-: Looking at the high school expansion and renovation and district-wide facility project. -: Good evening, Mr. President, members of the Board, Dr. Spray. It's a pleasure to be with you this evening. Jeff Quackenbush. It's always fun to come back to my home school district, Perry Township Schools, and see what's going on here and everything, so thank you for having us here this evening. I will lead off by describing to you a little bit about what the purpose of the public hearing is and the order of which things will occur, then I'll turn it over to the folks to start to do the presentation, and then we'll conclude with the actual opportunity for public comment.
This is required any time you are going to have a project financing of the size that is gonna be discussed this evening. This is one of two public hearings that we will have that have been advertised in the newspaper at least 10 days in advance. The next one will be at your May board meeting, at the beginning of that, and then at that May board meeting, there will also be a resolution presented that's known as the preliminary determination resolution for your consideration. That will then establish certain maximum parameters if you approve that preliminary determination resolution that will be described this evening,
and that will set the ceiling at what we can do with respect to the financing and the project over the next period of time. I wanna underscore, most importantly, that this is a preliminary determination. There will be a lot of steps along the path that you will have as a board and as a community to decide exactly what those projects are, and what they will consist of, and what you will do as you go through the construction document phase, as well as the bidding phase of each of the projects. So this in no way obligates you to proceed with these projects, should you at any point in time decide as a board
not to proceed with 'em because of either budget issues, tariff issues, inflation, interest rate issues. This is merely a requirement that we have to do to give you the flexibility to be able to pursue that should you wanna do that in the future as we go through the process. So, tonight's presentation, we will first have a presentation by Dr. Spray that will sort of give the background of why we're here this evening, the process that the school board and the school corporation has gone through in connection with evaluating some of the needs, especially at the two high school facilities and what needs to be addressed there.
Then after he provides that background, he will then turn it over to the construction professionals from Lancer and from Skillman to provide both an overview of some of the current concepts that are going to be provided to potentially address some of the needs and solutions at both of those high schools, as well as then an overall estimated cost for those projects. Then that will be followed by a financial presentation that's been put together by Baker Tilly and Stifel, Nicholas, to provide both a tax rate impact as a maximum, as well as certain other financial parameters
as far as borrowing amount, term limit, things of that sort. After those presentations, then that is when you as a board would open it up for anyone from the public comment to provide questions or comments specifically about the project and the financing presentation. There will be other times during the board meeting tonight at which people can provide public comment as general under, as you have at every school board meeting, but the comments and questions at this point in time will only be available with respect to the project and the financing. Those can be people who ask questions, who speak in favor or who speak against.
After you adopt the resolution, if you do adopt it on May 15, we will then publish a notice of that preliminary determination, and then that will trigger a 30-day period during which we would wait to see how the community responds. If they respond with no request for you to do any additional community approval process, then at that point we would start to go back through the old financing process that you've gone through before with respect to the possible issuance of general obligation bonds and/or first mortgage bonds through your building corporation. That will occur over several months, and will only happen once we get further into the design phase
and the construction phase process. So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have on this overview, general overview, and if you don't have any then I'll turn it over to Dr. Spray to move into his part of the presentation. Thank you very much. Dr. Spray? -: Thank you very much. Like Mr. Quackenbush had mentioned, my job this evening is to kind of talk about kind of how we've gotten to this point and how we are ready to move forward with the public hearings and that sort of thing as we consider to sell bonds for a pretty sizable project that will impact all of Perry Township, and be located at both the high school campuses
for now as well. So, as we go back over the course of the last couple of years, we did some work with regards to a demographic study, which was conducted by Dr. Susan Brudvig. And this purpose of the demographic study is simply to understand kind of where our enrollment is, what the characteristics of our enrollment are in Perry Township, where we might see growth, and where we might see declines in enrollment as well. Going forward, I think it's important to have those studies updated on a regular basis to understand kind of where we need to be
as far as numbers of classrooms, types of programs, those sorts of things, as we take a look at both construction and renovation of spaces. We also took some considerable amount of time really crafting a strategic plan and some goals for the school corporation, those both academic, behaviorally, programmatically, and then also with regards to finances and facilities as well. And so it was important to kind of do the background on the demographic study, kind of get an idea of what those needs are and what those goals are,
and then also take a look at fiscal capacity to be able to achieve some of those goals. Where are our opportunities? What can we handle fiscally over the next term, whether that's short-term borrowing or longer-term borrowing up to 20 years in bonds in order to achieve some of those goals and be able to offer the opportunities that we want our students to have and our community in general to have at that point in time. Part of that, too, is taking a look at that impact on tax rates, okay, and taking a look at what the impact is on the total tax rate of the school district, understanding that, you know,
we only have certain amount of capacity for that, and what decisions made today, what kind of impacts those may have in the future as well for additional projects as they come up over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years as well. And then also what we're doing, we started with a comprehensive facility study starting at the high schools, understanding that those facilities have been not touched recently, and in quite some time as far as renovations, taking a look at, you know, keeping up with maintenance
of those sort types of things, you know, our physical and and electrical components and that sort of thing, you know, what needs attention in the short term. We've always had and have worked on a 10-year plan where we identify, hey, these roofs, these chillers, these air conditioning units need replaced on a regular basis, but is there a way we can tackle some of those larger projects in a shorter period of time if we group those together as as one larger project as well. And understanding that all of our kids in Perry Townships feed up through our high schools, okay,
so that kind of also helps define kind of the why we started there. And then, you know, quite frankly, our high school programming has changed the most during that period of time of these last couple of decades, just with a greater emphasis on career and technical education, a greater emphasis on workforce development, a greater emphasis on a lot of different things that maybe they weren't designed for in the past. We've had a lot more student programs and student activities that keep students engaged, and we wanna make sure our facilities are there to help bolster that, and not inhibit that activity and those opportunities.
We continue to take a look at, once we kind of have that background as working with our administration and with our leaders at the different buildings to kind of, again, understand how their facility's being utilized, where do they feel like the pinch points are in their buildings, either based on the number of enrollment that kids are interested in. You know, if we have science classes in spaces that really aren't built for science, is that problematic? We have, where we had maybe family and consumer sciences at one point in time was the point of focus,
now it's culinary arts. Do we have facilities that help enhance those programs as well? And so it was really working with the people with the boots on the ground and how they make those things. Also, you know, taking a look at other programs, not only from our special education programs, where they're located, how that has kept up with our population, as well as our English language learner programs. And so it's just a real programmatic look on what we have that now and what we could have potentially that would help, you know, increase the capacity of those programs, but also the effectiveness of the instructors
and the students in those programs. And I think the last thing I just wanna mention is we talked a lot about, you know, if we take a pretty sizable approach to some improvements, is what are we gonna do to be able to enhance the programs of more and more students and more community members? What are some things that are gonna bring those assets to our community and maintain those assets as well. And so we feel like we really, and once Lancer Associates kinda lays out, I think it'll demonstrate that we have, we're touching a lot of academic spaces and specialized spaces
with some career and technical education, those kinds of things. We're addressing safety of our facilities and how we move students in and out, particularly at Southport High School. We're taking a look at how community can utilize spaces as well with some of the fieldhouse orientation and those types of things, and just really touching on all of the different, both our academic, our curricular, and our co-curricular programs, and our community use of the facilities. So, at this time I'd like to introduce Misha with Lancer Associates. We'll kind of go through some of the, I'm not gonna use the term "plans,"
because we're not quite to the pen and paper. We're creating blueprints, but a lot of the concepts that we've narrowed down to. -: Okay, well, thank you so much Dr. Spray, members of the board. Thanks for having us here. Misha with Lancer Associates Architectural Company, and I was doing the facility assessment study as well for all of the two high schools, and walked through them, and kind of looked at all of the spaces there. So here you can see some of the preliminary ideas about what the future project might hold.
And, again, these are very preliminary ideas, and if this project moves forward, I'll be very surprised if it's kind of the final project will look exactly like this. A lot of design decisions will still be need to be made during design phases of these. But I will just kind of go through some of the major portions of the projects that were identified with administration and kind of from us looking at the buildings themselves. So, starting with Southport High School, I've highlighted in... Sorry, Perry Meridian.
Yes. (chuckles) Starting with Perry Meridian. The highlighted in yellow is the auditorium. We will be looking at some of the renovations, including some of the backstage items that need maintenance, kind of curtains, rigging, and all of those things. We're also looking at performing arts centers, just making sure that they're kind of tight right now and a little bit inflexible, so seeing what we can do with through the renovation to increase flexibility inside of them and increase usability of the spaces
that are currently there. Moving further west up on the north side, you'll see a classroom addition on that north side. We're looking at possibility of how can we move some of the special education department down on the first floor. That is possibly one of the solutions of how we can do that, because currently all of your special education department is up on the second floor. We're also looking at some of the renovations to FACS and art rooms that are just not meeting your current curriculum needs in those spaces.
We're also looking at some pretty major addition to the cafeteria space. Your cafeteria is currently not meeting your needs in terms of kind of how many square feet you need per person based on the population of Perry Meridian High School. So we're looking at kind of increasing and pushing the footprint into that courtyard space to the west of the building. We're looking also at this high school really relooking at the central plans. So that's your mechanical systems, your chillers, your boilers, and other things,
just because those things have been getting close to the end of the life cycle, and with those renovations we'll also be able to increase efficiency of those systems as well. And then to the south of the school, that will be the major portion of this project is the new fieldhouse or student activity center. So that will be a facility that will accommodate a lot of your both PE and extracurricular activities as well. Speaking to your administration and people in the school,
you have practices going from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM, just kind of back to back. You really don't have enough space for both kind of sports and color guard and all the other spaces that require that sort of space, so we're looking at possibly adding kind of forecourt facility with kind of space around it for a jogging track around it. We're also looking at possibility of adding a wrestling addition to the building. Wrestling program is growing and growing very fast,
and currently even at Perry Meridian High School, you can kind of see a science room renovation there. That science room has been taken over for wrestling because it was just, there was no space for it. Also be looking at some locker room renovations that are just kind of been loved over the years and need some renovations, and also looking at a little bit at some site circulations just to improve, kind of adding a couple drives there. And then on the second floor there,
again, the auditorium renovation, as well as on the south side of the building we have a few classrooms that are interconnected, so you'll need to go through one classroom to get to the next classroom, so that's not ideal from privacy, sound control, just kids getting distracted perspective, so we will be looking into separating those classrooms, cutting corridors there. And then moving into Southport High School, starting on the north side. We'll re-look at some of the parents' drop off things,
kind of how it all circulation is happening and making sure that the traffic doesn't back up. I think that there are different ways that we can solve it, and that definitely will go into kind of more gear during design process. We're still looking at possibly two options for where is the bus parking going to happen there, and depending on where the bus parking is going to happen is also going to inform where is going to be a more secure lobby that will happen at the school.
Currently there are a lot of different entrances that the students are using, going through metal detectors. Kind of it takes a lot to enter the building, so trying to create a large open lobby space where a lot of students can come in at the same time, and you can still filter, go through all the security protocols for all of them. So, yeah, kind of the lobby spaces that you see, all of them can function as that space. On the north side of the building that kind of you're looking at a lobby space
for the gym there, so creating kind of a new face to the building, creating a little bit extra space for crowds to spill out and having a little extra space just to breathe, I guess. We're also looking at classroom addition there on the north side. Again, a lot of the special education department here is also on the second floor, so looking at spaces, how can we move students down to the first floor. Down on the south side, on the southwest side, that is the career technical education space
that we are looking at adding to this building, so looking at possibly having three different labs. I think there are still ongoing conversations about what exactly is the nature of some of those labs, but allowing a lot of flexibility right now to kind of make sure that we can get you any sort of space that is needed there. Again, renovations to the auditorium, similar to what is happening at Perry Meridian High School, as well as also adding a fieldhouse and a wrestling room here, kind of a similar concept there.
And renovating the locker rooms and weight room around the gym itself. And then to the south, just because we're taking over some of the parking areas, adding some parking, and also the band practice area as well. And then on the second floor, again, that classroom addition is going to be a two-story addition. The classroom addition at this school is larger, just because that is the high school that, based on demographic study, is the more growing one. We're also looking at summer renovations
to the existing FACS classroom, so that's family and consumer sciences, as well as re-looking at some of the offices or other spaces, seeing how we can better utilize those spaces, as well as a few restrooms that just haven't been touched in a while. Again, this is just kind of a very general overview of the major portions of the project. There are definitely will be other portions as well looking at a lot of other spaces, but this is kind of the bigger and larger components.
And from here I'll turn it over to David with Skillman to talk more about budgets. -: Thank you, Misha. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Spray. I'm David Yancey with the Skillman Corporation. We're the construction managers here. And what you're reviewing right now is the consolidated version of the detailed scope that had the priority needs of 1, 2, and 3. It is the similar scope after we identified those needs with the same estimates. And there's three parts to what you're reviewing. There's a Southport part, there's a Perry Meridian,
and a 10-year maintenance item we'll get to here shortly. What you're reviewing here is for Southport High School, three components: the building addition, which is a fieldhouse, the CTE, career and technical education, academic classroom, et cetera, of what we have our conceptual estimate of 53 million. Interior renovations, all the upkeep inside the building, student restrooms, the lower support areas for the fieldhouse, office conversions, we have that estimated at 10.9 million.
And also all of the infrastructure upkeep, which is the building envelope, miscellaneous items for HVAC upkeep, which equates 11.4 million. Similar to Southport, we have Perry Meridian, again, building additions of 34.5 million with the fieldhouse, special education classrooms, interior renovations of locker rooms, classrooms, performing arts, of 16.1 million, and infrastructure upkeep of $8.5 million. And lastly, we have district-wide projects
of roughly 3.5 million. That's for any of the upkeep for your miscellaneous HVAC, electrical upgrades from around the district. The total there of 138 million. 138.7 is your direct construction costs or your bid costs. Underneath that is your construction management costs, bonding and insurance, staffing and fees, and which you'll equate to construction contract total, or what we say are guaranteed maximum price of $152 million.
Outside of our GMP or guaranteed maximum price, you have our soft cost, which is your furniture, technology and equipment, and cost of finance, which equates to a project total of $175 million. This is for Southport, Perry, and the district-wide projects. Thank you. -: Good evening. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm Tyler Loeffelholz with Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors, and I'll be walking through the financing of the proposed project. I'll first start off by showing you what your current outstanding debt looks like. And you can see that in 2026 you have a large decrease
in your annual payments, and then in 2035 is when all of your current debt will be paid off. And what that large drop in 2026 allows you to do is issue additional bonds and not increase your tax rate. And if you don't issue bonds this year, and you do let your rate fall, it wouldn't really be lowering anybody's taxes, because there are so many taxpayers in Perry Township that are already at their caps, so what would happen is a lot of the funds that you are currently receiving would just be distributed to other taxing units
that are overlapping with you. So you do have this large drop which helps you be able to issue a large project. And if you look at the next page, this is a calculation of your general obligation bonding capacity, and the calculation is 1/3 of 2% of your net assessed value, and then you subtract any GO bonds that you have outstanding. On the left side, you'll see what your capacity is right now. It's at 12,550,000. And if you waited until after July, when you make some July payments on your outstanding bonds,
that would go up to 23,180,000. So, if you issued anything higher than these, they would need to be first mortgage bonds. On this slide is a summary of $175 million bond issue, and that does not all have to be issued at once. It can be split up into multiple bond issues, and the maximum term would be 20 years per series. We estimate the total interest expense over the life of the bonds to be 147 million, and the maximum annual debt service payment
would be $25,724,000. And like I said, we would do this without increasing your current debt service tax rate, which, with your non-exempt and your exempt combined, currently is at 51.48 cents, and we would aim to keep you right where that is currently. On the next page is a visual of how that would look. The orange and blue bars are your current outstanding debt, and the green bars are the proposed $175 million, and you can see that you will still have some drops in there
in 2027 and beyond to issue additional bonds throughout the years as you have more needs that come up. And that is all I have, but I'm happy to answer any questions anybody has. Yes. I have one over by my seat. Mr. Lewis: I've got a question for you. If I heard you correctly here, we've got the ability to issue up to $175 million in bonds, correctly? -: Right. -: If we do not issue the full $175 million, we could potentially lose that difference
to other taxing units? Tyler: Right. So, if you let your rate drop, your portion of all the property taxes collected would go down, and since so many people are at their caps already, you have a significant hit here, and it would just redistribute a lot of the dollars that you're currently getting to the other taxing units that overlap. -: So later on down the road, we wouldn't be able to potentially request additional dollars due to us not being able to get them? Tyler: And then if you let your rate drop,
and then any bond issue that you do down the road would then increase your rate, which you wouldn't want that. -: But just to be clear, at $175 million, the tax rate does not change, correct? -: Correct. -: All right, thank you. Tyler: Anybody else? Thank you. -: All right, so we're gonna open up to public comment. I know a number of you signed up. Just to be aware, there's kind of two rounds of comments. This round is for the project as it's been outlined here for us this evening. If you had other comment
related to maybe another agenda item or something unrelated to the project, when we call your name, I would ask that you just let us know that you're waiting. But otherwise, at the moment I'm gonna read through the names signed up, and if you are here to make comment about the projects as outlined, you'll just come to the microphone where our presenters were this evening, and you'll have three minutes to share. Keep in mind if you're new to the process, the three minutes is for you to make comment, share your ideas. This is not a back and forth conversation, if you will, with the board;
however, we will have the opportunity to make comment as well. So with that, we'll go ahead and start. Ann, you are first. Were you wanting to make comment about the projects this evening? -: Well, it sounds to me like a referendum is gonna be in place. Is that correct? I know you can't answer that question, but I did get a letter from Perry Township Schools saying that, "Please know we do not intend to bring forward a referendum," yet on the back page of the budget proposal
from the February 24th meeting, they give a date of June 16th of that being the last day for a referendum process. So, I don't see how the community is gonna pay $175 million plus the $147 million in interest without taking from the community again. The community already has two referendums ongoing, which is costing the grandparents of the students,
and most of you seem to know each other. I'm the only person that they don't know, (chuckles) unless, you know, you guys know me. But is it fair to the community to ask for more money? My referendum cost went up $115. My taxes for this year went up $572. I have a modest home, so I'm on the lower end of the scale. Can you guys in good conscience ask for more money
from the pockets of people who, you know, a lot of people have medical costs that they would like to use that extra money for, or a vacation or appliances, and why do, as long as referendums are in place, why do teachers keep getting raises? Why do you hand out $500 bonuses to every employee that has been here a year? How is that responsible? How's that good stewardship? How do all you guys get very generous increases in pay,
increases in benefits, you know, every pay period, and you still want to reach into the pockets of the community. How can you do that? We don't need fieldhouses. We don't need wrestling rooms. We don't need tracks. We don't need auditoriums like Broadway. We don't need weight rooms. I mean, that is a very high cost for things that are really not necessary.
You know, the students are gonna be here for four years. These referendums are gonna go on for 20 years. You know, it seems very greedy to me, it seems very unnecessary, and it seems like, I don't know, you're just abusive to taxpayers. (chuckles) I guess that's a good... Mr. Shively: That was your three minutes. If you could wrap up, please. -: Yeah, I'm just saying that I think it's abusive to taxpayers, you know,
that you feel like you're trying to justify that amount of money. Mr. Shively: Okay, thank you, Ann. Next is Heidi Roll. And again, Heidi, just as a reminder, you have three minutes for comment. Let us know what you think. -: Good evening, members of the Perry Township School Board. My name is Heidi Roll, and I come to you tonight wearing two hats. First, I'm here as a CIP teacher at Southport High School alongside my colleague Jody Egan, who's also a CIP teacher. CIP stands for Comprehensive Intervention Program, and our classrooms serve students who qualify for special education services
with disabilities ranging from mild to severe. We are here tonight to share concerns about our current classrooms and what we hope to see included in the upcoming building renovations. Right now our classrooms are on the second floor, which creates significant safety challenges. In an emergency, our students cannot use the elevators. Between both classrooms, we are responsible for evacuating up to 22 students, many of whom who have physical, emotional, or cognitive needs that slow down the process, especially when alarms cause fear or sensory overload.
Using the ramps can take seven to 10 minutes, and we often require help from additional staff who could be assisting in other areas of the building. It's not... Excuse me. It's not sustainable, and it's not safe. Relocating our classrooms to the first floor would not only improve emergency response times, but also allow easier access to nurses, administration, and the possibility of our own bus lane, reducing transition times for our students and maximizing learning time, as well as reducing the distance between buses and classrooms where there is a possibility of elopement.
Beyond location, our classrooms have needs that a typical classroom does not. We need restrooms with privacy, changing areas, and, ideally, showers. Several of our students require assistance while using the restroom, or are not toilet-trained, or require support with hygiene. Currently we have to block restrooms in order to maintain dignity. A shower would allow us to teach hygiene and respond to accidents more effectively. We also teach daily living skills like cooking and laundry. Right now our kitchen and washer and dryer are in the same room where we teach academics.
The heat and noise interfere with instruction. We need separate ventilated functional spaces to support skill-building without disrupting classroom learning. Our floors are carpeted, which poses hygiene risks due to frequent spills and bodily fluid accidents. We clean them ourselves, but it's not ideal for health or sanitation. Non-carpeted flooring would be safer and more practical. Lighting also matters. Fluorescent lights can trigger behaviors in some of our students. Having sensory-friendly lighting and designated calm down spaces like a sensory room would make a significant difference.
Space is another concern. Our students learn best in small groups, and many require adaptive equipment like wheelchairs and Rifton chairs, which we currently store in hallways during the day and in our classrooms at night. We need larger classrooms with proper storage to support effective instruction and protect valuable equipment. Finally, it is important to note that Southport High School is not fully ADA-compliant. There are absolutely no ADA push buttons. This limits access for staff, students, and visitors. Installing these doors would promote safety and encourage student independence,
which is one of our biggest goals. Now, on my second hat, excuse me, I speak as president of the Southport Adult Athletic Booster Club. We run on campus concession stands, including the one located in the upper level of the historic Fieldhouse. Mr. Shively: You are at three minutes, if you could wrap up. -: Obviously there is no elevator access to the second level, therefore products must be carried by hand, and patrons with mobility issues cannot reach concessions. I propose adding an elevator at the northeast corner of the high school where stairs currently are located that also have access to the fieldhouse.
In closing, there are needs that must be addressed for the safety, and others that should be addressed for dignity, access, and learning. We appreciate your time and welcome any opportunity to discuss these further. Thank you for listening, and for your continued support of our students. Mr. Shively: Thank you both. Next is Erica Shell. Okay, and, Erica, you'll have three minutes. Whenever you're ready. -: Good evening. I come here first as a parent, but I also have a recent comment from a parent that I cannot attend. For myself first, I'm a parent of a student
that's been in the band program at Perry Meridian High School for two years. His two years there has grown him academically and socially and has given him skills that he would not have had otherwise without being in the music program, so we do definitely support the renovations at Perry Meridian High School and the arts department, because they're desperately needed to continue supporting and growing our future kids as well. Now, on the other parent's comment is her son is an orchestra. He has battled finding a place
where he fits in to his school. He has dealt with bullying and low self-esteem. Music is what drives him. He has a love for the instrument and the instructors. All the students put in so much effort and time into their music. Their instructors and students deserve an upgrade to the music facilities. Please make our music-loving students feel as special as the sports student. And that's from Kara Morris, parent of a ninth grader at Perry Meridian High School. Thank you. Mr. Shively: Thank you both. Next is Jim Leach.
Again, Jim, you'll have three minutes. -: Thank you. As many of you know, Perry Township has run four referendum campaigns, three of them successfully. Vivian and I were involved in three of those, and often get way too much credit for their success, because those passed because the community trusted the school board and administration. So, as you move forward with this, communication, perception, all those things are very important, because in, what, four years, we have to go back and ask for a renewal, and we don't want to be a Franklin Township
where they no longer trust the school board or the administration. So as you're making these decisions, communicate as clearly as you can, and keep in mind how people perceive things. I've heard complaints about using the word "fieldhouse," because the Southport Fieldhouse is sacred. And so what word you use there so that people understand you're not touching the Southport Fieldhouse. That's a perception that could cost votes when we need a renewal. I also understand enough about the financing
to know that this is not going to change our rates, this does not require referendum, but obviously many people do not. It's a very confusing topic. So the better we can communicate that, then when referendum renewal time comes around, it's much easier, because they continue to trust you, and you continue to lead us well. So that's my comments is I think there's many good things in this. You have a long way to go in it. Keep that in mind, otherwise, $20 million is at risk in the operating budget if we can't pass that referendum in four years
because of some missteps at this stage. Thank you. Mr. Shively: Thank you. Next is Vivian Leach. Again, Vivian, you will have three minutes. -: I, too, am also a parent of two graduates of Southport High School. We have our first grandchild who's going to be in the Perry Township District starting in the fall, so although our kids are finished, our grandkids are just starting, and we are still members of the community and of this township. What I would like to speak to tonight
is the classrooms that need to be built at Southport High School. We currently have 12 staff members that are on carts. They go from classroom to classroom to classroom. If you've ever been in Southport High School, that's not an easy feat. They may be in a math hallway for one class and be in an English hallway the next class, in science the next class. They are everywhere. We talk often about kids making connections with staff members. That's awesome, and that needs to be done on a daily basis,
but if you can't find the staff member, you can't make the connection. And as a staff member at Southport High School, we can't find them either. So you think they're one place, but they may be someplace else, or a person has had to leave their classroom so that someone else can use it. It's very important that kids are allowed to make the connections and know where they can go to if they need to talk to someone, if they need help with something, whatever they need. That's what this whole thing is supposed to be about, is about the kids.
It's not about being top-notch of any kind of facilities. It's to have adequate facilities, and right now we do not have adequate facilities for our kids. Mr. Shively: Thank you, Vivian. Next up is Kelly Gray. Again, Kelly, you'll have three minutes. -: Good evening. Thank you to the board, Mr. President, and Dr. Spray. My name is Kelly Gray. I'm a parent of a Perry Meridian High School student who's benefited greatly from the music program. They were never a music student prior to joining the high school band, and now they do four separate music initiatives.
I'm here today to support this initiative because I know that the arts can be transformative for our students in all areas of education, and I just wanna make sure that our teachers and our students have safe, stable, and nurturing environments when they are at school, and making sure that the building is the way that it should be. So, yes, I would just ask you to support this initiative and make sure our students have everything that they need. Thank you. Mr. Shively: Thank you, Kelly. Next, Adam and Stephanie Campbell.
-: That would be me. I didn't know what I was signing up for. Mr. Shively: Okay, very good. -: Just thought I was signing in. Sorry. Mr. Shively: No worries. We're glad to have you anyway. Next then would be Ben Danner. And Ben, you have, as always, three minutes. -: Did it start when I stood up? Sorry. My name is Ben Danner. I'm a Perry Township resident, and I feel I can share a unique perspective on why this high school renovation project is so valuable to our community. As an alumnus, teacher, and parent of three kids that are fourth generation attending Perry Township Schools,
I also coach, volunteer, and as well I'm involved in our youth sports program. Some may say I live and breathe Perry Township. When I heard about this proposal being presented, it got me excited about the possibilities and opportunities it presents to our school district moving forward. By the looks of the renovation project, I'm glad to see the sixth largest township in the state of Indiana is addressing this in several capacities: extracurricular flexible spaces, security, and updates to classrooms for future needs. We have very hardworking students, teachers, families, coaches, administrators, and community volunteers
that deserve to have the necessary facilities to continue to excel in music, theater, and sport from a young age on through the years to high school. We need to create a curb appeal that will attract families to see the possibilities and continue to be proud of what Perry Township offers. This township has had a vision of serving its community in the past when it built the Fieldhouse in 1950s, one of the nation's largest high school gyms and best venues to watch basketball. But those were different times, and today, facilities take on different needs. Walk into a high school today and you will see a variety of activities going on
before and after school. Sports team for both boys and girls, musical and theatrical groups, clubs, as well as robotic competitions. These are just a few of the requiring needs more flexible spaces and places beyond our current design. The township understood that a strong financial commitment was needed in the 1970s to support two high school model, given more opportunities for kids by creating two bands, two choirs, and two sets of varsity programs. In Perry Township, we realize that if kids are engaged in school,
they want to stay in school, they wanna enjoy school, and help create a positive climate that will grow stronger, creating connections and memories that lead to students wanting to return to raise their own children, like I do. I know that these same conversations take place at Perry Meridian High School as well. I've had discussions with coaches, parents, and concerned community members from both sides of the district interested in growing our youth programs and being able to compete at all levels, but without the necessary spaces and places, the gap will continue to grow, and our inability to compete against other schools in our sizes will continue to be our inability to do that.
With our current facilities, scheduling a time to use the high school court, getting a gym at the middle school or for a youth practice or even finding the time in elementary gym are sometimes slim to none. Our schools service community centers, with groups using our buildings all hours of the day. I've nicknamed Southport High School Fieldhouse the Madison Square Garden of high school stadiums, because as one of event is finishing up, they're getting ready to set up the next one. An investment in this renovation project is a commitment to the past, the present, and the future of Perry Township. It would allow us to provide even more opportunities
for our students and families of all ages. It would be a commitment to all stakeholders that we have the facilities to compete at the highest level. This investment would continue the vision Perry Township has had that understands the value of giving kids opportunities, and we can continue to meet the diverse needs of our community for years to come. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share that I'm excited for the possibilities of this renovation project moving forward, and I know what it means for the future generations of Perry Township that we will continue to call Perry Township home. Thank you. Mr. Shively: Thank you, Ben. Next is Kris Brennan.
Kris, you, as with everyone else, have three minutes once you get rolling. -: Good evening. I'm Kris Brennan, and I'm a resident of Perry Township. This is my 19th year teaching in the district, and both of our daughters graduated from Perry schools and went on to earn college degrees. The quality of education and support for the arts, along with the innovative growth mindset, was the greatest factor in choosing to buy a home in Perry Township and raise our children here. We moved from New York, so you can imagine, we look at the taxes here as a huge discount,
so, you get what you pay for. So, in my time here, I've seen the district grow so much. Look at this beautiful building we're in here tonight. I've seen adding on kindergarten academies, sixth grade academies. I've seen us add onto the elementary schools. I've seen us add onto the middle schools. In 2020, I spoke with an administrator, a district level administrator who is no longer here, and I said, "When are we going to add onto the high schools?" And I was told, "Kris, don't worry about the high schools.
You'll be fine." We're not fine. We're not fine at all. In my school, we have 12 teachers, as Vivian had mentioned, that are on carts. That's just the teachers who are on carts. There are still additional teachers sharing rooms, but they're not considered a cart because they have a room part-time of the day. So, we have a number of teachers who are sharing rooms. There's no place to prep. I'm one of those teachers. I gave up my classroom so that a new teacher who came in could have a classroom.
The other teacher who we hired just this year, she travels from room to room to room. I don't teach math, where I could maybe carry my stuff on a thumb drive or on my Chromebook. I teach visual arts. So, imagine that. I teach first floor photography. I've gotta take 25 kids upstairs to go get cameras, bring them back downstairs, go do our activity, bring 'em back upstairs to put the cameras away, because the next period I teach in a different classroom. So, this goes on.
When I was... Lemme see. Hold on. Sorry. We have grown each year, so since in 2022 the course request was 700 students taking art. In 2025-26, 1,280 students requested art. So, we're growing. Students want to be in the art rooms. What we're doing works. They feel like they belong, because the arts teach community, the arts teach learning. Students don't come to us. The art's the vehicle. But what they walk away with is they understand how they learn,
and that's the most important thing that we can ask. And really when it comes down to it, we talk about teachers and not having classrooms, but it's not about the teachers. It's not about us. It's about the kids. How does this affect kids? Well, I already told you about, you know, walking up and down stairs to get places, but I can tell you that we are teaching art in two of our four, well, I should say three classrooms, 'cause we're hoping to get a fourth next year. Two of our four classrooms aren't even art rooms. And I know this goes for Perry Meridian as well.
We have students washing their hands in buckets in classrooms. Lee: Kris, you're three minutes if you could wrap up. -: And using baby wipes. Thank you. So our rooms must serve multiple purposes. The content areas, if we're talking about print media and literacy, how do you put that up in a classroom? How do you promote vocabulary when there's four different content areas taught in a classroom? So what I do is I implore you to look at the needs of the classrooms, education, because if we can't provide the best education for our students, what are we doing here? Mr. Shively: Thank you. And since I have the microphone, I'll share,
there is the Perry Township Art Show this Thursday and Friday evening at Perry Meridian. Next, Christina Parker. Again, Christina, you'll have three minutes. -: Please bear with me. I do have a testimony from a parent who couldn't be here tonight as well that was sent to me. I come to you as a parent of a Perry Meridian grad and as a parent of a Perry Meridian senior, and we have been involved in a lot of the music. My son was in jazz band. My daughter has spent four years in marching band. It is a lot of work, and it is so worth it
getting to know her and all of her friends. I've seen her grow in so many ways. She's in the art program, so those classrooms are just as important. I've seen a lot of kids who are in sports. My nephew, went to college on a sports scholarship. Those programs, all of these programs help our children grow in so many different ways. She has become such a leader, which you don't necessarily see on a daily basis, but when we were doing comps, she was one that was always there. She was always ready to help.
And all these kids, as we see them in freshmen, and they're nervous and they're young and they don't know what's going on, and then you see them as juniors and seniors, and now they're the ones pushing everyone else, and they're stepping up, and it's a great place for them to grow and become just these wonderful young adults in the future. My husband and I have supported the marching band for all four years, both through our hard work and time, as well as through our business, and because we feel very strongly about it. We love what these gentlemen have done with the program and how hard they work for our kids.
And we've seen a lot in the... (chuckles) and been there to be able to help support that. The other parent says, "My name is Napa, proud parent of a Perry Meridian Orchestra program grad." She's writing to express strong support for the inclusion and prioritization of music facilities in the renovation project. "Our music programs play a vital role in the development of our students, providing not only creative outlet, but also fostering discipline, teamwork, and a strong sense of community," and I cannot agree more with that. That is amazing to see.
"The PMHS Music Department has made significant strides in advocating for improved facilities, and I believe this investment is not only warranted but essential. As someone whose child has benefited from the outstanding instruction and opportunities provided by the department, I've seen firsthand the positive impact these programs have on our students' growth and educational experience. Supporting these renovations is a direct investment in the wellbeing, culture, and future success of our students." Bless you. "My son, Nathan, who graduated in 2021 from Perry, received his music education from PMHS
throughout his high school years, which our entire family is forever grateful. He's now doing very well, about to graduate from Purdue, has been a music director at our church for over two years, leading many kids in music education. I respectfully urge you to continue supporting our music programs by ensuring adequate and modernized facilities are a part of the renovation plan. Thank you for your time and dedication to the students and families of Perry Meridian." We support this as well, and we thank you for your time. -: Mr. Shively] Thank you, Christina. Next is Mikayla Parker.
And again, Mikayla, you'll have three minutes. -: I am a senior at Perry Meridian High School. I have been deeply involved with the art and the music program. I have, like my mom said, I've done all four years of marching band. I've greatly, like, enjoyed it. I've grown. I've met a lot of people throughout the school who I think if I hadn't have been in that program I would never have met. I've met people on like the sports teams. I've seen people who will join the sports teams, and they'll become a whole nother person in more positive way
because they'll be surrounded by people who love it. I've seen how my little cousin grows on the basketball team. She's found her own group of friends who I think she's really started becoming more of like herself around. I'm in positive support of the renovation, because I think our band program deserves a better room, because the room that we have right now does not fit our needs in practice, and being able to store all of our instruments,
and being able to make sure all of our students can fit in there properly. 'Cause the band program does grow every year. I am excited to see the art room renovations, 'cause one of the rooms that was marked specifically for art is actually a study hall room that was turned into an art room. It doesn't have a sink, it doesn't have any of the accommodations that the teacher needs. She always has to come into the other rooms to be able to help her students wash their hands whenever they're doing 3D art and working with clay,
or whenever they're working with paint. She'll have to come to the other classrooms to borrow supplies. She has to, like, go to the other teachers for help whenever she can't use her own classroom for it. So I think the renovation is a really positive thing in just the programs I've alone seen. I can't speak for the other programs, but it's really important that this happens for the fine arts. Mr. Shively: Thank you, Mikayla. Next is Eric Smith. Eric, you'll have three minutes. -: Hi. I am a Perry grad from '97.
I have three daughters going to Perry, well, one that went to Perry, two that are going to Perry. I have six cousins that graduated from Perry schools. I have two nieces in Perry schools. So, and I've lived here my whole life. So, proud to be a Perry grad. I'm proud to live in Perry Township. My kids have all been involved in music programs, they've all been involved with sports, and, (sighs) I mean, it's really transformative. I mean, our music program is amazing in Perry Township. I mean, they've won all kind of awards.
They do great stuff, and they get so much from so little. Same with the sports program. Their sports program, given how much, how little is invested in our sports program, it's amazing what they do. So, I don't know, as a the Perry grad, I can tell you, like, the facilities at Perry, they look the same as when I went there. I mean, they have not changed. The locker room is the same locker room I was in. It looks exactly the same. So, I'm not saying, I mean, we're not trying to be Franklin Central, we're just trying to make it look a little nicer. You know what I mean? It's like the facilities are, you know, I don't know.
It's just, I mean, literally the auditorium at Perry, it's the same auditorium I played in. You know, I was in band. I played trombone in that auditorium. So, just asking for a little bit of investment, you know, like I said, my kids love it there. They love being a part of the community. And so I'm asking for a little bit more investment. Thank you. Mr. Shively: Thank you, Eric. And finally is David Ladd. David, you will have three minutes. -: I'll try to squeeze it in there. Ben took all the good stuff.
He did. He did. He eats my ideas up. Listen, I moved here in '63 from Paris, France. My dad was career Army. I went to school, Paris American, grades went through 12. There was no playground. They were teaching us about Celsius, French, things we didn't want to know. Our playground was one little parking lot that had barbed wire around it so the Algerians wouldn't kidnap American kids. Came here, moved two houses down from Homecroft Grade School, a wonderful school.
The Little League diamonds are there. Playground, Southport Presbyterian, the Fieldhouse. I'm dating myself. Wonderful, Perry Central, the old Southport, and Southport itself. What a wonderful opportunity. I went to Homecroft, I went to Perry Central. I graduated from Southport. Somehow or another, through Ben Danner's dad, I got involved with the alumni association, and from that I became the historian. So I have a different take to some degree than others might. And the building's not up there,
but at least in part I would be remiss. If you go back to Southport High School today, when did that begin? The plans for that were drawn up in the late 1940s. The late 1940s. That is the basis for the infrastructure. How was it back then? And the construction began in the 1950s, early 1950s. It opened in '52, school year of '52-'53 at the Perry Township Junior High.
It wasn't the high school, it was the junior high. Up to that point, there were no junior highs. When you went to Edgewood, it was grades 1 through 8. So that was a new innovation, junior high. And then as the time went on, they saw this, and it's not gonna work. We're gonna have to switch schools. And so in '58, '59, they switched. Southport, the middle school, went to the old, now the the PTEC building and they flip flop. Brian and I were talking, Skillman, about his dad, Hap. He was one of the first graduates from 1959.
So, our infrastructure, when you look at it, what's your favorite thing from 1957? When you're walking in the gymnasium, and I talk to people about that. I'm the administrator for the Facebook alumni page. There's about 8,000 people on there. It's a wonderful experience. If you haven't been on there, it's a good way to see some of the great things that people feel about Southport. But as they tour the school, and then they come back and I have a chance to talk to 'em, they always say the same thing. I think Ben touched upon this. (chuckling) The Fieldhouse hasn't changed at all.
It is 1957. Bathrooms. They did fill in the pool to turn it into a resting room. They filled in, they took over the orchestra room so it could be the Cardinals desk, but beyond that... Here's one good thing I need to mention before I run out of time here. I had the opportunity to go to... I've had a cold about two weeks where I sound like Mr. Haney from "Green Acres." Sorry for that. But I had the opportunity to go to the Perry Township Leadership Academy. And I don't use this lightly, because it sounds so trite. I was absolutely blown away. If you take... I graduated in 1970. That's 55 years ago.
If I go back 55 years since 1915, it'd be like bringing someone from 1915 to 1970 and going, "Wow." That was me. I had no idea it was that complicated. I'm thinking of the old days when I was in first grade. We're trying to write A's and B's. These kids are computing. They're writing computer logic in second grade. They're into all sorts of things. Mr. Shively: Dave, you're at- -: So, from my standpoint- -: Three minutes. -: I wholeheartedly endorse this. I retired from FedEx. There was a sign that, as I went by Fred Smith's office, the founder, and it was a great sign, and I embrace that.
"It is always the right time to do the right thing." And that was from... And it is. That was from Martin Luther King. So figuring out what is the right time and it's right thing. I believe, at least from my standpoint, this is clearly the right thing. Thank you. -: Thank you, David. And really, on behalf of the board, and we'll be able to make comment and ask questions in a moment. Just, I wanna thank everyone who came out today to voice their thoughts and opinions. School board meetings can easily make the news for all the wrong reasons, and you all continue to show why, you know,
our meetings are respectful, and everyone's able to get their points across in an even way. So, that with that, we'll open up to board member questions and comments. -: Let me have a few comment. My name's Hre Mang. I have my two boys graduated from Perry, and for the last 25 years we've been living here, and the update, the renovation program for the last 20 years, we don't have that much as we hear about that. And Perry, check it out. When I check Perry, I feel like running for city mayor council
to have a city plan. We don't really have a city plan. The kids have no ground to play unless we have the school. The kids don't travel that far. They play around. They hang around their friend. School is the only facility that lets the kids come and play music in additional to the classroom. So this really... I no longer have kids in school, but these are really, really willing to do anything we can to invest in the future kids. And Perry, we don't have business center or playground.
Greenwood Mall, it's not for our kids at all, so. The Perry School System is the only playground where they can learn and play and connect with their friends. And this is really... And then a Perry School Board, the reason I run for the school board, what we can change additionally in comparing Perry school graduates and products will be national level and global level, where the kids can grow and learn additionally beyond the classroom.
So I think this renovation will help a lot more in addition to what we have right now. And I'm so impressed to youth sports for this program and you're showing up. We are encouraged you're here, you're present. Thank you. Highly appreciate it. -: I've been on the board for a very long time. (chuckles) Mr. and Mrs. Leach, don't laugh, (chuckles) but what Mrs. Brennan said is true. I don't have a dog in this fight to the degree that my kids are grown. One went to Perry, one went to Southport, and both had phenomenal educations.
I want that for the future kids of Perry Township, because my wife and I still live here and we still pay taxes. And it is important to bring young families into any township. We do have some issues with our buildings. We do have many buildings that were built in the fifties. Burkhart Elementary School is an example. I think even Douglas MacArthur was probably late fifties, early sixties, so that's the infrastructure that you were talking about earlier. I'm gonna borrow a phrase from a former board member that I served with for a number of years,
and that phrase is, "I'm willing to plant a tree and never benefit from the shade that it provides as long as it provides it for the next generation." So think about that as you kind of ponder this, and I appreciate everybody who came out with their comments and their input. Meant quite a bit to me. Thank you. -: I just wanna thank everyone for their comments. A lot of the things that you mentioned have been questions that we've already asked, especially with the teachers that spoke about CIP
and working with students with special needs. I know they're often forgotten or not thought as like the forefront of when we're building or creating something, so I really think this is an important time for us where we can really make a difference for the future for those students, and I think we'll do that, so thank you for your comments, and email me. (chuckling) -: I wanna thank all the parents, teachers, students even coming out and voicing their opinions on what they like to see, what they don't wanna see,
why they think they need this, why we don't need this. It's that kind of involvement that helps us make better judgements on what the township wants and how they want their money appropriately spent. Basically wanna echo everything everybody else has said. You know, I agree that these are facilities that just need to be made to keep us up with what's adequate. It seems like classroom space is a big issue here, and when we're spending dollars like this, we get one shot at it. And as history has shown,
we only do this once every half a century, so we're gonna do our best to get this right, because, like I said, it's gonna provide a return on investment that can't really be quantified today that's gonna be providing throughout, hopefully, decades. Thank you. -: I guess I'll start out, Misha, I wanna thank you for using the word "concepts," because I want to be open. Like nothing is set in stone right now,
so concept is a good word for what has been used. So, thank you for that word. That was actually the first thing I wrote down on my paper, "concept." Ms. Brennan, I want to thank you for sharing your experience of teacher on a cart and a shared classroom, because I don't think that... It's hard for us to wrap our mind around sharing a classroom and teachers on a cart and the logistics of that.
And as you were talking, I'm sitting there, and Ms. Leach mentioned that you don't even know where those teachers are. And I'm thinking, "This is a logistical nightmare." And so I think I thank you for sharing just your words, because that paints a picture for me. I appreciate that. Mr. Leach, as always, your wisdom and insight is greatly appreciated, but it's a charge and a reminder too that transparency and honesty and being forthright is important,
because, as you know, we can't use this money to pay for teacher salaries and what we use the referendum. It's two completely different buckets. And it's confusing. As a board member, it's confusing to me. I don't have a degree in taxes, you know, and it is. You do, so, (chuckling) but I appreciate your charge and your forthrightness to us. I appreciate it.
Ms. Roll and Ms. Egan, I just appreciate you. Thank you. -: Well, by the time you get this far down the line, it's a lot. Yeah. What they said. But I want to thank everybody that spoke for your very thoughtful, respectful, passionate words, and your dedication is a big reason why I do this, because I want to give back that way too. And I feel all the hard work, and I want to give the hard work that you guys have done too. So, thank you all for what you're doing,
taking the time out to do this. It's important, very important for us to hear various views on this. I also wanted to just make a mention here. We started off with Mr. Quackenbush, and he has been very, very helpful to all of us in explaining all of these different concepts in a way that we can understand them too,
and I just wanted to point out that we really appreciate your help with that, helping us understand it. And I think that's all I have for now. Oh, one other thing. Mikayla, that was very impressive as a student, and to hear your public speaking. I just wanted to point that out. Thank you. -: I do wanna thank our information presenters tonight. Forgive some of us who have seen this more than once, or the initial thoughts. I have been told that presentation, as given tonight, will be posted tomorrow. -: On our website.
-: I invite everyone to check out Slide 14. when we talk about paying for this project. We are not talking about referendum. What we are talking about is taking what Mr. Hatcher and his group have done to make us fiscally responsible. They have rolled off and are rolling off a significant amount of debt, where we will actually be able to fund this project and still be at a lower debt rate than we currently are. So I just wanted to share that now, but if you wanna see for your own eyes, that will be posted tomorrow.
Slide 14 is where you want to be, just for your records. Now I've lost my spot, which is okay, 'cause I think I got everything. Okay, we will call to order the regular meeting if you all would join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. -: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. -: You need to close the public hearings so we have a timestamp.
-: Before we proceed, we do need to close the public hearing. Do I have a motion? -: Move to approve. Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman, seconded by Mr. Mertz. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, will go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." Public hearing is closed. I was going to initially dismiss those who were just here for comment, but I wanna hold you, 'cause we do have two recognitions tonight.
Mrs. Pollard. Mrs. Pollard: Good evening, Board. Thank you. I'd like to ask Mrs. Amy Boone, principal of Southport High School, and your team to come forward. Board, tonight we would like to recognize Southport High School senior, Ava Campbell. If you would join us up front with your parents, please. Ava was named the Indiana High School Journalist of the Year by the Indiana High School Press Association. Winning this award automatically puts her in contention for the National High School Journalist of the Year, which will be awarded at the Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association National Convention
later on this year. Congratulations to Ava. (attendees applauding) I'd like to also call up Mr. Kert Boedicker, principal at Perry Meridian High School, and your team, as well as sophomore Hollan Cathcart, and any family members with Hollan. Come on forward. Board, this outstanding Perry Meridian High School sophomore joined the list of Falcons who have reached the pinnacle in the IHSAA Swimming and Diving program. Hollan finished third in sectionals and fourth in regionals
to secure a spot in the diving state finals in the '24-'25 season. Congratulations to you for your efforts. (attendees applauding) -: All right, congratulations to you both. And now at this point, you all are welcome to remain for the rest of the meeting, but if you care to step out, now would be the time to do so. All right, moving on to comments from the public. Again, I know we had our comments about the project. I'll just throw it out there. Would anyone who signed up to make the project-related comment
like to make three additional minutes of comment? If you'd like to, three minutes is yours. -: In the couple years that I've been coming to the board meetings, I've asked the question of is the plan to keep renewing referendums? And the man that was sitting in the chair answered that question. Finally I got an answer, that, yes, they do, are continuing to want to renew referendums. He said one in four years is that gonna be up for renewal. So, I guess that's why I never got an answer
from anybody in this room, because, you know, you were planning all along on renewing referendums. And at the beginning, in 2012 or whenever it was, when the referendums question started, they had a kid get up, because they think, I guess, kids are more persuasive when they tell their stories. He said, you know, that he got this computer, and it's only gonna cost people, you know, $20 a month, you know, so it's like a pizza a month.
But over the years, that $200 went up to $750. And then you're told, "Well, the tax rate didn't go up," but you'd never explain the actual amount of dollars that it goes up, and that is why I call it deceitful. And, you know, it'd be nice to hear some real terms, real amounts of money, because that's what matters, not the tax rate, you know, not going up, but the actual amount of money does matter.
So, dishonesty. You're not being dishonest, but you're being very deceitful when you don't say, you know, "Well, it's gonna cost the average homeowner this much more money after, you know, each year." That's just not nice. (chuckles) Thank you. -: Thank you, Ann. Next we have our consent agenda this evening. -: Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I'd like to make a recommendation, and if you so choose to do it, it would require a motion and a second and a vote by the board.
I'd like to ask that under the consent agenda, under item 7.02, the Central Nine Operating Agreement be moved to a new business item for individual consideration, and that would be new business item 8.12. -: I move to approve all those numbers that you said. -: Second. -: Thank you. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman, seconded by Mr. Hernandez to move item 7.02 of the consent to a new action item 8.12.
Questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." All right, 7.02 is now at the end of our meeting, 8.12. We'll try that again. First item, consent agenda. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Lewis, seconded by Mr. Mertz. Are there questions or comments about our consent agenda? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." The consent agenda is accepted. 8.01 for our first item requiring action,
looking at new course adoptions. Mrs. Pollard? Mrs. Pollard: Good evening, again. Mr. Shively, would it be okay if we do a couple of introductions before we move on to this, or is this not appropriate? -: Yep, that would absolutely be appropriate. Mrs. Pollard: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Walpole, if you would come forward, and Mr. Evans? For tonight, you just approved the contract for our newest Southport Middle School Athletic Director, and I'd like to ask Mr. Walpole to introduce him to you. -: Yeah, thanks, Mrs. Pollard. Thanks, Dr. Spray, President Shively, Board. I'm thrilled to announce tonight the new Athletic Director at Southport Middle School, Mr. Mark Evans.
He spent the last decade serving as an administrator in a few different districts, most recently as the Athletic Director and Dean at Greenfield Central Junior High, so, I know he's thrilled to come back and serve in the community that he lives in, and we're thrilled to have him come back and work to grow our Southport Athletics, being the bridge from our youth to our high school programs at a high level, as well as a building leader for the school at large as well. So, thank you, Board, and please join me in welcoming Mr. Mark Evans. (attendees applauding)
Mrs. Pollard: Thank you. Thank you. So, tonight, Board, I bring you a list of secondary course adoptions for your approval. As you can read down the list, we are expanding our physical education offerings. We are continuing to develop the entrepreneurship pathway, both with some course offerings this fall, and then also continuing along that pathway in the '26-'27 and '27-'28 school year. As well, we are requesting to add the Principles of Exercise Science pathway courses, which includes the principles course, then kinesiology,
human performance, physical therapy capstone, and fitness management capstones that additionally follow that pathway sequence. So, as always, any course you approve tonight is available to both high schools, so tonight we ask for your approval. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Mertz and seconded by Mr. Hernandez. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.01 is accepted. Bless you.
8.02, consideration of technology equipment bids with Mr. Willey. Mr. Willey: Yep. Good evening, Board. We would like to request your acceptance of two bids this evening. Both were bid through the federal E-Rate program, following their specifications for advertising and bidding, one of which is with Crown Castle for our 10 gigabit internet circuit. This replaces our current contract, and it actually is a decrease in cost. This will also be reimbursed by the federal program at a 90% rate. The second one is for equipment and installation of access points. It's 544 access points.
They'll replace all of our wireless access points in our K through 5 buildings, and that would include the equipment and the installation. Again, that was bid for the federal program and will be reimbursed at 85%. So we would request your acceptance of these bids, please, this evening. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman, seconded by Mr. Lewis. Are there questions or comments for Mr. Willey? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.02 is accepted. 8.03, with Mr. Sampson, looking at corporation repair
and renovation project agreements. Mr. Sampson: Thank you, Board. I first bring two agreements for repair and renovation projects in Perry Township, the first being an agreement with Grady Brothers for parking lot renovations at various parts of the transportation center, Southport Middle School, Henry Burkhart, Jeremiah Gray, and Clinton Young Schools. All projects will include the milling and resurfacing of parking areas, and also the painting and striping of all appropriate markings on those areas.
The second agreement is with Kleenit Group Service. We ask for your consideration. The agreement would cover all cleaning of carpet in all the buildings owned by Perry Township Schools. This is a one-year agreement. The pay rate is 9 cents per square foot. In the past, we've used a couple different companies; however, Kleenit has expanded their capacity to be able to serve numerous buildings that we have, and we feel confident in their quote
and their ability to successfully perform the task at hand. So we ask for your consideration of both of these agreements as presented. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Mang, seconded by Mr. Hernandez. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.03 is accepted. 8.04, the ERS Wireless Service agreement. Again, Mr. Sampson.
Mr. Sampson: Thank you again. Service agreement, to this service agreement with ERS Wireless will cover all Avigilon cameras, Evolv weapons detection equipment, door access, and door alarm equipment and functions. This is a five-year agreement. The agreement covers all remote work and configuration assistance, onsite support, and preventative maintenance and parts and labor. We ask for your consideration of this agreement as presented. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Lewis, seconded by Mr. Mertz.
Are there questions or comments? -: Can I ask a quick question? -: Yep. -: So, the agreement consistent of the cost, the contracts consistently no inflation rate, no increment of the cost every year? Mr. Sampson: Correct. Correct. And you see that the first year is a little bit less than the years two through five, but the cost years two through five will remain constant with no increase. Year one is a... We have a credit from previous agreements with them
that they applied to the cost of that year, and it also includes the cost of the upgrades that were necessary and due this year as well, but that accounts for the decrease in cost in year one. -: Thank you. -: Mm hmm. -: Any other questions or comments? -: This is just the equipment and the service agreement. They're not monitoring. Mr. Sampson: Correct. -: We are still, our police department, those things. Mr. Sampson: Correct. So, there was a proposal, and I think it is in the paperwork that you had, that they would do all the things that Randy Milton does for us for a cost,
and we declined that. -: Okay. Thank you. -: All right, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.04 is accepted. 8.05, looking at Holderfield contracts. Again, Mr. Sampson. Mr. Sampson: Thank you. We previously, in a board meeting, had approved the low bids for these bid tabs for the Holderfield project. The contracts now are here for your approval. The contracts include a contract for the general trades with Gillatte General, the masonry contract with Ziolkowski Construction,
the roofing contract with McGuff Roofing, mechanical and plumbing contract with Lehman's Incorporated, electrical contract with All-Star Contracting, and a synthetic turf contract for Sprinturf. This will encompass all the contracts that are necessary for the completion of the Holderfield contract, or project, I'm sorry. We ask for your consideration of the contracts as presented. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Hernandez, seconded by Mr. Lewis. Are there questions or comments? The project, as I understand it,
is set to kick off as soon as spring sports are done. Is that fair to still say? Mr. Sampson: I think it's fair to say. We believe the progress reports we've had to this point, the permitting is on track, and, you know, those are all usually problematic, but they seem to be going fairly smoothly, and the folks that Skillman have advised that we feel like we're still on track to at least the 1st of June at the latest to turn dirt. -: All right, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye.
-: Opposed, "Nay." 8.05 is accepted. 8.06, the consideration of Roof Management, Incorporated, with, again, Mr. Sampson. Mr. Sampson: Right. This is a new vendor for us. We've used Technical Assurance in the past, but we ask for your consideration for an agreement with Roof Management company outta Louisville to provide consulting and management services for roof projects at Perry Meridian Sixth Grade Academy and also the Perry Township Academic Center. The cost of the agreement with Roof Management is $197,400,
which represents approximately 5% of estimated costs of both projects together. They will provide services as construction manager, which will include pre-construction services, bidding services, construction oversight, and a role as an advisor to the Perry Township Facilities Group on all construction matters. This is a new vendor, as I mentioned before. They have performed work in a neighboring school district and received high recommendations, and their price was significantly lower
than the other groups that we've used in the past. So, we look forward to this relationship. We ask for your consideration of this agreement as presented. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Mertz and seconded by Mrs. Hartman. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.06 is accepted. 8.07, the RQAW Corporation agreement. Mr. Sampson.
Mr. Sampson: Yes, we are asking for your consideration of an agreement with RQAW to perform architectural and engineering services for the chiller replacement project at PTEC and the Southport Sixth Grade Academy. The fees for the final design and construction documents of bidding and construction and administrative services is around $130,000, and we believe that this project will kick off. Chiller projects typically kick off in the fall, at the end of the cooling season, and this will be no different. We ask for your consideration of the agreement as presented.
-: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman and seconded by Mr. Lewis. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.07 is accepted. 8.08, Vermission Pest and Wildlife agreement. Again, Mr. Sampson. Mr. Sampson: Thank you, Board. This agreement with Vermission will include all K to 12 school buildings, including JWR, the Compass Education Center,
the Academic Center, and PTEC. These services include monthly treatments of all kitchens and staff break rooms, and all other areas will be treated as needed. Pests included in the monthly coverage are general insects and mice. Our long-term pest control company, this is a switch for us. We've used Orkin for many years in the past, and we believe that we are looking at possibly better service than we received recently, and I'm looking forward to this company's good work. So, we ask for your permission
to approve this agreement as presented. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Lewis, seconded by Mr. Mang. Are there questions or comments? -: I just have one question. You're getting your workout today, Chris. Mr. Sampson: I'm getting hoarse already, right? -: This doesn't cover like removal of like invasive, like if you have squirrel nests, or we had coyotes one year, moving geese? That's... Mr. Sampson: Yeah, not the coyotes so much, but if we had squirrels' nests, I believe that that would fall under this responsibility, 'cause we would call them rodents, whether they do or not.
-: Okay. -: But yeah. -: Gotcha. Mr. Sampson: So, but, you know, typically anything inside the school building, you know, the envelope of the school. Doesn't necessarily take care of anything outside of the school. -: Okay, gotcha. Thank you. -: Any other questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.08 is accepted. 8.09, Mr. Spencer, looking at Curriculum Associates LLC contract. Mr. Spencer: Good evening, Board.
I'll give Mr. Sampson a break. So, I'd like to present the following contract renewal for your consideration. So, Curriculum Associates will organize all elementary and secondary English Language Learner information and data into one dashboard. It allows teachers and specialists and administrators to collaborate on individual ELL instruction plans and goals, communicate with parents, and access district-wide aggregate assessment data. I would note that Elevation is probably the name that you've heard for this. So, this is the parent company. So we've used this tool for a while.
Elevation Strategies gives our teachers ideas on how to scaffold and make content accessible for our EL students. It has a lot of research-based instructional practices and activities that are in the system for them. We, in February, you might remember, we added the complete platform, which added forms and reports. That was... So this more comprehensive program allows our EL staff to create state-mandated individualized learning plans, or ILPs, in an efficient and effective way in a school year that we're gonna make a transition
to a new Skyward. So some of these things have been done in Skyward, and we're not sure it can happen this year, so this is the solution for that. It will also allow them to monitor Level 5s, automatically generate state-compliant parent notification letters, in addition to the benefits that I talked about above. We ask that you consider this contract renewal. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Hernandez, seconded by Mr. Mertz. Are there questions or comments? -: So, I guess I'm just, well, curious as to why this is just elementary level, so...
Mr. Spencer: It's not. I apologize. It is K-12. -: It is K-12. Okay, 'cause I... -: Yep. -: Okay, got it. Thank you. -: Did you say this is gonna be more efficient and it help meet new standards? Mr. Spencer: So, at the beginning of the school year, a certain number of days to be in compliance with the ILP plans, and so we've had a custom form in Skyward that Matt's team has created, and that's allowed us in the past to be in compliance with those reports. And so this year with the transition to a new Skyward, we're not sure we can count on that, and so this gives us a temporary solution on that end,
in addition to the other things that I mentioned. Okay. -: All right, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.09 is accepted. 8.10, Navigate 360 contract. Again, Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer: Thank you, Board. We bring for your consideration Abraham Lincoln's desire to purchase PBIS rewards plus advanced features through Navigate 360. This platform allows the Abraham Lincoln staff to create a systematic way to implement their PBIS and MTSS systems. They'll have a digital platform that allows them
to monitor the effectiveness of interventions, specific student plans, and there is automated communication that creates reports and notifications that go directly to the necessary staff. So we ask your consideration for this contract. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman and seconded by Mr. Lewis. Are there questions or comments? -: There is a lot of more information that was given to us, which I greatly appreciate, but, Mr. Spencer, will you, because there's so many acronyms in the educational world
that us non-education people- -: Yes, we love our acronyms. -: Like, so can you just give us all of... Mr. Spencer: Yeah, so, PBIS is a Positive Behavior Intervention System, and so it is a way to create expectations throughout the building to model those and then to monitor them. So every school kind of has a matrix of behavior expected throughout the building, and they spend a lot of time on that. So then PBIS is just a way to focus on finding the positives,
and usually there are both student and then either grade-level or even school-level rewards and celebrations when they meet those things. MTSS is the multi-tiered systems of support, so it is looking at not just academics behavior, but the social emotional wellbeing of students and creating systems to, one, make sure our students are being successful, but when students aren't, providing additional and increased significance of interventions for those students. And so this is going to be something that will allow them
to track all of the interventions that they're doing. Also it can put together and upload individual behavior plans, check in, checks out, so it's just a way to make it more efficient for their staff as they continue to build that system. -: And this is specific to Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Spencer: In this case, yes, it is specific to Abraham Lincoln as from a need that they've identified and paid for through Title I. -: Okay, and I know that there are many other of our schools that are using PBIS and those initiatives. General remembrance here, I guess. I don't remember us voting or approving this for,
like this system for other schools. Do we have another school that's using this? Mr. Spencer: So, under the leadership of Mr. Walpole, when he was Title I Administrator, Southport Academy and Southport Middle School used it for a time period. -: Okay. Mr. Spencer: So I think this may be the first time an elementary school's engaged with it. -: Great. Thank you. -: Quick question. How do you connect the data? How do system record the data? It's like comparatively like Chinese Social Credit System, record by video camera or something? Mr. Spencer: So, it can create a bunch of different reports. So there's some student-level ones. It automates a lot of it.
They put in their behavior plans or their intervention plans, and then when they have a meeting on that student, they can upload more of that information. And then there's some things that then it pulls from our system and is able to create data for them. -: So the students itself have to interact with the system. Mr. Spencer: It's mainly for the staff. So, it's more of the teachers and the administrators are gonna interact with it. -: All right. Yeah, okay. -: All right, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.10 is accepted. 8.11, the acceptance of donations.
Mr. Spencer or Mrs. Pollard? Mr. Spencer: Thank you, Board. On behalf of the elementary schools, we have the following donations. Abraham Lincoln Elementary received a $100 donation from the Traub family, which is Lazy Sunday Rentals, LLC. This donation will be used to supplement the cost of their fourth grade camp trip to Camp Rancho Framasa, and deposited in their outdoor education ECA account. Clinton Young was awarded a donation totaling $5,000 from Crayola and Walmart. This donation is for a teacher's lounge makeover and includes $1,000 from Crayola for art supplies,
$3,000 in Walmart gift cards to be used toward lounge furniture and decor, and $1,000 in Walmart gift cards to be used for lounge supplies and food. Also at Clinton Young Elementary, there's a $500 donation from Rosedale Hills United Methodist Church, and that will be used for their fifth grade camp trip in the fall. At Glenns Valley, we have a $550 donation from Scott and Leslie Kulig. This donation will be used to help fund the fifth grade trip to Bradford Woods. And the Glenns Valley PTA donated $2,000
to Glenns Valley Elementary to be used for provide scholarships for students to attend the fifth grade trip to Bradford Woods. At Homecroft Elementary, Kim Jovic donated $50 to Homecroft Elementary School to be used for future science fair projects. At Rosa Parks, Mike Sipe has donated $1,000. This donation will allow first grade teachers at Rosa Parks to purchase books to supplement the CKLA knowledge portion of the reading curriculum. The additional books would complement the knowledge students are receiving from the new curriculum and offset the costs for teachers. Southport Elementary received a $1,244.57 donation
from Office Depot in the form of a gift card to purchase supplies for the office and the school community. The fifth grade parents at Southport Elementary donated $30 to help purchase end-of-year fifth grade T-shirts for students that can't pay for those. And then the Southport Elementary PTA donated $315.20 to be used to support students who cannot pay for their fourth grade trip. And finally, our district, Perry Township Schools, received from the Jeremiah Gray Elementary PTO a donation of $3,205.81 to the Perry Township Schools
Elementary District Robotics account. That donation will be used to support robotics teams and competitions hosted in Perry Township Schools. And finally, the Robotics Education and Competition Foundations donated $120 to Perry Township Schools Elementary Robotics account, and this money will be used for the same. And now I'll turn it over to Mrs. Pollard for the secondary. Mrs. Pollard: The Compass Education Center received a $1,100 donation, including donations from Sena Mortensen at the Equitable Foundation, the Southport High School PTSA, and Jennifer Rihad.
This donation will be used for senior shirts, student of the month pens, and for student incentives. They also received a $5,000 donation from PTEF to be used for their end of the year celebration, to help support their beginning of the year back to school night and their community services fair, as well as other student incentives. JWR Success Academy received a $5,000 donation from PTEF to be used to support their Summer Girls Build Camp, and the Indianapolis Foundation contributed $2,500 to that same cause. On behalf of Perry Meridian High School, they received a $418.80 donation from Fiesta Ranchera
to be used to help fund the Perry High math field trip to Kings Island. A $4,665 donation from Kevin Galinsky to be used to support the lacrosse team. On behalf of Southport High School, they received a $335.06 donation from Watch-Us Incorporated, and a $55.23 donation from Smith Vending to be used to support the Southport High School student activities. Jaggers has donated $67 to the DECA Club. Hometown Waiver Solutions donated $410
to support the Best Buddies program. Jenna Gaither donated $300 to be used to offset the cost for the Southport High School dance team to attend the national competition. The Keep the Change donation equaled $3 this month to support Southport High School athletics. A $500 donation was received from J&N Electric, LLC to be used to support the Southport High School Champions Together and Southport Athletic Leadership Council. Also Southport High School received a $5,000 donation from Frederick and Janet Huffman to be used to support the Chuck Huffman Scholarship Fund.
And we ask for your approval from these generous donors. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mr. Hernandez and seconded by Mr. Lewis. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.11 is accepted. And then if you remember earlier in the meeting we did move what was originally 7.02 out of the consent agenda and placing it here at the end. Mrs. Pollard, do you need a minute to pull that up, or you good to share? Okay. We will head to you then.
Mrs. Pollard: Dr. Spray might wanna join in on this, but, Board, tonight we bring you for your consideration a new operating agreement, or an addendum, I should say, to the Central Nine Operating Agreement. You have those details. Basically their governing board recently approved a change to their original operating agreement, and this is the section on non-participating schools, so the schools who don't have current agreements with them. This change was approved at the February 13, 2025 governing board meeting, and once the change has been made on that end, each participating school corporation has to bring it to their board for approval.
And so you have the agreement, and it has to do with how they're going to accept students from non-participating schools, and basically once the participating schools have taken the slots that they need for their students, they're gonna open it up on a tuition basis to fill the remaining spots. -: Move to approve. -: Second. -: Motion was made by Mrs. Hartman and seconded by Mr. Mertz. Are there questions or comments? -: I have attended C Nine meetings, the board meetings before when Steve Johnson,
longtime board member, was our C Nine rep. And so he would always go, and when he was in sunny Florida, some of us would sit in for him, and Mr. Lewis has graciously agreed to be that, but I know that this has been a hot topic for them for a very long time, and I'm glad to see that they have finally come to a wording that is appropriate, but it also protects us as a participating school, 'cause I don't ever want us to lose seats
because a non-participating school, and so we have to be cognizant of that, I guess, and know that we're protecting the needs of our students. The chances of a non-participating school student who attends a non-participating school to get into one of the welding, or that's, we can't get our kids in that. We can't get enough of our kids in those. So, like that is not in jeopardy, but I just thought that it was important for this to be shared,
that we are protecting the needs of our students, and Central Nine is also being diligent in their duties to make sure that participating schools are protected, I guess, that tuition is not superseding us sending our kids. That's correct. -: Are there any other questions or comments? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor of 8.12, say "Aye." Board Members: Aye. -: Opposed, "Nay." 8.12 is accepted.
And, Mr. Mang, if you'd like to start us with final board comments. -: It's long hours meeting, sir. I reserve my time for next board meeting, sir. Thank you for everyone. -: Most of you in this room have probably worked with me individually, or in a group setting, or in both. I think I have a tendency to be fairly open-minded and pretty laid back, but I will tell you this. When someone calls myself or my fellow board members dishonest, that's... You had your three minutes. It's my turn. It's it's my turn. -: You're lying.
-: I take issue with that. The board members, people in this room, if it is dishonest to pay teachers, bus drivers, make improvements to our buildings, pay cafeteria workers, and educate everybody that walks in our doors, then dishonest I'll be. Everything costs more today. Your time is up. -: Ann, your time is up. We can communicate this later, but it's Mr. Mertz's time, please. -: Everything costs more now. -: Not being true. -: Eggs costs more. -: Ma'am. -: Gas costs more. -: Ma'am, you had your time. It's now his turn. -: So my point is merely...
-: He's not interrupted you when you have given your time. Please give him the same respect. -: Thank you, Mr. Shively. Everything does cost more, but that's what we're here to do, is educate kids, and it does cost more than it did in the 1950s. It costs more than it did in the 1980s when I was there. So, I stand by. Just because somebody disagrees with what we are attempting to do, and not even in its final form, doesn't make us dishonest. -: Can I correct that? -: Thank you.
-: I wanted to, again, thank the parents and the teachers and administrators that came and just shared their experiences. I feel like that is so needed, especially for people that might not understand what we actually need and what our kids need, and their examples of like, who knew that the people were, the teachers were having their carts and moving from classroom to classroom. We wouldn't hear that. We wouldn't know that the students with special needs
don't have an adequate bathroom so they can have dignity. That's the bare minimum. So just coming and sharing those experiences is so important, and it gives us information to know what we need to do to make sure that those needs are met, and I'm just so glad that everyone was able to share their experiences. On a lighter note, I got to visit JWR and transportation services about a month ago, and it was just incredible to see all the great work
that they've been doing. And for transportation, I wanna show you something. I have visual aid. They had their inspections, and this tiny little piece caused a failure of the inspection. So this is what they're dealing with every day, making sure all the buses are working and safe for our kids to get where they need to go every day. That's all I have. -: I wanna say congratulations to Ms. Campbell and Mr. Cathcart. Congrats on those achievements. That's just a real nice job. That's something to very proud of. To Mark Evans, congratulations
on the new athletic director position. Look forward to working with you. You're gonna be a great addition to the Perry Township community. This renovation project, I know nobody wants to spend money, and like Mr. Mertz said, everything's more expensive now, unfortunately, and this is what happens when we neglect our facilities for over a period of time. It requires a one large massive hit at once, and it's expensive. And we're not just doing it for one school, we're doing it for two schools.
So it's a double whammy, unfortunately. But if you go around and look at the other schools in the community, we're not trying to beat the Joneses. Like I said, we're just trying to be adequate. And ultimately these things are not going to hurt the value of your home. If anything, it's gonna improve the value of your home. That's what's gonna cause your tax rate to go up, or your tax bill to go up, not the rate.
It's the value of your property that's going up. And with this project, the tax rate's not going to go up, so there should be no dollar impact on your tax bill. We have not committed to a referendum. That is a possibility. but we have not said that's the plan, but that is an option. I feel like this administration and school board has been very transparent on everything. That was one of my things when, you know, running for school board. "Oh, they're hiding something. I'm gonna find it." There's nothing to find. Very open on everything.
If you have questions, we are more than welcome to answer them, and I believe there have been many times where we've answered questions when we probably shouldn't have answered questions for you. So, this is a positive for the community all the way around. Like I said, it's scary, but this is something this township needs, and it's been long overdue. Thank you. -: You know, I came tonight not knowing what to expect. You know, I kind of chuckled a little bit, I'll be real honest, when the news came and then they left because everybody was saying good things,
so I thought that was kind of funny. But the passion and love for Perry Township Schools was extremely evident this evening, and we all have skin in the game, whether our kids are in the schools, we were in the schools, our parents were in the schools, we have grandkids, whatever it is. Or if we have no kids in schools, but we own property here, it affects us, right? And the passion in which people of this community
love our schools and care about our schools is important. And I would be remiss if we didn't say it's not about the buildings, it's about the little people inside of the buildings. And when we lose our focus and it's no longer on the kids, we've failed. And so, yes, one thing that wasn't even talked about tonight was how the bricks are falling off the buildings, and there's cracks in the pipes and those sorts of things.
Those need fixed, but they need fixed because we have tiny and sometimes large humans in those buildings that need love and care, and they need to grow, and that's what we're gonna do. That's what our people do. And so tonight some things that I was super thrilled about, the new course adoptions, I know they kind of like came up quickly, but it's everything from officiating class, to small businesses,
to kinesiology and physical therapy things. Get these kids in these kinesiology classes in high school. Let 'em get a taste for it, and they can find out, "Yeah, I like it," or, "Eh, that was a fun one-year class, but I'm not gonna spend four years doing it." So, and the small business, just great things. So, thank you for those new course adoptions, and I know that those lead to pathways too, so thank you. And PBIS, I cannot... Like, the excitement that I see
that surrounds PBIS is infectious, and I'm excited for Abraham Lincoln. When I was reading what this encompasses in here, how it's not just for the students, but it's for the staff as well, and it's to generate excitement amongst the staff, which then creates buy-in, and it's just like cyclical as far as success goes. So, thank you, Mr. Spencer. I appreciate that,
and I look forward to hearing how that goes at Southport, or not Southport, Abraham Lincoln. (sighs) Thank you for putting up with me and the things that I ask to be moved. I appreciate it. Just all in transparency, and I appreciate your leadership, and guiding us through this, and answering all of our 100 questions, and meeting with me, and going through tax stuff again. So, thank you. -: All right, I'd also like to acknowledge the recognitions
with Ava Campbell and Hollan Cathcart. Really great to see such promising rising stars in such totally different fields that they're excelling in, and just a plug in regard to the journalism, Southport really has a gem in Mr. K in that whole program, so just wanted to add that. Also wanted to add on, on the new course additions, what really stuck out to me, of course, was the entrepreneurship and the small business,
and that, you know, I advise and represent people in that regard. And way too many of 'em come to me, you know, later in their lives, and they don't have a clue what's involved. I'm glad they're going to learn a little bit about it. Also, I know we were on Mr. Sampson for a while too. Lots of contracts in this one today. I felt like I was at work, and just kept reading these things, but I think it also reflects the importance of a lot of these are information gathering,
the importance that information, and being able to use that information. And I just want to commend all those that have to review and try to pick out what is gonna be best for us, but they all really offer various opportunities, that, again, make us stand out, and, you know, we're on cutting edge on some of these things. And then last thing on donations, Mr. Spencer, Mrs. Pollard stepped up her game for today,
but that's okay. What I like to see is there was such an impressive variety of support from community families, and the one I really liked, boy, glad to see the Girls Build Camp get a huge shot in the arm with donations. So, that's all I have. -: Mr. Hernandez, correct me if I'm wrong, but Southport softball won tonight, 12 to 2 on a walk-off home run.
-: Yes. -: And the timing, it felt about the time that we approved 8.05, which was the Holderfield contract, so I couldn't ignore that timing. But, Mrs. Roll, you forgot a third hat. You're also a mother of young men who have gone through and are still in the district, and, Mr. Danner, you've created an SYBL program that is literally the envy of people around us, so I just wanted to address both of you to say thank you for not only what you do every day from during your contract time,
but what you do beyond, and then even giving up what is going on two hours this evening, so thank you for that. And then, of course, we all know our view that we grow kids, if it wasn't obvious in this presentation tonight, it's genuinely true in multifaceted ways. There's not a program, it seems, that's not going to be positively impacted by a project of the scope of these options, right, and I think that was evident with a variety of comments we had. But I do wanna reiterate what Mr. Leach said,
as I just kind of stressed to administration present, to over communicate. In this process, be upfront, be honest, be clear with what's going on and how we're doing it. I think tonight was a great first step, but I think, you know, we do have a long way to go, but I'm excited. -: Thank you. I have to admit, I feel like a little bit of a failure this evening. I take pride in running an efficient meeting. Sometimes that means short, and so we're going on two hours, so we're gonna wrap this up a little bit,
but rarely do you have a long meeting that is so positive, so, appreciate that. We are embarking on a big project with the 10/28 hearing we had before, but also just understanding that the scope is not nearly gonna check everybody's boxes and give everybody what they want, okay? And I think that's the line we walk as being good stewards and being responsible is we've gotta understand
kind of what the core is of what we need, and then being able to do that, but understanding we're not gonna be able to get everything that everybody wants in a project, and as we kind of are looking towards approving a total scope as far as dollar-wise, still a lot of unknowns and that sort of thing with these concepts. So just want to throw that out there. Last thing is I do wanna recognize the Perry Township Education Foundation. who gave $10,000 tonight to support both our middle school
and our secondary alternative programs, so I don't want that to go under. They do a great job of supporting so many and such a variety of programs and things that go on in our school district. Thank you. -: All right, two weeks from now we'll have our public work session, April 28th here at the Academic Center. That will be at 6:00 PM, and then our next regular hearing and meeting will be May 12th, 6:00 PM, again, here at the Academic Center. Everybody travel home safely and have a good night. We are adjourned. (gavel knocks)