From Oakland Elementary and their principal to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Good evening, everyone. I am the proud principal of Oakland Elementary, and I have two of my students with me here today. I have Mia Weatherly, who is a first grade, part of our dual language program. And then I have her brother, Bryce Weatherly, who is a second grader with us. So please join us in the pledge of allegiance. K. Ready? Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indelible, with liberty and justice for
all. Thank you, Oakland and Eagles. And now we will turn this over to miss Carla Johnson for an enjoyable part of the evening with our superintendents award and student recognitions. Good evening, madam president, doctor Smith, and members of our school board. We are proud to present our Above and Beyond Awards this evening. Coming up from Winding Ridge Elementary with their principal, missus Graham, we have Melanie Isaguar Alemandera, and we have Deja Joyner. If they could join me up front.
Congratulations to Melanie, multilingual instructional assistant at Winding Ridge, for being selected to receive the Above and Beyond Award. Miss Melanie is instrumental in supporting our scholars, teachers, and families. She consistently brings positivity, enthusiasm, and professionalism throughout the building, always ready to assist with small groups, interpretation, or routine task. Her dependability and flexibility shine in the most unexpected moments.
Miss Alimanderas cares about scholars' success and models empathy, responsibility, and respect. Her genuine love for learning is evident and contagious. She celebrates scholars' growth and transformative moments with infectious joy. The Phoenix community appreciates her for her commitment and dedication to going above and beyond. Melanie Izaguirre Alejandra with the Above and Beyond Award. Congratulations. Congratulations to Dasia Joyner, third grade teacher at Winding Ridge, for being selected to receive
the Above and Beyond award. Miss Joyner is dedicated, a creative teacher who fosters curiosity, rigor, and joy. She differentiates instruction, supports multilingual learners, and builds a safe, inclusive classroom where scholars collaborate, show resilience, and grow academically and socially. Her intentional routines, positive relationships, and calm leadership create a strong learning community.
As a reliable and supportive colleague and reflective practitioner, she shares resources, models problem solving, and mentors both scholars and her peers. She's also been recognized as a teacher of the year nominee. We are honored to Dasia Joyner with the above and beyond. Congratulations. And next to present some very important elementary awards, we have doctor Emily Hass Brown, assistant superintendent of elementary. Thank you, miss Johnson. Good evening, president Norman, doctor Smith, members of the board.
I'm so pleased to bring to you some elementary winners tonight. And for the a very, amazing feat, we have one school that won both the girls and boys basketball championship. And that proud principal is here to introduce you to those students, and that is doctor Carl Blythe from Mary Castle Elementary. Good evening. We'll start with our boys' team. We have our coach, Brandon Muncy. We have Kevin Brown, Easton Corkwell, Terrence Denny, Detrell Harvey, Tyrion Perez Horace, Anthony Pyle,
Nazir Self, Jordan Tun, and Michael Hicks and Zion Rendell could not be here, but this is our sixth grade boys basketball team champions. Alright. For our girls team, we have Haley Bacon, Ariel Brown, Zoe Doody, Kimberly Scout Hoffman, Ariah Holloway, Isabella King Mercado, Aubrey Smith, and Jakaria Turrentine, and Charles Lee Wellington couldn't
be here, but they were coached by Joshua Weed. Also tonight, we're very proud to have students from two different elementaries who qualified for our honor choir. And to introduce, students from this first school, we have mister Jared Pennington from Amy Bevelyn Elementary. Thank you very much. First and foremost, I would like to, recognize the fact that there were eight possible slots, and we had eight students selected. So very proud of that. First up, miss Kari Keller, Daniel Curran, Preston Remmel, Fritz Van Hoff, And our music
and choir teacher, missus Andrea Van Hoff. Congratulations, stars. Now our second elementary, we have the proud principal from Winding Ridge Elementary, miss Rose Graham. Good evening. I'd like to recognize Ivy Wright, Leah Green, who cannot be with us this evening, Caitlin McConnell, who cannot be with us, Delaney Cannon, and Khalil Jefferson, who could not be with us this evening. Very proud of my scholars.
And now to continue the celebration, doctor Crystal Thorpe, our chief of secondary education. Good evening, board president, missus Amy Norman, superintendent doctor Smith, and members of the board. MSD Lawrence Township has a tradition of excellence, and tonight, I am excited to recognize our winter sports champions. Our secondary schools will honor our wrestlers, our swimmers, our divers, our basketball players, and, yes, our cornhole and bowling student winners. A huge thank you to our students for their hard work and dedication, to our coaches for teaching and leading our students, and to our wonderful parents for all that
you do to support and encourage our students. We will begin with Belzer Middle School, missus Kendra Randall, followed by Fall Creek Valley, principal mister Corey McGarrell, Lawrence central principal mister Franklin Bush, and then followed by that, mister Jason Floyd, principal of Lawrence North High School. So miss Randall, come on up. Good evening, everyone. Super excited to highlight two of our awesome and amazing winter sport, students. So I will bring up our athletic director, doctor Batts, so that he can present our wonderful students to you all this evening.
Our wrestling head coach, Antonio Jefferson, MC champion, and Jay Hypes, undefeated season, MC champion. Swimming and diving head coach Juan Salazar, swimming and diving assistant coach Christopher Robinson, and Deja Burns, mid champion and school record breaker in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Good evening, doctor Smith and Lawrence Township School Board. On behalf of Fall Creek Valley, I'm proud to celebrate our winter sports athletes. I'm gonna introduce our athletic director, miss Robin Lewis, who will introduce you to our
teams that had a tremendous season, leading Fall Creek Valley to an unprecedented number of wins and championships through the season. Boys and girls, mix swim and dive champions, head coach Jazzy Kitt and coach Alex, Quinn Kemper, Henry Plaster, Lila Drake, Dylan Drake, Harper Pritchard, Stella Pritchard, Zoe McConaughey, Lex Johnson, Penelope Holtz, Lillian Coringal, Katie Stevens, Hattie Stevens, Jacob Megglin, Elliot Humphrey, Jude Uthrich,
Scout Hoffman, Sadie Hoffman, Lucy Flanae, Steven Zacharias Flores, Gavin Stinson, Kat Carlson, Abriel Andrzejetsky, Hattie Tatum, Ellie Hoover, Nellie Franklin, Emrick Roberts, Elias Andress, Alexander Ratchford, Max Pouch, Denver Drake, Aidan Kitt, Graham Courtney, Tayomi Henson, Jackson McAloon, and Alex Donich. Next, we'll have our girls, undefeated seventh grade Mick and Marion County champions.
Head coach Katie Stevenson, assisted by Austin Sanders, Kalia Sanders, Alexis Talley, Anaya Harris, Kenya Harris, Maya Heiss, Savannah Brown, Grace Slope, Cadence Ramey, Kenzie Bean, Myla Ash, Isabelle Gadeau, and Kenzie Bean. Last but not least, our eighth grade MEC boys basketball champions, coached by Byron Davis,
Dwight Bowen, Hythoris Beard, De'Mone Eubank, Desmond Rhodes, Kevon Sargent, Dylan Wise, Darren Boyd, Zion Miller, Levin Robinson, Justin Richardson, Corey Simmons, Dominique Hallowell, and Braden Lazo. We also have a wrestling MC champ in Cameron Carter. Yeah. You guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're ready? My name is Mosie Barnes, athletic director at Lawrence Central High School.
And I'm here to recognize our winter sport athletes amazing accomplishments, starting with girls wrestling. Girls wrestling was back to back sectional champions. This started, headed by coach, Nick Haddix, Milan Smith, Ziva Brown. Ziva Brown was also individual champion academic Allstate. Katie Hernandez, state qualifier. Senaya Broden, academic Allstate. Yerat Velez, Delia Contreras, Angel Mueller, Adrianna Hugley, Georgiana Wallace, Ryla Arilla, Brene Bellamy, Ashley
Flores, Marta Gutierrez, Amaya McIntosh, Zoe Ramirez, Nadia Rarius, Carolina Garcia, Jasmine Lee, Harmony Lovelace, and Tony Stigler. Also, coach Brian Aubrey, too, is here. Thank you, ladies. Next is boys wrestling. Lamont Moss was all Mick champion. Casey Bealer, academic All State Earl Kearns, the third, All MC semi state qualifier and academic All State Donovan Twyman, academic All State and Greg Smith, Allstate.
Moving on to boys and girls swim Jessica Rabe, Allstate Gabriella Freeman, academic Allstate Isabella Murphy, academic all state Diana Stallion, academic all state Brittany Mendoza, academic all state KJ Harris, all make Leo Acevedo, academic all state Aiden Uzziano, academic all state And Sam Poffenberger, academic Allstate. Yep. We do we do a pitch with them. Yep. I wanna give a shout out to our unified program. They competed in bowling in Cornhole, this, winter.
Braylon Pullings, academic Allstate. Brandon Beaver, academic all state. LeBron Brown, academic all state. Haley Walton, academic all state. They couldn't make it, but I just want them to name their names for the record. Next is girls basketball. Our head coach had a scheduling conflict and couldn't be here. Our girls basketball team won sectional, this past year and a regional. So give them a round of applause, please. Lola Lampley. She was also all Marion County, McPlayer of the Year, McDonald's all American, and just recently named to the Indiana All Star team. KiKi Butler, all of Marion County, and all MC.
Anya McKenzie, all Marion County and all MC. Aubrey Ingram, Loriah Wyatt, Lele Hyatt, Nevaeh Garwin, Amyla Williams is here, Jabreya Bond, Amaya Sewell, Sanaya Atwater, Christina Hallowell, which she's here, Chastity Balance, Maya Burns, and Amelia Palmer. And Bryce Stone is here to represent our program. Thank you. Our our boys' basketball team also won sectional this year as well. DeRon Harris, I'll make. I'm sorry. Okay. Gotcha.
Yep. Okay. Gotcha. Our boys' basketball team won sectional this year headed by our head coach Phil Washington, starting with Deron Harris, I'll make. Gavin Petty, I'll make. Caleb Wells, I'll make. Jeremiah Bellamy, DJ Summers, Albert Gooden the third, Caden Dooley was also academic Allstate, Dylan Wright, Ty Ferguson, Dayton Stevens, Santana Allen, Zia Berryhill, Jaden Madison, Anthony Smith. Also, here's, LJ Owens and our, other coach, coach Albert Gooden.
Good evening. I'm Jason Floyd, proud principal of Lawrence North High School, and we're here to recognize our wonderful athletes this year. And to do that, I have our athletic director, mister Mike Penrose. Thank you, mister Floyd. School board, doctor Smith, and cabinet, it's my pleasure to recognize our winner athletes tonight. We're gonna first start with our boys' basketball team. They were Marion County champions for the thirteenth time in school history. So So we're gonna start with our head coach, mister Chris Giffin. We'd also like to recognize coaches Brandon Sorrell, Jared Good, Rick Thomas. Coach Brandon Muncy is here.
Coach Dwight Brown Junior, Patrick Williams, team mom and assistant coach Antoinette Welch, and our team members. First off, Cameron Webster, Marion County champion. All these kids are Marion County champions, but, Cameron was all MC, all Marion County, IBCA large school all state, and he was voted to the Indiana All Star Team this year. Mister Brennan Mill Miller was the, he was all MC. He was the MC Player of the Year, all Marion County, IBCA Supreme 15 All
State, and he was also voted an Indiana All Star this year. Also, we have mister Cameron Bell, Vincent Harper, Trey Cunningham, Duke Karnes, Davis Baker, Caron Nelson, Shandon Gilbert, Britton Thomas, and Darion Prather. Once again, the 02/2006 Marion County champion basketball team. Yeah. We'll just do one big picture. Yep. Next, we'll have our girls' basketball players, that received postseason recognition.
First up, miss Kalia Bentley was named All County and All Mick, and miss Jordan Suggs, All Mick. Next, our boys swimming and diving team, won the Met Conference championship for the second year in a row. First, we have head coach Thomas Moore. We have, assistant coaches Jacob Penrose, Jazzy Kitt, and Morgan Meixner. Our boys, Gibson Willage, Silas Petrovsky is here. He was, all MC, Marion County champion, and an IHSA state qualifier. Wesley Drake, Liam Welty is here.
He was also all MC. Ashton Burns, Dylan Clark, David Sullivan is here. He was all MC and also an IHSAA state qualifier. Corbin Donald, Brody Deckert, Steven Sincenney, and Devin Kelly. Also Rich Ostendorf, Jason Flores, Anderson Slocum, Jace Russell, Mason McFarland. That's our boys swimming and diving MC championship team. Our girls receiving post season accolades include Lydia Quinn, All MC, as well as Lacey
Say it again, Lacey. Leah. Leah. I'd like I'm sorry. I thought you said Leah. Yeah. What did you say earlier? Nabriza. Okay. Leah Nabriza. I wanted to say it correctly. Next, we have our boys wrestling team. We have, Steven Hunter, Ollie Miller, Eric Grady. Were all named all MCC, and Steven Hunter was an IHSA qualifier. Michael White is here, and I'm gonna spend some time on Michael. Michael was the Marion County champion, MCC champion, IHSAA state champion, going 47 and o this year.
He was named to the All State team. He was named the Indiana Wrestler of the Year. He was named the Indy Star Wrestler of the Year, All American, and he's gonna be going to practice right after this because he's quali he is wrestling to qualify for the World Championship team later this summer. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael White. And next, we have Ace Grayson. Ace actually founded our girls wrestling team, and I wanted to point that out. And because of her and her, her diligence with with us, we we started something
special, and I wanted to make sure that people knew that, Ace. She was named to the All Mick team. Ace Grayson. That's it. Yep. Also, coach Jacob Avin is here supporting our wrestlers as well as coach Steven Thomas. Yeah. That's good. Okay. Thank you again, and congratulations to all of our award winners, parents, coaches, teachers. We always enjoy this night. Moving into our information items. Just a point of clarification, you'll notice the screen looks a little different tonight. BoardDocs, our platform provider, is out. This is across the country.
But, thankfully, we can pivot, and we're good to go. We have all the information we need. So I will turn it over to doctor Nesbitt, 31, with the Blue Ribbon update. Thank you, president Norman, members of the board, doctor Smith. Let's take a look at Blue Ribbon phase two. Here's a update for you. It's been about a month. Our overview is gonna look the same. We are doing a lot of design work on McKinsey. We've been meeting about two to three times a week with different departments in the morning before school as we meet with those teachers and the instructors, make sure we get it right. Craig Academy is cruising along real well, and then our classroom additions, continue on.
We'll take take a look some pictures of those. And then on our next slide, I guarantee energy savings. Winding Ridge is underway. On the roofing, we have a it's about, oh, a third torn off, and, we're working real early and real late to dodge, statewide testing. And then once that ends here after next week, we'll we'll get into a full days there. Crestview Elementary, there's a look at the outside and then you can't quite tell, but that that picture on the right there, that's the playground. We've we've fenced off half of it and we we've demoed half as we work across the playground renovations. And then you'll take a look at the inside. There's a corridor, and then there's just one of our standard classrooms with glasses in.
This this building is mainly CMU or block walls, and so it's a little further along than it might look, and all the all the overhead work is done. And then at Forest Glen, you can see over spring break, we got a lot of work done. All the drywalling is done now. We've moved on to painting, since I took that picture middle last week. And then there's some more. There's a picture inside a a pair of classrooms there. And then Merrick Castle, you've seen that. It's pretty well done. We've wrapped that up Presidents' Day weekend. So I just thought I'd get a picture of we are working a little bit outside, and then we'll be doing some playground work there as soon as school's out
as well. Craig. Okay. So this is a neat look. So, this is the Top Floor of the building, and they we have a big corridor up there, and that's kind of a grand corridor. And then it leads to those gathering stairs, as they call them, in the stairway, and then you can look down through the windows into the gymnasium. And then our next slide, that is the kitchen, there on the left and then the cafeteria on the right. The kitchen, we had to cut out all the flooring into all new piping and electric work. And, of course, we have to know exactly what's going where, drains and everything, so that kitchen's completely it looks huge right now because there's no walls.
And then the cafeteria there is is looking nice too. So that takes you through Blue Ribbon phase two. Happy to field any questions for you. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments? Looks very good. We had the privilege of having our, Indiana School Board Association regional dinner recently, and several of the vendors and construction and architecture companies were there that we work with. And they were very excited to see everything coming together at the elementary schools. So thank you for that. We will continue on with doctor Nesbitt for 3.2,
results of the RFP bid for custodial services. Sure. Again, continuing on here, just a little history of what we're doing here. So in in fall twenty two is when we contracted out maintenance and custodial services, and then we transitioned, not quite a year ago, ten months ago, we transitioned maintenance services provider and then just RAB for custodial services with the intent to have an RFP come out this spring because that contract ends May 31. And so that's what we just did. And then our next slide will show the our timeline of what we did.
And of course, you gave us permission on the sixteenth and so on. And then we're all the way to the twenty seventh. And we had a lot of interest, so 25 people came through our pre bid walk through, 17 companies. 12 ended up submitting bids, and very competitive. We are very, very pleased with the, cost savings that we're gonna be seeing, and we ended up RJV Properties is our lowest bidder, and that is who we'll recommend. That is our current provider that we can we we recommend that they continue to be our provider and, again, a nice cost savings to the district. That's that's the, RFP recap for custodial services.
Happy to field any questions on that. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments on the RFP for custodial? I do have one question. Miss Lawrence. I couldn't see. It it doesn't say up there what the cost savings is. Do we know what the estimated cost savings? Sure. $1,650,000 per year from from what we're paying right now. So pushing $1,700,000 a year in savings. I love it. And thank you for your due diligence in getting these bids done. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? I did have one additional question on RJB.
Is I see they have the lowest bid. Is there also an additional cost savings by retaining the same provider by not having staff in these different staff or not? The way we drafted the RFP, no. Not necessarily. We we told them we want a flat rate, no surprises, no a lot of mass, a lot of transition cost, and, you know, and we said, nope. Just give us your price. We we we wanna build a budget and know exactly what it is. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes. Miss Lawrence. I apologize. I should have asked this when I was talking about cost savings. But it it just for clarification, we're not giving up anything in order to right.
I I know. It's the exact same services that they were offering us previously, but we're just so great that they wanted to stick around and be with us for even less money this time. Correct. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? Alright. Moving on to doctor Nesbitt again. 3.3, results of the RFP bids for the security services. Thank you, president Norman. That was a quick slideshow there. So I'll go ahead and, freelance here. So the security bids, very similar timeline that went out. And so we had three, bidders come in for security services.
There it is up. Thanks, Sheila. So, again, this this is not replacing our SROs. Our SROs continue. This is support staff for the SROs. This is the sentries that are out in front of the high schools and marked vehicles, and then the people that do our metal detecting at large events, essentially. So that's what we're looking for. Again, our SROs are all first responders. That's all firemen, firewomen, police officers retired or or still active. And there is our timeline, same timeline that we had for our custodial services. There was no pre bid walk through on this.
That's the only difference on the than the custodial. And you'll see we had three bids submitted. We did have a fourth commitment. It was after the deadline, so we left that unopened. Very competitive. They each beat each other in different categories as far as pricing went. They were pretty much all cost neutral for us. We did we will be making a change here. We'll be moving from our current provider to Eclipse Staffing. We are very impressed with their proposal, and it's noted they have some pretty big clients in a comparable district in Wayne Township and then, of course, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If anyone goes to the track, they know that's a pretty big, big company there
to be able to staff that. So that's our recommendation for Eclipse Security and Staffing. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments on the RFP for security services? I do have one. Miss Lawrence. Doctor Nesbitt, will we be able to retain some of our current staff or will they all be replaced as a result of the fact that we're switching vendors? That will be up to the vendor. If someone works for our current provider, perhaps they would apply, to the Eclipse, but that will be up to the provider. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? I do. Yes. Miss Puckett. With the current provider and then with us switching over, what is is there a cost savings or cost increase? What are we looking at as far as It'll be cost neutral. Again, we think we'll be getting a little better service. We'd have a few hiccups with our current provider, and so we're that was one of the reasons I wanted to RFP to see what else was out there. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. If there are no other questions or comments, we'll move to 3.4, curriculum advisory committee recommendations with mister Kuznick.
Good evening, madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board. It's that time of year for our curriculum updates. Up first, we have our curriculum advisory council, which meets each semester. And I'll turn it over to our director of secondary education, mister Brett Krausser. President Norman, doctor Smith, members of the board, I bring to you recommendations of a group that meets each semester to look at our curriculum and look at our course offerings. If you look at the background there, Kirkland Advisory Council has been around for years in which we just review courses, make recommendations, and then building to make a decision
as to whether they're going to offer that course or not. Committee members were wonderful. We had an outstanding group that truly went back to the buildings each time to talk through, different offerings and what we could potentially do as we move forward with this new Indiana diploma, pathways, and other things that are coming about with a to f accountability. The first course that we would like to recommend is printmaking. What this course is gonna allow us to do is align with the new diploma and ADF accountability.
It allows us to expand with our fine arts diploma and and offerings when we ask that each student completes two fine arts credits by graduation. So again, printmaking will help with that. The next course I bring to you is a recommendation of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. This recommendation is actually for the 2728 school year. We currently offer the civil air patrol program. What this course will allow us to do is to work with Fort Knox and
the Seventh Brigade and grow much like our area schools, our surrounding schools, who offer the JROTC program. So again, this will go through a recommendation. We will do, an application with the Seventh Brigade and then hopefully be recommended to offer the course. Happy to field any questions. Thank you, mister Krausser. We'd also like to recognize if we have anybody in this audience that's here with us that participated in the Kriging Advisory Council. If you'd stay in and be recognized, we appreciate your work on this council.
And we're happy to answer any questions you may have. Yeah. Thank you to everybody involved. Board, are there any questions or comments? Yes. Miss Lawrence. Doctor Smith, I ask this every time we have a curriculum recommendation that comes before the board. For anyone who has questions about curriculum, can you explain how that works and what the power of this board is in terms of recommending and or approving courses to be executed in our classrooms? Mister Kuznick and mister Krausz would eloquently present it to you.
These course recommendations start with the state of Indiana. They have to be approved by the state board of education. If we wanna create any curriculum beyond that, we have the right to do that through petition to, the state, and they they give us some flexibility. But that's where it starts for high school curriculum. So what that does is unify the curriculum throughout the state of Indiana so that courses are similar across all high schools. So we're doing our due diligence. Mister Kuznick, there's a little history here. The Board of Education is probably wondering, why are we just now presenting a JROTC
program when this community was rich with military? At one time, we had a military base here, and we did not have JROTC programs. What's the history behind that, mister Cuznick? A little bit of history is they were only allowed to have so many brigades across the county, and at one time, all the spots were taken. Right. So I know when we looked into it several years ago, before my time even here in Lawrence Township, it was not an option for Lawrence Township. Right. Right. And I'm quite sure there were some generals and soldiers, which we had during that time, that did not want their kids to participate.
So it doesn't mean our kids don't exist, enlist. They enlist in large numbers. But this will be an opportunity a great opportunity for us. It'll take us a year to work with the government to get the program here, but we have a lot of students that would benefit from this program. It's also a pathway, guys. Yes. So it gives us another option for our high school kids. Yes. K. I do have a quick question. First of all, thank you to all of those individuals who have spent countless hours on ensuring that our students have such robust opportunities.
I do know some of the path ways given our students and the demographics of the students that we serve. Sometimes when we think about things like the military, they may not be eligible. So just curious as to how we support students in understanding their eligibility, long term for something of this nature. Yeah. Our counselors would work with our students to make sure they understand the long term decisions they're making. And oftentimes, they can get the diploma, and in this case, it'd be an honors seal, an enlistment honors seal that they can get with us even if they are
not able to move on any further after that. And I wanna make sure that I am very clear that this is not a Lawrence Township issue. This is an issue that is pervasive across the state as well as the country. And so I just appreciate Lawrence Township allowing our students to participate regardless if they aren't able to fulfill, a duty in the military. So thank you. Alright. Thank you, board. Any other questions or comments? Alright. Okay. Continuing with mister Kuznick, 3.5 curriculum update, k through 12 English language arts recommendations.
Good evening again, madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board. After a year long robust k 12 ELA process, we are here this evening to present you with information and a recommendation on our k 12 English language arts recommendation. Up first, our director of elementary, miss Natalie Schneider. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the ward, I bring to you the k five ELA recommendations. So we'll first go through just a little bit of history because it's a little messy with the history with, k five. In 2019, 2020, we did a k three ELA review, and you can see that
we adopted, in k one, in third grade, we adopted benchmark. That was for a six year adoption. Second grade adopted ReadyGen. That was a six year adoption. And then we began in that year to roll out phonics resources in grades k through two k through two. In 2122, we did another review for four through six. That year we adopted for four and five, Amplify CKLA second edition, that was for a four year adoption. And sixth grade adopted Springboard, that was also a four year adoption.
But that was also the year that the K three high quality curriculum materials list, was released by the Department of Education, which required schools that were below 70% on the I read assessment to adopt a an IDOE approved science of reading aligned resource. So that caused us to have to go back and relook at the resources that we had for k through three because the resources that we had were not on that list. So we, started doing pilots in k three with CKLA, and those have been in
place for about two to four years. And then we also started, and we started with the schools that were below that 70% range to make sure that we were providing, the right curricular resources, the the DOE approved resources for those, schools. And then that year we also started a full implementation of phonics resources. It's been a combination of resources. We've tried different ones. We, some schools really, latched on to UFLI. Some are doing CKLA skills and Orton Gillingham, all science and reading based, though.
And then in 2425, we adopted Caminos for k five, and that was for a six year adoption. So our current reality, this year was our adoption year. And, currently, our building knowledge curriculum in k through five is Amplify CKLA second edition. Our foundations curriculum continues to be k two Orton Gillingham, U Fly, and CKLA skills depending on the school. In third grade, we have 95% group, which is 95% core phonics, and we're doing
a pilot this year in all of our elementary schools. We did a pilot the year before in one school. Had really great results with Irene. So wanted to continue that and take a look at the data for this school year. And then in April, we did a 95% core curriculum pilot just at a few schools that wanted to, try this out. So as far as interventions, we have not had a formal, adoption. We've been piloting up to this point. So the review process, we had 70 participants representing all 15 schools with a combination
of administrators, reading specialists, ML teachers, our exceptional learner teachers, classroom teachers, parents. We had two teams with those, 70 participants. We broke them up into the building knowledge side and then also foundations and intervention. So each group reviewed, different curriculum materials. The criteria that we used, we only looked at the high quality curriculum advisory lists released by the IDOE. We identified nine priorities that we wanted to, prioritize for selecting that ELA resource.
We did lots of research with ed reports, the reading league, and then each team selected their top three resources for a deeper review. The review process, we met monthly, August through March. We used a standardized evaluation, rubric to assess, and then we made our final recommendations based off of those priorities. So our final recommendations for K five for building knowledge, we recommend Amplify CKLA third edition. For K five foundations, 95% phonics core program. And then for our k five interventions, we are looking at a new product, which
is the 95% phonics lesson library, which coincides with the core program. And then to maintain the targeted interventions that we've been using in piloting, which are the 95% comprehension, SRA, UFLI, visualizing, verbalizing, step up to writing. Each one of those is very specific to the needs of the students. And then we are recommending, a pilot of a writing, framework. Just to be clear, it's not a separate resource.
It's a writing framework. Just trying to make sure that, we have the structures needed to use with our, core curriculum. So I'm gonna turn it over to mister Krausser who's going to present the six through 12 resources. Thank you. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, I bring to you the six through 12 recommendation. As you can see, in 1920, we chose Springboard with College Board, a College Board resource. College Board discontinued that work with Spring Board, so we needed to look at something
new. So through this process this year, we were able to, again, as with the k through five group, go ahead and look at several different resources. Over 50 members joined us. Students, high school students, parents, teachers, and administrators all took part in this process. So it was outstanding. But as you can see there, again, as miss Schneider brought up, the Department of Education has a recommendation for resources grades k through eight.
So for us, we needed to look at also what would be available nine through 12 that aligned. And so that was really a word that that stuck with us was alignment, with groups. So in that, we went ahead and recognized the differences with the how the teams met. So in six through eight teams, we heard from Savas, Lavinia, Haughton Mifflin, Harcourt. And then in nine through 12, we took a look at Carnegie Learning, McGraw Hill,
who has now since moved into Springboard, and then the HMH Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. We also though had a tier three group, which we had not had at the secondary level. So we wanted to look at those supports that we could provide to students who needed tier three support, knowing where we were at with reading and how the arrangements are made right now with grade three and the expectations for grade three. We are serving grades six through 12.
Not all those students have that direct instruction with the science of reading when they were in third grade. So we needed to take a look at interventions that we need right now, sixth grade through twelfth grade. Miss Noderer did a great job with that group. As you can see, our recommendations, sixth grade shows that alignment mattered. And so Amplify does SPY. They do ELA in grade six. So we felt it would be great to have the same resource in our elementary
schools. Again, alignment. And then choosing to be aligned seven through 12 with Haughton Mifflin Harcourt into literature. Again, maintaining some of our previous interventions with SRA, visualizing, verbalizing, and language live with a new adoption of 95% phonics and rewards to again assist with our students. As you're aware, honors level courses, advanced placement, international baccalaureate, and dual credit through IU,
those resources are generally dictated by the universities or by AP and IB as to what we can choose. So we chose then to go through that HMH model in grades seven through 12. So again, you will see alignment with our ELA curriculum. Again, we'd like to recognize some audience members that I believe are here that participated in our k 12 ELA review. If you'd stand and be recognized. And we're happy to answer any questions you can have. Thank you. And thank you again to everyone involved. I know it was a labor of love. Board, are there any questions or comments?
I do have a question. Questions. First of all, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know what a curveball the state gave us when we had to choose from, the list of their required, ELA resources. And so just, again, kudos to Lawrence Township for being on top of it. I know this is ELA, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask about SLA. And so my assumption is that we'll continue CKLA because of Camino's that that will continue as the SLA curriculum. That's that's correct.
The the plan is for those two to be in alignment with each other. And that is amazing. Outstanding. And then in terms of for middle school, what does that look like in the middle school space if you're doing HMH? Do they have a companion, SLA SLA checks as well? Yes. That was a part of our rubric. We wanted to make sure that everybody made sure that we had the, dual language component. Excellent. And then just out of curiosity, I am very pleased to see that to the point that you made, mister Krawsor, is that we know that some of our students,
especially with COVID and so many other things, perhaps their reading skills are not where they need to be, based on their their peers. Tier three instruction, when is that occurring? Is that occurring is there a separate time in the secondary school space, or is that occurring, like, in small group instruction within an ELA block? If you don't mind, just kind of showing Yes. Yes. And yes. Okay. So it will occur during the school day embedded into the curriculum, but then also pull outs into small group instruction.
Outstanding. Thank you. You guys did an outstanding job. Thank you very much. Thank you, miss Dunn. Board, any other questions or comments? Doctor Mulholland? Yeah. I have more of a comment. Thank you, miss Schneider and mister Krausser, for your presentation today, the thoughtful and extensive work of the committee. I just appreciate being, educated and learning about the process from how you made alignment to the previous interventions and foundational work to the new expectations, placed on the district and, just appreciate, again, all the time and thoughtfulness into this work.
Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. We will continue with Mr. Kuznick, 3.6, on the CTE recommendations. Good evening, again, madam president, doctor Smith, member of the board. We're not done yet. We got one more. We bring to you this time of year another quick update on our CTE recommendations. CTE covers a wide range of things. Obviously, tonight we're talking about business and facts. Again, I'll turn it over to mister Krausser. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, gives me pleasure to bring to you the career and tech education recommendations for business and family and consumer science.
Our business program, led by mister John Dawson, our department chair, and with the entire business staff at all three campuses, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, And McKinsey Center For Innovation And Technology. We developed a system to offer many different, course looking at different courses that we offered. So really, this was also a program review. As we move through being aligned with this new diploma, we need to be prepared.
And so with the new diploma and our credentials of value, we needed to make sure we were aligned with both our university partners and with our coursework. And so mister Dawson led with that group looking at, learning Cengage, McGraw Hill, and Goodhart Wilcox. They select selected the option, as you can see there, that meets that works with the skills to enter the workforce or post secondary education pathway now. And this is an ever changing world when we say the word word business and
the curriculum in in business. So as you can see, there are different pathways within the business department. McGraw Hill, we look at for principles of business management, accounting, business administration, marketing, entrepreneurship, strategic marketing, and we're looking at classroom and text, textbooks and online resources. Cengage is our accounting fundamentals, advanced accounting, accounting capstone, and management fundamentals along with business law. And then QuickBooks, Intuit and Certiport.
That's with our advanced accounting, pathway. Our family consumer science program led by miss, Naima Collins, our department chair, who she served for all three buildings also. We did the same thing. I made a formal recommendation to you in the fall, with the community service pathway that came out of this group. Miss Collins, along with members of the facts department at MCIT, l n, and l c reviewed resources for early childhood education, ed professions, which is provided by Indiana State,
fashion and textiles, interior design, social and community services, hospitality management, and culinary arts. As you can see there, we offer a wide range of pathways within our career and tech ed programs. The recommendation for family consumer science, Goodhart Wilcox publisher with early childhood education, fashion and textiles, interior design, social and community services, and hospitality management. And then ServSafe will help us with the National Restaurant Association within our culinary program.
Again, I can't see that far back, so I apologize. I'd like to recognize anyone who's in the audience who helped with our CTE review. Anybody there? Miss Collins will be here. They're at home already. Yes. If that's okay. Yeah. They were somebody who may have been here earlier. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay. Thank you, board. Any questions on the CTE? I do have a question. Done. And this is more about just holistically about our adoption and we know that the state of Indiana has moved to, reimbursing us for textbook adoption. We also know that that, is not nearly enough to cover the cost.
And so I am curious as to do we have the money to pay for these adoptions, or do we need to go out for another GO bond as we've done in the past? Board, we will have the money. How we will pay for that, you will instruct your superintendent. We'll work with you. We can say as of right now, we're not making any recommendations that we cannot afford to do. We will have to do that. As textbooks as, our board member is explaining that textbooks are technically free. Parents don't pay for it. The state of Indiana funds us up to a certain point, and then as a
community, we have to decide on what we're gonna do to pay for that. We have paid for all of our resources without charging our parents since that law has been passed. It is our hope to continue to do that. Okay? And I wanna again say that this is not a Lawrence Township issue. This is a state issue that we are not getting the funding that we need in order to actually provide the bare minimum for our students, which are curricular resources. And in a township like Lawrence Township, we have expectations that our students have very high quality resources, and I appreciate that this board, as well as our superintendent and
those that work with us, ensure that our students have the highest quality materials. And so I just wanna go on record to state that, superintendent. Well said, board member. And if that is something the board will have to look at or advance, we will have deep conversation as a board as to how we're gonna pay our bills. But as of right now, we're making it work. Thank you, mister Miles. Thank you. Good question. Board, any other questions or comments? I do. As we are acquiring, different pathways now, what does it look like for our partnerships?
Are we seeing more partnerships coming in from businesses? Have we had those combos concerning some of the changes and and some of the things being brought in? What does that look like? Yes. We are dependent on partnerships. Mhmm. With with all of this, there's also gonna be an expansion of work based learning Mhmm. With the new Indiana diploma. Exactly. Yeah. We are working right now with partners to help us provide opportunities for all of our students Okay. As they enter into these different pathways. Most of them will enter into an opportunity within their pathway.
Mhmm. Others will go work and learn those skills on the skills on the job that may not necessarily align directly with their pathway. Mhmm. But we are getting them out there achieving those skills that are called for with the new diploma. That's awesome. Okay. That's I just wanted to know if we were gonna have or if we were seeing the expansion in these partnerships with the changes. So that's good to hear. Thank you. Madam vice president, one thing we like to do when we talk to our partners is when they say they're willing to take one of our students, we say, how about five? How about how about 10? You know, we have 1,200 in each grade.
So we like to remind our community that we have a lot of students who are looking for work based opportunities. Very good. Any other questions or comments, board? I appreciate the information on the business pathway. I know that our students can earn dual credits through the post secondary partnerships, which, as we know, the cost of college has gone up quite a bit. And so, I just wanted to point that out, that we're very grateful that they can earn college credits at really no charge Yeah. To the families.
And then to tie into business, just a final point. Our traditional public schools are the market leader in Indiana. And so since we serve 90% of the student population in Indiana, getting that ROI is a return on investment for our future workforce. Yep. Thank you, board. Thank you to the team as well. Moving to 3.7, before and after care updates, the 26, 27 recommendations with miss LaPlante. Thank you. Doctor Smith, president Norman, tonight I come with an update on our before and after
care programming for the district. To recap this school year, as a provider with Lawrence Township, we serve close to a thousand students each week. Last year, you approved that we would try out some other partners. And so for this school year, Indian Creek, had Champions Aftercare, which is a part of kinder care. Oak Landon had At Your School, and Winding Ridge had the YMCA. It was successful in that we were able to decrease or eliminate wait lists at almost every building, so that was was wonderful. As we look at a review of our partners, we did do, a survey in
November to ask for parent feedback. Only one site had consistent positive feedback. Most parents continue to choose MS DLT programming for any of the breaks, with fall break and winter break. And we have had requests from parents that, they would like MS DLT to be their provider again. The ultimate goal was to have one of those three partners take over the three partner sites but that has not come to fruition. And so tonight I'll be seeking approval to allow the contracts to expire and not
move forward with renewal. So that means we have to think differently and get innovative for next year's programming. So as we look at, the progress we made this year, our largest sites, Amy Beveren, Forest Glen, Mary Castle, we were able to fully staff those and to ensure that families were able to receive care. All three of those sites are over a 150 students with Amy Beverelland and Forest Glen at almost 200 students in aftercare. So in a way to make sure that we are continuing to offer services to our families, we are proposing and asking for permission to look at implementing cluster sites
for next year. This will allow our families to still have the programming that they want, but help us to maximize our staffing efficiency so that we don't have to go back to wait lists. So the proposed plan for next year would be that Amy, Beverly, Forest Glen, and Mary Castle would stay as single sites due to their numbers and then we would look to cluster our sites that have less than 60 students. So all of these are around 50 to 60 students. So Brook Park and Harrison Hill with our host site being Brook Park. Crestview and Skiles Test with Skiles Test being the host.
Oak Landon and Sunnyside with Oak Landon being the host site. And Indian Creek and Winding Ridge with Winding Ridge being the host site. So tonight, I will ask approval to try that plan out for next school year, and I would be happy to take any questions you might have. Thank you, miss LaPlante. Board questions or comments? I do. Yes. Question concerning the cluster sites and transportation. Yes. Well, miss LaPlante, I was gonna say that. The the students are not gonna walk miss LaPlante. No. They're not gonna walk. And we have worked in close collaboration, with transportation and mister White, to find the
best solution. And so right now, for an example, when you look at Brook Park Harrison Hill, a Brook Park bus will go to Harrison Hill at 02:20 to load the children and then go to Brook Park. Those children will be unloaded at Brook Park when the other children get on then to go home. Perfect. Alright. Thank you. That was my question too. So thank you. Yes. First of all, thank you for being so innovative. I really appreciate the fact that if families have said that they choose MSD LT as their after and before school provider, that we're making it work.
My wondering is, are parents aware of the clusters and how do they feel about that? We have not made them aware yet because we wanted to do this tonight. One of the things that I do have to say, part of the reason I think that our families prefer us is because of the amazing site leaders we have and, our families have made connections. And, luckily, when I was talking to the site leaders to get their input, I learned that years ago before my time, this was tried out. Yes. And Park and Harrison Hill had done that. And so, you know, unfortunately, this has been a challenging year for childcare in the
state. Mhmm. And, I think most families, will be just happy that we are working to make sure everybody can have care because it is so crucial. I would assume that as well. Thank you very much. What if the numbers grow and we, for some reason, at a school get a 100 show up? Oh, we Could we stay at that site? Could that be a possibility? Oh, absolutely. Stay home. So, really, we're creating this, but if the families have the demand, we will keep them at their stores. Yes. Absolutely. I I do have one Yeah. Miss Lawrence? Question. And thank you so much.
As a parent who has availed myself of both before and after care, it is critically important to be able to offer these services for our families. I I noticed that this just says after care. Have we eliminated before care? No. We have not. Right now, the plan is that before care would be at every building. At every building. That we would still offer before care for all of our families in the morning, and this would just be for after care. And before care, remind me again, is that staffed by the the same people? I remember it being staffed by the same people, but I don't know if that's changed. Changed. Yes. It is.
Quite a few of the before and after care staff work split shifts. Okay. Great. And just one additional follow-up question. I know at some of these sites, we've offered Spanish language as our students, you know, are are in bilingual classrooms. Is that going to continue especially for those, those sites that may not have a Spanish language focus? But, you know so help me understand that a little bit. I know it's super helpful for homework, for example Oh, yes. And and that sort of thing where where we have Yes.
Well and we've really worked to make sure that we have, bilingual caregivers at every site when possible for the homework help. So, yes, that would continue. Thank you. And I am assuming CCDF is still an option for families. Absolutely. And that has been expanded, so our families are aware that that is an option. Oh, absolutely. Yes. Thank you. Mhmm. Thank you, board. Any other questions or comments? I know this is a great service to have for our families. Alright. Thank you, miss LaPlante. 03/2008, the 2728 and 2829 proposed school calendar, plus an amendment of the 2627 school
calendar. Doctor Hass Brown and doctor Thorpe. Thank you, board president Norman, superintendent doctor Smith, and members of the board. Tonight, doctor Hass Brown and I would like to present the proposed academic district calendars for the school years of twenty twenty seven to '28 and twenty twenty eight to twenty nine. But first, I'd like to thank our calendar committee representing school board members, the LACC staff, elementary and secondary staff, school leaders, and our performing arts teachers. So if we have anyone here tonight who served on the committee, please stand and be recognized. Thank you. We have a long history with our community of honoring certain parameters so that our
families can plan year to year, for their school year, and we have those listed here. Of course, a 180 student days and a 185 certified staff days as per our, CBA. We do not start in July. We do not do that. We start in August, and we try, to always end before Memorial Day. Of course, this year is an exception. Every mister Kuznick is gonna have six to seven years. We, the way the holiday falls, we go past, like, this year. But otherwise, we prefer before Memorial Day.
We honor staff professional development days. We try to keep our parent teacher conferences on the same September. We observe federal holidays. We no longer have snow days, but instead do e learning days. And as, you've probably heard, we we are an election site often. And so, on even years, we look to have, the election day be an e learning day asynchronous. That is for safety and to allow our staff to vote. We try to be consistent in our fall break weeks that assist all of our
extracurriculars, Whether that be performing arts, athletics, robotics, you name it, they all count on us having that fall break, spring break on a certain week, for bi weeks and whatnot. And we have our graduation scheduled in June, so these are our parameters. Thank you. Board, any questions or comments? Oh, I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. So based on, the the parameters that were set forth, we have two calendars that we'd like to share out with you based upon the twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight school year.
Okay. So, as you can see, it's it's a pretty good time for us for 2027. One of the things I'd like to high or a couple of things I'd like to highlight is that, for one, we have an earlier return for the second semester, but we also will be able to have two days, that are recognized for President's Day in February. So just a couple of things that I'd like to highlight there. And then if you take a look at the second calendar, we have the same thing as well there in terms of the two days for Presidents' Day.
But this is also a an election year, so we do have in there for the election on November 7 that we would have an e learning day there down at the bottom. And and another thing about this particular calendar is that it's very well balanced. We've really worked hard to try to make sure we have, as close to to number of days for both semesters. Also oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Also, I'd just like to say that this calendar committee was exceptional in that we had the highest participation rate that we have had, since I've been in this position of our committee members submitting feedback to us, and overall, they were just very, very
pleased. So we were pleased that they were pleased, with the drafts we had for them. But also this evening, we would like to bring forth to you a calendar you previously approved, And that is the 2627 calendar, if you would look with us now. Previously, we brought this calendar to you for your approval without an e learning day on election day. And at that point, we were only bringing forth the election day e learning on presidential years. However, with the increased traffic and use of our buildings, it is, we believe, in
our best, just for safety, for collaboration with our community to do this on our all even years. And so we are submitting this as an amendment to you tonight for your, review and approval. That's the only change November 3. And again, we would like to thank our committee. We're happy to take any questions. Yes. Thank you to the committee. Doctor Smith, to go along with that, I believe we've added a couple schools, correct, to our voting sites. Yeah. Doctor Nesmith, would you share with the board? You know, the election board contacts us and, obviously, being one of the larger owners
of buildings public buildings in the in the district, we've agreed to allow which schools? Right? We have seven sites. Five of them we knew about up in, previously. Then about two weeks ago, we learned online that Amy Bevelin had been selected through a Facebook post. And then they called us, emailed us, this past Saturday, so nine days ago, to ask if Crestview could do it. That that you that site, Eastview United Methodist Church there at, 71st Street, they had dropped out the nature school, and so they did it, but then they reneged. And so call Lawrence Township Schools, public schools.
We will help you. We'll host. And so we're hosting at seven sites. Amy Bevel and Crestview, those are new sites. Lawrence North, Fall Creek. Pardon me? Yep. Merry Castle. Yep. Thanks. And Winding Ridge. Yep. So, And you said that begins for the primary. Correct? In May? That's for the upcoming primary here just, early May. Yeah. Okay. Week away. Thank you. Board, any questions regarding the calendars? I just have a clear a point of clarification. First of all, thank you so much. I love the parameters that we hold tight to. Could you just explain I see here it says professional day, elementary, and ELCs, then
professional, half day secondary. And then in January, professional day secondary, middle records professional day. What is the distinguishing distinguish what distinguishes those? Sure. In our last calendar review, as a as a committee, one change that our committee members asked for us, which we've implemented since then, revolved around the secondary professional development day. Previously, in in calendars past, secondary folks would have one day prior to the school
year and then a whole records day prior to winter break. And what we did is we found it would have been a better use of time to do a half records day before winter break and put the other half to the front so they have a day and a half prior to students coming in. Elementary and ELCs have always had the two days. We don't have the records day. And then everyone comes back the day after winter break prior to students for prep professional development as well as time in their classrooms to prep one day before the children come back. So it's the same number, which is split differently for the ELC and elementary versus
the secondary. We have two at the beginning, they have 1.5, and then a point five. Miss Lawrence. Yeah. I just have one quick question. Because I know we weren't scrolling all the way to the bottom. For the second. Graduation yeah. Graduation is still in June for I'm asking both for personal and, public reasons. You're preparing, aren't you? You're preparing for them. We're trying to prep. We got a couple of graduations. Also, board, my secondary team, doctor Thorpe, mister Koussey can also refer to this. We work in advance on location, and we do have secured the location which dictates
our dates. Okay? And it will be at the Fairgrounds, Marta, just so you will know. We're not changing venues. Alright. Thank you for that. Any other questions on the calendars? Okay. Well, thank you again to the team. We will move to 03/2627 proposed Board of Education meetings calendars. Doctor Mulholland. Madam president, I present the, calendar for the proposed Board of Education meetings for the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven year. Thank you, doctor Mulholland. Board, any questions or comments? Once it's approved, I it'll go up on the website.
It will be official. Okay. Thank you for that. 3.1, amendment of cancellation of outstanding checks. Mister Miles. Thank you, madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board. You may recall back in our March 16 meeting, you, priorly, approved cancellation of checks. There was one check that was missed from that that we bring back to you tonight as an addendum to that approval. Again, these must be canceled per statute, after two years, post 12/31. So this one check, it has been paid and cleared, more of a clerical issue
than anything. And we'll just, ask your permission later this evening, to cancel that check. Thank you, mister Miles. And I know we do have that in a board policy as well, although we can't access it right now. But, we appreciate you following along and updating us. Any questions, board, on the outstanding checks? Okay. Mister Miles again, three point eleven, financial update. Yes, madam president. In front of you, we will start with the looks like we're gonna start with the transportation fund. So the transportation fund as of the March, March 31, in in a good place
and very close with, our original projections. Again, as a reminder, our revenue comes in twice a year, so we're still really waiting on, the vast majority of our revenue. But we did get some, a little bit of revenue in, and expenses are trending, just a little behind our projection. So we'll take that, leaving our cash balance, in a little better position than originally projected. And similarly, as we move to the general fund, akin to our education fund, but we'll call it general fund for, purposes of our report.
Again, 03/31 balance, revenue trending, in a good place, a little ahead of original projections, but but fairly, for the most part, in line as well as our expenses. Our expenses just a little ahead. And if you look there at the very bottom line there, I don't crazy, crazy close to where we had originally projected as far as our balance today. I'm pretty sure we won't do that every month, but it is pretty well in line with what we've predicted. Alright. Thank you, mister Miles. Board, any questions or comments?
Yes. Miss Lawrence? First, how are we gonna make up that dollar, mister Miles? Yeah. I we're gonna work hard at it. I promise you. Second. Well and well done. This is I know it's a lot of hard work to get there. The the question I have is more a macro question as it relates to the current economy and some of the, increases I know that we're all feeling in terms of cost. So have we considered adjusting any of our, budgetary items? Are are we getting hit? Are we seeing a lot of that? I know maybe in construction, but Yeah.
We it's a great question. And and, yes, certainly, we are seeing some impacts. Some of our contracts long term, we've we're locked in, and so we're protected on some of those things. We purchased, you know, some of that we've talked about before, fuel and some other things that way. But there's others, utilities, things that are more variable costs. Certainly, we're seeing, we are seeing some impact in that. You know, our budget is set by the state once a year, so we're we're really kinda locked into that. And, certainly, we don't have we don't have we have very little control of our
revenue sources. So, ADM is critical. Recruit, recruit, recruit, retain, retain, retain, retain. And and so we're watching those things closely. Our ADM will be critical. Certainly, our June tax collections, when those come in, we'll be watching those closely as well to see, just to see kind of how we what the rubber meets the road in terms of, our collections versus projections. But, yeah, it's something we're gonna need to watch and, we'll keep this board apprised of where we're at. You know, our our goals are gonna be a little tougher maybe to meet than what we've had in the past.
But, we will, we'll continue to do our due diligence. And and I thank you for that. I know it's a very difficult time to to project anything, let alone a budget the size of ours. As it relates to fuel, because that that likely is part of the the biggest influx. In the summertime, I assume that we have very we have a lot fewer buses on the road. So as we're nearing that, do we anticipate of making up any of the gap? So typically our fuel contracts account for that.
So we'll we, we predict and and have a pretty good idea of how much fuel we're gonna go through per month. So when we purchase when we set our contracts up, that is factored we do see a savings because we're spending less money during those months. Sure. But, it's it's it's kinda factored into where our budget is. Thank you. That's Also, we do transport an incredible number of students during the summer because we do offer summer school. Yes. Not for the high school to transport them because they do their online classes.
Some high school students, doctor Thorpe. But our elementary schools will be teaming with kids this summer as we have our Surma Learning Academy taking place, mister Kuznick. So we still transport kids. Yeah. I just anticipated it being fewer kids. Yep. K. Good questions. And just, a point of clarification for the public. I, like many of you, received my property tax bill, and I saw some complaints online, saying blaming the schools. And I would venture to say, and you can affirm this, that it is not
because of the schools. We have the third lowest tax rate in Marion County. It is because our assessed property value went up. I I would absolutely affirm that. Also, just happy to report to the general public and also a tool on our website. We have a calculator there for, the referendum, the capital referendum that was passed, back in 2019. There's if they wanna look at that, they can always see current tax rate on that and and continue to watch how that drops. I get an email, from one of our community members every year and, always happy
to confirm where those numbers are, today versus where they were, originally passed. And do you know is that on the finance page? I believe it is. I believe it is. Yeah. It's on the business page. And, anyone Okay. A tablet. A tablet or finance page. Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Those tools are always very helpful to share when there is some mis, you know, understanding. Absolutely. But we are in a in a great spot. So Yeah. We're doing all we can. I think it's important to note too for our constituents that we are one of the few districts across the state, especially in Center Township, that has not gone out
for an operating referendum. Yes. Absolutely. So, this galate, Lawrence Township is in a very good place. Yes. Thank you for that. Thank you. Alright. If there are no other questions or comments regarding the financial updates, we'll move into our board committee reports. I will start first with policy. Miss Puckett. Alright. Alright. The policy committee is eagerly awaiting the release of Neola revision packet number 38. Number two, this is an an important policy because the update includes SCA 78, which
is also known as a wireless communication device policy, which requires Indiana school corporations to to adopt a stricter cell phone policy. And lastly, the policy committee anticipates the first reading of volume 38, number two, at our June 8 work session. So just gonna looking forward to that. Plenty cups of coffee and yeah. Thank you for that update. And I know it was timely as well because I believe it has to be adopted by July 1 Yep. Per the state. Okay. Yep.
And all of our friends across the state are working on that right now. It's a hot topic. Yes. Alright. Well, thank you for that. Lawrence Parks and Recreation, miss Dunton. Oh, yes. We had a very successful Earth Day. We also had a very successful spring fling. Don't forget the Forever Young Clubs. We've got Thursday games from eleven to one, Friday fitness from ten to eleven, and then a craft evening, from six to seven on Fridays. Also, mark your calendars. May 9 is the Lawrence, the International Day, and that will be at Lawrence Village
Parkway from twelve to four. And then our Fort Bend Market opens up very soon in June. It'll be here before we know it. Yes. Exciting times for the parks. Thank you for sharing that. And pickleball, mister Crossor. Yes. And every other enthusiasts like us. Alright. We're doing some rehab to the pickleball courts. Just so you know, there is going to be some serious, repaving and getting them so that they will be in tip top shape. They said specifically for you, mister Vest said specifically for mister Crosswork.
Alright. Alright. Thank you for those updates. Now we'll move to foundation, doctor Mulholland. Right. Well, on Saturday, May 16, the Lawrence Township School Foundation will have their prairie dash, the five k, and that is on a Saturday, nine to eleven. There's a registration fee of $25, but, students from Lawrence Township are going to be running and family and community members are all welcome to participate. And all the funds go to Lawrence Township. So and then also June 1 is the for the kids golf tournament. Yes. Thank you for that.
All right. We'll move into our action items. Thank you, everyone, for staying with us. This is a full schedule tonight, but we did combine our work session and monthly board meeting. 4.1, approval of the RFP bid for custodial services. Doctor Nesbitt. Thank you, ma'am. President, members of the board, we submit to you the RFP for custodial services and recommend RGB services for that contract as submitted. Alright, board. All in favor oh, yeah. I'll take a motion. It's so moved. Second. Properly moved, miss Dunn, and seconded miss Puckett.
If there are no questions or final comments, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. We have approved the RFP for custodial services. 4.2, approval of the RFP bids for security services. Doctor Nesbitt. Thank you again, madam president. Board, we would recommend Eclipse Staffing and Secure Staffing and Security for the security RFP. Okay. Entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Properly move, miss Lawrence, and seconded, miss Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments on the security services, all, all in
favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The RFP for security services has been approved. 4.3, approval of the curriculum, committee recommendations. Mr. Kuznick. Madam President, Doctor. Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the the recommendations of the curriculum advisory council as submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Puckett, and seconded, Ms. Lawrence. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. We have approved the k the, curriculum committee recommendations.
Moving on to mister Kuznick again, approval of the k through 12 English language arts recommendations. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the k 12 English language arts recommendations as submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved is done and seconded, doctor Mulholland. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the CT wait a minute. Am I on the English language? Yes. Okay. I jumped ahead. English language arts recommendations, say aye. Aye. Aye. Alright.
The language English language arts, recommendations have been approved. 4.5, approval of the CTE recommendations. Mister Kuznick. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, I recommend the board approve the CTE recommendations as submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved, doctor Mulholland and seconded, miss Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the CTE recommendations, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The CTE recommendations have been approved. 4.6, approval of the before and after care recommendations.
Miss LaPlante. Thank you. Doctor Smith, president Norman, members of the board, tonight I gave an update on before and after care programming, and I recommend that you approve the changes that were discussed. Alright. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Oh. Second. Alright. Properly moved, miss Dunn and seconded, miss Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of before and after care recommendations, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The before and after care record amendations have been approved. 4.7,
approval of the twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty eight, twenty nine, proposed school calendars, plus the amendment of the 2627 school calendar. Doctor. Hass Brown and doctor Thorpe. President Norman, doctor Smith, members of the board, doctor Thorpe and I recommend that the board approve the proposed twenty seven-twenty eight and twenty eight-twenty nine school calendars, plus the amendment to the 2627 school calendar as submitted. Alright. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Miss Lawrence. Second. Properly moved, miss Lawrence, and seconded, doctor Mulholland.
If there are no final questions seven school calendars, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The school calendars have been approved. Thank you. 4.8, approval of the twenty sixth to twenty seven proposed board of education meetings. Doctor. Mulholland. I recommend the board approve the proposed board of education meetings calendar for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven year as submitted. Alright. I'll entertain a motion. Moved. So moved.
Second. Properly moved, miss Puckett, and seconded miss Dunn. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the twenty six to twenty seven proposed Board of Education meetings calendars, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Our 26 to 27 proposed Board of Education meetings calendar is approved. Thank you. 4.9, approval of the amendment of the cancellation of outstanding checks, mister Miles. Thank you, madam president. I recommend the board approve the amended cancellation of checks as submitted. I'll entertain a motion. So moved.
Second. Properly moved, miss Lawrence, and seconded, miss Puckett. If there are no final questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the amendment of cancellation of checks outstanding, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The outstanding check cancellation has been approved. Alright. 4.1, approval of the board oh, did I jump ahead of you? No. You're good. No. Madam president, I move that we treat, action items 4.1 and through 4.15 as consent agenda. Alright. Do we have a second?
Second. Alright. All in favor of treating action items four points sorry. Ten Two. 10 to 4.5. 15 as consent agenda, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. Alright. I move approval of consent agenda. Second. Alright. Moved, by miss Puckett and seconded by miss Lawrence. All in favor of the approval of the consent agenda for 4.1 to 4.15, say aye. Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. And now we will move on, thank you, board, to our administrator and board comments. Would somebody like to volunteer to go first tonight? I know there's been a lot going on since we last met. I'm happy to go. I'll I'll make this really brief because I know all of us wanna get home. But I just I had the opportunity over the weekend to attend, some some music competitions, and I know many of our students in performing arts have been, very diligent
as they've gone into to their ISMA season. So I just wanted to congratulate all of those individuals. I also, this week had the opportunity, I guess last week had the opportunity to attend a Communities in Schools program at Paul Creek Valley Middle School where our site, leader, miss Carmisha Leary, Saddiq. Sorry. I've known her a very long time and I'm still getting used to the addition to the last name. Presented on behalf of Fall Creek Valley in this school district.
And I just want to say how impressive the programming has been at Fall Creek Valley at all of our schools. But it was really nice to see our students there, supporting, and able to answer questions very articulately, and to just to see our schools highlighted in that way. Thank you for that. Would anyone else like to go? Just real quick, a reminder of teacher appreciation week. So make sure to love on our teachers. They change generations. So just a reminder. Yep. Yes. Thank you for that.
Doctor Mulholland? Well, I I think there's just so much to celebrate as we can see. And, I had a chance to attend a a activity at my son's school and just in conversation with the principal just was reminded, and reflecting on, you know, we have so much to celebrate. And it's not just those big wins and the milestones and the achievements, but also just getting through and, working hard, the resilience, and and pushing through in the growth. Right? So just remembering to celebrate both, what we what we push through together and what we accomplished and our resilience and, just just awesome to see all the celebrations take
place in this last month as we wrap up. Yeah. Thank you. I, I just appreciate Dana, thank you for always ensuring that we remember our assistant principals and principals. I know we had assistant principal recognition as well as principal recognition, and so, would be remiss if we did not thank the tremendous leaders that we have. This township for all the work that they do. And, also, just for those individuals who are working after hours on various committees to ensure, that they are giving their input, it is so critical, to ensure that we
have teachers, student, family, all the voices, at the table. And then I saw too that we have teacher leadership academy. Again, thank you to Facebook for allowing us to see, the next, generation of leaders. It was looks like a really good group. And so, thank you for your continued, work on behalf of our district superintendent Smith. Well said, board. Thank you for that. To go along with that, good luck to our students taking iLearn this week. Thank you to our staff. I'm being a mom, go to bed early, get you know, make sure you're there.
But, no, I I know it's a big week, and it's a big push to the end of the year. So thank you to everyone involved. Couple, housekeeping things that's a reminder to myself as well as other fellow parents in the district. The online RSVP is, active now. So if you plan to return to Lawrence, which we hope you do, go ahead and fill that out. And then also, early voting is going on. As a point of clarification, it is not at the old LECC right now. Craig Busch, would you, chime in on that?
And board understand that is not by our choice. The early voting center has moved. Yeah. As you might have gathered with the, we find out a lot of things later. And, they asked us they they give us a heads up that they might move the site to the library on 56th Street, and we said, we really do like hosting that, and we think our patrons do. They're they're familiar with the site. They know to come back. But they made that choice, and that's out of our control. So And that's done by the Marion County Election Board. Now is there a possibility they could switch it back in November, doctor Nesbeth, if
you heard anything? Yeah. They they might switch it back in late October, based on the current, track record here. So, yeah, it's certainly possible. I think they're gonna have some hiccups with parking, and we have a nice new parking lot, new facility there, Craig. So we're hoping they'll move it back. Okay. We'll we'll we have the building ready for them Yeah. Should they change their mind. Yeah. I just wanted to, bring that up. It's at the early voting is at the Fort Bend Library. The hours this week are 11AM to 6PM. I'm saying that to encourage our residents to get out and vote, especially our fellow
parents. The it's a big primary going on. And also May, the early voting is available from 11AM to 6PM if you need time accessibility to due to work schedules. So thank you again. And if that's it, I will turn it to doctor Smith. My my comments will be short. Board, pay close attention to your calendars. It is the end of year, and it is time to celebrate. This weekend, we will be at Lawrence Central High School for our distinguished graduation program. We'll we'll be there to honor those youngsters.
Maybe there Sunday at 12PM. And then, of course, Carla Johnson around the corner is our retirement, our end of year celebration. Just watch your calendar board. We're busy, celebrating our staff and our students. And, of course, culminating with the crash on June, we're graduation at Lawrence Central Lawrence North High School at the fairgrounds. Okay? Don't be late. And the sixth grade science fair is here. Right? The sixth grade science fair, will be here in this building Saturday. Doctor Brown, you just wanna chime in real quick?
Just real quick. We're very excited to host the top three winners from each of the 11 elementaries for a science blood bath or science fair, whatever you'd like to call it. We like competition. We do like competition. We'll be announcing the winners between eleven and 11:30 if you'd like to join us then. Come a little bit earlier if you'd like to walk around and look at some of the projects. Yep. Those studies. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. Scientists. Yes. We will have a packed house board in this building celebrating students, and I can just feel the academia and all the brainpower already. It's gonna be packed sun Saturday morning.
And the competition. Yep. And the competition. Okay. That's all I have, board. Alright. Thank you. With that, our next meeting will be our well, it's gonna be a combined work session and board meeting on Monday, May 18 at 05:30PM here. Thank you again, everybody, for doing the hard work today, and I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Alright. Properly moved, miss Puckett, and seconded to doctor Mulholland.