And our student recognitions. Good evening, madam president, doctor Smith, and members of the board. We are delighted tonight to bring you so many awards. We are going to first start with our staff members for above and beyond. With us this evening from Amy Fevelyn Early Learning Center, we have miss Alana Ample and miss Mel Murphy come forward. We are just so pleased for all that they do on a daily basis above and beyond for the students of Lawrence Township Schools.
We salute you, and we recognize you, and we thank you. Congratulations. Next, we are proud to honor mister Brian Mills with our superintendent's award. Brian Mills is the CEO of Community Health Network. This evening, the Board of Education proudly recognizes mister Brian Mills with the superintendent's award for distinguished partnership and service to the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township. For the past fourteen years, Brian has led an extraordinary partnership between Community Health Network
and our school corporation, one that has truly transformed the health and well-being of our students, staff, and families. Under his leadership, Community Health has provided health services and nurses to every school building, two employee health clinics dedicated to serving Lawrence Township staff, athletic trainers who ensure the safety and success of our student athletes, and continued support for Project Search, which creates meaningful employment opportunities for our students with special needs.
Brian's positive energy, unwavering support, and shared vision of excellence has strengthened every level of our district. His commitment to public education and to the people of Lawrence Township reflects the highest ideals of community partnership. Brian, your leadership has made a lasting difference in our schools and community. As you retire, you will be missed but not forgotten. On behalf of the Board of Education and the entire Lawrence Township family, thank you
for your remarkable service and steadfast support of Lawrence Excellence. The next section of our awards will be coming from elementary, and our voice is doctor Emily Hasbron, assistant superintendent of elementary. And then we have doctor Crystal Thorpe, chief of secondary education. Alright. Good evening, board president, Amy Norman, superintendent mister doctor Smith, members of the board, and families of the Lawrence Township community. Tonight, we celebrate the outstanding achievements of our twenty twenty five fall sport participants.
We are a district rich in the tradition of winning and excellence. And tonight, we are proud to showcase our student athletes and our coaches. Parents, you will have the opportunity to take pictures when all athletes are in the front. You can also meet your student in the lobby once they have been recognized. We will begin with Fall Creek Valley Middle School, represented by principal Corey McGarrell and athletic director Robin Lewis, Lawrence Central's principal, mister Franklin Bush, and athletic director Mosey Barnes, and followed by Lawrence North principal Jason Floyd, and athletic director Mike Penrose.
Again, thank you for your great showing to support our student athletes. So let's start with Fall Creek Valley. Good evening. We're gonna start with our seventh grade undefeated MC champs. J'Kardia Simmons, Ja'Sion Paige, Jordan Vivaret, Braylon Sanders, Cameron King, Omarion Washington, Dallas Quarles, Aiden Savage Williams, Kaden Harris, Carter Harris, Carter Johnson Mayfield, Kaden Harris, EJ Adams, Adrian Triggs,
Maximus Grant, Jakari Webster, Jeffrey Allen, Jair Dunn, John Luca Cruz, Lucas Radford, Malik Heich, Reece Fugate, Reed Wiley, Sean Curry, Tyrell Green, Brandon Jackson, William Stout, Armani Terry, Malachi Jackson, coached by James Robinson and Rex Parents, if you wanna take a picture, this
is the time. Yep. We'll go by the Next up, we have our eighth grade mid champions, Isaac Alice,
Miles Artis, Hi, Thoris Beard, Terry Berry, Timothy Black, Xavion Brandon, Drew Brown, Aiden Burce, Davion Crossling, Ramarian Davis, Tristan Griffin, Dominique Hallowell, Jaden Ingram, Amaro Johnson, Jimmy Johnson, DJ Jones, Darryl King, Lashawn Kirk, Kendall Letford, Jahari g, Braden Miller, Jaden Motley, Clark Orozco,
Eli Phillips, Joshua Reed, Simon Reynolds, Cornell Sanders, Lomagic Sanders, Julia Smith, Charles Stillabauer, Kevin Stratford, Dayton Tandy, Luis Valdez Rodriguez, Joshua Walker, David White, Dylan Wise, Gianni Woods, Zaire Ward, Josiah Yarrell, Dennis Ziegler, coach Keandre Montgomery, and Patrick Spellman.
And we have a MC champion tennis in Keratin Murali. MC champ golf team, girls golf, Adeline Castor, Hazel Falcon, Eleanor Kelsey, Alana Pierce, and Amelia Kendrick. In eighth grade volleyball, MC Champs, Sophie Belcher, Eleanor Klaus, Amaya Crowe, Lillian Shetterly, Avery Gatewood, Alaina Little, Maya Chimpis, Alexis Munt, Janiyah Finnessy, Brooklyn Thomas, Isabella Taylor, Lauren Sanders,
Amani Bamirio, and Emily Bullock, coached by Casey Troyer. Good evening, everyone. My name is Mosie Barnes. I'm the proud athletic director at Lawrence Central High School. I'm here to recognize our fall sports, acknowledgments for this fall, and looking forward to doing so today. There's a few student athletes that aren't here today. I'll still mention their name for the record. And I'm a start with girls volleyball. Girls volleyball, Nivia Ross, academic all state. Lauren Peaches, academic Allstate. Ryla Aurelia, academic Allstate and all conference, all mix.
Terrace Barnes, Marion County and Almick. Next is our unified football and bocce teams. Haley Walton, academic all state. Braden Pullings, Academic All State. Lebron Brown. Academic All State. Brandon Beaver. Academic All State. Next is girls golf. Maya Branson, all Mick. Moving on to boys' soccer, Christian Facundo, all district, all Marion County and all Mick. Bryce Bush, all Mick. For girls soccer, Amelia Romero, all mic. Jada Smiley, all Marion County and all mic.
For boys tennis, Rhett Johnson, academic all state. Evan Connors, academic all state. Josh Jankowski, academic all state. Ian Cooper, academic Allstate. Aidan Edwards, academic Allstate. Chris Hughes, academic Allstate. Jackson Russell, academic Allstate. Malik Abdul Rashid, academic Allstate, Vincent Jackson, academic Allstate. Last but not least, football and perfect timing because Marion County teams came out today. So I'll mention that as well. Santana Allen, all Mick and all Marion County.
Albert Goodman, the third, all Mick and all Marion County. James Williams. All make all Marion County. Earl Kearns the third. All make all Marion County. Elijah Woodford. All make all Marion County. Jackson Owens. All make all Marion County. Antonio Ford the third. All make. Santana Hector. All make. Michael Johnson. The third. I'll make. And last but not least, Jaden Dorsey. I'll make all Marion County. Congratulations. Doctor Smith, Board of Education, Mike Penrose, proud athletic director of Lawrence North. We're here to celebrate nine championships this this fall.
We will have four different groups of pictures. So beginning our first group, Marion County and Sectional Championship boys cross country team, Josh Gamble, Ronnie Hernandez, Tyler Lentz, Xavier Little, Conrad Schumacher, Grady Toussaint, coached by head coach Joe Murphy and his coaching staff. Next, our boys soccer team, MC Champs and IHSAA sectional champions. We have Major Abdullah, Cam Anderson, Vincent Austin, Cesar Balanis, Marvin Balanas, Isaac Buck, Lucas
Buck, Samari Carpenter, Oscar Garcia, Yani Yani Garcia, Alesso Izaguirre, Dylan Keeney, Cameron Knox, Wyatt Coon, Nick Kowalski, who was academic Allstate as well, Max Litherland, Alex Lopez, Benjie Modestine, Doodlesy Moise, who was also AllMick and academic Allstate, Giovanni Murat, Ulysses Rivera, who is All County and Academic Allstate, Giffen Smith, who is All MC and Academic Allstate, Alexis
Tahira, Chris, Yiwei, Liam Cooper, Academic All State. Oh, well, sorry, got too many. That was my boys cross country. Next, Boys Tennis. Boys Tennis, they were Academic All State as a team. As a team. Yeah. Go ahead, guys. And our tennis team, Liam Cooper, Evan Drake, Ezra Gere, Asher Hobbs, Isaiah Smith, Wyatt Snow, and Charles Warren, who is also All Mick. I do wanna point out that Josh, Gamble, actually, the entire cross country team, in
addition to Marion County champions and IHSA sectional champions, they were a team state qualifier and placed thirteenth overall as at at the, state meet. So yeah. At this time, we'll stop, recognize this group. Okay. Next, we are gonna recognize our boys football team, all as one group, and I'll to save time, I will recognize the people who are here. I know it's we're on a time crunch. Our boys football team, make champions back to back. Woo hoo. Yep. And we'd like to recognize Evan Allen, Desmond Baskerville, Jeb Brown, who was all mixed,
Jaden Byers, Garen Chandler, Quincy Davis, Brody Day, Randall Glenn, Vincent Harris, Chaz Hudson, Elijah Hughes, who was all mixed, Jaden Lucindi, Breck Mallory, who was all mixed, Amari Moore, all mixed, Zavion Moore, all mixed, Cameron Nicholson, LaDavion Robinson, Walter Rush, William Rush, Monge Mongeon Sales, who was all mixed, Luke Tatum, all mixed, Griffin Smith, all mixed.
He was also all making soccer. Pretty impressive. Andre Watson, all mixed. And then we'd like to recognize coach Patrick Mallory and his coaching staff. This group will also have surely have all county and all state players on it. Those teams have not been named as of tonight. We wanna thank our boys' football team, and we should have all of our coaches in there at this time. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, our next group we wanna recognize tonight, our Girls' Flag Football team. And in the inaugural season as an IHSAA, emerging sport, our girls flag football team
won the sectional. And and we had the opportunity to play at the state tournament where we won our first game. We won our semifinal match, and we went all the way to the championship game and finished as the So our team, Jada Acaforo, Abriel Alexander, Jocelyn Ample, Heaven Beard,
Arian Cannon, Ayani Clancy, Leila Davis Wilson, Kamari Evans, Lanaya Gaines, Ava Ginhardt, Raquela Griggs, Sydney Harper, Amani Johnson, Luna Lee, Rainey Marks, Aliyah Massey, Aliyah Massey. I did that last. I'm sorry, Aliyah. Aliyah Massey, Kennedy Mills, Pria Mims, Stanaya Oliver, Paris Page, LaVeya Pittman, Kenira Ridley, Lavender
Rowley, Jaylee Taylor, Jada Weets, Samaya Boyd, Tania top Thomas Wilson, coach Donnie Mims, and coach Destiny Starks. Congratulations, ladies. State runner-up. Great job. Okay. Our final group, we're gonna start with our girls' golf team who won the MC championship, first time in school history. Maggie Bates, who is Al Mick, Ava Kiara Gassa, Al Mick, Maya Weaver, Lucy Winkel.
Lucy was all Mick and also the individual Mick champion. And this is our girls' golf team coached by Audrey Dietrich and Sarah Burns. Girls soccer team, we have Maya D'Annunzio, academic all state. Lydia Korzequa, all county, all MC, academic all state. Carrie Radford, all county, all MC, all state. Chelsea Sproles, academic, all state. Veda Staley, all county, all MC. Charlotte Tran I know Charlotte too. Where's she? All Ian, all MC. Julia Toreau, all county, all mix, academic all state.
Elizabeth Warbeck, academic all state. Reagan Withrich, academic all state. And Jordan Rogers, all mix. And our volleyball team, we were Mick champions and IHSAA sectional champions back to back. Brooklyn Anderson, Sydney Anderson, Addison Hamill, who was Academic All State, Anna Juice Burns, Kyra Juice Burns, All Mick, Hera Juice Burns, all Mick, all county, and she was the
Mick player of the year. Eddie Knox, Macy Morris, Malia Norfleet, Sanaya Redwine, Avery Rickleman, academic Allstate, Taylor Sanders, Micah Jackman, Sophia Simonson, Jada Vanowski, academic all state, Carly Woods, Amaya Zander, all county, and that's our girls' team. Coach Bob, Nick Cox, and and our girls cross country team.
We have Naya Powell, Annabelle, and Nora Wilson Olmec. This is our final group. And coach Varsic is here. Thank you, coach Mickey Varsic. And I think that's it. Yes. Last group. Group. Okay. I would, I would be remiss if I did not mention that coach Nick Cox was recently elected to the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last
week. Congratulations, coach Cox. Thank you, everyone, and congratulations to our students, coaches, and parents. At this time, we'll take a short two minute interim before we transition over to the business portion of our board meeting. All right. Thank you, everyone, who has remained. That was always a joy to celebrate our students. Fun fact, that was our first really big time, recognizing student achievements in our new board space. So thank you again, Lawrence Township. At this time, we will move on to our information items with 3.1,
the Blue Ribbon updates, with doctor Nesbitt. Thank you, madam president, members of the board. Doctor Smith, my pleasure to bring you to you a Blue Ribbon two update or overview. McKinsey, if you recall last meeting, you approved our architect, and we have our RFP out for CMC that you approved, and we will, have a deadline of Monday, a week from today, to get those RFPs, and then we'll interview on the ninth for that. Craig Academy continues, and then our classroom additions as well. And then if you the next slide there, you'll see our guaranteed energy savings. This will look pretty stagnant here through the winter, until we get back into work,
the spring and summer as, we get into the roofing and HVAC work again. But happy to see that, we got a good third of knocked out, and that's our plan over a three year course, of course. Crestview Elementary. I hadn't shown you previously bathroom. That was actually part of that guaranteed energy savings contract. So we just wrapped that up and wanted to show a picture of that. And then, the other picture there was just the trusses going up. And then Forest Glen, you can see the steel work continuing and then some on our Forest Glen, they start putting the walls up this week. So if you go by now, you'll see those exterior metal studs going up.
And then we have a sewer line we're, working on there just on the, side of the building. And then Merrick Castle, there's an aerial shot so you can see exactly what the addition looks like and where it connects to the existing building. And then you can see inside of a classroom there, we have heat in those build in those rooms now, those four classrooms. And then we also have the roof completed, at Mare Castle as well. Craig Academy. So if you're familiar with the old wrestling room, that's on your left there. That's the wrestling room work. And then on the right side there, that's the auxiliary gym. You can see it's being sanded completely down as we prep to paint and seal
that. And then our next slide shows that's the main gym there. That's the new wall there that has Craig, being painted on there. They're trying to get that painting done before they start sanding in there. And there's the hallway that connects the two. It's getting refreshed. And that concludes this edition's of Blue Ribbon phase two update. Be happy to field any questions. Thank you for that, doctor Nesbitt. Board, are there any questions or comments on the Blue Ribbon updates? I just wanna thank Doctor. Nesbitt for bringing the announcer energy tonight. It's really well done. Great work on all of the, the achievements that we have.
It's really nice to see Craig coming along and all the other, work begin starting. Thanks. Thank you. Board, any other questions or comments? Okay. I did have a historical question because I know you were a former state I'm also a state's teacher. Let's hear it. All right. This is right up your lane. For those of us who have children that that were younger and didn't have the pleasure of being here when there was the Craig Middle School Mhmm. Is the branding of the logo or, I'm sorry, the, mascot, is that the old school logo logo? No. We had to design a new one. The old one, we couldn't really find.
Mainly, it was, like, clip art that was certainly, we didn't own the marks for. And so as we've done with all district wide, we own the marks for us. We created a new one. Josh, our, and and Dane is all for communication. Also designed a new one for us. So that is no one else has it. Besides for Craig. So it's a new efficient one. It's true. Okay. Wonderful. No. That's great. And and I will just say as a parent, it's been a pleasure seeing the daily progression at Mary Castle during drop off Yeah. So in addition to our board reports. Alright. If there are no other questions or comments at this time about the blue ribbon
updates, I will move on to 3.2, the $25.26 administrator salary proposal with miss Carla Johnson. Johnson. Good evening, Madam President, Doctor. Smith, and members of the board. Tonight we bring you, the proposal for our administrator salary recommendations. As you'll see on this slide, slide, we have divided into tier one administrators and tier two administrators. Tier one administrators include cabinet, principals, and directors at looking at a $2,000 stipend versus the 2% raise, the 9.3%
health insurance increase. And then our Tier two administrators includes all of our assistant principals, assistant directors, coordinators, athletic directors, assistant athletic directors, and our department chairs asking for a 2% raise for our tier two administrators and a 9.3% of health insurance increase. Are there any questions? Alright. Thank you, miss Johnson. Board, are there any questions or comments regarding the proposed administrator raises? Miss Florence. Thank you, madam president. Mister Miles and, miss Johnson, I do have a couple of questions regarding the benefits
packages. The first question I have relates to the nine point, 3% increase in health care benefits. Are we saying, because it's not very clear by the two bullet points that are listed, and, just we don't have those administrative packages in any kind of public forum, which other school districts do post. So my question is, is this money that is going directly to our teachers, for the tier one, which would get the benefit of a health care stipend, is that
9.3 is that what we are voting on tonight? It is as yet unclear. So, the the 9.3% and the 48 the 40 which equates to the 48,207, is in essence the District's contribution to health insurance for those administrators. So this would be added to the existing stipend, which we provide for those tier one administrators. Is that correct? We refer to it as an allowance, not a stipend, but this is that amount. Okay.
So we are increasing the amount that we are giving to those who fall into that tier one benefits package. 9.3% in addition to that $2,000 stipend. Correct. We're trying to show it here in the same manner as what we showed for the teachers. So this is what the cost is to the district to provide that insurance increase, which is it it does equate to that 9.3% in addition to the the stipend. So just to be clear, can you please explain what the stipend is and how that is allocated to our, $2,000 stipend referred to here or is that the health
insurance piece? The health insurance piece. Okay. Yeah. So the health insurance piece, in essence, the district pays, that that allowance, to the administrator versus paying, directly into the health insurance fund. It's the same amount, but it just runs through, to the to the employee first and then back into the fund. So the the employee pays both sides in essence. It equates to the employee or or that administrator's paying for The net is that
they're paying for their portion of the premium, the employee portion. So in effect, we provide them an allowance, which gives them the ability to essentially get free health care. And what we're voting on tonight, it would also be increasing that to cover the difference within the stipend. Is that correct? They don't they still pay their employee they're still paying They do. But but you're you're giving them an allowance. Correct? For the employer portion of it. For the employer portion Correct. Of the amount. So we are we are giving them this this $48,000.
That is what is going directly to those teachers to help cover in an allowance, which they can determine whether or not they would want to cover their health care. Potentially, they have a spouse who had health care elsewhere. So they could use that allowance for health care or is effectively salary compensation. Correct? Correct. Okay. And then can you also explain the difference between tier one and tier two administrative salaries? Do our tier two administrators also receive the health care allowance, which would effectively give
them free health care as well, should they decide to avail themselves of it? Yeah. Neither of them get free health care, but they do the tier two administrator, benefit package is is different. They do not get an allowance. That just it's really the health from a health care standpoint, it functions the same as our teacher package. The the tier one administrators, I've done my due diligence on this. It is roughly equates to about 30 to $40,000 in addition to the base salary that's listed in their contract amount.
Is that roughly correct? Roughly. I believe it's closer close to the 30, but, Yes. In our figures. Unless we've provided a car allowance, which I think we've said in the past has been for certain select administrators. Yeah. It's it's really not an auto allowance. It's the, it's, they do get use of a vehicle. And by IRS statute, we have to charge, show it as income. If they're have any personal use, which is basically driving to and from work, that's considered per personal use, per IRS guidelines.
Okay. Thank you. And the difference between the tier one and the tier two administrative benefits? Again, it goes back to that, the way the, that allowance functions that we we just spoke about. I'm just trying to figure out where that money is going in each of these pools. Okay. What what would we be voting for that this money would go to? So the increase, the 9.3 increase 9.3% increase is a premium increase that, affects our plan in total.
We split the nine so both there's the employee fees and insurance, of course, and then the employer fees. Both sides, for bargaining, for the teachers and the same recommendation is going forward for the administrators. Both of those employer and employee pieces would increase by 9.3%. So they would share their proportionate burden of the increase in premiums. The the difference being that the tier two administrators do not have an increase in a health care allowance that they could then use to pay for their health care.
Correct? Correct. My final question is why do we not have these administrative benefits packages posted on our website as many other school districts do, such as Carmel, Warren, Wayne, Washington Township, IPS, and many others? I'm I'm not sure I can answer that question. We've we've we've had the same, contracts posted that have always been posted required as required by law. I don't believe we have all of our benefit packages, but I'm I can't speak to that honestly. But, mister Miles, the contract allowance that we have on our website is much different.
We've said, in some cases, 30 to $40,000 and admitting that $40,000 an outlier, outlier. So what I'm trying to understand in the sake of transparency with our community and with the voters who have elected everyone up here, Where is this money going and what is it covering? And there has not been a real transparent accounting for what those benefits have been. That is I'd like to, ask so I asked this question privately, but I want
it to be on the public record because I think there is some confusion as we talk. On tier one, does the insurance pay down go directly to pay Down the insurance and not into that tier group's salary. The answer I received and and correct me if this is, incorrect, mister Miles. Tier one administrators pay both the employer and employee sides of the premiums. Tier one admin are paid an allowance which is to offset the administrator paying for the employer portion of the premium. The net effect is the administrator pays the employee portion of the premium.
The allowance is paid to all tier one admin regardless of their choice in plans. This is an alternative to giving the the the administrators free or low cost insurance as many districts offer. Is that okay? That's correct. I I wanted to make sure just for my own knowledge and that I wanted to be transparent and share it on the public record. Thank you, Amy. I think that that is I think what miss Lawrence is alluding to is something that we do receive questions as board members about the transparency of salaries.
I have requested that we do, and I know I'm not the only one, so I don't wanna speak like I might came up with this brilliant idea because I believe that we are collectively agree that it would be a very thoughtful process for us to go through as a board to have an independent individual that looks at salaries that are going from our administrators all the way to our classified, folks. I know that we have made some great headway, and I wanna really thank you, miss Johnson, for the work that you've done, especially with the classified folks of looking
at those, in high needs areas and making sure that we are paying them more and giving them health care. But I think it's incumbent upon us, especially when we're looking at the budgets that we are receiving from the state, when many of our districts surrounding us are going out for operating referendums because we are getting less and less and less, it is incumbent upon us as one of our fiduciary responsibilities to ensure that we are looking at salaries across the board that not paying for insurance would be a really nice
luxury. And I wanna know, are we really how are we really how are we comparable to other districts? Because I can tell you it's not happening in the district that I work in. And so what does that look like in other districts? Because we're hearing it's happening in other districts, but I want an actual audit of what is happening in Marion County and surrounding districts to ensure that Lawrence Township is paying all employees a livable wage that is comparable to the work that they are doing. There were 85 contracts that were listed on our website.
85 of those individuals received benefits above what their contracted amount was to the tune of $1,800,000 I agree with you, miss Dunn, that it is critically important that we have an accounting and transparency about where these benefits are going so that the members of the general public can weigh in as to whether or not this is a good use of taxpayer funds or not. I am very supportive of this administration. This has nothing to do with any person here.
But I do take umbrage to the fact that we are paying our administrators an out size salary when we compare them to other like districts. We average around 23% higher than every other school district around outliers that include Carmel, HSE, Zionsville, and then all the other Marion County districts. We are paying our administrators significantly higher. And I'm just asking if the public is willing to support that.
Board, any other questions or comments? I did have a comment. I know there was an analysis shared publicly comparing us to neighboring districts. We have worked hard to partner with our surrounding neighbors because all of us are facing attacks with the school reform movement, and we're all facing pressure. We're face facing pressure on our budgets, on our government. A house divided against itself cannot stand. And so we must come together here. On that analysis, we were compared with Speedway, a district that is significantly smaller with,
and I I hate even having to bring up other districts because because I have a great partnership with, board members across them. But there are some unique comparisons here, the complexity of our district. We were compared with detailed analysis, can perform.
Are there yes, Doctor. Mulholland. So I also conducted my own analysis. And I I don't have the concerns about, salary compared to other districts given our enrollment size and other factors. My concern and I do agree with Ms. Dunn that we do look at compensation and I think there's others that share that. So I think finding where we do have common ground and agreement, I think some of this as a new board member was confusing to understand how benefits are done.
And I appreciate the additional information that that was requested and that was provided. But I, you know, I I've looked across the state, across the county. I don't have concerns personally about the the pay compared to other districts, but I would like, you know, to look at the tiers. So I would just say that. Thank you, Doctor. Mulholland. Any other questions or comments, board? Okay. Yeah. I did, I did.
I had another question that I probably should share well, I will share for the public record. I mean, I know another comparison was made about other districts who offer a dollar plan, which I believe Lawrence has in the past. And then, just asking about if that's still a comparable per, employee cost to the district as what we are currently paying. Correct me on this, mister Miles. The answer I received was the total employer and employee premiums for other districts are comparable to ours. Districts offering a dollar or free plans fee free plans, could likely spend the same
or more money on insurance packages. So it's very comparable. You know, I appreciate too, though, the board's diligence in asking for this information, because it's very complex. That's where we come in as a governing body, who appreciate democracy. It's not the opinion of one or two board members. It's where we come to consensus as a group and also looking at each individual, district there. So we also have to be careful in our role as governance for not doing administrative overreach because we are a governing body and, we do hire experts to do
the analysis, but I am very grateful to have a board that does ask very detailed questions. At this time, are there any other questions or comments regarding the proposed raises? Yes. I do wanna say thank you again to, doctor Smith and staff for the questions that were presented for verified data concerning the, admin the admin compensation data, data, including the base salaries, contracted salaries, stipends, health care. So these are questions that are being asked, and I thank you for taking the
time because I know that it was a lengthy list of questions. But thank you for taking the time to, answer those so that way we were able to make an informed decision. Okay. Thank you, board. Any other final questions or comments? Okay. We will move on to, our financial update. Oh, I'm sorry. Wait. Going back to three point two, we do have a public comment. At this time, I will call up miss Amanda Rose, and I will go through the procedure just for the public's knowledge. Public participation for our board meeting shall be permitted consistent with the agenda of the
meeting. Miss Rose will be speaking on the, administrative raises. The attendees shall register their intentions, prior to the meeting. They, you are being recognized officially by the board chair. And your, participation time at this time, please list your name, address, group and a group affiliation, if if appropriate. And then, also, your statement will be limited to three minutes. Thank you, miss Rose. Good evening, doctor Smith, president Norman, members of the board. I'm Amanda Rose. I live here in Lawrence Township, 8502 East 56th Street.
Just down the road, I could walk here if it wasn't dark. I come to you as the co president of the Lawrence Education Association. At our at our last board meeting, you bravely stood up for pay equity in MSDLT. Today, I'm asking you to once again stay stand up for pay equity, but also transparency. Our community deserves to know that the highest paid classroom teacher in our district got a 2% raise of $2,062.94, only $63 more than what is proposed for our administration. But that teacher didn't actually get a 2% raise. If that teacher is on our PPO insurance, they actually got a decrease of 1.2%.
If they are on the HSA 3,000 plan, it was an increase of 1.2%. And on the HSA 5,000 plan, it is an increase of 1.5%. Meanwhile, our administrators continue to earn this stipend equal to the amount that they pay for insurance, which they can choose to subsidize their insurance or spend it on anything else as they see fit. They will also get their $2,000 stipend with no noticeable disc decrease due to insurance. All of this in the face of growing mistrust and the transparency of our administrators. We have yet to see an independent investigation of the situation surrounding a former administrator.
How can we feel good about our contract as teachers knowing that administrators are still getting a larger raise than teachers while continuing to hide behind a cloak of secrecy? No one wants to shame the district nor any employee, but when we are not allowed to be in buildings supporting our colleagues, when there is a shroud of suspicion and no effort to assuage concerns, when we can't even be brave enough to go into an area that has concerns and say, I hear you, what are we rewarding with raises? I would also ask you to do your research and see if your teachers are making 23% higher than the surrounding districts.
Thank you. Thank you, missus miss Rose. Alright. At this time, if there are no other public comments, which we don't have, we will move on to three point o three, the financial update. Mister Miles. Thank you, madam president. At this time, we will jump into our financial update. And this month, we have, two months to report back on. As you may recall, in October, our due to the timing of our board meeting, the September financials were not yet available. So sharing those first tonight, in front of you, you have the transportation fund first
and foremost. And you can see total revenues, versus, projection or we're in a good place, as well as total expenses. Like, therefore, the, ending balance, is, above or outpacing our projection. You do we'll note, revenue into our transportation account, as a reminder, comes in twice a year, June and and December. So it does tend to run-in the negative until we get those funds in, via, property taxes.
The next slide is our general fund. Just slightly, slightly behind in a revenue, projection actual versus projection, basically right on pace, and ex in the expenditures ahead of, projected, yielding to an ending balance of a little over $13,000,000 again, ahead of original projection. If we move forward, to October, we're gonna see much of the same. On the Transportation Fund side, revenue, expenditures, and ending balance, all ahead of original projections.
So, where we where we anticipate it being. And in the General Fund side, again, we actually jumped up a little bit ahead on the revenue side this month. Expenditures in a good place, in total as well as ending balance, versus our original projections. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Miles. Board, any questions or comments on the financial updates? Okay. At this time, we will move on to our board committee chair reports. We will start with foundation with Doctor. Mulholland. So the Lawrence Township School Foundation recently had the Thanks for Giving event and they
were able to have it here, at the LECC, which is really nice. So a very special event. Great to see some longtime supporters and, and just, you know, keeping keeping the LTS app in mind as we approach the end of the year. And I know if you're if you're listening or watching this right now, you probably hear a great deal about Lawrence Township. So it's always a good place to give at the end of the year. So a little plug for that. Thank you, Doctor. Mulholland. Yes. The foundation is very busy and doing great things for our kids. Miss Puckett, policy.
Alright. The policy committee is getting ready for the twenty twenty six legislative, short session. And I wanna share, a few quick points. Organization day was held November 18. The general assembly comes back together on January 5, and we expect the session to wrap up around March 14 unless special session is called, volume 38 number one. Part one is fully edited, and we will move forward together with part two. This week, our committee spent close to four hours going through part two with a
fine tooth comb. These policies cover some of the most important protections in our district. Nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, anti harassment, genetic information, disability protections, and nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in our education programs. Because these are very detailed and heavily tied to human resources, they require additional edits and careful legal review.
With that level of depth, we weren't able to finalize everything for tonight's meeting. We want to make sure that this work is done thoroughly, accurately, and with the care that these topics deserve. Updated proposed timeline, first reading, 12/15/2025. That is tentative. Second reading, approval, 01/12/2026. Tentative. We'll continue to keep the board and everyone updated as we move through this process. Thank you, miss Puckett and doctor Harshbarger for a very busy policy year.
Yeah. Alright. At this time, I will move on to Lawrence Parks and Recreation with miss Dunn. Thank you, president Norman. We have some very exciting events coming up, in the city of Lawrence. We have a Lawrence Christmas, which will be on November 29 right across the street at Civic Plaza. That will be from three to seven. We have Winterfest also across the street at Civic Plaza that will happen on Saturdays and Sundays. You can see the the ice rink out there where you can go and skate to your heart's content. That runs, on Saturdays and Sundays from three to seven.
We also have the, Winter Market, which is at the community center on Franklin Road. That the next one is December 4 from four to seven. And then as you all know, we always have our Forever Young Club, which is for our, senior citizens to get out and have some fellowship with one another. That is on Thursdays from eleven to twelve, also at Community Park. And then there's some additional, opportunities for our seniors. December 12, which is a Friday, there is the Forever Young Fitness Club from eleven
to twelve. And then December 19, also a Friday, is the Forever Young Yoga, also from, eleven to twelve. So those are some exciting events. If you've not attended a Lauren's Christmas, I highly suggest that you attend. It's a wonderful opportunity, to see our community, and visit and share fellowship with those city of Lawrence Township. And visit Lawrence Township. Thank you, miss Dunn. There's a lot going on in the city of Lawrence. We'll be able to see it outside zero one, approval of the twenty five-twenty six
administrator salary proposal. Miss Johnson. Madam President, doctor Smith and members of the board, we bring to you approval your Smith and members of the board, we bring to you approval your request for approval of the administrator salary package. Okay. Thank you, board. Any questions or comments? I just have one quick thing. The vote that I am about to take, I just want to apologize on, to our department chairs because our department chairs have an evaluative, role. They are not part of the CBA. They average $81,000 a year.
If we were to just increase the administrate these administrators' salaries, it would be roughly $63,500 a year. I would have been in favor in the by bringing breaking out the department chairs, but that is not the vote that we have before us. So, I just wanted to apologize because my preference would be to to treat those teachers who are inside classrooms each and every day with the respect and dignity that
we do our other teachers. Miss Dunn. I, want to acknowledge the words that, our co president of the Lawrence Education Associate Association has shared, and hence why I am going to vote in the way that I am, knowing that we will, as a board, look very closely at salaries across the board. That is something that I have been told that we will indeed do, which I think is a win, to ensure that to the point that you made, miss Rose,
that we are not seeing people with a decrease in salary, but seeing all employees in Lawrence Township with an increase. So I want to acknowledge your words and thank you for your advocacy. K. Any other comments, board? I did wanna reference board policy 1520. The reason why this the the groups are are put in the way they are is, the employment of administrators in addition to the superintendent. This is not, this was tied specifically to policy and Indiana code twenty twenty nine.
A department chair is an administrator who supervises one or more certified employees. They shall be part of the bargaining unit established for purposes of implementing collective bargaining in compliance with the IC twenty twenty nine. So at that, our hands are tied there to the Indiana code and the, the board policy. I just wanted that stated on on the record. But we want to make it clear that we appreciate each and every group. We've had a phenomenal year in Lawrence Township, ninety six percent graduation rate, which my
son was a part of. And as a special ed or special needs parent, I have seen all of the groups make progress. And I want to reiterate, again, as as a former athlete, a team is only successful with each part, and each part of our township did this. It's incumbent upon us to continue to balance that, to also balance it with our taxpayers, and also, finally, as we saw tonight, to keep the momentum of our student outcomes first and foremost in the work that each and every one of us do.
So thank you again to everyone who's put the work in. At this time Can I just add one more piece too just for note also that as we are turning the the wheel and moving forward, just in 2023 and 2024, the base salary increase for teaching staff range from 5.62 to 18.99%? In some cases, to address comp compression, stipends were provided totaling $2,000. Stipends were provided totaling $2,000. And so I just want to make sure that it was for public record also that there is work that is being done. Continued work can and will be done, but just thank you for the work that
has gone forward and being intentional in making sure that folks get what they need and deserve and beyond. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for that. Any other questions or comments, board? Yes. Doctor. Mulholland. Thank you. President Norman, I think we've also learned that, you know, this we hear we're hearing a little bit more about salaries and but we've learned that this is a there's a big picture to this with salary and benefits. And we want we wanna know the details. Right? We wanna know, how it looks.
And and so, when we're even asking across districts for doing those comparisons, we're not just looking at salary. We're also looking at benefits. And so there's a lot a lot to learn, but we are thankful that we have the team here in place, that can that we'll be able to, you know, learn more into the New Year. So, I just I did wanna make a comment on on on that that it was not not just the salaries, but I think really looking at the benefits. Thank you for that, doctor Mahan. Miss Dunn, did you have a question or a okay.
I thought I saw a hand. Alright. At this time, I will entertain a motion to, on the approval of the $25.26 administrator salary proposal. So moved. Seconded. Properly moved, miss Puckett and seconded Doctor. Mulholland. All in favor of the, recommended proposal? Aye. Aye. Alright. The ayes. Any nays? Nay. Okay. Four ayes and then one nay. All right. The approval has passed. Again, thank you, board, for the dialogue. I think we've all learned a lot from each other and, at this time.
So we will move on now to the approval of the request for vehicle disposal with mister Matt Miles. Thank you, madam president. At this time, I bring forward to you a, for approval a request for vehicle disposal. We spoke about this at the, work session earlier in November, and this comes, time to time. We need to have board approval to dispose of our assets and ask for your approval at this time to get rid of, bus 77 and bus 185. Alright. Thank you, mister Miles. Board, any questions or comments before we move to vote?
Okay. All right. We'll entertain a motion for the approval of their vehicle disposal. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Dunn and seconded, Ms. Lawrence. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. Thank you, board. We'll move on to four point o three, the approval of the curriculum advisory recommendations for '26 and '27 with mister Dan Kuznick. Thank you, madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board. At the November 10 work session, mister Krausser presented an update from the curriculum advisory committee, and I recommend the board approve the curriculum recommendations as submitted.
Alright. Any questions or comments, board? All right. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the curriculum advisory recommendations for 'twenty six and 'twenty seven. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Puckett and seconded, Ms. Dunn. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. All right. At this time, we will move on to the approval of the kindergarten expansion with Ms. Stephanie LaPlante. Good evening, Doctor. Smith, President Norman, members of the board. At the November 10 work session, I presented about expanding kindergarten to two other elementaries
at Crestview and Oak Landon, and I'd like to ask for your approval this evening. Alright. Any questions or comments about the kindergarten expansion? Alright. I'll entertain a oh, yeah, miss Stunt. I do. I just want to go on record to say how much I appreciate the leadership that you bring to this district and the just innovation and the approaches that you're doing to increase, enrollment. And so kudos for a real innovative way of thinking about our youngest kids. So Thank you. In a time when our state of Indiana is not, giving us the funds that
we so desperately need, Lawrence Township is still working tirelessly thanks to your leadership. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, miss Dunn. Alright. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the kindergarten expansion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, doctor Mahand and seconded, miss Puckett. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The kindergarten expansion has been approved. Alright. And four point o five, approval of the board minutes from last board meeting. Doctor Mulholland. Oh, actually, I'm gonna go ahead. And, madam president, I move that we treat action items 4.05
through four four point eleven as consent agenda. Alright. Consent agenda. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Alright. Properly moved, miss Puckett, and seconded, miss Dunn to treat four point o five to 4.11 as consent agenda. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Alright. Alright. I move approval of consent agenda. Do I have a second? Oh, do me not sit look. I jumped the gun. Go ahead. Second. Alright. Properly moved, miss Puckett and seconded doctor Mulholland. All in favor of the approval of consent agenda? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Board, for that work. Just so the public's aware, again, a lot of our consent agenda is crucial to
the work that we do for our students, the approval of the fundraisers, approval of field trips, service agreements, pay ups, claims, and personnel reports, as well as our minutes. So, that is on the public record. At this time, we'll move on to our administrator and board comments. Would anyone like to go first? Ms. Dunn? Okay. I would I am not sure if folks do have a chance to look at the consent agenda, but I do wanna call out the outstanding partnerships. We saw this evening, the robust partnership that we have with Community Health.
Health. You know, as I'm looking at this, Westminster Village, having the opportunity for our scholars to actually go to one of our community partners to do service hours is truly outstanding. And so I just I wanna give just gratitude, to those community partners. I also wanna give gratitude to the field trips, the individuals who are sponsoring those field trips. As we're looking at that, these are weekends. These are after school hours. And so just thank you to those educators that are going above and beyond to
support our students, with outside extracurricular activities. And then I also just wanna thank the board, for the willingness to look deeper into salaries so that hopefully we can, the next time we do vote on salaries, we can all feel more confident about voting yes towards all salaries in this district. So thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Dunn. Ms. Lawrence? Not. Okay. Thank you. Alright. Doctor Mulholland? Alright. Miss Puckett? I do. I wanted to give a brief clarification regarding our communication as a board.
I share this with care and respect for each of us while also wanting to make sure that we uphold the standards that keep our work transparent and unified. Our school board bylaws are clear about how board members are expected to share information publicly, especially when it involves district data comparisons or analysis. Specifically by law zero one two three, board member responsibilities. This by law requires board members to rely on the superintendent for accurate, verified operational data and prohibits board members from independently collecting or generating their own operational analysis using
AI generated information constitute as independent investigation outside of the chain of command. Bylaw one zero six seven point one, use of board meeting for proper communication. This bylaw requires that information presented at meetings be accurate, factual, and aligned with district verified sources. Unofficial or AI generation generated analysis does not meet that standard. Thus, any data or analysis shared by an individual board member that has not been verified by the superintendent should not be interpreted as factual or as the position of
the board. Just wanted to make sure that that level of governance is put on public record. A lot of the choices and movements that we do, is in adherence to the governance in which we were elected to do. And so I just wanted to make sure that that was on the record. And also a heartfelt thank you to the Parent Collective parents who came out tonight. I see you. I appreciate you, and I'm grateful for the way you continue to show up for our students and others. So thank you, and I look forward to continued work with you. So that's it for me.
Thank you, miss Puckett. I did wanna thank the board again for this has been a long, collaboration. We are here through democracy, and I wanna thank all of the, questions and ability to work together. We all represent our own circles within the township, diverse circles. And so we are here again today for the the spirit of unity. I rebuke any spirit of of division, manipulation, or control that would happen to come against our kids. We have some very big things to go against outside of our district.
And I am grateful for the work that everyone has done on behalf of our district. We all agree that we are leaders here. And part of our role as leaders is to inspire, recognize, and reward our our township. So, you know, in the spirit of unity, and democracy and collaboration, thank you everyone for sharing your voice. And thank you. Doctor Smith. Madam president, I'll keep my comments very short. Just to remind the board, we will convene again, madam president, next month on Monday,
December 15, for our final meeting of the year, promptly at 05:30. And I'm just gonna simply say, because it's been a long evening, happy Thanksgiving to all of you and to the community. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. At this time, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Properly moved, miss Puckett, and seconded, miss Dunn. Thank you.