I told you. Omg. >> Hey Lesie. Lesie. Lastly, Leslie. >> I know. Wendy, get her attention. That's >> I got to tell you. >> Okay.
Why don't I think she's here? >> I mean, I can ask her. She can just wait till the normal time she >> All right. I want to get this uh started as closely on time. We've got kind of an
inclement weather situation. So, we're going to move tonight's meeting uh uh right along. So, at this time, I'd like to call the Elcart Community Schools Board meeting for March 10th, 2026 to order. Please rise.
Thank you. You may be seated. >> Miss Vanderbell on the Elcart Promise. >> The Elcart Promise. Every student is known by name, challenged, and supported by highly effective staff and in partnership with the community will graduate career and college ready and
life ready. >> Well, well done. Well done audience in in >> back. >> All right. Our invitation to speak protocol. Everyone should have received uh one of these uh in the back. You have a little form. Please fill it out. Get
it to Dora. Dora uh states you put your name and um your affiliation with Elcart Schools and the topic. You can speak on any agenda or non-aggenda item during the uh uh public comment time. Uh when your name is called, when I call your
name, please step up to the mic. Uh state your name and uh you'll have three minutes uh to to speak on any agenda or non-aggenda item. Um if it's a uh uh issue with a uh personnel or a person student issue, please do not reference
anyone uh by name. This is not the uh the venue uh uh to do that because of the family rights and privacy act we must adhere to. So, with that said, uh, Dora, I will open it up for public comment.
Thank you, Dora. Um, first person, are these in any particular order? Just for just Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. Uh, Tara Williams,
lucky number one. >> Welcome to be here in real life. Um, sorry, I'm really nervous. >> Don't be nervous. >> My name is Tara Williams and I've been teaching at Woodland my whole 25 year
career. I also have a senior here in Elkcart. I never imagined that I'd be standing up here tonight, but I feel compelled to say a few things about the elephant in the room. Woodland deserves it. In my eyes, tonight feels like a funeral. Our principles will be
highlighting Woodland's successes, while in a few months, the heartbeat of our school will stop. The timing of this meeting feels like cruel irony. At the last school board meeting, it was mentioned that the board members enjoyed touring all of our elementary schools on
a Saturday. I really wish you would have come to see our schools in action. Visitors always mention what a welcoming staff we are and the way our staff works together is something special. Students feel loved, supported, and are truly
happy to be at school. Witnessing that would have been much more meaningful than walking down empty hallways. It's hard not to be disappointed. Can you guys hear me? >> Okay. In the lack of transparency and respect given to our staff, the ones who
have been directly affected by our decisions. Can you imagine the way we felt when what we what we were hearing about our school closing was confirmed at the school board meeting a month ago? Now, we're hearing from other teachers in the district that our building is in
fact being repurposed and not closing because of the cost to maintain it. I'm here representing all of the displaced staff in the district. Our morale is down. We're sad, stressed, anxious, but we show up every day for
the students because that's just what we do. In my own grieving process, if I'm being honest, I am stuck between anger and acceptance. We aren't only losing our schools, but we're losing connections with students, their
families, and our colleagues. Sorry, I got to hurry. Our positions are in jeopardy and in many Sorry, >> take a breath. >> Take a breath.
>> Gosh, our positions are in jeopardy. And in many cases, we're pitted against each other to get the placements that we want in buildings that we will barely have enough room for all of us.
And if that wasn't bad enough, in positions that are limited, seniority only counts among the buildings closing. Gosh, I really didn't want to do this. If you listen to anything that I say tonight, please consider the human
impact on the decisions being made and do the right thing by honoring our librarians 14 years of seniority in the district. and she's here tonight. It seems irresponsible that our librarian was hired days a new librarian was hired
days before announcing the consolidation plan because our building is closing. Her years of dedication mean nothing. At the last school board meeting, parents spoke up and things were changed. So, I'm really hoping that
you'll listen to me as you hear the presentation tonight and see Woodland's data. Please be mindful of the heart behind those numbers. They represent real students, real relationships and staff that pours everything they
have into our school. And remember that all of the educators who have dedicated their careers to this district deserve acknowledgement and real transparency. Thank you. Uh Lyn Bourner. Good evening board. Good evening Dr.
Huff. My name is Lynn Bourner and I've taught in Elcart for 12 years. I w it was I was split for the first two years. I was at two buildings, Woodland and Mary Beck. And I chose Woodland when I was able. I'm here tonight not just as an employee and parent, but as someone
whose life has been shaped by the hallways, the classrooms, and the people of Woodland Elementary. I want to tell you who we are because I'm not sure you fully understand. We are the teachers who work for hours and years helping struggling students find their
confidence. We are the staff members who greet every single student by name every day without fail. Our exceptional ed team takes care of our students with the highest needs and they are always able to create opportunities for success always.
Our office staff is there to support in any way they can. Just a phone call or radio call away. We had a parent the day after the announcement who put hearts on every single staff member's door with encouraging words and happy notes. She's
here tonight. We are a community, a family like many others in the district that took years to build and one that simply cannot be reassigned on a spreadsheet. Our school may be closing, but what has not been told to us is why our people are being
treated as afterthoughts in this process. Let's run some numbers. Over half of our staff has over 10 years in the district. Our special team, the five of us, I'm very proud to say, have a total of 94 years in the district. But only two of
us even have the opportunity to continue in elementary specials based on lensure or availability as of writing this. Our librarian, as Mrs. Williams said has over 14 years in the district and could not even go for a position in elementary
library because there wasn't one. But someone was hired just weeks before our announcement and marked safe. Even though she has 14 years and it's much bigger number than one month, it means nothing. There has been little transparency, little dignity, and very
little acknowledgement of what we, the displaced, have given to this district. We're sad. We're angry. Yes, we are devastated. But more than any of that, we are proud. We're proud of every child who walks out of our building reading, growing, and
believing in themselves. That happened because of these people. And these people deserve to be treated as exactly that, people. I'm asking the board tonight, look up from the numbers, see us, honor what we have built. The closing of our school will be written
into this district's history, and how you treat the people inside it will be, too. Thank you, >> Howard Turner. Good evening, board. Uh, as a proud graduate parent and grandparent from Elkart Community Schools, I'd like to
thank the teachers and other staff members who are being displaced. I do have a couple questions. First, uh, understand the need for consolidation to get in within the budget. Are we losing any of the buildings to the state's charter? And then seeing how our great
city is has plans development to add housing. Are those uh children going to have a school to go to? >> Thank you. >> Great questions. Kaylee Traver.
>> Good evening, members of the board and superintendent. My name is Kaylee Trevor. I taught in Elkart Community Schools for 5 years, leaving only when I had my twin daughters. My history with this district is professional, but today it's deeply personal. I watched Hawthorne close once only to see it
reborn as the early learning center that changed my daughter's lives. Hawthorne isn't just a building. It's a specialized ecosystem. To serve our community, this program requires ample space that smaller wings and other buildings simply cannot replicate. We need the five PACE and four title one
preks classrooms. But we also need the specialized environments that make inclusion possible. The sensory room, my daughter Ellie relied on this. It was her safe harbor allowing her to regulate so she could return to her peers ready to learn the motor room and the minds in
motion hallway. Gross motor development is a foundational pillar for for special education. These aren't extras. They are neural jump starts for cognitive and social emotional growth. The specialized gym and library facilities designed specifically for the unique physical and
developmental scale of a preschooler. The human element. Loose Palasios. Beyond the walls, we must protect the people. I urge you to keep loose as our translator. She is the bridge for our Spanish-speaking families. I cannot imagine the fear of discussing my babies
with the team of experts without speaking their language. For a parent, that first evaluation is nerve-wracking enough. Providing reliable, real-time translation with someone who understands the nuances of IEPs and evaluations is a
matter of equity and dignity. When we aged out of first steps, I was lost. Even as an educator, I didn't know where to turn for a diagnosis or services that I couldn't afford out of pocket. The Hawthorne team held my hand. They conducted the evaluations and confirmed
that my daughters had autism. They provided the speech and OT services that our insurance wouldn't cover. They guided me when I didn't know the way. Hawthorne catches our most vulnerable families before they fall through the cracks. Finally, if closure must happen,
I urge you to open these buildings for one final evening. Hawthorne has been a cornerstone for this community for almost a hundred years. Many of us never got to say goodbye when it closed the first time. Give this community the chance to walk the halls one last time
and find the closure they deserve. In short, please keep the Hawthorne program, its specialized rooms, and its essential staff like Loose together in one building. Our kids can't wait for for us to get this right. They need it now. Thank you.
Uh, James Traver. Good evening everyone. My name is James Traver and as you just heard from my wife, we are the parents of twins who transitioned into Hawthorne Early Learning Center at a critical turning point in their development. She spoke to
you as an educator. I'm here to speak to you as a father. Um, and Hawthorne really helped change my children and our family for the better. When we first realized our daughters
weren't hitting their milestones, it was a heavy weight to carry. You feel isolated. You worry about their future. And when Hawthorne stepped in with their multidisciplinary evaluation, it wasn't just data to us. It was the first time
someone gave us a map. They confirmed the autism diagnosis, but more importantly, they gave us a plan to follow. I've walked those halls. I've seen the motor room and the sensory rooms in action. To an outsider, these
might look like extra classrooms. To a parent of a child with special needs, they're essential medical and educational tools. You can't simply move a sensory room into a corner of a standing elementary school and expect
the same results. These children need a dedicated, quiet, and intentional environment. If you fragment this program across four or five different buildings, you're not just moving desks. You're breaking a system that works.
Let's talk about the reality for Elcart families. The speech and occupational therapy services our daughters received at Hawthorne were services that we literally couldn't afford through our private insurance due to high deductibles.
Hawthorne is a great equalizer. It ensures that a child's progress isn't determined by their parents' bank accounts. Furthermore, I want to echo about Lo Palasio. Though we didn't need her, many Spanish-sp speakaking families
did. Communication is the bedrock of trust. If a parent can't understand the person explaining their child's disability, that trust is broken before it even starts. Keeping loose is a common sense move for
the Spanish community in Elkcart. Finally, I want to address the closure itself. Hawthorne has stood for almost a century. If this board moves forward with these closures, please don't do it behind locked doors. Give us one last
night. Open the doors for the families that grew there to be able to walk through one last time. We are asking you to be stewards of our children's potential. Don't just look at the cost of the building. Look at the cost of losing what happens inside of
it. Please keep the Hawthorne Early Learning Center intact. Thank you. Fine. >> I did say that, but my gosh. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. I stand here again for teachers that were given
notifications on February 20th, 2026 that their assignments are scheduled to conclude at the end of the school year. Our weekly newsletter stated that these notifications were also sent to staff last year, but that is incorrect, especially transition to teaching teachers. Notifications did not give teachers time to submit proof of lure
before May 29th or even by August. They were just told that their employment will terminate on the last day of school. Those teachers that you should know by name. Two of these individuals are transition to teaching people. Transition to Teaching is a program that gives a person without a teaching degree a three-year license to take education
courses and pass exams to become licensed teachers. These teachers need to have a degree or experience in the subject. Both people I'm talking about teach science. Both of these teachers were given deadlines to complete classwork, but not lure. Most people would assume they had three years to do
so, but Elkart told them out of the blue, you have two. For reference, when teaching to become a science teacher, you have to take a test that covers all science areas. Chemistry, biology, life science, physics, all of it, not just what you are teaching. How many of you
could do that? Two others are on emergency permits. Both veteran teachers, both teaching science, trying to help Elcart out in positions that were posted for more than two years, neither with a science background. So now think about them taking that science test. Another teaches a foreign
language. The only person in the district teaching this language again given a deadline for finishing the teaching part, not the lensure. And in this situation, because Elcart paid for their classes, now has to repay Elkart for up to 75% of those classes. They
have repeatedly asked for this amount and have yet to receive an answer. Talk about stress. All of these requirements are on top of the everyday responsibilities of teaching planning grading covering being involved in the school community. Elkart Community Schools currently has
four open science positions. All have been posted since 2024. The consolidation sheet for teachers shows six openings for science in the fall. There's also a foreign language position that has been posted since March of 2025. If Elkcart were to keep
these science teachers instead of ending their employment, you would only need two science teachers in the fall. A much more doable option. Do you think there will be a windfall of licensed science teachers in the fall? What happens to the students that need these classes in the fall? Will science classes be taught
in the auditorium because we don't have enough teachers? Guess that's one way to see if students are college ready. Many of us are tired of hearing that we are being diligent looking at individuals making choices that are best for the students and teachers because
are you are you really? Thank you. That concludes our public comment. Uh next we will have a uh business and international relations school study report. Mr. Orbianski, >> President Scott, uh Dr. Huff, members of
the board school trustees, uh thank you very much for this opportunity to uh present uh uh this evening. Uh I'm proud to say that uh uh for me personally, this is my 32nd year with Elkart Community Schools and 29th as an administrator. And uh since the merger,
I've been the proud principal of the uh school of uh business and international relations at Elcart High School. So I want to take just a few minutes to uh uh share some highlights and some things that are that are happening in our school of study. Um let's make sure I'm getting the right buttons here. Uh just
a little just a little bit of an overview of of the makeup and the and the demographics. There are 22 teachers that uh have responsibility of of evaluating. Uh we also have two college two counselors and an early college counselors uh and uh uh two support
staff uh and other people that contribute that I'll mention a little bit later to uh to the operation of our uh of our school of study. Um just a little bit about the Oh, I didn't want to do that. Sorry. Just a little bit about the demographics
of uh of our school of study. Uh it does mirror uh pretty much the demographics of Elcart High School as a whole. Uh the only real anomaly is uh if you look on the right hand side our school of study of the 390 students and it's 70% of them are males and 30% of them are females.
Uh where over Elkcart High School overall is 52% male and 48% female. So, um, gravit the guys are gravitating to business a little bit, and I'm not sure why, and maybe we'd like to, uh, try to
flip-flop that a little bit. Um, uh, the instructional pathways, the graduation pathways that we have, uh, the three main ones are, uh, uh, the accounting pathway, and you see the classes that are listed there, the ones that, uh, uh, that you need to pass to, uh, uh, work
through the accounting pathway. We also have a business management pathway uh and and and encapsulating principles of business management, management fundamentals and accounting fundamentals and an entrepreneurship pathway which is one of the newer pathways that um uh uh
the state has uh the state has uh uh initiated and uh we have students that go through uh and earn their earn their graduation pathways to satisfy that part of the graduation requirement. uh uh that way. Uh uh we do have quite a bit of students though who do uh earn their
pathway that part of their graduation requirements through dual credit courses. Uh that's another way that you can earn your pathways. And we also have uh quite a few students in our school of study that uh satisfy their pathway requirement by attending the Elcart area career center uh and various programs.
Um so that's uh uh how they meet that uh how they meet that requirement. Um we also offer uh two new certification opportunities um Microsoft Office Specialist which uh uh started this year also with QuickBooks and uh those are
the um students the number of students that we have enrolled in each of those pathways. Um uh next we'll just give it kind of give an overview of uh of some of the things that our students are doing. I talked about uh a lot of kids get their dual their path one of their pathways through
dual credits. We have uh 219 students that are currently taking uh dual credit classes. Um that is about 56% of the kids uh in our school of study. So we do have a lot of kids that are that are uh taking a more
challenging curriculum and working on dual credit classes uh which helps satisfy that pathway requirement. um percentage of students on track to graduate. Uh as you see 10th graders, we have 85% of them on track. Uh uh that increases a little bit to 85%.
29% for 11th graders. And by the time they get to their senior year, we really uh work hard to make sure that we get those kids across the finish line uh with presently 95 uh.17% of our seniors in the BNIR pathway uh on
track to graduate. We also have up to this point uh uh students uh uh seniors that have been applying to different colleges and uh applying for scholarships have so far been offered uh over $2 million in
scholarship opportunities. Now, that could be a student who's gotten scholarship offers from two or three or four different uh universities. They're only going to pick one of them, but so they'll get the money from that particular college or university. Um uh but that's still quite a bit of money and I'm sure that will increase as as
the semester progresses and we get more information and more kids get accepted into uh into colleges and universities as the semester uh and the year progresses. Uh just a snapshot list of some of the colleges that have accepted BNIR students already. Uh we've got the
big east Purdue goers boiler up. Um IU IU Indie Grand Canyon Purdue Fort Wayne Tennessee A&M. uh we have kids that uh uh metriculate to colleges all over the United States uh and so we feel that uh we provide them a a good foundational
education to have success uh uh in those different colleges. Um one of the biggest things or the biggest extracurricular or or business school related um opportunity that uh uh our kids have an opportunity to participate in is our future business leaders of
America. uh that is a uh a club a competitive club uh that competes against other FBLA uh chapters throughout the state of Indiana. Um this year we've comparing last year to this year we've got 37 active members which
is a 17 member increase from last year. Um we've got 25 registered for the state leadership conference which is coming up this weekend. Uh we have a group of students going down to Muny, Indiana, leaving on Friday and coming back on Sunday uh to go to the state conference
and and compete in the in the different uh categories that we'll talk about in a minute. Um they compete in a variety of events incl and they include role playing uh uh and objective tests and they'll also be able to uh p participate in developmental workshops. Um last year
we actually had two students who were uh who earned first place honors in two different uh in two different uh areas. Dylan Breler who is current senior uh last year he was uh uh earned first place in banking and financial systems and what they do is they have a 100
question written test and they're placed in a role playinging opportunity um uh where they have to they're given a scenario and they have to work through it and and Dylan who's a current senior he got first in the state last year uh in banking and financial systems and we
also had Kevin Mel who was a graduate uh he graduated last year he was number one in the state in the business management competition. Uh so we've got FBLA kids representing Elcart High School uh doing well at at the state level. Um
this is just a a picture of some of our kids that attended the state conference in Indianapolis in the fall. It's an optional conference, but it's an opportunity for them to network and to gain leadership skills. and uh one of the opport one of the fun things they get to do is they get to go to a Pacers
game when they uh uh when they're down there and then they come back home. Um so they had a lot of fun there. We also have Elcart students in FBLA that are demonstrating tremendous leadership skills because we have four of our students uh that are either uh on the
executive board for the state FBLA uh uh conference and uh Allison Norris who is a state officer for FBLA. Um we also have um the the additional privilege of one of our own very own staff members,
Julie Jerzac. a business teacher in our in our school of study who is the state chair for FBLA. Uh so that uh she does a great job of of keeping us in the loop of things and really supporting uh uh FBLA's um opportunities and and
opportunities to compete. And uh we also have several um business teachers who are sponsoring that club uh and you'll have a chance to meet them in just a minute that do a fine job of of supporting these kids. Um just a couple of other just a couple other things of
business kids uh like I said showing up and showing out. Uh we had two of our uh BNIR kids that even though the bowling team was not able to advance to a state championship as a team, we had two individuals who did very very well. We had Colin Albreight who was the
individual state champion, the number one bowler in the state of Indiana for this year, a business kid. Uh and we also had the individual state runner up. So, we got one and two uh uh for individual bowlers. Wyatt Skipper did a fantastic job. And Wyatt was also given
uh uh uh the bowler of the year award uh uh by the Indiana High School Bowlers. Um so, we uh we really like we're really proud of the uh efforts that these young that these young men have put forth. Uh we also had a state qualifier in
wrestling. Kyle Summer. Uh proud to be an IR kid. Made it to the state finals in wrestling this year. Uh got out of semi-state. Uh didn't have the best draw going into the state finals when uh uh he knew it was going to be a tough road when uh when he found out his opponent
was 55 and0 going into uh state wrestling. So it was a tough road tough road, but uh uh he represented our school of study and our school well uh down in Indianapolis. Um talking a little bit about community partnerships here. Um uh through the
internship program, all the schools of study have have a myriad of businesses that uh uh that we partner with and kids have an opportunity to uh uh to gain uh very good work experience, some paid, some unpaid. Uh probably the biggest partnership or the most notable one for
us at Elcart High School is with Lake City Bank. Uh a bank with uh uh with whom we have a great relationship. We have a a bank branch right in the high school. uh Elcart students uh uh mostly BNIR students but sometimes students from other schools of study have the opportunity to work as tellers there in
an intern in an internship program and get fantastic experience there. Um they offer uh banking services to students checking and savings accounts. Um uh it benefits the school and that our extracurricular programs and our
athletic programs utilize the bank to handle their finances which is convenient. they can, you know, take the receipts from from a football game or a basketball game and go right down and make the deposit uh uh uh in our bank branch, which makes it uh very convenient for them. Um and the staff at
Lake City also has done a good job of working with our uh business teachers and providing opportunities to come and speak in classrooms to talk about financial literacy uh and other and other uh areas that uh that fit into the teachers curriculum. So, we're very we're very pleased with that
relationship with Lake City Bank and we look for that to continue for for quite some time. Um, so, uh, coming to the end, I just want to say that we have a picture here of the BNIR team. Uh, we're we're a pretty tight-knit team. We've got a lot of veterans and and and, uh,
uh, not a lot of not a lot of turnover over the past few years in our school of study and and they've built a quite a cohesive unit. Uh I'd like to ask uh the BIS BNI our teachers that are here today to please stand up uh that have been able to come and represent uh our school
of study. Uh we have Mr. THANK YOU M Mr. Kaufman who's environmental science. Mr. Doman is business Mr. Schaefer is business and uh Miss Bartley uh special ed and also our very outstanding lead teacher for our school of studies. So, we thank her for all of
her extra efforts. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the School of Business and International Relations, and I thank you for your time. >> Great job, Mr. Wowki. Um, our our kids are doing amazing things at the um at your school. Um, they're going on a trip here pretty soon, correct?
>> Yes. This this this Friday they're leaving for um they're leaving for Muny for the state conference is where where they'll have that competition. And they're also uh they they've been working very hard all year with doing fundraising and working to get corporate sponsorship so that if we're fortunate
enough to have some state champions uh that qualify for nationals nationals that we'll be able to uh uh send those kids to nationals also. That's that's been a goal that was a goal of ours in the beginning of the year and hopefully we'll be able to achieve that. >> Wonderful job. I did um appreciate that
you said that it was only uh 30% 70% ratio, but our girls have three of the four executive um spots there. I don't think I was the only one who noticed that. So, I just want to say um we how are we going to make sure that we are um telling about the opportunities at the
in in your school. So, just want to say great job, but um that was not noticed. So, we appreciate you. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate job, Matt. >> THANK YOU. NEXT ON THE AGENDA, WE HAVE uh Mr. Beal and the Woodland Elementary School report.
>> Good evening, President Scott, Dr. Huff board of trustees and Elkcart community. My name is Jeremy Bechal. I'm the principal of Woodland Elementary School and I have the distinguished honor uh this evening of presenting our school report for the 2526 school year. I'd
like to start off by introducing recognizing our assistant principal, Miss Nicole Serge. And uh we have several Woodland staff here this evening. Woodland staff, you want to stand up? Thank you for being here
uh to the school board. Thank you for uh the trust you've placed in my leadership over these past three school years. So I have to apologize Mrs. Vanderbell and my staff was just so enthusiastic about something I was going to do. Um so that's why we were chiming in earlier
on. Every new day at Woodland, students and staff take a moment to uh just as we did this evening, uh say our pledge of allegiance. We recite our student code of conduct, which is the Rocket Pride pledge, which you'll see on the slide there. And then I ask for the students
to be quiet while they hear the adults recite the Elcart Promise. So, if you would allow, I would like to um invite my staff to join me in the Elcart Promise. Here we go. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported
by highly effective staff and in partnership with the community will graduate career college ready and life ready. Thank you for that. Thank you. Woodland is a proud neighborhood school. Uh generations of families have walked
in and out of its walls. Um, in fact, before 2015, the only walls were exterior. Uh, because, uh, in the interior, it was an open concept school. And so, um, one of the greatest privileges I've had as both an assistant
principal and a principal have been the opportunities to interview and put in recommendations to hire former Woodland students to join our Woodland teacher team. and uh we've been able to do that um over the years. It's
been a great privilege. You can see on the screen uh in front of you the current student enrollment as of our ADM count February 2nd and the makeup of our families. Um the first picture is a picture of our girls volleyball team uh from this school
year, city runners up. And uh the second picture there is a picture of our third, fourth, and fifth grade student council representatives for this current school year. All right, so let's get into it. What are we here for? Um Dr. Dr. Huff, we've heard you say over your time as
superintendent, we want to offer kids um high quality experiences and we want to give them a guaranteed and viable curriculum that results in high academic achievement for all students. And so with that in mind, uh these are our school improvement goals from this year.
Uh we want to move our I read assessment uh proficiency passing rate into the 90s and we want to move our math and English language arts ilearn assessment proficiency into the 30s which would be putting us closer to the state average
and you'll see later on that we're primed to do that. This slide here just shows um some trend data for those iLearn um proficiency scores in English language arts and math. U one thing that isn't uh well
I'll come back to this but the first one ELA and in the yellow that's from 2324 school year um you can see we finished at about a 16.4 for proficiency um for English language arts as a school. And then the following school year 2425, which would have been last year, um the
staff was able to move kids to 27.7 uh percent, which um that that was for the first time in a while. Um Woodland was able to eclipse even the um district's average for that. Um, as of a
couple weeks ago, our projection for English language arts proficiency uh with our third, fourth, and fifth grade students uh sitting at 31.3%. So, not quite at that 34% goal that we have in our school improvement plan goal. Um,
but we we are primed to get those kids um into that 30% um range. Uh for our math in the yellow uh that was uh the 23 24 school year 17.6%. So we kind of had a history of math kind
of outperforming English language arts. Um and then even though last year was the first time our English language arts kind of outperformed math in a while, our math still made significant gains as well. U last year 24.8. So looking at 7%
increase uh is pretty pretty amazing. So, we're happy for our kids and for our families and the work that our teachers are doing. Projected for math, we're sitting at 32%. That's what we're hoping for. So, that would put us above our 30% goal for math. Um, not on this, I want
to talk a little bit about inside those numbers. Um, for English language arts proficiency, um, it it in the 22 23 school year, um, our multi-racial students performed at a 23% proficiency.
The year following that they did 26% and the year following that 32. So we've got students that are pacing us and going above the school average uh in that in that group of students from the spring 2425 results from last year as well. Um
we had a 10% increase in proficiency in our Hispanic and Latino students and we had a 5% increase in English language proficiency for our black and African-American students. female students. We've heard about females tonight already. Um they went from 18% to 35% proficiency in English
language arts from last year and the previous year before that. And um Mrs. Bourer kind of talked about this tonight with our exceptional learners, but English language arts last year um our students with formal individualized education plans saw a 7% increase in
their proficiency. in math. A lot of our a lot of our increases and our wins have been carried by again our female students had a 10% increase from one year to the next. Um our black and African-American students had a 10% increase in math and our
Hispanic and Latino students had a 7% increase in math from one year to the next. Uh the next few slides I just kind of want to highlight uh the trend of certain cohorts. So in the first column their spring 24 um there's a proficiency
rate there for third grade. Those are our current fifth grade students. So when they were third graders they performed English language arts I learn at a prof proficiency of 13% as a cohort. um they moved next year, the following year to fourth grade and they
uh more than doubled uh right their proficiency as a cohort to 35 and that cohort is on track right now to get 45% as a cohort as fifth graders. Uh the yellow would be the same kind of uh trend data there for our current fourth graders. And then you'll see uh the 15%
for our current third graders is our projection. That would make up our 31% that we're looking to get um as a school. Uh same thing here with math. I just want to kind of highlight our fifth grade cohort. Um as third graders, they demonstrated 16% proficiency as a
cohort. As fourth graders, then they doubled that to 32%. and they're on track to to get 41%. So, it's a team team lift, you know, year-toear um throughout the grade levels. I want to highlight a little bit of kindergarten and first grade, you know, that they're not taking the math I I learned, but in
December, they took the winner NWA, and our kindergarteners scored in the 67th percentile nationwide, and our first graders scored in the 69th percentile nationwide uh on that test. Indiana code 20-35.5
requires uh schools to annually administer a universal screener to all kindergarten, first and second grade students to identify to do two things. To identify um who may be at some risk or at risk for characteristics of dyslexia and then also allows for us as
teachers to uh give targeted support as early as possible for kids. And so, um, on the screen you'll see those beginning of the year, middle of the year, and then our end of the year projections for this, um, for this measure. Um, kindergarten and first grade are on
track to kind of get around the same as they did last year, uh, in those grade levels. You'll see I also have something here about the number of second graders, uh, who passed I read 3. So, in 23 24, we got to be part of the pilot program. we were able to pass 26 third graders or
I'm sorry second graders uh in the i3 test ahead of time and then last year we were able to pass 32 second graders and we are in the iid window right now so I can't talk about results I know that but uh projected we have um about 23 second
graders right now who are on track to pass or will pass um the i3 test and so we'll be talking to families is here soon about those results. Uh just to continue with the i3, uh here's our trend data from um the last
couple years and then our projection is the very far uh far right. Uh Woodland's in the yellow, uh Alart Community Schools is in the blue and the state is in the white. Our goal is we want to get up there where the state is. Um the state has a goal of all schools reaching
95% proficiency by 2027. And uh our goal is if we can get that 90 then we're just 5% away uh for the following school year. Um so going into to the IED window um we
could make some projections based on our year-long assessing intervening and uh monitoring of the essential learning targets that comprise the IE3 test. And we can comfortably say right now we're around 65%
expecting to pass this first round. And that would be above where we were last year at this point. And then we have seven weeks until uh the next window opens up for i and students and the teachers will get together. Um plus we'll have the summer
school work for those um iid summer school uh programs as well. But we are going to continue working on getting some of those kids cross that 446 finish line. Okay. So, how how have the Woodland staff done this? Um, you've heard many of my principal colleagues over the year
during their presentations reference Mr. John Hattie and uh John Hadtie uh synthesized years and years of educational research um and then result that resulted in him being able to identify what are those high effect strategies and postures that schools and
teachers can take to um that will result in the greatest academic growth and achievement. Um explicit or direct instruction uh off to the side there. That's that's John Hattie's effect size. um I've kind of pinpointed where I think it would fall within his research. Um
but these are the ways that we do this as a as a team. Explicit and direct instruction um to to pair with that. I'll skip down to teacher clarity and lesson planning. Uh that's these are just good things that you know we we tend to come back to some of these
things year in year out. Um teachers are again revisiting some of these things right now and we'll be continuing to do that in the fall. Um we have formative assessments uh in using the MTSS model. Um our PLC's are collaborating with our literacy cadre coach and the intentional
planning and action meetings that go on with with those those individuals uh results in that collective teacher efficacy and that's the highest highest effect size um from Hattie's research. And then thank you again to the board uh for allowing and and approving the 24
hours of live virtual training through the letters volume one and volume two this year and last year. But it's then the application of that learning on teacher practice, daily practice um that results in in student achievement. Okay. Chronic absenteeism.
So, uh, starting 2022 23, uh, the number of students that we had that were chronically absentee was 23.3%. So, we're almost talking about one out of every four students. Um, now life has not gotten easier for our
families since 2022. Um, so the work and the effort on their end to partner with the school and our efforts, um, again, I cannot say enough about the resiliency of our Woodland families. Um, so progressively have have decreased
that 25 26 right now on the on the chart. That's a real conservative estimate of about 13.5. If I'm going to be a little more aggressive, I think we can get that down to 7%. So that's where we're looking to get our chronic absentee population down below 10% this
year. All right. And if you'll allow me, um the whole school MTSS model u is kind of how we do things and the way we want to continue to do things. Uh I
want to acknowledge and thank some team members from the past several years that um who have either moved on um to new opportunities or are no longer with us. Um, but they played a big role in what we have been able to accomplish so far
and even in their impact into this school year. Uh, and those names usually go un unmentioned. So, if you'll allow me, I just like to read a few few names of staff who've kind of helped us with this um in this endeavor. Mackenzie Jackson Engel, Ernest Furland,
Karen Fister, Asher England, Juel Eton, Bethany Wilcox, Emily Ziticus, Kimberly Null, Stephanie Lee, Tammy Tidy,
Dr. Marsha Durant Walker. She just just officially became doctor. Denise Kurt, Kim Baron, Angela Jones, Beverly Robinson, Frank Guzman,
Otis Irving, Holly Powell, Clara Twimman, Jayla Ray Stewart, Lisa McFarland, Kelsey Rostra, Calie Alfred, Heidi Pauline,
Moren Davis, Amanda Grant, Avon Dayton, Kristen Kineski, Haley Birkhart, Rihanna Sass, and Jamie Ingen. Um, we have a great network of colleagues um who have come and gone and
then also district staff who who help support student learning. All right, so there's always kind of been a diaspora of Woodland Rockets um there have been many great um teacher teams that have come and gone at Woodland. Um, we certainly stand on the
shoulders of some of those teachers and administrators that come before us. Um, we like to say once a rocket always a rocket. And in all in all those other cases where someone came and went, the the place they landed, they always ended
up making that place better. Uh, bringing the Woodland Way with them. And uh that's that's our hope for our students and that's our hope for our staff is that where we land next year um we will bring that same tenacity and
focus on families and students. Um before I go to the next slide um the last slide is just uh something our media team put together for last year from our iLearn pep rally. So it's something that we did for the kids. We're going to continue to do that again
this year as we get closer to this this year's I learn. Um but before I do that, I would like to um demonstrate my rocket pride um by de by reciting our student code of conduct. So I'll demonstrate my rocket pride by being persistent. I will
not give up, respectful, working to be kind to everyone. I will show initiative by being a problem solver. I will be dependable, reliable, and trustworthy, and efficient, being organized, on time, and ready to go.
All right. Yes. We want to welcome our guests of honor, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade students and teachers. And we're here today to get that pep spirit going even higher than it's been this week. Okay. So, the teachers have gotten involved and we want to get the the students
involved this week before we start our testing next week. Okay. So, let's give our uh guests of honor nice little round of applause. Yeah. Thank you for your time this evening. >> Any questions?
>> Jeremy, good man. Great school. You've done a wonderful job. Hold on, let me access who I am. You've done a great job leading that school. You've done everything that the district has ever asked as far as leadership.
Your teachers are outstanding human beings. You're a great leader of staff. You're just a great man in general. You and I have talked quite a few times over these last two years. You're just you you're very humble in your presentation.
Your state recognized for your growth in iid. That is worthy of beyond a round of applause. that is going to kids are going to not remember that they're going to be that for the rest of their lives. It's all because of those teachers back there and your leadership, Mrs. Serge leadership. I'm getting myself together.
You notice that you have worked tirelessly for your school. I want people on this side to know that we don't take these no one takes joy in any of these decisions. I've I I hear transparency and I wish we
could do things differently. You you raised great kids over there. That community of students are some of the kindest individuals on the planet. They have never met a stranger and they probably should learn what strangers are, but they have never met one. The few
times I've been at your school is your kids are not just welcoming. They exemplify everything that we want from our littles to our adults. Actually, they could teach the adults a few things. >> And the community that you've created
with your parents and your stakeholders um has not been lost on the district. It certainly has not been lost on me. I had an opportunity last year to come to one of your events with your family. It's not just knowing every kid by name. you know, every kid by spirit.
It was hard. I I knew this was going to be hard coming up after you've been um speaking. Thank you to your staff members for for coming and supporting Mr. Beal, but he also has been a huge advocate for you. You know, I think you're an outstanding
just just just man. So, um great presentation by the way. Um but um everything that we heard this evening, the uh I know you'll finish your school year strong and I know that you will continue to do great things for your kids for as long as you'll make sure
that they're fine even when they're not under your direct care because you do have a way the Woodland way and they'll carry that forever. You will be remembered and for for your your team. So, I'm kind of
stammering here a little bit because it's hard to give you feedback on a presentation when I know the I I know that this is hard for you to be there and you handled it with grace and and style. So, I just want to tell you thank you for your leadership. I want to again if we can give their team another round
of applause and thank you directly for all the things that you do and will do for kids and do for the Elcart community and that just just want to say thank you. >> Thank you.
>> No, thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the uh excellence of Elkcart. Uh Miss Wood. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, community members. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share the highlights in areas of
academics, arts, and athletics. In the area of ACT academics, EMT students from the Elcardary Career Center partnered with third graders at Cleveland during their ethos wind weather water unit. Working alongside nurse Parmaly of the Med Foundation, the
high school students guided elementary learners through emergency response demonstrations and basic first aid practice, creating meaningful crossage mentorship while connecting classroom learning to real world medical careers. Also in academics, Elkart High School's
Miss Stores dual credit biology students recently stepped into the role of lab scientist testing simulated blood samples to determine and Rh blood types. Through hands-on investigation, students applied their understanding of genetics and immunology while building
real world lab skills. In the area of arts, Hawthorne Early Learner Center students strengthen their fine motor skills during table time by creating President's Day crafts using colorful stamps.
Also in arts, at Roosevelt Steam Academy, kindergarteners combined art and geography as they learned about the seven continents and created their own globes. Students were incredibly proud of their creative work and new learning. 90 Elkcart High School student school
music students performed at the Isma State Solo Ensea Ensemble Festival for piano vocal piano on February 21st and win percussion string on February 28th after earning gold ratings at the district festival.
At state level, 18 events received the top honor of gold with distinction while 31 earned gold ratings and three earned silver ratings. In athletics, Elcart High School senior Reagani is a back-to-back section champion and
is headed to state this weekend at Ball State. For our future happenings, March 11th, Northside Band and Orchestra isma preview concert. March 13th through 15th is the Elcart High School Shrek musical. March 16th, winter athletic awards.
March 18th is the freshman division choir's ISMA preview concert. As always, please be sure to follow our district and school social media pages as we share each day the excellence of Elcart.
>> Very much Wendy. >> Next on agenda is old business. Uh seeing no old business, we'll move on to new business. Um >> the consent items. Oh, that's before the old business. We have the consent agenda.
Um, do I have a motion? >> So, move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. So, before I do the donations, of course, we'll take um a minute to take a well some time to take a moment of pause and reflection on the loss of somebody
who was a great leader for many, many years in our school district, which was Bruce Clinowski. So, if we can just take a moment in his honor. Thank you. If you didn't know Bruce, I'll tell you a little bit about Bruce. He started his career in 1969 at
Pinewood and um he served as an assistant principal at Roosevelt for 10 years, 27 years as principal at Hawthorne, two years in the administration building before he retired at 2014. But I added this. Did he ever really retire? No, he didn't. Bruce just kept going and going and
serving our community in all sorts of different levels, popping up at schools, doing different things for students, encouraging teachers, helping out with mentoring, showing up at all the football games, basketball games. But athletically, he was the IHSSA referee
for 46 years. Five women's state finals he um refereed at two men's state finals. He was inducted in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. And if you didn't know it and you didn't go, he announced games at Elkcart Central with John Miller. And I used if you watched the Muppets, I used to refer to them as
Waldorf and Statler because honestly, that's exactly what they were like. And if you did 50/50, you knew exactly what was coming because even if you got $1,600 in cash, Bruce would ask, "Why didn't you do better?" I'm like, "Oh my lord." So, um, and if you were not
there, two other people would pop into that booth and it would be Bob Woods and Gary Stoaltz. and that would just make a memorable career. But um one of the things that I reached out to and I was hoping Ellen would stop by tonight and say something, but I kind of reached out to some people that like knew Bruce or
some people shared with me. Some of the things that overwhelmingly people said was he coined the phrase the pride of the southside. And he was an outstanding um principal and the fact that everything about the school was attitude
plus effort equals success. And he would say that over and over again. And some of the things that he did for the kids which they remember and some of them are teachers in our school district now. But he gave them exposures to college by taking them to Ball State games, Purdue games. He made their sixth grade
graduation larger than life by having it at Central and showing them that dressing up for success was something that you well deserved. Um it was a meal, it was a formal, it was everything that you needed. He began home visits before home visits even were actually happening. So he started that inside of
his school and um somebody inside the building shared, "You help people, you push them, you make them feel as if they are noticed." And he did this with everybody, his staff, his parents, his students. He went as far as to do something remarkable with a young teacher that thought this was everything. And he so very gently and
politely really coraled her spirit right on out of education because he was like, you know, I think that you've got something else out there that's amazing. And she was so thankful and ended up coming back and being a teacher after going back to school again and being
mentored by him. But something that I thought was amazing that I was shared with me this morning, he was Hawthorne and Hawthorne was he. So if you didn't have an opportunity to know Bruce Clinowski, I tell you that our school was blessed to have him much like our school was blessed to have you, Jeremy.
We are a very lucky group of people. So celebrating Bruce Bruce Kowski this evening. And we have I'll flip to that as we celebrate. Let's keep going. Let's go with this celebration. Are you ready? we have um a total of 19,07
19,000 and $19,750. So 1,600 was from the EF for our social workers which if you didn't know it was just celebrate social worker time here in the school district and it was a phenomenal job that was done on behalf of them and we are thankful for our social workers. Edward Jones donated
$500 towards our theater program, which is Shrek, up and coming on the 14th and 15th. As our JOTC prepares for the military ball, they just received $1,000 in additional funds from Get Wet for a Vet. And our automobile department, our automobile technology at the Career
Center received two challengers and two posts that have a value of $16,000. And that's for them to have training. and our Elkra athletic club donated $975 to our boys track team and so at $19,750.
Way to go again community. >> Thank you. >> Yes, I have a motion and second. Do I have any other discussion? Seeing hearing none, all in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you.
As stated earlier, we have no old business still. Uh we'll move to new business. Uh Miss Lozano, the personnel report. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff, community. Uh this evening, the administration recommends the personnel
report as presented. >> Uh do I have a motion to accept the uh personnel report as presented? >> Motion. >> Do I have a I have a motion? I have a second. Do I have any discussion or comments from the board regarding the personnel report? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? I
>> opposed. Motion passes. >> Can you real quick, Dora, can you correct that? Okay, I'm gonna have to face the facts that my math was bad and Dora actually put the amount in front of me. It's 20,000. >> Sorry, >> just uh for clarification, the donation amount.
>> Yeah, >> it was 20,000. Okay. >> All right. >> Great. Any business? Uh contracts. Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Huff. Uh this evening, the administration presents for initial consideration a proposed uh plan
document and summary plan description for our medical flexible spending accounts. Brought for initial consideration. >> Thank you. This is for initial consideration. Should the board have any questions uh tonight, uh now is the
time. If you have none, uh please and and some arise in the next two weeks, please reach out to Mr. Thorn. Uh with those questions regarding our uh flexible spending account and the um contract for consideration. Uh next we have Mr. Thorne. Board policy
2340 field and other corporation sponsored trips. >> So much uh the administration this night presents proposed replacement for board policy 2340 field and other corporation sponsored trips for initial consideration. >> Thank you Mr. Thorne. Again this uh board policy is for initial
consideration. Are there any questions uh that the board would have regarding this policy this evening? Seeing none, should any arise in the next two weeks, please reach out uh to Mr. Thornne as this will come back up at our next board meeting. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> That is all we have um under new business. Um as I said, we're trying to move along. I'm kind of keeping track of the radar here. So, we're going to jump uh right to uh Dr. Huff.
>> Very brief comments. Um obviously, there's some weather that's out there in the community. Should there be anything that impacts our schools tomorrow, we will certainly get that communication out uh very quickly this evening. Um so, please be safe um driving home. Um at our next uh board meeting, I will be giving an update on transportation and
HR. Um and I also want to just say again, thank you for everyone for their reports this this evening. Uh and that's it. Going to turn back over to you, President Scott. >> Dr. Huff, do I have anything from the board uh this evening before we adjourn?
>> Yes. Um I'd like to um uh talk about the sectional that we had over the last week and and um so anyhow and the uh I think the awesome effort that Elcart Central put into the game that they had. Um, uh, talk about perseverance. Uh, I think
which is an important trait to have only scored four points in the first quarter and to come back and to only lose by two points and at some point they tied the game up along the way. And uh, I think they might even led if I remember
correctly. I'm not sure. Yeah. And uh, so anyhow, it was a uh, you know, kind of a heartbreaking loss and stuff like that. Uh but you know games don't go five quarters, they only go four quarters. And um so I want to give you know kudos to uh you know the coach and also the team out there that and the
cheerleaders, the students uh you know how they comported themselves you know during the game and also you know kudos to u Northridge for beating Warsaw which is one of my favorite teams to beat along the way that and Penn. So uh anyhow uh just remember those guys and
stuff like that and uh we'll have a great team next year. I spoke with the coach afterwards and uh I I think uh you know he's got the right guy and he's going to have a good team. Thank you. >> Um any other comments for the board?
>> All right. Uh everyone please uh drive safe uh getting home. I looked at the radar. It's looks like it's over top of us, but uh drive safe and uh I'll let you out of here. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.