Um, we are about to start our preliminary determination hearing for the 26 to 29 Mckenzie Center of Innovation and Technology expansion, renovation, and districtwide long-term capital maintenance improvement project. Mr. Matt Miles.
>> Thank you, Madame President. Uh, as you mentioned, this is the second of our 1028 preliminary determination hearings tonight. Um, our first meeting was held on May 18th. And again tonight I'll have guests here with us to explain a highlevel overview. Uh we went through
details of the project and and uh the impact thereof uh again at that first meeting on May 18th. Tonight I've got Hannah Clintenning here from Barnes and Thornberg. Give us a high level overview of the legal um steps that we're going through.
>> Good evening. Uh Hannah Clintenning, Barnes & Thornberg. Like Matt said, um this is the second of two public hearings necessary to get this project going. Um the only difference we have no I mean from a legal perspective, there's no changes from the information you received last time. Uh the only
difference is that tonight at the conclusion of the public hearing, we would ask you to consider adoption of a resolution making the preliminary determination to issue these bonds. Um other than that, there would still be necessary uh legal steps afterwards if we want to actually issue the bonds. So, a few more meetings would need to
happen, but we've tentatively slated those for later in the year. This is just the very first set of approvals that would need to take place. So, happy to answer any questions, but I know you guys have done this before. So, I'll hand it over to Baker Tilly to give their information.
Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Next, we've got Bellevia Gray here from Baker Tilly, our municipal adviserss, to uh explain a little bit about what these uh projects could look like. >> Hi, good evening everyone. As Mr. Miles mentioned uh we were here at last month's meeting and provided a very
detailed overview of all of the financial information. So tonight I'm going to focus on the um focusing on the parameters that are included in the resolutions that are for the board's consideration this evening. So if you go to the next slide, uh here are all a
summary of all of the maximum parameters. You can come down from these maximum parameters that are established, but you can't exceed them. So knowing that we are considering issuance over multiple years, we wanted to build in
some additional conservatism in the estimates that we provided. Uh looking at a maximum borrowing amount of 175 million with a repayment term we have here at 25 years, but that includes multiple series of bonds, none
of which can exceed a 20-year repayment. We're also showing uh we structured this on a single issuance and so because of that the the tax impacts the maximum parameters that we're showing are higher than we're actually anticipating based
upon the the current spending plan if everything moves forward. Uh so we have that on the the tax impact slide, but again we're showing the the maximums here. We structured these based upon 6% coupons. Today, if bonds were being issued, they would be around 4%.
Uh then if you go two slides forward to the tax impact, uh one thing actually go to more ahead. Yep, there we go. Tax impact. Great. Thank you. This is our estimated annual
taxpayer impact slide. One of the main things that the major takeaway from this slide is that we do show tax impacts here based upon the maximum parameters and the current estimates. That's based upon the the estimated issuance of debt which is
quite a bit lower than the maximum there at 8.6 cents because these particular bonds if approved and if you move forward would be uh non-exempt. So they would be issued and subject to the tax caps. What that means is that to the extent
taxpayers are at the tax caps, they are not going to see a change in their overall tax bill. Uh so based upon estimates that have been prepared by one of your working partners policy analytics currently there are about 84% of your residential properties. So 84%
of those properties are already at the caps. So major really over threequarters of your tax base is already at the cap. So they assuming no major changes in assessed value, they would not see a change in their overall tax bill as as
as related to these particular bonds. And related to all of your parcels in the school corporation boundaries, about 74% are hitting the caps. So the rest of the information on here just shows what the impacts would be on various types of property. Uh, but like
I said, majority of homeowners are are not going to be hitting well are already hitting the cap, so they will not see a change in their overall tax bill. >> Any questions on the financing >> board? Any questions?
>> Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Madam President. And just to remind everyone, um, we go back, uh, Miss Blankenship, maybe to the second slide. Um just again the the projects that we're talking about here, we kind of jumped right into it tonight, but we are
again asking for $175 million in this project uh in total. 150 million of that is allocated to our Mckenzie transformation and then the other 25 million uh for our continued continued HVAC and roofing projects. There is a a
schematic um just kind of a conceptual uh drawing or or picture on the next slide. I think it really shows um the dramatic impact that we're looking um to to take place up at McKenzie. And we also have one of our partners, Anna
Marie Burrell, here from Schmitten Associates. They are the architects on the project. Um so we appreciate their support as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Miles. Board, are there any other questions or comments? I know we were able to see this at the previous meeting and ask some questions that were
answered. I do, >> Miss Lawrence. >> So, one quick question. This may be a question for Schmidt. Um, are we at all planning to revise the logo or do like a brand refresh of MCIT as we are in the
midst of this renovation? >> No, that's not currently. >> Okay. Just thought now was the time to ask that question. Thank you. >> I have one quick question. >> Done. One of the things that I was so impressed by the last time that um you
all presented was the fact that there is going to be a staggering of when we actually borrow the funds. So, I think for public record, it's important to see yet again how Lawrence Township is so incredibly fiscally responsible and
ensuring that we are not um that we're not doing anything that would make the taxpayer pay additional money on their tax bill. Thank you, madam board member. Yes. Um just to refresh that and uh uh Miss Gray can come up and and jump in as
well if needed. But in essence, we will be doing um we forecasted three bond issues or three different times that we would issue debt for this. And so we work closely with our architects and our construction partners to know what are the funds that are going to be needed
for that next period and just limit our borrowing to cover that. Um, and then we kind of wash, rinse, and repeat do that through the end of the project. So, we've we've had experience with some of these long-term projects with our high schools, um, those those referendum projects. So, it will follow a similar
cadence even to our middle school project. So, yeah, we're we we don't want to go out and borrow all that money right up front. Um, the interest expense um would certainly impact us much greater. So, we want to we want to avoid that. >> Just Yeah. Oh, go ahead. No, just want to say I appreciate the intentionality.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> That's Miss Smith Lawrence. >> Um, don't go too far because I do have a follow-up question. Um, the follow-up question I have is, you know, we've seen the market fluctuate quite a bit ahead
of suspected interest rate rises that could happen >> as a result of the May jobs report, for example. >> Um, do we have any protections in place as interest rates fluctuate? Obviously, this is going to be a multi-year build, something that we're going to be pay be
paying off. What are our asurances that we aren't going to then need $50 million more or or something along those lines? Well, unfortunately, I can't give you any assurances, but I ca but I can tell you that um we worked
very closely with the administration and all of the working group partners to uh put together a plan of finance that's based upon construction estimates that I think are I believe are taking into account all of the all of the estimated
escalations that are going to occur uh over the next several years. So that's one protection is on the construction side the the est cost estimates. Then on the the financing side the places where we put in the protections if you will is we put together the plan of uh finance
based upon higher interest rates than what we see current rates of as of today. And so we utilize a 6% coupon when we put together these estimates. today if we were issuing bonds they would be at around 4% for um for the duration of for the repayment term that
we're looking at. Uh then the the other thing that we would take into account is we also assume that the length of issuance would be over the all of these projects could be completed and paid off within 25 years which is certainly still within the useful life of these types of
uh improvements. And so if we needed to, if we were seeing where rates were or the construction timeline was a little bit delayed, we would then be able to stagger or put the payments together in a little bit of a of a different way to um to make sure that we're still accomplishing the goals that were set
forth from this approval. >> That's very helpful. Um I do have one follow-up question, Dr. But can you um give give us some understanding of how we've uh locked in the construction costs because that obviously is a a big component of this.
>> Sure. Uh we've targeted June 24th, right? June 24th uh that we that our construction managers and and our architects and we're meeting several times a week and we have been for months. Um that by June 24 we will have a price locked in that a guaranteed
maximum price that we're anticipating. And then, you know, we'll have we'll have a bidding process and what have you. So, >> and we've had projects in the past that have come in under that guaranteed maximum cost. Correct. That's maybe a question for Mr. Miles. >> They all do. Yeah, >> they all do.
>> They have to. Yeah, it's guaranteed maximum price. Yeah, >> thank you. >> I do have one other question done >> and I'm sorry I did not ask this previously. I was just thinking about my visit to Compton in September and they
just have a beautiful CTE space. Some of the things that I was thinking about in their spaces were um some of the amazing um just kind of the um dolls, for lack of a better term, that they're working on in their nursing
program. um some of those type of you know the the actual things that the students need in order to actually learn the skill and the craft. My assumption is is this inclusive of all of those items and not just the construction
because those things can obviously cost a significant amount of money. >> Yeah. And and we we build in a very very hefty FF fixtures, furniture and equipment um budget for this project because of that. There's a lot of very uh highcost products in a career center
>> and they're just they're so high-tech, too. I mean, they're absolutely incredible. Absolutely incredible. So, thank you very much and I apologize for the delay in the question. >> Okay, board. Any other questions? I did have one quick one about slide eight.
Um it was just given uh regarding all of the development going on, residential and commercial in Lawrence Township. Um, if our assessed valuation actually grows, how will that impact the 00861%
tax rate? >> In in very simple layman's terms, as the AV grows, the rate comes down. >> Thank you. That's how I appreciate it. >> All right, board. Any other final
questions or comments? This is a public determination. So, is there anyone from the public who would like to um speak or have questions? >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Miles. I will close this out.
>> Was the word I was looking for. >> Now, we will be opening our our work session. >> Information items 3.01, Blue Ribbon Facilities Updates with Dr. Nesbet. Thank you, Madam President. Members of the board, Dr. Smith, let's take a look
at blue ribbon phase two, your update here for June 8th. Uh I altered a few things on that slide. We don't just duplicate it every time. Um but again, as we mentioned, the Mackenzie Center that we're really coming together here by the end of the month, we should have pricing for that. Craig Academy, um the
main lobby is getting worked on right now in the PD room and the boardroom. And then um our classroom additions are are wrapping up here in the next two months. And let's take a look at our guaranteed energy savings. A lot more highlights on there now. Um we're hoping to get more and more in the blue and
there's a lot in the green there because it's summertime. So, uh starting a week ago, um we got really going hard at a lot of our buildings. So, there's a lot of activity going on where you see those green highlights at those facilities. Cresty Elementary, we got painting going on. We finally got dried out enough in there. You can see a corridor and a
bathroom there. And then, um also one one thing we're able to do in this project, that's the existing building. We're able to get new carpet in there and then do some touch-up painting. So, refreshing some things in the existing building. We're happy to be able to do that. Forest Glenn, there's a look inside a classroom and then a bathroom
uh minus the fixtures, but some neat tile work in there. And then there's the playground being demolished uh there on the left. And then on the right, there's the uh the main area of the uh renovated area outside the six classrooms. Mary Castle, that's the front. The sidewalk
is going away right now as we put new sidewalk in there. And then Craig, there's your old boardroom and what's left of it. That's the the DES there in the back. And then you can see the DSM pieces there in the front. On the right, that's the notary of PD room. Uh under heavy renovations.
And what else? Oh, uh left. That's upstairs. Uh big. We have a really big neat quarter. I think I mentioned that last meeting. And on the right is a sharing place. And they took possession of that again today. Uh so they're moving back in uh starting today. And then Sunnyside with roofing going on again. That's that uh that second slide
showing the highlights. We have Sunnyside roof going on. And then I think we also have Yep. more Sunnyside. Uh and then Winding Ridge. Winding Ridge is about wrapped up. Just doing some sheet metal work and couple weeks left there. So that that concludes your blue ribbon too. We'll have a lot more
exciting pictures. Busy time of year. So on the 22nd we'll have a lot more pictures for you. >> Thank you, sir. board. Any questions or comments? >> Miss Lawrence? >> Dr. Nesmet, I know that we had talked in the past about how Craig had some asbestous cleanup. It's been a minute
since we've talked about that. So, I just wanted to kind of get a quick update for members of the public that may have been following around that conversation. >> Yeah, we as we do with any of them, we hit that. We bring in experts. We abated uh that and removed all of it at Craig. We we try to remove it as we go through.
Some districts will just cover it up and encapsulate it. Um, but we do try to take care of it whenever we run into it anymore. >> Thank you. That's all. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? >> Okay. I think you shared this or maybe
we had it in our notes, but um I read that all the three elementaryaries will be up and running and ready to go now for the 2627 school year. >> We have the the foot on the gas uh and we're we're pushing hard, but yeah, that that is the intent and uh Bernie and
them for seen that will happen. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dr. Nesbbit. Moving to 3.02, our 23 to 26 strategic plan update. Mr. Knicknick, Dr. Hos Brown, and Dr. Thorp. >> Good evening, President Norman, Dr.
Smith, members of the board. We're very pleased to bring to you tonight um some information regarding our strategic plan, an update, and information about next steps. As you recall, um we've been working under a strategic plan the last three years. Um we worked prior to the
creation of the plan with uh Dr. Kramer JRK Consulting who is here tonight. Thank you Dr. Kramer for being here with us where we spoke with focus groups um stakeholder meetings and gathered many points of input to create this three-year plan. And since that time, as
you know, we've been bringing to you updates each year, doing um updates quarterly on the website for the public to view. But now, as we close out, as we're getting to the end of the 2026 or this the 2526 school year, um we're
ready to share with you some summaries in each of our six pillars. We have division members ready to share those um as well as talk to you about next steps. And so, um we'll start with Mr. Knik. Madame President, Dr. Smith, members of
the board, there would be a lot to highlight in the world of academics over the last three years. So for this evening, we wanted to share the success of expanded access to advanced learning and college and career pathways. That's looked a little bit different at all three levels. At the elementary level, uh we have increased access to high
ability. So we now have high ability in one shape or fashion or another at all 11 of our elementary schools. At the middle school, we have focused on increasing access to advanced high school coursework. And now, as a default, all of our middle school students leave high school with at least
two high school, sorry, leave middle school with at least two high school credits. Many with more, more than two, many starting as early as seventh grade. And at the high school level, we continue our work on high wage, high demand pathways, whether that's our work at McKenzie with career and technical
pathways, our work on increasing credentials of value. And you heard a lot of those statistics read off at the graduations last week in terms of the number of students who are receiving things like dual credit and Indiana College CPS, which is a collection of 30 uh college credits. Um, and that work
continues. Uh also in terms of our strategic plan, we'll be continuing our work in terms of monitoring the implementation and adapting to the new Indiana ADF accountability model. Uh we've already started this work, but we will continue our work of aligning our systems, our supports in place, our
instructional practices, all making sure that we continue to emphasize literacy achievement, mathematics achievement. Former math teacher loves that. Uh and of course all of our graduation indicators >> for our culture pillar. We have our 66 educators that are now certified in the
applied educational neuroscience uh work with Dr. Lori Desatel through Butler University. And as we continue that momentum, we will have a train the trainer model that will take place in the coming year where we will have
trainings throughout the school year where um leadership teams from each building will then go back to their schools to train other educators to keep the work going. And now, Miss Johnson with staffing and
people. As we continue with staffing and people um as we look at the reduction in emergency permits, that's one area that we feel um that we've actually put a good system in place. It's a continuous um area to examine as we hire people
that have emergency permits, but we've put together a system that annually is tracking and communication to those teachers and also offering them the ways in which to obtain um their initial practitioners license. So, that's just
been a huge area for us that we feel very proud of. And then the area in which we want to continue to work are our exit surveys when employees resign, retire, whatever the reason. Um just gathering that information. Um, we're
proud that we actually have a systematic way of gathering that information, but then being able to monitor what we do with that information and how we then communicate that to others in the district who can help supervise um, principles and leaders with the right
way in which that information is provided to them. So, it's either a reflection, a growth, or just simply acknowledgement of people's feelings. Thanks. Now, we look at facilities. Uh during that 23 to 26 period, we closed out blue ribbon phase one, which is of
course hit all 23 of our campuses, all of our buildings. And now we're in phase two, blue room phase 2, where we're going back through all those buildings. That's what you just saw some pictures of. And of course, we also we talked quite about Mackenzie. That's going to be the real big thing we see here down the coming down ahead of us.
>> And next, Mr. Harsha with technology. >> Good evening. As you can see there, uh over the uh period of time here with the strategic plan, we've been focused on making sure that we continue to provide our students and our staff with uh top-of-the-line technology. And so, as
you can see there, we have continued to maintain our onetoone refresh plan, grades 2, six, and nine for our students. We also during this time frame have been able to replace um laptops for our teachers and for our administrators. And then you can also see there we have
also been able to provide our maker spaces at the elementary and middle schools um with new 3D printers and also our elementaryaries received uh class sets of VR headsets with some really great curricular resources just to support our rigorous instruction and our
uh STEM um initiatives there. Continuing work. Uh we continue to work on this and this is actually part of our summer focus in the technology division. Um this summer we've got to take a thorough look at all of the resources that we have out on our website and the district website um that supports parents. There
are a few that need some updates um in terms of the links and also the content. We want to make sure that it's accessible in uh all languages and also that we've got some userfriendly guides with photos and videos um that will take those resources and u make sure that
they're helpful to our families. So that's our ongoing work. On the on the finance side, uh we really touch all the different areas. Um you know, in essence, making sure that funds are available, budgeted, allocated, and tracked. Um that we're watching all the
goals that help helping all those departments meet their goals and really for the from a success standpoint highlighted just two areas. Our annual raises that we've been able to to give to all staff each and every year and and really competitive raises at that. U we're proud of that. And secondly,
touched on this a little earlier this evening, those elementary space expansions are nearing completion and on budget. Um there those were just specifically called out in that strategic plan and continued work. Uh we've got a communication here, but it really communication, collaboration.
It's we've really seen great strides forward in that. I think that's going to be even more important as budgets become tighter and and funds u are going to really need to be watched closely that those continued meetings that we've developed over the last couple of years um working on our budgets, watching our
goals and making sure they're aligned. >> So for our stakeholder survey and working with Jerk Construction, we had the three online versions of the survey. We had um 400 I'm sorry, 542 responses in English, 61 in Spanish, and
11 in Haitian Creole. We um actually sent the survey out multiple times to all of our schools. We sent the high schools the survey and encouraged them to submit this to our student leaders to get more of a student representation. We targeted certain schools to increase the demographic um information that we
wanted um just to contact certain families. And then we also extended the window. So, we worked really hard with with Dr. Dr. Kramer to make sure that we had um a good representation of our families. And so we had 614 respond. If you look at the second page of those uh
respondents um you can see where we had the representation from um our black student, our black families at 45%, Hispanic 32. Um that's our enrollment, but the number of responses 25% 8% 58%. It's slightly off, but we are pretty
happy with what we did um receive from our community in terms of our demographic respondents. And then on the next page, you can see who they were, who responded. So, we have our students, um 353 of our PAM, family, parents, and guardians. Um we have certified staff,
classified staff, administrators, and then just other community members. And this was the group that made up our 614 respondents. So what did they say? Um Dr. Kramer helped summarize for us some of the overall survey findings. You can see and go through with me the strengths of our
district. Our stakeholders identified that we have a very inclusive culture that our curriculum and cultural events represent the students we have in our district, our families. Um stakeholders also identified that our academics, post-secondary offerings and career pathways are a strength of our district.
We love to hear that. and of course our high-quality facilities with blue ribbon. Um challenges that our stakeholders identified in the survey, concerns of safety and behavior, testing pressures, technology and phone policies, and that's both ways, having
the phone, not having the phone, and gaps in communication. And as we reviewed these as a team and thinking about how to navigate the changing legislation that we are facing, um we are bringing forth some focus areas for
this year as we look to extend this work uh one following year to the strategic plan. So what are areas that our stakeholders have shown us and we know uh we should be focusing on in this coming school year? aligning our academics, our communication, our
programs with our student identities, their interests, their needs, and maintaining those high-quality facilities, continuing blue ribbon uh part two, making fiscally sound decisions, supporting safe instructional environments for all students, um
providing clear, timely, and accessible communication with families. And that accessible means many different things, languages, uh different modes of communication, all the above. And finally, why we're all here, increase student achievement. We are would welcome any questions from
our report. Thank you to the team. I know this was a long process. Thank you, Dr. Kramer. Um I was privileged to be involved at the beginning of this when they had a wide group of stakeholders um to start this strategic plan. So with
that, board, do you have any questions or comments? Okay, Miss Dunn. >> Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. Kramer. I don't know that we've had the pleasure of meeting, but your work certainly has provided such a roadmap. So, thank you for the the work that you
have done um to create this and wow, so many things to celebrate. Really, so many things to celebrate. Um I did have just a couple of questions and I do apologize for not having them sooner. I think as some of you know my hus my husband goodness gracious my son got
married and is now a husband over the weekend and so it was a whirlwind. Um but I had just a couple of questions. Um and you may if this needs to be tabled to answering them later that is fine too. Um but the one question I did have um because I love the dashboard. That's
another thing that I think we have to really celebrate is the fact the transparency that the district has inure in ensuring that our public can see exactly where we are um with the our our goals and where we are in tracking them.
So the one question I had um for you Miss Johnson is with regards to tracking the retention of all employee groups by building and division. I saw that we were 50% on the dashboard and so was just kind of wondering if that was something that we may continue if that's something that we feel good about. So
just kind of an update about that. >> Okay. >> So it was on the dashboard >> on the screen. >> Um that particular goal um is an area that I think revolves in continuous work as we partner with technology. >> Okay.
>> Um we are about to launch a new munus. >> Yes. um improved system and so we found that um how to do this in a way that was more sustainable and not by hand of every division and tracking that became impossible. Um it really has to be done
systematically through munas. So that's why that one just kind of flatlined. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that update. And just uh one other question. Do we anticipate having another dashboard in similar kind of goals as this just I know it's a one-year strategic plan, but kind of how are we
envisioning that that may look like >> always. We'll continue to do it. >> Excellent. Thank you so much for all the hard work. Truly, thank you. >> Board, any other questions? Dr. Mholland, >> thank you so much for um going through
the presentation of the strategic plan and the goals um met and the summary from 2023 to 2026. So I just want to go back a little bit. You mentioned the high ability was implemented at all the elementary schools. That's excellence. What year did that happen?
>> That occurred way back in the first year, I believe, of the three-year plan. Looking to M Schneider to confirm that. >> 2425. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I just was curious and um to see what those impacts will be in in these u future years. Um and I just I just want to say a comment.
I appreciate um how thorough the presentation was today. So I could learn um you know we we see a lot of high quality work and now we see the evidence of of why um we see a high quality district in terms of the planning and the reduction in emergency permits, the
um the refreshing of of how we communicate with um our families. So, thank you. I know we rely so much on on communicating virtually. So, thank you for the work that you're doing from a technology perspective and um
um so much to say, but I just wanted to say thank you. It's great. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Smith. >> Madame President and members of the board, I just want to remind you this is a one-year extension. uh since I've
served as your superintendent, we've always operated under a strategic plan, but we're going to be extremely uh smart and extend this for a year because there are some major things that are on the horizon. Number one, Matt
Miles, we saw the changes with Senate Bill One. We know our state legislature will meet in January and potentially have some more major changes. Mr. KZnik A throughF accountability is coming to a theater near you with major changes. So
we're going to delay a year regroup once we find out what we are held accountable for or what we have to deal with financially and then we will move forward very strategically and smooth as a school corporation. Dr. Kramer, I thank you again. I know you work with
several other school districts in the city, although I believe you belong to us and only exclusively, but she is an enterprising lady and does very good work and we appreciate what you do for us. She's also a Lawrence North Wildcat, but we're proud of that. Remember that.
So, we thank you. >> Thank you. She's in her wildcat green, too. >> But, um, I just wanted to comment, too. Um it you would think it's a given that every district would have a strategic plan. And what we've learned um throughout our time interacting across
the state and even other um other states is that not every district has this. And so just having that visionary and then also being on the board long enough that we've seen a lot of this come to fruition with the roll out of the high ability programming to all of the schools as well as the expansion of the
dual language offerings. So this is really exciting. I also wanted to point out too that at the time this was rolled out, it was presented as a working document, correct? To to adjust because as we see legislation and other things
change. So I'm assuming going forward into the next year, it will also continue as a working document. Um but I wanted to thank everyone involved on the work for this. Thank you, Miss Dunn. >> I um I want to say Dr. Smith. Um, as
somebody who is daily, unfortunately, um, on the sidelines of the negative impact that some of this has had on the school districts in central Indiana. I want to praise you for your continued work and strategizing
to ensure just like this right here is a prime example of one year so we can figure out what is in the best interest of our township. And it does not go unnoticed. And I just want to say thank you for your leadership because it truly as I think about this evening and um you
know the fact that we don't have to go out for a referendum. Um you know there is going to be a potential you know for some homeowners a tax increase but the fact that the strategy that goes behind every decision that is made in this district does not go unnoticed. So thank you for your leadership.
>> Thank you board. Thank you team. If there are no other further comments or questions, we'll move on to the meat and potatoes of board work 3.03, Neiola policy updates. Dr. Harshburgger. >> Madame President, Dr. Smith, members of the board, this evening, I present to
you NEOA revision packet 38 number two. The revision packet encompasses 44 rep revised policies and is in response to recent legislation, local, state, and federal law. This is the first reading.
>> Thank you, Dr. Harshburgger. Board, any questions or comments on this first reading of the packet, >> Miss Dun? >> As a former policy working group member, thank you very much to both of you.
>> This is a heavy pack. >> I just wanted to add actually I wanted to say um thank you. Thank you. I know we're the policy committee, but I don't think people know the thoughtfulness that goes and it's actually the admin team also on how many policies go directly to the admin leadership. And so, while we are the policy, this
couldn't be done without the admins um the thoughtfulness uh behind all of it also. So, I just wanted to send my gratitude for the collaboration that this policy committee has. And so, thank you to all of you. you do the heavy lifting and um I just kind of read
through it and all that good stuff. So, thank you so Thank you very much. >> I do not, >> Miss Lawrence. >> I I think it's maybe a misnomer to call it a committee because uh Miss Pucket, it's you and it's it's you. So, it's two
people. It's maybe like a policy duo that goes through all of this information. So, thank you both for the work that you've that you've put into this. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. And um I had a comment about it. I've been able to I read
through some of it because this was quite a big packet. >> Yeah. And because we're also parents in the district, I wanted to highlight policy 5136, the personal communication device, because that's perhaps the one that we're getting the most questions about
from fellow parents. Um, effective July 1st is when that the law takes effect and that's what this policy has been revised from. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. And so there will be a time time frame where it will be rolled out July
1st. But this is available on the LT website for other parents and people who are wanting to see what the policy is looking like. >> Correct. >> I didn't know if anyone else had any questions or comments regarding that. I know Dr. Smith had shared with us that
there will be communications rolled out um over time to the schools, to the staff, to the parents before school starts. >> Absolutely. That is correct. So, thank you for your work on that as well. >> Absolutely. Pleasure.
>> Once again, the state law gets changed, then we have to change our policy, then the student handbook changes. >> So, we're seeing how it rolls down. >> Yeah, that is the emphasis there that these are state mandates that this is not something that we are choosing. It's things that we have to move forward from
the state. And so, thank you for bringing that up. And yes, we are looking forward to um outlining and having some clear guidelines on what that looks like for this upcoming year. So, thank you. >> Thank you. All right. If there are no other questions or comments, thank you, Dr.
Harsh Barger. Thank you, Miss Pucket. Moving into our action items. 4.01, approval of the resolution for the 1028 preliminary determination, reimbursement, and related matters. Mr. Matt Miles. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, at this
time, I recommend that the board approve the resolution for the 1028 preliminary determination, reimbursement, and related matters as submitted. >> I'll entertain a motion. >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Properly moved, Miss Pucket. Seconded, Miss Dunn.
If there are no further questions or comments, all in favor of the approval of the resolution for the 1028 preliminary determination, say I. I I >> I Any opposed? >> All right, the resolution has passed.
>> Mr. Miles, >> Madam President, if I may, I would would like to thank our partners from Schmidt Associates, Anamarie Burrell and Jen Carroll for being here tonight against just demonstrating Schmidt's commitment to Lawrence Township all the way at the very beginning of projects and we look
forward to uh everything moving forward with them. So, appreciate them being here tonight. >> Yes, thank you for being here. 4.02 Approval of the Personnel Report. Miss Johnson. >> Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Smith, and members of the board. We'd
like to request approval of the personnel report as submitted. >> I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the personnel report. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Properly moved, Miss Lawrence, and seconded, Miss Pucket. If there are no
further questions and comments, all in favor of the approval of the personnel report, say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The personnel report has been approved. Administrator and board comments. Miss Dunn.
>> Could you pass that? >> I just want to say that I was driving on North Franklin Road earlier today and saw a bus full of children getting out at an apartment complex. Um, and it's just a reminder that the work does not
stop. I think, um, some people think they're misinformed that teachers and educators have the summer off. Um, but I know that summer is probably the most it for me at least, it is one of the busiest times. Yes, there are some reprieves, but um, want to thank you for the work to make sure that we have
summer offerings for our students. Um, and I know that you are doing work behind the scenes to make sure that you're preparing for an outstanding beginning of the 2627 school year. So, just want to name um our educators are always working hard. >> Well said. >> And they're very appreciated for it.
>> Yes, we saw the yellow buses today. >> Yes. >> Well said, Dr. Maholand. >> Well, I wanted to say a special thank you for the free summer meals program um brought to us by the MSD of Lawrence
Township School District. Um you can find actually doc um President Norman has um the menu and the information on her web page. So if you go to Facebook and check out um President Norman's page. I want to keep calling you Dr.
Norman. President Norman and um just check it out. It's amazing um all the different sites. We've got the school sites and the community sites and these meals are really really good and so very grateful. There's a lot of behind the-scenes work that happens um to meet
the needs of our students. So, thank you. >> I took your words, Jessica, behind the scenes. >> Well said, Miss Pucket. >> I am grateful. Last week, we all know that graduation is a Super Bowl of education. And so, it was an honor to be
able to see those kids go across that stage. You don't know what it took to get across that stage for some of those students. And so, that is always a highlight of the year for me. And I also there's so much more that I want to say, but I'm going to save that for Dr. Nesbbit and u Mr. uh or and uh Dr. Smith
also. Um there lots of good stuff happened over the weekend. So I'm looking forward to them highlighting the track awesomeness and I'll leave that there. Ellipsis there. >> Great handoff. Thank you, Miss Lawrence. >> No, I just echo the uh comments by Miss
Pucket. Um it is always the best time of year to be able to hand all of those diplomas to those kids and woo we had a lot especially from Lawrence North. There are a lot of kids on that stage. So uh thank you to the families, the school district, teachers, administrators, everybody who plays a
part um in making sure that our community is successful and uh continues to uh raise the bar when it comes to our graduation rates. >> Thank you. Well said, board. Everyone's shared what I was feeling. Always a joy
to hand out diplomas over 1300. Dr. Smith >> is correct. >> Um and as mentioned the uh summer summer programming has started again as as well as year-round preschool and also with the community eligibility uh well we
have the community eligibility provision which we're very fortunate to have in our township. But um I did have a question from a community member and they asked, "Do you have to be a Lawrence Township student to take advantage of the summer meals?" And I
said, "No, anybody under 18 can come take advantage of that at these locations." So, thank you again for providing for our community. >> And at that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Smith. >> Thank you, Madam President. Number 13, graduation 13 for me was very special.
was lucky 13 and we did cross 1,300 students and so that is a blessing to see that many students earn their diplomas from Lawrence Central and Lawrence North High School. I don't know if that's a record in the history of the township but since I've served as superintendent which now it's a long
time that is the largest class. So we we saw this bubble coming to the high school it is now here and we saw them graduate. Dr. Dr. Naz, will you share some athletic updates and will you share with the board that Lawrence Township is a very special place from a facility standpoint? We hosted the state
championship and we're also this weekend hosting a semi-state championship. That's right. Uh we built some new facilities as you saw in blue room phase one and that's been noted that combined with our geographical location and uh I guess the administrative ability to host things. We've been asked to host a few
things lately, including the first IHOA boys volleyball state championships. Those are held at Lawrence North recently. And then this weekend at Lawrence Central will be hosting the semi-state baseball. Again, we built those turf facilities, LED lights, you know, superb facilities. People want to use them. And then we have the good
athletic directors and high school administration that can host those facilities, host those uh tournaments. So, that's a good feather in the cap for the district to get people on campus and see it. Uh, and then yeah, back to the point about how we do in track. You have a great track history. I was just mentally trying to think how many track
state titles we have in the district. I think off top my head I'm thinking at least seven. Uh, but nonetheless, this weekend um, our girls LC team won the 4x1 championships. We have state championship and the 4x1 relay and then we had a couple other uh, all state kids from both LC and Lawrence North that all
state finishing top eight in the state finals. So very, very good weekend for us. And grant it is Indiana and we still love basketball. We had three Indiana Allstars. >> We did. Yeah, we we are very active all-star, both girls and boys. Lawrence Cash was represented this weekend at uh
at the All-Star games. >> All right. Thank you everyone. Our next monthly board of education meeting will be here again on Monday, June 22nd. It will begin at 6:30 with student recognitions. At this time, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved
>> second >> properly moved Miss Pucket and seconded Dr. Mahalid. Thank you and have a good evening.