Everyone, and good evening on this, the February at the SBCSC Administrative Building. The board had a closed session at 03:30. We cut it close as you can see, if you're here. I'm now calling the meeting to order. Miss Hernandez, can you please call the roll? Yes. Good afternoon. Mister Marcus Ellison? Present. Mister Marcusello? Here. Doctor Janette McCullough? Here. Mister Bill Snedicki? Here. Miss Kate Lee? Here. Mister Carlo Leyba? Present. Doctor Stuart Green?
Here. Well, thank you, mister Hernandez. Sorry. I'm still trying to prepare myself. We have a quorum, but we can now move to the adoption of the agenda. It is recommended that the board of school trustees adopt adopt the agenda. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Mister Hernandez, would you please call the roll? Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snedigy? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyva? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, mister Hernandez. Now it's time for recognitions and superintendent announcements.
So it's over to you, mister Reid. Good evening, doctor Green, members of the board, members of the public. We have four on in writing and three that I'm adding. Four point o one, this is simply announcing that public schools week is February 23 to the twenty seventh. This is a nationally recognized week for public schools. Montessori Education Week is also this week, and we have a great Montessori at Marquette.
I encourage people to go out there and see what they're doing. They're working miracles out there. Four point o three, and I don't know if, mister Lance is here yet, but, Washington High School, Amon Lance, who performed at the district solo and on some event and qualified to advance to the state level in Indianapolis is with us and with mister Goralczyk. Please. Thank you, mister Eid, and thank you to the board for inviting us here this evening.
I wanted to recognize a sophomore student at Washington High School. His name is Amen Lans. He's rated at the top of this class, and he, along with his teacher, mister Mike Lee, is here this evening, our band director and our choir director, our music director at Washington. And Amen has been able to advance to the state level in the tenor sax, to represent Washington High School in ISMA. And this is the first time since 2016 that Washington High School has had a representative in ISMA, let alone advance to the state level for competition.
We thought this was a big, big deal, and we wanted to bring it to the board's attention, to the superintendent's attention for the community to know that we do have a fine arts program at Washington High School, and it is it is doing quite well under the direction of mister Mike Lee, our band director, and one of our star students, not just in the sophomore class at Washington High School, but across our school. And he is a pride example prime example of the pride of the West Side. And I just wanted to have him recognized here this evening. Amen. Thank you so much for representing Washington, the South Bend Community School Corporation.
And thank you, mister Lee, for all you're doing for our students on the West Side at Washington. Thank you so very, very much. Congratulations. Agree? Yeah. Go Panthers. Yeah. Our congratulations also go to another Washington High School student, Jalil Neely. He has been selected as part of the McDonald's of Greater Indiana and Southwest Michigan Black History Makers of Tomorrow program and will receive a $1,000 award from them. And, mister Gorelcek, is here to talk more. And and again, I would like to thank mister Eda and the board for the
invitation this evening to honor senior at Washington High School, Jalil Neely. Jalil is a senior that will be attending Triune University to participate in football and in track. He's a three sport athlete at Washington High School and has won letters throughout his entire career as an athlete, a student athlete at Washington. He ranks in the top 10 of his class, and I thought he was very well worthy enough to be nominated for the Southwest Indianapolis Michigan and Indiana Black History Makers of Tomorrow award.
It just so happened that he we nominated him and he won. And so I wanted him to come this evening, and he was also had us do the honor of at the South Bend alumni Hall of Fame dinner that we had back in the fall. He represented Washington High School with awarding, Radio Sabor Latino Radio with their award as representing the West Side. Jalil is a wonderful young man with a big bright future ahead of him, and I wanted to him to be acknowledged for all of his academic and athletic progress.
Thank you so much, Jaleel, for representing Washington High School and the South Bend Community School Corporation. You are one heck of a young man. I would like to make an announcement about the our contract negotiations with the teamsters who represent the cafeteria workers and who represents the paraprofessionals and I believe a couple of other smaller groups, their secretaries.
Their contract doesn't expire until June '26, and we have called them back to the table, because the board would like to is in process of making South Bend a $20 minimum an hour. So we would like to call them back to the table, and we are sitting with the Teamsters on Wednesday to determine the final dates for the negotiations. And mister Dowell is here to represent the Teamsters.
I don't know if you wanna say something, mister Dowell. We welcome the invite to, negotiate early. We anticipate some good negotiations, and we appreciate the opportunity to, bring these employees up to a livable wage as quickly as possible. Thank you, sir. We are also doing the same with AFSCME, who represent the custodians, engineers, and we already the the bus drivers.
So we are we will be sending the invite and if we haven't already. Yes. I guess the question is that everybody wants to know is when is this gonna end? It's gonna be March? Or We're hoping as soon as possible. And I know the contract doesn't end till June '26. Like, for example, with AFSCME, they are the custodians are and engineers are still under, the AFSCME contract, which is with SSC.
We are honoring that contract. However, we would like to call them back to the table and have a two and a half year contract instead of. Okay. Because people are anxious. I know. And I kinda we kinda promised that it'd be February or first March at one point, but then you got all the there's a lot of figuring out to do. I understand that, but you got a lot of people up there to figure it
out. If you can't figure it out, just call them. They'll figure it out for you. Okay. Thank you. I I have a question about your contract. Go ahead, sir. Okay. You may mention that it ends on a certain date in in June? 06/30/1926. June 30. If you could come to an agreement, couldn't you retroactive? Yes. Okay. Everything will be the budget was built from January 1. So everything will be retroactive to January 1.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And he's, I know mister Dowell was looking at me, which means I made a mistake, and I I'm going to acknowledge that mistake right now. It's August, I believe. Is that correct? August 1. Does the contract go into July? July 31. July 31. Off by one day. Okay. So and the last thing, we have been saying that previous administrations had not shopped around for a medical insurance.
We were reminded that in twenty ten, twenty eleven, we had accumulated $50,000,000 worth of claims that year. And the insurance advisers, advised at the time the corporation not to shop around for a different policy simply because nobody would pick up the corporation with 50,000,000 claims.
And that was an odd year. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you, mister Reed. We'll now have a hearing of visitors on action items 9.01 to 9.07. Missus Lee, has anyone signed up to speak? No. They have not. Oh. I know. Well, as you all know, we invite comments on other items. Missus Lee, can you please share the following? I can. At regular meetings, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding items not posted on the agenda. If you'd like to give something to the board, please get give something to the
board. Please give the item or items to miss Hernandez after the meeting. Individuals may speak only speak once during this section of the agenda. Speakers shall properly identify themselves after they approach the podium by saying their name and address for the record. Let me be clear in saying that personal personnel issues are not to be addressed during open sessions of the school board. In addition, no person may address or question board members individually. The board president may interrupt, warn, or terminate a person's statement if the statement becomes personally directed, abusive, or obscene. Please come to the podium if you wish to speak. Okay.
We can move forward. We'll now move on to our academic focus on the washing this is Washington night. The Washington Medical Magnet update, missus Maguaba and her team is here. She is the director of the magnet program at Washington Medical Magnet program at Washington. So glad you're here. Alright. Good evening, doctor Green, Superintendent Eade, trustees. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update on Washington High School Medical Magnet
Program. We appreciate, your continued support of innovative programming that expands opportunity and creates meaningful pathways for our students. Let's see if this works. There we go. At Washington High School, the Medical Magnet is not simply a collection of health science courses. It's a structure of multi year pathways that integrate core academics, hands on laboratory experiences, career exploration, work based learning, and industry recognized certifications. Students engage in authentic learning experiences that mirror the expectations of post secondary health care
programs and professional environments. The Medical Magnet program was designed with a clear purpose to intentionally connect rigorous academics with real world career preparation in one of the most essential and fastest growing industries, health care. As workforce demands continue to evolve, it is critical that we provide students not only with strong academic foundations, but also with early exposure to high skill, high wage career fields that are vital to our community. Through partnerships with local healthcare providers, higher education institutions and community organizations, our students gain
direct exposure to clinical settings, professional mentorship and real world applications of their learning. These experiences help students see themselves in healthcare careers, whether as nurses, physicians, therapists, technicians, researchers, or other vital healthcare professionals. Tonight, we will share how the Medical Magnet program is structured, the opportunities it provides, the outcomes we are seeing, and the impact it's having on our students and our community. Missus Teresa Munguaba will provide an overview of our programming. Thank you for the the time this evening, and I just wanna say I appreciate
all of you. You've been constantly supporting our medical magnet. I'm gonna talk a little bit about the expanding program options. We've done a great job for about twenty six years at Washington High School of providing the medical pathways in our community. We have expanded the programs. We now offer early college pre nursing, pre medicine surgical technician, PLTW biomedical sciences, PLTW biomedical engineering, dental careers, and exercise sciences. As enrollment continues to grow, it was really important that we expanded the pathway options.
We do have a a big group of freshmen coming in, so you'll see that in a different slide. But I think really to adjust to what students wanted, what they saw themselves in their future careers or just the exposure, giving students exposure to multiple certifications and multiple opportunities was very important. And I think when you're looking at a two year and a three year and a five year goal, you start to think how can we absorb the growth with the teachers and the human capital that we already have.
So that's why it became very important that we differentiated the pathways, to help align students with their career expectations and their career pathway and also absorb that growth with the teachers that we already currently have. So if you look at this, this is our course pathways guide. There are copies of this. We've been handing them out at most of our events. I believe what I'm most excited about is the eighth grade enrollment this year because it will be the first time that when we enroll our medical magnet students, we can actually differentiate from freshman year.
And if you look at the course guides, it gives you everything from ninth through twelfth grade and what those students can expect to take. We've had a lot of, good conversations with eighth grade students already. And they've had these course guides in their hand, and they're excited about eighth grade enrollment because they know exactly what class that they should sign up for based off their career choices. My name is Ed Marang. I'm the Magnet Coordinator at Riley High School. I'm privileged and honored to be with you folks tonight. I just wanted to share a few things. Biomedical engineering is a whole new pathway.
This is the seed Seven years ago in our engineering development department, we have a capstone class. And in that class, one of our students, a senior, who was also a motocross, young man, He and his best friend went up to Red Bud Trails right up in Michigan. And they were racing, and it was a very hot day, 98 degrees plus. And in the race, his friend, his his he's like a brother to him, he said. He, overheated in the helmet, passed out, and tragically died in an accident up there.
Coming back, that young man found a purpose in actually creating a helmet that has been engineered. We had to steal the solar panel off of it for another student's project, but we still have the original. That as he's racing now, this helmet had a solar panel that it would kick in at a certain degree and actually circulate the airflow, so that they would not pass out. That was his actual senior project and it became the antithesis or seed in my mind for us to start looking at other options.
Two years later, we had a young man, Kyle Herpatrick, who had found a student at one of our middle schools who had been born with no hand on the right hand or left hand side, just a thumb. And he designed in his EDD class a prosthesis for that young lady, three d printed it, and then gave it to her as well as gave her all of the medical that she needed so she could continue as she grew up printing her own prosthesis. I think that's a great thing. And so this was the kind of disease that we began with.
If you are not aware, Warsaw is the Indiana capital or the world capital of Orthopedics and Medical Engineering. What better place to start than in this area? So we were able to put together with classes we already have and the Medical program already has. Those classes were designed to bring together a collaboration first in the state of Indiana that's ever been done. Two high schools working in collaboration to create biomedical engineering. The first two years are at Riley with our engineering programs. Then the next two years are in conjunction with Riley and Washington, so they get
their medical side. If they graduate, they'll have a medical biomedical engineering degree. I think this is a tremendous step forward. We have 12 students in our shadow program who have expressed an interest in going into this program. We have about ten fifteen students who are currently encouraged to go into that medical program. And we just wanted to be able to share that with you, what's happening. Because Johnson and Johnson is in Warsaw, Ozemet is in Warsaw, so we've got students I don't know if you're aware of this, but right now Biomedical Engineering is beginning
salary at $80,000 If we can graduate some of our students in that pathway, I think it would be a tremendous it increases our enrollment and it gives us a good cause for students to be with us. Can't wear the helmet though. And I think what I'm really excited about is that now we've got two four year programs coming together. So you have all the medical students who have all the medical terminology and everything that they've learned in biomedical sciences. You have engineering students coming in with all of the coding and the development and
the engineering pieces, and they're gonna be working together and collaborating together. Okay. Moving on to some data here. If you look at our freshman enrollment in 2425, our biomedical had five freshmen, and our early college pre nursing had 40 freshmen for a total of 45. That increased for twenty five, twenty six, our biomedical up to 19 students, and early college pre nursing 51 for a total of 70. That represents a 55% increase, for our freshmen. And our overall enrollment nine through 12, and last year was two thirty two students
to two fifty four for twenty five-twenty six represents approximately 9% increase for our students' participation. So some recruitment strategies. How are we gaining these students? First off, best recruitment ever, word-of-mouth. We have great teachers in our programs, and we're offering quality experiences. Kids are excited. They're telling other kids. That brings, encouragement to join these programs. Facebook. Our South Bend CTE Facebook page showcased positive information about Medical Magnet and all of our CTE programs. And, of course, news to know.
If you just saw last week's, we had two different CTE programs in there. Huge thank you to ASHA and Blair for their efforts in showcasing both medical magnet and CTE, programs. So then in this slide here, some other things that we do specifically for the medical magnet. We have health career days at Washington High School, October through February. We're inviting students in from other schools to see. The career fair, we had over 15 vendors at, one of our events. Our showcases of schools, we participate that, I believe it was held at Clay this
last year. Of course, eighth grade scheduling as we're moving freshmen into, these programs. Our medical magnet, health luncheon that just happened here at IUSB, and our ongoing marketing campaign to our students. Yes, sir. And I think tomorrow, we're gonna be filming some, commercials or that we're going to be doing a campaign with promoting South Bend schools. And we wanted to start with Washington High School. They've got some, as you've seen today, two other great student athletes. We got a third one over there.
There's plenty more. And we're very proud of the medical magnet program. So, we're gonna start shooting tomorrow, and you'll start seeing those ads running in March starting on WSBT and Fox. Alrighty. Thank you. So I'd just like to kinda highlight our most recent event, which was held last, well, the thirteenth. I guess it's almost gonna be a week and a half ago at, Indiana University South Bend, who is one of our partners in this program along with Ivy Tech,
Oak Lawn, Hospice, South Bend, the South Bend Chamber of Commerce, and our own school board are all sponsors for us, in our programming. And during that time, they come together and sell tables for the benefit of our school and our programming for our students at Washington High School. The kids come and highlight. We picked three kids to speak, plus two former students who are currently involved at IUSB. That is very powerful because they could talk about their days as a high school
student and also as their days as a as an undergrad at IUSB. And since they are our local, education partners and our local state school, it's a very good partnership that we've had with them, as well as Ivy Tech is included in that. So we also had, in the 2024, the assistant secretary of education from The US come and visit Washington High School and gave us kudos for the innovation and the forward thinking progress of what, a twenty first century high school would look like as
far as the medical magnet goes. We were given high marks and high grades as far as being a model school, not only in the state of Indiana, but one of the model schools across the country with the medical magnet program that's currently in place and expanding at Washington High School. We do have our health career days, which we go out and we do recruit. And our Westside recruiting schools, of course, are Dickinson and Navarre. We invite the students to the school, but we also go to their schools as well and to give them the hands on experiences.
That way, they can receive as when their students at Washington when they come in for the programming if they would choose to go into the medical magnet. We also go to the other South Bend Community High School intermediate centers as well. And we get in there and we invite them in buses to come to Washington High School to experience, the hands on experience in our gym. And they get to actually see what it is and then work forward from that asking lots of questions. And so I'm very pleased to say that those are very successful times as well.
And finally, looking down the road for us, we are have an elementary pilot in place at Wilson Elementary School, and they are currently investigating whether or not we will put a middle school at Dickinson and or Navarre, whatever, of course, is decided at, higher levels from the board. Overall, mister Augustino did make a very good point. We are being filmed tomorrow. It will consist of, spots for South Bend Community Schools. It is from our partners at WSBT who have been wonderful partners in exposing our
students, our student athletes, and our teachers in a very positive light from Washington High School. And we were picked to have them we were chosen to have them come into our building and to film in our medical magnet as it's undergoing, not only with the new wing that we're is under construction, but talking to the current students with the wing that will only enhance and attract more students from the area into our school. So I'm very proud of the fact that we have really come a long way and do have a long way to go, but I'm very pleased with the progress
that's being made at South Bend, Washington. And it's just one more reason to be proud of our school and our district. So there's some pictures up here from the Wilson pilot. Four years ago, we spoke to the board about a dream of mirroring our medical magnet in the elementary school. And then last year, the stars just kind of aligned at the second annual iHeart Health Sciences luncheon where mister Newbold came up and said, have you ever thought about medical programming in an elementary school? And I said, absolutely. I have. And now we have it at Wilson.
And it's not just at Wilson, but Wilson students are thriving in it. When I got these pictures and the videos from Ethos, I was blown away by the engagement. You can see what students are saying. So these these pictures are actually from an article that they did about Wilson. So Ethos, this is a national article they put out, and it's, woah. I can hear the heartbeat. This is so cool. I mean, like, I'm excited about the engagement that I'm seeing in these students' faces. These are our third graders at Wilson.
And we can switch slides. So it just continues. I don't know what they're doing with the frog. It almost looks like a frog autopsy. But, they look engaged. Their hands are up. They're asking questions. They have stethoscopes. And I think it's just a dream that's finally come to life to have the medical magnet mirrored in an elementary. And then we're looking at continuing that into the intermediate center. So then you have a true pipeline into the medical magnet, becomes a true medical magnet. And so then those students' medical terminology becomes a second language. I can go ahead.
We have a little video. I just thought this showed how engaged the students are. I think Give give me woah. Let's start here. Which sense did you feel most confident knowing what it was? Which one? Is it smell, touch, or taste? Which out of your senses you felt you were most confident about whatever? Out of two out of the three that you you did, you knew what it was. Out of out of which ones? Touch. Okay.
Touch. Touch. Watch the smell. Watch the smell. Okay. So a lot we can say a lot. Black. You could tell from touch. Yeah. Taste. Taste. No. Smell? I was like, wow. That's third grade. They're all engaged. This is amazing. Everybody should love science. That's what it should look like. That's just another picture of the students with their stethoscopes, the day that they did a nursing professions unit. So it's just this great molding of or melding together of the ETHOS curriculum. It's a STEM curriculum. Uh-huh. And then medicine for young kids to help get them excited and engaged and participating
and learning. Just a short update on the construction that's happening at Washington High School. As you know, the medical magnet at Washington High School began around December 2025 and is projected for completion at the start of the school year of 2026. If you're familiar with Washington High School, it's in the Southwest corner of the building and approximately 20,000 square feet is being renovated for construction, which was also known as the math wing at Washington High School.
This space is going to feature state of the art, labs, college style common areas designed for independent study, and a dedicated medical mat entrance, along with a EKG phlebotomy lab, state of the art dental lab, a CNA lab. And currently, our plumbing, electric, and HVA rough in systems are in their finalized completion in the rough area, and we are beginning the drywall as we speak.
No short update. Can I, instead of going to MedPoint, can I go to Washington? Yes. You have to. I hope so. I am a part of PLTW biomedical sciences. I wanted to join this program because I wanted to do something different and try a different pathway. All my friends were doing CNAs, and they wanted me to do that along with them, but I wanted to be different and try something new. The opportunities it's come with and the units we go over, it's very hands on, and I enjoy how much I get to see and do. So on hands on, we have, like, very specific programs and tools like zSpace where
we're allowed to use a three d program, look at different models of the body systems in all types of things. Next year, I'm looking forward to my work based research, so I'll be in an internship either at Harper's or hopefully at Beacon. But if not those two things, I'll be joining the surgical technician class. Personally, I'd say I became more of a team worker. I've met a lot of people that I helped me work with my teamwork skills, maybe in span. Being able to talk to more people and that's saying to myself, academically, I've just
learned how to study so much better. I used to feel like I didn't need to study and I would just wing it on the fly, but being a part of this program, we would talk about how to study and help me get ready for going to college. After graduating, I wanna go to college, and I'm in between sports medicine, becoming a CRM. I always wanted to go into the medical field, and I knew that's something that interested me. And aside from wanting to be different, I would say, God will play a big part in joining this program. And I brought my younger brother into the program because I was able to see how much it helped me, and I wanted him to be a part of that
service. For those who are considering either going the CNA pathway or PLTW, I am a little biased, but I would say join the PLTW program. It's so helpful, it's different, and we have a lot of good opportunities for me. I'll graduate this year. I got most of my credits a little early, and then I'm taking some online classes to get most of my senior credits out of there. I wanna start, like, as early as possible, so I'm just gonna go right into college. So I feel like I'm a year ahead. I wanna be in ultrasound tech, but I'm okay with anything in, like, the radiology, like, program. So I'm just gonna go straight to IUSB. They have a pretty good radiology program.
It really helps you learn how to study, and it also gives really good, like, exposure therapy for some things that I would like to do. Do it for sure, especially if you think that you're already gonna go into, like, the medical field, but you're not really sure what because you get to see, like, a little bit of everything, and we get to do a lot of, like, little projects that'll really show you what you enjoy. I think that it helps, like, open my eyes to see what I want to do, like, with my whole life, not just, like, these couple years. I think you should join the program for sure, especially if you're kinda on the fence about, like, what you wanna do, like, as a whole. You can really see if the medical field is something you're really interested in.
My brother was a part of it first, and then I grew up around injuries in my family. It's all, like, got me more interested into it. I plan on attending Bryson University in Iowa and be in their nursing prep program. Especially mentally because I would have to do time management, keep staying on time with my assignments, keep studying. I feel like it also helps me keep, like, doing a sport, also helps me keep on track with my grades. I'm so happy it's expanding to more options, more opportunities because clinicals can only get
you so far and CNA and CMA can only get you so far. But with these other opportunities open to you, it gives you even more. I wanted to join this magnet because I I knew others who were in it, and I heard that it was a very good start if you wanted to be in the medical field. At first, I would be an ultrasound tech, but now that we've been in the hospitals, I really think I wanna be a mother baby nurse. I would definitely say I learned professionalism through this program. Being in the hospital setting is a lot different than your regular job.
I would say academically, it's taught me how to study and how to prioritize what you're studying and also how you're doing. I'm looking forward to being able to be the best health care worker I can be to those who need. Closing, the Washington High School magnet program represents what is possible when we combine strong instruction, intentional design, and community collaboration. Our students are graduating with credentials, real world experience, and a clear sense of direction.
They're entering college healthcare programs prepared and confident, and in some cases, entering the workforce immediately with valuable certifications. Most importantly, they're developing the compassion, professionalism, and resilience that health care careers demand. As health care remains one of the fastest growing and most essential industries in our region and across the country. This program positions South Bend schools as a leader in workforce preparation and student opportunity. We're proud of the growth and impact of the Medical Magnet program, and we look forward to continuing to expand access and strengthen outcomes for our students.
Thank you for your continued support, and we are happy to answer any questions. Yes. Mister Castello, thank you. I wanna thank you for, your presentation tonight. I think it's been very informative. Not only to the board, but I think to, people listening in or watching. Of course, when you're a former graduate of Washington High School, to this day, even though I live on the South Side and I was the assistant principal at Adams
High School, I still have Washington High School next to me, in my heart. And I want it to succeed. The program that, you have started there and continue to grow with it, I think, does enormous good, not only to the students, but to the whole community. This program, I think, is very advantageous, to students coming through our system who's interested
in the medical field. Word will get out. Let me suggest maybe some billboards around South Bend, but not just the medical field here, but also, in the area of engineering at Riley and and, the international studies at at Adams High School. And then, of course, our our own Clay High School now, with the CTE Building.
Because I think that type of advertisement will draw people's attention and will increase, I think the focus on what you're trying to do there. Although I'll have to admit, I never thought, my study hall room at at in that section of your building there would be ever be utilized for medical purposes, because
we probably needed them in some cases in that in that room during the school year. But I'm glad it's being used that to the degree that we are using it today. So again, I compliment each one of you, for your involvement in this area. And, I know it's gonna continue to grow. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Lee? So thank you so much. You know I love the mental magnet, so I think that's, wonderful. And I thanks to all of you coming together as a team and especially for
the team that's not here, the educators who are a part of this. So now that we have everybody, like, all psyched up and they know this is happening, like, and they're paying attention and seeing this great presentation, what do you need from the community to best support the team and your students as they're going into the community to find these experiences, connect with jobs, and learn about what comes next? How can the community best support the Medical Magnet program? For us, it's just a matter that they know that we're there. They know that we are viable. They know that we are a staple of the Westside.
I like the idea of billboards. We have taken it upon ourselves to get yard signs for our seniors that are on track to graduate and put them all over town. And we're gonna have an alumni sticker that you can put in the back of your car that says Washington High School Alumni. So we want people to know that the school is viable and that the school is there. And we need you to consider, all of the wonderful things that are out there that are in the building and to invite people in. And I think what we can do is just make a really good case for
inviting people into our schools, especially our school, and to show them the newest technology that we have to offer and to expand on those ideas for the future of the community of the city of South Bend. And I think that's of the utmost importance. The support of the board is phenomenal. The support of our superintendent is as well. We are very grateful for the support of our parents. We are very grateful for our students and our staff at Washington High School. We have a wonderful building, and I think the more we advertise that and to see what we have to offer, I think people will take it a second look.
And those are things that were slowly, cosmetically, with the help of mister Summers, putting those things together as I like to pester him with we need, we want, we need to have. But he's also also a good lending in here and at least being pretty straightforward with me on those types of things. Mister Summers is saying all the kids want new shoes. Would you That's right. Sure. Yes. Sure. I just wanna say a thank you. And I'm glad you mentioned, the the safety and the and the community because Washington High School over the years have gotten bad bad press.
And so it's nice to hear all the great programs you have in the Washington Medical Magnet program. It's also great to hear that you're also working with another great school to get this, as a partnership. So that's a good thing to bring good positive things to our school corporation on the West Side of town. Appreciate that. Also, working with the elementary kids and the middle school kids to bring them into the mix, I think that's a great thing. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Good. I wanna thank mister g for your leadership over this and also question on the, scheduling classes.
So what's so you're a high school freshman right now. What's the process like scheduling these classes for next year? How's that work? So we're we're currently scheduling our ins our risings juniors, rising sophomores, okay, and and rising seniors. We're in the middle of that. We are soon to be set out. Miss missus, Maguabua Maguabua, excuse me, will be out with our guidance counselor, our head guidance counselor, missus Kane, and they will be going out with the other three guidance counselors to promote this as well in the schools because they've already come in, to
see the programming from the intermediate centers. Now we go to them for scheduling for purposes. So we're hoping that and we wanna have this big opening, you know, when we re when we get this, thing completed. Right, Joe? And we and we move forward with that. So that's our plan right now is to hook those kids in there and grow the numbers that mister Zook shared earlier. Right. So it's still time for kids to Yes. There is. Plenty of time. Yes. We encourage them to consider Washington. Yes. Right. And technically, although it's not ideal, all the way until August.
So yeah. Alright. And I just I tell all the eighth graders, you will see me at eighth grade scheduling. If you wanna be a health care professional, you find me, and we have a plan. The month of March, we will be in all the intermediate. Alright. Oh, that's great. Scheduling If if you could find a way to get us into our surrounding districts to promote this, that would be wonderful. Those schools, you know, that surround South Bend, I think that I would love to go, talk to some folks in those communities as well.
I'm trying to figure that piece out though, but I'm up for suggestions. K. We're behind you. Yes. Yeah. I couldn't agree more with everyone's view about how important this program is and I share their enthusiasm. I know your time was limited. And when I've gone to the luncheon, I've really enjoyed the discussion of the summer program. And if anybody's listening, SPT did an absolute fabulous series of I think two videos over the summer to show just how many opportunities there are for students to just
try out the different areas and really become almost professionalized within a very short time. But I think what's also stands out for me is that you're keeping our kids here to do the work in a community that desperately needs healthcare workers. And I I think, the students and their families should know that, the opportunities that are available to them are are so close at hand. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, with that, I'll we'll let you go. But Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. So now we're on to the, consent agenda. And, It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the consent agenda, which includes approval of the February 9 minutes under item eight point o one, accepting any attached financial reports and statements under item eight point o two, approving any attached consolidated registers of claims and distribution of payroll for payment under item eight point o three, approving personnel decisions listed on any attached reports under item eight point o four, adopting
any attached resolutions under item eight point o five, which are required to be adopted annually, accepting any gifts to the corporation and approving any fundraisers described in any attached reports under item eight point o six, and approving or ratifying any contracts for $50,000 or less listed under item eight point o seven. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve. Thank you. Second. Mister Cassello, second. Thank you. Are there any questions or concerns? Please pull eight point o four for a separate vote, please.
I can do that. We will do that. So it's for the record, we're gonna pull 8.04 Right. And vote on the personnel, report separately. So we'll first vote then we'll first vote to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report. I to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report, nay not to approve. So, miss Hernandez, can you please call the roll? Mister Ellison. Aye. Mister Costello. Aye. Doctor McCullough.
Aye. Mister Snivicki. Aye. Miss Lee. Aye. Mister Leyva. Aye. Doctor Green. Aye. So I think that was unanimous, seven to zero. Motion passes. The consent agenda has now been approved without the personnel report. So we'll circle back to 8.04, which doctor McCullough asked to pull. I means you approve the personnel report. Nay means you do not approve the personnel report. Mister Ellison. Alright. Mister Costello Excuse me. Excuse me. Did I not do that right?
No. That's not right. Okay. Go ahead. I want you to pull out of the personnel report Oh, I see. Under the certified number two, and then vote on everything else except for number two on the personnel report. My apologies. So we'll now vote, for the personnel report with the exception of number two. I means you approve the personnel report with two means nay means you do not approve? Yes. No. No. No.
Separate vote. It's a separate vote. You're you're voting to approve the personnel report minus number two. That's right. Period. So your vote will be those in favor to approve the personnel report minus number two. That's a separate vote. So moved. So moved. Second? Second. Call the question. Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snedicki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyva? Aye. Doctor Green? Motion passes unanimously. No. You've got a number two from the personnel report.
Now we'll vote for number two Alright. From the personnel report. This question. Yeah. Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Nay. Mister Sandicki? Nay. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyva? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion passed. Is defeated four to two. Five to two. Five to two. There's seven of us here. Five to two. I know you'd have a word in that. Seven. Five to two. So we're now on to action items. Okay. Nine point o one. It is recommended that the Board of School Trustees approve the elevator jack replacement for
Navarre Middle School by Schindler Elevator Corporation for $94,850. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve? Thank you. Second. Thank you very much, Carlos and and Marcus. We have any someone gonna speak to this? Tell us all about an elevator jack replacement. Can he hold on for a second? Of course. Because there was an item in eight point o seven that we needed to have
explained, under the consent decree, the $50,000 or less contract. So is this the proper time to re ask that question? We already voted. Are are you you already voted, but you're thinking of the resolution? No. I'm thinking about You are. There's the the gear up. There was supposed to yeah. The gear up. We were told we were engaged. Explained. Mister Ocasio? Got by. I mean, we can explain, but it's it's already been voted on.
It has been. Yes. Yeah. But I'm gonna ask the full vote. I just just wanna know if you can explain it. Chad? Yeah. This is about the Empower. They had questions. I'm sorry. I I meant the this look at that. I have it highlighted, but I forgot to ask the question. Thank you. Thank you for asking. I need to dig back through the folder. Alright. Which one? How can I help? I'm looking for number six on there, the Northern Indiana workforce board. Okay. In that MOU that we have, it says the purpose of this MOU is to
establish a collaborative partnership to facilitate an after school program. What after school program? Yeah. So, basically, Northern Indiana workforce board is who used to have the, JAG program in the schools. So JAG did all of the, what you called work experiences, but they were paid work experiences. And they ran the kids through skill development, just a whole range of things. So the state got rid of JAG as a whole. They still have money out there to partner with local schools and that sort of
thing. And so we went ahead and said, well, we'd like to innovate with you and do something after school to have minimum 40 up to 60 students over the next year that would be able to get, paid work experiences and then bridge that, all the way to more, like, internships and that sort of thing. So so this MOU is with the workforce development? It's with the workforce board, WorkOne? WorkOne. Okay. With WorkOne. And so the students will, are they so you said they're gonna be through this
program, they will be paid? Yeah. What it'll what it'll look like is after school in all all the high schools, you'll have, each day a week, you'll have the team from work one will be in one of those high schools. Okay. They will be working with average of 15 kids. Those 15 kids in each school, not to go over 60, will then get the skills and then we'll align them with partners through our work based learning with our CTE, and then they'll land in jobs one by one by one.
And, the the beauty of it is we've been and this board and you've been here all along, we've seen this group of GEAR UP kids go from, eighth and ninth grade at the fairgrounds for two years and getting exposed to workforce type options. The chambers had manufacturing days and construction days. Well, now these kids are sophomores and juniors, and the idea is that as we've done these, partner industry partners in our schools that they just mentioned in our CTE,
career fairs, bringing that all together now to say, you've done a lot of work, students, over the last few years to get envisioned. Now we're gonna do what most of you really want, which is put money in your pocket skills, and then we're we're gonna link you with actual employers through. Northern Indiana workforce board will be the first in the state, to my understanding, to revisit JAG in an out of school format, and hopefully, lay down a pattern or a program that I'll be able to go back around or our team will be able to go back around and to state folks to say, it'd be lovely if
you kept the JAG dollars. And if you can't do it in school, here's how you can apply those dollars and help kids out of school. And I think there's an appetite for that downstate. I appreciate that. Thank you for the explanation because I saw that. I just didn't understand what that actually meant. Yeah. But I appreciate you explaining that to me. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. You for allowing me to go back. Yes. Of course. I appreciate it. What age group are we looking at that's involved in this? Or Yeah. For this, it would be by adults. No. We're talking sophomores and juniors because those are the GEAR UP kids.
Yeah. They are the rising juniors and rising seniors. So it would start this March, and it would take it all the way to, February next year. So we have a one year lay this thing down, get it done, and then with the career coaching fellowship that we have, through several partners in the community and within our own teams So what subjects are you teaching? They're good In these these classrooms? Yeah. These are all work these are all workforce development subjects. Everything from, resume building to anything that like, if I were coming to you as
as a industry partner and I'm a student or I'm getting a student ready to get in front of mister Shnidecki, who's gotta run them through the mill and get them ready for a job, they better have their resume pulled together. They better be able to interview well. And they need all of those extra skills to get to that point. The promise for the industry people is, they now have access to kids that are prepared, have talked about durable skills, soft skills, you know, those skills that'll help them
show up on time. And hopefully, the majority of our kids will meet industry partners who they may be able to do part time work down the line after their work experience. Maybe they'll end up aligning with jobs, or they'll get a really good idea what they need to do in the next step post secondary education and that sort of thing, or getting in with our CTE program. So I'm pretty excited about it overall. We've we as a team have worked really hard to get to this point. Is there another one from coming out of Europe on today's Yeah.
Doctor? There was the EMPOWUR. There was yes. There is another one, EMPOWUR. And is that passed through already? Yeah. You know, we're we're told in there we're both of them are gonna be explained. I can explain if if you'd like me to. Yeah. I cannot interfere with the board's process. Well, we're the board was told we're gonna Yeah. And he can explain it. Yeah. I I think it's up to financial It's up to the chair. The chair can, allow this. Hello? Yeah. Well, I thought it was agreed upon in an executive session.
I think it's fine since he's here. Just let him explain it. Yep. So gotta find Yeah. I don't have the layout in front of me, so I'll go right off the top of my head. So similar, with Empower line of sight programming, this is not an after school program. This would be during school. There are throughout our district, all of our high schools, we have career classes. We have, different advisory type classes. But there are, like the empower folks are really good with such things as, portfolio
development, helping kids develop resumes as well, helping students develop their financial literacy, which is now mandated by the state. So across all the high schools, 10 workshops, one in each high school, you know, say Monday, one school, Tuesday, the next, then 10 of those. So there's, like, 40 workshop sessions. Coupled with that is those students, we've asked that 70% of those students' parents get
engaged at some level in the process of, looking at they have to they have deliverables like helping the students and their parents, have demonstrable five plus scholarships that they've applied for, demonstrable financial aid that they've accomplished. So there's a whole list of things. But a lot of our kids that are in these career classes or now that they're sophomores and juniors, we'd like to think that all of our parents are able to get it done and are working with these kids, but the truth is they
need an extra hand a lot of the time. And so our our pulling in the empower folks who've done a really nice job in the community, by pulling those folks in, coupling them with kids with teachers who are also engaged during the school day, and saying, let's get our parents involved. We we believe upwards of 60 kids also in that program will be And so when that starts in March and ends in May? That one ends, no later than the June. Yep. Yes. Who teaches these classes? They'll be pushing into multiple the Empower folks will come in alongside our teachers.
So, for instance, I know Adams High School has and I'm just using one example. There's multiple ones across all the high schools. They have a, they couldn't successfully have JAG, so they went ahead and, mister Seitz had the foresight to still have a career class for those older students, not for the younger, but for those older kids. As part of that, the Empower folks will come in, provide them this mentorship, and provides very discreet targeted information for these kids.
Is any of our ex board members or or contractors involved in this that have been hired by us in the past? No. They are not. And it's $35,000? Yes. It is. Yep. A lot of money as far as, for just a few short classes. It ends up being about 40. How how are you gonna get your who who's how are you gonna pick your,
students? Well, the students are in whatever classes they push into. So they'll be pushing into different classes. But it's after school classes? No. These are during school. Those are during these are during school? Yeah. Whereas the workforce board ones are after school, these are during school. Okay. Yeah. And basically, the task with GEAR UP, and I I won't belabor this too much. You've heard me go on and on. But we have 2,000 plus students. We have dollars invested through the federal grant to do something with all 2,000 students
as best as possible. In order to accomplish that, we've had to add really, literally dozens of partners. That's why you probably get tired of seeing me up here. The thing they got me is it it what I read about it is the classes were only thirty minutes. Yeah. Thirty to forty minutes. Whatever the whatever the high school class typically is. I mean, by time they get in the classroom and stuff, it's it's gonna be over. What do you learn in, thirty minutes? Well, hopefully, they hopefully, they will have very targeted and engaging instruction.
Right? High school classes run between forty five and fifty five. Well, I was told thirty minutes, and and, you know, I don't $35,000, I we need to, get the kids through, before they get to the financial part of running a business or anything. We need to make sure we could read and write and do math. 100%. Hopefully, we get it all done.
Know if that's a good investment and and it's 35,000 or not. Well, the the nice thing, and I'll wrap with this, is we have enough invested resources in GEAR UP that good partnerships all across our community, we're able to invest in them for the next, at least, three years. So Great. Appreciate it. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. And I I think there'll be an occasion soon to hear more about GEAR UP as a as a whole. Right. Thank you. Thank you, mister Snidecki. So we'll move on to 9.01.
I guess we already voted on it already, gently. Sorry. Nine point o two. It is recommended that the Board of School Trustees approve the two year elevator inspection and maintenance agreement with Schindler Elevator Corporation at a cost of $47,400. Sorry. We didn't take a vote before we take the 9.01. Oh, I thought we voted that. I'm sorry. No. We shifted. After we voted. Okay. I thought we voted. I knew where I knew where we were and, Shall I read it again? I I think we sure. Read it again.
It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the elevator jack replacement from Navarre Middle School by Schindler Elevator Corporation for $94,850. And we and we have a motion and a second. Yes. And then I invited mister Summers here in order he volunteered to tell us all about this. Sure. So we are asking to replace the hydraulic jack at the bar for the elevator, and it encompasses the cylinder, the plunge or the pistons and the PVC liner. Basically, it's shot, and it needs to be replaced to get it operational again.
You better be careful, mister eighty is, spending $35,000 to replace you with one of our students. Mister Castello. Let me advise the board, this is needed. It was needed thirty years ago. I got stuck on this thing three times, during the four years I was there. And, a couple of them were kind of interesting, which I won't go into.
But, yes. It's, that that elevator needed to be replaced a long time ago. Well, I can speak for the board and say we're happy to take we got you out of the elevator. Yes. So, can we call the question, please? Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snedicki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leiva? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, miss Hernandez. Moving on to 9.02, it is recommended that the Board of School Trustees approve the two year elevator inspection
and maintenance agreement with Schindler Elevator Corporation at a cost of $47,400 So moved. Do we have a motion and a second? And mister Snidecki and Mr. Ellison, thank you. And Mr. Summers is going to stay and talk about this one as well. That's correct. We are also asking for the board to approve this $94,800 to renew our two year maintenance contract with Schindler. This covers our monthly inspections and state mandated, safety testing for all our elevators throughout
the district. Seems necessary. Right? Yes, sir. So we call the question. Thank you. Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snedicki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyva? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to 9.03. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the ratification of payment to Ivy Tech Community College for CTE dual enrollment tuition and fees for $90,828.60.
Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve. Thank you, mister Ellison. Second. Hey, mister Leiva. Question. Yeah. Someone gonna address this? You can? Yes. I can. Thank you, mister. This is, at the beginning of this year, we did we could not find a welding teacher, and our auto shop at Clay had been shut down momentarily. So we had to send all of our students to Ivy Tech. And our welding teacher is on loan from Ivy Tech, and some of our students,
I'm sorry. This money is for both teachers, welding and auto shop. Tuition for the students to go to Ivy Tech and money. Oh, two positions. Yeah. Question. Yeah. So is this a contract? Is this a contract? I think it's it's pay it's payment of invoices for work already done. Yeah. So Okay. They were authorized Services. Yeah. Services. So it's it's the service has already been done, and we're being billed for it. How many how many students are involved? I don't I don't know that. Okay. For the welding, right now, the afternoon, usually, in the morning, you have juniors.
In the afternoon, you have seniors. And this year, we only have the second year because we couldn't get a teacher for the morning, so it's only for seniors. But for the auto shop, they have morning and afternoon at Ivy Tech. I do not have the exact number of students, but I can look it up in a few seconds. Counting on the invoices, there's 28 in one and and seventeen on another.
And and our plans is to, place this back out at Clay next year? Is this a one year shot? Or I'm sorry. Sorry. What's the future plans on is this a one year shot? Or is it Yes. Okay. We we are hoping to have our own instructor at Clay doing both afternoon and morning for welding, and we are currently in conversations with an auto shop teacher.
Thank you. That was my question. I asked how long was this con was this a contract? And and, how long was this contract for would be my next question. So I thank you, mister Costello, for picking up the question. Mhmm. Appreciate it. Thank you. We can call the question. Yeah. Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snedeky? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyba? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, mister Hernandez. Mhmm. On to nine point o four.
It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the twenty twenty six district wide mega capital project for roofing, paving, HVAC, and security upgrades via the TIPS USA cooperative purchasing agreement for a total amount of $8,879,300. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve. Thank you, mister Ellison. Second? Second. Thank you, miss Lee. Mister Summers, thank you. Sure. This package, this is a huge action item, and there are basically four areas.
One is a roofing project, which has about two two hundred and forty one thousand square feet against Adams, Darden, Dickinson, and Riley roofs. We're gonna do approximately five paving projects and site improvements, which is a mill and pave about two inches at Madison, Kennedy, Coachella, Darden and Navarre, for a totaling over 589,000 square feet of asphalt and improved drainage, critical HVAC and plumbing through Riley's pool
dehumidification units and locker, air handling units, and to replace the obsolete domestic water pump, water booster pumps and systems. And then the fourth area is that secured entrance in the vestibule at Riley High School. So four projects into one. Thank you for that explanation. And I think we want to have a further explanation, Mr. Augustino, on, the TIPS cooperative purchasing agreement. Thank you, president Green. So the TIPS, is a purchasing, cooperative, formed back in 2002, and it was formed,
for the purposes of bringing in various government unit members and making it easier for them to award contracts without having to go through the formal bidding process over and over when you get the same results. And so, under Indiana state law under both Title 36 and also Title five, there are a number of exceptions that allow us to proceed without bidding if those exceptions
are met and in particular under Indiana Code five-twenty two-ten, that's a statute which lays out special purchasing methods, which specifies when you can proceed without having to do bids, emergency conditions is one of those and we've used that in the past. Substantial savings to government body that is clearly present here. I think the studies show that over a $2,000,000 savings by doing this this way.
And then we look at other, exceptions if there are people that have established bidding for other government units, we can piggyback that. And that's kind of what TIPS does. It gets it and I've verified this in the past because we used this last year. Their, the way they formulate the people who are eligible to submit quotes and under this, they're pre vetted in a competitive way.
And you can go online and you can see the contractor here, which is AA Advanced Billing Products of Indiana, they're out of Carmel. They are actually have the contract with tips, and then Midland is an assignee of that contract, and this is all verifiable, and I have verified it. So at any rate, we're fitting within a couple of different exceptions. I have prepared with enough help to a resolution to be executed along with this,
so that we can document that we're using this special purchasing method. Thank you very much. Okay. Are there any questions about that the, tips? Okay. Can you call the roll, please? Mister Ellison. Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snarecki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leiva? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Vote seven zero. Thank you, miss Hernandez. On to 9.05. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the people driven renewal. This is a three year renewal. Our cost for the first year is $64,596.48
for licensing, plus $25,520 for services installation slash upgrade for PDT, for a total of 90,116 thousand dollars and 48¢. The cost for years two and three will be $64,596.48 each year. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve. Thank you, mister Nava. Second? Second. Thank you, mister Nava. No question. Please. Mister Mung is here to answer all our questions. So is is this is this necessary?
Yes. Can we live without it? No. Mhmm. So can't tell me explain to me how necessary it is because because it seems like an awful lot of money. Yeah. So our, both RDS servers that connect to our AS 400, run on our VMware server, the RDS SQL Server and the web server. Digital Storefront also runs through VMware. For count day, usually, we we have set up virtual PowerSchool servers.
The call center for VMF also runs off of this. We have an imaging server, for imaging Windows computers. So those are those are things I don't think we could live without. Thank you. Sure. Is there any of this reimbursable? No. No. Alright. It's the cost of doing business out here. Can you call the question, please? Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snarecki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyba?
Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously seven zero. Thank you again, miss Hernandez. On to nine point o six. It is recommended that the Board of School of Trustees approve the blanket PO for $25,000 for AT and T. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? 25 is 250. Sorry. Oh. $2.50. It was my fault. This is You'll have to vote on it 10 times. Oh, wait. It's it's in two places. It says 20 250,000. Just kidding. Sassy. Strike that. Do we have a motion to approve?
Sure. Let's have a motion to approve, mister Ellison. Second. Thank you, mister Leiva. Thank you, mister Munger, for staying around. Is this necessary? Yes. So we get we get, multiple bills from AT and T each month. Last month, we got nine bills from them. This month, I think so far, we have seven. And this is just it's a blanket purchase order, which lets us, you know, pay those bills without coming to you for each bill.
Right. Oh, and it will hopefully last us for the year. Hopefully. Yeah. Questions, anybody, from the board? Otherwise, we'll call the questions. Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough? Aye. Mister Snodicki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Labo? Aye. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Seven zero. Thank you again, miss Hernandez. On to 9.07. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the agreement with EduStaff. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Motion to approve.
Thank you, mister Ellison. Second. Thank you, missus Lee. Question? Yes. So, Ed, you stepped Yeah. Doctor McCullough has a question. So I could just go over the terms briefly. Okay. So so this is a three year substitute staffing agreement with EduStaff through 06/30/2029. We had evaluated whether bringing substitute staffing in house would be more cost effective, but we concluded that it would not be based on the annual contract rate and the full, scope of the administrative payroll compliance and insurance costs currently absorbed by EduStaff. So under the agreement, EduStaff remains the employer of record, and they handle the recruiting,
screening, payroll, insurance, and compliance. Since 2019, we had been paying 26% of gross payroll per per year, and I negotiated a reduction from twenty six percent to 25% as a condition of entering a multiyear term. Based on the approximately 2,300,000.0 in annual substitute payroll, that 1% reduction saves the district about 23,000 per year, which is roughly 69,000 over the three year term. The agreement strengthens indemnification by clearly holding EduStaff responsible for the acts of supplied staff
and for compliance with background screening requirements, and it also incorporates all of the corporation's standard contractual terms and protections. This maintains staffing continuity while reducing cost and strengthening the district's safeguards. So this is just for, like, the substitute teachers that comes in, substitute teachers. That's correct. And they handle the back the background checks is what you said. They do. Okay. Other questions? Thank you, mister Ellison. Appreciate it. Thank you. Can you please call the question? Mister Ellison? Aye. Mister Costello? Aye. Doctor McCullough?
Aye. Aye. Mister Snedicki? Aye. Miss Lee? Aye. Mister Leyva? Abstain. Doctor Green? Aye. Motion carries six to zero with one exception. We do not have anything from closed session. So we're now to the point when, board members have the opportunity to speak. Is it would anyone like to Yeah. I can go. Please, mister Leyva. Quick, update to athletics. So we have basketball season, sectionals next week, Washington, Adams, Riley, playing sectionals next week.
Come support them. And we had track starting. So if you know parents who are listening, if you have kids who are interested in track, come out. We have some of the best track coaches in the city, in the area, in my opinion. And I also wanna shout out to our gear up program. They also have been in a national news spotlight. So hopefully, we can, keep marketing the gear up program. Thanks. Thanks so much, mister Leifold. Others, mister Costello, please. Excuse me. Yeah. I I'm gonna take a a couple minutes tonight, to talk about a court decision
that just came out recently. It was in the newspaper where, Clay High School, was declared by a judge, to be the property basically of the South Bend Community School Corporation. To be honest with you, I had my doubts about that, but because of some great lawyers that we had defending us, and a judge who I think looked at
the sensible outlook of education, Clay High School was was basically given back to us again to utilize, I think to even improve upon this CTE program that we have out there right now. But I cannot, and this is the the negative part about this. I tried to get people to understand a long time ago on this board that
Clay High School should be utilized somehow. Obviously, three of the members of this board voted to keep Clay High School a school. We were voted down. And then it came up, what are you gonna do with a $50,000,000 structure? And I tried with every emotion in my body to get people to understand that if you're not gonna use it as a high school, at least utilizes SHCTE Building.
They decided to go somewhere else. It cost us a lot of money going with another program. A lot of money in delay. A lot of money in lawyer fees to defend us. And rightfully so, we got the building back. Now, the reason why I'm bringing you up, because we got, we have an excellent opportunity now to start dreaming again about what do what do we want to use
Clay High School, the old Clay High School, now the CTE for South Bend Community School Corporation building. What do we wanna use that for now? Because now it's gonna be ours. I'd like to have the possibility sometime in the spring, to have some open hearings from school, from the communities, people out there, as to what you would like us
to explore. Not only about Clay CTE building, but about our other buildings that we have in South Bend. What can we do better? I have some ideas. And I imagine the other six people on this board have some ideas too, or at least I hope they do. But I wanna hear from the public. Wanna hear from the teachers, the custodians, the citizens who have their students in our
schools, the citizens who do not have their children in our schools. What do you think should be the future of South Bend and the facilities that we have here? We have a chance and maybe one more chance to get this thing right. And hopefully, we will. Thank you. Thank you, mister Costello. Others on the board? Can I do Yes, please, mister Olsen? Yeah. And I, I just kinda wanna echo everything that mister Costello said.
We've been using clay continuously, and we're gonna continue to use it. Frankly, we've been the this litigation of them trying to take clay for us has limited what we've done and could have put in the building if they hadn't been trying to sue us and do this and get the $50,000,000 property for a dollar. We'd have more things out of Clay right now than we do. But we now now that we know we have it definitively, and I understand that they may appeal and whatnot, We still need to move forward as if we because
we won and go ahead and use the property tool as full extent, which we've been wanting to do. And now we have an opportunity to do that and just you know, this is more of a message to any future, judge or whomever might be looking at this down the road that this board has been using clay, wants to use clay, to its fullest capacity, and we can't be constrained or rate you know, weighed down anymore by, you know, litigation and threats of litigation and appeals and all of that. We need to act and do what's best for the community, and I think the
community is pretty clear. They want us to see us use that, clay property to the fullest capacity for ourselves with community departments and other kind of things. We are absolutely 100% committed to do that, get as many things as possible out there for this fall as we can, and then, you know, do as many things as we can get out there as possible for, you know, the '27. We'll probably be able to do even more, put the rest of our referendum money that's supposed to go into build buildings into that building and property and, really use
it for what the community wants us to use it for, what they've been telling us consistently ever since it stopped being a high school. They want that building in our possession and used for the benefits of the students of the South Bend Community School Corporation. That's what we've been trying to do. That's what we continue to do moving forward. So, just, you know, they're gonna look argue the law, but you also gotta argue the practicality and the aspects of it. You can't can't continue to try to hamstring our corporation by telling us we can't
put more resources and things into a building that we own, and that we want to expand and do things that are for the good of the student. It's just not practical. We've won. We're moving forward. And I just hope that whether the courts in the future and the powers that be downstate understand that we need to be able to move forward with some certainty and with some support on how to best maximize and use our properties and our buildings, especially if they want us to do what we can to maximize governance and
financial responsibility and all of those kind of things. We we need their support and their back on us as because that's what we're trying to do. So let us do that in a key integral part of what we need to do in this corporation going forward is to maximize the use of that property. And so I hope that the powers that be understand that and will support us in that, every single step of the way day going forward. Thank you, mister Ellison. Others? If not, I'll mention that the next board meeting is on March 9 at 05:30
here at Brown. And with that, I will now motion to adjourn this meeting. Board members, please stay to sign any forms that are necessary. And there's a The work session. Board work session on Monday to discuss policy? Yeah. To discuss policy. Hear that, Matt? Yep. Thank you, everyone.