Stand up and say the pledge of allegiance with us to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation with
all comments on All right. Well, again, welcome to tonight's board meeting. Thank you for coming out. Even on a night where the Indiana Pacers are playing. So, if you have to stay through the whole meeting, you probably still should get home before tip off. Well, with um that being said, we
started this um I'll say even tradition a few months ago, and I'm I'm so glad we did where we want to truly recognize um any of our students that's in our corporation that um goes through an incredible amount of
work to get an Eagle Scout and and the project and all of the details and all of the work. Um I I know what it takes. And so we've been doing that for, like I said, the last couple months. And tonight, uh, we have another, uh, young man that we're going to recognize. And
I'm going to ask Aiden Schneider to come forward as he comes. Congratulations, Aiden. Put you on the spot. So, tell us a little about your project. I've read it, but I see it up there. Some people may
just think it's bunch of Tell us when I read that understood what you did not that to our student athletes. So also before
you would also recognize special guests. Thank you for coming. [Applause] Uh I also want to recognize um and I think one's here um maybe the other one two outstanding employees on behalf of
um Dr. Schlloski who had to be on vacation this week. I told him that I would do this um in his absence and he and his um department really took this endeavor on and went through uh creating a committee, a rubric, guidelines,
criteria, so forth where at at our last teacher day um we spent a good chunk of that recognizing um just some amazing employees in all of our departments and buildings. So as we went through the
process um we selected a classified employee of the year and then a certified employee of the year. Those are two different categories recognized by their employment status and recognized by our department of education. Both of those individuals um
we've submitted their names to the department of ed for hopefully some state recognition. I I do know and I did see her her come in here. I want to recognize and have her come forward. Brooke Fuentes and then I don't know if Jennifer Esnell is here. So we already
And that is pretty much it for recognition of visitors. So, we'll move right along to our consent agenda, and I'll go kind of obviously in order. A is our May 21st regular board meeting
minutes. B is the minutes from the executive session also on May 21st. Then for C, we have our monthly fund revenue and claims report. I would ask that um you vote separately on three
invoices from Bon Mechanical. So, when I get through all of the consent items, you can vote on that and then do a separate vote on these um three invoices. Excuse me. D is um consideration of two-year-old
outstanding checks uh from the middle school, the high school, Grassy Creek, and admin building. That's following guidelines from state board of accounts. E is uh disposal disposal of surplus equipment. There are two technological
devices within our special education department that are no longer usable. I did ask our director today, what is this? She said some long word and name that was back in the early 1990s and is totally not usable by
anybody. So, we do need to do to declare them surplus. Next item is the personnel report and we do have one retirement to recognize and that is Gina Fischer. I don't know if she's here tonight and she is in our
food services department at the high school has worked there for 17 years. Also, um once and if approved, I want to recognize our new assistant transportation director, Alicia Bay. Alicia, I won't make you talk, but if you'd stand or raise your hand.
Congratulations. Thank you for coming tonight. And then um that's pretty much it for personnel. Also, uh contracts, we have three. First one is with adult and child. That's an annual renewal. Uh but they did up their
um in or service fee from 85 per hour to 110 per hour. And that's again um the same that they're charging the the other county schools here in Johnson County uh for mental health and behavioral health services uh for those students who qualify pretty much through uh Medicaid
or Medicare uh eligibility. Then the second contract is with Snowy of Indiana or Snowy of India I should say and we're going to attempt to use them as our concession stands concession
stand vendor at the high school. Uh this is a recommendation from our athletic director. Um in that contract uh it is where they will manage indoor and outdoor events. Our cut uh for outdoor
is 20%, indoor is 25%. The outdoor does exclude football games because that goes solely to our our band because they run those concession stand that that helps their budget uh greatly. So, we're not um taking any of that away. Um what it really does for our athletic department
is truly help um so many times where there's cancellations and you know at the last minute last minute you're trying to fill uh different groups or different people that don't show up to run the concessions.
um it helps them greatly to try this uh outside vendor and then um you know even with uh audits from state board of accounts it's good to have a agency outside vendor like this do that that we would still run through our our books
and and Austin's department to make sure everything is is above reproach. Um, so we want to give this a a shot, a try and see if it's successful so that um, it it really isn't a headache that it can become um, on many different occasions.
And I would also say part of that contract if there's more labor provided by us, then we get more of a cut. So that's still an incentive for hopefully some of our groups to assist in running concessions for uh, any fundraisers that they want to do or increasing revenue in
their respective accounts. last contract is with Blazer Works and that is um with being able to take one of their employees and um buying her out on a PR-rated basis for the next three years. Um
that's that pro proare agreement uh in the correct amount of 22,500. We did see a typo that was noted. So it is 22500 that will be changed in that agreement. And um there will be financial penalt
penalties if this prospective employee does not um complete the three-year transition. So that's a good incentive to to stay with us for three years. And it's in respect to um the services uh under or in special education for SLP
speech language and pathology services. So um that's pretty much it for contracts. Again, as a reminder, the first item could be approve all of them with the exception of the three invoices. Then your your second um motion approval would be just for those
three invoices of beast mechanical making agenda excluding the three invoices. Second. All right. Thank you very much. Next section is communications.
Oh, man. Sorry. Yes, that was my apolog. All those in favor? I All right. Thank you very much. All right. under communications. The first item is our monthly recognize
excellence. So, let me pull them up and I'll read the names and then we will recognize our uh two monthly winners with respect to the month of June. at the high school. Dave Hukin, Duke Lines,
Amanda Coupe, Melissa Calbert, Tracy Mario, Brook Fuentes, Teresa Morning, Mary Zagby at the middle school, Rachel Kaine, Tim Reinhold, Stacy Kern at Breadday Elementary, Donna Fowler and
Carissa Simpson at Pleasant Crossing Elementary, Randy Spate at Grassy Creek, Teresa Joeresa Gross, Caitlyn at Ray Crow Elementary, Megan Perry, Megan Hart, Steven Ford, Amber Breubck,
Widale House, Mackenzie Davis, Cassie Capacer at Clark Elementary, Britney Mack, Julie Reigns, Sarah Schaver, Rachel Paige, White Elementary, Jenny Flatter, Rachel Schaefer, Melanie
Owens, Brandy Waldron, Molly Maddox, Amanda Compton, Heather Wilson, April Willoughby, Tanya Pew. In transportation, Joanna Jones, Sue Watkins, Crystal Hickey, and Cara
Stillbower. Then for the month of June, get there. First employee that we want to recognize is uh Sandy Crow, teacher at Break a Day
Elementary. Sandy, are you here? Come on down. [Applause] Tell us all right. Our next employee for the month of June, I believe it's a bus driver.
I apologize. Yes. [Applause] My family, my wife, my son Julie, my other son, my daughter.
All right. Next. Oh, I also want to re if if you've just been recognized, you're welcome to stay, but if you have other things to attend to, you're welcome to to also leave at this time, too. sitting with all your friends. Sam [Music]
left you behind. Well, we'll move right along. Um the next item on our agenda is our annual uh presentation by the Greenwood Public Library and I know um our representative here is Nathan Ellis, right? Yes. Hello. Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm just
kind of providing an annual update on Green Public Library because you are an appointing body. Um so you did appoint me um kind of to the board of trustees. Uh there's a few kind of updates not included in your packets that excuse me that everybody has. I know that Cheryl Dobs should have emailed everybody. Um
and that we are going to have a change in leadership. She has decided to take a position in Danville and so there will be a new director um kind of I think starting after July. Um kind of along with that this will actually kind of be my last um official duty as a member of
the board of trustees. I I have a a relative, a close relative who is being strongly considered to be the director of the Green and Public Library. And so kind of the prudent move for me is to to resign my position just to, you know, to make everything kind of a clean slate and not cause any issues there. Um, so I
appreciate you and appointing me over the last few years. Um, I've really appreciated serving the Green Public Public Library. Very strong supporter of the library and everything that they offer the community both in Greenwood and then down here in Clark Pleasant as well. And so, um, I'm excited for the
future. You know, hopefully that they continue to, um, you know, stay clear of everything that's been going on and and can survive over the next few years, which we'll kind of go over here in just a moment, but maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to serve again, but I have enjoyed my time over the last few
years. Um, you're kind of I'll start with some of the items that are in your packet. Um, we'll kind of go over I would say the frustrating and challenging things first. Um, first, as you know, schools are are not immune to this either. There have been significant budget changes. Um, two, library
funding. Um, there's a couple of items in there. The first one is just how libraries are funded. You know, kind of some of the perceptions on how libraries throughout the state of Indiana are funded. Um, you know, we are we receive funding from the Greenwood Library Foundation. They kind of primarily help
to support our programming. I would say the they cover almost the entirety of our pro programming budget each and every year. They've been very supportive. Um they're a just a great foundation and and partner with us. So we are lucky to have them especially over the next few years as we kind of
balance out that those budget issues. Um property tax dollars um you know that's a major source of funding and that there's going to be major changes to that not only to us but to every library in the state. um the IMLS, you know, kind of at the state level, they've seen major changes as well. And so, kind of a
a reduction in funding there. Um not again, not only for us, but libraries throughout the state. There's changes to the local income tax. You know, we do receive some local income tax and I know that will change for for a lot of government organizations kind of throughout the state. The state library has also lost, you know, quite a bit of
funding and they provide services, you know, to libraries throughout the state. Um and then there's just a lot of digital resources that um that we are able to offer our patrons that you know we have to potentially reconsider depending on you know where budget lies and things like that over the coming
years. So on the back side of that um are some things that um that you know that might have to be reduced depending on where the budget is over the next few years. You know some of these things won't really go into effect until you know maybe 2027 you know in full force. Um but those are
things that they're going to continue to forecast over the next year um so that way they can be prepared and and maybe aren't running up against some major cuts um that they can avoid if they can just budget properly. So you know we could have to reduce our staff maybe some services that may only be offerings
that are available actually physically in the library. Um and that is not something unique to Greenwood and Public Library. That might be something that you know just about every local library will have to face over the next few years. Um, there are a lot of different ways that you can support libraries. You know, make sure you have a library card
if you're within their taxing district. If you're able to support and donate to the Green Greenwood Library Foundation, they can help with the programming. Um, you know, attending events that the library hosts and and just participating in those activities and things like that. Um, taking advantage of study
spaces, the maker space, all of those items. Um, and then just signing up for newsletters and staying up to date. They have hosted um the director and assistant director have hosted some kind of some coffee talks over the last couple weeks to discuss what the impacts of some of the legislation on library
budgets could be and those have been really well attended by you know patrons. They've had a good 40 50 people attend those which far exceeded their expectations. So people kind of learning you know what um what goes into library funding and what the impacts are has
been I think kind of eye openening for a lot of people. So just a lot of ways that you can support your library. And then there's also a piece on kind of funding trends and things like that. Um the library has kind of faced a structural deficit. They've been able to get some um appeals approved. Not all of them, but some of them. Um it's just
things have gotten more expensive not only for the library but everywhere over the last few years with you know insurance costs and things like that. So um they're working hard to stay ahead of these and you know to to maintain the services that they've been able to but you know we are facing a challenging
budgetary is you know issue as along with pretty much every library. With that said 2024 was still a very good year. Um this is kind of what's up on the screen. Um this is a good overview of all of the things that we saw in 2024. I think the most exciting
thing is that there was about a 65% increase in cards issued. Um some of that is even includes Clark Pleasant um school schools in there. There's Ray Crow, Clark Pleasant Middle School, Grassy Creek I think all fall within the taxing district. They've really
partnered with GPL to be able to include a library card and registration and things like that. So, they've really made a big push to to try and identify those areas within the community that we haven't had a lot of individuals sign up for library cards. So, that's really exciting to see. Um, we're up, you know,
over several percent on library visits. Um, increase in community room community room use and study rooms are always packed. Um, it's a very popular place to be. Um there's a lot of services, you know, both literacy related and kind of
tangentially related to that um that are just, you know, everybody in the community is is really excited to utilize. Um on the back side, you can kind of see again some additional budget information. Another major event that we had um in October was the readers weekend. We had two bestselling authors
come in and we had 300 attendees um participate in that weekend. And I remember hearing stories about people coming in all the way from like Arizona to fly in for this event and it was extremely popular. It sold out very quickly. Um the Greenwood um like
fieldhouse kind of helped um you know support that event and we were able to use that indoor soccer field for some of the kind of the bigger events associated with that weekend. So that's something they're going to continue to do. may not be the same weekend and necessarily the exact same format, but that's something
they're very excited to continue in the future. And then you also have some additional information just on some of the services and and things that are available in um in the library. There's kind of a general overview um of library services and all of the different departments that are in kind of your
packets. Um also, if you hold a Johnson County Public Library um card, you should be able to get a reciprocal card with GPL um for free. there's not an additional cost to that. So, that should cover most of the Clark Pleasant kind of community as well. Um, the kids department is always hopping. I mean,
they always have story times and events going on. I don't know if it was 2024, but they had Blueie there. Um, and they said they would never do that again because of the amount of people that showed up for Bluey. So, um, but they have things like that throughout the year. Um, that it's just great to see a bunch of kids in that in that building
taking advantage of those services. And then also just kind of highlighting our maker space that has a glow forge 3D printer. Um they host a lot of different um activities and kind of workshops on different things. Um it's really good and and awesome space that you can utilize. Some of those are you do have
to have a library card to utilize. Um but just a lot of services that extend beyond just books and literacy um that the community loves to use. So um if anybody has any questions, I'd be happy to field them. Um, but like I said, otherwise I'm I'm very grateful for my opportunity to serve Greenwood Public
Library. All right. Thank you everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have our annual report from the Clark Pleasant Education Foundation and the director, Miss Jenny Zone.
Hello. I do have um a packet in front of you that's kind of our year in review and we'll just kind of go through some of the highlights. Cassie is going to show us kind of on the screen a few of the things. I was going to let you know that we had a really great year this year. So, I'm excited to share a few things with you.
Perfect. So, on the board of directors pages, the only things I want to point out is the fact that Tina Dolan, um, our board president, has been with us for nine years, and in October, she will be rolling off as our board president. So, um, we're thankful for all the time that
she's spent with us, but we do have a three-year three-term limit. So, after the nine years, she's pretty done, and she's excited for all she's done with us, but she is rolling off and we will have a new board member rolling on. um that is Lenel Tate and so we're excited about having an one member roll off and
a new member come on and I also want to talk about the fact that Tracy Near has been hired this year as our assistant director and this next year she is going to be running all of our fundraising events so I'm excited to see what she can do with all of our events for this next year and I'm really excited for her to take on some of the roles for the
foundation. Um on the grants received section I will tell you that uh this is for grants that we have written. Uh we apply for these grants from different companies and this is uh we do it for something specific. So there's a lot of research involved with this and Johanna Pard is our
volunteer that does all of our grant writing for us and she has done an exceptional job. This year alone, she brought in $27,95544 in grants that she applied for. And um she not only does all the writing for these and does a lot of the research for them, but she does all the post
reporting for them as well. So once we get a grant, she actually follows through clear to the end making sure that we've spent the money appropriately, have filed all the reports to go back with it. And she's a volunteer of ours and we're really appreciative for all that she does. And then on the next page talking about
grant giving, this is talking about all the grants that we were able to give out this year, which was a lot. So our goal for this year um was to pay out $28,500 and we actually end up giving out $30,000, a little over $30,000. So we're
very happy to go more than what we had thought about doing this year. Um we did two rounds. We did our first round of grant giving was in November. We did like a full day of kind of a happy Thanksgiving type thing. It was us giving money. It was exciting. And then we did a second round actually um later
in the winter. So, it was nice to be able to do two rounds of giving this year. And we had all kinds of really neat um things that we did this year besides in the classroom. We actually did some field trips this year. Uh we had an author visit come in. So, we did some things that's not just items that were in the classroom, which we did have
some of those such as um telescopes and things like that and microscopes for the science department, middle school, things like that. But we did do some um like I said field trips and author visits and things as well. The next page talks about our new scholarships. Um we are very lucky this
year that we've actually established two new scholarships. These are four-year renewable scholarships. Um, one is with the, um, Mike and Debbie Mwane, and they are donating $100,000 in the end to do a four-year renewable scholarship. And this is for people that are going into
the nursing field or into law enforcement because those are the two careers that they had. And um, they never had any children and so they really want to give back to the children of Clark Pleasant Schools. And so we really appreciative of all that they're doing. The other scholarship that was established this year is also a $100,000
endowment. And this one is for um agriculture. So this is from the H haveman family. It's the Havmond family agricultural scholarship and they owned Whitland Orchard for many years. And so they have been in the community a very long time. They had all their kids come through school here. Um they still do
the farmers markets in the area. I'm sure you'll see them out and about, but they feel very passionate about agriculture in the area and making sure that kids are continuing to go in those fields. And so this is for kids who have either been in 4 or FFA and are continuing their agricultural degrees.
Um, and one I didn't have on here though is the Jerry Ler scholarship. We established that two years ago. As you know, Jerry Ler passed away just a few days ago and we are having his memorial service um, tomorrow at the high school. That has got a scholarship already established for Jerry Lacader and we are
taking donations for that. Currently, we are at a little over $34,000 raised for that scholarship. It is a four-year renewable scholarship as well. So, that our goal is $100,000 for that. Um, we had already set that up. Two years ago, we started the scholarship. Um, I will tell you in the last couple days, we're
already bringing in a lot more money for that scholarship. So, I'll be excited to see where that's at in a week or so. But um that is for somebody that's either made a commitment to our community by doing something exciting in the community as a whole or someone who is going into special education. So those
are the requirements for that scholarship. Um we did give out this year uh $34,000 in student scholarships for this year alone, which was really nice. Um we had a great set of candidates this year. Every group that picked their
scholarship winner was really impressed by all of our kids. They said it was one of the toughest years ever to pick for winter. So, I will say I'm happy with the level of um applicants that we're getting. I feel like it's a really good crop of kids that we've been coming through here. So, I've been very pleased with all that.
This memorial wall, you can see we did a um put this in at the high school. It's a tribute to our um fallen heroes in the area. So, this is for alumni who have died in either an act of service of some kind. So, it has um all of our branches
of military, but it also could be for um police, fire, and EMT services. So, um we set this up at the high school and we were kind of concerned because you never know like will kids leave it alone? Will they like graffiti all over it? You just don't know how things are going to go. And I am very happy to say that no one
has touched it. It has looked exactly like it has the whole time. We get a lot of comments for people coming through the doors looking at it. Um I've even heard the kids talking about it. We've had a lot of people posting pictures near it. So, it's actually been a really nice tribute that we've put in.
These are just some fundraisers that you'll see coming through the next few pages. Um, and some campaigns. We try to do different campaigns such as the recognized excellence to kind of help build morale throughout the year. So, we pick a winner every month. Um, out of the list of the recognized excellent
winners, we just highlight one by picking a random drawing and giving them money. Um, this is really exciting because people love to see me coming with my large checks. Um, that's the best part of the day really. They're like, "Oh, look, a giant check's coming my way." So, they really enjoy that and we try to give those out. Um, we have a
surprise September that does kind of the same thing. And we do like different campaigns with like payroll deduction and stuff. We really try to find ways to not only help our students, but also help our staff members out. Um, the next few pages are just talking about all the events we hosted this
year, which were quite a few of them. Um, legacy awards are something I always love because it's a way for our seniors to give back to those who've made a difference in their lives. There's a lot of tears usually involved with that night. It's a sweet night. So, if you've never attended, I hope you can sometime. Then the next ones are the Fit at the
Farm pickle ball challenge. These are just things that raise money but also get our bodies moving. We love that. Um, there's volleyball tournaments that the Harlem Wizards come in. Um, the Candyland Kids Prom is enormous event we host every year. There was like 1,200
people at the event this year. So, it's always a great night. We have a ton of kids. They dress up. They have lots of candy. There's just a lot of games and playing and the DJ always plays a lot of Taylor Swift. So, it's a really good night for everybody. It's just a fun
time for all. So, um and then the last of this is just talking about our Clark alumni banquet. Um it was the last year for our Clark alumni banquet. The last class graduated I think 70 years ago this year and so they have decided to
stop hosting that banquet each year. Um the group is getting smaller. The attendees are a little bit older and so um they have once this is wrapped up they're actually donating the rest of their money that's in their accounts to the foundation to put into our scholarship bucket. And anyone that is
still around that would like to be a part of alumni group has been graciously offered admittance into the Whitland Alumni Association. So after, you know, 70 years, I guess we can all come together, which is nice. Um,
we did help out with the early college programs this year, which is a new program we have at the high school, and that was kind of fun to help get that kind of off the ground with some fun activities. We did a tech challenges. We just try to make sure that we're involved in all the different aspects going on throughout the school. And this
last one's kind of a year in numbers, so you can see what we did. Um, I will tell you that this year we basically exceeded our goal in every category. So, we wanted to raise $20,000 with written grants and we raised almost $28,000. In major events, we wanted to raise
$60,000 and we raised a little over $80,000. Um, in payroll contributions, our goal was $12,000 this year and we made over 15,000. Um, and then we end up giving out more money than we thought we were going to in our grant payout. But all of this is to say that we were able to do
all that we wanted to do and put money into our endowment. So I know I have an endowment number on there, but I will tell you it's up since then. So as of the end of May, we have $263,129 in our endowment fund. So um I'm really excited about that. The goal obviously
eventually is to have enough in the endowment to where if you don't raise a single dollar during the year, you can still give back all the time. So that is really we're trying to look at longterm goals and that's where we're at. I think that's about everything. So, does anyone have those are sponsors questions,
comments, or concerns? Good. Great job. Thanks. Yeah, Jenny, I can't thank you enough for your leadership in this foundation and what you do for our employees and our kids. It's outstanding. Thank you. All right. Next on communications,
Central 9 report. Yes, we had um the board meeting on last Thursday, June 12th. Um, and the program showcase was adult ed. Uh, there's I have a flyer here that talks about all the classes
are free to qualified individuals through the Indiana uh, Department of Workforce Development. That includes English language classes, high school equivalent equivalency classes and testing, and industry recognized
certifications. And over the last few years, there's been quite a few certifications achieved in automaintenance, carpentry, pre-apprenticeship, childhood development, uh certified nurse aid,
uh emergency medical technician, firefighting, HVAC, medical assistant, and welding. Uh we also heard from a a student that just finished his high school
equivalency and he talked about how uh how it helped him to build confidence to learn to finish what he started and he gave a shout out to the instructors. U most of the classes were online in
through zoom. Sometimes they would um meet or they also had inperson classes. It took him between somewhere between six months and a year to finish that and he's just thrilled. Um
then um in the meeting there was an approval of the 2526 education and operating budget that had been presented to the superintendent in May and it's an increase of about two and a half% overall. Uh
Dr. Kobach talked about um the meeting with principles and superintendent and they're working on moving forward with with working out schedules on having three sessions at C9
which would add about 50% more slots which equals out to about eight 1,800 students rather than around the 1,200 that they currently serve. So when it was questioned about is there a need for
that um there are 26 27 programs that are offered at C9 and 22 of those have a waiting list. So that's pretty clear that there is a need. It would cut down the time that a student would spend
there 45 minutes uh instead of two and a half hours one and one and 3/4 hours. And of course there is much to be worked out. They hope to have something um a proposal ready for August.
Uh and that would be for the following school year. Um our next meeting is July 10th. That's it. And thank you for that. And I would say with the proposed schedule for 2627, um Dr. Kovatch is listening to to us
where uh we are strongly asking to be in that first session. that helps with transportation, all that. And I think we'll get that. So, that's a good thing for us, too. And and still have um more opportunities for more of our students to attend and pick a program that they may want to pursue. So, thank you for
that. All right. Uh redevelopment commission, Mr. B. RDC meet met on the 12th. The highlights of the meeting basically are the interlocal agreement between the town of Whitland, New Whitland and
Johnson County for the roundabout that is going on at center line or sawmill white road. So that agreement has been signed by all parties and design started
from there. The RDC has 1 1 million4,000 and some change currently in the in the bank. They have $600,000 or $400,000
dedicated for projects and currently they're receiving about $3,200 a month interest. Y. All right, that's it for communications. Uh, next item on our agenda is the 2025
GEO bonds and um I want to introduce Eric Long with ICE Miller who will walk us through um hearing for additional appropriation and the resol in two resolutions. Yes, thank you Dr. Good evening. Um I am Eric Longizer. As you mentioned, a more
familiar face for you guys might be Kristen Mlen. She could not make it this evening. Um I do I literally share a wall with her at work um serve public schools day in and day out. So I'm happy to carry the torch for her this evening. Um tonight, as Dr. mentioned, we have the additional appropriation hearing and resolution as well as a final bond
resolution. This represents the final action for the projects that were first introduced in March and April at the preliminary determination hearings that were described um at that time. The action this evening um is just the since we're talking about general obligation
bonds. Just like many other um appropriations for a school corporation, if we are going to spend those monies, we have to have an appropriation first. So resolution coupled with a hearing um at which time the public is free to comment on specifically in this case the proposed projects um to be issued in the
future. Um I will also note that because there is a hearing component, it was duly noticed in the daily journal as required. Um, so before we open up for the hearing, um, I'll toss it back to Dr. if you want to just resummarize perhaps the projects that were discussed in the schoolboard meetings in March and
April. Um, since we're going to be again talking about the appropriation and the final bond resolution for those proposed projects in the future. Mr. Fruits could do that. Oh, or Mr. Thanks, Eric. So, this is the uh third month to describe the projects that
we're covering with these geo bonds. Um, like we ated before this is not issued over one year. Uh we plan to issue these over multiple years likely five years. Uh we typically cover uh buses and capital projects um athletic
improvements technology. Um that that is the basis of what we cover with geo bonds and that is because of the high tax cap losses that we have in this district. Otherwise it'd be covered with operations funds. Thank you. Thanks Austin. So again with the um description of the
projects the mentioned that we've noticed this for the hearing I would now propose to close the regular meeting and open it up for a hearing for the public to comment. Um same procedure as we normally have for regular comments um just to provide your name address and
limit it to the same time frame as general comments if any. our present this evening wish to comment on that. Do we need a motion for that? Yeah, actually we would enter just to check all of our box entertain a motion and a second and a vote to temporarily
close the meeting and open it up for the hearing. Thank you. Yeah, I move that we temporarily close this meeting to open up the meeting for the geo bonds. Second. Okay. So, the meeting is closed and once again we'll invite anyone from the public to come up and talk.
With none, I would then propose to entertain a motion, a second to close the hearing and reopen the regular school board meeting. So moved. Second. I Okay, very well. Um, now two resolutions for your consideration this
evening. Um, again, first the additional appropriation resolution. Again, We're talking about the issuance of general obligation bonds which would eventually be receded directly to the school corporation. Um we do have to have a resolution which appropriates those funds. We entertain a motion second and
a vote for the additional appropriation resolution. Make a motion to approve. Second. Okay. Very well. Second resolution for this evening is the final bond resolution. Um it's a lot of legal verbiage. The gist of it is it
establishes um the things that were basically set at the public hearings earlier this spring with reference to the maximum dollar amount, maximum amortization, maximum interest rate, etc. Um also included are things such as what the form of the bond would look like for the eventual bond investors. We
also discussed continuing disclosure which is the promise by which when you issue bonds you have to do things for bond holders while those bonds are outstanding. That would be things like your form 9 data, your state board of accounts audits, certain reportable events, etc. All that's included within this final bond resolution. Um obviously
entertain any questions you may have on it andor a motion and a second and a vote on the final bond resolution. I move we adopt the final bond resolution. Second
and that is all I have for you this evening with respect to those geo bonds. Thank you. Thank you Eric and thanks for coming tonight. All right. Uh next is uh one old business item and it's uh policy 3700.
Uh it's a second reading. Uh there's no change in language from last month's first reading and it does have to just deal with roofing procedures for certificated employees and it's all per the Indiana code.
Make a motion to approve 3700 3700 as presented. Second All right. Next is new business and uh first item is a few donations that Austin will present.
Just two donations for your approval tonight. Uh the first one is $700 from the WCHS PTO uh for academic letters. Um and then $250 from the Junior Eagle Writers for the CPMS teen time
equipment. So I would ask for your approval for these donations. Make a motion to approve these donations. I All right. Letter B is annual approval
for curricular fees. This is for the upcoming school year 2526. Before Austin adds a few um comments about the document in your board packet that's up on the screen. Let me remind you, two years ago, um, our legislators, you know, passed a bill that basically said
curricular fees, uh, can no longer be distributed onto families. They will make it part of our annual state funding formula, um, at a rate of about, um, a$162 per student. So, uh, there are
still some oneoffs, nuances that could still be charged. Um, but that's pretty fair statement across the board for textbook curricular fees. You'll see when I get to the legislative update, there was another bill that just was reintroduced or reintroduced and passed
that almost looks like we're kind of going backwards a little bit, but that now allows supplemental fees to be in to be distributed and passed on to families. I'm I'm not going to talk about that right now. That's not this. That's something that we're going to study and explore, but that was passed.
With that being said, you want want to share a little bit of what you have up here on the screen? Yeah. So, we're talking about curricular fees. I'm calling this curricular cost because fees insinuates that we're charging something to families and we're not at that point right now. Um, like Dr. Edel say said, we'll study that um and see
what other schools are doing. Um, so this is our curricular cost total for the 2526 school year. Um, we used to have the specific fund called the curriculum material fund that moved into the education fund because of legislation. Uh, we get $153 per student
for curriculum materials which equates to about $1,60,000. So, you can see we are under that $1,60,000. Um, you know, not by much. So, there's not a lot of wiggle room with that. And a lot of that is because we just had the
elementary reading adoption and that takes up about half that cost for this coming up school year. Um so you won't always see curricular cost this high every year. Um with that said, I would just like to ask your approval to go forward with the curricular cost for the 2526 school year.
funds that are here. The 1.01 million and you say we're going to get 153 per student which is about 1.06. Is this a fund that we have to spend at all or we have to spend it all on this or is
this something that we can accumulate or so you can accumulate and a lot of schools are going to do that because of when they replace Chromebooks. It's not every single year, right? And so you're going to have to accumulate funds every year to cover when you have to replace those. And so, you know, some schools
are going to spend $500,000 this year. It doesn't matter. They're all getting the same amount per student. Um, and you're going to have to accumulate that every year to cover curricular material costs that are coming up year after year. And realize this is all in that education fund. That makes it a little bit cumbersome to piece and parse it out
because it's just part of that state funding formula that schools still have the ability to make decisions on how to spend. that, you know, if you're not going to spend it in a certain area of of a a curricular or textbook grade
level or or or subject area, you're still going to pay for it because we can't pass it on to parents. It's coming out of our education plan. And I'll say it's non-bargainable money. So the teachers cannot use that for negotiation purposes.
Okay. Thank you. I I Well, the next item we are very excited to talk about to share with you and it's um another big-time sponsorship with JC Bank. I appreciate the work that um Austin and Jenny Zam have done um in
securing this sponsorship um that I won't steal their thunder, they'll share about with JC Bank. Go ahead. Yeah. So, this is to approve our sponsorship agreement with JC Bank on our new fieldhouse naming rates. Uh, we knew this was coming since we chose JC Bank for to be our banking institution, but
we were able to finally iron out the details in the contract. Uh, just a few highlights. So, this is a 10-year $500,000 sponsorship. They will pay for the signage to be placed on the fieldhouse. We will put their name and logo on our website and social media sites. They will have exclusive
advertising rights in the fieldhouse for banking services. For the upcoming semester, we will provide $125 a month to various academic groups and that is to commemorate their 125th anniversary as a bank. We know the fieldhouse will not be
completed until roughly 2027 2028. So, uh we will put a sign out to say future home of JC Bank Fieldhouse, but on top of that, we will have a sign for them at the new soccer stadium uh until a fieldhouse is completed. They also provide complimentary retirement financial reviews for all of
our employees. They will be wrapping our athletic golf carts with co-branding um especially with our new branding that we just rolled out too. Uh there's various other advertising at events that we hold in newsletters we released. But uh that's the major points um in this in this
agreement. What I will say is I can't be happier since we switched to JC Bank uh for banking services. The personal attention they provide to our school district is second to none. Um and they've truly shown what it is to be a community partner with us. Um, and that's what I've been striving to find in vendors that we use is somebody that
wants to be a community partner. You know, it's fine if you want to provide a product or service to us, but really prove to us that you want to be a community partner with us and our families and our parents and our um employees. So, uh, JC Bank is doing just that. Uh, with that said, I would like to ask for the board's approval to move
forward with this sponsorship agreement. I move we approve the recommendation of the JC Bank sponsorship agreement. A second. I have a comment and Jenny and Austin, I want to thank you for, you know,
negotiating this contract. What a great thing. I've never heard of being able to name a building that hasn't been built yet. Thank you. I'd love to take credit, but most of it is Jenny. So, thank her. All right. Next item uh is D an um a
request to accept a bid and award a contract for our operations building addition. I've asked Sam Lawrence to just come up give a quick scope of the project or explanation of the project expansion. It's not like he doesn't have enough to do with construction. He's like I want to take this on too. So like go for it. Um we got a great competitive
bid um way under what our budget estimate was. So I'll let him share a little bit of that too. So Sam, with um without further ado, maybe talk a little bit about what you want to do with the operations building. Yep. I appreciate that. Good evening, members of the board. Tonight, I'd like to make a recommendation to accept a bid for the
Clark Pleasant Operations building addition. Uh so this building addition will add approximately about 10,000 square feet to the north side of the facility. This will give the ability for our grounds crew and equipment to relocate to the operations facility. Um number one, to bring more of operations
under one roof. Um but um for more important part would be to make room for a new baseball field that will be coming. Um so uh next to the existing varsity field, the old uh maintenance grounds building is currently where they're housed and that will be demolished during the construction
project. Uh and a new field will be um constructed in its place. So on May 28th, we did open bids uh for the Clark Pleasant Ops building edition. Uh we did receive nine total bids from general contractors which was great. We had a
great showing for that project. Uh the lowest bid was submitted by our Chavez Construction in the amount of $997,000. Uh there was two alternates. Uh the they were both deducts of one of 70,000 which was to eliminate some square footage
because we did not know where we would fall within uh the budget and the other one was to for 27,000 as a deduction uh to eliminate the brick uh split face block uh to continue on with what's already existing on the building. Um the
u so with saying that I sorry I'd like to to make the uh the recommendation um for our chavez construction as the lowest responsive u bidder in the amount of $997,000 without taking any of the alternates for that addition project at the operations
building. Any questions? Why do you not want to take the deducts? Uh we want to keep the uh the current look of the facility, keeping that brick facade across instead of just adding metal. Um and then the deduct we only put the deduct for the uh lower square
footage because um architect at the time was was concerned that we may not hit uh a budget number that we were we were set out to start with in the beginning. So the 997,000 includes those. It would include both of
those items. Yes. I move we accept the bid. Second. Appreciate that. After receiving this, we'll uh we'll start the paperwork, the review of it and hopefully by fall we can break ground um and maybe have the
structure up by winter and then that would allow the season for grounds to start moving equipment and all that in. So, thank you. Thanks, Sam. All right. Next item under new business is a recommendation for our annual 2025 uh
jump start uh for kindergarten and that uh will come from curricular director Brian Level. Y thank you guys. Thank you board. appreciate your time tonight. So, um, this is a program we've done the last couple of years. Um, but Dr. Ship had the opportunity to open this up to all kindergarteners coming in. In the past, we've kind of had a focus group
that this has been a part of. Um, so we are excited to be able to open this up to all kindergarten students that are coming into Clark Pleasant. So, what this program is, it's three days of time where um, students can come in and have access to kindergarten teacher, kindergarten classrooms in the building
which they are going to go to. They'll walk through the lunch process. They'll walk through um just the classroom in general, how to get where they load the bus at, where all their special classes are. Just an opportunity to kind of have students see the building and get more comfortable. Um we really have promoted this at our preschool um where we have
some students who have specific needs that might be um a part of that anxiety of coming into the um kindergarten setting. So based on the numbers of kids we have signed up at each site, um this is what our recommendation is for staffing. Again, staffing is for four
days a day to plan and then three days of on-site time with students. During that last half hour, we do feed them lunch. It's a free lunch that our um cafeteria staff is doing through the um summer feedings program. So, um we'd like to recommend these staff members to
be a part of this program. Make a motion to the kickstart program. Second. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And next item is the K through five um Chromebook program really third grade.
Before I turn it over to Dr. Ship, um just want to provide some context and as a reminder, we've got obviously um our elementary principles here. Uh they're all on board, some can be here tonight. technology director obviously curricular director Dr. ship and her staff where um
we did a pilot program, you know, in the second semester of this past year at Whitland Elementary to have these Chromebooks taken home on a daily basis. And the primary reason is because not just for inclement weather, and you never know when we have bad bad weather.
It can pop up anytime. It's not just winter. Um we also have sporadic things that happen just because of construction, because of whatever. So to be able to have those devices in the hands of students for that is the
primary purpose because the flip side is to try to figure out how to do something synchronous, asynchronously, still count a day and not get dinged by the Department of Ed. And and I'm I'm not going to take that risk. Um it's it's
not a device where it's it's just going to be putting their hands and and just obviously do whatever you want. No, there's instruction, there's remediation, there's planning, and so I won't say any more from what you know they're they have in this presentation, but that that's the impetus for this
proposal tonight. So, Dr. Ship, turn over to you. Good evening, board and uh family and students. Um today is an overview of Wland Elementary School for doing the pilot this semester and for the board to consider this to be
at the remaining elementary schools for the upcoming school year. Um just a reminder about our mission at Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation will provide learning experiences to ensure all students reach their potential.
So this is part of making sure that all our students reach the reach their potential not only in school but outside of school. Opportunities for the Chromebooks to be taken home in grades K through grade
three is to reduce the technology gap that can exist with students before they get to grades four and five when they do take the Chromebooks home more often. Access to resources. Sometimes parents uh need additional uh resources and they
know that if their student has access to that app that is something that we recommend that it can be enrichment or remediation for their children while they're at home and also an increased involvement into education. So again expanding beyond just being in the
classroom um having textbooks that students learning happens beyond the walls of our schools. continued benefits and this is something that um even in our state you will see an expansion of this throughout uh all
levels in our schools is building digital literacy. Our students understanding the appropriateness of digital digital literacy not how they use it now more for social but how they can use it for academics and increasing uh their knowledge in other areas. um
they can have access to uh curricular m curricular resources anytime anywhere. So if a family is on vacation or it's it's break time or you know when we have bad weather they can still continue to have access to their curriculum. It also
helps to improve academic performance. And I would say this from the way state assessments have advanced. The more our students um especially when they get to those grades three have um access and practice to how to demonstrate their knowledge through technology, our
students tend to perform better uh because you have to know how to use the tool to show what you know and how to do that versus paper pencil. Um it also increases the independence. How a child can once they've mastered something and a teacher moves on to another group,
this child can have access to enrichment or to enhance what they have already mastered to stretch their knowledge in their practice. Um, again, I've mentioned about how after hours, um, sometimes our children might go home and they're still waiting on parents or they're with a, uh, afterchool care
person and they can still continue, uh, learning and practicing. So, we reached out, the team, not me, not taking the credit for it. um they reached out to our surrounding school districts and you can see um from all
our surrounding school districts how they um uh have their students take the Chromebooks home. Uh Edinburg it's for grades three through five and they take them home two to three times a week just for homework. So, even the enrichment
piece, um, you would say their students don't have access to that, which our students will have the enrichment piece and interventions and remediation if they're able to take their Chromebooks home more often. Here's just a summary of how White
Elementary School pilot went this semester. Um, and I know the principal is here, so if she wants to add, she she can. Um, and I didn't hear any hiccups, but um, I know it went very smoothly. Um it provided um opportunity and access to
enrichment. Um it also teaches the students responsibility how to be responsible to something you have to bring back and forth from home. And also uh it was a lot of communication I know from Mrs. Giloy. So parents would not be worried about what if my kid forget this
or what what if I um they forgot their what is the uh cords or something and charging. So she worked through all that. So, I have not heard any um negativity about younger ones taking them home, but I I would tell you from
when a child has to take that first assessment, we know which is in grade three, the more they have practice with the keyboards and doing things, it better prepares them for when they have to sit down and take a state assessment. So, here's the proposal um for this
upcoming school year. And you will see how uh we're not saying they have to, but it's an opportunity. And that's one thing I know just from talking to uh the elementary principles one onone. Um they say just having access and the
opportunity to be able to send the devices home when they know that they want the kids to continue doing some enrichment activities or they need to do some enrichment that they have the opportunity and they're not locked in. These are only times that they the students can take the devices home. What
we talked about digital citizenship. Yes, we can assume just because a kid can pick up a device at any age when they can't even talk that they understand what digital citizenship really means. And so I think if we can come alongside as far as with the um
educational part, teaching our students what that really means and how to be responsible, how to go to the sites, what you are looking for um to help them be prepared um so we don't get um our instant messages because we do have a safety protection that if a child
searches something, the principles get notified and so we have a safety protection for that. But it also prepares our students again to have access beyond the four walls of our school. So as you can see the principles
uh have e-learning day. Um they want to launch which will be August 22nd. So we'll be close to a month month shy of being in school while we'll prepare for our students to take their devices home.
And lastly, here's just a summary of the success. Teachers have tools to enhance lessons. They can track students progress. So they can monitor them. You know how we have Google Classroom? You can monitor them. We also have different apps that teachers can get on and monitor the
progress of the students. Again, the students will gain that um independence. I know this has been a common theme um is that we protected our students coming back from COVID and now we have to teach our students how to be independent. So
we got to get to a point where we have to teach them to be independent with their learning and be responsible. Um, and this is a piece with um the Chromebooks that they can do that as well as and I know this feels like I'm beating a dead horse with the digital
literacy because that's something we have to make sure we don't wait till they get to secondary but we have to make sure we set the foundation strong when they're in elementary and parents can stay connected. One thing I would tell you from even at the secondary level when I've done parent meetings
here some parents will say I didn't know my kid could log in. I didn't know they had their apps through their Chromebook. Um, and so it's also getting the parents engaged at a younger age. So when they go through, they know and they're kind
of used to Google Classroom. They're used to the apps popping up on their device and they know they can click on it. they can sit next to their child when they're doing an intervention um math problem or they're reading a story or they can use the tools to highlight over a passage and read with their child
to help their child understand something. So, it is some advantages and I would tell you parents like just having that access to not only teachers saying my students having access outside the classroom but parents having access and knowing what to do to support their
education in school. Any questions? Anything principles you would like to add? Questions. All right. I I have some questions. You know, first of all, is this a requirement that they take him
home or is it just an opportunity? Opportunity. So we could have Whiteland Elementary not having water and you know closing days and we could have some kids that
wouldn't have it at home. Correct. Okay. So So let me interject there real quick. Having this become more of a um consistent pattern to take these devices home will obviously make it easier in that
transition instead of scrambling where all right you can come pick up the device but but now it's and you know prior to this our principles all of us were checking the weather you know look being forecasters and trying to plan ahead now you get in that routine you can pretty much say all right for this
whole week you're taking home or maybe next week it it's it's going to be okay and we don't have to. So, it just gives you more advanced planning to have everything ready in case you have emergency. And I I know that most of our or all of our elementarymentaries are
departmentalized. So, the kids move, right? Yes. So, do the kids start the day the same place in all the elementarymentaries that they end. And if I leave my Chromebook in my last class or where do I leave it?
What's that process? I will have a PR elementary principal come and speak on that. Anyone? At our school, we have home rooms. So that's where it will be the home base for the Chromebook. So if they're in Mrs. Miller's class for kindergarten,
that's where the Chromebook will start the day. And then they'll go to their different classes. And at the end of the day, they end up with Mrs. Miller because that's where their lockers and their cubbies are, too. That's just wanting to make sure we cover as many bases as we can. Thank you.
I have one question on the durability like on our test, we have broke younger kids, they're going to be a little rougher. So from a parent, say they select or don't, you know what
I mean? young kid. I can see I know my boys, every one of them insurance. So, you know, I can see one of my boys as a frisbee, especially two or three
and break them. So from a functionality standpoint, did we have much damage in that test? I mean, I'm just curious, every elementary has it. How many are we going to be how how much more exposed are we? So, we'll have Mrs.
Giloy respond to that. We haven't really seen up this And that's that's what I was asking because I could see it go either way. I just didn't know. Yeah. And I have one more comment. Thank you
for letting this be with all of our students and that we're just not sending them home with our high ability kids. I think that's great that we're inclusive with everybody. Do I need a motion on the consideration? I so move.
I All right. Thank you, Dr. Ship, and for our principles to be here and the work on that. So, next item is our annual approval of the student handbooks. I'm just going to give you some quick highlevel uh changes. There's nothing
that was significant or major like last year where we had to add all the cell phone language, all the attendance procedures that were brand new because of laws passed by the general assembly. Uh there were just some adjustments uh in those two areas. Um a minor
adjustment in attendance with um when to do a parent teacher conference instead of five now 10. uh some bullying reporting that had to be done sooner um like within basically a 24-h hour period once um that allegation was submitted.
So that's in there. Um you still have some changes and revisions with safety drill protocols that we caught. Um adding criminal gang language that was um missing in the middle school that had to be there and it was it was in the high
school. um high school, no door dashes. We're not allowing that. So, um that did become a problem. Um I will say in the athletic handbook, we did put a notation of all of the statutory changes that
begin July 1 with a athletic transfers. So, we didn't go into great detail because that can be a hyperlink in the handbook, but then referred to our athletic department to explain that in great detail or go to the IHSA website because it's all in their bylaws. Um
there was a minor tweak with bus stop language that our elementary principal transportation department worked through and just making sure that um there was there was same day um notification and location of dropping off um so that
wasn't like I'm going one place in the morning a different place in the that's too hard on bus drivers um unless there's an emergency. So anything I'm missing Dr. Ship with any changes? Okay, that's pretty much what um we worked on with
all those handbooks. Would you request a motion for all the handbooks at one time? I would love to make that request. I would move that we approve all the handbooks.
Second. All right. Last item under new business is two more handbooks and I in lie of covering for Dr. Shaloski I'll explain just again a few revisions with the classified employee handbook transportation handbook. Uh there's not many with classified on page 67 there
was some um clearing up language of how to make up time appropriately within the work week uh due to inclement weather. And then there uh was the deletion of the expired retired fringe benefit language that's on page 2829.
Uh so that's it. Uh in the classified employee handbook transportation there was just really one change uh that's on page 25 and that's really adjusting language to require drivers to take a regulated regulated test if they're involved in an accident that has three
criteria. if it's uh if one of the vehicles are towed um there's medical assistance or unfortunately if there would be a fatality. So that's all in Indiana code and I know that um that was worked on with transportation and SAM. So that would be um pretty much it and
uh we could entertain a motion to approve both those handbooks at the same time. Make a motion we approve both. All right, thank you very much. Under my report, just a few things. Um, first, I do want to take a few minutes to share
with you a branding video. Pull that up, Cassie. I appreciate it. We'll do that first since that's just a few minutes. It was produced by Derek Wolf and his business. We appreciate that. Um, again, for some context, we've been working on branding
before I even got here with um a committee and then we obviously solicited your input on several different occasions uh with the proper colors of the blue and the orange and then the white and then the secondary colors, the W, the warrior head, we kept
the corporation logo. So, this is kind of putting it together where um we showed this to our principles at our principal retreat. Um we want to show it as we, you know, bring or all of our staff in uh in in the um in July for the
upcoming school year and then just push this out through Jenny and and her team on social media and however we want to just promote to our different vendors. Hey, here's what we're asking you to to do. Here's what what you see. There's
there's I've said this before. Um our goal is where not just in Johnson County but beyond in the entire state. They know what Whitland is, what our colors are and what the W is and Warriorhead is. Um Center Grove does a great job in
branding their, you know, red and black and and their logo. So I I want to be at that that high level too where people know that this is what we stand for. This is our our standard and it's not some powderpuff blue or Tennessee orange or whatever. So with that being said,
Texas orange. Yeah, exactly. We want to show you the future of the Clark Pleasant Community School District brand is here. Blending the best of the past with the promise. So tomorrow, a consistent and recognizable presence stands the test of time while embracing the limitless
possibilities of the warrior way. Deeply rooted in tradition, the Warrior continues to be the cornerstone of the Whitland community and its schools. With a nod to our storied legacy, the Whitland W is officially reintroduced as
a permanent fixture of our historic brand. Additionally, we are proud to debut the CPCSC crest. This design features two intersecting warrior arrows signifying the union of Clark and Whiteland High Schools in 1965 to
establish the Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation. Our newest craft serves as the unifying element across all corporation logos. Each school and department will now have a consistent and recognizable brand. The CPCSC colors
will remain unchanged, blue and orange. The defined color palette ensures that all Clark Pleasant assets are represented with the appropriate color for each application. Our brand identity is strengthened by the consistent use of two designated
type faces. These fonts are essential in maintaining a cohesive visual language with clean lines and strong accents. The primary font aligns with our W logo and serves as an enduring that stands the test of time. The second font complent
our primary font in form and function. Both type sets embody the strength and durability of our town, people, and schools. Welcome to the Clark Pleasant School District brand. Rooted in tradition, driven by progress.
So, it's kind of brief, but pretty neat. um hopefully, you know, quick hitter and catching some people's attention or some of our, you know, business's attention of um what our standard of excellence and expectation is. Any questions on that? All right. So, I want to take um
probably no more than 10 minutes to really just give you some highlevel um information about important bills that were passed. I know some of you went to the regional meetings with ISBA and they spend a lot more time than I
will tonight, but please interrupt me. This is informal with any questions that you may have um because I'm just going to take two or three big items and just briefly say here's what we're studying or here's the impact um for these bills
that obviously are for uh July 1st and beyond. Um the focus, this was the long session because the long session is the odd years, the short session is the even years, but um the focus was all about property tax and and the state budget
because it's the bi-end which Okay. All right. Thank you. So, House Bill 101 was the House's bill and the main items that I'll share with you is yes, there was a 2% increase in And
that's better than um some other parts of the budget. Remember, we make right around 50% of the budget. Um higher ed got cut significantly, like 10%. So, we're at least thankful that there's a 2% increase on that state funding
formula, but don't forget what I just said at the beginning of our meeting. That includes textbook fees. So, we have to, you know, be very cognizant of that part. Um and that's roughly maybe half a percent. So, you know, and that's just based on
enrollment uh that we currently have that we reported back in February. If our enrollment goes up, well, that 2% looks even better. We won't know what that looks like until that third Friday in September's uh ADM count.
So, that's a positive. Um the next item I am not going to go into great detail, but I'm going to tell you was massive significant changes in TAG. TAG is the teacher appreciation agreement. It's existed probably since 20112 2010ish and
it really was um dollars that were distributed pretty much every November and December to every corporation. Uh and the only difference was based upon your evaluation of effective or highly effective and a 25%
um difference in the in the amount. So honestly, some teachers that were effective got 450 bucks and some teachers that were highly effective got 25% more than that. Okay, so we're talking couple hundred difference. That's it.
It is completely changed. It is not on evaluation. The only thing is if you're in the bottom two categories, you cannot get this award. But what's changed is it's not based upon what I just told you. It's going to be based upon three different categories. I forget the names
of it. So something's like performance, then there's exemplary and exemplary plus 3500 bucks, 5,7500, something like that. So that's a lot more money. But realize uh they reduced the the allocation for this grant
significantly. And here's why. Because I did find this just out in one of the meetings I attended. You have to apply. So we need to discuss it with our association. Um there is there is brand new criteria
of who who meets those three different categories. And only 20% of your teachers can get this grant. I could say that a hundred times. That's huge. 20% of your teachers.
So if you have only a 100 teachers, that's only 20. We're roughly under 500. What we are estimating is only 90 teachers would be eligible for this in our corporation. So we have to along with a rubric that's
yet to be um created and distributed by the department of ed figure out who meets the criteria. And I'm telling you it's going to be really really high. Um for example it could be based upon
mastery. To me, mastery is 80% in I learn three through eight. Well, we're not there. Hardly any school is there. Maybe that's an example. Maybe it's not. I don't know. You could have something at the high school that would be possibly based upon
ACT SAT. We'll see what is given to us and then we can add to it locally. The point is that I don't know how to get to 20% um of criteria or stay under that. I should say I know how to how to get
there, but to stay under it. This money is not distributed until April 15th. So jokingly, teachers say, "Oh, there's my Christmas bon. It's a tag tag dollar." That's not going to exist anymore. I can tell you from a teachers association perspective, they're very very very
concerned. They don't like this one iota because It feels like pitting more teachers against each other and not sharing resources. If I've got a outstanding calculus teacher and maybe another pre-cal teacher, are they going to talk to each other? Well,
I see both sides of that coin. I'm not going to debate that tonight. Just realize that the TAG dollars, if you're um approached by any one, are completely different in how it's restructured, in how it's going to be distributed
or even if schools are going to apply for it. because I'm telling you this this is a big task big challenge to figure out um who's going to be eligible what that criteria criteria is going to consist of
like one of it in the upper two exemplary exemplary plus is being a mentor and then being a mentor plus something else again we got to study it we got to figure it out we'll keep you updated on that other parts of the the house bill
is free universal vouchers That is what it is. I'm not going to debate that right now. Um that's that's just where we're at in in this state and that's um where we're going to continue to go. Summer school dollars have been reduced. So we're watching that carefully with our summer school programming.
Uh Senate Bill one, that was the property tax reform bill. You know, I would just say this. Um, I think all of us that are property owners would love to see our property taxes be reduced, but are you willing to sacrifice services, the public services?
uh the gentleman with the Greenwood Public Library did a great job just sharing a little bit of of you know the same concerns we have and I would reiterate that our concerns in revenue that are going to be restructured
because of um adjustments in as you see up there homestead deductions. Let me change it. There we go. um adjustments in business personal
property tax. You may say, "What is that?" Well, that is um equipment that these large distribution centers have. Um that the adjustments there are not going to benefit us because we won't get the revenue because they're going to
make that threshold a lot higher and I get it more profitable for the businesses to to not have to report farmland AV. um that's always looked at. The big big concern for us is in 2027
and that's losing roughly $1.4 million in local income tax. That's all going to go to the county commissioners and they're going to distribute it as they seem fit. I'll stop right there. We'll see what happens. Um we'll have to advocate for ourselves.
They did keep the maximum le levy growth quotient MLGQ uh cap 4% at one point in during the general assembly was at 0%. I'm like wow that that would crucify us because we're a growing school. Thankfully they kept that at 4%. Um
there were significant changes in referendum. I won't go through those tonight, but as we look forward to the November ballot of 2026, um we know that we're we're going to have to seek to renew our current
referendum on school safety and we'll um go through all of those steps. The good thing is the referendum change, the language did vote a little bit in our favor and how they word it. So that they did listen there to us and I appreciate that.
Uh you have House Bill 102 which is a deregulation bill. Uh there were some positives here. Some of the positives were a a lot of the shs were changed the maze. Um some of the required
um videos and training that we had to provide teachers we don't have to do anymore. Some of it may be good and some of it we may not need to do. um like you don't have to do bullying, you don't have to do um a couple other things that
that I can't remember off the top of my head, but we'll study that. We'll see. Again, if it's optional, then we'll we'll weigh the pros and cons. Um I do like the fact that there's flexibility there. Eliminates school improvement plan submissions. um eliminates the certain requirements
that's existed for 15 plus years in district-wide committees with uh proper alignment of association representation based on the percentage of their membership. That doesn't uh exist anymore. Um superintendent
qualifications, anybody can do that job. And so that's what they think. Then um we talked about supplemental fees that are now going to be allowed um to distribute back to parents. We're doing that going to do that very carefully
judiciously. We want to study that. What does that mean? that probably is in reference to um I would say dual credit courses um any any type of supplemental materials that's really in conjunction with
universities that we have. It could be AP. We want to really look at that before we pass that along to parents just because that's brand new and fresh in parents minds is well you shouldn't be charging
me. So we got to be careful there. Um, executive sessions, those are five new permissible items to discuss basically employee compensation. Um, and then we
can take a look at uh if there's any health care options. We can discuss employee handbook changes. Uh, you can discuss negotiations of public bid contracts. and soliciting proposals uh that contain proprietary information. So
those are some good things that's now allowed to be talked about in exec sessions that I appreciate the legislators passing in 1134 school accountability 1498. So, it's almost a running joke of, you
know, school grades been paused for seven, eight years. I mean, dating back to uh when I learned was significantly changed, 2017 or 2018, and then you had COVID. So, everything's been paused.
Well, now for the 2627 school year, we're going to have A throughF grades again. But again, for 2526, it's still paused. Um, it's going to be based on that framework. I believe this will happen. So, I I won't be too sarcastic
here, but but um I I think this is a good thing. People understand school grades. What I'm concerned about is how are you going to change all of the criteria? You see the bullet points up here. I'm not going to read through them, but um for me,
thank you, Cassie. Um, school accountability is where we should be. Keep going back. There we go. All right. So
if they could change the framework to match what we have to now do with um the GPS dashboard and uh other parts of that then and if they can quantify or put it into an A throughF category then I think
that's that's a good positive for for us and for families. All right, next one there 1285. Thank you Cassie. Education matters. Uh this really pertains to every school have has to have a nonviolent crisis intervention
training. We do this already. Um allow schools or schools allow parents to record IEP meetings. That's not a problem. They're doing that anyways. Then um if uh parents want to remove their child's personal property if
they're moving or or something happens, then school officials have to do that. Well, we do that anyway. So, um, I don't see a problem with that one. House Bill 1064, we talked about this just a little bit ago. Again, this was language uh that I just saw was coming down the pike
and then they immediately trumped this bill and put it in bylaws and it's basically allowing athletic transfers for grades 9 through 11 their first six semesters and not their senior year, but they can transfer away without being penalized
and then come back if they want to without being penalized. So, um it does allow for that flexibility uh to do so like I said their first three years of high school and
um that's pretty much it. The other part in that bill, the last aster requires schools to offer cash payments options at athletic events. That was kind of a big debate um that kind of fizzled where you can still do both and um not be a
requirement to have cash because we do a lot of cashless. I think that's a a good thing too and our families like some don't but gives you an option. uh 1634. I um kind of jokingly called this the
science of math after the science of reading, that bill that um passed, you know, two years ago. This really is trying to do the same thing. Um establishing elementary schools to do screening for math knowledge in certain areas, whether that's computation,
algebraic skills, and problem solving, and you name it. So, that's the elementary's requirement. the middle school, secondary, primarily middle school. Um that second asterct is saying if you've got um students that perform above state proficiency in math on
iLearn, then their parents could ask and we have to accommodate. So it's almost required them to be put into an advanced mathematics course. There's some positives to that. There are some still grave concerns. Our middle school is ahead of this. Principal Reinhold is
ahead on this. We he's got um advanced courses that are higher in in in rigor and in standard of expectations from a basic seventh or eighth to um a higher advanced course
and and then there's the highest and you're allowed to still do that. Um however you want to call it, but that that's the structure that we've got. So, um, even today I asked, uh, Tim and he said there was like incoming 51 fifth
graders to sixth graders that he's going to put into a a new honors course advance sixth grade. And I'm like, good. Let's see how they do. And if they are not successful, then parent requests through the counseling department could go um, you know, backwards if they if they want to, per se, to help their
child succeed. Next one. Uh, House Bill 1660 excused absences just adds another day if um, you have students that are involved heavily involved in, you know, 4 FFA activities. Used to be five and and now it's six. And again, I think that's a
good thing because you have some county fairs that are going on when school starts like Morgan County. You have the state fair that goes on pretty much first three weeks of August where school's going in session. And so, um, that's a positive that happened. Then
you have uh these two bills in the Senate 146 249. Um we pretty much um abide by these increasing beginning teacher pay to 45. We're at 50. Requires 65% of the state support to go directly to teachers.
We're at 67. So we're above that threshold. Um then if there is supplemental payments to teachers in high need areas, it kind of expanded that language. So it wasn't so restrictive. Um
and uh if we do that on a broader level, not so individualized you need a board resolution. I'm still waiting to see what a template will look like from uh the DOE. They haven't produced that yet, but that should be forthcoming. Um, this one you really want to be aware of as schoolboard members and I would
encourage you if you do any homework to study this bill 287 because it changed literally at the 11th hour. So, this is requiring schoolboard members to declare a political party affiliation. Could be independent um or obviously Republican
or Democrat. And yet what you need to be aware of is if a seat becomes vacant, if you declare Republican, it's the county caucus that decides, not you as a board. If you declare as Democrat, it's
the Democratic county caucus. If you declare as an independent or nonpartisan, then you as a board can make that decision. You need to think about that. That concerns me greatly for your local
control to do that. That was an 11 that that was the last second edition. And also if you vote straight party ticket and you declared R or D, you do not receive a vote. You know, they have to
actually go and vote for you. So, right, that's a that's a going to be a hard communication to the to the voting public. I did not like the last part that was put in because that is is local control um that that is stripped from
you. So that's a concern to to remember for next general assembly. Um oh last thing I would say is and we can get you the particulars of how it reads but if you want a pay raise you can get a pay raise. Um it it seriously
did almost double for you. Um, actually it did. It did. Um, 10% of your lowest teacher pay. So basically, do the math. 50,000 you get 5,000 now um instead of two grand. Um but if you if when you re organize in
January, think about that because we could budget for that. Um that that's a conversation that you all need to have. Not not not me or Austin or anyone else, but that that's your obviously discretion. Do you need that information prior to
since budgets probably will be done in October? We take if we take your salary then I'm I'm up for it. I mean we start planning for the budget in July and August and September and think about it talk about it. It'd be nice to know a little bit
and things. Yeah. Uh, next bill, Senate Bill 255, basically is um one that talked about the bullying changes in reporting to
both the um perpetrator and the bully um or the victim uh in a lot quicker manner. In other words, if an allegation was on a Monday, you have until the next day, that Tuesday afternoon at the end of the workday to report to both sides
of the situation. Um, in the past, it's been at least three days, maybe five. So, they they bumped that up and um, we will comply with that. There was a increase in or not increase, a change in language about religious
instructional time for secondary. Remember last year it was for elementary. This is allowing the same type of I think it was 120 hour 120 yeah 120 hours but you could also have two elective credits. We've not had any um uh
interest in that but that's still there and we would comply with the statute if that exists. And that's release time. That's like CF, if you remember that, child evangelism fellowship. Or there's other pockets that um in the state that have release time where they'll go to
churches off campus and do that. And um they're allowed allowed to do so. We'll accommodate that as long as it does not disrupt the school day or their grade um or or even behavior issues, then that's conversations that can be had
individually. Next bill is Senate Bill 442. Uh does pertain to human sexuality where um obviously materials all curricular materials are posted on our website. Um the video has to be the development of a
fetus and importance of consent to sexual activity. Then there's a consent form to tell parents whether the class is taught by a male or female teacher, whether the instruction is co-ed or single sex. So, um, we're working on revising that form and obviously
complying with with that, um, statute. Don't see a problem with that. I think we pretty much probably do all that, um, and talking to at least our high school administration. Absenteeism. I already mentioned this, so I won't read through that um,
verbatim, but it really just allows um, administration to do that attendance conference instead of five days, which was really, really tough to do. uh to be at 10 10 days after their fifth absence.
Then uh the last one is Senate Bill 366. Again, anybody can be a superintendent. You don't even have to have a master's degree. Um gives you flexibility there in in hiring a separate superintendent. So, uh that
yeah, I already talked about the um the third asterct, which would be eliminating a certain percentage of teachers on committees. That's kind of the same thing that was in that house bill. Questions? That was really quick abbreviated version. Um again, the big
focus was just on the on the budget by any which concerns us. I don't say that casually. We'll probably be mentioning that, you know, for the next several months of of how it um impacts bargaining, how it impacts program servicing, but I really think we're okay
until 2027 from our operations, debt service, our property tax funds. Uh education of course is driven by the u per pupil funding formula and and if that's 2% raise or 2% increase and we get more students then that's a good
thing. Um, we're just watching those property tax rate funds very carefully because if we lose that lip money or there's no adjustment there, the homestead adjustment, the P business per property tax adjustment is going to
reduce our revenue where we're going to have to at some point make some tough decisions for 2027. So, any questions, thoughts? See, I didn't take an hour. First quarter. All right, I'm done.
It's all I got. Make a motion to end the meeting. Second. All in favor? I