Meeting is now called to order. Roll call. Mr. Shapiro. >> Just missing uh Mrs. Mel Williams, but I understand she is on her way. >> Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Uh next we have our CCS mission statement and that is that Carmel Clay
Schools will provide opportunities for all students to realize their potential in an everchanging world. And next up we have public comment. And typically we have two groups uh of
speakers if more than uh you know if a if a line of people have have um signed up but we only have someone in group one this evening and that is um CCS students, parents, employees and Carmel residents. And again we only have one speaker so
that person will um as soon as I um say your name you can come up to the podium. Uh, as a reminder, participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface their comments by an announcement of their name. Speakers may not yield their time to other speakers.
Comments may not reference specific corporation employees, patrons, or students. Comments shall be directed to the board, and no person may address or question individual board members. The school board will not act on or respond to questions or comments made during public comment, but will take them under
advisement. So this evening for public comment we have Kirsten Kovalevki and come on up and then you will see um you will have your time and you'll see the green light um for your um when you still have minutes left to speak.
>> Hi I'm Kirsten Kovalevki. I am the I am a former Carmel High School student and I have two children who are also Carmel High School alums. Uh and I came tonight
because I saw on the uh the consent agenda that there are donations that are going to be voted on. Uh and one of those is the National Christian Foundation.
Um, I do not know a lot about them, but I looked at them and they are an evangelical organization that uh promotes uh Christian ministry and
um have in the past given to groups that the Southern Poverty Law Center uh qualifies as hate groups against LGBTQ students. students uh and individuals. Um so when you vote tonight on whether
to accept the donations, I hope you'll take that into account. Thanks. Thank you. Next on our agenda, we have our consent items. And those tonight include the personnel report, claims, payroll, gift
applications, and the minutes from the October 14th workshop session, October 21st executive session, and October 27th, 2025 regular session board meetings. As a reminder for the consent portion of our meeting agenda, that
refers to where we put items together. They're grouped together for efficiency. Uh these are the business items of um why we have our meetings. Um and again for this particular meeting, they are the personnel report, claims, payroll, gifts, and minutes from several of our
meetings. Do I have a motion to approve all items on the consent agenda? I move to approve all items on the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on these
consent items? >> Can I just make a quick point? Just doing a little bit of quick research. um that gift that was referenced um it does look like that organization
does also operate donor advised funds which are not completely uncommon. So I don't know anything about this specific gift but it it could just be somebody's qualified charitable deduction. Um it may or may not be the case but I just
thought that was worth pointing out. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. I almost called you your honor. I forgot where I was. I just wanted to point out it's it's my understanding that, you know, gifts to the school district aren't an endorsement by the school district to
any particular organization. These appear to be unrestricted funds that the high school can use for any purpose. And uh you know, I I know Andy and Becky White and they're lovely folks. So, um I think I I appreciate knowing that. Um
but I think that it isn't I just wanted to note that I don't think it's for any particular purpose related to that organization. It is merely a donation for the school to use as it sees fit. >> Thank you. >> And based upon what's been shared on the consent agenda, I can confirm that as
well. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you all for that. We will now take a vote then. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. >> At this time, I would like a motion to
suspend this regular board meeting in order to open a public hearing for the additional appropriation of funds for the education fund, the operations fund, and the debt service fund. May I have a motion to suspend the regular board meeting in order to open a public
hearing? I move to suspend the regular board meeting so that we may have a public hearing on the additional appropriation. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I I motion carries.
So, per board policy 0167.3, when a public hearing is required by federal or state statute, the same rules followed during public comment apply during the public hearing with the following exceptions. You do not have to register in advance um to be able to
speak on this topic of the public hearing. Mr. Mcichael, before um we have public comments, do you want to offer any information to the public? >> Just briefly, I'd note that this is a somewhat of a common practice. Our
budgets are built um 18 months ago and a number of things changed. For example, as the board's aware, um after the budgets were approved, um for example, in the education fund, textbook expenses were now are now included in the
textbook rental. We receive money for it. So, and a reminder that additional appropriation is is essentially authority to spend money that we already have. And so, the this for the most part is reflecting changes since the time we built the budget.
Uh, thank you. At this time, I'm going to offer members of the public an opportunity to make comments regarding these plans. Since there are no comments from the public, may I have a motion to close this public hearing? >> Motion to close the public hearing.
>> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I >> I. And now we are resuming our regular board meeting. Moving on to our action items. And our first action item is 5.1, which is to
adopt the resolution on the additional appropriation of funds for the education fund, the operations fund, and the debt service fund. Mr. Mcichael, back to you. >> Yes. This is u the action that the board would would take to approve the
additional appropriations and from after the board approves it then we send it to the state because it finally has to be approved by the state and to the extent we have sufficient revenue to support it then they will approve it. >> Thank you. Yes. So kind of following
those rules of the law as as previously we're this we're having our this second hearing and then we're working on this as an action item. So, at this time, may I have a motion to approve the adoption of action item 5.1, which is the resolution on the additional appropriation of funds for the education
fund, the operations fund, and the debt service fund. >> I move that we uh approve action item 5.1 to adopt the resolution of the additional appropriation of funds for the education, operations, and debt service funds. >> Thank you. May I have a second?
>> Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, we'll take a vote. All in favor of the adoption of action item 5.1 signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries.
Our next action item is adoption of policy 7510, which is the use of school facilities. And I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Dudley. >> Thank you. So this evening um we are recommending that you approve the changes to um policy 7510
uh use of school facilities. And as we discussed in the last regular board meeting, the changes um really focus around outside entities and um the ability to charge rent to outside entities that do not have a structure in
Carmel. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to adopt the recommended changes to policy 7510, use of school facilities? >> Madame President, I move to adopt the changes to the language of policy 7510,
use of school facilities. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on this ch the changes to this policy? I just wanted to reiterate that the purpose as we discussed for the policy and the change
as it relates to to those outside of our community is they don't contribute to the tax base which helps pay for our school facilities. Therefore, it makes sense to have different standards for their use. Thank you for that. Any other discussion? Right. Thank you. We will
now take a vote. All in favor of adopting the recommended changes to policy 7510 use of school facilities signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. >> Our next action item is 5.3 and that is
the 2026 school board meeting dates. Okay. So part of this um for these changes is we are going to be changing our meetings to Wednesdays uh beginning in 2026 and we talked about this at our last board meeting um both both Dr. Ori and I um
that for many reasons um I think it's going to be a better day of the week for a lot of us and especially what we run up to as board members is when we get the information packet uh Wednesday evenings um and then the weekend is soon there. There isn't a lot of time for um
answering our questions when it comes you know right up to Monday evening. So this gives us a chance to um have a little bit more weekday time uh to have those discussions. And then as we continue discussing, I know Colleen's going to get that up on the board. Um, do we have um
um let's see, there it is. Okay. May I have a motion to approve the recommended 2026 school board meeting dates? >> I move to approve the 2026 school board meeting dates. >> Thank you. May I have a second?
I second. >> Thank you. And then now any discussion um on these dates and um for next year, >> just some comments. Uh Indiana state law requires that a school board member be on the uh the city's uh
redevelopment commission in which I'm a member of and we meet on the third Wednesday of every month um without question. I am a non- voting member or the school board member is a non- voting member. So um we don't have much
influence but we are there to ask questions and u share information that might be relevant to the school board and the administration. Um there are uh there was four collisions uh conflicting dates and now we've been able to move the one in December. I thank you for
that. Um I'm we have a problem on the April 15th date. uh conflict there October 21st and November 18th. So there's three dates. So that would be 25% of the meetings I would not be present during the live meeting. Um I am
working with the CRC to see if we can do something on their end. I I don't think that will happen and we had talked about moving to day times and then just uh suddenly last week it was brought up to maybe stay with our same. So I don't know where it's going to end up. The
worst case is I will not attend three of the meetings in uh next year but I am able to watch the meetings offline and comment after those meetings and I I think there will be a real impact but uh we tried and I appreciate the administration
being able to move one of those states. That's a big improvement for us. >> Well, we thank you for bringing that to our attention. It was a little bit of a change at the last minute and I know um I would assume like any boards having been on the parks board and this board that there's an agenda that's received ahead of time too that um you know
hopefully if you had questions you could submit those to to them to even have someone you know ask that in the meeting for you. And I just wanted to note for the record I've had similar issues sometimes with our meetings with CF board and other
things. So, um, I sympathize and we'll see how it goes, I guess, this coming year and go from there. >> Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And so, Mr. Brown alluded to the fact that um, if you're looking at this, the schedule so far
says Wednesday, December 16th. Um, and so I believe one of the discussions was was to potentially move you alluded to moving that meeting to um, Wednesday, December 9th, um, instead. Um, so I don't know if that was something else that we wanted to
>> So I was going to make a comment and then I was going to make a motion. So the comment is I understand the conflict and I also appreciate it. I sit on a separate board that has nothing to do with the school district and their meetings are on Wednesdays. Um, so that
may present a conflict for me and whether or not I'm able to fulfill that board service. Um, but so be it. Um, you know, this this, you know, this is going to have to take for me this will have to take priority. Um, and I'll have to
figure out a way to still try and make a contribution to that to that other board however I can. Um but um because of the opportunity that exists, I'd like to make a motion to amend the schedule uh and change the Wednesday, December 16th
date to Wednesday, December 9th. >> Okay. Do I have a second for that uh motion? >> I second that motion. >> Okay. Any discussion? Um and again what we're discussing and then we'll take a vote on is simply this amendment you know including the amendment of moving
that Wednesday December 16th meeting to December 9th. Any disc any further discussion? No. Okay. We'll take a vote on that. And again what we're voting on is an is a motion to amend to move the Wednesday December 16th meeting to Wednesday
December 9th. Uh all in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Motion carries. Um so now back to the original motion. Um and then that when I when I read the whole thing um it will be amended to add that. Um do we have any further
discussion um on the original motion? Okay. So what we'll do now is take a vote and um so all in favor of approving the 2026 school board meeting dates um with the amendment of changing the December 16th meeting to Wednesday,
December 9th. signify by saying I >> I >> I >> I motion carries. Uh our next action item is 5.4 and that is the bid award for the Carmel High School scoreboard. >> Mr. Mcichael,
>> thank you. Uh this is a part of the uh stadium renovation project which is funded from our 2024 lease rental bond and and um we bid this separate from the major part of the project because we wanted to receive bids directly from the
supplier of this for you know we will receive better pricing than if we had gone through like a general contractor who would buy it from them then mark it up. So that's why it's a separate bid bid award. >> All right. Thank you. Uh may I have a motion to approve and this is action
item 5.4 which is the bid award for the Carmel High School scoreboard. >> I move to approve the bid award for the Carmel High School scoreboard. >> Uh thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on this action item?
>> Just out of curiosity, uh Mr. Mcichel, is there always such a wide disparity in bids? I mean this was fairly remarkable some of the price difference here. >> Sometimes there there there can be Yes. Uh in this case there was an a different
manufacturer um and in the end we felt it was in the interest of the school corporation to go with the manufacturer that we're recommending. They're a little more advanced in terms of of the capabilities. This thing we're calling it a scoreboard but nowadays it's would
be referred to as a video board and that has a lot of implications. technologically if you you're familiar with what's recently installed in the natiatorum it's it's more it does a lot more than just like keep the score and thus the you can see the cost as well and and I'll I'll add it's also similar
to what Westfield has Brownsburg has both Lawrence high schools have as well as North Central I know there's others in the state but having going gone to a lot of football games and band competitions those are the ones that pop into my My question is will we'll be be able to
see like video of what's on the field on the screen. >> Um I don't know >> that. So what the exciting part is is that our students will be um manning the video board often and then they'll be creating a lot of the content content
that'll be on the video board. So I don't know that we can answer the live part at this time. Um I believe they uh would have that capability but I don't know they'll the kids will have to get um you know practice with it and utilize it and so on and so forth. Um and then
more than likely we would have to take CHTV's video and might be able to do that but um they will definitely be creating the promos and intro videos and it'll be very very exciting. >> That's really neat. Thank you for sharing that. My cousin, who's older
than I am, um made a career out of the AV club for those of us that remember the audio video visual club in school and he does that kind of work. So that's real hands-on experience for our kids. So I really think that's neat. >> Work-based learning and polytechnic.
This will be a prime example for our sports media students to be able to uh have a great hands-on experience with this technology. >> Thanks. And I also wanted to say thank you um to our finance group for putting together the bid information, all of it
really um in a way that's easily digestible and easy to compare and understand. Um I'm sure you took a lot of information and distilled it. And so um I just wanted to express appreciation for that. >> Thank you. >> See, it looks like discussion is kind of
finished at this point. Then we will now take a vote. Uh all in favor of approving the bid award. So um action item 5.4 the bid award for the Carmel High School scoreboard signify by saying I. >> I. Motion carries.
Uh boy is it is an action item night. Uh our next action item is 5.5 and that is change orders um for several different things. So, I was going to see if I could get a motion to approve the change orders as a group. And as always, Mr.
Mcichael would explain each of those um separately. But um if we could group together items 5.5, the Carmel High School Polytech edition, 5.6, Carmel High School Natiatorum addition and existing niatorum
renovations. Item 5.7, Carmel High Greyhound Activity Center, and item 5.8, 8 Carmel High School 2025 classroom renovations. So at this time, could I, if I can, could I have a motion to approve the change orders items 5.5,
5.6, 5.7, and 5.8 as a group? >> I'd like to move to uh vote on the change orders 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 5.8 as a group. >> Thank you, Miss Wheeler. May I have a second? >> Second.
>> Thank you. Any discussion? on um any of these items I guess or any discussion on grouping them. Sorry. No. Okay, we'll take a vote. So again, what we're voting on is just the grouping part. So items 5.5 through 5.8,
grouping them together so that we can consider them in one motion. Uh signify by saying I >> I >> I. Uh and so now if you can kind of in as much individually or whatever you feel like you need to give that information on each item um on these change orders.
>> Yeah, I'll speak to briefly to each project. The polytech change order is uh total is $13,000 a little over 13,000. It's two two duct change orders for as we're closing out contracts unused allowances which you've you've heard
before and that's a typical process. And then there is a had change order included in there. Um that involves some painting and so forth. We had put in conduit after the fact and had to be painted and so um that's that's a part
of what the general trades contract is for. The large largest one here is for the natiatorum and the majority of that has to do with additional duck work that was necessary. It was actually omitted. should have been in the plant. Um, but
it was omitted and it it necessary in order to take the chloromines and so forth and out of the air and so it required significant duct work. Now, um, we're still responsible for the cost because had it been in the bid, we would
have paid for it then. that you always wonder if you're paying more when it's a change order and that's that's why you don't like these things but but it is our obligation to because it's there is additional value added for doing that and then um next change order has to do
with the activity center and um I believe this one um had to do with some some fencing make sure it's the right one yeah we we had installed a 4ft fence along a tree line where the new discus
field is at. And so that's significantly a part of it. And and also providing some gravel then to mow around, you know, next to the fence. And then um there's a change order for actually a deduct change order for over
$2,000. Um and um it's it's an unused allowance as well. And I believe that's it. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, may I have a motion to approve action items 5.5, 5.6,
5.7, and 5.8? >> Madame President, I move to accept change orders 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 5.8. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on these one,
two, three, four items, action items that we're grouping together? Yeah, just uh maybe more for the purposes of our newer board members. Um Mr. McMichels, I know we've spoken before about a lot of these change orders. A lot of them are pretty small
and I think tonight they they relatively speaking they're pretty small and um but typically they're they're completed by the time they get to the board. So we're approving funds that are already been spent possibly. Yes. >> Could you explain how how the uh
>> the approval process is for example, you know, from the time that we recognize we need to make a uh fix a surprise that comes up. Those are normal. Um it's it's approved by someone I I would imagine an
administration uh who has the authority and then the contractor can proceed in a timely basis. >> Yes. But then it takes some time for these these documents to find their way here which you know intuitively to me just seems like uh we're not adding
value this whole step but could you explain that how that all is to work? >> Yeah. What I suggest to you is is that you should you have a contract you and the contractor have entered into a contract for X amount and so all of these are either increasing that
contract or decreasing it. So really that's what you're approving because as you noted the work itself has already been approved and and typically has already been accomplished. Um in in that context um there are exceptions to that where we absolutely wouldn't do a change
order without bringing it to you first. Typically it's would be much larger. Not not to minimize these but in the context of millions of dollars worth of work um they're a small percentage. And so at the same time, Indiana law allows that
um for work that's $300,000 or less um that is administrative decision. Doesn't require you could require it if you chose to, but we have not. This board has not. Um and so otherwise we we are doing work that may be up to 300,000 to a quote process and so forth. But when
it's a change order, um it's necessary for the board to approve the increase or decrease in the contract because it takes both parties to change change the amount. So that's kind of the background and and from a practical standpoint. Um
given if we if we were to stop a project, sometimes we could talk about you know 70 contractors saying you you need to go home until we get this approved. And oftentimes it's not always, but some many times it's something like
maybe you can't put tile in the pool because there's cracked tile and so you or you can't put water in it until you repair the tile. So So the practical um issue of of stopping the project in many case, not always, but in many cases um
prior to getting approval just wouldn't work very well. And um now there are exceptions as I said, but if they're I'm going to say if they're under $300,000, we treat it much like we would quote if it were separate from this, we would just do it as a routine
administratively. And um so for example, when we we improved the finishes in the lobby area for the pool or the auditorium uh the the current the older the original pool that was far less it was not insignificant but it was far less than
$300,000. So that was something we could have said let's get approval for it and then um and we could have waited because it wasn't like connected to something else but we have not done that. Uh again because we we start from this assumption
that if we have authority to do up to 300,000 it's not it's not a matter of how much the pro the cost and you're approving the cost but in this case as I said you're approving changing the contract amount if that helps.
Yeah, I mean it it when I hear you describe it, it makes sense. But when I think back, >> yes, >> logically, we're approving funds that have already been spent, approved and spent, and I look at it from the value
like what if we all voted to not approve it? >> Yeah. Well, no. Well, and we recognize that as well. But but um um the issue then is is that the contractor would have absolutely be within their right to
have a reasonable expectation if your administ if your administrator approved them doing this work, then they they do in fact represent you. Um and you would I believe you would have a a legal obligation to they have reason they it's reasonable for them to accept that
approval as as having the authority to make that approval. And so push come to shove and the fact that the work was done, you most likely would be told you you have to pay him. And again, I know you're not giving as an example because it's something that's likely to happen. But and as I said, the
board um the 300,000 is a state law, but you can you could set you could say, well, in Carmel, we wanted 100,000 um or 15. It used to be 150 for years, but um um but you haven't done chosen to do that, but you could. Um but otherwise,
we're operating under in that case under the statute as far as a dollar amount. If we, as I said, if we had a much larger change order, something really unforeseen is going to be a million dollars or something. Um and well, we we we for sure would be discussing that
before we gave authorization to do it. When I look at the u the change order document that outlines the details of the yes the the contract the initial amount the changes to date and new changes and all that >> there's not a signature block for the board.
>> So when I look at it it looks like the contracts already been approved and far as the general contractor is concerned they're they're done. So >> yes, because when you part of the these are AIA architectural
national forms that are used and so uh when the board approves a bid for example, then the administration does sign the contract as opposed to the board acting on your behalf. There's other examples where we where administration will do that uh
representing the board once once the board has acted. So um in in a fact we're we are signing on your behalf as a board but ultimately the contracts between the school corporation which ultimately gets
to to the board and the contractor >> the if I can ask the board members do do you have an interest or see value in us approving these things that the administration always has approval powers for?
I'm not an AIA contract expert, although I've worked with them from time to time. I believe the standard language is everything is subject to board approval. You have certain authority, but that's also part of the contract. So I understand that from a forms perspective
and those change order forms are also part of our contract are um the way they are because they're governed by the overall contract which is governed by the building corporations authority as well as our board authority.
I am um open to other ways of doing it. Um, and I I think maybe we should talk about that. But to me, what is important here is that we employ an entire group of
people who are involved in these projects on a daily basis. They know what's going on. Um, they know what needs to be changed and what doesn't, what might be a reasonable request or what what they might want to push back on or not do or bring to us. And I trust
their judgment in that regard. And I think that's why they have the authority that they do. Um, I know it might seem strange, but it is the state law process that every school district, public school district goes through in our
state. It's just the way that it's done. Um, and I think it's more of a transparency thing than anything else about the changes that we're making to the contract and how we're using public funds. Yeah, I just when I see us approving a
credit for $12,000, you know, I'm like there's probably something else we could spend our time or you guys spend your time on differently. So maybe it needs some >> and and that's what I think I hear you saying maybe that maybe it wasn't super clear, but I that's what I hear you saying is that do we you're more of
questioning do you think that we need Yeah. the efficiency of the process as John just said. we need to have these if they're small amounts. We we >> we trust, you know, the administration. That's that's the reason, you know, we we aren't financial experts and we are by no means construction experts. Maybe
one of us down here, but um >> No, no, no, no, >> no. But um >> but if they're small amounts enough, what you are kind of getting to the point is that you're saying, do we need to approve those in a in a meeting and take the time to do it? Is what is what is that what you're trying to say?
>> Yeah. And just to be clear, I completely agree, Greg, that that might not be a great use of our time. I don't I don't know if there are other school district policies that maybe we could take a look at and pursue that. Um because I was trying to find some and I didn't and I
know ISBA might have some resources that are not as easy or or easier to put your hands on. So, >> and to be clear, they would still be part of a consent agenda or or some >> could be a consent agenda for sure, but I as I said, um the focus, my focus has
always been that that you're approving the change to the contract. And I don't know that you could choose to I would believe that in all these documents, it it um it it may not be optional that you could have you know give that authority to your administration. What you can do
is you can put them on a consent agenda and and essentially it's real close to doing the same thing because unless you choose to talk about it, there's >> no I agree. I think we still have to have it on and we could still choose to say Mr. Mcichael can you comment but maybe it wouldn't take as much of our time I think is what Mr. Brown is
>> trying or not at all. I mean it's up it'd be up to the board but it's like any other consent agenda >> on a consent agenda it those are action items that you're choosing to group yes >> but also choosing to not discuss but if any one board member wants to discuss they're entitled to
>> we can or sometimes when we hire and we hire an administration sometimes Dr. O strike will say you know can I say a word they're here in the audience or exactly we you know there's no reason we can't have I always ask for discussion >> you always have the option to to to treat it like any other action item
>> but you also would have the option to to not discuss it like you don't typically discuss the payroll report for example >> which could right so so in this case if these three item or four items um we could we would see them on the consent agenda and if none of us had issue or
wanted to discuss it just leave it there and let it go. >> But if if there was one that sounded like we want to discuss, we could pull it out and and it would just give us I'm trying to just look for ways to carve more time out to focus more on >> reports and other student outcome measures and things of that nature.
>> I think I would recommend consideration of using the consent agenda for that purpose. As I said, um, in any number of cases, if there's not a board member that has a question because you you do receive the written information and so you don't have a question, then it just
gets approved. If you do have a question, as I said, it doesn't take a majority. It takes one person and you're entitled to discuss it if you want to. >> Mr. Shapiro, did you have a comment? >> Yeah, I mean, I I was just going to share because I think Greg was asking
for opinions. Um, I agree. I mean, I think certainly if we can become more efficient in the business of the board so that we can engage more in discussion on uh around topics of interest, you know,
workshop items, student outcomes, you know, focused on the on those type of items, we should absolutely do that. I do want to ensure obviously that we're following our responsibilities as a board and so if we're if we are obligated to be approving things then certainly we can put that in as as part
of the consent and I also want to make sure that I think there's a delicate balance though and also making sure that um whomever is consuming these meetings whether that be live uh in the audience online live or they go back and watch uh
on fast forward or in real time uh that that there's they're able to see um how their tax dollars are being used, right? And so, yes, a lot of this is credit. Yes, this is dollars that have already been spent, but that's the that's the responsibility that that we as a board
hold is to be good stewards of of that those dollars. And so I I I get what you're saying and I agree like in and in this case using tonight as the example in the scheme of things, we're not talking about tremendous amounts of dollars, but these are our tax dollars. And so I I just want to make sure that
we're being um responsible to the community in in towing that line and that we're not just saying, "Okay, well, we're just going to throw it away." I mean, I am not a lawyer. I am not a construction expert. I am the son of a lawyer, but that does
not give me any qualification in the legal world. So, you know, I I do think putting it in the consent is the easy way to go. It certainly makes it efficient. And to the point that Mr. Mcichael made should we see anything in the material that say, "Hey, I'm not so sure about this," it allows us to take
it out in question. And we've done that with other consent items. And we can certainly do that moving forward. And I think it gives everybody gives anybody what they're what they need in terms of efficiency and the ability to question if we need to. >> If you think about your the claims
report that you approve every two weeks, that's an example where all of those have been delivered and paid for, you know, whatever may not be paid for, but they've been received and you have an obligation to pay them something very similar. Um, and of course over the year they can add up to millions of dollars.
um everything from utility bills to whatever it is and but you've approved a budget and so we we uh so you've app you've given the authorization to buy you know PE supplies or whatever it is um and likewise here you have approved a
bond issue um and as you often times ask appropriately it's like I'm assuming we have the money to pay for it so the answer is yes and thus we have we have the ability to and the wherewithal to to when we're making a recommendation to
pay this, we also have we know that we have the funds to pay it. So they as I think about it, it's very similar to the claims process. >> No, I agree. It's already part of something that we already >> and sometimes you'll pull a claim off and say I just have a particular question about this claim. Yeah,
>> I was just going to say since we changed this year to posting the claims with the agenda publicly in advance of the meeting, I'm particularly comfortable with the consent agenda approach for I'm sorry that we started posting the claims and the change orders before our
meetings so that somebody wanted to contact the superintendent or Mr. Mcichael and say, "Hey, I have a question or contacted one of us and said, "What is this?" we would have that opportunity. Um so I think that works well with the way we've been approaching
um posting these um agenda documents publicly in advance. >> So I'm thinking maybe the the policy liaison need to do a little digging into what what we currently have uh you know before we would make any changes to see if you guys can do that. that is um Miss
Nes Williams and Miss Wheeler um and let us know from there. All right. So, back to our our original motion was for action items 5.5, 5.6,
5.7, and 5.8. Um and we had our discussion. So, let's take a vote. And all in favor of approving those items signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. Our next item is our discussion item and
that is the 2026 CCS legislative letter and I'm going to hand it off to uh Dr. Orike. But I did want to let the public know how proud I am that we do this. I was part of a um president's roundt uh virtual last um last week and we were
the only district um there that said that they actually sent a letter um just and and again this isn't demands you know this is a letter of of partnership with our legislators you know telling them some things maybe could they consider um doing legislation on um and so I think it's really important that
we're doing this important work >> well good evening President K members of the board. Uh, President Kok took a little bit of my thunder in the in the introduction there, but yeah, we have an annual practice of crafting a legislative letter and President Kok and
I did that to present to the board this evening. Um, our goal does remain clear. We want to partner with our legislators and our representatives as they are working through different items that impact uh public education and Carmel Clay Schools. We want to be a resource
to them. Uh I personally meet with our legislators. Um they have my cell phone number if they're in session and they want to run a question uh by uh me and how that'll impact Carmel Clay Schools. Uh I remain open, President Kay remains
open uh to partnering with our legislators. So I'm very excited about that. Uh we do have five different areas uh in our legislative letter um that we wanted to share tonight with you. Um, these areas are based upon the needs of Carmel Clay Schools, but they're also
created uh based upon our work with the Indiana School Boards Association and the work President Kay has been doing and also with the legislative priorities of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendent uh and I attended their uh initial meeting um at our uh
annual fall meeting of ISBA and IAPSS. And so I wanted to share uh those areas. is I'm not going to go through every bullet as uh that is listed and posted for the public to take a look at, but one was to continue to ensure adequate funding for public schools to improve
student outcomes. Uh number two, support and elevate the education profession. Number three, provide uh regulatory relief to reduce administrative burden. Uh number four, maintain local governance and accountability standards.
And then number five, local re revenue tools and fair fiscal policy. And so uh we look forward uh to providing this information. One thing we did different, President Kok and I did differently this year is previous uh letters were
wonderful, but it was very heavy in the narrative. So we took that and we have more of a bulleted approach so that when I sit down with the legislator, I can say, "Okay, let's look at this section. Here's our three or four main bullets that we're interested in discussing and
having those discussions. And so with that, I'd be happy to have any discussion on this draft. It is a draft. Uh we would uh with your feedback, we would work on it a little bit more, bring it back to you in December for a formal approval, and then once it's
approved, we will uh with uh Mrs. Novas's assistance, uh, we would send it to our legislators as well as the main players, uh, in the state senate and the house of representatives in the state of Indiana. President Kok,
>> anyone on the board have any discussion or any comments so far? Why don't we all work our way from the end? Chris, did you have anything? >> Yeah, I really like the bulleted approach. I I think it um presumes that our legislators have a great deal of
knowledge already about these issues and and it gets to the point. So, I appreciate that very much. I also appreciate um the emphasis on really fairness and accountability. So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Brown. >> Yeah, just one comment on the the local revenue tools and fair fiscal policy item. Uh there's one that says revising tiff uh statutes from may the word using
the word may to the word cow. Um when we share incremental um assessed values and I'm on the CRC and and there's a lot of talk about tiff and uh that's that's what powers the redevelopment in the
city. So, um, this is my first knowledge seeing the letter and I appreciate seeing that that I didn't know we had some statutes that had the word may instead of the word shall. My understanding was that all our tiff districts, all our tiff activity um they're designed to fund the op the
referendums which in our case is two of course the safety and the opera operations refund or uh fund uh referendum. So, um, this would imply that there's some cases where we might have some tis tiff districts that aren't
generating referendum taxes based on someone's ability to use the word that, you know, this we may generate tiff. That's how I read this. So, I don't know if we know anything more than that. Um,
I don't uh with with just that sentence. When I read the sentence, I'm have it I'm reading it differently than you and because there has been there is approval beginning in 2008 that we um that we share um operation funds and other you
know funds with with a charter school for example. That's not a major issue for us. I don't know if we even have a charter school in Caramel currently, but but IPS for example, that's a huge issue. And um but that's how I took it. I'm not aware of any changes to the
referendum. In fact, we early on um when when we had our first referendum, the the the county didn't know really how to deal with it. So, so uh that's when legislation made it clear that uh tiff districts were not protected from
referendums. And so our in our case because we have a 20% of our property is in tiff districts um the AV for tiff districts is and thus referendums is 20% higher than for all the other funds. And so I don't believe that the language is
talking about somebody arbitrarily deciding that you can't that you couldn't receive the full value of the assessed value in a tiff district. I believe it's applied to, but I don't know that for sure with just reading the one sentence, but I've not read or been aware of anything other than there's
been a lot of conversation about sharing with charter schools. Uh, but not there was no mention about TIF. >> Yeah. And with regards to that, it was also a legislative priority for ISBA and APSS. So, we can dig into that one a little bit more and uh come back to you
at our next meeting when we bring this for approval and uh kind of get some more background information on that. That'd be good. You know, it's a brief statement and you know, I read it one way, you read it another way. I hope your ways the right way, but it's uh it's certainly uh concerning. You know,
if there's some >> Yes. >> some loophole or something that we need to take a look at >> because all of our pretty much all all of our surrounding districts, including Carmel, have referendums, which is not as common as you might think around the rest of the state. Um, and I meet
regularly with the other CFOs and in that are contiguous with us. And it's never come up about it has come up about charter schools, but it has not there's been no mention about any change in the in the referendum statutes. >> Okay, good. >> I know there's a large uh paragraph on
it in the um as being on the legislative committee for ISBA. I'll I'll find that packet and and get that information to the board. >> I appreciate it. Uh just a couple of quick comments. I also love the bullets. I think it's a great uh strategy for both the
legislators and for their legislative assistants who do most of their prep work for them. Um I appreciate the um I think the approach is very politically neutral, which I think is a good way to go when trying to speak to public education. Um I would imagine these
folks are included in um when you say uh in addition to our the legislators that represent Carmel um in the House and the Senate, but if they're not already included, obviously the Senate Prom and um the speaker of the house and as well as the chairs of the Senate and House
Education Committees or all the members of the Senate and House Education uh committees should get this letter. So yeah, I mean those are just my my quick comments. I think everything pretty much is is covered in here and it just allows for quick reading and highlighting for
them. So, great work. >> I want to thank the administration and Kristen for your hard work on this. Are you still the legislative lesson? Okay. Um for your hard work on this. I know it takes a lot of time and Carmel is seen as a leader throughout the state and so
presenting this information in a unbiased fashion I think is probably wellreceived and I do agree with my colleagues where the bullet points have um a more clear vision and less narrative that can get lost. So thank
you very much. >> Great. Thank you all. We'll keep any questions. I'm sure we can keep, you know, getting any questions um from the board and I'll try to remember to answer um that part about TIFF. All right. Thank you, Dr. Orike.
Uh next up, we have reports and our first report is the uh staff and student services report with Dr. Herrera. All right. Thank you, President Kok, Dr. Orike, and members of the board. My presentation tonight is focusing on how we invest in our employees and
specifically tying that to the strategic plan and looking at employee engagement and effectiveness. So, the strategic goal I am focusing on is investing in our people. So, we're looking specifically at how we attract, support, and retain highly qualified
staff. And then the key initiatives I focused on, sorry, let me hide this really quick. The key initiatives I focused on is conducting a comprehensive review of staff benefits and then monitoring
employee satisfaction and improving retention through feedback. And then we will continue to measure the performance by determining the effectiveness of staff retention and turnover rates and then looking at the feedback that we get from employee interviews.
So specifically looking at health and wellness services provided to our employees. You know if an employee has an physical or emotional concern, we want to make sure they get the care they need so that they can be the best they can be while they're at work. You have to be on our medical plan to access the
wellness center, but as you know, our wellness center is located across from the high school and is fully staffed by Ascension employees. At the wellness center, you can receive virtually any type of care you would normally receive at your personal doctor's office. Our
data shows that our sickest employees have better outcomes when they are serviced through the wellness center because we focus on everything pre from preventative care to chronic disease management and everything in between. The care provided to patients at the
wellness center is at no cost to the employee and often includes medications. We feel like this is super important because it minimizes barriers to seeking care. And at the wellness center, we also have four mental health counselors and a registered nurse employed by
United Healthcare. Although we have four mental health counselors through the wellness center, we also find it very important that we provide mental health services for all employees. So we have a partnership with First Stop Health. This is a virtual
option for all employees and it is really important for employees, spouses and children have access to this. A lot of times you'll see that having a virtual option is important to families because they can do that for the comfort of their own home or perhaps you have a
child that's away at college and so you're able to supply them with access to have mental health services. We also have the employee assistance plan which is an in-person mental health services. And one thing I will mention is that our administrators and our
supervisors just do a tremendous job. So if they have a someone who reaches out to them and they're just expressing concern or that they need resources, we make sure that everyone understands that we have first stop health in the employee assistance plan available to
them so that they can communicate that. We also have tele medicine which provides 247 virtual care. So you wake up and you're not feeling well and it's the weekend or it's the holiday, you don't have access to your doctor, maybe your child's sick, you can call in,
speak with a physician and they will call in prescriptions over the phone for you. We offer free flu vaccines to all of our employees and then there are additional vaccines available within our wellness center as well. Our physical therapy is available available when you
are referred from our wellness center or from one of our partnerships at Hendricks Regional Health through our orthopedic surgery. One thing I will mention is that if you're receiving PT care, it is with a doctorate level physical therapist and you have a full
one-hour session each time. The great thing about our physical therapy is that you are not limited to a restricted number of um appointments. They will see you and continue seeing you for as long as you need.
We also have a partnership with two programs that we consider centers of excellence. The first one being Hendrickx Regional Health for Orthopedic Surgery. We've partnered with them for the last three years and I will tell you that they are the number one in central Indiana based on outcomes and patient
satisfaction. Since we've rolled out the program, we've had a total of 115 employees needing surgery. 97 of those employees chose Hendrickx and I will tell you we've had zero complaints. Everyone is completely satisfied with the results
and the outcomes of surgery. Um along with that, we offer um this partnership free of charge to our employees. So there is no cost that they have to bear. And along with that, we provide a $500 gift card to the employee and a stipen
between 500 and 1,500 depending on the surgery they receive. And again, that comes back to we want to be able to focus on the patients recovery, on our employee recovering, and getting back to work. We also have a partnership with Ascension St. Vincent Health Hospital
which we established in January 2024. Again, just as an example of how important these programs are to our employees, we recently had an employee who had a heart attack. We were able to connect her with um our heart care specialist and she was able to receive
care free of cost and we'll continue to receive follow-up care as part of that. So again, it's about breaking down barriers and for them to have lifech changing um support that they need so that they can continue to seek those
services. I'm very proud um of our comprehensive work injury program. When there is an injury, um, our supervisors are trained to assist the employee with calling the nurse triage line. That allows them to speak to a registered nurse and they
receive care from start to finish from from that triage line. We make sure that our employees are cared for and we partner with one of the best injury teams, which is JWF Specialty, to make sure our staff does receive the best
care in those situations. Next, talking about our fitness club, we really do collaborate. Um, our fitness club collaborates with our wellness center, collaborates with PT, and that is to make sure that we are providing
employees with a healthier lifestyle. And so, our goal is to help our employees make better choices and be part of a community so they can make transformative changes. At the fitness club, you'll see we have group fitness classes, personal training. We have team CCS races, which
sometimes are free or at a discount. We have a total of 17 instructors and six personal trainers. All of our employees and retirees have access to our fitness center for a small fee, and they participate in everything from strength
training, yoga, hiphop, cycling, and much more. But to put all this into perspective, I have a short video I would like for you to watch. We opened our wellness center in 2013, so we've been doing this for a while. We've been expanding ever since then. We
provide every service that we feel will assist somebody in maintaining and gaining a healthy lifestyle. In addition to the wellness center proper, we have a fitness center right next door which provides opportunity for about 40
fitness classes. And so we provide very inexpensive membership. >> Right now we have four therapists on staff. This is honestly a brilliant program because we're able to treat patients for as long as they need to be
treated to meet their goals. Even when patients graduate, they're always free to reach out to us via email. They can always stop into the clinic if they just have questions because we're always here to help them in any way, shape, or form
that we can. I truly believe that this wellness center is going to impact this city in a way that um none of us really realized when we first started out. The teachers are a large backbone in this community and as they begin to understand how to be healthy from a
lifestyle standpoint, they organically give that to the kids. The more they understand public health and how to be healthy from a lifestyle standpoint, it just organically goes to the community. >> I'm one of the mental health therapists here. So, I see all clients uh between
students, teachers, spouses, family. The cool thing about this clinic is that we're really here for them. We see you more than just an individual. You're individual as a sum of all your different parts. And for us to be integrated within the community, we see all of that.
>> I love the collaboration that we have within this practice. We really cater to providing wellness to the patient. Everything down to the hours that we provide. If we start to see a common request or concern, we make sure to research, develop referral patterns so
that those patients are supported. If they're not already using the other departments within this wellness center, I try to make sure that they know what's available that makes the most sense for them. Not only can I help with the medical side of things, but there's so much overlap with mental health,
dietetics, exercise that all help treat the same conditions that I treat. So having that support around me only gives the patient more options to succeed. It is a special team of people and I do think that's key. You've got some key people that have made the decisions
about the wellness center. They foster that philosophy. We're all on the same page and it does take a special team to carry out the care. But when you've got leaders that have such high standards, it's easy. They have a vision and we're
carrying it out. It's not how long you live, but it's how well you live. And this is the most positive uh employee relations initiative I've ever been involved with. And so we talked about the physical and mental well-being that we support our employees on, but we also want to talk
about the financial well-being of our employees. We have access for we have a partnership with your money line and all employees have access to utilizing your money line. You will see they provide support for everything from public service loan forgiveness to budgeting,
financial preparedness, setting financial goals. So this is something that we make sure all employees understand they have access to. Along with that, sometimes we'll get a phone call and someone needs assistance with how do I plan for a wedding or I'm merging accounts with a partner or
holiday spending. You know, all of those life circumstances that happen. And so we always connect them with your money line to talk to them about the support that they're able to provide. And then lastly is Educare. Educare is
quality care that we have um child care that we have for our employees children and we currently have two locations that's at Caramel Middle and Clay Middle. Um they you know provide care for children up to 6 weeks to 5 years
old. We currently have 140 children currently enrolled between both of the facilities and have already started a wait list for the 2728 school year. So with that, I will take any questions.
Thank you, Dr. Herrera. This is a wonderful video and I'm sure it's an excellent Was this a new video or something you just put together? >> No, it was recent. I did not put it together, but it's it was a recent video. I mean it must sorry
but this would be a great recruiting tool because these benefits I've heard from uh some of my friends whose children are teachers within the district that the they utilize these services. We've toured the facility.
It's remarkable and it was it's been improved since we were there. So um thank you so much for leading up these programs. Roger, I know you put a lot of work into this and uh we look forward to I know it's a you are contacted by other districts across the country, maybe
across the world to look at its success and it is we certainly all know that teachers are not paid necessarily what they're due but these types of benefits are very helpful to their families. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thanks Dr. Herrera. I would agree with uh what Jennifer had to say. I mean certainly uh the additional ancillary benefit is tremendous when financial compensation for public school educators is not where it should be. Um do you have any sense of what percentage
of staff that are eligible for services are taking advantage of it roughly? I happen to know that um actually the u the higher risk patients the higher the participation.
So when we get to moderate to u going toward high risk it's up to about 75% and overall I believe it's about 65%. Um realizing that um many young children dependents and so forth they may not
whether they should or not they may not seek services anywhere. So that drives the number down. When you look at spouses and employees, um it's well over, you know, over well over 60% and as I said, over 75% for the the
higher risk patients. >> And then what would are you able to put a financial value per employee on what this benefit would the monetary value? >> We've not looked at it so much for the value for the employee, but we've certainly looked at it for the value for
the school district. And so usually it's like, well, what's all this cost? And the answer is the more the more services we provide, the more money we save. And um we have an independent um company that does all of our data analytics. That was one of the best things we did because I could tell you how great it
is, but she tells you because that's what she does for a living. And she has very we get 70 page reports quarterly that very clearly and it's not it's not refutable. Um uh diabetics for example, it's clear that those that participate in who are the sickest have u if they
participate in the wellness center, they're on fewer drugs. They're there's more that are are in that go back to being pre-diabetic or not not becoming diabetic. It's the evidence is clear and from a cost standpoint over 13 years our
our premium increases not because we've shifted the cost to the employees because anybody can do that. um and then your cost goes down. But our premium increases have a averaged less than 3% in those 13 years and medical inflation's been far more
been double digits and drugs are even more than that. Um, so I can go on and on about this, but but but I will and for a little bit. It's really important. And uh, so we went six years uh, with no change in the
plan design. So we didn't shift cost to the employee with no premium increase. In fact, one year we gained a million dollars. And we weren't about to lower the premium because, you know, you can have the bad years and so forth, but it's it's just been an outstanding program. And more recently, as the labor
market's, you know, really gotten severe, um, it has become a a significant recruiting tool, as has the child care program. We've been doing that since 99. >> Great. Thank you. Certainly really helpful. I appreciate it.
>> Just a similar question to John, but on the uh the financial wellness uh program, do you see good participation with that? Well, it's kind of relative, but the I can tell you that when when student loan forgiveness came out, you know, started a couple years ago, we had
over a million dollars picked u employees that that um had over a million dollars forgiven. And so, if you're one of those employees, it was pretty important to you. And um um the participation as a percentage is not as
high as we would like to see. Um but we started that right when COVID hit. So, so it's it was a challenge getting it off the ground because we couldn't, you know, go out and talk to people and so forth. We've since are doing all those things and and I believe it it is going up in terms of participation.
>> Yeah, I think it's really an important one that's easily overlooked >> with people in their earlier years of their career that they tend to defer getting into, you know, good programs like this. So it'd be great to encourage them all to Do we have like a training
or exposure program to it that all employees can come in? >> I believe when they're hired there there's an orientation that shares all of this, but uh I'd emphasize that all of these services are connected. So um as you know, human beings are complex.
So we it's physical people get the physical health. Uh they don't always get the mental health. that might be second. Um but they may not seek those services as much. Uh but then we also the fitness center for example it looks like you know classes and all that but part of it is uh social well-being and
so people meet each other uh they end up you know becoming friends. they may go out for, you know, dinner after a class and and um and and so there and then the participation like in in 5Ks and so forth, we subsidize that
because we know that um if you help somebody else that helps you, too. And so there's a there's a reason for all these things that that aren't always apparent. um the yoga classes will have the PT say you know if you take a yoga class and and strengthen your core you
might not need to see me as much and so uh and it's all on site we used to have physical therapy at a remote site or very good company but we wanted them right there so that they truly are partner with with the doctor um and and
all the others you know oftentimes you go in for example uh maybe uh you have high blood pressure and then it's the medical doctor, you know, soon realizes that, you know, you may want to see one of our therapists because your stress levels just off the charts and and then
that may lead to, well, um, if you see the dietitian and get, you know, better nutrition and so forth because people know what to do, but but you know, like weight loss for example, but 95% of the people that lose weight gain it back and it's not that they don't, you know, it's
like don't eat as much and improve your diet, but that, you know, without any support. Um that just doesn't happen. And so we're really proud of the fact that we provide these supports. And so the success rate on any number of things is just much higher. Just makes sense
that we're trying to prevent illness whereas the rest of the country is treating sick people and we're trying to keep them from sick. But they're also paid on treating sick people. So the whole system I could go on and on but and I have but but it's a really
important issue. Thank Thank you. >> I like being on the end because all my questions get answered before you get to me versus being called first. But uh No, no, no, no. Don't apologize. Uh but uh I just want to say in particular uh really
impressed by the physical therapy on-site and unlimited as someone who just had her insurance company cut me off. Even when my physician said I still needed additional physical therapy for my back, they were like, "Oh, sorry about your luck. Um, we won't pay for
it." So, that's just huge because it really is helpful. And just to have somebody guide you in all of these areas of health and wellness, I think is huge and you feel like you're not alone. Um, and it's a community. So, appreciate your effort so much.
>> Yeah, thank you for this. This was great. I um kind of on the same page as Roger with I I really believe moving towards that prevention and early detection um early intervention for for diseases is is key and it's so great that we have this for for our employees just and thank you
>> and I just wanted to add as you heard tonight this is a model for our country a model for our nation our wellness center that we have and I just want to although Dr. Herrera and I have been able to benefit in our roles um this is all based upon Mr. Mcichael's vision
that he had when he started this. Um, and that goes back to the wellness center, everything we talked about. Educare, educare keeps teachers in our classrooms and provides the child care at a very affordable rate for our teachers to be able to do what they love
to do um, and get quality care for their own children. And so, um, without this vision of Mr. Mcichels, we wouldn't be here today. and uh hopefully someday uh we can see uh the Roger Mcichael
Wellness Center at Caramel Clay Schools. And so his his vision is pretty phenomenal on what we have, but it's investing in our employees so they can take care of themselves as they take care of our kids. So Roger, thank you for your vision. I just want to say
thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Herrer. That was great report. >> Thank you. Well, next we get to hear from Mr. Mcichael again. Um, his monthly financial update. >> I want to note how quickly I got this pulled up. So,
>> no, it really it's already up. I know it's fast. >> I'm feeling pretty good. Okay. Uh, so the financial report is is directly tied to our strategic goals uh for budget transparency and stewardship. Um terms of performance measures uh we
want the budgets to align with the strategic goals and the referendum transparency and and it is the monthly reporting terms of key initiatives. You know we want to uphold the u we think it supports upholding the uh fiscal responsibility as well as transparent
operations for the for the community. So with that I'll start with the education operating and rainy day fund. You can see that we in o for October we ended with a balance of just over over 13 million. Uh that compares favorably to
last year it was about 12. So it's about 9 800,000 higher than last year. Um and it should be a little higher because as we're looking at a percentage as the as the budget goes up the balance needs to go the dollars need to go up as well. Um but I'm going to um pause for a second
because Mr. Shapiro had a couple questions that I maybe I can answer as we go along here rather than going back. So can you just um percentage uh year-to- date percentage remaining? I know this is not an exact science. >> Yes.
>> Right. Because as we spoke about earlier in the meeting, we were talking about the resolution on additional appropriation. Budgets are planned well in advance. >> Um and it's it's the best guesstimate that we can do. So, can you just help
explain and alleviate any concern about when it says how much, you know, there's only 15% remaining and are we going to be okay? Um, and >> yes, and that's exactly I I thought that was your question underlying your question and so that's the reason the
15% is not sufficient. That's why we need the additional appropriation. And so, uh, but the math of it would be it would look more like 16 and a half% or so. and and our expenses aren't necessarily that even, but but 15 the 15 is representing not having sufficient
appropriations. So >> that was that was my underlying question, but I knew it was tied to the additional appropriation, but I again I for people who aren't looking at this regularly. >> Yes, >> it it can be very confusing. >> And so, >> you know, and I will admittedly say sometimes it's confusing for me and some
of it also is timing. Yes. You know, I've worked with school budgets before and I I know that sometimes expenses don't line up exactly where you want them to um or you intend them to and so you sometimes have to >> just roll with it. But I I just wanted
to make sure we clarified some of that specifically so that there was a clear understanding. >> Yeah. And did you have a I believe you had may have had a question. I understood it at least that it had to do with like inter fund loans or or transfers. So for example that report
this is not this month but uh you'll recall that we transfer about $18 million from education fund to the operations fund. So that will show in the one report as u expense and then corresponding number will be in the in
the operation fund as revenue as as re additional revenue. So that is is kind of what those represent and then then we'll do inner fund loans which I'm when I let me go to the operations fund actually and because here uh we have a
balance of a negative balance which is not unusual because of the money received twice a year as we it'll get more so as we get closer to the end of the year until we start receiving property tax draws. But if you compare this um it's more
than it was in 24. But the very reason is is because in 24 there was an inner fund loan um to keep a because we don't want to end the year or June 30th in particular with a negative fund balance. So we do what's called an inter fund
loan. And so it might be borrowed in June um and in July it's paid right back. And so it goes and then it starts the process all over. So, so the comparison there would be misleading if you didn't understand that in 24 um they
had a a $4 million inter fund loan which of course brought the balance that the n it's still negative but it was much less and that that all had to do with just kind of more or less the bookkeeping and so um that would explain the um educa or the operating fund and you may see the
same percentages because we have additional appropriation approved recently for as you know um for that as well. And then the rainy day fund. There's there's very little activity here, but in comparison, you'll see that we have seven seven.5 million dollars
and the and a year ago we had four because we had transferred three million from the operations. And um and then likewise the safety referendum cash balance is better and it looks it looks better and it is better. we uh got pretty low on cash in this
fund and so this year it's it's coming back a bit which is what we needed to see and so we're pleased with that and I think that may be it. So with that I'll respond to questions if you have Wow. No questions.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Michael, >> thank you. >> Our next report is the superintendent report, so I'll turn it over to Dr. Orike. >> Thank you again, President Kay. Our Caramel High School marching greyhounds wrapped up their season, placing third in the nation at Bands of America Grand
Nationals. 500, by my research, 594 bands entered the Bands of America marching band competition at all of the regionals across the country and 108 bands made grand nationals. Out of the
108 bands, uh, only 12 made it to grand national finals and Caramel placing third. Um, Carmel won the outstanding music performance category and truly saved their best performance for last.
Uh, this year, Carmel had 158 students who were either in their first year or second year of marching band experience out of the 260 marchers. Uh, and I I liken that to a varsity uh, basketball
or football team. if they primarily have freshman and sophomores, they're not finishing third in the nation. And however, our marching band continues uh their excellence with the leadership of Mr. Chris Kraky and the entire team. Uh our marching band students at Carmel
High School truly stepped up to the challenge. Um, moreover, there was a very special announcement during the awards ceremony and Caramel High School was selected to march in the 2027 Roseb
Parade. So, if they need any, if you're listening, Mr. Craky, if you need any chefrons for that, please let me know. Um, it truly was a special evening with an amazing group of students, teachers, parents, and we are all extremely proud
of our Carmel High School marching greyhounds. Um, additionally, if you have not yet gotten your ticket, we're going to stick with our performing arts theme tonight. Over 400 student performers will be a part of this year's holiday spectacular at Caramel High
School from December 4th through December 7th. Performances will start at 700 p.m. on the fourth, fifth, and 6th. And there are also two performances that start at 2 pm on December 6th and 7th. Uh limited tickets, very limited tickets
do remain for this extraordinary event. So head to caramelquires.org uh and get your tickets tonight. And finally, our bell ringer uh for uh the report tonight uh is Mr. Josh Southern,
our music teacher at Smoky Row Elementary School, who recently received the honorary lifetime membership award for exemplary service at the 2025 National ORF conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Uh this is the organization's
highest honor and the award was presented to Mr. Southern in front of over a thousand attendees. Uh, I was able to drive down to be a part of this special presentation and to say that Josh is a big deal in the music world is
an understatement. He is a rock star there. So, not only is he beloved at Smoky Row Elementary School and here in Carmel, he is also regarded as one of the nation's top elementary music teachers and uh utilizing that ORF meth
methodology and approach. And so, we are very proud of Josh. Not only does he share his musical teaching expertise across the country, a special something to note, Josh is also a Caramel bus driver and uh drives a bus for Caramel Clay Schools as well. And as part of our
teacher program uh where we have a handful of teachers that not only teach during the day, but also drive a bus in the morning and afternoon. And Josh told me he was getting back uh this weekend because he had an event to uh drive a student group to uh this weekend that he
got back from Lexington. So uh not only not only is he a rock star in the classroom, but on the bus and across the nation. So congratulations, Josh. We're very proud of you. And then finally, as we prepare to send our students off uh for Thanksgiving break, I'd like to
pause and express my sincere appreciation to our entire Carmel Clay Schools community. I am truly grateful to all of our students and families, as well the as well as the dedication of our teachers, administrators, and support staff who give so much of
themselves to serve our nearly 16,000 learners every single day. So I was having a conversation with a couple board members and we were talking about how education is a people business. It is complex. It is challenging and it is
profound profoundly meaningful and it takes all of us here working together to help our students grow, thrive and discover their potential in an everchanging world which is part of our mission. So I wish each of you a restful
and joyful Thanksgiving break. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Ori. We have a couple announcements tonight. Uh November 26th, which believe it or not, it's Thanksgiving week. So, November 26th, the schools are closed. Um but the offices are still open. Uh November 27th
and 28th, Thursday and Friday, all offices and closed for CC or all offices and schools for CCS are closed. Our next meeting is Monday, December 15th for our regular board meeting. Uh December 19th is a Friday. Yes. And it's a teacher
work day. Yes. Um students are done on the 18th. Um then December 22nd through January 2nd is the CCS winter break and teachers return on January 5th. May I have a motion? Oh,
>> that's for next year. >> That's in 2017. Yeah. You're always welcome. >> I will send out a reminder. Um yes, I will send out a reminder. Our um our only board meeting in December is
Monday, December 15th um here at 6 PM. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Um thank you. Uh okay. Meeting adjourned.