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Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. The meeting is now called to order. Roll call. Uh, Mr. Brown.
All board members are in attendance. >> Thank you. Uh after the pledge of allegiance this evening, we will remain standing for a moment of silence in memory of the two students from Carmel Clay Schools and the student from Hamilton Southeastern who have recently passed away. Please stand for the pledge
of allegiance. Now I'll read the Caramel Clay Schools mission statement. Carmel Clay Schools will provide opportunities for all students to realize their potential in an everchanging world. Typically next on our agenda will be public comment. However, no one has signed up for public
comment this evening. Next on our agenda is consent. Tonight, the consent items include the personnel report, claims, and payroll. As a reminder, consent in the meeting agenda refers to designated section where routine items are grouped together for efficient consideration and approval in
a single motion. Consent typically includes items the board must legally address but which should not take up considerable time, including payroll, accounts payable, personnel reports, minutes from previous meetings, and other administrative matters that do not require extensive discussion. By
incorporating a consent agenda, the meeting can streamline the approval process, allowing more time dedicated to critical topics and meaningful meaningful deliberation. Can I have a motion to approve all items on the consent agenda? I move to approve all items on the
consent agenda, specifically items uh 3.2 through 3.4 as a group. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll now take a vote. All
in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is our action item for this evening, the bid award for Smoky Row Elementary additions and renovations.
Mr. Mcichel. >> Thank you. Uh, we're pleased to present this recommendation for bid award. This is for Smoky Row Elementary School and as the board is aware, uh, it's very similar project and kind of a sister school to Cherry Tree. Um, and one thing
we're very pleased with is we had 64 biders. That's almost double the number of biders in which means interest in the project that we had for Cherry Tree and that that's good because it reflects more competition and more competition
has a lot of positive aspects including pricing. Um so we're very pleased with that. Uh the project is um with within the budget for the for the project and and compares very favorably adjusted for inflation and differences with the
cherry tree bid. I would point out that the total is incorrect. uh just the addition of the of the individual categories of bid the act the total bid award is 24,429,98 with that I would recommend your approval.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mcichel. Do I have a motion to approve the bid award for the Smoky Row Elementary Editions and Renovations? >> I move to approve the bid award for the Smoky Row Elementary Editions and Renovations. >> Thank you, Mrs. Coke. Do I have a second? >> Second.
>> Thank you, Miss Cashion. Is there any discussion? >> Mr. Brown. >> Yeah. Just a a quick note uh to the public is that that we're not approving budget. We're just approving awards and bids and it uh it's within budget like
you said. So, uh really not much to say. So, I didn't want We're approving $24 million. It sounds like and it's like there's no discussion. You should maybe say there's some discussion in that. Uh it looks good and there's a this
business as usual kind of a action. >> Well, and as noted, the board was is we've had previous discussion about the project and so the board's quite aware of what the project's about and so there's been ample time to consider whether you'd support it or not. So,
this at this point there there really isn't much to say other than this is the price and and there would be if it was over budget or high price and so forth but as I said we're we're very pleased with the u with the bids themselves
>> okay >> and for Mr. Brown and I I think we have been on the board and we know the cherry tree process and so uh very similar um and again yes the board is always kind of in in the know and we've known for a a while and it's been made public that after cherry tree that because they were
similar building designs that then we would move on to um the major renovation uh of Smoky Rose. So appreciate this. Thank you. >> Well and just to circle back right this is part of the conversation we had late last year about bond approval. Yes. >> Right. for this year.
>> This project folds into that bond. >> That's what I was noting the project. We've had there's been a lot of conversation about the project itself from everything from facility planning to >> to schedules and >> for sure. But just connect to Mr. Brown's point, right? Right. About why there's not we're not having long
discussion about approving a project for nearly $25 million is we've had that conversation when we discussed the 2026 bond approval. uh this was part of that conversation and there was quite conversa a lot of conversation about this uh and the process that we go through when approving
>> listening audience this may be the only board meeting that they >> correct absolutely >> discuss or not discuss >> right so it's I think it's right critically important to connect the dots >> absolutely any further conversation >> miss willer >> Mr. President, I you took the word down
of my mouth. I was just going to say this is I if you know off top of your head, Mr. Mcichael, and if you don't, it's fine. But this is part of a larger was it 67 million bond we approved last fall. >> Approved for up to 66 million. So you were very you're very close.
>> So close. And >> it's one it's the largest project, but there are other projects that are part of that overall. >> Now again, this drives even deeper just for comparison. You said that the corrected number was 24 million. My recollection was of that 67, you thought
we'd come in at about 27 and we're at 24. >> Well, it's a little bit um the the project the total project budget was u 32 million, but then this includes a playground not only at Smoky Road but also at Cherry Tree because we had not
included that in that project by by design. Um and then the total cost has about roughly 25% more uh for what we call soft cost which is everything from uh fe professional fees to furniture to
permits all kinds of things. Uh so the total project is always larger than the construction cost. >> Right. Thank you. Appreciate the clarification. >> Any further discussion? Okay. We will now take a vote. All those in favor of approving the bid award for
Smoky Row Elementary Editions and Renovations, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Next on our agenda is our discussion item, the first reading of bylaw 167.3,
public attendance and public comment at board meetings. Mrs. uh Wheeler and Mrs. Cashin. I'm not sure who would like to take the lead. >> Okay, I'll take the lead. She pointed at me. No one could see it but me, but I it was there. It happened. Uh so um we got
some very good feedback uh a couple of board meetings ago about our uh public comment policy. In particular, the comment was directed towards the fact that because the policy was you couldn't name an employee of the district and and
several other potentially interested parties, you couldn't even give, for example, kudos to a specific teacher or administrator for doing a great job. I think that isn't the intention um or the spirit of where we were and I understand why we we got the policy we currently
have. But I first called um our Indiana School Board Association and talked to their lead attorney got some examples of other policies and their kind of FAQs and recommendations. So, this goes deeper than just that one comment. Um,
to try to modernize it and make this policy a really I think what we intend is that we want to hear from the public and that we we make that possible um and easy for the public to do and uh at the
same time um really stating clearly our expectation about decorum civility. you know, that is not a proper podium to go about attacking people. And attacking people is different than having critical commentary. And and I trust our
community 99.9% of the time to to follow those rules and our president to enforce them. So that's the intention. Um again, this is just a draft for public comment and the board's feedback and the administrative um administrator's feedback. So certainly appreciate any
comments or thoughts on how it might be changed or made better or any questions you might have. >> Thank you, Miss Wheeler. Miss Cashion, you have anything you'd like to add? >> Just for um the timeliness of the conversation, sharing that some of the conversations we had regarding this
policy were also in regards to, you know, the timing within the meeting, regards to how we might allocate within the public comments. if you have a lot of people sign up and also the time before a meeting for someone to have to
sign up are kind of the things that we had readjusted for proposal for today. Um the big thing also being that Chris found through that work talking with ISBA that our workshop topic meetings do
not need to have public comments isolated to just workshop agenda which would be a very large change for us and in that guidance along with the ISBA guidance. So just wanted to make that known that those are kind of some of the changes that were within that policy proposal.
>> Thank you discussion. Okay. Um would we do we have time to just read the changes just quickly for the public? Would that be possible? >> Uh I'm I'm happy to do that. Um do you want me to just not read it aloud but try to summarize the changes high level?
Okay, please. Thank you. >> I'll do my best and please jump in if I miss something. >> Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Novas. We're going to put the policy up on the screen for those of you in the audience. So, just bear with us for a moment.
That's that's the awkward pause for Miss Wheeler is the technical >> give Miss Novvice a moment to pull up the policy. behold. Okay. Um, yep. Thank you, ma'am. So, um, the very fir the most of the changes are on this first page, but just starting
out, certainly that original first sentence is true and it's always going to be true. The primary purpose of the board meeting is to conduct school corporation business. Um, however, I I thought it appropriate that um we really recognize the value of that
public input. So, that's uh my suggestion for um changing just kind of that introductory comment. Then just moving down to the bottom of that first paragraph. Um again this gets to you know what you can
talk about during which meeting as this was originally drafted and and why the second um paragraph is deleted is um after this policy was passed our public act state public access councelor came out with an opinion that basically said
you can't limit public comments based on the subject of the meeting. So that second paragraph isn't um consistent with current um legal opinions. So the first paragraph was changed to reflect that you can make a public comment about
any issue as long as it's an issue that we have control of. And you know sometimes we'll get folks up here that may not understand, oh that's an issue of the city, that's an issue of the state, that's an issue in the of the federal government. We'll we'll we'll clarify that if that happens, but that's really it it needs to be something under
our control that we could actually address. Um but other than that, it doesn't matter whether what a person wants to talk about under this proposed policy is on an agenda or not. Um going down to the bottom of that first page on
to the second page. Um that is just some we use the term patron. Um I think there was maybe some debate over what patron meant. Um so um we also kind of took out that term but
at the same time were suggesting that um we make very clear that if there's a public comment is different than comments during a public hearing which I think is also confusing. If there's a a law that says you have to have a public hearing on a matter like a bond issuance
or something or our budget or our teachers contract, that is not something you have to register to do like you do with a generic public comment period at the beginning of our agenda. So that's just making that clear and again that's reflecting state law. Um the next point
at the and I'd really like feedback from anybody who wants to provide it to us. We right now you have to be here 15 minutes before our meeting to fill out the form and register. Um I don't know if anybody else like me has a puppy and kids and trying to get something to eat
before the meeting, but I myself before I was on the board missed that deadline and couldn't make comments. So it seems like a long time to me. Should we make it shorter? Should it be 10? You know, but at the same time we want to at least have a cut off so it's clear. Um, but
what's the right amount of number? Should we keep it at 15? Appreciate any feedback on that. Um, also because we ask for a picture ID routinely and have been doing that for a while now, I added the the picture ID. Um, as well as the
form asks already whether you're a CCS parent or resident of Carmel. So, I added that as well and kind of just folded in what's deleted. the concept is still in there. I just kind of consolidated it to make it a bit clearer. Um, and then this is I always
found again personal opinion the group one and group two of public comment is a little bit confusing. So, I would suggest we just um say if you live within the boundaries of the school corporation in Carmel andor you have
children enrolled in our district, you're you have first priority to speak. Um because you're a taxpayer in our district and your interests, we're we're here representing you. Um but then you
know I got some feedback of you know if if going down to D the spirit of the rule is we're going to let everybody speak then does it really do you really need two groups? I don't have an answer again more feedback on how do we make this the
the best rule that we can make. I in my mind you do want to have some kind of time limit in mind but in the time that I've been here I don't remember Mr. Shapiro, I don't know if you remember, I don't remember us ever exhausting the 30 minutes. And I'm sure there could be
something of such in my mind, again, personal opinion. If there's something that's so important that that we have a room full of people and they all want to speak, I'm here to listen to them speak. I think we all are. So, I don't I don't know. Absent hostility, something really
going off the rails. And I know we that's happened um in the past. I I just think we need to let hear everybody out and they still need to be time limited as individuals but you know and if we're doing that do you really does it matter what priority people speak in again
please give feedback and then E is really hey we're taking out that you can't talk about any individual but again we're not going to let you make stand up and make defamatory remarks about people but that in my brain is a
thing for the board to control um versus trying to say in advance, you can't ever speak about a a certain individual. That to me kind of leans towards um overstepping people's free speech rights
versus taking a balance between what's really univil conduct. Um and I trust that that we can make the decision and do the right thing if that line, which hardly ever is crossed, does get crossed, you know. in a meeting. And and
again going down to um kind of the middle of that page when it's talking about no commentary or disruptions will be permitted that would from the audience that would distract the board or other members of the public who who want to be able to listen. Again, just
trying to keep, you know, good civil um meetings going forward in a positive manner. So that's kind of the purpose and the goal. I hope I hit the highlights. I probably went too deep as is my way, but I hope that's helpful.
>> Thank you, Miss Wheeler. Feedback, discussion from board members, please. >> Yeah, I appreciate uh bringing this up to date with some of the things. You know, anything can get better as you try it and you learn that, okay, 15 minutes
isn't good. Let's try a different number. I I would suggest 10 minutes. I think you'd mentioned 10 minutes uh before the meeting that create a window where people can get in and people are busy and it's we've moved the the hour up I think too since this is probably
written from starting at 7 in the evening to starting at six. So it's that's even tighter and uh maybe something else to consider. I've heard this has been an issue where when there is a big line if if that if you're in line, do you get are you considered you
know in the U, you know, accepted to be able to do your comment or are you like, well, if you didn't get your form filled out because you're at the back of the line. I think that that's a consideration you may want to spell out in here. Uh,
you know, as far as the time goes, it limitates it to 30 minutes. I always thought that was pretty short. Um, you know, I mean, if you have that would allow 10 people three minutes if it went like clockwork and it doesn't, you know, the microphone's not on or this and that. Now, you So, if we're
going to have a limit, it ought to be like we're not going to let it go past an hour. And and I agree with you that I think it's an invaluable part of the meeting to let the the community come in and talk to us. And if it's a lively issue, then
we need that input. you know, we're representing the community, so we need to hear that. And I think after an hour, we would pretty well have heard all the different ideas. And and maybe if we get to a point, I've heard this at some other districts that they get very repetitive.
So maybe we say, well, we've already heard that point, let's move on to someone that maybe has a different point to share. So we could try that, you know, and, you know, make it a 60-minute length. Just a thought. And uh I like
the idea of randomizing the comments u with the bingo ball thing. Um because uh it I don't know it's just good to mix it up and make sure that you know the the line's not stacked with you know certain group of people and and u so it just
seems fair. Those are my comments. Other than that I like it. It's good. >> Thank you Mr. Brown. >> Okay. I was just going to comment that this was prior to um most of the other board members um that we did have uh at least
one meeting where there were uh more than 10 people signed up and um how we achieved that was we went to I believe two minutes um and since everybody then that gave the 30 minutes was plenty of time for everybody to still get their their point
across but that's another option that that was already within you know kind of the guidelines of the policy previously. I would just add uh first of all my thanks to both of you for taking a quick look at this given both public feedback and then the board having some subsequent conversation and and us
saying this was a priority and you all jumping on it and thanks to Dr. Dudley for her assist as the administrative liaison to the board when it comes to updating policy. Um I appreciate the feedback uh from Mr. Brown and Miss Ko.
Um, just a a couple of tidbits that I would offer. In at least the time I've either been on the board or attending meetings, I can think of very few instances where a large number of people have shown up
and the board um has had to adjust the amount of time for speakers or consider extending the 30 minutes. That being said, I think it could be a simple adjustment to add in uh to the policy. I
mean, maybe it stays at 30 minutes, but it's at the discretion of the board to extend the time limit based on, you know, so something like that where it it allows uh the board to make an adjustment because I I agree wholeheartedly that we are here to serve the community. If there is a topic of
grave importance, then we should allow the community to come and speak and and address those points. Um and when it comes to conversely or on the other side of that equation, um if 3 minutes is long, we see this certainly when people go to testify downtown at the state
house, if there's a long line of people, they certainly say, you know, please cut your comments down to two minutes or 90 seconds. And if your point has been made by somebody else, please adjust your comments accordingly. So we certainly can ask make that request of the public who comes to speak at at board meetings
as well. So uh just a couple of pieces of feedback that I would offer. I uh think certainly the uh the condensing of some of the other uh pieces of language in the first part of the policy are just smart updates to make. Uh and I agree uh
maybe giving a little bit more grace to people who are signing up and if you're if you're in line when the window closes that that potentially should count. I mean I I also uh you know great appreciation for the staff that are there checking people in when they come to the meeting and again depending on
you know if it's a recognition night and there are 50 students here to be recognized that line could be out to the vestibule and that's not an easy process and if you're here to make comment and you don't know that there's a recognition of the state championship girls swim team uh and you're stuck in that line then you know that that's
unfortunate and we should allow some grace for that. So, um, great work and I guess we'll we'll bring this back around in a couple of weeks and vote on it. Any other feedback? Okay, great. Okay, thanks everybody. Uh, next is our
workshop topic for this evening, the uh, special education continuum. Dr. Dudley. >> Yes. So, thank you. So this evening we're very excited to bring to you um more information about how we partner with parents um and provide a continuum
of services for our students. And so we have our special ed team here ready to share that information. So I will start it off with Mrs. Fairchild, our director of special education. President Shapiro, Dr. Ro strike. Members of the board, we are excited to
share with you this evening about our continuum of programs for students with disabilities, how we support students and our services, um how we partner with families. I want to start by introducing my team who is here this evening to
present alongside me. I'm going to start if I say your name, if you'll just stand for a moment. Um Tammy Thornberry is one of our assistant directors of special services. Christy Smith is our coordinator of special services um at
Carmel High School. Rachel Nice, another assistant director of special services, Mary Podney, our early childhood coordinator, Angela Dylan, assistant director of special services, and Emily Plum is an
instructional coach supporting our students with disabilities. So tonight we're going to be highlighting how our teams of parents and school staff work together to support Carmel Clay's um vision of
together we achieve and our mission of providing opportunities for all students to realize their potential in an everchanging world. We will be highlighting these parts of our strategic plan. academic excellence,
systems of support, instructional coherence, and realworld learning and relevance. We will touch on these key initiatives from the strategic plan. And we will specifically be highlighting
the goals of supporting all students and culture of care and connection and finally highlighting these key initiatives. So, as a public school, we are required to educate students with disabilities
ages 3 through 22. And the federal and state laws states that we are required to provide a free appropriate public education. Um, you will see that from 2021 to 2025, our enrollment for students with
disabilities continues to steadily increase. We are told um many times over that we are a destination district because of the services that we afford our students with disabilities.
As a district, we believe that students with disabilities are full members of the school community, which means they have the right to participate in all activities made available to their non-disabled peers, which includes
extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports. So, I'm going to highlight some of the different programs that we have available in Carmel Clay Schools. I'm going to touch upon these briefly and my team is going to come up and expand on
each of these programs. Starting with resource, the majority of our students with disabilities are served through resource programming. They are primarily educated in the general education setting alongside their non-disabled peers.
Early childhood, we are required to provide services to students or students ages 3 through five with identified disabilities. Our early childhood programming in Carmel Clay Schools is really is for students with disabilities
and we do have some typical peers in those classrooms to join them. Developmental Primary is a relatively new program in Carmel Clay Schools. We opened this program three and a half
years ago to respond to the needs that we saw um coming to us at early ages. So it we were getting more and more students impacted by autism um students who maybe have been in ABA centers and
they come to us with very limited communication skills and um have a lot of sensory dysregulation. And so responding to those needs, we opened this program and it's for students in grades K through two. And it
is to help prepare them, wrap around them with a lot of services and supports to prepare them to enter the general education setting by the third grade. Our functional academics program has an
emphasis on teaching practical realworld applications of core academic skills. It's for a very small population of students that have more significant um impacts with their disabilities.
Life skills strikes a balance between teaching functional academic skills and independent living skills. And that is really for more of about 1% of our population of students. Our intense behavior support program is
for students with mental health diagnosis and lagging skills in have um in those in knowing how to remain emotionally regulated. The alternate diploma program is another
program that we recently um created. It's offered at Carmel High School and this was a result from 3 years ago the state of Indiana released a new diploma type called the alternate diploma. It's reserved for um a very small percentage
of our population of students with disabilities. These are students who in grades K through eight are accessing um functional academics and life skills. When they get to Carmel High School, um they are now part of the alternate
diploma program. And Christie will talk more about that, but that is where then they will um switch classes. They're in classes to earn units instead of credits. And so we really responded to the needs of our of our district as well
as what the state released to us. Our caramel transition program is a program that is really recognized around the state. We have um districts that will come and visit our program. It's for our adult students after they have
completed four years of high school ages 18 through 22. And you may not be aware that we are legally required to educate students through the age of 22. Our Carmel transition program was also um I
I don't know if renovated is the right word, but we expanded the reach of that program three years ago. Prior to that, if students did not have enough independence to be out in the community volunteering or in paid employment, we
did not really have a spot for them in our program. We felt like we needed to do something about that. So, we preemptively addressed the programming and we expanded the reach so that every student once they complete their four years um to earn their alternate
diploma, we have a spot for them to work on independent living skills. and then private school. I'm not sure if you're aware that we are required to provide special education services to
students identified with disabilities who attend private schools located within our geographical boundaries. We work with um eight private schools currently and we have about 220 students
that we provide services to. So, educating our students with disabilities is a collaborative approach that involves partnerships with many people. Our students and parents are the most
important part of that team. Parents are the expert about their child. This involves all teachers and instructional assistants whether they are general educators or special educators.
We have a pretty robust team of speech language pathologists. School psychologist. Um, our school psychologists last school year evaluated about a thousand children
and either that was to find them initially eligible for services or to conduct re-evaluations to inform the teams about those students unique needs. We have occupational therapists and
physical therapists. We have coaches and coordinators who support our staff to provide behavior and academic interventions. Our administrators play key roles in the buildings and at the district level to
support students, staff, programs, and families. And we collaborate with outside providers, whether those are mental health providers or ABA therapists. We allow them to observe our students. We
take their input as we develop a plan to support students from home to school. So what is that journey in special education? How do you get to be eligible to receive these wonderful services?
So it begins first with staff or parents may notice that a student has a need and in the law that's called childf find. So we are required to initiate evaluations of students that we suspect may have a disability.
Parents must consent to that educational evaluation in writing. That's where then our teams come into play to conduct an evaluation. our school psychologists are case managers for those evaluations, but we conduct
multidisciplinary evaluations that involve many of those professionals that I showed on the screen before. So, um our our teachers, our therapists, um all of and parents are are an
integral part of that to go through that evaluation. we are afforded a 50-day timeline um to complete that evaluation and then after that there is a case conference committee meeting where the
results are reviewed and the team of of those members of that multidisciplinary team and parents um go through the eligibility requirements and determine whether a student is eligible. If a student is eligible, then parents and
staff write a plan called an IEP with goals to address the needs and the skill gaps. The plan, that IEP and goals are monitored regularly and reported on that progress to parents and parents and
staff meet at least annually to update the plan. So last school year, if and if you think back to one of the first slides, we have almost 2700 students with IEPs in our district. Well, last
school year, our school teams met with parents 3,616 times. If you think about an IEP meeting lasting an average of 1 hour, that means our school teams collaborated with
families over 3600 hours in one school year. So academic excellence is a a big vital part of what we do and it's no different for our students with disabilities.
So if you take a look at this graph, you will see from 2021 to 2025, the growth for our students with disabilities exceeded the growth for all students in English in English language
arts. So there was 11% growth over that four-year span. And in math, the growth was commensurate with that for all students. So how does that come about? that comes about with high expectations
with a focus on academic excellence and regular monitoring of students progress with a focus on closing the achievement gap. So, how do we compare across the state and with our neighboring districts? You
will see that our data shows that students performance with disabilities in Carmel Clay Schools is double that of the state average and we outperform our neighbors in all areas. So I read if you look at our I read
growth from 2021 to 2025 students with disabilities had over 25 percentage points in growth in the area of iid. This comes from a concerted effort in training and support for our
teachers in the science of reading. high quality interventions, regular progress monitoring of students performance, and most importantly, high expectations for all students to c to continue to grow in their reading
proficiency. So just because a student has a disability, it is not an excuse for students not to continue to achieve at high levels. and we have those same high expectations that we do for all
students. So, our graduation rate during 2024, our students with disabilities had a graduation rate of over 98%. And that exceeded the state average of 85%.
So, how does that happen? Well, it doesn't happen by chance. It takes a very concerted effort. And so some of the things that we have done at the high school under Christiey's leadership is
we have 14 um co-taught sections offered in math and English. And co-taught means that we have a general education teacher and a special education teacher co-planning
and co-delivering the instruction. students are programmed into those sections randomly. We don't stack the classes um and they are not heavily weighed down with students with disabilities. So that percentage stays
low and they have the the role model of their typical peers in those classes alongside them. We have 35 sections of supported classes in science, social studies, and English. We have about 245
students served in Kota and supported classes. We have 47 students currently receiving reading intervention. So if you think about all the work that the district has done in the science of
reading and students having high quality reading interventions that start in elementary. We have built capacity over the last 3 years to expand those reading interventions to the middle school and
high school level. So I will tell you um probably 5 years ago it was a little bit of a thought that um if students did not have those skills by the time they entered high school we would accommodate
the reading problem or the reading disability. We believe that all students should be able to leave our schools as readers. And so we have worked very hard through training and support of our teachers, restructuring our basic skills
classes to continue to provide high quality reading intervention. Also, our resource teachers loop with students at the high school after the freshman year. So really working on those relationships and walking
alongside those students to help them get through those content area classes to earn a diploma. So I'm going to invite Rachel up to talk about resource. Okay, thank you. So, as you can see from
that data, Caramel Clay Schools and our families are doing some really fantastic things to help support students with disabilities. And like Stephanie was saying, a large portion of those students are directly supported through our resource programming. So, that makes
up approximately 78% of our students with disabilities are supported directly through resource. That's almost 2,000 of our students that have disabilities. 1,950. Um, and there are 13 different areas of
eligibility that could that a student could qualify for services under. And any of those could potentially be supported in that resource setting. That's always kind of the initial space where we try to start thinking about how we might support students. And then we
would work through the continuum as needed. There are three main eligibilities that we see represented in our resource programming right now and that's a specific learning disability like a reading disability or a math disability. Um there's other health
impairment which could mean that a student has a health need that impacts them within the educational setting and that it requires some kind of specialized instruction. And so that could be that they have anxiety or ADHD or some other type of health need that's
impacting them within the educational setting. And then also autism spectrum disorder is the third area that we see primarily supported within our resource setting right now. In all of those cases, in all 78% of those, we are
creating IEPs in conjunction with families and sometimes with outside service providers that families invite in to those meetings, too, where we are creating those individualized education plans that are really focused on alignment to grade level standards and
expectations, but addressing the specific needs that were identified in that evaluation and that might be preventing that student from making prog progress within that setting. So, it's a really highly individualized type of support. Um, there's not a
one-sizefits-all approach and we really try to work in conjunction with families to make sure it's really addressing the needs of that individual student, whether that's academic or it could be language. It could also be social emotional or executive functioning kind
of um daily living types of things. And so you may be wondering what do those services look like from daytoday? Um most often particularly in elementary you might hear that being referred to as pushin or pull out types of supports.
And what that means for pushin is that somebody an instructional assistant or a resource teacher might be going into a general education classroom to support a student and helping them access what's happening within that classroom setting.
The same could be true in middle school and as Stephanie was referencing in high school as well in those co-taught classes or supported classes. um pull out would mean that we are taking a student out of their classroom and providing more individualized support
and intervention that aligns with the goals in those IEPs. So it may um be a a highly um structured type of setting that is either a small group or an individualized type of support. Um if it's a small group, it may be students
with like skills that we're supporting. as students get older from elementary going into middle school and high school, that's where block scheduling and earning credits starts coming into play. And so you um we start referring to more of those basic skills classes
that align in our block scheduling. So students may have a basic skills class built into their schedule where they're coming and receiving that um individualized intervention that aligns with their goals and also getting some support with classwork in addition to
support that they may or may not have within the classroom. Again, all of these are very individualized supports that are determined in those case conferences. Um, as Stephanie referenced, we have a case conference at least once a year, but often are meeting
more regularly with families. Um, and that could be for a variety of reasons, including students are making really great progress and we want to be responsive to that and change goals or maybe they're not growing in the way that we'd like to see. And so, we want to respond to that and make adjustments
to what those supports look like for them. And you can see there's a variety of things that might be supported um within the resource setting. So it could be academics like reading, writing or math. But it could also be language through a speech language pathologist or
it might include um vision or orientation and mobility support through our blind low vision teachers. So there's really a variety of skills um that can be addressed in this type of programming. So, I'm going to play you a quick video just to give you kind of a
day in the life. Um, it's just short snippets to show you what some of those pull out services look like in an elementary setting. So, you can see some of our younger learners and then also in the middle school setting to see some of our older learners. >> Got in working on today. Underline it.
Miles, next word. You want me? >> Sits. Trick word. >> Does it have an H in it? What do we do? >> Skip it. April. Next one.
>> Okay. And what operation matches that? Okay. Go for it. I will I'll do it here and then I'll turn it when you're all done. >> Use the words I, me, my, mine. because it's first person point of view. So,
we're going to look through these right now and see if we can find any of those first person words. >> So, she said remake. Right. So, if we circle remake, what's my open syllable in remake?
>> R E. And what is that syllable? >> All right. Yes, that is exactly right. So, our dependent variable is total minutes. Perfect.
Okay, thank you. And now I'll have Mary come up and share information with you about our early childhood programming. Okay. Um so as Stephanie shared in early childhood we serve students age three to five and we serve them in two different
ways. The first way is in our developmental preschool classrooms. We have that in five buildings. Um, and we have two classrooms in each of those buildings. We see our younger students in the morning. It's a half-day program. And then we see our older students the year before they would go to
kindergarten in the afternoon. Uh, the other way that we serve those students is through walk-in speech. So, kids that maybe do not need the level of support that our developmental preschool would offer. um they are just working on maybe cleaning up how their speech sounds uh
their articulation or maybe growing their language. So they're already talking, they're already communicating in phrases and sentences, but maybe expanding the types of words that they use. Um being able to carry on a conversation back and forth. They might come just like once a week and work with
a speech therapist. Um and their parents just wait there and then they go about their week just like they normally would. So they're not with us the whole time. Um, one of the things that is unique to early childhood that we don't have in um, kindergarten through um, 12th grade
is we have built-in family support days each month. So each month we have one day that is made for our uh, teachers and therapists and staff to meet with our families or to see the students in um, many of our students also go to
community preschool. So, it allows the teachers to go see the students out in their community preschool or to meet with like if they have an outside provider, it might provide them time to collaborate and talk about the same student that they're serving. One of the things with family support
days that's really powerful is because if you remember when you had three and four year olds, they don't really come home and tell you what they did during the day. So it helps to say um it helps as a way you know let's say that like toilet training is going really well in class but parents are struggling with it
at home the family can come in and the teacher can work with them and create visuals or explain the process that we do so that they have that same carryover and that same language um so that they can see that success at home. Our early childhood program has also
seen a lot of growth. Um we in 2012 2013 we served 86 students in four buildings and this year as you can see we serve um about 243 students and part of that growth is because um as Stephanie shared
we are a destination district. I start the process. Every child that comes into early childhood begins with a phone call conversation with me. And at least once a week, I get a parent that calls and says, "I'm moving to the area. My
company has placed me in Indianapolis. They told me that I should move to Carmel. My child has some needs and I'm looking, you know, explain what your program looks like for me." Um, so I think that that's part of our growth. I think the other part is that part of what I do is I partner with our
preschools, uh, pediatricians in the area and let them know that we're here and we're available. So, just getting the word out and saying, you know, there is an option. That doesn't mean that you have to, uh, pay private clinic therapy prices, but you can come and get services that you're, um, tax dollars
are already funding. And, um, so that's another way that I think our growth has happened as well. Um the other piece of our program is our early childhood assessment team. Early childhood assessments look very different than they do at the kindergarten through 12th grade level
because the kids aren't already with us. Um they have to be evaluated before they actually um would start with us. And so my early childhood assessment team uh we have one and a half psyches. It's two psyches, but we only have one of them half the time. It's not half a person.
um a speech a speech therapist and then a special education teacher who's a diagnostic teacher from the beginning. Um I so like I said I meet with the parents and talk to them and then I hold their hands and kind of get them connected with my early childhood team and my early childhood team when they
assessment team um the first day of the evaluation the parents come with the child they get to be in the room with the child. That way if the child does something or says something or um however they're acting, they can say, "Is this typical? Is this because this is new? Is this what it looks like at
home?" They're really digging in and making sure that even though we have a short amount of time with the student, we really do get to see um the whole picture and know what needs that they are working on. The other then um they continue to get to know the child some more and work with the families. And
then by the time that child is getting ready to enter, so that case conference that Stephanie talked about and uh Rachel talked about um they're also doing a lot of parent education. So, you know, they're teaching, this is the first experience that these parents have with special education and with Caramel
Clay Schools for a lot of them. And so they're teaching them this is what special education is. This is what an eligibility category is. This is what it means for your child and this is how we're going to support it. But then as you look down the road, these are things that you can look forward to learning.
Um, and so they do a lot of um parent education and they the parents walk out of there not only with a plan for their child, but usually with some resources, whether it's online resources or some pamphlets um just knowing other um ways that they can continue to grow and learn and support their child at home.
Um and as Stephanie shared um right now we do just serve um students that have qualified in a developmental preschool. We do take typical peers and that window is open. If you saw um today we are accepting applications for that. Uh typical peers are are kiddos that come
in and um they do not have there's no no concerns with their development, but they are really good language models, really good uh social models and um it helps in our classroom because kids respond well to other kids. And so um we do have typical peers and um at some
point we would love to grow it more and and be able to serve more of our community um in early childhood as well. And with that, oh my video, I almost forgot my video. Um, so this video I love. Um, this is an afternoon class. So
these students are um going would be going on to kindergarten the following year. And one of the things that I love about this when I talk about our program and a lot of parents will say, "What makes your program different than a community preschool?" And one of the things that makes it different is that it's taught by a certified special
education teacher. And a certified special education teacher has so many tools that they're using. They're differentiating every moment of every day. And so you'll see they're going to work on some early literacy skills, but she knows these I think there's nine of them. Um she knows these students so
well that she um sets them up for success. And so the way in which she is working on rhyming is different. So for a child that's maybe just learning it, you might give two options and pick which one rhymes. A child that maybe already has it and and knows it, you might say, "Give me a word that rhymes
with." And so I just love that it shows the uh differentiation that um our teachers do. >> Listen for your question that would go with your job. Okay. If you are the greeter, tell me two words that rhyme.
>> Cat hat. >> Can you tell me two more? >> Yeah. Okay. Good job. >> All right. If you are the Heart collector. >> Tell me, what letter does your name start with?
>> Your name is Jack. What letter does your name start with? I know everybody's saying it. Let him try to say it. Jack starts with letter J. Yeah, there you go. All right. If you are the shape helper, tell me a word that rhymes
with house. house and >> would it be house mouse or house dog? Do you think house sounds like mouse or does house sound like dog? >> House with mouse. >> Yeah, house and mouse. Those two words,
right? And now I'll pass it over to Tammy Thornberry. As uh Stephanie said earlier, our developmental program, primary program was developed about three and a half years ago and it is there to help us provide some smaller class sizes for our
little ones who come to us with um needs related to autism that are impacting them significantly. It gives us that chance to reduce that sensory overload, gives us a chance to provide some communication support across the entire school day. Um, we have speech and
language pathologists who are dedicated to those classrooms. We have board certified behavior analysts that are employed by the district who are also dedicated to those classrooms. our occupational therapists, our physical therapists are in there providing that small setting for our students so that
we can give them some skills to help them regulate, reduce those sensory needs um and give them those communication skills so that they will be better able to access those larger classrooms once they have those skills.
So, you can imagine after you leave a half-day program with Mary and you have autism, um, and you're a little bit, you have some sensory issues and maybe you have some communication concerns and you've gone to school for a half day and there's 10 kids in the classroom and
then you walk into kindergarten in one of our buildings and there's a teacher, an instructional assistant, and 25 of your best friends in kindergarten can be quite over overwhelming for our little ones. And what we realized is that we needed to create a program where we
could give them a space where they could build those skills because they are going to be and have proven to be in the last three and a half years great candidates for general education. They just needed some time to acclimate. They just needed a little bit of extra help.
And so oftentimes we get those students from Mary and early childhood. We also get those students from um ABA centers. So we will have parents, Mary was talking about the parents who call her. Um I um oversee our transition from ABA centers to the school district. And so
oftentimes you have parents who a lot of times for child care purposes will get eligibility established in early childhood for autism and for special education eligibility. They'll attend an ABA center all day long because that's what's best for a parent's work
schedule. um or a doctor recommended that perhaps they needed to be there all day long. And then I am fielding those phone calls. Um I in fact have fielded about five of those in the last um two months. Mary and I are working together um because once kids are ready to enter
kinder kindergarten, they're coming out of the ABA center and they're joining us. So they haven't had those small groupoup instructional settings like they have had in the early childhood program. And so to bring them from ABA directly into a large kindergarten classroom presents some challenges for
those students. And so we chose three years ago under Stephanie's leadership to develop this classroom so that we could give those kids a better chance to be successful in the general education environment and eventually move to the programs that Rachel was talking about as a restore student with far less
support. I think the other thing I'd really like to highlight is um there's a lot of collaboration in the deep we have a lot of collaboration across everything but when I think about our developmental primary program there's a great deal of collaboration with outside providers um
many of our students are coming to us with ABA therapies and ABA providers and the things that they have been able to gain in ABA are so important and so we do a lot of collaboration we have several board certified behavior analysts who work on my team um who are
employed by Carmel Clay Schools. So we do a lot of going to centers having centers come to us. We do a lot of observation in the centers. They do a lot of observation here. We develop those we co-develop those treatment plans because many times when students
are coming to us from a center into school all day, parents then are going to continue to use their waiver dollars to access access services outside of school. And so the last thing we need or want for our children is that they're coming to school and we're asking them
to do one set of skills and then they're getting home and their ABA provider is asking them to do a different set of skills. So we work very closely together to make sure that we are in line so that the student has the same expectations. They hear the same common language from
school to a provider if they have one to parents. So again, as Mary was talking about, we do a lot of education with our parents and a lot of co-planning and co-reating with outside providers that our parents may be accessing. This video is of one of our um DP
classrooms. And again, piggybacking on what Mary said, we have those certified special education teachers in those classrooms. And so you'll see a small classroom, but what you'll see is grade level instruction. So, it's not that we are diminishing expectations for our
students who may have sensory or communication issues. It's that we're providing them a space to access that grade level curriculum at a at a high level and then providing them them with resources and interventions to help them reduce their sensory and communication
issues to access that. You've seen lots of clothes. Why do you think the clothes are on the line? >> Because they need to dry. >> They need to dry. What's going to help them dry? >> Feel the wind. What's going to help the clothes dry?
>> The wind. The wind. >> So, I can't help but laugh when I watch this video there. You may have seen a little girl in the corner and she has a very a really great relationship with one of our board certified behavior analysts whose name is Mr. Piper and you know I oversee this program I am an
assistant director but I've worked with them for many years and so when I every time I go in the classroom she will look over at me and say hi Mr. Piper's friend and it does not matter how many times her teacher tells her this is Mrs. Thornberry, you should
use her name. And when the teacher's standing there, she'll do it. But then I was in there last week and I sat down quietly next to her and she looked at her teacher and then she looked at me and then she leaned back in her chair and she whispered, "Hi, Mr. Piper friend."
So I will hand this off to talk about function like so our functional academics class is um a class that's in our K8, so our kindergarten through 8th grade programs um districtwide. Um, and as Stephanie
had mentioned previously, it does have or it does um have students that require that intensive level of academic need um who require that modified curriculum. And so what that looks like for them is um that would be students that are receiving curriculum that is um you
would see in a general education classroom. So, as you would walk into an FAP classroom, you would see them engaging in the same content that you would see in a general education classroom, except that it would be um pretty highly modified to meet their
independent level of need. Um, and you would be seeing it um pretty heavily accommodated for them. um our students or excuse me, our teachers do a really nice job of really looking at where each of our students are um at currently
tracking their data, making sure that they're they're meeting them where their current needs are, and then really focusing on um providing those interventions to really focus on closing the achievement gap for them.
Um, when we think about our students, um, and, um, oops, this where I was at, um, our students in FAP, they do, um, access our general education programs. So, if you
walk in and out of our gen our FAP classrooms, a lot of times you're going to see kids coming in and out throughout the day. So, you're not going to see a self-contained classroom in FAP. You're going to see kids that may be walking um going out to general education for
things like um lunch or recess or um for their specials classes. We want to have kids that are going um out and being around their typical developing peers for as much time as we possibly can. Um the goal for us is to allow for students
to be as independent as they possibly can. And so we're always building those independence skills for them. Um we have students that are at a wide range as far as need. Um some of our students are needing um a higher level of adult
support where other students are we've gotten to a point where we've been able to build a higher level of of independence and kind of everything in between. The nice thing with our FAP is that we're really working on kind of focusing on u building that independence skills for our students throughout the
years. Um we also um really focus on um one of the things that I wanted to touch on with uh with what Tammy had mentioned is there's a lot of collaboration that occurs within our FAP programs with outside
programming. So same thing that um Tammy had mentioned with um collaboration that's occurring with outside providers such as ABA providers. We have many many students that access um ABAs. Um, and so a lot of our teams will have that
ongoing collaboration where we have BCBA, so the board certified behavior analysts or RBTs that a student is working with that will come in and collaborate with us so that there's that ongoing collaboration as far as ensuring that whatever language may be occurring
within the home setting or in the ABA center that we're also making sure that that translates within the school setting as well. What we want to make sure is that there's not that confusion piece between what might be happening outside of the school setting, that there's that continuity of services. Um,
and so we're always trying to make sure that there's there's that constant collaboration with the outside um with the outside agency. So, I'm going to show you a video here in just a second. Um, and this is going to show you an elementary school um, student who is
working in a small group with one of our IAS. So, it's an IIA, one student, and they're doing an ELA lesson. >> I bet you know this one. >> The letter is >> uh, G.
You had your thinking brain. The letter is K. The sound is >> nailed it. That's one of our new ones. You got it. K. K. K. Right. Trace it for me. Show me. How do we do it? >> K. K. K.
>> Okay. So, skyline down. Pick your finger up. Back at the skyline to the plane line to the grass line. Do it one more time. K. Okay. So, we also have our life skills program which is a little bit different than our
functional academics program. Um, this class or these classes are also small in size and also support students in kinder through 8th grade um who also require an intensive level of support. Um where this is a little bit different than our
functional academics program um is specifically a couple of different areas. One would be with the curriculum um whereas with our FAP program um and our students are still working on the core um where you would see them um working on the core content that you
would see in a general education classroom. Our life skills program is on a completely separate um uh content. So they have moved off and are on a modified core. Um in addition to that, they are on what are called the um
Indiana alternative standards. So they're no longer on the Indiana academic standards. So they're on the alternative standards um or the content connectors. So we've kind of moved away from from that um that core content like I had mentioned before. Um the other
piece to that is we really are working on functional skills. So there's we're kind of partnering together. So there's the high focus on the academic skills, so the ELA and math instruction, but there's also the functional skill piece as well. So students in our um life
skills are going to be working on um along with the ELA and math instruction. Again, our teachers are focusing really heavy on looking at that data, meeting our students where they're at, and then again, really focusing on where are our students, and then making those
educational decisions with that focus on closing the achievement gap. But then they're also really working on those independent living skills. So, our students at the elementary level may be looking at things such as um incorporating into their day how to be a
learner, right? So as you walk into an elementary school, you may be watching them in addition to the academic content, looking at how do they sit and attend and engage with the content that is being presented to them along with
the functional skills of washing their hands, learning how to eat with utensils, learning how to move from different stations within the classroom, things like that. Whereas when they go to the middle school, then we start to also incorporate more independent um and
job embedded skills as well with the academic content. So on top of the academic content, then there would be things like wiping tables, taking out the trash, folding laundry, maybe they're sorting items. So we're starting to move into those job embedded skills
that are getting them ready for um like employability as they get older. So, this um video that I'm going to show you here is um a small group. So, it's one teacher at the middle school working
with two students on a math lesson. >> What's the x number? >> Three. >> It is three. Can you write three4? >> Three. >> Three. Write your order. Comma.
>> Comma. >> Comma. >> All right. Good job. All right, >> Jack. What is the ycoordinate? >> What What number is on the y axis? Oh, >> follow it all the way. There you go. Can
you write that number? I'm going to invite Tammy back up to talk about our intense behavior program. So, quickly before I uh talk about our intense behavior program, I'm I am now realizing that Mary, Angela, and I all three have um said the said the acronym
ABA multiple times. So um ABA refers to applied behavior analysis but in the community there are medical clinics who work with our students providing specific therapies um in those clinics um and that is specifically designed for
students with autism. So picture it as a medical clinic who's doing specific therapies with people who have autism. Um, our intense behavior support uh program's mantra that we speak about
often is kids do well if they can and if kids can't do well then it is our responsibility as caretakers to help them figure out what's getting in their way. Um, many students are lagging skills necessary to regulate themselves.
I like to particularly describe it um in a way that I learned from um Dr. Ross Green that I have a lot of respect for. He's a renowned expert um and a lot of this across the country um because I feel like how we describe this to our parents and our teachers also describes
all of us. So we have all of us have a certain set of skills that we have and every day we go into the world with those skills and every day we go into a world where demands and expectations are placed upon us and most days on our very
best days our skills and the demands and expectations just go along in a parallel fashion. Life is great. We're all having great days. But there are times in all of our lives where the demands and expectations of the situation outstrip the skill we have to deal with it. And
we've all been there, even as adults. And some of our youngest learners and even some of our high school students find themselves in that situation where the demands and expectations of the situation have outstripped their ability to deal with it. and we provide um many students across the district a safe
place to learn how to get those skills that might be lagging for them. Um we do that in four elementary schools um one middle school and the high school. Um our kids who access this program obviously need a higher level of support
than our students who are in a resource program. And the way we do that is to teach them the skills and the coping strategies in those smaller environments necessary to deal with adversity. We do that with teachers who have a higher level of training and a little bit more
specialty than most of our teachers. We do that with dedicated social workers who are working with those students in those settings twice a week. Um, we also do that as much as we we support families across all of our environments in this situation. Oftentimes, we are
helping families navigate a system um that is very confusing in the outside world. So, the mental health system is one of the most difficult systems to access and navigate. And um you know, for many of us even who have an
expertise in it and do it every day, it it is difficult for us to do. And so our social workers and our teachers in those programs are helping also to make sure that the family system is healthy. They are also working to help make sure that they can help families navigate that
mental health system because we have partnerships. We know people. We have connections. I'll make a phone call to that person and you'll make a phone call to this person. And Christy and I have been in a situation the last few weeks where we were leveraging every favor and every person we knew to get in touch
with somebody to get a phone call um to get with some state level representatives to get some care for one of our students who needed care and we were unhappy with the level of care they were getting with a community partner and so we just went straight to the top and called a state agency. Um, so this
is one of those programs where we really do um leverage relationships and help families navigate some very difficult situations. Um, I will say we are very proud of this program. It is alongside DP one of those
programs where um we expect students to move out of the program. And so I will tell you that um the majority the large majority of students who start with us in intense behavior in the elementary do not um finish in intense behavior at the
high school. Um many of our students who start late elementary may go through middle school with us but they do not go to intense behavior at the high school. Um the majority of students in intense behavior at the high school are moveins kids who came after their freshman year. Um, but we are very we're very proud um
of our kids and how well they do once they're regulated and have the skills necessary um to face that adversity. Um this is an elementary um video of how they start their day um every day.
>> Here we go. Today is Friday, January 30th, 2026. Absolute safety rules. Ready? I will not hurt you. >> You will not hurt me. >> Nobody in this class will hurt anyone
else. >> Who is safe? >> I am safe. >> All the time or some of the times? >> All the time. >> Who is in charge to keep you safe? >> Teachers are in charge to keep me safe. >> All right, nice job.
>> Let's do our checkin. Which apple would you pick to describe your emotions today? Okay, please show me your fingers. One, two, three, four, five. >> Excited. >> All right. Happy
silly happy happy and silly today. All right. So, good way to start Friday. All right, connection. >> At this time, I'm going to invite Christy Smith, the special education coordinator at Carmel High School, to
come up and talk about the great things that we have going on at Carmel High School. >> Thank you, Tammy. Okay, I get to talk about the high school and the things that are going on at the high school. While we have lots of programming at the high school that some that Angie um that
Angela talked about, uh Tammy talked about and Rachel talked about, um I'm going to specifically talk about two of the programs specific to the high school. And the first one is the alternate diploma program. So, as Stephanie mentioned before, um the state came out with the alternate diploma
about three years ago. And so we uh made some adjustments to the high school and our courses and we created a program that replicates really a traditional high school experience for the students at Carmel High School that are not uh
receiving a traditional high school diploma. These students are rotating from classroom to classroom. They rotate on a 10-minute off bell schedule. So they are not in the hallways um with the rest of the students. If you've been at the high school during a passing period, probably don't wish that you maybe came
at a different time. I sometimes try to stay in my office during those times as well. They um take regular core classes. Um they are identified by an applied label in front of them. So applied biology, applied algebra, and they earn units just like just like you earn a
credit, you're earning a unit. So you're working towards those um 40 40 required units. They also do community based instruction. So they go out in the community. Um those those that instruction focuses on domains of
transition. So employability, transition, um independent living and leisure. They may go to the grocery, different restaurants. They might go out to lunch. We're located in you guys know in such a great area where they can walk over to the public library. They can walk down to Greeks. We can work on crossing the street safety things like
that. Um students are also participate in electives of choice. So they may go to a baking class. Um they are able to go there is a gened class with um students who take a gen general education class called peers and that is for students who want to work with kids
students with disabilities. They earn an elective credit for that. They spend their first couple of weeks learning about students with disabilities safety things like that and and they attend those classes with those students. There are students that are paired only with adults um for safety reasons or medical
reasons and things like that. But for those students who can, we really like to pair them with same-aged peers if we can. Um students are also have required electives that they have to take to earn their 40 units. Um those are called employability units such as
interpersonal relationships, digital applications. So how do I use a phone? What you know what applications are appropriate? Who's a safe person to talk to? who do I go to if I need help? Those types of things. So, those are full courses that the students takes that they're required to take. Um, students
are very integrated in all of our um they can do any club that they want to do. There's a ton of unified sports, track, botchi, uh, basketball, flag football, there's unified sound. Um, so really really involved. Um, when they become seniors, they start having
opportunities to um, look at volunteer experiences. We bring over some of our job coaches and they start going out and triing some things that they might want to do in the next program I I'll talk about just to to kind of begin to look at some of their interest levels. So that is um very great. So I'm going to
show you a video now. Um the video is going to be of really our academic those core classes. So you're going to see students in those in those core academic classes in our alternate diploma programs. The alternate diploma program offers Carmel students.
Okay. The next program I'll talk about is our caramel transition program. And Mrs. Fairchild talked about this a little bit earlier that about three years ago we really expanded this program. We used to just have the program that um some of
you may have known at the Cromwell Learning Center across the street and we've expanded that program now. So this is really designed for the students who have earned those 40 units or their four years at the high school and um so they've completed theirs. So they've
rece received their al alternate diploma or some students have still received a certificate of completion. There are four levels to the transition program to meet the varying needs of the students with different program objectives. So there are two levels at across still across the street at the Kermel learning
center and now there are two levels that exist at the high school. We have a transition coordinator that helps oversee this program along with our department chair and really really wonderful teachers. So they focus on learning and practicing the skills needed really to learn to live more
independently to communicate and to participate in the community. Um job co coaches are placed in our transition program to support kids on the on the job in and play paid employment and they work on applying for jobs, preparation for jobs, interview
skills, communication skills, um all of those types of things. Participants uh get to explore various community and volunteer and paid employment jobs. So, we currently have 26 active job sites. We are always looking for additional partnerships within the
community, but currently as of today, we have um students going out to 26 different sites in our community. So, that can be anywhere from churches, grocery stores, um lots of lots of different places. Um our students also are um work a lot on leisure activities.
So a lot of students when they leave us are not going to go work for 40 hours a week. Um so it's important that we teach them how are you going to spend your time. We want them to leave us the goal would be when they leave us that we have set them up for it's not much different
when they finish their last day with us for their next day. So if they're working for 15 hours a week, what are they doing productively with that other time? Maybe they're getting paid employment for part of the time. Maybe they're going to church part of the time. So, all of our students have um a
pass to the Monon Center. We have a partnership with them. So, are you walking each day? Having exercise in your life is really important. Being healthy is really important. Um they take yoga classes. They go to music therapy. We have an art therapist that comes in. Um they have done art classes
in the community. We do a Best Buddies program with Butler. So, they no longer do it at the high school because that wouldn't be age appropriate anymore. So, we partner with Butler for that. Um we have um we teach the students as much as possible to use Hamilton County Express
so that they're not reliant on the school buses because when they leave us they can't use the school buses anymore. So as much as they can do that um and then just working with even families for um having family meetups and things like that so that you know if you need to
partner with your buddy and carpool and things like that. students. Um, also do we do a lot of day program visits because maybe you'll be part of a day program that you're going to a couple days a week. Maybe you'll be working a couple of days a week, but that's the goal is to set them up so that when they leave us, they're not trying to figure
out what am I going to do or a parent's not trying to figure out what am I going to do with my student now. We don't have the high school anymore to to help us. So, um, I'm going to show you a video of our great great workers. We also when they move to age, just a fun fact, when they when they turn 18 and they move into our transition program, they go by
workers and they call us by our first names, which they think that's really cool. So they're like they immediately come in. They're like, "Hey, Christie." I'm like, "Oh, hey." So they they love that. Down. Hey. Hey.
Okay. Okay. And then just the last thing I'm going to reiterate before handing him echo over to Stephanie is just our f family partnerships. Some of the unique things that we do at the high school, but some of the things that everyone else has kind of already touched on. So, as you've heard before, we meet annually
with each family um to meet on the unique needs of the child. That is really with our um annual meetings for IEPs. Although those annual case conferences, we've all talked about how we meet with families many many more times than that. There's um Mary talked
about her family days at the early with the early childhood. Um there's family education nights. There is the caramel transition program has um family nights. I went ahead and put up our caramel transition if you want to follow us on Instagram. We're always looking for more
followers. Um we have um we partner with the other Hamilton County schools to host a Hamilton County Disability Resource Fair this year. Uh last year we hosted at Carmel High School. This year it's going to be in Noblesville. So that'll be on March 4th. That's all on
the transition program um Instagram page. And we'll be pushing out that information to everyone as well. Um we do a there's a lot of activities that happen between, you know, early childhood and kindergarten and at those transition ages. So between when you're
in eighth grade and you're coming to the high school, we bring all the resource students over for visits. And so we already have those scheduled. We have a a GCOM kickoff day where the GCOM students at the high school uh have all of the students, all the freshmen get to spend a day at the high school before
their year starts. So that's really great. All of our intense behavior students come over for days, many, many visits to get them acclimated. We do extended school year services in the summer to have students get used to the high school. Um and we have we're always
open to scheduling any visits. I think all of us are in any of our programs. So, um yeah, just lots of ways that we love to partner and make people feel as welcome as they can in our schools. So, Christy did talk a lot about those partnerships and I'm going to go back
here for just a minute. Um those family education nights, we are working to expand those currently. Um, we have one coming up in April that we have put out to our families to help them do some
financial planning for their their um, students with disabilities when they transition into adulthood. Um, I'm working with Emily. We're going to get a list serve out where families can sign up to receive information on these family education nights. So, there will
be more to come and we're trying to just get that publicly out. Um, just so that I, you know, what we're relying on now is for our schools to share it, but if we can find a way that those families can sign up to receive that information directly so that you're not relying on
somebody to forget to share that. So, we want to wrap up by letting you hear from some of our families. Um, you know, those family partnerships are so so important and, um, I just want you to
hear directly from some of them about their experiences with, um, Carmel Clay School special services. >> Hi, my name is Kavita and my son Nav Akatsuni attends Creekide Middle School. I only have a minute, but I have so much
to say. 3 years ago, we relocated to the United States of America, and our experience with Carmen's schools has been nothing short of extraordinary. From the front office staff to the assistant director of special services
to Creekide's principal, every single person has gone above and beyond to support Nero, a wonderful young person with a special needs. What sets this school is uh what sets this school apart is how you have recognized not just his
challenges but his abilities too. You have worked tirelessly with him to chart a path that will help Nero reach his full potential and build towards an independent life. That means everything to us. Thank you Carl Clay Schools for
creating an institution where every staff member is truly committed and inspired to the success of every student. Your dedication gives family like ours a lot of hope and for that we are profoundly grateful. Thank you so
much once again. >> So this family moved here from India and um they were they heard about Caramel Clay Schools. They could have chosen anywhere to bring their child and they chose us. And you heard right from her
that she feels completely supported to meet the needs of her child. >> Hi, my name is Amy Nichols and this is my husband Greg and my son Matthew Nichols. Matthew has been part of Karma Clay Schools since kindergarten and today is his 21st birthday. We have had
incredible encouragement and support through the years all the way up from elementary school through middle school. He was in life skills classes. Um he actually had Dr. Ferris as his principal from the time he was in kindergarten all the way up now that he's in the
transition program. Um we are so thankful for all of the staff. I couldn't ask for more help, more encouragement, more support. The transition program has been so good for Matthew. He's learned how to be independent. He's learned how to advocate for himself. He has jobs within
the school system. And they are getting him prepared for that day that's coming way too soon where we'll have to say goodbye to Caramel Clay Schools and he will be off on his own trying to find his way. So, we're just very thankful for his educational journey at Caramel
Schools. So, this is one example where we've had a student from kindergarten all the way into adulthood. And who wouldn't be happy watching that video? Hello, I'm Jake and this is my lovely
wife, Kelly. You all definitely recognize her as she was a threetime jump rope champion at Mohawk Trails Elementary back in the late 80s. >> True story. >> Very true. We're thrilled to be with you today to tell you how the Carmel Special
Education Department has changed our son, Joseph's life. >> We first met Joe when he was one day old in the NICU, and we instantly fell in love with him. Joe's case is very complex. So, over time, we've built a team of doctors, therapists, and staff
from Kromplay School to provide him the support he needs in academics and in daily life. About a year ago, Joe became extremely disregulated at school and at home. So, we made a team decision alongside the special education department to send him
to a residential treatment center so he could get 24-hour care. I'll never forget that IEP meeting with with Tammy Thornberry sitting at the head of the table, tears in her eyes, promising us that she would fight for Joe. and we
really felt that from everybody in the department and Tammy on that day. I'm also very pleased to tell you that Joe is doing extremely well. He's able to stay in the classroom, eat with friends in the cafeteria, attain good grades,
and hope to get him home soon. >> We are so thankful for the dedication and care that's been given to Joe over the years. Just a few people we wanted to mention. Officer Culver and Officer Garcia met Joe with such grace when he
was really struggling with behavior. The secretaries at Forestdale looked beyond Joe's struggles and they would greet him with the biggest smile whenever they saw them saw him. Um and they would even give him little jobs to do to make him feel special. Mrs.
Harrington started a crochet club with Joe so that it could tap into his interest and give him pure social interaction. Betsy Rhodess wrapped around Joe and met him exactly where he was and lifted him up and she saw the best in him. Julie
Buckowski, she currently demonstrates genuine love as she provides support to our other son Will. Um he has had a really hard year especially with his big brother being gone. So we are so grateful for her. We could keep going on and on and on um naming the staff that
have been lifech changing for our family. We have felt so supported and cared for from Carmel Clay Schools. >> Thank you for the opportunity to share our story with you today. We are forever grateful for the special education
department. They have truly changed Joe and our family's life. Keep up the great work and do it for the next Joe. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So remember that slide, it takes a village.
That's that's the village we provide. I'm so proud of of every person on every team that supports these students and these families. We meet them right where they are and we help them realize their fullest potential.
So, thank you for your time this evening and um we're here to answer questions. >> Thank you very much. That's a lot of information. We we appreciate it. Um, I'm gonna uh we're going to go down the
line here and uh so yeah, we'll start with Miss Cashion and just work our way across the day. >> I was going to say I need to stop myself from crying because that was beautiful. >> I'm a little choked up myself. >> You might have to give me a moment.
>> Moment I'm >> Yeah, I would say my um admiration and gratitude for what you do for our schools and our community. I don't know if I could properly put it into words. So, thank you. Um, tonight was very eye
openening for me. I know I had a lot of questions about special education and what our community is getting and your team is phenomenal. Uh, and I appreciate that. I do have a question. Uh, I think it was Mrs. Dylan who had mentioned during the FAP presentation regarding
the outside programs. You talked a lot about how you collaborate with those outside providers and I believe that we don't bring them into the classrooms. Correct. So I just wanted to clarify what does that relationship look like? It is it after hours types of meetings?
Have we ever allowed outside therapists to come in so that you have that collaborative in-class nature? Um and if we haven't done it, why not? >> Sure. I'll get us started. Nangela, feel free to jump in. Um so we do collaborate
and it is during the school day. Um we often will allow those providers to come in and observe during the school day. We accompany them by one of the members on our team. It could be any of us. It could be um one of the behavior team
members that Tammy spoke about. Um we are lucky. We employ some exceptional people on our behavior team who happen to also be boardcertified behavior analysts. So we have um we have a lot of
knowledge on our team already. So we allow them to observe and then we collaborate with them during the school day. Um what was the other part of that question? I think that just was kind of the question of do we allow it and then if
we didn't why not. Um and I guess as we sit here understanding the budget situations that might be occurring just understanding if parents had that ability to have their therapist that they've been working with for so long to come in and assist that student in the classroom if that's something we've ever
explored. So I will tell you um you know when we think about third-party providers delivering services in our schools the the biggest reason that we provide it is
because under the law if a child needs it it's our responsibility. So if you go back to that journey of a child in special education, the case conference committee which is um composed of all of
those professionals on a child's team meet and they determine whether or not there is an educational need to access what is called a free appropriate public education. It's sometimes shortened and called FAPE. Um, and if a child needs
something as determined by the case conference committee, we have a legal responsibility to provide it. Um, Tammy talked a little bit about how those providers oftent times are funded through insurance and we want them to
access those services not in our schools but at other times outside of school. Um the other thing is if they are not hired by us that means they are not vetted by us. Um we really have to think about the
safety, security and privacy of all of our students and we can't ensure that with people who aren't hired by us. But I will say that collaboration is very vital and if either one of you want to speak on that.
I think um you know we we like to use particularly our board certified behavior analysts to oftentimes work with those providers because they speak the same language and so I talked earlier about ABA being a medical therapy um so oftentimes they're using
vocabulary and language and talking about treatment plans and things that are very medically based um that oftentimes don't fit in the school setting. um you know it'd be like thinking about all of you going somewhere to get a medical treatment and then expecting to get it embedded in
your job as well. And so um it's important that we collaborate with them. We have great relationship with them. I have appointments to go out to centers next week with some of our BCBAs. They come in and work with us as well. Um but I think from my perspective particularly
you know overseeing DP and even IB which we have a lot of outside mental health professionals is um our families have access to insurance dollars and waiver dollars for their own personal use and those dollars are limited and for you
know oftentimes we talk about our ethical and fiscal responsibilities to families and for us to say to a family you have a limited pool of waiver dollars and we'd like for you to spend that on a provider that you're going to give to us doesn't feel very ethical or fiscally
responsible to us. We we fully believe in our exactly what Stephanie said. We owe students a free and appropriate public education um at our expense and families should be free to use their own resources to access services on the
weekends or the evenings or respit. So many of our families need respit care um for a lot of our students who are very complicated. And so we feel very passionate that um we we are here to give a student what they need in the classroom and and we would like for you
to be able to keep your own dollars and services for you to use outside the classroom. Um again, thank you. Bless you all for what you do. Um it is
so so important and I value um what you and your whole team and every building does. uh because I know uh you're the point of a very long uh arrow. So, I appreciate that so much. And um
I think part of me wants to follow up on Miss Cashen's question. Um but I think I want to start out with this. Um this is was a great presentation. I think a lot of what you said is actually on our website. It's a
bit hard to find if and your millions of things to do. If perhaps we could make it a little bit easier to find because I'm pretty familiar with our website and I know how to look for stuff and it took me 10 minutes to click in to find it.
Um, so I think what I'll say is I love our successes. I have no doubt that what you say that we are providing the best of the best of these public school services to our students with special needs is true.
What I will also say is I would like this as a board member, as a a parent, as a human, I would like this conversation to continue and drill down because I believe you all know what I personally
know to be true, which is not all of our parents have the reaction of those three families on your video. We have some parents that leave our district because they haven't received the special needs services that they believe, whether that's rational, right,
legal or not, that they believe they need for their child. My personal experience with two children, one with an IEP and one with a for speech at a very young age and one with a 504 was that unfortunately um I felt like there was an information
vacuum that um the answers I got depended on who I was talking to in a given moment and um often felt unfortunately um combative, unnecessarily combative or adversarial.
And that's not where we all want to be, right? We want to be everybody's on this fading page doing what is best for this child. And so for me, one of the questions I have that I I don't expect anybody to answer tonight, but you know,
we know other school systems have parent advisory committees where, you know, one of the I heard so many stories on the campaign trail. I still hear stories on a regular basis from parents who just I feel like a lot of it frankly is an
information gap or vacuum. Like if they just understood the process as you have laid it out tonight, that would go miles and miles towards saying, "Hey, we're all on the same team here and we want best what's best for
your child." And I know part of it is they that's their child. they're advocating for it and you're advocating for best practices and what works um for our district. I I um so I just encourage us to consider
how we can best get information out and how we can best as a district and as your department take information in in a way that we can say how can we make the best even better. as is our our plan and
what what can we do with and what do you need from this board to do what you do better? I know if I sat in a room with you over coffee, you'd probably list five things off the top of your head. Um, you know, let let's make sure we
give you the tools you need to meet those famil family's needs. Um, I think also oftentimes when they get an answer, when parents get an answer like you got you gave to Miss Cashion right now, I I think what you said and tell me
if I'm wrong is number one, we would let that third party provider come in and observe. They are not providing services. Right. That's correct. >> Okay. And if the parent if it was the flip of the coin because I I understand there are very limited voucher funds and
very you know we didn't all win the lottery to give our kids everything we want to give them regardless. But if in a situation the parent said, "I have this provider that knows my child and has been working with my child outside
of school for years that I understand I I have to spend my resources to have them provide school services. Say it's a speech and language pathologist, say it's an OT, whatever." And they come to Carmel Schools and they they say, "This is what I want for my child within the
school day. I don't want it provided by that employee for whatever reason. Nothing against that employee. This is just the person who's known and worked with my child for years. Is the answer no? >> Yeah, it is. >> Yes, it is. >> Yeah, it is. >> And that that and and that's
>> for a myriad of reasons though. It it sounds very simple to say that >> an outside provider can come and deliver the services there. Like I said, >> do they do that in other districts, ma'am? >> I can't speak for what other districts
do. >> I believe they do. And there's also a bill that was pending this year in the special session that would have mandated schools allow that to happen. So, I think it's just all I say to you, and I'm not trying to attack you, is that um
it's a conversation that I think needs to be had. And I think there are various um budget pressures and lots of lots of safety and security things that go into that conversation.
Um but I I think um maybe we need to have a broader discussion about that issue and it's at the end of the day the consensus is it's still not the right thing for Carmel Clay Schools. That is absolutely fine with me. Um I want to make that clear. But that said, um I ca
when I when I hear parents say, "I came from another district and this was my provider in my child's school in this other district." Maybe it's another state, I don't know. And and now we can't get the same services we got there that we hear that we got there.
That's I think that's hard for parents to understand. Um and and maybe again that gets back to communication. >> So Mrs. Wheeler, I I do want to um just put in that you know Mrs. Fairchild mentioned that if we if the students need those services then it is our
responsibility to provide it. It's not you know so we would be providing similar services. It would not be with that same person that maybe that therapist they've been using but it is the district's responsibility to provide those services for that child that is in
need and and so we do need to do that. So there are other pieces where you know an outside provider that maybe they say I still want them to have these OT services. Sometimes we have students that look at a shortened day so that they can go to that outside provider or
what have you. So there are other ways of getting around that but as Mrs. Fairchild said it's our responsibility and we also are responsible for all of the other students in our buildings to keep them safe and to have um our employees as we employ them. We vet
those employees and we make sure that they are they are not only providing services for our special needs students but for all of our students in the building to keep all of our students safe in both safety as far as also as looking at um you know keeping their all
their information um clear and protected as well and we can't do that when we have people from the outside coming in. >> Well, I would disagree with that Dr. deadly respectfully as a lawyer. There are legal means to do that. I understand it's our legal responsibility, but the idea that there simply is no other way
to do that. I I don't think it's legally true. The example that I gave Dr. Orike was my daughter's in the choir program. We love the performing arts program. It's amazing. I pay out of my own pocket a voice tutor who is not an employee of
Carmel Clay Schools to come to the high school every week during the school day and give my daughter voice lessons. If I can do that, why can't we find a way in the appropriate circumstances to allow
special needs services to be provided with third parties? The fact of the matter is we have third parties in our schools every single day. We can vet them. We can make them legally responsible. But you can't tell me it's
just impossible to do because we're already doing it. I suspect similar provisions are being made for other non-speed services that I think we just need to have the conversation. Um, the other
thing that I I just think is important is everybody here is so full of um the work that they're doing every day. You know, do we need somebody whose job it is to be talking to parents every day that, you know, they're the point person
regardless of, you know, are they the starting point? You know, and maybe that's not the way to do it, but um again, it's like how do we get the information out? How do we make sure parents understand what their rights are? How do we make sure they understand
what the process is? And um what's the best way to do that? And to me, that's what the point of of of these workshops ought to be. Yes, I want to hear about how great our programming is. And again,
I tip my hat to you, but but how can we also continuously improve that? How can we meet what's in our strategic plan? How can we do better? Let's have a real conversation about what that might look
like. That's all. Um, just wanted to say that I I really appreciate everything you do and it's a very deep program and I going back when I went to school uh it it was very unfortunate that there was a great
separation of children that had um additional needs. They weren't in our schools. And I remember going to high school, we had uh uh I remember seeing a couple, you know, kids that had uh some real physical issues and we'd see them get out every once in a while and they
kind of kept them away from us and and uh it was sad, you know, and it's it's u it makes me think back where were they all and what were we doing? But I think I think our legislators I think our schools have really stepped up and addressed the problem. And you know I
like the idea of bringing trying to get the kids to be into a general education situation because then they can that's what that's what life's all about. You know you go to the store you have a general store. You don't have a special needs you have a general. So I think I think those things are great and how to
navigate you know simple things like getting on transportation. So it's it's it's really uh makes it warms my heart I guess to to say that uh I just think we've come so far as a society in that regard. Um,
you know, one thing that, uh, being I've been on the board just a few years and and I've seen a few situations arise that will where parents and I've spoken to some that they they don't feel like there's an advocate for them in their situation. And I can only imagine, not
through experience, but I can only imagine, you know, the uh the difficulty there must be for parents that um are dealing with, you know, a child that is is really struggling and really needs a different situation for them, a
different program tailored. And I think I think sometimes um there is a a a block between um how the school might represent what we can do and what what they can't what can be done and can't be done and what the
parents really feel because like you said that the parents are the closest to that situation of that child. They've been with that child every day of that child's life. So they know so much and I was I was encouraged to hear that you say the parents are the most important part of of the relationship between the
schools and and tailoring programs that really can work for that child. But it it just seems like there's there's cases and I know there's services that provide advocacy for the parents, but in a neutral, you know, objective third
party kind of realm where they can deal with issues maybe earlier as they arise rather than have it bubble up to, you know, higher levels of the organization. So, just wondering what your thoughts were on using some kind of an advocacy
um uh council, you know, that could maybe bridge the gap between, you know, two two sides of of an issue. >> Well, um Indiana does offer a free resource. It's called insource. Um they
provide uh trained parent liaison. They are trained in article 7, the state code for special education. We I know each one of us has has referred parents to that free resource.
I also like to believe that um each one of us does that service as well. We are there to help walk alongside families to help navigate the difficult situations. You may think we're not neutral, but um
I do think that we in every situation, we are looking out for the best interest of the child and keeping the child at the center of that. And I know that um all of us participate in lots of case conference meetings. We we work with
families. Um, you heard from some of them this evening on the video, but um, as far as like a neutral third party, I always refer parents to Insource because it is a free resource and they do
provide quality people who know that law and can help navigate um, the complexities of special education. >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I know some of you know me uh because this is my life. Um
we have been part of program since early childhood. So um I cannot personally say enough about um especially the middle school program that my child was in. Um and he is a graduate of the program and is in high school and doing well. So um
sorry not get a little um I've been really happy um with just his progress has been amazing. Um, I know also some of you know just I in my community work, my day job. You probably recognize me, too. Um, I've done I I live this special education life for my work and my home
life. So, um, I just am really excited to have this topic as a workshop. I've been wanting to hear um about this for the years I've been on the board. So, I'm I just I think it's such an important topic that um like like some of our board members don't know. I know
I live this every day, so I know all of these things. you were telling me about, but not everyone does. And I also get that and I think it's this is an important topic for our community as well to know all of the services um that we provide. Um sorry, I had something
else to say. Um I do I I kind of understand what what Mr. Brown was saying and and and speaking more along the lines of um because there are there's insource has liaison. um there are advocates you can pay for. Um but in in some other areas
of the of the country and of the state there are um what are called CPACs which are special education parent advocacy council and that may have been what he was alluding to and it is so I just wanted to clarify what he was kind of talking about and it's really supposed to just be this great communication great um relationship building between
the school and the parents. So just wanted to talk about that but thank you. This is such an important topic for us to talk about. It's nice to be the last one to get to go. Um, so not to uh be super redundant, but thank you um Miss Fairchild and to
your team. Um, this was a lot of great information. Um, thank you for the work that you do, your dedication to our students and to our families, uh, for your advocacy for our students and our families. Um,
it's uh it is a often I would imagine quite a thankless job. Um, I think I think working in a school district in general is a thankless job and I think when you're working for uh vulnerable populations of students that that um even more so. So um certainly you have
my appreciation I think you heard that also from my fellow board members this evening. Um I would echo a lot of the sentiments of of what um was already shared. And I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth. I I I don't know that any of us were questioning the
neutrality of of you all as a team. Um I think we've talked as a board and we felt this was a really important topic because it I don't know when the last time this was brought to the board or brought to the community. Um, and I think there there is a little bit of an information gap,
especially uh for those of us who may not have children that um have special needs, but also for parents who are trying to navigate this for the first time and just have no idea, right? And I'm I'm sure you all live this every
single day, right? A parent just doesn't know what what they're walking into, how to even na try and navigate which way to go. um and you help hold their hand and and that's remarkable for you to be able to do that. And I think we just want to make sure uh from the district's
perspective um and from the community's perspective, we are making sure our families are armed with all of the information. They know what's available to them. It's easy to access that information. Um and and they feel not just from a staff perspective, but that
as board members, they've got partners and advocates. um you know that's supposedly our jobs right as we sit up here to um to make sure um that they're being supported um and that their their well-paid tax resources um are are
getting them these great services. um you know, I I certainly had some idea of what our school district um had to offer um just from paying attention. Um but also because I live with uh I have a spouse who is a licensed clinical social
worker and has showed up at IEP meetings at various schools in our school district before uh and has had very complimentary things to say every single time uh she's come home from one of those meetings without sharing anything she's not supposed to. um she's very
good about maintaining boundaries. Um you know, so I I would just echo the sentiments about a CPAC and I I don't see it as something that is meant to be threatening um or a questioning of um of
the work that's being done. I actually think it only strengthens partnership and collaboration and communication. Um, and that's something that all of us as a board have talked about um, in in a variety of different ways. It's something that we think is important the same way we were discussing public
comment earlier, right? We want people to show up and tell us what they think uh, and participate as as an active part of the community because this is the community school district. And so if having an engaged um special education
advocacy committee is a way to make sure that the community is better informed about what resources are available and not and be able to do that in an active engaged way and not just read about it on a website. Um then I I think it's an
important thing for us to continue to discuss and talk about. So I don't want to ramble but I'll I'll Thank you again. >> Can I ask one other favor? Is it possible that you can someone can email us the presentation also? >> Of course. >> Yeah, we we will post it after. We'll post it.
>> I know you guys always send it out after >> Could I make one quick comment? >> Sure. And then Miss Cash. >> Okay. Um you folks are absolute saints. Absolute saints. And and I thank you for what you do. Um it's it's got to be a
really tough job, but it's got to be really rewarding, too. and you're just doing your righteous work. So, I'm so I'm so happy for to have you in the district. So, thank you. >> Thank you for all that feedback. We we
always will welcome that feedback and we are always working and striving to be better. So, the feedback is is great. Um I think we are always wanting to make sure that families know what we have to
offer. We want to do more family um nights to to put some information out there to help families navigate Indiana disability and and all the complexities that go along having a child with a
disability. And as far as like saints, I I mean I think we would all say that that we are lucky to do this work. But thank you for your time this evening. >> In the effort of the fact that it's a workshop, I'm totally going to ask this question. Um, but I would propose that
Chris and I as policy leaison go back and draft something for a CPAC type of initiative because in preparation for this meeting as well, I had my community connect me with five people who are in the special education community that I had not met yet to hear their feedback.
and even outside of navigating the system, they all communicated that they felt alone, that they didn't have other parents in the community coming together as a special needs community to just share their successes and challenges and
have that support network. So even from that perspective, I feel like a CPAC could really be valuable for our caramel community. Um, so I guess I would ask is that the next step from here really is to look at a polic proposal or what's
next steps? >> I mean, I think that that my opinion is that that I think it would be a logical first step is for you all and I would suggest getting with Dr. Dudley uh for multiple reasons. One, because she's the policy administrative, but also given
her role in in working overseeing special education um to to talk about what that could look like. >> Yeah. And I can also add that our current policies allow for us to have a CPAC as well. Um, and so we can also go in that direction if that's the wishes
of the board to move in that direction. That's something that we have policies that the superintendent oversees different committees throughout the school district and something that I certainly could work on, you know, with board member input. Um, our special services team could also do that as
well. So, I don't necessarily know that we need a specific policy because there are policies on the book that allow us to move forward uh with this type of a parent group. I was waiting to be acknowledged. Um um yes, I I think I wanted to echo the
thoughts I again many of you know me. you know how appreciative I am of services for my own family. Um it's been life-changing. Um but I do think, you know, just in in the daily life that I live, I really um I know a lot of the
people that do um CPACs that have run them and helped build them and it's just becomes such a really beautiful community place um for families and the school to meet um with with no intention of making a lot of extra work for you guys. You guys work your tails off. we
and we know that you're working I'm sure all night all you know all every day of the week. Um but just as that as that go between so we have less um less questioning in in um parents all parents that are that are happy with the services and um I think that's kind of
where with with other districts in particular one like um Westfield it's been a really successful program um and they'll bring in speakers to speak somewhat like you're doing with your family nights. They'll bring in speakers to speak about. I love that idea about, you know, what can you be doing to saving money and what's that transition?
I love um I love that piece. Um but yeah, it's meant to kind of just be this coming together is is my understanding. >> I was I was just going to note I I agree the superintendent can the the existing policies allow the superintendent to
create a committee um for lots of different things in his discretion. do think this is a little bit of a unique issue and we all need to at least as we start out have a common understanding of what the goals are and what this looks like in particular because there is an
Indiana administrative co code provision from our department of education that encourages school districts to have CPACs. Um that's actually in state law for anybody that cares. I know I bore people with my legal stuff. Um so I do
see it as a little bit different and will just not not blame but express frustration that um this is something that I have been talking about for more than a year and not neither our previous
superintendent nor our current one is actually taken any action on it yet. So, um I would submit that at least, uh whether it's a policy or whether it's just a hey, this is what this is going to look like and we all agree on the ground rules that maybe just to get us
going and all the other things we do every day that we ought to have a common understanding of what it looks like. So, I'd like to do that specific to a CPAC um so that we know there's a plan to move forward.
noted. Okay, thank you again. Next uh on our agenda is the superintendent report. Dr. Orike, >> thank you, President Shapiro. I also personally want to thank this team in front of us. They are one of the most
hardworking, caring, passionate group of professionals uh that I've been around in my 27-year career. and I just want to share appreciation for the work that you do with all of our families. Um certainly we want to get better every single day and knowing those of you
personally and in front of me will certainly do that and I have no doubt that we will continue to serve all families uh in our district at an extremely high level. And those that we need to work with a little bit more to help families understand uh where we
need to go and what we need to do, we're going to do that. and uh I'm confident in that because this is the best uh special services team that I've ever worked with. So, thank you very much. I really appreciate you and thank you for the presentation because I've been here I'm in my seventh year. Uh we have not
had a special education uh workshop or presentation. So, the depth and the breadth of our programming um that you shared today, I think will be great for our community and those who do watch uh tonight. It'll also be a resource um for those that we can put on our website um
that people can go to and understand um where we are and and where we want to go and uh continue to serve our families. So, a special thank you from your superintendent. We appreciate you and we're going to continue to do good work for all of our families here in the district. So, thank you. to start the
stu uh superintendent's report. I received a letter recently uh from associate superintendent uh Mr. Roger Mcichael who shared with me that he will be retiring from Carmel Clay Schools
effective January 4th, 2027. So, this will conclude an incredible 33 years uh in Carmel Clay Schools and 53 years in public education. And so, Roger's impact on Carmel Clay Schools
cannot be overstated. Throughout his career, he played a critical role in strengthening our district's financial stability, collaborative relationships, uh supporting the development of worldclass facilities, and uh really um
educating uh not just all of us up here on the board, but also the community. And uh that work is not done as well. So, his leadership has helped ensure that our schools remain places where students and staff can fully thrive. And
so, Roger, I know you have nearly a year left with us, uh, but I want to say this publicly tonight. You have set the bar incredibly high for dedication, professionalism, and commitment to our students and families. And on behalf of
Carmel Clay Schools and everyone up here on this dis uh we thank you for your leadership, your partnership and your decades of service. We look forward to celebrating you many more times before January of 2027. Congratulations.
All right, we have Mrs. plum out in the audience and uh I know she's a big swimming fan and her family's a big swimming fan and so I do want to congratulate our girls swimming and diving teams who are once again
sectional champions and this weekend they are headed to state. Um, and it would be an astonishing 40th straight consecutive state championship should our girls pull off
the victory on Saturday. Uh, the level of sustained excellence is truly historic and reflects the dedication of our student athletes, coaches, uh, and our families and parents. So, we wish him the very best uh as they represent
Carmel Clay Schools and Carmel High School on the state stage uh at state this Saturday. Um I'll be packing my uh swim trunks uh because when they do when they do win, then we all jump into the pool. So, I'm hoping I get to do that on
Saturday. So, looking forward to that. Also want I had the opportunity to attend uh the Carmel High School winter play uh Treasure Island this past weekend and it was absolutely fantastic. Our students delivered an outstanding performance filled with creativity,
talent and incredible stage presence uh from the acting and stage design to the behind the scenes uh production. the behind the scenes, the everything from the lighting to the sound to the set um was truly truly amazing. Wonderful show,
talented performers, and thank you again to our students, directors, parents, and staff who made this production such a success. And finally, our bell ringer for this evening goes to our school counselors and social workers as last
week was school counselor and social worker week. So, um, we, uh, our counselors and social workers play such a vital role, and you heard some of that tonight, um, in supporting the academic success, emotional well-being, and
future planning of our students. Their work is especially meaningful for families and students navigating important transition and transitioning grade levels uh, throughout our school. So, we've uh heard from many grateful parents who are deeply appreciative of
the care, the guidance and advocacy our social workers and counselors play every day. To our counselors and social workers, if you're listening across Carmel's Clay Schools, thank you for the compassion and expertise you bring to our students and family. Your impact is
profound and deeply valued. Thank you. That concludes uh my report this evening and together we achieve. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Orike. That concludes our business this evening. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Move to adjurnn.
>> Thank you, Miss Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Meeting is adjourned.