would stand up and say the pledge of allegiance with us to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. >> Welcome everyone. Do we have any patron comments on the agenda items? Okay. All right. So, before we recognize some outstanding student athletes, I want to do this little twist first. So, Jeff
Clawson, I lied to you. I asked you to do an update about Skyward. And really, I would like you to come forward because we want to recognize you as the certified employee of the month for everything you did with Skyward. I'm
going to say more here, and you better want to turn around and see some people. It works. It works. So, uh, go ahead. [Applause]
for a while. Many of you know that during the summer, we went through a massive transition from Synergy, a student information system. As parents, that's where you get all that information about grades, attendance, and so forth that comes from
the schools, from us. We migrated over. We transitioned into a brand new system called Sky. Um, it took a lot of people, but I'm telling you, Jeff Clawson was the main person who spent countless hours um, on the weekends here in the
evenings just trying to make it as smooth as possible. We still had hiccups. You're always going to have hiccups anytime you change something that big. But he did an outstanding job. We we recognized him in front of all of our faculty on the first day, but we want to do this in our board meeting
because again, your work and your time and your effort just outstanding. So, Thank you. I thank you personally too. And also since you have family, would you mind introducing this? >> Oh, would love to. Thank you. This is a big surprise and I'm very overwhelmed uh
and also very um not not enjoying myself right now, but not enough. Uh but yes, I'm grateful to see my family here from left to right. Um well, I guess starting on the far left who's trying to hide. There's my direct report, Brandon Wright, so he's right there. basically like that
brother. >> I would then there's my father Glenn. There's my mother Nancy. Uh there's my oldest Jay Clawson. Uh there's my wife Laura. My youngest Frankie and then my sister Jamie who is an instructional coach of the district as well. So I'm
very grateful to see there's a lot of gratitude right now. Let's give a round of applause. [Applause] All right. Uh, next on our agenda, we're going to also recognize an outstanding
educator at the middle school, Katie Belle. Katherryn Belle, please come forward. So just a few months ago, um I know that they had their end of the year concert and I know that gentleman up there too that is the executive
director of ISMA Indiana School. I can't remember state school musician association. So in the entire state, Miss Briel was recognized as the 2425 outstanding music educator of the year. That does not happen every year. That is
outstanding. She is amazing. I've seen her in action both during the school day and at the concert. So, please thank her for all that she does for us. [Applause] >> She has some guests, too. I want to recognize >> my husband Josh Reynolds and his
daughter, my stepdaughter Katie Reynolds, who works at elementary. >> Thank you for coming. [Applause] All right. Next, we are going to recognize um again some amazing student
athletes. First is our Whitland Community High School Unified Track Team. And um I know that they made it all the way to state. I think it was their first year. Is that right? Um to actually compete and to
make it all the way to state and they it's just like you know our our track and field for for girls and boys. They have sectionals, regionals, semi-state and state. Um they finished 13th. So, that's incredible for an inaugural
firstear season to have that many uh student athletes make it that far and be committed to practice, to uh the competitions, and and to all the hard work that our coaches um do. Do do I have any of the coaches here tonight?
Come on down because I'm going to have you read off the names and have um your your uh players come forward. No, you're fine. >> Hey, Mia. [Laughter] is not here.
Is not wait. [Applause] Ollie also got all state for the 400 meter which means he placed first in his heat and state meet and so he gets a special patch for his letter jack. Come here, Christian.
Spencer, [Applause] >> Jr. [Applause] Jordan Broady [Applause] Gracie.
[Applause] Olivia, [Applause] Sophia. [Applause]
is my super assistant coach and Mackenzie is my super assistant coach and Hannah is my super assistant coach and Aaron couldn't come. He's got one and some of ours are in college now and some of them had other athletic
commitments tonight. But our kids worked really this year and I could not be more proud of them. [Applause] So many of them, I'm sure, on our are on our unified football team, which they
also compete this fall. And please go out and watch them. They are awesome at what they do. Thank you so much for coming tonight. Uh, we also want to recognize our high school track and field boys and girls team. I see Coach Bengal there. So, coach, I'm going to ask you to come forward, introduce your
athletes that made it all the way to state. They had another outstanding season. >> Thank you. Uh, so we got several that are at volleyball, at soccer, uh, in college. So, I don't have the full crew here tonight. Uh, so I'll just kind of start
with who's up front. Melanise, he was the state qualifier in the 1600 meter run. So, come on up. [Applause] Uh, our boys 4x 100 meter relay team of Brandon Stevie, Colton Watson, Matt Taylor Christian, and Tristan Jordan. We're also qualified.
These guys also set, actually didn't just set, they destroyed our school record that was from a few years ago. So, they ran 755 really, really fast. uh had a good state meet. So nice job by those guys. Lena Ship was a shake qualifier in the 49
[Applause] and Elanor Stevenson was a state in the 200. [Applause] So uh congrats to all of these athletes besides male. They are all returning
this year. So, we have uh several of our state qualifiers that are coming back. We're excited about that. And we should have another round of applause. >> Used to be a baseball [Laughter] jab.
>> Oh, he did jab me. >> And who hired you? I I forgot who hired you. >> Well, that's the best part of our meeting. So, um truly appreciate all the work. Thank you, coach. We'll let them um exit and then we'll
get down to the rest of our business. And under consent agenda, um I'll go through items A through G. I would ask at the end that you would approve it as a consent item. There's nothing to pull out. Uh A is minutes
from last month's regular schoolboard meeting on July 21st. B is the minutes from the executive session on July 21st. C is um disposal of surplus equipment, a request by Sam Arns, and it really um uh
has a list of items in the classroom like desks, chairs, cabinets, and um if you want speci specific numbers, that's in your board packet. Uh there's the monthly fund revenue and claims report. Nothing outstanding there. The personnel report, there's two items. The first is
the standard monthly report. There's no retirements. Um, again, very standard. Nothing to point out there or highlight. Uh, the second item is a recommendation to have a supplemental teacher stipen in the amount of $5,780
for the work that um, Sarah Amler has done in ELLL programming over the past two months. F is our annual conflict of interest statements. Um, and it would be for certain administrators, Duke Lines, Natasha Micas, and Jenny Zam. And that's just to be compliant with state board of
accounts. Uh, we have one contract, and that's with Pest Management Health. It is um an uh it is a management company that will make sure they provide um routine, proper and statutory compliant pesticide
application that um Sam has been bugging for a while and and we need to make sure we do correctly. So um that's pretty much it uh for the consent agenda. I move that we accept the consent
agenda. >> All those in favor >> all right. Under communications uh first and for first and foremost would be recognized excellence Dr. Siloski. For the month of July, we'd like to recognize the following individuals for their accomplishments and achievements.
Uh, Whiteland Community High School, Rain Smith at Pleasant Cross, I'm sorry, at Clark Pleasant Middle School, uh, Kelsey Hollow, Audrey Maxi, Liz Alonzo, and Dustin Barnes. Brick Day Elementary School,
Mary Davyy. the administration building. Carrie Muse, Christy Taylor, Jeff Clawson, Brian Levelvel, Erica Agity, and Brandon Roberts. Uh, at the Early Learning Center, we've got Laura Dalton. Grassy Creek Elementary, Megan Hughes,
Adrienne Fishburn, and Stella Harrison. Pleasant Crossing, Tina Mcier, Penny Endskeep, Glenna Dvers, Beth Dehart, Melissa Gardner, uh, Bailey Borgous Hardesty, Dr. Abby Oliver, Shay
Dilly, Monica Olrich, Gretchen Geeseking, Maggie, Rever, Courtney Leer, Maggie Meyer, and Taylor Tyler Kelp at Whitland Elementary School. Hannah Hollier, Laney Buller, Manri Kahal,
Caroline Vogle, April Willoughby, Aaron Cinders, Bethany Gilfoy, Dana Camp, Becky Graham, Jamie Smith, Stefan Lewis, and Khloe Gilbert, Brent Boltz from Transportation and Operations, Josh
Wagner. One of the things I'd like to say, some of these people are brand new with us and have already been recognized for their contributions in their building. So, we're very proud of the other members of our warrior family. >> Thank you, Dr. Schloski. Next, I would
ask um Chief Price to come forward as he uh will present the annual school safety report. >> I don't know who put me on the agenda after Dr. Schlloski, but thank you. >> Anytime. >> All right. So, every year I'm asked to
give this report. Every year I write a bunch of numbers down. I script it out. This year I'm going to do it differently. I am just putting a bunch of slides up here and we're just going to talk. We're going to find out what comes out of my mouth this time. Okay. So, >> at least you got the right logo. >> I did do that.
I don't know how to take that either, but okay. So, as you know, we got a referendum passed a few years ago. We're in the the final years of that. Um, and when we set out with that referendum, the community supported us looking on the physical side of security, looking for moderniz
modernizing our technology, putting officers in the buildings, enhancing our me our emergency response training. Um, and we want to be as transparent as possible as far as where we've made it, where we're at, and where we're going still. So, and it's funny that Austin happens to be here this evening because
I'm going to talk about something that is in every Well, he w Oh, he's back there. um every every book that he likes to read is called O or RO OI return on investment. So we're going to talk about the return on the investment that not only that our community but you as a board have supported. Um so I want to
make sure that I I tell you thank you upfront because without you guys uh without your continued support there's no way that we would even have a conversation about how well or how we're at on this return on investment with our community. Um but I do want to talk about some measurables. um the
technology purchases, salaries, and positions that we created, statistics, and programs that we're doing currently that kind of show and prove where we're at with that return on investment. As we look at technology, specifically starting out with I did take some notes, so I'm not like an animal, but um here's
some of the tech that we've upgraded over the life of this um of this referendum. We've updated all of our LED parking uh lights, uh whole brand new radio system. We have updated every piece of camera equipment we own, updated every camera software, servers, and our systems. Um, we've even added
analytic cameras, door access updates, which includes our process and our protocols, and updated all of our lockdown and panic systems. Uh, that include integration with our PA system. We've added a police department. Uh, shortly after the referendum passed in 2019, uh, the police department started
with just three people. We're up to seven full-time officers and 14 part-time officers that include uh part-time officers from every other jurisdiction that is around us. Sheriff's Department, Franklin, uh New Whitland, Whitland, um and Greenwood. Um
and as you can see on the screen, one of the things that popped up when I was doing my research is this uh $1 invested in a school resource officer yields $4 in return. Um I I had never heard that before and I thought that was an amazing stat. But another thing that I like to read is these circus secret service
reports um where they studied averted school violence and how important a school resource officer played how big of a role they played in adverting a lot of those um mass attacks that they had studied. A third of them were all adverted or reported by a law
enforcement officer that was assigned to a school. One thing that we like to focus on here is that community connection piece. A lot of what drives us and what we do and how we operate is with that integration or that uh programs that we do with the community. We want to make sure the community knows that we're here and that
we're giving back not only to our kids, our students, our parents, but the community as well. Something that I am very proud in or proud of uh is that countywide collaboration. Uh that is something that has gone off the charts in the last 5 years since I've been here. Uh my first
year here uh we did active killer training at the middle school. It was 20 officers. That's all we had. Uh we learned a lot, had a great time, learned uh camaraderie between it. This last year we had over 250 show up. Every
school district was representative with uh administrators, teachers, janitors, every law enforcement and fire department from the county was represented. And we did two days of solid training. And we're not going to stop there. We're going to keep going. Something else that got added this year
was uh we did for the first time a leadership tabletop. I didn't know how that was going to go, but we did it in this room here. I had 20 people sign up. I had over 60 show up. Every superintendent from the county just about showed up. Every fire and police chief showed up. Uh we had deputy chiefs
and assistant chiefs show up. This room was packed. We had everybody from JH to every every school district in the county show up and participate in that uh for about two and a half hours. Now, they were promised food. I think that was the biggest reason they showed up, but we still got a lot out of that. It's
a little warm in here, but um we continue to work through our preparation. Um and this is more at the corporation and the building level. Um we have really focused on communication and planning together. Um we now have corporationwide safety committees that
also build down to the building level safety committees. We at every building are doing tabletops. We're doing exercises with several disciplines across the corporation, including the nurses. Uh we work with um every uh building works with the police department to do their drills. Um so that we're honing and and refocusing on
every drill that we do. Um and we now have a standardized threat assessment process, which I will admit, um we've been doing for over three and a half years, and we have gotten calls from all over the state on how we're doing our threat assessments. Um we'll get back to that here in just a minute. And then
finally was same thing I showed you guys earlier was we do septed assessments or crime prevention through uh environmental design analysis on every one of our buildings. Um so those are all things to kind of continue to work forward. Uh and through all of that I say this again um since we've been so
aggressive and forward thinking in what we do here with our physical safety. We've become the standard. Uh we have been asked to um I get phone calls on the regular from all over the state with school corporations wanting to start police departments. Uh I just helped one
start in uh the eastern part of the state. I won't name it. Just got off the ground. Um but they are coming to visit us here. They want to see how we do our day in and day out. Um we've testified on bills on not only law enforcement in schools, but also with uh supporting school safety bills. Our threat
assessments, like I talked about before, um we use a secret service model here, and a lot of school corporations are fumbling now that it's required July 1, it was required by state law to have those. Um, we've been kind of in the weeds on it for the last three years. Um,
and again, how they call me all the time about how we, you know, handle certain uh threats, uh, if we use certain technology or why we don't use certain technology and how we respond to um, ongoing threats that we've had uh, over the past years. So, I say all of this and I could end it here. Austin would be
happy. I could sit here and say that financial benefits and the community impact have been shown through just the numbers and just the things that we're doing, the programs. Um, but I don't like to stop there. I like the emotional side of things, too. So, that return on investment of safety, it's more than what you can put numbers on. It's
literally, um, the metrics you can't show that I truly believe that makes us a model corporation when it comes to physical safety. This is where we're making those biggest and longest impacts across our corporation and across this community. I talk at nauseium about Maslo's theory.
I showed you guys that last year with the pyramid thing where it's literally the foundation. Feeling safe is the very foundational of everybody feeling as though they can learn in a safe environment and grow in a safe environment. Um, study after study after study proves, and this one at the bottom
here says that if a student feels safe, they're more likely 15% to improve upon their their metrics. Um, if they feel as though they're safe in the environment they're learning. Um, bottom line is we all have the same goal. No matter what we do here, we want
to see that every student to get a ch that gets a chance to succeed well after high school. This is I put pictures to it. So, just giving students and families the opportunity to show them that we care about them
individually with a very cool AC/DC shirt. Uh Bruce is no longer with us, but that was one of his favorite shirts. He wore it under his uniform every day. He just told me that. Um or we care about them as groups. Um this is a coloring book that was made for the
new dog that you guys swore in last year. It is now, that dog has now become internet fame, by the way. Um, he is absolutely loved and plastered all over the internet. Uh, the young man, actually, I had a note that I was going to bring for you guys to read. Uh, he does therapy sessions now. So, if
somebody's having a bad day, he'll literally go to the buildings, have a therapy session with this kid, these kids. Um, and one of the students last year at the end of the year, right after he got sworn in, wrote a two-page long, very tiny writing on how much he loved Casper. like he could not wait to see
get through the summer and come back to school so he could see Casper again. Um, we do things like this Warriorway project which I absolutely love this. This is a a chance for us to do this interaction with the kids. We do this thing where we'll create a a a crime in quotations the first year. The first
time we did it was the Grinch stole uh stole Christmas. So, we invited some elementary kids to come and work with our investigators, our drone, our dogs, and they got to solve and find the Grinch. They absolutely ate it up and loved it. But again, that's those are memories they're never going to forget.
They they still to this day, those kids talk about that. Uh we've talked about the tall cop. I will shamelessly plug this. He's going to be here Thursday night for free for the families, uh Friday for our staff. But um another thing that we want to make sure that our families have the resources available to
them, the education that they can know what's going on when they're not around their kids. Um there's a lot of scary things out there and the tall cop does a very good job about explaining those and uh giving resources to parents. Um I know you can't see it because it popped up behind there, but we do
national night every year. Uh this has grown from just two agencies three years ago to now we had five together this year. Uh well attended. Well over 200 people showed up to this one this year. Um and it seems like it's getting better every year. And then we used to do car seat checks and stuff like back there.
Uh the other thing that we want to do is make sure we're giving the community um acts of kindness that they can all get behind. Uh I know this got some publicity uh towards the be the beginning of the school year, but I wanted to make sure that that little girl had everything that she needed to feel special that day. And she did. As a
matter of fact, I saw her family this morning doing traffic in front of Pleasant Crossing. They were as happy as they could be on day one as they were today. So, this I believe is what truly makes schools safe. It's a community. It's where everybody feels as though
together. They can make a difference. And again, I want to make sure that I thank you and the public as well for allowing us to have this opportunity. Um, our time on wherever we're at is shortlived, but I want to make sure that we leave an impact no matter where we've been. Does anybody have any questions
for me? I'll just say well done. Save this PowerPoint for one year from now when we have to promote >> renewing the referendum. Fair enough. Um and I appreciate your leadership, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Uh you have a great department. Even in um the past two years, you've hired some great officers and so that's a testament
to the relationships that you've built and uh everything that you shared. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Thank you, board. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next uh central nine uh report. Miss Posel.
>> Yeah. Um the board met August 14th with started with an executive meeting at 5:30 and the general meeting included consent agenda memorandums of understanding. Um Dr. Kovac reported on the progress of moving from two sessions
to three for the 26 27 school year. There remains some issues to be worked out with a few of the participating schools. Whitland High School is included in the first session from 7:45 to 9:25,
which is 100 minute sessions. There will be an emphasis on uninterrupted and efficient use of time. The proposed three sessions will allow for an increase by onethird the number of students participating from each school.
The high school division reported a smooth start to C9 classes. Um, meet the teacher night was taking place also on the 14th, same time as the board meeting. The adult ed report included an increase in available state funds from what was
reported in July. All training classes are full. The next meeting is scheduled for September 11th. >> Thank you very much. uh redevelopment commission report. Mr. Bon >> White Redevelopment Commission met on
the 14th, the evening 14th as well. Um they paid some invoices, spent some money. Um they had over 2 million in the account to start the month. They spent 389,76168
on some um roundabout stuff, some legal fees, and they did um upgrades at all the sewage lift stations to run off a generator if necessary. Um, so the balance in the fun report
currently is 1,776,36569. >> Thank you very much. All right. Next on the agenda is the budget workshop for the 2026 annual budget. And this is not a ghost. This is Mr. fruits still with us as a a contracted vendor. Truly
appreciate um again all that he's done for our um business department and and for us even here in this building um on the side. So thank you for coming back tonight. >> Of course. Um great to be back here with you all. Uh this is my swan song really
this proposed budget. So um Cassie is is this You can scroll down if you need to. And then if you hit you just have to start the uh slideshow. So go to go up to slideshow in the top
there. Yep. From beginning. Y perfect. There we go. Okay. So we'll get right into it. Um tonight we're just going over the proposed budget and this is your chance to ask questions. This is informative really. There's no action
required tonight on this. Um, I will take you through each appropriated fund, what's expended there, what our tax rate impact is, what I think the tax rate impact's going to be because assess value still hasn't been released yet for our county. Um, that's kind of weird because it was released before this last
year. So, um, I can kind of look at what other counties have been doing right now with assess value and get a good picture. Uh, but I still don't know for sure what assess value is going to come back at. So, um, first slide here, this is our advertised tax rate and that's our proposed budget. So advertised tax
rate is $1.75. Uh and that's really high and it always is. And that's because we use a conservative assessed value when we create the budget. And so typically in prior years um I've used whatever the assessed value was in the previous year. I use what I my assessed value is when
creating this. This year I used 85% of what the assessed value was in the previous year just because with legislation I don't know what the impact is going to be on our assessed value. Um, truly, uh, like I said, I've seen other assessed values being released. I think we'll still be an increase based
on Franklin Township is usually what I use as the comparison just because our tax makeup's pretty similar. Um, they're about 10% this year, so I would hope we're close to a 10% growth this year, but I don't know for sure. Um, so our our proposed budget, uh, you have five
appropriated funds, education, operations, debt service, referendum, and rainy day. And you'll see that there are three um areas where we have a tax rate. So operations fund is tax rate driven, debt service fund is tax rate driven and referendum fund is tax rate
driven. That just means they get property tax revenue. Um the other two funds that we have on there, rainy day education fund, you see a zero dollar tax rate. That's because they don't get any property taxes for those funds. And so I haven't estimated uh where I
believe we'll come back. And I really just said if assessed value comes back relatively the same, that's going to be where I expect our tax rate to be. Um so I would expect it to be lower based on what I think is going to happen with assessed value. And you'll see uh the budget doesn't change because regardless
advertised expected, the budget is the budget. It's what we need to run our school district. So we'll start with the education fund. This is by far the largest fund for any school district. Um, and the reason is that number one point there for instructional expenses. Salaries and
benefits takes up 92% of this fund. And that covers our teachers, our IAS, our building level admin, our front office staff. Anybody that is in that school building minus custodians is pretty much funded out of the education fund. We also have support services. So, Central
9 just down the road. um IvyTech for dual credit type um purchases and then special education uh contracted costs are in here too. Uh and then supplies, technology and curriculum's in here now. Um anything that is being used within the classroom is funded here and then a
small portion goes to PD. Um as I said for advertised tax rate zero, so there's no property taxes that come into this fund. It is largely driven by state tuition. Um and then we also have a small portion for preschool tuition and summer school reimbursement. Then we have the operations fund. Um
this is where our transportation staff, custodians, maintenance, uh support staff here. Um they are all funded here. Uh but we also have utilities which always seem to increase. Uh and then our property casualty insurance premiums occur here. I know Dr. Edel's likely
going to bring that to you next month. Uh but our renewal is pretty favorable. Um and we were actually pretty happy with with what they came back with. Um so >> uh and then we have materials, capital assets, capital projects. So anything that maintenance is doing, uh
transportation, um their materials, their supplies, they are being purchased here in the operations fund. This is property tax driven. So the main source is local property taxes. Uh but we also have local income taxes that come into this fund. That's a different story for a different day on when that's going to
go away. Um, and then we have excise taxes, too. Transfers from the education fund. Uh, that's a big component for the operations fund as well. Uh, and then bank interest has really started to take off the past few years. So, uh, that used to be really minimal, uh, what bank
interest we were getting the operations fund. Debt service. This is pretty simple. uh debt service is only used to uh cover our our principal and interest on our debt payments. So uh our short-term debt which is our geo bonds that we have and the interest on those and then the
long-term debt which would be what we uh got for the high school project. Um the interest and principal on that. Um and this is uh property tax rate driven. So lo local property taxes come into this fund as well as excise taxes
and then referendum. Um, I know Chief Price mentioned that that's coming up for uh renewal here. Uh, you'll have to worry about that starting next year. Um, but this is mainly driven now. It used to be equipment driven. Uh, it's really personnel driven now. So, you've got your security officers and your
behavioral health staff that are really 5050 split in this fund. Uh, and then you have your your smaller purchases for supplies, equipment, and PD for those groups there. Um and just like operations and debt services is driven up by property taxes um and excise
taxes. And then the last fund is the rainy day fund. Um I tried looking back. I don't know the last time we've ever used this fund, but we always like to appropriate some money for it. Um and that's for emergency purposes. Uh and the only way that this gets revenue is if we transfer
funds from one fund uh into this one. Now if we look back uh you can see assessed value has grown uh pretty dramatically. Uh like I said I don't know if it will uh continue actually I know it's not going to continue like that uh with the legislation changes
that happened. Uh but I would expect somewhat of an increase this next year. Um and then after that we'll see what happens. And then just looking back at what we've advertised as a tax rate versus what actually gets approved. I mentioned our advertised tax rate is always really
high. You can see that on the left there and what gets approved is is always a lot lower than that. >> If you can go back to that last slide. Yeah, >> I know I've said this and I'll say it again. If you just look at the approved, which is the actual that's on the right, contrary to what some may still say is
out there, we've lowered the tax rate just from 24 to 25 um almost 20 cents, 18 cents. So if you get cornered by any particular person or people, you can remember that talking point.
>> On the same note, a couple of people that have approached me about tax rates, I tell them to look at their, you know, what they get from the government and go down to look at what we paid last year in the education fund and what we played
this year. And when they did, both of the people came back and said it was less. Now, total tax rate wasn't, but the educational part of it was down. So, >> and I'll I'll say the same thing as a taxpayer in this district, my amount that I paying the school went down uh
for this year. So, >> um yeah, >> and also on that note, 2019, that's when our um referendum got approved. So, even with a referendum, we've continued uh to decrease our tax rate. As far as next steps, uh like I said, no
formal approval needed for anything tonight. No action required. Next month, we'll hold the public hearing. That's on the budget. That's on the um capital project. Uh and that's on the bus replacement plan, too. Uh and then in October is when you will actually formally approve a a budget and those
two plans. And then the DLGF will do their part uh by the end of December. Any questions? I have one. This is out of left field, so you expect >> I'll bring it. Yeah.
>> Few years ago, we approved a solar panels >> up at the middle school. Have we seen any, you know, return on investment there yet? >> Well, yes, we have. Um, it's at the
middle school and Ray Crow. Um and our utility costs have it actually went down for those two sites there. Uh now they're starting to go back up because rates go back up. So now you're not going to see but there there are a lot of savings there and that directly impacts our operations fund.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you Austin. >> Okay. Thank you guys. >> All right. Uh back to the agenda under old business. Um, you have the same policies from the first reading last month. No language changes. The only
thing I'll point out with the policy 1103 board member compensation um you wanted the second option. So that was um what you have in your board packet. The first option is marked out. Um the other policies again there's no
language changes. So, um I would seek your approval for a second reading and then final approval of those policies. >> A motion that we accepted. >> A second. >> All those in favor? >> All right. Thank you. Uh under new
business. First item is a recommendation for the high school construction project phase three bid proposal. I want to introduce Dan King with Skilman to u make that um presentation. Thank you, Dr. Zel. Members of the board, uh just
as a quick reminder, the scope of phase three is the new student athletic center, the conversion of the existing naditorium into a wrestling area and then also a wait room and then because we'll be taking down the existing
greenhouse, it's the erection of a new greenhouse. Uh so we took those bids on August 6, had 44 biders uh attend and submit bids for the project. That's a little bit over three average of three biders per category. Uh so had great
participation by the contractor community for this project. They were all very excited to be a part of it. Um, just by way of framing everything, we provided the administration a final design estimate prior to bid, which was
just over $32 million, about $32.5 million for our final design estimate. And the total bids came in just over 29 million at 29,2,284. uh that's inclusive of an alternate which is a mandatory alternate for the
controls uh that control the HVAC system for that area. Um but as the the bids came in uh we have gone over and done what we call our pre-awwards with all biders to confirm uh that their bids were indeed responsive and satisfied all
the bidding laws for the state of Indiana. Uh all those were very successful and so I am here on behalf of Skillman to recommend uh the award of contracts to the biders listed in our recommendation letter that I believe is
a part of your packet uh dated August 14th again for the total of $29,284 so that we can issue notice to proceed get these contractors under contract and we begin or right now aiming at
beginning work in February of 26 and then finishing that portion of the project, phase three portion of the project by December of 2027. Happy to answer any questions that the board may have. Do I have a motion to approve the bids
as presented? >> So move. >> All those in favor? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for being here tonight. >> Uh next is presentation by Duke Lines and then also seeking your approval um
at the end where it does pertain to work-based learning. Principal lines. >> Thank you Dr. Zel. President Crawford, members of the board, uh thank you for the opportunity to present here tonight. Uh specifically, we we want to look at a partnership with a company called 220
Youth Leadership, and it's going to speak to a couple different things um as a foundational ground that we're building here at Whiteland Community High School. First of all, as we kind of set the scene and build that why, the new high school diploma goes into effect with the graduating class of 2029. And
there's two areas, their honors seal and their honors plus seal. And under the honors seal, the expectation from the state for our graduates is completing at least 150 hours of work-based learning to graduate with an employment honors. Yeah, with an employment honors seal.
And then when you look at that next tier, that honors plus seal, under enrollment, at least 75 hours of work-based learning. and undermployment completing additional work-based learning totaling up to 650 hours for that plus seal. So, when we think about
preparing our our students to graduate with the class of 2029, part of what we're talking about tonight builds a solid foundation for that uh opportunity with the new diploma. Right now, the state board of education is undergoing and a first draft and which will
eventually here in a few weeks be a second draft and they'll vote into um state board of ed in December. Our new school accountability and part of that in the draft speaks to the expectation for students graduating from high
schools in the state of Indiana to have those work-based learning hours accured. So, that's something that's not only going into effect for the class of 2029 that I just spoke to with the new diploma. We're also speaking to the classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028. And if
>> I could interrupt real quick, just for anyone new, the accountability, that's your A throughF grade, >> correct? >> So, that's how we're going to be graded. And so, >> thank you for that clarification. Yep. >> Um, so when we think about from the high school perspective, it really is what opportunities are we helping expose students to from a college and career standpoint. This speaks to more
specifically the career standpoint and some of those career avenues still takes that that uh college experience as well, right? So, we're speaking to multiple diploma opportunities as well as uh hitting those success indicators from a school accountability standpoint. So, at
Whitley Community High School, our school improvement team has been working hard uh in terms of how we're going to prepare our students for that new diploma andor new accountability. And essentially we've kind of prepared from 8th grade through senior year all these different uh amazing opportunities
partnering with uh the middle school and and obviously Dr. Ship and Dr. Zel and our leadership team across the district to making sure that we are creating those opportunities for our students whether they're going to be exploring engaging or truly being enriched into those uh career opportunities, college
opportunities etc. So, specifically with 220 youth leadership, it allows us to create what would be known as a virtual or a simulated work-based learning experience. So, this was something that the state released pretty early on that allowed for and answered that question
of, well, if a place in your county only allows if they're 18 years old or if a place in your county only allows five students and then you're working with all the other schools in your county to fill these specific needs that are in person or on site or if we have students that don't have access to the
transportation necessary for these things. Creating a virtual internship um with this company allows us to meet that need directly and do those things inhouse at the high school. So essentially what this company has done is they have already built out an 150
hour virtual internship experience and it's utilizing uh Canvas as a learning management system and students will be able to sign in and they will have the opportunity to take up to five modules to start out with. So that that's business, marketing, sales,
entrepreneurship, and social services. In totality, it is 150 hours. The students could do just a semester's worth and do 75 hours. So if you if we think about what I said earlier about at least getting 75 hours, this fulfills that as well. If a student wants to hit
that 150 hours, and that would be our goal over time as we build out this program, this also meets that need. If we have students, especially if we think about that employment piece I showed or 650, well, they might have a job opportunity or something that they're already doing through C9 or another
avenue or our partnership with Howard Companies. They're getting a lot of hours with us, but they also might want to hit that that standard of 650. So, they're going to need a multitude of of opportunity. And this just provides one
avenue for our students to engage in. I started to say these already, but really it's exciting because it does eliminate those barriers, right? When we first started meeting either with Aspire Johnson County or in our principal meetings or as I me principles around
the county and the state, it's always like, well, how are we going to get them there? Who's going to monitor it? Who's going to pay for it? H, you know, how many how are we going to share all these students? This really does afford us that opportunity by partnering with with a company that has built these uh
modules, has worked with the department of workforce development, has worked with work one, has worked with other entities that has allowed them to create all these modules as well as have other people on the other side of the camera, right? It's not just purely videos. Students are going to be able to
interact with mentors. They're going to be able to interact um with experts in the field. So, it's purely not just push and play and saying, you know, good luck. It is much more engaged with that. We will have an on-site, our workbased learning coordinator on site. We'll be working with the folks behind the scenes
at the modules as well as meeting with those students still regularly as well. So, it it is one of those things where we lean on the expertise of not just the folks behind the company, but as well as as our people in place at at Whitland Community High School. right now as it currently stands. So, our previous
graduates typically only had exposure to work-based learning if they were highly engaged in a pathway and they completed it through the capstone process or if they were a senior and they had a job
and we would put them in something that we call cooperative education. So co-op is a program that takes advantage of realworld experiences because that student has a job and has a plan and has a documentation in place with us and their employer. But it really stops at
that. Work-based learning allows you to go deeper. That's where the mentorship happens. That's where more of a training plan happens. That's where more experiences have that opportunity. So what 220 youth leadership allows us to do is this now allows us to expand
our programming. It invites an opportunity for our juniors to get to participate in cooperative education. It invites an opportunity for our seniors to be committed to one work-based learning experience or again if they're are trying to acquire more hours, they can do both the workbased learning
capstone as well as a career exploration internship. So again, this is a lot of verbiage. glad to answer questions that you have as well, but it just allows us to be more intentional as we place students and and see what their goals are for life after high school and help
meet those needs, but also provide a more well-rounded experience in that. Uh, typically of past with work based work-based learning, it was very segmented into one area of study. This really opens the opportunity for us to preview our students with a wide variety
of experiences. You might be wondering how much it costs. This is just information for you to see that this is a three-year agreement. The first year is under a um an ININD grant discount and then the next two years will be at full price. So
over the course of three years it is totaling 97,500. And you might be wondering how are we going to pay for that? So, every fall there is a vocational funding report that we uh file with the state of Indiana where you get a refund based on the number of students that you have in
these vocationally funded classes. I mentioned those three classes earlier of co-op and the two workbased learning classes, those two workbased learning classes, you receive $500 per student. So if we just look at a conservative target, right, if we start small right
now, we will utilize our current seniors who are an alternative education and would benefit from these types of um programs and already have the capacity from technology standpoint, are already engaged in community service and things of that nature. But this is going to
give them even more of a pre preview of work-based experiences in our community and beyond. As well as our current seniors who are already either in co-op or work-based learning opportunity. So if we just look at those students,
that's 165 seniors. $500 per 165 seniors is $82,500. Again, the first year price of this is 19,500. So, just being conservative, we've almost paid our three-year contract right now. Naturally, we're going to be
more intentional and over time uh systematic in our programming. So, if we look at juniors and co-op, that's every junior that signs up for that, that's $150 per that student. And then as we expand our programming over time, as we get closer to that class of 2029, we
will increase our use of not just this, but potentially some other opportunities that 220 youth leadership provide us, as well as just continuing to grow our uh workbased learning program and career exploration internships at Whit Lake Community High School and beyond. And
another thing just kind of off off a little bit off, but I think it's it's duly noted that this high school project has also created the opportunity for us to create not just the virtual and simulated work workbased learning opportunities with something like this, but also creating more of an in-house
enterprise. So, we will have a coffee shop because of the new cafeteria. We're going to have a protein station and a smoothie bar because of uh the wait room and and student activity center. Those are things that then we can have students partner with our food service
and and gain a real life world experience and and have a a simulated slash in in school enterprise because of the things that we're already invested in our community. Again, a little bit off topic there, but just that's kind of where we're at from our our leadership team standpoint is we're going to take
advantage of if the state says they can have multiple opportunities, some of those can be virtual, some of those can be in person. We're gonna do both and we're going to do it again intentionally and together as a team. What questions do you have? >> I'd say this. Great job. As you can see,
the high school experience is not like it was 5 years ago. It's not like it was last year. So, we have to be very creative financially, um, even program-wise, curriculum-wise. Um, obviously I I think this is a good
thing to provide a virtual experience because there's no way um businesses can support all the schools just in Johnson County. >> How are you going to keep track of the number of hours each student puts in? >> Great question. So, every student has a
one, if it's if it's with just 220 youth leadership, it is a school management system. It it monitors their hours spent. We have our workbased learning coordinator on site. She's already piloted the program in house and has seen what it looks like from the student side as well as what it looks like from
the teacher side. And we will do one checking that student management system. But then outside of that when she monitors co-op cooperative education as well as the career exploration internship or the workbased learning capstone, it's it's in that written
agreement that there has to be a training plan and they're monitoring those hours. Those things are signed off by the employer. Those things are signed off by the student and that would be no different with this online part two. So when they complete modules, they're going to get certif certifications from that. Those are going to be uploaded
onto that Canvas page. Teachers going to be monitoring that up uploading and updating the grade book. So it's it's kind of both. Mr. Z to answer your question. It's both digitally through the platform, but then also we still have documentation and papers to support that because we don't want to we don't
want to do something where the state says, "Hey, take advantage of all this." And then we're not going to progress monitor. We're not going to keep track. We're going to do all of those things. >> Are we going to utilize their mini in their semester long as well or just the yearong?
>> Right now, we were just being conservative and starting small. we're ready to grow when when we feel that it's it's the right time. So, like I said, we're going to we're going to start with our seniors this year. Next year would love to to grow that so that our juniors have that opportunity. So,
the mini courses and things like that that was in that that would be something that we would want to look at our students who are upper classmen and are in a pathway and are completing um something that we can the state would call a technical skills development
course. So at C9 when a student is in their second concentrator class, so they've done principles of culinary, they've done nutrition, they're now they're in nutrition science, like when they're in that second level class, they also put them in a technical skills
which just exposes them to more experiences and information that could pertain specific to that pathway, but also could just be 21st century world, real world skills. So, those many courses do allow us to do that, but we again just wanted to start a little
small and then we'll I'm sure we'll all be back here talking about it more and wanting to build on that. It's a great question. Thank you. >> Is this the only program available and is there any other schools utilizing? >> Great question. I I would say this one,
is it the only program available? It is the it is the best one that we have been had the privilege to see because when this started coming from the state people knew that they needed to be on the cutting edge of this which also means some of us need to take that intentional first step. That's another
reason why we want to start small with it. Um so yes there are other programs. This one was just by far again when like Mr. Zeke's question how are you going to track it? How are you going to monitor it? they have all those things built into that and are partnering with our workbased learning coordinator on site.
We weren't seeing that from other areas >> and I can tell you the um developers behind this were two high school principles within the state of Indiana. >> Yeah. And that's the other thing. So then you ask what other schools I'm I'm going to say that a lot of schools are probably a lot of high school principles are doing exactly what I'm doing right
now across the state is standing in front of a school board saying hey this is something that we need to go with. So, >> nobody has it implemented yet. >> I could tell you that the Indiana Department of Education has signed off on it. Vincent's University has signed off on it. The Department of Workforce
Development has signed off on it. I could not specifically tell you, hey, go to school X down the street to see it in action. But I've sat and just even last week in a Indiana association school principles meeting and people are saying hey how many people are looking at
something like this so that they can take advantage of that virtual or simulated internship. So >> and all those agencies that endorse this is what matters to us. >> Yeah. So yeah, great question. I don't have a specific answer beyond that. We
feel confident in the people behind it. >> We're all guine. >> What's that again? >> We're all guinea pig. Yeah. Yeah. But we're gonna we're going to do it together. We're going to figure it out. >> All program success, you know, deals with the details. You know,
>> and when I look at this, obviously attendance is very, very important. Yes. >> And we know that we have kids that don't show up as much as what we would like for them to. >> And so now it brings in credit recovery. Mhm.
>> Is this a do we have some way for the kids to recover this these hours? >> Yeah, it's a great another great question. So, right now we're going to start small. They do have the opportunity if it doesn't go well first semester that they can take on more
second semester or just redo what they did weren't able to finish first semester. Um, summer school funding is changing over the course of the next few years. However, one of the things that has remained on there and I think we will see an increase in is the opportunity for the workbased learning
piece to happen over the summer. So, the state was very specific when they outlined that not only can it be virtual, simulated in inhouse or in the community, it can also occur any time. Meaning, it could occur during the
school day, occur during the weekend, it can occur during the summer. So more than likely what you'll see in the springtime when we go to staffing of summer school something that we will put on there will have to pertain to work-based learning so that we have that opportunity to speak to what you're saying.
>> Will this be graded? >> So that that class yes there is a grade there. They get a plan and it's really about are you fulfilling your hours and are you hitting the standards in terms of what are you getting? There's reflections involved with the with the
mentoring. There's there's every once in a while there is in-person coursework. Say that again. >> Yeah. So, and and that's the other thing that we have seen and I think the state continues to recognize this is that often students when they find what they like, their attendance is going to go up
a lot more. We do have some students that we are constantly having to either do credit recovery or meet with or intervene with, but they have 100% attendance at their job or they have 100% attendance at Central 9. So I'm
assuming this is an ABCDF, not a pass fail. >> That is correct. Yeah. And it's worth and it's worth high school credit depending on how many hours they complete. So for every 75 hours, they get a credit. So if they complete 75 hours, they'll get one high school credit under those things that we said
earlier that were coded. If they do 150, they do two credits. And there is a cap in there eventually, right? Because we're we're going to eventually view this as a two-year plan. We're going to view this as a junior plan and a senior year plan because again from the accountability standpoint, our
expectation is is that they're going to want every student to have the opportunity to have 150 hours by the time they graduate high school. We we're not interested in in putting our sophomores in work-based learning experiences. We're interested in them
going on field trips and and getting to experience it that way. So, we're really going to focus in on that junior and senior year. And again, starting small, look at our target group of seniors, build in some juniors with co-op and and go from there. >> I love that program. So, this is for every student.
>> They have the opportunity eventually to be involved in it. Yes. >> So, this is not like a college ready, you know, our college students wouldn't have to take depends on the path. >> It just depends on what what what diploma type they want to graduate with
and as well as again, we're going to start small. If this is going well, we will want to expand it and have more students participate in it and they're going to want it because again it gives them just more experience. >> Sure. >> Do you foresee it going to sophomores?
>> I think that would be something >> that because McDonald's does hire 14. >> Sure. I again >> I think that would be something that we would could you know do programmatically but right now as as we're building this and we're being intentional to the things out in front of us we have a again giving credit to to Dr. Ship and
and Dr. Zel and looking at our strategic plan and our key priority areas. We're looking at that exposure piece really happening three through 10 so that the students just get to be exposed to it and then they really get to be engaged and experience it when they're that
junior and senior in high school. That way they're even closer to the finish line and they're making those family decisions at those time. It doesn't mean we won't have kids that are doing those things. It's just we're not looking that from a programming standpoint. Well, you have a lot of the foundational courses that have to get taken care of and
passed by a freshman and sophomore before they can >> obviously have flexibility in their schedule. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. So, I like that the um we work with one of these companies already. It's called Skills
Skills and they're credited to do this and >> we did it with Greenwood. >> A couple of the kids that co-op with us. Mhm. >> We paid for the program for >> and uh they did the work workbased learning.
>> Um and uh I liked it a lot because it did teach them real world skills and um at least the one we were involved in. Um they were assigned a supervisor that had
to grade some of those things. And >> yeah, I It was pretty pretty nice because I'd get an email every morning of what they accomplished the day before and then I could go through it and grade them. It was pretty skills. >> Okay.
>> Skills USA or something, but it was more of a >> and a lot of it was business stuff like communication. >> Yeah. >> Presenting yourself. >> So, it's transferable skills. Yes. >> Yes. And that is that is definitely in this. >> Like I said, I >> it's the first time I introduced to it last year and I thought, "Wow, okay.
It's stuff that we spend money as a business on to teach after. >> So if they can do this early, >> that is the >> huge hope. >> Well said. >> Yeah. If they can retain it, that's huge. Makes them very employable. >> Absolutely. >> So I was trying to look it up. It's work
based learn. It's called skills USA. >> It doesn't matter what program, but I like that concept. >> Yeah. It's it's Yes, it is that concept. >> Okay. So, the recommendation is to seek your approval for obviously this um
contract or or even partnership or agreement, whatever you want to call it, with um 220 youth leadership. >> I make a motion to approve partnership with 220 leadership. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I thank you, Duke. >> All right. Next on uh under new business is a recommendation for a new uh police department vehicle. Per Chief Price's request, I'm going to recommend purchasing a 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe in the
amount of $47,000 627 and or 47,62725 uh which includes a tradein of one of our 2019 Dodge Chargers. Did I say that right? >> I only have one question.
>> Yes, sir. Um, what is our average life expectancy on our police vehicles? I know what they are in the rest of the world since I was in that world, but what is our police vehicle? Are we every five years, every six years? >> Uh, ideally every five years, 20% of the fleet
>> the same as Okay. >> I try to stretch them to six as much as I can. Uh, it's not the mileage, it's the idols that I was just curious if we were on par with, >> you know, >> we are. I got one more 2019 and then I got a 2015 still in the fleet that I'm
trying to cycle out. >> Only question I was just curious on fire with municipality police. >> Make a motion to approve the purchase of the Taho as presented. >> Second.
>> Any other questions or comments? >> The money this comes out of our referendum fund. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> All those in favor? I >> thank you. >> All right. Uh, next item is an annual recommendation for the expulsion
examiner stipen uh per request from Dr. Salowski. It's an annual stipen of $3,000 for Miss Gross who conducts the vast majority of the expulsion hearings. um if we have multiple ones or she cannot do it, we also then pay a $100
stipen to uh three trained um administrators to fill in that spot. Mr. Brownfield, Miss Black, and Miss Rizley. >> Make a motion to approve the expulsion statement as presented. >> Second.
>> All those in favor? >> I. Uh letter E, consideration of request to advertise for the 2026 budget hearing. You heard Austin Fruits mention this in his presentation in the workshop. There's no document here. Uh it's just a recommendation on my part to
um seek your approval for advertising the budget hearing to be September 8th at 7 o'clock. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. And letter F is um an
amendment to the 2026 budget calendar since we changed our September board meeting date uh to be September 8th. Uh I just want it reflected on our budget calendar for 2026. >> So move. >> All those in favor?
>> I. >> Uh next item. Um, as a quick reminder before I explain the recommendation, two months ago in June, you approved a very similar sponsorship agreement with JC Bank for um, obviously their sponsorship
dollars for naming rights up to $500,000. This is uh like an addendum to that because it pertains to the IGRAD which is a financial literacy program that um all that curriculum materials will be
bought by JC Pank JC Bank and any of our respective high school students that take that course um obviously can do that uh with the curriculum material and so it's just an an additional um
opportunity benefit if you want to call that in our partnership with JC Bank. >> I move we approve the recommendation of IGRAD JC Bank sponsorship. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I >> uh next item is uh two donations for consideration. First is Rascal's fund zone to the high school tennis team in the amount of $540. Second one is uh WCHS parent donation to
the high school boys team in the amount of $40. >> Make a motion to approve donation as presented. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Last item of business is some field trips that are either overnight or
out of state. And the first one is our boys varsity tennis tournament in Teroot September 12th and 13th. Then uh we have the FFA soar conference down in Trfalger October 3rd through the 5th at the FFA leadership center. Same place um and
same group FFA for the fire conference on November 21st through the 23rd. And the last one is uh middle school social studies students to Washington DC June 5th or June 2nd through the 5th on uh in 2026.
>> Approve all your trips. >> Yeah. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> uh all I have to say is um kind of what we said a few times is our September board meeting will be September 8th, one week earlier than normal at um 7 o'clock
right here. >> And we have a special session. >> Yes, we can announce that. Um we'll do a special board meeting this coming Thursday at six o'clock. at this time if anybody would like to come up and make any patron comments.
>> I do have one comment too. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um Mr. Lions, I would like to thank the high school. It is nice to get great publicity from the Daily Journal where we were the number one county school with the completion of the fastest form.
that is I know that they work very hard and to see all the stuff that our guidance people do for us to you know be 68% and you know the state average is 61 and we beat everybody else in the county
by 7%. That says a lot for our guidance department and how hard they work. So thank you for that. >> Thank you for sharing that. >> We have no further business. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. So >> meeting