'm sure. And then uh finally uh we saw tonight this teacher of the year for
this district Craig Harper. What a what an inspiration to so many. So um so I thought I'm going to share all those things with you. Um um next to last I wanted to share u about a special invitation I got to go to the pups track
meet and uh and I went there and uh they you know I got to watch all the elementary kids run and run and run and uh talk about it's sweet it's first time I was a I used to be a track coach where I'd say come on get there you know you're doing this you're great you're going to make it pump your arms and the
and little kids will look at you and go thank you so much I'm like Why are you talking to me? You need to run. But they were cute. But they shared this with me and this was the pup runner's thoughts on our coaches, our program, and what they've learned. And this is what uh and
I think this is pretty replicable of what teachers do and what coaches do. So it says, "Our coaches always cheer us on. Head up, shoulders down, keep your head high, and keep looking forward. They support you. They are really nice and helpful. They take the time out of
their day just for us. They give us They give everyone a fair chance. She's so nice. She brings so much passion to practices and puts so much confidence in us. I like it when they run with us and and and have us run with our arms to our sides to teach us how our arms are
important to running, too. The games are so fun with new friends. He's cool and clear about instructions. I love pup running because I get my energy out and it gives me the opportunity to compete. They are positive and encouraging. I was so scared about the meets, but my coach told me that they're just a reward for
the hard work. My favorite coach, my favorite is when coaches race us. They teach us really good drills. Trying my best is enough. I love our team. Our coaches are good at coaching and they know what they're doing. I appreciate that they support us when we're upset. I
made a friend and we'll be together at Clay next year. So, uh, you know, you I think those coaches, they never know kind of what your impact is and what what you make. But, uh, but when you get the feedback and listen, it's pretty pretty
impressive. And then my bell ringer bell ringer for tonight. Boy, it was a tough one. Um, so I have two. Um, one is our uh our school board was honored by the ISBA and the Carmel School Clay School
Board of Trustees was recognized by the Indiana School Boards Association with an exemplary governance award for the calendar year 2024, highlighting their outstanding commitment to student success and ongoing professional learning. Um, the EGA honors school boards at four levels of distinction
based on points earned by board members participating in all kinds of different things. Uh the quote was, "On behalf of the ISBA, we'd like to commend this most exceptional group of school boards and board members. School boards perform a vital public service for their communities and board members who are actively participate in professional
learning are better equipped to govern effectively and meet the needs of students. And uh in addition to the board level accolades, Carmel Clay School Board's president Kristen Kok was individually recognized with a level one commendable award for her personal commitment to professional development
and effective governments. So, congratulations to you school board. Then my other one, uh, how many of you guys went and saw The Big Fish? Was it amazing? It was absolutely amazing. Big Fish was the musical at Carmel High
School. And, uh, if you ever want to go to Broadway, just skip the big ticket and get pay your eight bucks at at Caramel High School because, uh, it was amazing. Uh and uh it was one of those uh musicals which was uh there was just
so much going on all the time. I can't imagine what was going on behind the scenes because there was so many things happening in in in every angle as it as it went through the night. And the musical of course the the quality of the music is incredible and the story was
just very very touching. And uh I actually I'm not really an emotional kind of person but I was getting a little choked up and I got to thinking I got to stop this because I'm not going to walk out of here when they turn the lights on, you know, being a snotty crying mess here. But uh but it was such
a good show and uh and I I just can't can't say enough about the you know the it takes an awful lot of work, an awful lot of people and uh so from the stage production to the kids in the back and the sound and the lights and all the effort that it takes to do that is is
just amazing. So uh so yeah, my bell ringer is uh the board and the fish. So that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Just a couple announcements before we end this evening. Believe it or not, in
three days, May 22nd is the last day of school for students for this year, and it's also graduation. Uh May 26th, all CCS offices will be closed for Memorial Day. Our next meeting is June 9th, and that's our workshop session. And then our next
meeting after that is June 23rd for our regular session. June 19th, all CCS offices will be closed for the Junth holiday. May I have a motion to adjurnn? I move to adjurnn. May I have a second?
Thank you. Meeting adjourned.