Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Water. [Music]
Hey, hey, hey. [Music]
all the way down. Stephanie, don't you want to sit by your head? Okay. Perfect. Hi. Where are you? Oh my god. So happy to have you. The meeting is now called to order. Roll
call. Secretary Shapiro. All board me, excuse me, all board members are present. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance of the stands
nationy and justice for all. We will now move on to the presentation portion of the meeting to recognize the service award recipients and our retirees. Dr. Orike. Good evening. Good evening, President Coke, Dr. Beersford,
and members of our board. It is an honor to be here tonight to recognize our employees for their years of service as well as those who will be retiring at the end of this school year. Our community, our district, our school
board and our and our administration uh want to congratulate all of you today and we look forward to recognizing you on stage this evening. And so we will do we will start with our years of service and there will be a task tonight. So at
this time with those employees who are being recognized for their 20 years of service to Carmel Clay Schools, please come all the way to the brick wall and we'll have you line up alphabetically as we recognize you tonight. So that's
today's lesson. So, at this time, those with 20 years of service, please go ahead and line up against the brick wall. And as our employees are lining up tonight, for those with 20 years of service, they are going to receive a
certificate and also an Amazon gift card of $100. We have previously had a catalog for employees to choose from, but over the last couple of years, we have provided the gift card so that our employees can purchase something in
honor of their years of service with the district. and that has been a big hit over the years. Additionally, um I'm going to need to talk to the next superintendent. However, in your in your program, um the font might be a little
bit small, so I'll be using my glasses as well, but it was recommended that the font get larger as we recognize those with more years of service. So, we'll we'll we'll work on that for next year. All right. At this time, we are going to
be recognizing those with 20 years of service. When I call your name, please come and uh receive your certificate, shake the hand, and then line up all the way to the edge of the um stage here
tonight. 20 years of service. And please hold your applause till the end. 20 years of service. Dimas Alberto from Carmel High School. Missy Bohannan from Collegewood Elementary. Melinda Bowman, Woodbrook
Elementary. Josh Cole, Carmel High School. Beatatrice Quas, Carmel High School. Elizabeth Elliot, Smoky Row Elementary. You guys are doing a great job lining up alphabetically. That's
amazing. Uh Tina Gaul, Town Meadow Elementary. Alex Johnson, Smoky Row Elementary. Linda Jones, Caramel High School. Sarah Mai, Carmel Middle
School. Don Mussolini, West Clay Elementary School. Leila Nice, Clay Middle School. Greta Pot, Clay Middle School. Nikki Rash, Caramel Elementary
School. Susan Matthews, Cherry Tree Elementary School. Lorie Simnik, Town Meadow Elementary School. Jelinda Stella, West Clay Elementary School. Katherine
Surret, Creekide Middle School. and Allison Wininrich, Forestdale Elementary School. Let's give a round of applause for those employees with 20 years of service. We're going to do a quick picture while
we're doing that picture with those being honored with 25 years of experience. Please line up alphabetically along the brick wall. Stacy Arnold's gonna kick us off here for 25 years.
Yeah. Okay. Oh, well. Got it. Thank you, Becky. Yep. All right. And at this time, we are going to recognize those with 25 years
of experience here with Caramel Clay Schools. They will also receive a certificate and an Amazon gift card to honor this momentous occasion uh worth $125. And so we will begin once again.
Please hold your applause till the end. 25 years of experience here with Carmel Clay Schools and Service will begin. Clay Middle School, Stacy Arnold, Heather Banks, West Clay
Elementary School. Tamara Belbotsski, Carmel Middle School. Kelly Davis, Woodbrook Elementary School. Amy Dudley, Education Services
Center. Ron Echelman, Transportation. Kelly Flagger, Clay Center Elementary School. Stacy Girth, Smoky Row Elementary School. Valerie Hoover,
Transportation. She's got a fan. Susan Johnson, Caramel High School. Brooke Kzovvich, Collegewood Elementary. Tracy Krauss, Clay Middle School.
Brian Leiday, Town Meadow Elementary. Christa May, Creekide Middle School. Renee Moyer, Clay Center Elementary. Tim Ferris, Caramel High
School. Andrea Pinkerton, Caramel High School. Ryan Ringenberg, Carmel High School. Leslie Schmidt, Caramel High School. Angela Snyder, Creekide Middle
School. Justinda Salski, Carmel High School. Rebecca Stoolpie, Caramel High School. Bridget Walsh, Collegewood Elementary
School. And Robin Wood, educator. Congratulations to those with 25 years of service to Carmel Clayfield School. Here we go. And as they get their picture with those
with 30 years of service to Carmel Clay Schools, please line up alphabetically against the brick wall. 30 years of service. Let's put our hands together one more time. 25 years of service to Carmel Clay
Schools. So before we recognize uh those uh employees with 30 years of service, I have a quick story to tell. And so two of our honores this evening with 30 years of service are sisters. So we have
Stephanie Borlick and Shannon McClintto. Both are sisters here in the district. They both teach in the district and both of their parents retired from Caramel Clay Schools. Pretty amazing lineage right there.
It's not every district where we can a recognize those employees with 30 years of experience, but to have sisters and the family who have dedicated their entire lives to our district to something really special. And their dad is here. Dad, would you please stand?
Let's recognize dad right now. Where's dad? Former Karma Play School teacher. All right. So, 30 years of service to Caramel Clay Schools. They will also receive a certificate and a gift card worth $150. Please spend that on yourselves in
honor of tonight's recognition. So, we will start. Enid Baines, Carmel High School. Stephanie Borlick, Carmel Elementary School. Kathy East, Clay Middle School.
Carla Fiser, Carmel Middle School. Michelle Grace, Clay Middle School. Matthew Hunter, Woodbrook Elementary School. Shannon Mcccleintoch,
Forestdale Elementary School. Jennifer Riley Davis, Carmel High School. Jim Sticel, Carmel High School. and Elizabeth the Caramel Elementary
School. Congratulations to all of our employees with 30 years of service. [Applause] Let's give him one more round of applause. I've been my sixth year in the district
and every single year uh we seem to honor which is amazing someone from transportation with an incredible amount of years of experience. So would our two employees with 40 years of experience the Caramel Clay Schools please come to
the front. So, those employees with 40 years of experience, they will receive a certificate from the district and they will also receive a $200 gift card to be able to spend and recognize for their
years of service this evening. We're not going to hold our applause for these two. Once I announce their name, I want it to get wild out there. All right. 40 years of service is incredible. Not many school districts can say that. There we go. With 40 years of service to Carmel
Clay Schools, please put your hands together from transportation. Melanie, hold on. Let me get these glasses on. Melanie Bale. Congratulations. [Music] And our second dedicated employee to
Caramel Clay Schools coming from Caramel Elementary School. Put your hands together for Jeanie Singleton. Heat. Heat. [Music] as they are putting together their photos. At this time, we're going to
move to the retiree portion of the evening. So, with those that are being recognized for their upcoming retirements, please line up at the brick wall. Thank you very much. Hey, which ones here? And then these that have this um they
also were recognized for years. One more time, put your hands together. 40 years of service to Caramel Clay Schools. Melanie and Jeanie, thank you so much. We so appreciate you. And before we get to our retirees,
I'm going to ask one last time for all of our employees that are recognized tonight for their years of years of service. Please stand and let's recognize you one last time. All right. At this time, we are going to recognize our retirees who may have
retired sometime uh after uh this celebration last school year. So, some of them may be retired and many of them will be retiring sometime at the end of this school year. So, at this time, I'm going to announce their name, their
school, and I'm going to give you just a short little bit of information about each of our retirees. And so, um, no need to hold applause with our retirees this evening. So, first we have also being recognized for their years of
service and as a retiree tonight from Carmel High School, Enid Baines. Enid retires with 29 years of service as an English teacher to the students of Carmel High School and hit her 30th. Thank you for sharing your love of
teaching, Enid. Our wishes for a happy and healthy retirement go with you. Enid Baines from Carmel High School and Gelica Becker. And Gelica has held roles of world language department chair and
German teacher over the past 27 years. We wish you and Ted who was part of our educational services uh center family and he retired in 2021. Both you and Ted much happiness in the future. Angelica
Becker serving as our superintendent for the last seven years. Michael Bearsford, Dr. B, and Jim Dandy will retire from Carmel Clay Schools with seven years of service to our staff and students and 42 years of educational
leadership overall. On behalf of the entire CCS family, we thank you for your outstanding leadership, vision, and dedication. Your commitment to excellence has been felt in every facet of the district. Michael Bearsford from Caramel High School Food
Service. Edith Billingsley. Edith is retiring after 41 years with Caramel Clay Schools. Yeah, we'll clap for that. Her dedicated service and impressive commitment to Carmel High School food service department has been
greatly valued. The Carmel High School staff and community will certainly miss her and we wish her all the best. Edith Billingsley from Woodbrook Elementary School. Speech language pathologist Melinda Bowman. Mindy has assisted our students
with speech and language services for the past 26 years. We thank you for the countless lives you have touched as you enter this next chapter of retirement. Melinda Bowman Prairie Trace third grade teacher Rhonda
Cruz. Rhonda started her career with CCS as a sub prior to a teaching career that spanned 23 years. She retires as a third grade teacher at Prairie Trace Elementary School. and we thank you for your dedication and service to our
students and families. Rhonda Cruz also recognized tonight for years of service and as a retiree from Clay Middle School, a teacher of our deaf and heart of hearing, Kathy Estus. Kathy has been a special education
teacher since 1995 working with our deaf and heart heart of hearing students. We thank you for your service to the students of both Hamilton Boon Madison and Carmel Clay schools and we congratulate you on your retirement. Kathy Estus, Clay Middle School custodian,
Samir Gendy. Samir first became a custodian at Carmel Middle School in 2003. He moved to Clay Middle School in 2015 where he finished out 20 years of service to Carmel Clay Schools. Congratulations,
Samir Jendi. Also being recognized, we have Janette Higgins from Mohawk Trails Elementary School. Janette retires after completing 31 years of service to Carmel Clay Schools, most recently as a high ability
grade 2 teacher at Mohawk. Please accept our gratitude and warm wishes for a well-deserved retirement. Janette Higgins, math teacher at Carmel High School. Dawn Lowmire is not here, but let's give a
round of applause to Dawn. Clay Middle School band teacher Greta Po. Greta has nurtured students for the past 34 years, 20 of those as the band director at Clay Middle School. We thank you for instilling a love of music in
your students and they will carry that on with them for a lifetime. Greta Pot also Clay Middle School PE and health teacher Jamie Sanders. Jamie retires with 20 years of teaching experience, 13 with CCS as well teacher
at Clay Middle School. Our wellness teachers play an intricral role in exercising our students mind as well as their bodies and we thank you for your years of service. Jamie Sanders, Carmel High School executive
assistant to Dr. Ferris, Sue Sinclair. Sue started her CCS career as a substitute teacher in 2005. Over the years, she grew in our district by moving to an instructional assistant, an administrative assistant at Creekide, and then finally by becoming the
executive assistant at Caramel High School in 2018. Sue wanted to retire a few years ago, but she was willing to stay a few more years for Dr. Ferris as he became the new principal at Carmel High School. Now, after 20 years of service to the district, Sue will take
her muchdeserved retirement. Congratulations to math department chair and also a years of service recognition tonight, Angela Snyder. Angela retires with 25 years of service to Carmel Clay Schools as math
department chair at Creekide Middle School and 30 years overall. We thank you for your thoughtful guidance in our math department as well as the many student lives you have impacted. We wish you a happy and healthy retirement. Angela Snider, one of our incredible bus
drivers from transportation, Donald Thornton. Donald became a bus driver for Carmel Clay Schools in 2013. He also added the role of lunch supervision at our high school between his bus routes. He retires this year after 12 years of
service. Thank you for your service and for your dedication to transporting our students safely. Donald Jordan from Carmel High School. Spanish teacher Kimberly Vivang. Kim retires with 24 years of
service as a world language Spanish teacher at Carmel High School. We know that your retirement will be filled with wonderful travels and thank you for all you've done for our students. Kim Vivang. And at this time, let's put our
hands together and show appreciation for our 2025 retirees from Caramel Clay Schools. [Music] I'm good. And as they're getting their picture together, I'd like to take a moment to a
special thank you to Kelly Hackett from human resources who put everything together this evening along with our HR team. Kelly, thank you for your leadership for this evening. I'd also like to thank our food services department for the lovely
reception we had before tonight's Tears of Service recognition. And a special thank you to our school board for all of their support of all employees here in Carmel Clay Schools. Thank you so much. And at this time, one more round of
applause for our 2025 retirees. You are all welcome to stay for the remainder of the board meeting, but if you would like to go and celebrate those being recognized here this evening, we will take a short break and we will uh come back here in about five minutes.
Thank you very much and thank you for being here tonight. Thanks, Mom. Thank you. It's difficult to keep. No, I do not. No, I We will now move on to public comment.
Next in our agenda, per board bylaw speakers are placed in two groups. And this evening we have all three people who have signed up to speak are from group one and that is CCS students, CCS parents, guardians,
employees, and Carmel residents. As a reminder, participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface their comments by an announcement of their name and group affiliation if applicable. Comments may not reference specific corporation
employees, patrons, or students. Comments shall be directed to the board. No person may address or question individual board members. The school board will not will not act on or respond to questions or comments made during public comment, but will take them under
advisement. We have already placed the numbers for the speakers in our fancy bingo basket and determined an order. Uh so the first will person will speak and then the second person's name you will be on deck when your name is called.
There's a microphone to the back of the auditorium. So it'll be your back right. Um and you will have three minutes to speak. We'll have a timer here on the board and to let you know um when your time is almost
up. First up for public comment we have Stephanie Dazbach. And then on deck is Benjamin Offlander. Stephanie, are you here this evening? If not, we will go ahead and move on to uh Benjamin
Oslander and then on deck will be Carol Olander. First of all, I'd like to personally thank the board um the school board for their willingness to address anti-semitism and help the Jewish students at Carmel. My name is Ben Ashlander. I'm a high school senior at Carmel High School and the president of
the Jewish student union there. Um I'd also like to personally thank um Dr. Baris Ford and Dr. Orike. Um, it's not I when I first heard about what happened, I wrote an email to ask to meet with them. And not only did they take me seriously, even as a high school
student, I was able to walk away from my meeting with actual things that happened and an actual plan and it was more than I could have ever expected or wanted. So, I would like to thank you all for helping me out and helping out the church community.
Thank you very much. Up next is Carol Oslander. Thank you uh superintendent and school board members. My name is Carol Allander. I am uh a parent of a soon to be graduating senior, Ben, who just spoke before me, as well as a rising eighth grader at Creekide Middle
School. um and also a member of the Jewish community of Carmel and appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Um my family, we grew up in Indianapolis. My come from an family of educators. Uh my mother taught in
Washington Township uh for a significant period of time growing up and my husband is also a school teacher in Washington Township. But when we moved back from Washington DC, we decided to make Caramel our home uh specifically for the
school district here despite having teachers in a in a very close neighboring school district. And we did that for a number of reasons. Number one, um because of the vibrant Jewish community here in Carmel, also for the diverse community at large here in
Carmel. and also uh for the excellent education, the global education that we know that our kids would receive. So, we specifically moved to Carmel with that in mind. um due to the unfortunate incident that
happened. I just wanted to thank you on behalf of my family and for our community for listening to us and for responding and activating so quickly and for putting together the standard operating procedures uh that you will be
introducing today. We think that is an important first step in trying to do things better. Uh things happen and we recognize that. uh no nobody is perfect. Uh so but we are just very appreciative of the steps that you are making to make
this happen. Um and uh with that I will just close and thank you all for your attention to this matter and for uh responding so quickly uh and thank you for uh hearing from the students as well because this affects them in a very personal way. So from my mama heart I
thank you very much for listening and for activating. I appreciate it. Thank you. Is Stephanie Dosbach? [Music] Oh, you are up next. Thank you. Thank you. I've prepared a statement that I will read to the board.
Uh, good evening. My name is Stephanie Dosbach and I am a proud parent of four students in the CCS district, including one graduate. I'm here tonight to address the board regarding policy 40 4540, the schools and governmental agencies. I respectfully urge the board
to consider the following concerns. To safeguard a minor's constitutional rights, particularly their fifth amendment protections, it is essential for children to have an option to request a trusted adult beyond the principal or or designate be present during any questioning or interviews conducted by
law enforcement or DCS employees. Minors often struggle to fully understand their rights even when these rights are explained. And as a result, they can be vulnerable in situations that they may not completely comprehend. The CCS guiding principles clearly state that students are at the center of every
decision. In keeping with this commitment, I believe it is in the best interest of students for school authorities to ensure minors are made aware of their rights and obligations when interacting with law enforcement and DCS employees in accordance with Indiana code.
Furthermore, having a trusted adult beyond a principal or designate present during such interactions not only protects the child's constitutional rights, but also helps mediate a situation, reducing fear and intimidation for the minor. Thank you for your time and thoughtful
consideration in this matter. Thank you. Next on our agenda is a consent part of our agenda tonight. that includes the personnel report, claims, payroll, gift applications, and the March 10th and March 24th schoolboard
minutes. As a reminder to the audience this evening, our consent agenda is the business part of our agenda that we uh it's our designated section where we have kind of grouped together our business parts for effective or efficient consideration and approval in
one single motion as opposed to grouping them all or um singling them all out. Do I have a motion to approve all items listed on the consent agenda? Madame President, I move to accept all items in the consent agenda and consider
agenda and consider them together. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. So, our motion is to approve all of the items together listed on the consent agenda. Any discussion on consent items? Right. Seeing none, we will now
take a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. 5 Z. We will move on. Sorry. We will move on to our action items. Our first item is several change
orders. And um if I could if I could have a motion to approve the change orders as a group. Uh Mr. Mcichael will still share all of the information individually on each separate change order. However, the items um for this evening are items 5.1, change orders for
the Cherry Tree Elementary renovations. Item 5.2, change orders for the Carmel High School grandstand renovation. And item 5.3, change orders for the Carmel High School nudiatorum addition and existing nudiatorum renovations.
I move to take the change orders as a group. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Chris. So, our motion um is to our first motion this evening is to group change orders 5.1 through
5.3 together um as a single motion. Any discussion? Uh seeing none, we will take a vote. And again, we are voting on putting items 5.1, 5.2, two and 5.3 on the agenda as a group signify by saying I I I I motion
carries. Mr. Mcichael, can you give us some background information on those change orders? I can. Uh for the uh first change order is related to Cherry Tree Elementary and and after bids were awarded, uh we we knew we were going to have to do some work on the site what
will become the sidewalk in front of the school in order to comply with the city requirements. So that's uh we were tell we were aware of that um but um and we do have sufficient contingency to to allow for that. The second change
order uh looks to be very large and it is significant. However um when we receive bids we did not receive a bid for one category which was pre-cast concrete. So, we anticipated doing that with a change order uh which is like
three is just a little over $368,000. So, that that was because we received no bids and and uh it is within the estimate that our uh construction manager had anticipated it would cost. The second one is um uh for
$179,000. So, that's not insignificant either. But um in doing this working on the stadium project, they discovered that there was unstable unstable soil underneath the grand stands and so they had we have to stabilize that. Unfortunately, that has happened from
time to time and and but again we do have ample um contingency to allow for that. And then the third one is um for the natiatorum and again it's showing is $183,000 but actually um it's about just
a little over $46,000. The balance of that will be charged back to a another contractor that uh was unable to perform that portion of the work. So we gave it to a a second contractor. Thank you for those explanations. May I
have a motion to approve action items 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3 on the agenda? I move that we approve uh 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3. Thank you, Greg. May I have a second? Second.
Thank you, Jennifer. Any discussion? Right. Seeing none, we are going to we are what we are voting on. Our motion is in favor of approving items 5.1, 5.2, two and 5.3 signify by
saying I I I motion carries. Next on our agenda is our first discussion item and that is materials adoption. Dr. Dudley, thank you. So back in October, the board approved new courses as well as modifications to courses in the program of study for
Carmel High School. And this evening I have a list of materials that are we are proposing to use with these new courses. The materials were reviewed by our teachers and administrators at the high school as well as administrators um at ESC. And the parents and community
members also had the opportunity to review and ask questions and give feedback on these materials at a preview night that was held at the high school on April 1st. All right. Thank you. Do any of you have any questions for Dr. Dudley?
Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next discussion item is the first reading of policy 4540, uh, the schools and government agencies policies. And um I'm going to hand this over to Dr. Dudley. And again, this is
an actual um a policy update um on uh a policy that is already in existence. Correct. Correct. So, our attorneys recommended that we review policy 45 or 4540, the schools and government agency policy in response to executive order
protecting the American people against invasion that was issued on January 20th, 2025 and the subsequent rescending of the 2021 DHS memo designating schools as protected areas where ICE enforcement should not be conducted. And as Mrs. Kok
mentioned this. We already had this existing policy and so the policy liaison um reviewed this. Mrs. Jesse Billingsley from Church Hill and Antrum made some suggested changes to our current policy 45
40 and she's here to present those changes. So Mrs. Billingsley Thank you. I guess I should have started walking when they started talking. Uh, good evening. Jesse Billingsley with Church Hillantrum. I'm here today, as Dr. Dudley said, to talk about revisions
or suggested revisions to board policy 4540. So I can just go through those in short order. The first paragraph remains essentially the same as your current board policy just correcting the name of the department of child services. Make a general statement that generally the
questioning of and interviewing of students on school property is not permitted unless there's specific ex exigent circumstances and those are explained for both law enforcement and the department of child services. And then probably most notably updated, we
did update the legal citation. The law previously in the policy was rescended about 10 years ago. So I'm happy to answer any questions you have on the revisions. Do we have any questions or discussion from the board? Madame President, I I don't know
that I have questions. I do have some comment as if now is the appropriate time. Um, thank you, Miss Billingsley. I think uh perhaps some of the confusion that some might have had related to this being not a new policy was um that we as
a board saw a red line of the existing policy, but what was on in the public facing um version of board docs was a clean copy, which looked new, but it was not new. Um, and I would suggest and recommend that we post the red lines
going forward just to help clarify what is new language and what is not. Um, I do want to emphasize uh what you said, which is that our baseline is that questioning and interviewing students on school property
is not allowed. That is a new part of the policy. That is true except when there is a court order. That is a new part of the policy. Previously, you did not have to have a court order or if DCS comes with parental
consent, a court order, or there are exigent circumstances. I think it's important for folks to remember that this is not just an immigration issue. There could be any matter involving DCS or the police. That could be the subject matter. And we need to probably
reference what what are exigent circumstances. It's defined under the law where a parent would not be notified and they are very limited. So this is not at all intended to be a policy to limit parents rights. The law in Indiana
says that the parent wouldn't be notified in exigent circumstances under Indiana code 3192244.1 if there is eminent danger of the child being physically or sexually abused or neglected or the child has
been physically or sexually abused or neglected. and the parent or custodian of the child is the alleged perpetrator or knew the ab abuse or neglect was happening and did not ensure
the child's safety. I would hope that everyone under those circumstances would agree that if a parent or a guardian was the alleged perpetrator or knew about the abuse and did nothing to protect the
child, those very limited circumstances, it would be appropriate not to notify the parent. In all other circumstances, the parent is going to be notified particularly when the um
student is removed from the premises. So of the school. So again, I believe this is a better policy. We we do as a board want to hear feedback and I welcome comments from others, but I think it was misunderstood because we didn't have a red line and perhaps people didn't
actually read the policy um to see what it said. but um certainly invite additional comments and thoughts. Again, as the president noted, it is not being voted on tonight. That's why we put it out there to get feedback from our
community and we welcome that feedback and um to the extent we can make it better. We'd like to hear your thoughts. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wheeler. Any comments or questions from any other board members?
Thanks for that uh good explanation of what we're really looking at here. It it is an unsettling thing to to even think about that we would have uh someone come into a school and and talk to a child
without parent consent. There's there are some circumstances that are are very well outlined here and I too just wanted to echo that. I would love to hear responses u in the next uh next meeting or even before writing letters to the
board. It is very unsettling just to think of such a thing and appreciate the comments. Thank you. Thank you Miss Billingsley for being here. Chris, appreciate uh you further defining um just would echo everybody else's sentiments. I mean uh
professionally work in an environment where we also recently updated policy to ensure that it was in compliance with recent executive action. Um, so certainly understand the impetus to do so and would also uh had some folks from our community reach out to me uh in the
last couple days to ask about this update and so uh spent some time clarifying what the board was intending to do and would uh encourage folks to make sure prior to the next school board meeting if you have feedback or concerns that you reach out prior to us taking
action. So that is all. Yeah. I would like to ask a question though. U there's been an update to the Indiana code. Isn't that correct? Yes. Uh with the the scope of this existing policy? Yes. Is it fair to say that what we're
doing is uh implementing those changes that were specified in Indiana code? Yeah. In existing law. Yes. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Thank you for your time. We appreciate you being here. Thank you. And again,
this was the first reading of that policy 4540. And as the other board members have indicated, uh we welcome and appreciate um feedback from the community. Uh if you wanted to send us emails and let us know how you feel about this policy or any any questions
you have. Again, I think there was a little bit of um some misinformation about the policy and in its intent. Um but with any policies we we do have to update them from time to time um as laws change or executive orders come out and that's part of our
job. And with that being said, we have another policy that we are um going to be updating and again this is a first reading of the policy. So this we are not voting on this policy either this evening. We are discussing it. So this
is policy 5261.01 01 parent involvement in education. Dr. Dudley, thank you. So, in response to an unfortunate event that happened earlier this year, the policy liaison committee reviewed policy 5261.01, parent involvement and
education policy. Um uh the substantial changes is that um we connected this policy to our existing policy 4362 non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy. So that in any celebrations at
the schools that all displays with content need to be pre-approved by the school administration prior to the celebration and must comply with our existing board policy 4362 non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy. Another change to this policy is
the superintendent shall develop administrative guidelines that support the parental involvement in education policy and Dr. Bearsford in his report will discuss those administrative guidelines after the board discusses the actual policy.
Thank you, Dr. Dudley. Jennifer, thank you. Um, this draft policy that we're introducing tonight is an important first step in addressing the Jewish community's concerns about experiences within Carmel Schools. Last
month's cultural affair at Smoky Row Elementary gaps in oversight and supervision, gaps that these proposed policy changers seek to correct. This discussion and the proposed policy
changes are critically important to the Jewish community. Just last week, the Anti-Defamation League released its annual audit of anti-semitic incidents. In Indiana, the report showed a 141%
increase in anti-semitic incidents from two 2023 to 2024. Over the past 5 years, from 2020 to 2024, incidents have risen 735%. It was also reported that Indiana
has the same number of incidents targeting Jewish institutions as Illinois. Yet, we are only onetenth the size of the state of Illinois. This is not to suggest that Carmel is an epicenter of
anti-semitism. However, Indiana now ranks 12th nationally in reported anti-semitic incidents according to this AC ADL's report. This is an alarming statistic that we cannot ignore. As public officials,
[Music] educators, and as schoolboard members, we have both a responsibility and an opportunity to actively interrupt anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination when we encounter them in
our schools. This is a real opportunity for us to lead by example and truly get this right. We will continue reviewing and suggesting further policy improvements and professional development within our
corporation opportunities to help ensure our administrators are fully equipped to meet the needs of our Jewish community, our Jewish students, and all students in our district. I look forward to hearing future feedback from the Carmel
community as the draft policy moves forward. and I sincerely thank everyone for their work on this important topic. Thanks, Kristen. Uh, thank you, Dr. Dudley. Um, I didn't write anything down because
I figured I would just share what I was feeling. Um, I appreciate the steps that we're starting to take here and I think that this addresses a really specific set of events. Um, you know, it
addresses cultural affairs and it is well-intentioned and I appreciate the fact that we are applying consistency uh across our school district. Clearly something that was missing um because otherwise this might not have happened.
Um, however, something that came to light after the incident at Smoky Row through communication that we heard through other members of our community were other incidents um that were happening
at some of our schools around anti-semitism, around other forms of discrimination. Um, and so what I want to make sure that we're also paying attention to is that this addresses events. It doesn't
address this in a on a broader and larger scale. And that's something that I think we also need to be paying attention to. Um, and I know we've started to have some of those conversations. I know that administration has started to have some of those conversations. Uh I think Jennifer alluded a little bit to that,
but I I don't think we can lose sight of a larger conversation. Um you know, as uh as a schoolboard member, as a parent of a student in this school system, as a member of the Jewish community, um you know, this is deeply personal. This is
deeply emotional for me. Um, you know, I worry about my child, um, and what happens to him when he's walking the halls at school because I've heard the stories and, um, you know, my my child walks
around sometimes with his head in the sand and um is a little culturally unaware sometimes. Um but there are plenty of students who are not culturally unaware and um it can be a really scary time and I think we have an opportunity
um over these next few months to really um change the course and ensure that our school administrators, that our teachers are empowered and have the tools to when they see something to say something to help educate our students. um and really
begin to um be made more culturally aware and help educate our community and ensure that everyone not only is physically safe but it is emotionally safe. Um and really ensure that that that this is a place where everyone can feel and be respected. Um and to be
candid, nothing else uh nothing short of that is acceptable. So we need to make sure we're doing everything we can. That's all. Thank you, John and Jennifer. Um, I I do want to say add to what I've heard. Um, one thing I'd like to say is I do
apologize to our Jewish community that this happened and uh it's a serious uh thing and it's unfortunate that we've got to this point where we have to tighten up existing uh policies and procedures. But uh I I'm glad that we're
doing that. We have had multiple incidents and um I absolutely agree that we need to look at it from a much broader perspective than just this uh single kind of event with with displays and parent international lights. Um we
have other things to consider like student displays um and uh just anywhere else we can have these things uh take place. Uh we just need to make sure that we not only tighten policy but that when things happen that there's discipline and
consequences otherwise uh it's just words on paper and uh it will not change. So, I just uh want to make sure that as we uh uh tighten things up in our policy books and uh educating our
students and staff uh about what our expectations are and what's uh what's allowed and what's not allowed that we uh are ready to u uh take a tough stance and uh and put disciplinary steps in place uh with consequences. So, thank
you very much. Um, thank you, Greg. I I I'm I'm certainly not speaking for the Jewish community, but I feel that um many of us in the Jewish community feel rather than this becoming a
punitive moment, this is an opportunity for education and building bridges so that people can learn about the rich richness of our culture and religion and our people and dispel many of these
these age-old um dog whistle kinds of comments that people may be pariting and not truly understand their hurtfulness and their long history and where they come from. So while it is easy to say let's begin
to punish people, it is probably better for a growing diverse community to use these as opportunities for learning. But again, I'm not speaking for the entire Jewish community, but that would be my feeling.
Thank you, Madam President. Uh, I echo much of what has already been said. I also think that's it's important to note that it's our job as a board to protect all children and all members of our
community regardless of their um political, religious or cultural differences. Um and while I'm only one vote, I feel safe in saying that it's all of our intention to do that. I know that um Dr. Dr. Barisford will get into
the details of the administrative guidelines on this in a moment. I do want to encourage uh anyone who's watching this and anyone who's here to remind other parents and your children about the Stop it app. It is a
wonderful, wonderful resource and allows folks real time immediate ability to follow up um on concerns in ways that we as parents who might be at home or at work during the day cannot do. Um and
our law enforcement and our administration are in my personal experience wonderful at following up on that. The other thing that I wanted to say is I'm I'm deeply hurt that um we
even have to address this, but I believe it's a reflection of the ugliness that is happening in the world right now. And our children are mirrors. They are and always will be a reflection of those around them. And how we speak to each
other as adults matters. what we say in front of our own children inside our homes gets paredited in some ways that are really embarrassing sometimes, right? Uh when they're talking about, you know, uh things maybe you don't want
them to do to talk about, but they'll say the ugly stuff too if you say it in front of them. And everybody has a right to believe and think the way that they want to. But there are um things that go too far. And um I hope that we are the
kind of community that I think that we are. I think that those um who believe in supporting all of our community are the ones that put me here. And um I
intend fully to follow through with this. As others have said, it it's a first step. Um and we want your feedback again and we want your thoughts, but we can't fix problems that we don't know exist. Um so please, please, please
reach out. Thank you. Um just one more thing I wanted to add. I wanted to be explicit when I mentioned that other that folks have reached out after Smoky Row. Um certainly members of the Jewish community, but it's been members of other communities um whether
those be faith-based or ethnicities or racial communities that have reached out. So, this isn't just a issue within the Jewish community as other people have addressed. Uh, and just to emphasize a point that Chris just made, not only are our kids listening, our
kids are watching. And it's something that I think about often, not only as a parent, but it's something a responsibility I take pretty seriously when I sit up here. Um, you know, the children in our community are watching. They watch the adults. They watch what
we're doing. there's an and that's something that we I believe as a parent uh as a professional that it's a responsibility I take pretty seriously. You know, it's it's one thing to, you know, button up and and show up for my
job a certain way. Um but how am I behaving at home when my teenager is sitting in the other room and they can overhear the way I talk about my day and the people I interact with? um they're listening to that conversation. So, they're watching us
and how are we behaving in this moment and how are we taking responsibility for the things that we're hearing about that are going on and what are we going to do about it? And that's something that we need to consider as we continue to move forward. And we can't do anything about what's happened. And I recognize that
and I I do want to make sure it's clear that I applaud the fact that we are taking this seriously and that we are taking action. Um, you know, in the years that I have lived in this community that I also chose to live in because of the great schools, I have never seen the district and a board
pivot and move as quickly uh when an issue came up. And I am really proud of the fact that this is happening so quickly. Really proud. And at the same time, we I know we can do more and I know we can do better. And it is a motto this district talks about all the time. We're the best at getting better. So,
let's keep on getting better. Thank you all for your comments. I was to kind of wrap things up. I was going to read um a few I I feel like a few of the applicable guiding principles that are that our board holds. And the first of that is that the students are at the center of every decision. And I think
the five of us sit here and take that very seriously that every decision we make, we think about what will the student outcomes be, how will this affect the students. Uh the the second part of or the second list on our guiding principle is that a safe non-threatening learning environment is
essential. And I think that that is essentially what we are talking about this evening is that we we feel all five of us feel that every single student deserves to come to school and that they're again our next thing academic, social, emotional and physical needs are
met and that is done so in a safe and non-threatening learning environment. and that is what um we intend to continue to do. Thank you. So, up next we have the superintendence report with Dr. Barisford and he's going to fill us in a
little bit on the new administrative guidelines. Thank you very much. And I want to know I appreciate your work and your thoughtfulness and uh addressing the policy. And for those of you that um don't understand school business is uh typically the school board will make a
policy and then u in the end of the policies you there's typically instructions for the superintendent and his designates to uh put together administrative guidelines in order to fill that to fulfill that policy. So in this situation, it's uh it's really
about what needs to be done uh in order to to make what the policy would like to have happen. And so this is uh that's the difference between a board policy and an administrative guideline. And so uh I'm just going to read you the draft of the administrative guidelines. And
once the uh the policy is approved, then we would go back and and double back to make sure that our administrative guidelines match the intention of the board's policy. Uh so the administration guideline number one karmically schools is committed to creating a safe and
inclusive environment for all families at school sponsored family celebrations. We acknowledge and honor that we each have unique life experiences and perspectives that may be different from our own. We ask that all families follow the guidelines below to create a safe and positive experience for our
students. All displays and content will be pre-approved by school administration prior to the celebration and must comply with board policy 4362 non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy. Please consider some of the
following items and content that is appropriate for the age of the students. photos, basic facts of country, size, population, flag, significant holidays, capital, uh customs and traditions, languages, dance, music, uh here's a
good one. It's food with allergens listed uh to make sure we protect our our folks with allergies, clothing, art, and literature. And then interactive activities for students. U some examples are calligraphy, art projects, writing names in a in a native language, uh and
that sort of thing. And these are great things that occur at at some of our our uh events at our different schools and really u celebrates you know the you know the uniqueness of of our our community and the diversity of our community. Then we added please do not
include the content and items listed below. So no food without allergen information posted. No political or current event references. And probably this is the most important one is no references to other countries, cultures, religions, customs, traditions, etc. Uh
we also added no alcohol and no graphic photos or descriptions. Now no one outside of the immediate family members of the student who attends a school should be presenting or performing at a family celebration. This the event is intended for students and families of
the school members of the school. based on participation in content, school administrator may modify or amend displays to balance the interests of the families and comply with the intent of these guidelines. So that is our our uh our draft of our administrative
guidelines and uh and that's kind of the basis and uh again kind of what I can't remember who mentioned it is that what we want to accomplish with administrative guidelines is that we have consistency across the district. So it doesn't matter what school or or what
the event is uh that these can be applicable and uh and would that way ensure that we we uh are very respectful of one another but also celebrate you know our own heritage and traditions. Thank you. So I'm going to shift gears here.
So, uh, uh, typically I'm at the end of the program and sharing just some, uh, different things about what's going on around the district and, uh, and so I did want to share some things and start with the performing arts. And so uh
recently our bands uh Carmel High School bands were in the ISMA competition and the Carmel High School bands earned gold with distinction I think across the board and will now be going to state qualification contests that'll be coming up pretty soon. Uh I also had the
pleasure of attending the spring choir concert and the spring orchestra concert and uh so uh hundreds of students from the choirs and Karma High School has a lot of them um were uh you know performed and each senior wore a rose uh
that was uh that recognized them as a senior and the groups were just amazing. Uh there's heartwarming songs, there's many performances were Broadway ready. Uh but I wanted to uh just share my favorite uh my favorite performers of the night had to be these two young
ladies uh who are living with Down syndrome and they were singing and dancing their hearts out on that stage and uh and along with their peers and uh uh so all the performance were great. Uh there was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of
fun uh and a lot of beautiful music. Uh but it overflowed my joy bucket to overflowing when uh with those two young ladies and how much they were enjoying their performance. Uh also uh went to the orchestra concert the next night and that was held at the Palladium which is
kind of a really super cool place for high school kids to be able to to play their last uh concert of the year. um two concerts uh two orchestras played in the the final concert of the night and uh and I was trying to explain this to the board before and I can't really
capture it in words but uh uh what it was is it featured the interplay of a flutist and the orchestra going back and forth in extremely complex music and the perfection of that solo the soloist and the professionalism of the orchestra the
way they interplay back and forth uh with so many dynamics Um it was uh it was just amazing. Uh and the way the orchestra intertwined with that music back and forth was uh it was so complex. It was uh it would it was just
mind-blowing. Um our three directors uh that that work in the orchestra have the perfect balance of challenge our students to reach their highest potential with really complex and difficult scores and they master them uh just beautifully. But um finally though I want to share
that the night began with a piece by our unified sound orchestra and you know about unified sports but we have the same kind of thing in the in the music world and uh the uh unified sound orchestra featured students that have intellectual disabilities who were
paired with typical peers uh who've been meeting weekly throughout the year as a club. So that's an after school club and uh and so these students teach and sometimes assist their friends to make and enjoy music together and uh they did so at the palladium and it was pretty
pretty amazing. So the performance the performance itself was wonderful and all the students and parents were very proud and it's one of those where you just walk away going wow that was really something. Uh also I wanted to uh bring attention to the hall of fame inductees that occurred last week as well. uh
Deborah Clark Gangstad. And if Deborah Clark sounds familiar, that's the uh Eric Clark activity center is her dad. And so uh Deborah Clark Gangstad taught in Carmel Clay School for 28 years. And then the other person who is in the Hall
of Fame now is Jeff Mohler. And um uh so the committee of student leaders do the Hall of Fame. So, it's all student run and they have to be Karma High School graduates and they choose two high school Carmel High School graduates to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. And then uh and so I like I said, Deborah
was uh 28 years in the in the classroom and then she um now runs the Carmel Historical uh society. Uh the other one, Jeff Mohler, who is an outstanding distance runner and coach for Carmel High School. Of course, cross country is the best
pract. and he is now the CEO of Special Olympics Indiana and he was one of the visionaries that uh was behind champions together and uh and so our unified sports program in Indiana and so they both gave wonderful speeches and clearly earned and deserve the recognition of
the Hall of Fame. And then that was followed immediately by us honoring about 40 students and their most influential educators as distinguished graduates. And that's based on their academic excellence, their commitment to service and achievement in extracurricular activities and
endeavors. So each student and educator receive a gift, but the high point is that this each student would write a paragraph describing why they chose their teacher and that's read aloud on the stage as they're walking across the stage. And those messages were amazing.
And uh and those are the kind of things that educators remember forever. And uh and every year I I stand up there and uh it's just the eloquence and the the pieces that the kids um talk. And a lot of times it's academic challenge. A lot
of times it's achievement, but most of it's about you were there when I needed somebody. You were listening. You listened to me and you could tell when I was stressed out and uh you know all those types of pieces. So, uh, the program ends with a announcement of the distinguished graduate of the year and
there was a drum roll there and, uh, and that was Alice Mayor. So, congratulations to Alice on being chosen as the distinguished graduate of the year. Um, couple of quick other things is Youth Assistance Gayla was on Saturday night. And if you don't know
about Youth Assistance, it is a uh, an organization that we partner with that really makes a difference on the trajectories of students and families that are struggling. And uh where there is no way, Caramel Youth Assistance finds a way and they find people to uh make a big difference and uh our
community rose to the occasion, really um uh donated a lot of money to to make that program run uh well for another year. And their board is really something special. and uh uh and a test of the probably the most the best
testimonial I can give is that I'm sometimes often on their email chain and uh when the early intervention advocates who are social workers uh will sometimes say hey we really have a transportation issue hey we really have any kind of an
issue if anybody can help almost every time the next email is I got that and uh and that's the kind of community we live in and it's pretty special. Um, so anyhow, uh, great that was went well and, uh, and we're in good shape for to continue the great work of the Caramel
Youth Assistance Program and this is their 10th year anniversary. So that's a a good high point there. Uh, also wanted to last I keep we know we had the highlight newspaper kids and online newspaper kids and we kept saying we're
waiting, we're waiting, we're waiting. Well, the waiting's over. They won the pacemaker award which is kind of like the uh what do they call it the the uh yeah it's kind of like a state championship or it's maybe bigger than that and maybe the Nobel Peace Prize I
don't know but it's a very high level only 13 um groups in the nation got a a pacemaker award and we were one of them the only one in Indiana and uh so they came back very sleepy and tired from the trip but uh but uh what was it exhausted on the field of battle victory is. So,
they did a great job. And then this is like super interesting. I'm sure everybody in here, and I hope this goes out online, is a is to get viral, but we have a drive a bus event next Thursday from 5 to 7:00 p.m. at Creekide Middle School. And uh we're doing that to
recruit bus drivers, but I will make a great offer to the community. I mean, how many chances do you get to just drive a school bus? So, if even if you're curious, you go there and you can drive a big yellow school bus around. and go ahead, tell us about your experience. I did it last year and I only hit one cone. I did a pretty good
job. They It was fun. So, you can go see um what what's like for our bus drivers every day. It is It is It's a cool experience to try it out. And President Koke, I did want to share that um a bus driver is a great retirement gig. So, if
we know of anybody retiring at the end of the summer, the end of the school year, Dr. Bears Ford. Um, if you are interested, we would love to have you as a bus driver moving forward. Why, thank you so much for that. It's funny when you announce your
retirement, how many people offer you jobs. So, I'll put that in line along. I've been offered a a cafeteria supervision job. I've been offered a cross-country position, which I'm kind of excited about. Um, and then mostly like things like, you know, cleaning
things up and driving things around. But, uh, I appreciate that. Um, bell ringer. Tonight's bell ringer for me was had to be the years of service and the retirement reception. It was kind of weird being a retirement reception person, but uh, the uh, when you look at
those people on that stage and you had two ladies that have been driving a bus for 40 years and uh, bus drivers are part of the family, you know. um they become that you know that person that you is your go-to and that you trust them to to you know deliver your kids and know the relationships are really
special but uh I don't know when you think about the people on that stage I if you tried to put that into a number like how many kids and how many families did those people touch in a positive way and consistently year after year after year um I don't know what that number is
but I know it's a really big number and so that's my bell ring here for tonight. Thank you. And Dr. Beersford, if I could just add, I'm like to thank our technology team, uh Shane Cole, uh Bernie Shuhai here tonight. Um Christy Cloud and her team for getting this set
up. It takes an incredible amount of time for us to host here to honor our years of service and our retirees. And I just wanted to thank that team as well as our SRO's uh for being here uh each and every meeting. We appreciate you all as well. So, thank you very much.
Next up, we have a student data report uh from Dr. Dudley. Thank you. So, as we prepare for the class of 2025 to graduate in just a few short weeks, we'd like to take this opportunity to look back on our graduation rates from the
class of 2024 and then also to look ahead to the changes in graduation requirements for the future classes. So, first let's look at the graduation rates for the class of 2024. So, our graduation rate for the class of 2024
was 99.69. 69% which is um quite impressive. However, we're still working to make sure that we get all all of our students 100% of our students across um that milestone to meet that milestone. And
let me um preface this. This graduation rate is the four-year cohort graduation rate. Our students that do not graduate, they may graduate in the summer or they may graduate um in the next semester. um our students that um they may attend CLC
to finish one course or what have you that um prevented them from graduating on time with the four-year cohort. Um but we want we get all of our students across that um eventually time. So just to point out some of the um pieces in the graduation rates that um were very
impressive as we continue to work to get to that 100% for all of our students. We did see some significant gains in several of our demographic groups. um first most our multilanguage learner graduation rate went from an
87.1% to 100% in the class of 2024. So that was almost a 13% gain which is quite significant. Um our special education student graduation rate went from um went to 98.35%
um an increase of over 3%. Our free and reduced lunch population rate was 100% that was an increase of over 6%. And our Hispanic population rate was 100% and it was an increase of over 9%. So those are
quite significant changes and increases um in just a one-year time. And as I said, we continue to work to get all of our students to u meet this milestone in graduation. And so as we look ahead to graduation requirements just recently
approved by the state board of education this evening we have Mr. Kevin Mcdana our director of counseling at Carmel High School. Uh Mr. Mcdana just recently um took over this role in December with the retirement of Mrs. Rachel Cole. And
so we're Mr. Mcdana has been a counselor at our high school for a number of years and now he is now in the position of um being director of counseling and he's going to share more information on the changes that are just are happening now
at Carmel High School with our new diploma. So, Mr. Mcdana, thank you Dr. Dudley. I appreciate you inviting me tonight and I thank the board for listening about these new uh requirements for our incoming freshmen. Um, yeah, I took over the department in December and then in comes these new
diploma requirements. So, we're coming in together, uh, brand new. Um, I want to really highlight, um, Oops. Going ahead here. Oh, I'm sorry. Try this again. There we go. Okay. I want to
highlight uh how these new diploma requirements really compare to the current uh graduation requirements. As many of you know uh that the core 40 diploma has been in place for many many years here in Indiana. Um so on the chart you'll see there uh this is a
chart that the DOE put out to compare the old with the new. And I know it's kind of hard to see on that on that uh table there, but on the left side you've got the Indiana Core 40. On the right side you have the new Indiana diploma requirements. um they didn't give it a new nifty name like the core 40. Um
they're just calling it new Indiana diploma at this point. Um but I wanted to highlight a few different um things that are occurring in each one of the subject areas that are really going to impact some of our uh subject areas. So uh in the previous core 4D diploma, there were eight credits of English that
were required. Um there are still going to be eight credits of English that are required. Um you'll see noted there that uh it is now broken down uh two credits of English 9, five additional English credits and then one credit of communication focused course. So the DOE
put out uh just about three weeks ago kind of a finalized list of courses that are going to meet some of these these uh particular kind of subcategories such as the communication focused courses. Um so we'll be leading students through um you know as the the counseling department uh
we'll be leading them through helping them understand uh what courses are going to fulfill uh that communication focused course. So again still eight credits of English that are required um but just it's just staggered a little differently. Um most students right now specifically in English um are probably
covering those eight credits already. Uh the communication focus course could be a speech course. Uh it could be a multimedia course that they've taken in the communications department. There are several different ways. So, it's not really going to shake up the English department uh necessarily. Um but you'll see on a couple slides later, uh that we
still want to make sure that students understand even though these are the core requirements for the diploma, um that we also want to look at what their post-secary plans are. So, if they are looking at a 4-year institution, uh some of the the uh base criteria for this new
diploma would not meet the requirements for admission at four-year colleges. So, uh, we want to make sure that it's clear for those students and we'll be leading them through that, um, as they they come into the high school. Uh, the next, uh, subject area being math. Um, as opposed to there being six credits where it was
algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry, uh, they now have two credits of algebra 1, one credit of personal finance. So, that's a brand new course requirement that they are placing in the math category. Uh, and then four additional math credits. Now, the four additional math credits are more than likely still
going to be geometry and algebra 2. Uh, the courses that are in that core category, they've been approved by the DOE really are advanced level courses. Um, but there are a couple other courses that are, I would say, lesser than the algebra 2. There's a technical math and a business math course. We do not
currently offer those, but maybe that's something in the future that the math department would look at to fulfill those requirements. Uh, moving on to science. uh previously six credits of science that were required, two credits of biology, two credits of either chemistry or physics uh and then two
credits of an additional science. Uh now it is structured to where they have two credits of biology, one credit of computer science, which that's brand new, two additional science credits, essentially any course that falls within the science category, and then t two STEM focused credits. Now the STEM focus
credits do incorporate or include a lot of the uh engineering like the project lead the way courses that we offer and a lot in our technology education department computer science and so on. But it can also include really any other science course. So because it's STEM that S is science. So any additional
science course would count. So, for example, if a student did two credits of biology, two credits of chemistry, and two credits of physics, that's going to meet those um those six of those seven credits, and then they'd have computer science left. Social studies, uh that's has
changed as well. Uh still staying with two credits of US history, one credit of government. There's no longer an economics requirement. Um again, built into this diploma. Doesn't mean that it's not required for college admissions requirements. uh and then there are two credits of what they call world
perspectives and this is providing what the state says is flexibility within this uh this subject area. Now the way we are currently handling it at the high school is students will still enroll in world history in their 9th grade year to fulfill that uh world perspective credit or two credits um but it is allowed to
be covered in other ways and one of those being a thirdyear world language or higher. Now we have it as two credits of world history right now. still sticking with that for this first year. Uh mainly because uh there are a lot of colleges uh that require six credits of social studies and two of those credits
sometimes are world history of some type. Indiana University being one of those and we send so many students to IU. Uh we want to make sure that they are are set up for that. So that might be something again that shifts in the future. Um but it's something you know that that we're sticking with right now for the incoming freshmen. As far as PE
and health, uh went from having two required PE credits to one required PE. Uh and then we still have one credit of health uh that is required. Uh the one credit of PE is now going to be covered in the middle school. Uh students in the eighth grade will earn that credit uh in
their eighth grade um PE course. The standards are are the standards the same, but the curriculum is being changed to adjust for that in the eighth grade. So when they come in as a freshman, they'll have that PE credit already taken care of. We moved down the core 40 used to have directed electives. Uh essentially what that was is world
language, fine arts or career technical. What they've done is they've kind of just like dismissed that as a directed electives and they're saying 12 personalized electives. So in other words, they're wanting a student to do kind of what we've already been doing for them, which is structure their additional courses towards whatever
their post-secary plan might be. So that might be additional core academic courses. It may be uh career technical education courses. Um it we're looking at what the student is wanting to do starting in the freshman year shift if necessary which oftentimes happens um and helping them get those additional 12
credits. And then the final credit on there um is a preparing for college and careers, another new addition to the diploma. And that course is going to be added into the seventh grade. Uh students will earn that credit uh with next year's seventh grade class. Uh so for the current eighth graders and the
incoming eighth grade C uh class uh they will actually earn that PCC course uh in the high school um except if they're in AVID in the middle school then that can also count uh for their PCC credit. So total uh number of credits we're shifting from 40 credits to 42 credits.
Um, but one thing that's really important is to make sure that students understand that even though there are 42 credits in that diploma, you know, a student at Carmel High School has at least 56 credits that they're going to earn. So, outside of those 12 uh personalized electives, you know, they essentially have another 14 elective
credits are going to come in there. So, we're not ignoring all those other elective areas or what we would call maybe traditionally elective areas. uh whether it be the fine arts, the world languages, um you know, the CTE courses, uh students still have that opportunity to take advantage of all the wonderful
things we have to offer at the high school. Uh the other addition, and this is a huge addition to the diploma, as is that there used to be the academic honors diploma and the technical honors diploma. Those are being shifted away to what they are calling readiness seals.
And they have three different if I don't like using the word pathway because that's overused, but three different paths. uh they have employment I'm sorry enrollment employment and enlistment um and within those three E you have honors seal and then an honors plus seal. So if
we first look at the enrollment honors seal um this I like to say is essentially replacing the academic honors diploma. It almost mirrors it. There are a few differences. One of them being that there are now only four credits of world language that are required. So two years of world language would fulfill that world language
requirement where in the past it was three years of one language or four years of two different languages. Uh there are no fine arts uh credits that are required in this honors uh seal but again we're not wanting to ignore the fine arts or the importance of the fine arts. Those would be covered in their their other personalized electives they
can choose. And then in that honors seal chemistry is required. So, going back to the science requirements, they would have biology, they would have to do chemistry, and then they can do an additional science plus the computer science course uh for the honors seal.
The rest of the requirements in the enrollment honors seal really mirror what the academic honors diploma is. Again, you guys can kind of read those um if you're not already familiar with that, but that includes, you know, maybe AP courses, dual credit courses, um you know, having a C average um or I'm
sorry, not a C average, a B average, and you can't get anything below a C minus for any class. So, all those things will still uh fall into place for the enrollment uh seal. Then when we look at the enrollment plus seal, um this was announced I think just about a week and a half, two weeks ago by the governor
that if a student uh has earned the enrollment plus honors plus seal that that guarantees admission to any state uh college or university. But it's very very important that that students understand this does not guarantee specific programs or majors or even
particularly campuses. So for example, student may be admitted to Purdue University, but that does not mean they're getting into their engineering college or the the engineering school or it's at the West Lafayette campus. So we want to make sure students understand that that this is not just like a you
know done deal. They get the honors plus seal and and they're in the engineering program at Purdue. So um so we want to make sure students understand those details. U and then finally just kind of an overview of the employment and the enlistment honors seals. Uh there's still a lot of those details that are being worked out by the DOE in regards
to how schools will fulfill those requirements. Um the great thing is is we have a wonderful uh uh CTE career pathway program at the high school that is going to fulfill a lot of these requirements. Um and that includes uh the like the 150 hours of work-based
learning. um the real world experience um and then there's also like a reflection of the concentration of um like proof of work ethic skills, communication skills and so on. So a lot of that has been been put in place by our our our great CTE program that we have. So what I have here on the next
page again is essentially what I've taken is the high the DOE version and I've caramelized it here. So um I've take I've put in what we offer and taken out what we don't offer. um doesn't mean that we couldn't offer some of those things that are on the DOE um list, but
I just wanted to make it a little clear and again I'm not going to break down every single thing on here. I kind of went over those things already. I do again want to highlight in the very bottom black box on the bottom left. Um again, students can earn up to 56 credits and if they're earning credits, additional credits in math and world
language and middle school, they get even more than 56 total credits. So, and then this slide I is kind of our slide that we used with the freshman in January when they came to the high school and uh they were learning about our wonderful building and all the
offerings talking to the different department chairs helping them to understand that this uh base Indiana diploma may not meet the admission requirements uh for colleges both in Indiana and outside of Indiana. So, it's looking at each subject area and and things to think about when they're
scheduling those. So again, I mentioned earlier about English students may be taking the that communications focused course, but there are some colleges, a lot of schools in California that don't recognize speech as an English credit. So if a student has that as a as a plan, we want to make sure we're still getting
those eight core English credits in. Uh math, um looking at, you know, personal finance counts as math in the diploma, but your universities are not going to identify personal finance as a math credit. they're still going to be looking at that at least three years of math, oftentimes four years of math. Um,
so we want to make sure we're directing them in that science. Um, again, completing biology, chemistry, and two additional credits. That's typically what a university is going to look at. If a if a student is majoring in a science, then they're going to be looking at even more uh than those particular credits. But we want students
to understand that if they're taking a STEM course, say a particular technology education course, that a university may not recognize that as a science class. Social studies I kind of mentioned earlier. Uh we want students to take three years uh including that world history, US government um and then
additionally uh or usually an additional uh credit oftentimes that is economics and then world languages. Um really encouraging students to prioritize at least two years of a world language. Um IU and Purdue both require that bare minimum. A lot of our students go three, four, five years uh in the world
languages. So we want to make sure that they are getting that. And then fine arts requirements. There are some universities out there that are looking for those fine arts uh requirements as part of the application process. So, we don't want that to be ignored for students. We want to make sure they understand how that might fit in their
in their post-secary plan. Um and then again at the bottom, major and career related electives. Um we want to make sure that whatever their post-secondary plan is aligns with those additional elective courses that they're going to take. And then finally um just to add a
little more confusion to everything currently with students that that are uh graduating with the core 40 or academic honors diploma uh they're required to do three things uh with the state of Indiana uh we call them three buckets that they have to fill. So the first bucket is they have to earn that diploma. So core 40 honors diploma
academic or technical uh second thing is that they have to prove their employability skills and that's through one of those areas project based learning service based or work-based learning. And then finally, that third bucket is post-secary readiness. And they have to meet one of those bullets there, um, including whether it be
honors diploma, uh, SAT, ACT scores, dual credits, um, AP courses, CT pathways. So, what happens with the new diploma, if a student earns one of those readiness seals, that takes care of bucket two and three because if you're really digging into that readiness seal
requirement, the requirements, it is employment, employability skills, and post-secondary readiness. So, you get a seal, you've met buckets two and three, you're good to go. If you were only doing the standard regular Indiana diploma, you still have to fulfill bucket two and bucket three, you have to prove employability skills and
post-secondary readiness. So, we'll be working with those students that are going to be on that standard uh Indiana uh diploma and making sure that they still are uh getting those two requirements. That's a lot of information. Do you guys have questions
that that I might be able to answer? Hi, thank you so much. This is so much information it blows my mind and I have a freshman so obviously uh some of this is not applicable to her. Uh but I guess what's your message to parents about
where like how to find out the best information from your office? I know sometimes and I had a child like this um who has since graduated. She would have wonderful conversations with her counselor and would communicate zero of
that information to me. Sure. As a parent. So thoughts on that that would be helpful. Yeah. So, uh, with the current eighth grade class, again, when we got that information, we were kind of learning along with the parents and the students in December and January, um, our freshman, uh, counseling team, they
essentially have a Canvas course that they lead students through. Uh, we had information nights, um, Dr. uh, Ferris, do uh, Brad Siver, and a couple of the CTE uh, workbased learning coordinators and myself presented to parents uh, back in December to kind of help lead them
through the the basics of this. Um, I would say when it comes to the students starting at in the freshman center, uh, they will start working with their counselor on the scheduling process for their 10th grade year that starts happening in in October. So, uh, we will be rolling out, we're looking at making
some changes next year. We got away from postcoid, we got away from having class meetings in the auditorium and large group kind of instruction from the counselors. We did a lot more uh you know videos that we were sending out and the ca we relied on the canvas course but we really want to get back in front
of the students because I feel like that is a better way for them to hear it a better way for us to make connections with them. So they'll be receiving that information in more group meetings and then once that is received in those group meetings then uh you know school messengers will go out uh to parents to make sure that they have that same
information. We've also relied on the the 10th through 12th grade counseling side we've relied on the Canvas course as well. Um, but again, I think we are probably going to work on developing some even more updated kind of like information that we can get out to parents um, outside of Canvas because Canvas is great, but it can be
overwhelming. Managing all the other Canvas courses and then realizing what you need to do to get into the counseling Canvas course, that might be the last thing that you're thinking about doing. Yeah, can answer your question a little bit too as I I have an eighth grader going into the high school. Um that we
were parents were given the opportunity to sign up for um Zoom meetings with the freshman counselors and that was really helpful to answer any questions. So yeah, we were at least given that opportunity for a face to face. Yeah, thank you for that uh enormous
amount of information and uh it's hard to assimilate it all, but it is it's a complicated uh change I think we're going through in the state. I I think you're doing a great job getting a handle around it and it's such a short window to deal with
it. So, thank you for that. My question, I'm going to kind of focus on workbased learning. uh we had a little exposure at the last meeting to it in a workshop but um can you talk to that a little bit about particularly two elements one is
uh I I understand there's a lot of hours that that uh kids need to accumulate uh in the workbased learn if they get into that and then if you could talk a bit about how we might be partnering with community uh companies and entities that
uh would participate. Thank you. Sure. Yeah. So, with the uh the pathways that we have at the high school, um and those range anywhere from certified nursing to computer science um there there's multiple I think we have we're up to like 42 or somewhere along the those
lines. Um if a student completes a a pathway and that's a sequence of three courses. So, there's a principal course and then a concentrator A and a concentrator B. So, they essentially could start that principal's class in ninth grade, but if they don't, they can still get it in 10th grade and then still move on and get those three years.
Um, if they complete those three years, they're then eligible to take what's called a capstone course. That capstone course is the program that um our workbased learning coordinators Chard Reed and Wes Drew uh and then the assistant principal Brad Siver, they are working on that program to to uh make
partnerships with the community. Uh and they're finding placements for those students uh within their particular pathway. Uh and those experiences essentially happen every other day in a student schedule in their senior year. So if a student, let's say, is in a a marketing capstone, uh they would have
uh a marketing capstone experience for two blocks of the day every other day. So essentially three hours every other day. Uh and if you look at like the requirements back there on the the U employment honor seal, it's I think it's 150 hours. So getting that 150 hours
over a full year, three hours every other day is not going to be difficult for our students to do. um we're way ahead of where a lot of the other schools are in regards to that capstone program. Um now, if a student is wanting to do it out outside the capstone program, I think that's probably where
we're going to have to look at where we're going to flex at. You know, if it's something that that a student's going to have, say a summer internship or summer program that they set up on their own. Um we have to make sure that they're also meeting the other requirements built within that that readiness seal. And I don't think we have all the answers to that yet.
any any sense for how many career or how many partners we have now assisting in the program? So, we have over 200 students that have signed up for that capstone program next year. Um, and day by day they they're making placements.
So, um the hope is by the end of May that we would have everybody placed. my guess because of some of the limitations of some of the programs um that we might have say 15 students or so that maybe do not find themselves in a in a capstone
placement. So, we're working they are um they're amazing. Chard and Wes are amazing at making connections in our community and and publicizing this and um trying to get more community connections. Um, but the more you guys can share with community to to make that
an even bigger program is really really gonna help us out. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, I just want to say thank you because this is uh an incredible amount of information and very difficult um to balance what the state is asking
schools, school districts to do. Um, and I know that Carmel has a lot of rigor again living through this experience with a current high school student who um thankfully does not have to uh navigate this. Uh, we're we're going to make it through uh without this. But it
in reviewing this prior to tonight and then having you walk uh us through it this evening, it seems as if you've done a really nice job of sort of mapping it in a way that makes it a little bit more easy to digest. um showing how those
pathways can be navigated, showing demonstrating how students can exceed the requirements, um and making it pretty clear what you need to do to ensure uh the pathway for acceptance into college if that's the pathway that you wanted to achieve. um and showing
maybe where there are some potential um offshoots to the path that the state has um put in place like personal finance is going to account for a math credit if you're looking to go to a four-year university. So, I I just want to give you some you and your department some some kudos uh for that because I
know um this the DOE took a whole lot of flack when the first version of this came out. Um so, good job. I know I know it's a moving target also, right? I mean, I'm assuming um this is this is going to eb and flow quite a bit. So, just uh really good work. Thank you.
Thank you. I know that this is very stressful for parents as they anticipate these changes and certainly everyone wants to make sure they're guiding their students in the right direction. But we appreciate all this hard work that went into this because it does make it a
little easier for people to digest. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming this evening. Thank you. Do you have some I just wanted to add that uh the the leadership of Dr. Dudley and her team and the high school team. You guys have done an incredible job because one of the
difficulties of this new diploma was that if you did all of the requirements in high school, you would eliminate so many electives and so many upper level classes. It was a real struggle and the strate strategy of uh moving things into
the junior high and knocking out some of those that basically created space so that our kids that are the you know the high you know that have want to take IB everything and uh you know and AP everything would still have space in their you know their schedules to do
that. So uh the creativity and the leadership and Dr. Dudley did that while she was, you know, doing policies and administrative guidelines, too. So, we're very fortunate to have some great professionals that take on those challenges and uh and find a way, you
know, for our kids to to be able to to achieve the pieces that they want to achieve. Uh I don't know anywhere where they have more opportunities to to go in as many areas as they can here at Carmel High School. And uh and it's not just a Caramel High School thing. It was a K,
you know, K12, PK-12, I would call it, um, where, uh, everybody works with our students to get them to that that that special place when they hit that eighth grade that they've got a lot of opportunities to go for. And uh, so any well done and uh, I want you to know
that we don't take it for granted. We know that is a lot of work and and actually as an old guidance counselor, I was I was hanging with you for a while. It was really good. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. I know you've already worked all day today, so we appreciate you being
here. Up next, we have our monthly financial update from Mr. Mcichael. Um, so I'm going to or Amy's going to share her computer with me in a minute here, but in the meantime, uh, we're three months in, so we got the first quarter of the budget year and, um,
we're tracking, right? um when you adjust for some changes that we did last year um uh after the first quarter we're we're right where we would have projected to be. You'll see that in
um this J this March um our our education fund referendum fund is had an ending balance of about 11.2 million. Last year it was 9.4. But when you adjust for the increase in the rainy day fund that we we put
additional money in the rainy day fund in this year um then it comes out almost even also also making adjustments for you may remember that when we settled uh contracts or gave raises last year we actually held back a little bit money in
the first year in order to even give a 1% increase in the second year to to all of our staff except teachers and and teachers. So it was three 3% 2% for teachers and 3% 1% for everybody else. So that had an effect of last year the balance was running a little higher
because of that and now we're spending that money as we're you know about three4s through the uh fisc you know the school year and so so we're right on target. uh in the operations fund, we're actually u uh it's not as as comparable.
Um but and we're negative because as you know, the operations funds primarily supported with property tax and we haven't received the May u installment yet. And so we're a negative uh 5 million uh but last year it was 6.4
negative 6.4 million. So, um most of that is attributed to um the the way the money is spent and some years we're we're you know spending it faster because only about half of this fund is salary and benefits. So, it's not as as comparable to as the
education fund is. And then finally, in our rainy day fund, as I noted, um we have 7.5 million in the fund. Uh year ago, it was 4.6. So that's all been part of our plan as we gradually have increased our overall uh cash reserves
as as we felt we it was appropriate to do that and also uh it it gives a a a better perspective or better picture when we uh sell bond issues and then talking to standard and pores. So we're essentially right on track so
far. Any questions from the board? All right. Thank you so much, Mr. McMichel. Thank you. Much appreciated. Uh, up next, I have a legislative update. Our Indiana General Assembly uh did indeed adjourn and were finished on
Friday of last week. So, this was their long session because it was a budget year. Um, and as we kind of have kind of indicated at board meetings prior to this, a lot of the bills that, you know, we heard about or maybe heard in the news, you know, didn't come into
fruition. So, um, I did want to update on on two bills in particular. uh Senate Bill one uh was passed and um you know unfortunately for the public school districts in this state uh we are not
receiving the uh increases that we uh that we will need and Dr. Barersford went into that a little bit at our last meeting. Um, so that will be, you know, again, we don't have the final numbers for all of that and and um it it was encouraging. We uh I think some of us um
met and listened to some legislators on Friday and you know, they were they really did encourage us to continue to reach out and and said that they can tweak some things with some of these bills. And so I think it takes our community also reaching out and saying that, you know, we don't um we don't
want to see our school funding cut. um which they'll tell you they did not do, but they didn't give us the increases that we need for cost of living living and inflation. So, uh we'll be able to kind of give numbers uh a little better in the future. Um the other bill that
passed I wanted to touch on um was Senate Bill 287. Um and that uh makes uh schoolboard races um partisan. So that will um require that future um community
members who wish to run for schoolboard positions will need to declare a party uh or declare themselves as nonpartisan. Uh we have another report. Mr. Brown uh will be reporting on the Caramel
Redevelopment Commission. Yeah, thank you. Um, wanted to uh accomplish a couple things here. I I mean I literally have 29 slides, but I think I'm going to cut a little short uh unless somebody wants to stay late and I'll be glad to go
through them. But u um wanted to talk a little bit about the uh you know why we have a school board member on the CMO redevelopment commission and what goes on there. But uh also wanted to talk about some couple projects that may have
some impact on us. Um and I will be clicking to Colleen there. There we go. Um, I was appointed to the CRC uh by the school board asked to be on it as a non- voting commissioner uh in January of 23.
So, I've been on it about two and a half years almost. And um I think it's valuable to have a school board member on there. Uh I don't really have a vote, so I can't influence things too much, but it's mostly I I get good information and I'm not going to address the merits or controversies of the redevelopment
process or tiff funding. a lot of those fun things. U but we we'll talk a little bit about it. Um the uh just a quick definition of the redevelopment uh commission. The purpose
of that is to uh provide uh that the clearance planning and redevelopment of areas needing redevelopment in the city for formerly defined as blighted areas um and the economic development of undeveloped or developing areas under
the law or public uses and purposes for which public money may be spent and private property may be acquired. Um, and we've all seen a lot of development if we've anyone has lived in Caramel the last uh few years particularly, we've
seen a real surge in development. Uh, but it's it's been uh it's uh the the process has been in place for quite a while actually uh in Carmel. We've been here about 30 years a little more than 30 years and it's it was put in place uh
nearly back in that time with uh the idea was to boost economic development but to allow local governments to have a say in how that development happens. And one example I I hear about is that sometimes developers what they find
economically appealing to them profitability wise may not be best in the long-term interest of the uh the city. So uh this is allows the city to get involved in in directing uh how uh the development occurs. Uh it's
primarily funded through a process called tax incremental fi financing tiff. Uh it's usually mostly used now to direct new development u by taking incremental taxes of an improved property and plowing that back into the
the redevelopment uh commission process to fund further developments and to really take things to a level that they probably wouldn't be if it was left to be driven by market forces. Okay. Um the commission is made up of u
six members. Three appointed by the mayor, two by the city council, and then one by the school board. And um just real briefly what uh what I see my I was not handed anything to um define what my duty was
or purpose was and there's a lot of head scratching that that went on uh when we were talking about that. But I see myself as being there to keep an eye on uh revenues that are are taking place that could affect us, particularly tax levies based on assessed property values
and um also potential potential future impact changes to enrollment. Um it uh we do know when we look at the budgets uh each year that the operating and the safety referendums amounts are directly affected by the assessed
property values and uh the rate now is 24 cents per $100. So this development um uh has a quite an impact on the schools and we'll talk about that in a couple slides.
Um, the next slide is just a a plug for a website, a caramel website called choose caramel Indiana or in.com. It's a a really good source for understanding past, present, future projects. I just wanted to recommend
that if you wanted to see what's what's coming up or learn more about things that have been developed or that are in development. It's a it's a great place to uh to start. This is a slide I showed uh back in August of 23. Uh so I do this for the benefit of our new school board members
or those that may not have seen um that presentation, but I won't spend a lot of time on uh on it, but uh the question comes up I guess quite a bit. Why do tiff projects benefit schools? So a way to look at that a little differently is why a lot of the development we see
going on now, we we'll see multi-use buildings particularly in Midtown. Midtown's area between Keystone and Caramel or Meridian roughly and that's where we see a lot of the multi-use development going on meaning you've got a multi-story building that pretty much
fills up the parcel parking typically underneath and um there's a a mix of commercial and residential units in there typically um and TIFF uh allows that to happen by
by pulling the money in uh from future uh property uh tax dollars that would uh typically the duration of a tiff project is 25 years. So for uh the next 25 years after a a tiff project has been
developed uh those tax streams will uh will not be recognized by the city with a very notable exception which does affect the schools and that is our um our operating referend operating referendum and our safety referendums.
So the benefit is that as soon as that project is uh completed and inhabitable then uh that that property starts paying property tax and uh we get the uh the tax benefit on our operating referendum the safety referendums immediately and
then when that tiff expires which I said is typically 25 years we get the full benefit of the tax rate which is typically 82 to 85 cents. Is that what you see, Roger? I keep looking at Roger. Make sure I'm not saying something wrong
here. His head's going up and down. So, that's good. Next slide. Um, is an example of a presentation that uh I won't spend much time on other than showing you this. There's Yeah, there we go. Uh, this is what we typically see each
month. uh a slide like this on each project and usually there's about a dozen projects. Uh this one is the muse. Uh it's completed and if you look at the top left on that slide, you'll see what the property used to look like. So if you look at the road on the left, that's
range line and the road on the right perpendicular to it is 116th. So it's that property right on the southwest corner. And it doesn't look like that anymore. more. It used to be a little shopping center and it's now this uh rather large fives fivetory uh building
that's right up to the streets, but it looks really nice. I I really think that they're doing a fantastic job with the architectural designs on all these properties. Um this particular unit here and what you see on the slide that is of
note um from a school perspective is that we on the bottom left you see that you know the prior assessed value per acre was $465,000. So that's what the property used to be worth when it was being taxed
when it was in its original state that's seen in the before element of that slide. And then now the future assessed value per acre is 10.5 million. So that's a little bit more than a 20fold increase. So by uh redeveloping that
area, I wouldn't say it was a blight area, but uh it is uh become much more dense and uh a planned mix of residential and commercial. And the value has gone up like I said 20fold in this example. It's not always that that amount, but it's
not atypical. And then the school referendum taxes, uh, that's the net increase that we would see every year when that property is completed, which it is completed now. So, in other words, we we see $132,000 more uh of school referendum
taxes every year from that. The U, so here's an example. I I showed this slide, made a couple tweaks to it, that typically on a multi-use building, uh they have one to twobedroom uh luxury units they call them. And the word
luxury, the way I see it, is typically means it's not desirable necessarily for families. They're they're smaller units and uh more on the high end. And um so we don't see a lot of children, school age children come into these. We had a couple examples in the couple years ago
the 633 units livable units uh were completed and there's only 24 school age children which is about just under 4%. So if you extrapolate that of you know a thousand unit building would only bring
in about 38 students. So it's that would not u indicate a huge impact to us to this kind of development. And if you look at the enrollment that we've had at Carmel Clay Schools, we've had a bit of a decline since 2020 of about 500 and
kindergarten's down uh a bit more. 973 from 11:42. So, and in that time, we've had quite a number of these units get uh get built and and rented. And they're they're really uh they find that they
are having very high occupancy rates. So I I would conclude non-scientifically that necessary that we we do not see a big impact to enrollment with these buildings. But with that in mind, there's a couple properties that I just
wanted to point out that I think u um are of interest from a school perspective. The one is like Grammarcy. Um that's on the corner of
uh uh it's just south or just west of Keystone, south of 126, north of Caramel Drive, and uh just east of a little street called Kinszer. And you might know it now as a a very large garden uh apartment style
complex. garden meeting. There's a lot of green belt around it, a lot of grass area, and the buildings are not uh particularly tall. I think they're range from two to three stories. And that uh just had a tiff area approved. And what
that means is um there I think they have a sevenphase development plan for they have seven sub areas in the tiff district they call that. So over the next I there's no time frame given yet about when the the construction will
start but it will uh it will today it has some larger units. They are families in there and I think we have uh families come that attend our or students that attend our Mohawk Elementary and Clay Middle Schools and those uh will be
replaced to to with 342 new garden style apartments. So, they're going to keep some of that style in place. Uh, 64 renovated apartments and 167 new for sale town houses and
24 for sale condos. Um, it'll also include a a plaza in there and about 8,000 square feet of retail. So, u it's it's hard to tell. I asked the question, they said, "What kind of apartments will these will these look like?" And I I was
told they will they will also be luxury units. So I I don't you know I'm going to extrapolate and assume that that means there will not be a lot of family student impact in that in that area and it it could even be a reduction from
what we see today. And um as I said there the time frame for that is not known at this point. And just one last property of interest. Um it's it's doesn't have much of a name other than 111th in Pennsylvania. So if
you imagine the property that is on the northeast corner of that intersection, which is just east of Meridian, there's a big um area. A new roundabout was put in and it's it's a big lot plot now. I think it it might
have been used for farming, but it's it's vacant at this time. It is on hold.