At this time, I will turn the mic over to miss Carla Johnson. Good afternoon, early evening. Welcome and thank you for being here. We would like to bring forward the Amy Beverellen All Stars to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you come forward with your principal. Doctor. Smith, Madam President, members of the board, thank you for having us here this evening. I'd like to introduce to you three of our shining stars. One is Zola Ross, Jensen L. Rod, and Noah Ross. One, two, three. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Amy Beverelland. We greatly appreciated that. And at this time, we will move into our information items. We will go into the Blue Ribbon update with doctor Grant Nesbitt. Thank you, madam president, members of the board, doctor Smith. Let's jump right in. Blue Ribbon two. Overview. Paul Creek and Belzer, those are wrapping up right now. We do have students there, but, we'll be completely done with punch list and whatnot
by fall break. And, really, most most everything's done there. Craig Academy phase two, we do currently have nine classrooms going there, seven in in, LAA and other activities, and then the bottom level is being converted. So it's gutted right now. You'll see some pictures of that. Our classroom additions are moving along. And then, of course, we know this building we did our ribbon cutting yesterday. We officially turned the building over. Today, we got that certification. And, we do sell some punch list things here just like the middle schools that we'll be doing over the next weeks, perhaps months on some, supply items, but we're
wrapping that up as well. And then our guaranteed energy savings, that's moving along well. All the HVAC work is completed on those four schools. Roofing is, complete at Skiles and then getting near complete at other buildings. The Lawrence North roof band is mobilized. That will finish up in late September. And then believe it or not, we're already walking with contractors as we look at next summer, because in June, we'll go hit the ground running as we hit Brook Park, Forest Glen, Winding Ridge, and Winding Ridge ELC for HVAC work in those buildings. Let's take some picture looks pictures last time we showed you one of the courtyards
of Belzer. Here's the other one. And then there's that beautiful cafeteria with the logo tables and wall and full of students now. Craig Academy, that's my old office. Believe it or not, that was just days after we moved out. They, started demolition. So that's what Craig that's why if you walk in there, there's plastic barriers up so you you don't get into that area. You don't wanna be there. And then there's Craig Academy. This is on the south side of the building. We're making that ADA accessible, that or there. And then upstairs there, that picture is taken right, just a few days before classes started. That's the new flooring and the walls painted and whatnot.
Fall Creek Valley Middle School, like Belzer, welcoming students back. New cafeteria tables and flooring throughout. Nice bright commons there there. And, hey, here we are. Looks a little better than it did last week at this time. Believe it or not, that picture is less than a week ago. But here we are. Crestview Academy, there's a new, storm storm drain going across, and then we refresh their gym with our school colors. Crestview Elementary, roughingworkcom still ongoing. Harrison Hill, more roughing work ongoing. Indian Creek, we're taking that, chimney down much lower and doing, more roughing work while we're up there.
Forest Glen Elementary, we, with our building addition, we are short bus spaces there. So we added, three bus spaces. We had to add some new sidewalks. So that's what that's a picture of. And then there's the the area that we're gonna be putting the six classrooms. Merrick Castle Elementary visited that again today. The footers are in and, that's coming right along and that's it. So I'm I'd be happy to entertain any questions for you. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. There is a lot going on in Lawrence. Board, any questions or comments? Miss Lawrence. Congratulations. Woah. Look at us.
I'm gonna sit all the way back here and try to get New more powerful microphones here at the new LACC. Congratulations on a really incredible start to the school year. Lots to celebrate with both this building and the middle schools coming along so well. I do have a couple of questions related to and you've already answered the question around asbestos removal in the asked of me from members of the public. Doctor Nesbitt, could you please address, some of the concerns that were raised by members of the public?
Sure. In most of all of our construction projects, we do always look at that if there's anything. And sometimes, as is the case, we happen at Craig. When we pulled up carpet, there was old tile below that was asbestos tile. So that's not necessarily unusual. A little bit unusual for Lawrence because we have newer buildings, but we did do all the appropriate mitigation factors. We have a special company come in to block off the area and do everything. There's a lot of very stringent code to take that out. But we could have taken these away out and just covered it up again, but we wanna take it out and just have it gone.
I'm very happy to know we're doing right by, by the by the township. Another question that I had, since I am a mother of a Fall Creek Valley soccer player, I get a lot of questions around the soccer fields at Fall Creek Valley. Some some parents have raised some concerns with the fence line being so close to the field itself, because there's not enough space for benches and an AR to run up and down the field. I just wanted to voice that here, not necessarily, you know, I should I'm just
doing my due diligence because otherwise I'm gonna go to a soccer game right after this and I'm gonna get a bunch more questions. So I wanted to to flag this as a potential, challenge that we might have over there. Certainly, something we leave to your discretion, but I wanted to raise that concern that was voiced to me. Sure. Just so you know, when we spec those out, we look at the National Federation of High Schools has guidelines. Even though they're a middle school, we still use those same guidelines and have the same restrictions, and we make sure we're in those parameters that are laid out for us for safety and and, we're gonna do it right.
I I know that you will. I just wanted to have that on the record so that I can reference it in about an hour when I'm out of that field. Thanks. You're welcome. Any other questions? Yeah. Board, any other questions or comments? I did have one. It's kind of student related but it has to do with the blue ribbon. I know that we were working on remodeling the first level of the know that we were working on remodeling the first level of Craig. Mhmm. Will the Lawrence Advanced Academy students be on the Second Floor again this year, or is there are they moving down this year? They're moving down this year. Yeah.
They'll move down over winter break. So that phase right now where you saw the demolition going on, that will wrap up in late December. We'll move those those students downstairs. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And just for the public to know, we do have students already in Craig Academy or Yep. That as part of the Lawrence Advance and the Special Education Services. So, thank you. Alright, board. If there are no other questions, regarding that, we will move on to our next item. Request for permission to advertise the 2026 budget. Mister Matt Miles.
Thank you madam president, members of the board, doctor Smith. As we follow along our advertise or our excuse me, our budget calendar, our next step in the process is to advertise the budget. This is, again, the 2026 budget. And in order to do so, the board must grant permission, for us to do that. The budget does need to be advertised at least ten days before the budget hearing, which is, again according to our calendar on September 15. So this will allow us to do that. We will advertise it as required by statute, both on our district website and with
the DLGF, who then it from there. So, it's information at this time. I'll bring back to you later this evening permission to, have this approved to advertise. Thank you, mister Miles. And board, I know we received our reading assignment to get ready for the budget. But do you have any questions or comments at this time? Okay. I'm sure that they will come up as we get into it. Thank you, mister Miles. Thank you. Now we will move on to 2.3, the 25, 26, lunch fees. Mister Miles. So annually, we bring to you, Ford, an update in our student lunch fees.
We have to wait on information, that guides those rates, how we set those rates from the d f Department of Education. And we just recently got that. So typically, we would present this just before school starts. This year, we're just a little after. As you may recall, board, all of our students are we're thankful that they're able to all receive free breakfast and lunch district wide. We've we're on our third year of that program. So, we have, this year and next where that will still, apply.
Then we will go through an application process to renew that, which we have full intentions of doing so. So that's great news. There is no change in student breakfast or lunch, prices. For our adults, we have to follow a formula that is also set, by the state. And that will result in an increase, slight increase for adult breakfast to $3 It's a 15¢ increase. And adult lunch to $5.25, a 25¢ increase. So, information at this time and then we will bring this back later for, approval.
Thank you, Mr. Miles. That's me. Board, any questions or comments regarding the lunch rates? I know as a parent, it's a blessing to have free lunch for the kids. So very grateful. Yes. Very grateful for that. So thank you. We'll move on to 2.4, student achievement part three with mister Troy Nodar. Thank you, madam president, doctor Smith, and members of the board. It is my pleasure to bring to you this evening the third installment of our student achievement data from last school year, 2425, and this is the I read three
data. Just as a reminder, our board goal around I read three for last year was by June 2025, we would increase the I read three proficiency percentage of third grade students who've been enrolled in LT for two or more years by 10%. So 10% was the metric we were looking at. There's a lot of data on this slide going back to, the baseline year of 2021. So five years worth of data. And the part that I wanna draw your attention to are the last two columns.
You'll notice LT growth from 24 to 25. That's our one year growth. And then LT growth from 21 to 25. All green. Most double digits. I do wanna point out that our largest growing subgroup, both in one year as well as the five year growth is our black student group. And so we're really, really pleased with the growth that we're seeing this past year and then, of course, the growth that we're seeing over the the last five years as well. On the next slide is specifically our students who've been in, LT for two years.
So this is your your board goal measurement here. You'll notice an increase of 13%. So we certainly met and exceeded the board goal. Some highlights here. Notice that our Special Education sub group, grew the most. Students who had been with us for two years received services for two years at Lawrence Township grew 19%, this past school year. Notice our African American students again, very large growth if they've been with us for two or more years.
A couple notes from the, third grade NLT for two years data. We have narrowed the gap in every subgroup. We narrowed the gap significantly for our African American subgroup by 15%. We narrowed the gap for our Hispanic subgroup by 11%. So really, really pleased with that growth and narrowing our achievement gap. I do think it's important for us to look at our second grade data as well. Our second graders have taken iRead three for the last several years.
We opted into that, as a school district early. This year was required for all second graders. We have a 48% pass rate in our second graders this year. The state of Indiana has a 48% pass rate. So So we are exactly at the State average. So a growth of 20% from last year. So the work that we're doing in our early grades and that we've been doing in our early grades, we are seeing the fruition of that effort. So just some next steps, because we always want to continue to improve.
We have considerable professional development and coaching support around the science of reading. We have full time literacy coaches that are funded in part by the Department of Education at several of our schools. We will continue our focus on the framework and co teaching support. We believe that co teaching, is a significant factor in the increase in our scores for special education students as well as our multilingual students. We have scheduled walks to support the implementation of our master schedule.
Really clearing out that master schedule so that all we're focused on, during that part of the day is our ELA core instruction. We have continued training and support for reading specialists, because they're the the leaders along with their principals of the professional development in our our schools. We have added this year second and third grade reading assistants to support core reading instruction. This is part of the Lily Grant phase two that we've been able to implement, and really pleased with bringing them on and they've already see received their first round
of of training. In addition, we've got professional development to support the implementation of core phonics instruction for all third grade students, using the 95% phonics resource. I think it's important also that we build on the lessons that we learned last year, and replicate those processes that have produced gains in 2025. And the number one is the urgency and priority for third grade. The progress meetings, the support meetings that we had as a school district to support
our schools, the urgency that our schools had to make sure that our third graders were passing and also our second graders. We want to continue that. We also will have formalized reading plans for all of our students who in second grade, scored at risk on I read three. We will also have reading plans for our grades four through six students who are yet to pass I read. So we wanna make sure that we don't forget about those students and that we have very specific plans for them.
Another lesson learned for this year is our data monitoring. Our schools could speak to every single student. Every single third grader. They knew the story of that student. They knew what that student needed in order to be able to pass iRead and so it was so personalized and individualized that we've got to continue that that process as well. We also gave our second and third graders opportunities to practice multiple choice type assessments. For many of our second graders, this is new to them and so they need
that that practice and so setting aside that time. And we also want to continue our additional tutoring support that we get from, not only our teachers but from the community as well. So a couple of examples are retired teachers, bringing them back, this year to continue to to support as well as our partnership with Huntington Tutoring. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, mister Nutter. That's a a lot of great information. A lot of good data. Board, any questions or comments? Okay. You mentioned the co teaching to support the, implementation of Tier one instruction.
Could you talk a little bit about that for, parents and families who might want to know just what you mean by co teaching? Sure. The the, approach is two teachers, two licensed teachers in one classroom. And so, it may be a general education teacher paired with a special education teacher that are both serving the same set of students for core instructional time. It might be a general education teacher paired with an, ML multilingual learner teacher. Again, to serve the same students for core instructional time.
We're pushing teachers in to give them support within the general education classroom. Miss Lawrence. First, congratulations. Because these are incredibly impressive results and demonstrate not just all of you sitting up here on the dais, but many, many, many people who are sitting with our kids and helping them become better readers. As we all know, especially in the third grade, reading is such a predictor for success in life at that point. So congratulations.
I did have one question that I meant to ask you when we were in exec session the other day. Do we and and obviously, many of the interventions that we're doing are working and they're doing a a really incredible job. And I know that we have, we have interventions in place across all of our elementary schools, and they're very consistent across all of our elementary schools. But with this precipitous jump, do we attribute any of that to the fact that these kids have gone through our school system without the disruption of the pandemic? Because obviously, students who, you know, who are even in the fourth grade now at
least had one year or could have had one year in the pandemic. And it was not super easy after that. So do we think we're also seeing a little bit of a pandemic rebound in this data? Or Or maybe it's not obvious but I just I'm curious about it. It's certainly a possibility. However, we've had such a transformation in our instruction, such a transformation in our professional development, our data monitoring. I wouldn't want to take anything away from our students. No, I'm not trying to I'd do that either.
I just Yeah. So I think it's a possibility but I really believe next year's results as well. Thanks. Good questions. Miss Dunn. I want to echo miss Lawrence's just kudos to you, your team, as well as all of those that I know. It starts with our early learning centers and just it is truly impressive, especially looking at those students who have been in our district for two years. Very impressive. And that achievement gap, you now know that's where my heart lies and seeing those
just it just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. I did also just want to put a plug in because I, you know, just in my line of work, had the opportunity to talk with a lot of different individuals, especially our E and L teachers. And just the amount when you talk about the intentionality, I think it's really important to talk about that co teaching is also that co planning that's going into that. And the intentionality of making sure that the high quality resources such as CKLA that
is being utilized is accessible by all language learners and that is truly something that this district does extraordinarily well. And so just kudos to everybody, but just wanted to name that because we, actually are, modeling some of the work that we're doing after the great work that's happening here. So, kudos. Thank you. Board, any other questions or comments? Okay. Yeah. Once again, thank you. The one that stood out to me, of course, was the big gains in the special education group. Absolutely. And you had mentioned the co teaching model and I remember you addressing that as
the plan and the plan worked. Yes. Absolutely. So thank you for that. I did want to, say too, when we're talking about early literacy, just you you speak well to the value of the investment at the front end. And so I know that Indiana is one of 31 states that that does not mandate kindergarten, but truly your team would know better than anyone the value of enrolling your child in kindergarten. Correct? Yes. I didn't include that data point this evening, but there's a approximately a 20% difference
between students who attended kindergarten with us past that over an 85% rate versus students who didn't attend kindergarten. Thank you for that. And I won't get, further, but I mean, how getting this is a talk at the state house, but getting additional resources for expanded pre k is also valuable too as we look holistically future forward. Yes. Yes. Yes. Definitely. So thank you all for the work you've done. And that leads into our next point, 2.5, the proposed twenty five, twenty six year board goals.
Mister Kuznick and Doctor. Hosse Brown. President Norman, Doctor. Smith, members of the board, we're pleased to bring to you tonight the proposed 25, 26 board goals. And we'll begin with mister Nutter and student achievement. So the proposed board goals that, I'm presenting this evening for student achievement are modeled after what we know currently about the a to f school accountability. We know that we will receive letter gate letter grades based on the 25, 26 performance of our schools. We're still in the rules making progress process as a state, so this is the
best knowledge that we have as of today. So the first goal is around iLearn. It's one of the key academic mastery indicators for the new accountability formula. I'm recommending that we keep the same board goal as we've had in the past, that we would increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching at or above proficiency on the annual iLearn assessment. And you can see our baseline there. Another academic mastery indicator, that is new this year is ninth grade on track.
So each of our sophomores will be evaluated on whether they were on track at the end of their ninth grade year. I'm recommending that we increase by 5% the number of students designated as ninth grade on track. And to be considered on track, a student needs to have 10 or more credits, two in English, two in math, two science or social studies, and then the other four can can come from other areas. Our baseline for ninth grade on track currently is 80%. The twelfth grade academic mastery assessment is the SAT.
I'm recommending that we increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching or at proficiency on the annual SAT exam. And you can see our baseline data there. On the next slide, we have what are considered success indicators. Student attendance is throughout the entire, formula, for a to f. And I'm recommending that we, adopt the the goal of reach 75% or increase by 10% the number of students attending 94% of school days enrolled.
So 94% is the, attendance target that has been set by the State. Our baseline from last year was 62% of our students were here 94% of of the school days. The next one is what we just discussed, I read three. By June 2026, so this takes in all of the administrations of I read three, increasing by 10% or IRE three, increasing by 10% or reaching a proficiency rate of 95% on the IRE three assessment. Our district baseline is 78%, but this goal was written in this way because we
have several schools now that have less than 10% to go to make it to 95. So it's written with the with the entire district in mind. And the last goal, is bringing, WIDA to the fore forefront and WIDA is the annual language assessment that our multilingual students take, recommending that we increase by 10 the number of students reaching their language proficiency target as measured by the annual WIDA assessment. And our baseline is 24%.
And and WIDA is there, because that is a success indicator, for, grades four through 12 in the new accountability formula. Next, mister Miles will, go over our finance goals. From a finance standpoint, we've got two goals that we we would recommend for this year. The first of which, is a, reflection of our cash balance. Maintaining a cash balance is certainly important for the district. We've had this goal in place, over the years and it's we've just moved the
benchmark. We recommend that a cash balance goal in the education fund, be set at $14,000,000 and we would measure that at the end of the year. From a the second finance goal is that we wanna maintain a positive cash balance at the end of the year in all of our local taxing funds. So, the funds that are, that are funded by local property tax dollars is what we're talking about here. Our operations funds, our debt service funds. We want to make sure that we have a positive balance in those and that is a goal that we've, maintained for several years as well.
Alright. Alright. Thank you for that report. Board, any questions or discussion points regarding the proposed goals? Miss Dunne. I just would like to say number one, I appreciate so much the way in which we are looking at state accountability and aligning our board goals with the proposed new state accountability system. And so thank you, for your leadership, for your leadership, because I truly believe that it is going to position us, our district, in a way that will continue to
show the people of Marion County and the people of Indianapolis, Indiana, just everybody, that this truly is the district of destination. And also, it helps our teachers to know how we are being held accountable so that there's alignment. So it just the alignment is so intentional, and it's going to produce great student outcomes for kids which is what we're all about. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, miss Dunn. Abort, any other questions? I do have a question, actually. It seems from, a parent question. So that's a that's a really awesome question.
I know that we have certain apps like I know for certain students like Coolmath, GoMath. I had a parent ask are there any apps that they can have access to to kind of help their kids supplement and help, at home? Yes. So so I Ready math is a good example. We have the I Ready program for both math and reading and so that's an excellent resource that parents can use with their children. Okay. Thank you for that. And that's free. They have access to it. It's it's none of them that they have to That's correct. Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you, miss Puckett. Board, any other questions or comments regarding the board goals? I just wanted to to make a comment, for people who've read our previous board goals. This is pared down and more laser focused. However, it is not there is nothing lacking because in the previous, board goals from last year, we had an operations goal and safety and security. And all of that is being addressed within our three year strategic plan. So if you do notice the compare and contrast, it is still being covered but
through the strategic plan. And this again once again when the state sets the law, then we are following, you know, in line and that's what's driving the, I guess the target for our students. Any other questions or comments? Can I follow back up? For the I Ready math app, is that for a certain grade level? What's the range for that one? K eight. K through eight. And then are there any other apps for maybe the literacy portion of it? It's both reading and math.
And both and reading. Yes. Mhmm. Thank you. IReadyMath is the got it. Yes. Alright. Thank you, Lord. Any other questions? Alright. We thank you, Mr. Nader. Thank you everyone for that, information. Now we will move on. It feels like deja vu but it is a different packet. Doctor. Harshbarger with the Neola Policy updates 2.6. Oh, yes. Madam president, you're taking all my policy jokes. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, it's an honor tonight to present to you Neola special a special update 2025.
The package consists of 16 policies, one technical update, 13 administrative guidelines, and four forms. As always, these revisions are in response to recent legislation and subsequent updates to Indiana code. I now bring to you this evening the revision packet for first reading as submitted. Thank you, Doctor. Harshbarger. Board, any questions regarding the the first packet the first reading of the packet? No, sir. Just thank you. It's always a pleasure working with you. So thank you for all you do. It's my pleasure.
And then a point of clarification, I believe we will have the second reading at the September, work session. Okay. Just wanted to clarify because, just, to be honest, I need to dig into some of the, policy a little working through them. But thank you for bringing that to us. Absolutely. My pleasure. We will move on now to mister Miles with our financial update. Thank you once again, madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board.
Tonight, we bring to you our July 31, month end financials for both the general transportation fund. And first, we'll look at the general fund, starting with the ending balance of just over $16,000,000 We're exceeding what we had projected by this time, going into the year, which is a great thing. Our state support exceeds projections as well and expenses just a little under where we had projected, going into the year. From a transportation standpoint, again, ending balance in a good place, almost $2,000,000, $1,900,000.
Our expenses, trending under projection and revenue just a little ahead of projection. We as we've talked in the past, seeing some of those increases in contractor services and some of our supplies both on on both reports tonight, we just continue to monitor those moving forward. Alright. Thank you, mister Miles. Board, any questions or comments? I know we have our budget to dig into for next year, but any questions or comments regarding the updates? Green is good. So thank you, mister Miles. Thank you. Now we'll move on to our board committee chair reports.
Foundation, Doctor. Mulholland. So, Lawrence Township School Foundation, Township School Foundation, just want to make a, thank you to the foundation for their presence yesterday. It was nice to be able to stop in their new office and, have some I know the kids appreciated the treats and wonderful to meet the staff. But they will be having a their Bob, their, golf outing on September 26.
So, it's a little we've got about a month and a week. Just wanted to mention that. And, more information is on their website. Thank you. Lawrence Parks and Recreation, miss Dunn. Right. We still got the Forever Young Club that goes on every Thursday from eleven to one at Community Park. We also have the Fort Bend Farmers Market, which is right over here at our cultural campus. So, if you are here working later in the afternoon, hop on over and get some corn or some, no, popcorn.
Never know what's over there. Just listen to some music. This weekend, we have the Community Safety Day. It's this Saturday from ten to two, also just a hop, skip and a jump from where we are at 9530 East 50 Ninth Street. And then some other events that are happening at our cultural campus, there on Otis is the Barbecues and Blues Festival on September 13. And September 20, Leggers and Lawrence. So just, lots of things happening here at Fort Bend. It's the place to be. It is. Thank you, miss Dunn.
And the other thing that's interesting too, I know it's hard to think about Christmas time because it's so hot out, but, at Christmas time, right out from our view here is the Civic Plaza where they will have the ice skating and a lot events then. Yes. And the lighting of the Christmas tree with the Grinch. Oh, very good. Yes. Very fun. Alright. Well, and I know we just spoke to it but I will go to Miss Puckett if you have anything additional to add about policy. I do not. Doctor. Harshbarger presented the first reading and we can look forward to another packet, vol.
38, number two, in October if I'm correct. Yeah. October, I'm correct. That's it. Alright. Thank you for the updates, board. There's a lot going on. All good. We'll move on to our action items. 3.1, approval to advertise the 2026 budget. Mister Miles. Thank you madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board. Earlier this evening, I presented to you the next step in our budget process which would be, to advertise. And at this time, I would, request your, approval to advertise the budget as submitted.
Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Miss Puckett. Seconded, Miss Lawrence. Board, any questions or comments before we move to vote? Alright. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The ayes have it. 3.2, approval of the $25.26 lunch fees. Mister Miles. Thank you once again. At this time, board, we would seek your approval to, to approve the $25.26 school lunch fees as submitted earlier this evening. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the lunch fees.
So moved. Seconded. Who wants to take it? You can have it. Okay. Alright. Properly moved, Ms. Dunn and seconded Doctor. Mahaland. Any questions or comments before we move to vote? Just one quick comment on that. Our, school our lunch program is actually very self sustainable and something that I know, doctor Smith, you are quite proud of. And so, these fees going up make a lot of sense, and I don't know anywhere that you can buy a cup of coffee for $3. So that you can get get breakfast for that is pretty pretty cool.
Yeah. Yes. Very good. Alright. Then we will move to vote. All in favor of the lunch fees? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The ayes have it. 3.3, approval of the proposed twenty five-twenty six board goals. Doctor Doctor. Hass Brown and Mr. Kuznick. Madam President, Doctor. Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the proposed twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six board goals as submitted. I'll entertain a motion for approval of the proposed twenty five-twenty six board goals. So moved. Second. Properly moved, miss, Lawrence and seconded miss Puckett.
Alright. Any other comments before we move to a vote? All right. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it for the 20 five-twenty six board goals which will be posted shortly. Correct? Alright. Alright. Action item 3.4, approval of our board minutes. Doctor. Mulholland. I present the I present the July 21, 2025 board meeting minutes for the board's approval. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the July board minutes. So moved.
Second. Properly moved, miss Dunn. Seconded, miss Puckett. Any comments? I'll have to make one more motion. Oh, yes. And also to include the executive session minutes for 08/15/2025. Alright. So I will entertain a motion for approval of the executive session minutes as well. So So moved. Second. Alright. Properly moved for the executive session, miss Dunn, and seconded by miss Lawrence. Are we packaging both of these votes as one vote or are we voting on them separately since we moved two separate items? That's a good question.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. So we're all part of 3.4. So one vote. Yes. One vote. Okay. Yes. My apologies. Alright. Any other comments? Alright. We'll move to the vote on 03/2004, approval of the board minutes for both July and the executive session. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No, ma'am. Alright. Alright. Madam President, I move that we treat action items 3.5 to 3.11 as consent agenda item. I'll entertain a motion for the consent agenda. So moved. Seconded. Properly moved. Miss Lawrence and seconded, Doctor.
Mulholland. Any comments? All in favor? Aye. Alright. Item of approval of the consent agenda item. Alright. I do we have a second for the approval? Second. Alright. Properly moved. Miss Puckett seconded Miss Dunn. Any other comments? If not, all in favor of the approval of the consent agenda? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The ayes have it. Alright. At this time, I would like to turn it over to miss Carla Johnson. Good evening once again, Madam President, Doctor. Smith, and members of the school board. This evening, the school board approved the appointment of mister Ian Yearwood as the principal
of Forest Glen Elementary, effective immediately. Mr. Yearwood brings sixteen years of educational experience to this new role, most recently serving as assistant principal of Styles Test Elementary. He's honored to join Forrest Glen Elementary as the principal and to And, every student
knows they are both valued and well equipped to thrive in a dual language environment. According to superintendent Doctor. Sean Smith, after a very thorough search and interview process, we have found a leader for both today and the future of Forest Glen Elementary School. Mr. Yearwood's loyalty to our district, combined with his proven track record of a strong instructional and community leader, makes him the right fit. Mr. Yearwood began his teaching career in 02/2009, teaching grades four and six in both at
Avondale Meadows and later in Washington Township. His previous administrative experience includes Assistant Director of Avondale Meadows. He was the founding principal at Vision Academy Riverside and Assistant Principal at Indianapolis Public Schools number 84. Yearwood holds a Master of Education in Public School Leadership from Columbia University 2012, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Marian University in 2011, and a Bachelor of Arts
in Education Studies from DePaul University in 02/2009. He is a Spanish speaker having spent time abroad during his undergraduate studies in Argentina. He and his wife Sharla are district residents and the parents of two children in the dual language program. Let's welcome Mr. Yearwood. Congratulations, mister Yearwood. Congratulations, mister Yearwood. And I believe your family is with you, correct? Okay. Hi. Alright. Well, we will move on now to our administrator and board comments.
Would anyone like to go first? Well, mine is a comment slash not really a comment, it's a question. And speaking with some parents and reading our board notes, a wonderful program was mentioned called the Healing Hearts program and a parent had shared what a benefit that it was to her family and she asked me, if it was still going on and I really couldn't answer her then and then it just so happened in my board notes, this program popped up. And so, I was wondering if it's possible to, elaborate a little more on it
because I feel it's a great tool and resource for our schools. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Healing hearts. We've had healing hearts through Community Health Network I believe at least ten years. For a number of years we've had the program and it is it serves students who have, lost a loved one. It can be a family member, a friend, and it you have to have five students in order for a group to start at a school.
But it is managed basically by the family liaisons or the main people who kind of, keep track of how many students we have that need that support. And then as we get enough students to run the program, the program starts in each school. It's an eight week program. It's a psychoeducational grief support group and it is of great benefit to our students. They can go twice but, families are just made aware that if we have other
students that haven't been through the program they take priority. But it's been wonderful, a wonderful service to the community. It was great to hear her just speaking of it and it's the beauty of speaking to your neighbors and speaking to people, so I thank you for that. And I just wanted just as a point to clarify. So it's not at every school it's on a point of need. So if you have enough students that, have this need at the school then that's then there's this program is Correct. Put together for that. Okay. Just wanna make sure that Correct.
So if every school needed it, then every school could utilize it. Well, it Prayerfully, you know, not Depending on capacity. Capacity. So that we do have some periods of time where we have to kind of hold and wait either for more students to to need the program or for a group to finish before another group can start. But we do have multiple programs going at multiple schools if that makes sense. Okay. That does.
And I have one more question for you. Yes. Because the question was, I'm not going to get into her story, but looking for supports to help to help your neighbor. And so I mentioned the Help Me app to her. Are there any other resources that our schools have to help with, clothing, shelter, food, emotional, since schools are kind of a social services hub now, yeah. Is there anything that else that you can add to that possibly? Family liaisons.
Family I did say that to you. I asked. Yes. Get to know your family liaison. Refer that person to the family liaison at the school and we can there are so many different connections that we can make and if we can't take care of that need in house through the school, we certainly know of a referral source. Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you both. Both. Board, any, who would like to go next? Miss Dunn? I just wanted to say kudos on an exceptional start to the twenty five-twenty six
school year. I've heard nothing but really positive, amazing, things. I know there is some shuffling. You know, we don't know who exactly is going to be show up in schools, and so just gratitude to families as counselors work. I live right next door to one or very close to one who, works diligently, especially at the high school level, to balance class sizes. And so I think the name of the game too is, grace and understanding that everybody is working diligently to continue that this is a great start to the year.
So, thank you for everybody for making that happen. Everybody. And especially while you were moving and getting all this done. It's pretty impressive. Well said. Miss Lawrence? No real real comments from me. Doctor Smith, are you running around with a paint can before the before it happened? Appreciate all the work, that went into getting this building done. It was a beautiful start as as miss Dunn said to the school year. Very excited. I'm going to exit here in just a moment and go watch Pike play Fall Creek Valley in their middle school. The very first well, I don't which one?
I'm assuming it's Fall Creek Valley, but you were at Pike for a minute. Yeah. Yeah. He knows where his paycheck comes from. They're close. Yes. Well, good luck to them. Doctor. Mulholland. Yep. Very excited about the first two weeks. I just want to extend my thanks, especially in the area of transportation. I know that I made a few phone calls, you know, to check on the status of, you know, the app and arrival times and I always got quick responses. I appreciate everyone. So, so thankful to have the bus service for my kids and, for our district.
Thank you. Very good. I wanted to second my board colleagues, just for the public to know all of us on the board are Lawrence Township parents. So we're switching hats. When I switched to the mom hat, we the Norman family did have a very, smooth and successful start to the school year, transportation, everything. So kudos to the team on that. I also wanted to tie into what miss Puckett shared about, we challenge ourselves as a board and we're challenged by, ISBA and other groups to always center everything back
to student outcomes. And so, a lot of the business pieces that we speak to, I really do believe a lot of it ties back to student outcomes. Having a safe and bright learning space, having quality nutrition and transportation. Also, the wrap around services is so crucial because so many people are dealing with unique challenges and that can impact student achievement. So, I just wanted to thank our township and our community for the supports that they provide. So, that is all I have. I held off on talking about the game to let Doctor.
Smith do his thing. Okay, madam president, members of the board. Doctor Nesbeth, it's that time of the year. Friday. Night, we have our annual tradition. I'd like for you to speak to it, give the board and the community a little bit of direction. Sure. Both Lawrence Central and Lawrence North football teams are currently undefeated. Season opens up Friday night, August twenty second. Seventy eight zero two Hag Rose will be the place to be. 7PM kickoff, the rivalry game of the week. It's, and it's gonna be a big big game. Get your tickets early. Get there early. Our our board, we will have refreshments for you in the end zone as per
usual, and, we'd like to see everyone there for a a great night for Lawrence. Right. And then, madam president, if I could just have a point of privilege, I'd like for the board and the cabinet to stay in place. Doctor Altmaier, this is history. This is our first meeting. The year is 2025. Will you take a picture to make sure we keep it in the history books in the new building of the board and the cabinet and the superintendent at the dais? And miss Blankenship, I wanna capture the secretary also. Yep. Let's do that. And then, madam president, we'll turn it back over to you to adjourn.
Smile, everyone. Right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Board at this well, actually, one more thing. Our next monthly meeting will be here Monday, September 15. It will be a 05:30 work session. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Properly Oh, I'm waiting on a second. I jumped the gun. I'll second that. Okay. Properly moved, Miss Puckett and seconded, Doctor. Mahalad. We are done.