you might want to show up. >> Welcome everyone >> and good evening on this the 13th of July at the South Ben Community School Corporation Administration building. I'm glad I got the date right. Say July 13th.
>> Okay, good. The board had a closed session at 3:00. I'm now calling this meeting to order. Uh Gabby, can you please call the role? >> Yes. Good evening. Mr. Marcus Ellison, >> present. >> Mr. Marcosello >> here. >> Dr. Janette McCulla, >> present.
>> Mr. Bill Snideki >> here. >> Miss Kate Lee >> here. >> Mr. Carlos Leva >> here. >> Dr. St Green >> here. We >> we have a quorum and we can now move to the adoption of the agenda. It is recommended that the board of school
trustees adopt the agenda. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison and Mr. Leva. Uh the motion has been moved and seconded. Kabby, will you please call the role
again? >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Mr. Snedki >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lever >> I >> Dr. Green >> I the motion to approve the agenda as passed by a unanimous vote of 7 to zero.
Uh thanks very much. Now it's time for recognitions and superintendent announcements. So it's over to you Mr. Reed. >> Good evening Dr. Green, school board members, members of the public. Uh the
last two weeks have been very sad for uh Southbend schools. We have lost three people. Two former teachers from Clay, Rick Roberts and Greg Bitskco. And the
third person was Mr. Bill Braun who uh was in charge of our payroll system for the longest time in Southland schools. Uh having mentioned these people uh are
moving on with the bill everybody has been asking me what is the bell so I am going to defer to Mr. Summers and his crew and they
will explain to us what this means. [laughter] >> Thank you. Good afternoon President Dr. Green, members of the board of trustees, superintendent Eid and our listening audience, the facilities department would like to officially present a historical 1911
school bell to the board of trustees and superintendent Eid to ring in the new school year. As you may remember, a log cabin in a one room schoolhouse sat on the property of Egleston. The log cabin is being carefully
dismantled piece by piece for reconstruction by the historical society, but unfortunately the one room schoolhouse on the same property was found to be structurally unsavable and had to be torn down. From that loss, our facilities team salvaged the building's
original school bell from 1911 and had meticulously restored it little by little after hours over the past several months. So, I would like to unveil the bell and then I'll ask those to be recognized.
So, if we could unveil this bell. >> Whoa. >> Whoa. Wow. >> 1911. >> [applause] >> And so I would like to recognize those members of our team that worked on this project since mid-March by preparing,
brazing, cleaning, welding, wire brushing, painting, staining to beautify this piece of history, Southbend history. So when I [snorts] call your name, just kind of give a wave and stand by the bell. Shane Bartnes, Chad Block,
[applause] Bruce Fugquway, Nathaniel Datna, Joseph Oliver, Rick Carlson, Robert Penna, and Jonathan Buoyet. So those folks who put this together, please join
me in thanking them. [applause] Mr. Eid, would you do the honors of ringing the bell, please? I I was going to defer to the board president. Maybe we could start this tradition of uh bringing in the new school year by the board president.
>> There you go. >> The moment of truth. [snorts] >> [bell] >> Don't break it. [bell] >> Thank you, [applause] ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. >> Having a little House on the Prairie
moment. >> You guys can picture Thank you guys. And that's all for the announcements this evening. >> Well, that was quite an announcement. How historical and significant.
Uh so, thank you everyone who was involved in that. Uh we will now have a hearing of visitors on action items 9.01 01 to 9.12. Uh, Miss Lee, >> no one has signed up for that.
>> Okay. >> However, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding items not posted on the agenda. Individuals may only speak once during this section of the agenda. Speakers shall properly identify themselves after they approach the podium by stating their name and address
for the record. Personnel issues are not to be addressed during open session 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. Good evening, Tiana Batis Wadell, 330 Kfax Avenue, Southbin, Indiana. As a parent, educator, and advocate for black families in this community, I am deeply concerned by this district's continued lack of follow-th through, transparency,
and meaningful communication with the public. First, what is the status of the antibbias and cultural competency training for district staff? Based on comments made during your last meeting, there appeared to be support for this recommendation. Yet, no
implementation plan has been communicated and it does not appear on tonight's agenda. Given the findings of both the reparatory justice report and the federal consent decree, addressing racial bias and discrimination should not be treated as optional, and I don't
appreciate people looking around. It should be a priority. Second, on June 12th, I submitted a formal request to the superintendent and board president seeking an updated copy of the school resource officer memorandum of understanding that is now
being considered for approval. To date, neither I nor the broader community have received clear information regarding the contents of that agreement, the proposed changes, or the rationale behind them. Recent research has consistently
demonstrated that increased law enforcement presence in schools can disproportionately impact black students and other marginalized groups, contributing to exclusionary discipline practices and greater involvement with the JJC.
Given those realities, why has the community not been meaningfully engaged in this discussion before decisions are made? I am equally concerned about revisions to the student code of conduct. Why were parents, students, educators, and community stakeholders
not invited into the process? As a parent, I have a right to know what policies, disciplinary procedures, expectations, and interventions will be imposed on my child. As an educator, I understand that stakeholder engagement
is essential when developing policies that directly affect students educational experiences and outcomes. The recently released reparatory justice report and the federal consent decree both identified serious concerns
regarding this district's treatments of students, particularly black students. Those findings should have prompted a renewed commitment to openness, accountability, and authentic partnership with the
community. Instead, many residents and parents are continue to be left in the dark about your decisions that directly affect the children that we all care about. Your continued lack of attending
to this issue is racist. Thank you. Thank you. >> Johnznney 18420 Crown Hill Drive. Since I started watching the contracts, invoices, and services under $50,000, I have been thinking a lot about getting
the most for our buck from these different entities. Are we getting the best price when renewing a contract? Do we weigh options with programming, getting the most for the dollar, or choose a program that is
familiar or well known to make it easy on us? Are the people making these decision choosing the best product for the price and being fiscally responsible? Let's be real, it boils down to money. when it deals with a
facility repair update. Are we getting the best bid or does the department that handles it that area pick the vendor from the approved list? Any facility issue in my mind that is not an emergency one should go through a
bidding process to make sure we're getting the best bid and the best product for the cost. So, while we're on the topic, is there a list of the five most pressing needs or wants for a building facility in this
corporation? If such a list does not exist, I would think it's time that one is put together and shared with the board so they know what the future of our buildings and facilities are, especially in light of Senate Bill One and the upcoming
referendum. On the personnel report, it shows 85 certified hires. A wonderful number, but I wonder how many of them are certified staff as listed and how many of them are under the EP program. I don't need that
information tonight. We'll know more towards the end of school. Many are hoping the new teachers pay scale will attract certified teachers back to the corporation. The final numbers will be an interesting indicator as such is the case. If such is not the case, what are
the other factors in drawing certified staff back to Southbend schools? Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak? >> Seeing no one else approach the podium, I want to thank everyone for sharing.
So we'll now move on to our academic focus on transportation. Welcome Mr. Tam. Mr. Durm is here as well. [snorts] Uh thank you board president uh for giving us the opportunity to present. Uh
this is Anaf Tamid CFO. Uh we have Robert Durham, director of transportation and we have Manny Villa, assistant director of transportation with us. Uh a little bit about the background of this presentation. Sometime last year uh we had a similar
presentation when we had the new director in July and I was also given the executive supervisor role of the transportation department. So we did a root cause analysis presentation if you remember uh we identified what were the root causes the underlying reasons and
what we could do in terms of recommended actions for the 2526 school year. So this is a continuation of that presentation. Today we will show what we have done in regards to those recommendation and findings and some
numerical numbers to show progress and to compare transportation 2425 school year versus transportation 2526 school year and what are our targets for the 26 27 school year for which uh Dr. Green
just rang the bell. Right. So I will give the floor to Mr. Robert Durm to begin. >> Thank you enough board members, president, superintendent. Um it was one year ago, almost a year ago that we stood up here
and we did exactly that. We looked at the root analysis of what's the problem with transportation. Um we uh it was an eye openening night. It was not easy to sit through all that, but we realized we had problems and per the uh exit polling
that we were doing of families leaving the district, of course, transportation was coming up most often than any other. Um, so we looked at what the possible solutions were and tonight we're going to look at what measures that we've taken to address those.
So this slide was taken, the next slide was taken right off of that first uh presentation that we did. The core problem areas, routing, bus driver, employee dissatisfaction, bus mechanic repair, management, administration, outsourcing, route bidding, fleet management, customer
service. We came up with these possible um causes for that below transportation. Um, we'll probably touch on a few of these a little more heavily than others tonight. Um, routing seems to be probably number
one or number two. Bus driver employee dissatisfaction would probably be number two if not number one. On to the next slide. So routing we understood that uh routing was an issue and some of the re recommended actions for that was an
upgrade in our routing software and also working with schools to optimize coordination. When I was here three years ago as assistant director, we had looked into purchasing Traversa, which is an upgrade to Versa Trans. Versatrans we've been using for 22 years, and that
program really is outdated, antiquated, and it's beyond its use for us. Um, so we did make the purchase of Versa Trans, the new routing software. We're currently training in Versa Trans or
Traversa. Um, we would have liked to have had it implemented by the start of the school year, but per per Tyler Technologies, if we try to hurry the training process, it never ends up well. So, we're going to
route with both programs this summer and then probably around fall break of this next school year and October, we'll completely switch over to the new routing program. Uh, another item that was identified as a possible action to take was working
with the schools to optimize coordination. And as a result of that, we attended principal meetings. We attended uh we met with the school secretaries at one of their meetings. We started dialogue both ways. Them letting
us know what we could do to help them and also us letting them know what they could do to help us. And coming out of that meeting, we developed with the help of Dr. Yan a new Google doc for uh our transportation request form um
streamlining the process, making it easier for our routers and also making it easy for their secretaries. And we communicated with them that in P school uh there's a box in P school that opts you out of transportation. Every student
is automatically opted in. And uh we communicated to the secretaries that we'd like them to check that box every time they have a student enrolled to make sure that if they don't need transportation that box is unchecked. We had a lot of students last year that we began routing and transportation that
didn't need it just because that simple thing of the one box being checked that shouldn't have been. So the big number two would be bus driver employee dissatisfaction, lack of motivation. Um, I think probably the one thing that
helped us most this year was the new contract for the drivers. Um, we identified a need to maybe start negotiation on that contract earlier and of course enough he's not one to wait around. So, he got started on that right away knowing that that's what we really
needed to do. Uh that contract was agreed to by the union in December and this board ratified the contract in January at your first meeting and pay was retroactive to uh January 5th. Um that gave us really probably the largest
tool that we needed to solve our problems. Not having proper staffing levels was making it difficult and we realized that early on. um we needed more drivers and when we were sending out dialers, it was because we weren't
staffed with the appropriate number. So, since that contract's been ratified, we've been bringing in more drivers. It certainly helped in all areas, especially with the number of dialers we've had to send out. We also realized that not only hiring drivers, but retaining drivers was important. Um so,
we decided that hey, we should probably come up with some incentives to keep those drivers that we get in. So, we implemented our performance uh attendance stipen. Any driver that comes in and works their their drives all their routes in a twoe period or in a in
a pay period, they get $150 bonus just for coming and doing their job. We also have a referral bonus. Uh anyone who referred a driver to us that we would hire and keep for six months. >> Yes. uh they would get a $500 bonus and they
could get up to five a year, $2,500. Um we assigned we have nine driver mentors that we've identified and we've assigned each of those driver mentors four mentees. Um that's ongoing and if we see progress by the end of this
fiscal year, those mentors will receive a bonus as well. Um we've already talked about purchasing the new software. We've also purchased or we purchased new training software and we've worked on some identifying some other programs
that we need to work on. Um one of them when we get back to the metrics here when an off starts to talk we'll see that uh uh accidents has been an issue that we've seen an increase in accidents actually this year. So we're starting a new uh program post accident training
for drivers. Um, but we did have some new software which also includes train the trainer where we can train our employees to be trainers to help out with the training process. Next, next slide. Uh, bus mechanic repair. Uh, we had
identified that we were short one mechanic. We did get that mechanic hired. Um Ken, our shop foreman, is also starting to use a new well, it's not a new fleet software. It's it's a one that we've had that they haven't used. Um
we're going to start taking some of our as we replace computers for our routing and dispatch staff. We're going to send those old computers down to the to the mechanics and each one's going to have a computer they can log into and they're going to use this fleet software which
will track their jobs. We'll come up with a set time that we think each type job should should take and we'll track their time to make sure that they're being efficient in the work that they do. Most repair shops have the same thing just to make sure that you know
the customers are getting value. We want to make sure that our taxpayers are getting value for the work that's being done. Uh management administration um obviously we felt there was might have been some issues with uh the drivers paras office staff with
management. We did do a review as you know at the beginning of the year hiring Mr. Nolan to do a study of the operation. Um we began using ed education advanced which all other departments are using for employee reviews so we can give good
feedback to employees on their performance throughout the year. And part of doing that we met with the company and we came up with specific rubric for each job classification. We have three. We have one for paras specifically one for drivers and then one for office staff. When we were doing
refuse when I was here three years ago, we were using the same metric for every person and it really didn't apply a lot of what we were reviewing them on. Now it's job specific so we can make sure that they understand if we feel they're lacking in some areas or if they need
improvement or if they're doing well in areas. Um we also held regular meetings quarterly. We met I would say probably more than quarterly with the drivers and with the paras and also with the office staff open dialogue with everyone. Um
anytime we had oh a new policy that we were going to implement or start to enforce we made sure that we met with them and they understood that we were going to begin enforcing those policies. We talked about outsourcing which uh the
start of the year, you know, we we probably this year we probably spent a little more on out outside sources for transportation than we probably cared to, although we did work throughout the year to eliminate some of the costs. Um,
first student did SNAP program for us last year. Uh by the time I hired in and contacted them, they had already moved all their buses out of South Bend. So there they weren't available to do it this year. Last year, um we did contract with them for up to 15 drivers to drive
our buses. We started the year with 12 drivers and first student. We were down to five by January and by the end of the school year, we were down to three. I think the last week, probably just two drivers. And that contract's now done and we don't intend on using them next
year. Um we did take back SNAP the program this year. So we did see some cost savings in that aspect and that we did that in house this year which was done fully by by uh first student last year.
Um our contract drivers, we're going to look at that as we get done with our routing to see where we're at with the numbers. If we have enough drivers to cover the routes we have, we're probably going to always have to rely have some reliance on our outside
contract drivers. Uh once we're completing we've completed our routing. We're going to see how many routes we have. Then we'll have some routes that we can put up for bid for the contract drivers this year. Their contracts are up uh currently or at the end of end of
this month. So, uh, you know, there's a there's probably a chance we'll be contracting with some of them, but we did offer to buy all of their buses and hire them as full-time drivers, but to date, we have not had anyone take that offer yet. So, um, we'll see what
happens here by the time we finish our routing at the end of the month. Fleet management was another issue. Um, I think we received two electric buses in 2023 when I was here. I don't think
they received any new buses uh from that time till the time I started. I know they had some on order. So, this year we did receive six Thomas buses from Kurland. There were still eight Thomas buses on order from Kurland that we
probably weren't going to receive for another year or two. We cancelled that order and we did order eight buses from uh MTE which were international buses and we were able to receive those this year. So in effect we added 14 new buses
this year to our fleet and of course this board approved us decommissioning 15 of our oldest buses. So our fleet has become young a little younger. We have a ways to go. Um on the agenda tonight is uh a couple buses that we are purchasing
would like to purchase from Elcart County St. Joe County Head Start program. They're smaller buses, not a lot of cost. Um they're not new buses, but it will help improve our fleet. Customer service, we uh we'd had a lot
of complaints about our call center. Um we did some work with them this year. We gave them scripts to work from um when they're answering calls, the type of verbiage to use, the attitude to have. Um we also implemented I implemented a
call log. It wasn't digital. It was on paper. It was just easier for them to handw write it out rather than be on their computer to try and log these calls. But it included important information. the date, the time, maybe student ID, student name, parent name,
parent number, bus number, that type of thing. So we could look at that information and we could see if there were trends. If we if we a bus was coming up often, we knew we'd have a problem we needed to address. So we're we're using that data currently.
There was also a call center uh a phone call survey that was implemented. They they're still having some problems, I think, getting that in place, but hopefully by the start of the school year, that'll be in place that if a caller is dissatisfied or satisfied and
would care to leave uh take a survey at the end of the call, they can do that and that'll give us some valuable information as well. With that, we'll turn the mic over to an off so he can cover some transportation metrics for you. >> Thank you, Bob. So uh I believe Bob uh
summarized the actions that we have taken over the last year in regards to the uh findings that we had a year ago and also the recommended action points that we identified. Now uh he has claimed a lot of things were done but I'm pretty sure you will not believe
right unless you see real results in quantitative terms. So that is what I will try to do here. Okay. Uh starting with the number of bus drivers as we have identified uh transportation was possibly the number one issue why many
of our students left the district. And in our root cause analysis we found out that lack of bus drivers to be the number one issue behind the bigger transportation issue because when we do not have enough bus drivers then there
will be late bus no buses. we will have to rely too much on outsourced services. We cannot really take disciplinary actions and everything. So that uh basically is the root cause for everything else more or less. So if we
compare 2025 versus now in 2026, okay, number of buzz drivers, we had 104 buzz drivers when we began our operation in the department. Now we have 115 and at least 10 are in the pipeline. So we we
believe when we are starting our schools in August we should have very close to 125 and that is a great achievement because 125 was the exact number that we set as a target last year. So I believe we are on the right track to achieve
that target for this school year bus paras last year we had 41 bus par professionals however Mr. Snakei and the other board members believed that we should increase the allocation because bus drivers alone cannot handle
everything what happens in the bus right they do need the support especially for our exceptional learners or special education uh kids there so right now we have 66 para profofessionals it has increased exactly by 25 allocations so
in both cases we had 145 total uh bus drivers or paras now we have 181 one. So that is definitely a good target and we are going to keep continue to hire more whenever we have the opportunity and funding to do so.
>> I think Manny has share Manny has some updated numbers for us for we we did our hop on and hire at the beginning of the month >> and we had good success with that. We made an effort to instead of bringing in one at a time, we
did hop on and hire and we said, "Hey, you need to get your permit. You get your permit. We'll get your physical. You need to have it done by I don't know what date was it that we started." >> I think it was July uh 6th. >> July 6th. And so we started a class with
a number of of uh drivers so we could train them at the same time to get their CDL. We're going to start another class here towards the end of the month I think on the 26th. But um what are the current numbers that we have for people in training? >> So right now in training uh we started
off with uh nine individuals. Uh two of them had their CDLs. Uh and right now we currently have at least an additional six that will uh be onboarded and start for the second class in July 27th. So
aside from those seven, we have an additional 10 that we've been uh calling making sure that uh they have what they need so that we can include them in this class. So it's it's a strong possibility that we may even have an additional uh
close to 20 Yeah, >> that's great. >> So that that puts us at the 125 by the start of the school year, if not a little bit over that. >> Yeah. >> Another important thing is late or no buses, right? And I know that many parents also often reached out to the
board members with complaints or grievances and we have also received those, right? So we have done an analysis of the dialers that were sent both in 2425 school year and 2526 school year. Now if you take a look at this
screen on average on a monthly average in 2425 school year we had 130 uh late or no bus situations on average. Okay. Now we have not solved the issue
entirely but for 2526 you can see that has come to half exactly half of 130. So right now we have 65. So I'm not going to use only 65 because still we have a lot of scopes for improvement here but definitely it shows that there has been
significant growth in terms of reducing the late or no bus situations that we had. Now for this school year 26 27 our target is to bring that to below 30 from 65. So 130 then 65 then our next target
is to bring that below 30 and again it all depends on the number of bus drivers you have. If we have enough bus drivers on our roster definitely we will not have a no bus situation at all and late bus situations will also drop. So uh as you can see there has definitely been
progress significant progress >> there um numbers can sometimes be a little misleading. uh the the late and no bus averages this year for us were 43 and 22. Um a lot of that was early in the year. We had a slight uptick in
February and March, but in April and May when we had the right number of drivers, we had virtually almost none of the dialers that were going out. So those last couple months of the school year were way better than the beginning. We actually had spare drivers on occasion,
uh two, three spare drivers. And anytime we have spare drivers, there's not dialers going out. The only time those go out is when we're short drivers. When we have to have drivers running two routes, we send out late dialers or if we don't have enough drivers at all, then we have to send out a no bus. But
but certainly I think the number that we've set is 30 a month average is going to be easily attained this year if we have the right number of drivers. >> Bob has talked about the fleet age. Our strategy has been to retire the older buses and to acquire new buses to have a
necessary buffer. And you can see in the screen the orange is highlighting for 2 2026 and the uh blue is for 2025. You can see that the uh number of buses over 10 years in age has decreased for 2026
and the number of buses for uh 1 to five years age has increased. Okay. So this has been a strategic divestment and investment at the same time so that we can reduce our average fleet age and many of inactive buses are also included
in that number. But we are currently in the process to retire or scrap those buses uh because the lower number of uh buses to manage that will give us better efficiency. But our strategy is to have enough bus drivers plus at least a 20 to
25 person buffer because you know buses can go uh wrong anytime right there might be mechanical failures or other issues. So we definitely need at least 20 to 25% buffer anytime. So our goal is to achieve that. Anything you want to add? >> No.
>> Okay. Cool. Okay. Now financial uh definitely my favorite all the time because I'm a financial person. Um so route consolidation this is very important because we had many inefficient routes so meaning I mean there were very few
students in a route which could be consolidated with other existing ones right and this is also very important and thanks to Mr. uh Dr. Bo Yan he has worked with the transportation department and finance very closely to eliminate those routes and consolidate with the existing ones. Approximately we
have eliminated uh 13 15 routes. We have saved more than $200,000. Uh it is actually a very conservative estimate. In reality it might be even more. Okay. Because our assumptions were conservative here. So it also helps in
terms of reducing the number of bus drivers we will need. Right. So we have tried in both ends. Number one is to increase the number of bus drivers and number two is to eliminate the routes so that we can supply enough drivers to the routes that we really need and serve all
our kids with minimal no or late bus situations there. Bob, you want to add something there? >> Yeah. Um Countine was a extreme help to us this year. Um, you always want to have either a knowledge of how much it costs to
operate your fleet, either a cost per hour or a cost per mile. Um, he did a cost per mile for us. Um, it includes a lot of information. It includes shop data. It includes uh wages for office
staff, drivers, um, depreciation on buses, all sorts of things. So that total, the savings number is based on $7.50 a mile to operate a bus. So the number of miles when we start cutting routes, we can kind of calculate how
much we're going to be saving by doing that. Um hopefully the start of this next year, we're going to be routing really efficient. So we won't have to cut a whole lot. But I think once you start the year, you see that a lot of students that are routed don't ride. We want to get feedback from the drivers uh
get information so we can continually look at making the routes more efficient and Dr. Yan has been really helpful with us in in that aspect as well analyzing data that we have on our routes. >> Continuing on the financials, so you might be uh interested in knowing how
much we spend as a corporation on transportation in total, right? So in 2023 it was almost $18 million. In 2024, it was almost $19 million. However, in 2025, it was around $13.5 million,
right? Uh last year, you see a little bit growth there. Uh 16.5, but that was due to the fact that we spent more than $2 million on uh bus purchases, right? So, basically, we are we have achieved a new baseline of 13 to$15 million in
terms of transportation expenses. Now you might be curious to know how we have achieved that in the wake of very high inflation right and uh as you can see it was close to $19 million at one point definitely so we have achieved
significant operational efficiency here uh and I will highlight how we have done that number one was contracted services as you can see there was a time when we spent $6 to7 million in contracted services for the transportation department now that has been significantly reduced and it will go
even down as Bob mentioned that we don't rely on first student anymore and we are trying to have more drivers so that we have fewer contract drivers. Another reason was the zone uh the zone was operating on their own. They did not have their transportation departments.
It was entirely outsourced which drove our cost very very high as you can see in terms of contracted services. >> [snorts] >> Then uh in terms of fuel in 23 we spent almost a million dollar on fuel but last
year it was only $620,000. Now fuel costs are rising like crazy, right? But we have done the exact opposite here because of Bob's and Manny's brilliance and our uh different maneuvers. We we are securing uh
advantageous contracts you know proactive contracts so that we don't suffer due to what's happening in the world right as you know when the war broke out I mean Bob kind of rushed to get the board's approval to secure a fuel contract and that helped us
tremendously you know our fuel cost actually has gone down uh insuranceances as you know I mean insurance cost also is increasing we spent approximately $600,000 in the previous year, but in 2026 it was only $183,000.
Uh, and Pete can also chip in here if he wants because we recently moved to a new insurance structure. We are now self-insured for our auto liabilities. You know, that may have caused the repair and maintenance costs to go significantly higher, but it did not. As
you can see in uh uh repair and maintenance was significantly less even in 2026. Okay, it is almost in the baseline. So we are definitely saving money uh there. So overall I mean uh salary and benefit costs has increased
by a million dollar but that makes perfectly sense because we have given our bus drivers and paraprofessionals the highest raises in recent history. Right? Paraprofessionals now earn $20 and more based on their experience. At
one point it was only $13. Buzz drivers were also earning very low, but now they earn at least $28.5 to $30 per hour. And in addition, they get $7,000 up to in performance incentives in terms of
perfect attendance, referral bonuses, mentor, mentee, driver, and other performance incentive programs. So our strategy here has been to invest in human capital and reduce our expenditure in other areas where we can. And that's
how we have achieved a new baseline for transportation expenditure. So we don't spend $20 million anymore in transportation. We only spend 14 to$15 million at max. Uh finally, as we are very honest people and transparent,
uh we are going to talk about the accidents a little bit here because the number of accidents has increased in 2026 compared to 2025. And I will let the experts talk here uh to explain that. >> Well, yeah, I mean it was it was disappointing to see that the number of
accidents total increased from last year to this year. And actually, I think it increased from the first half of this year to the second half of this year. But once again, numbers can be somewhat deceiving. When I look at the 2425 accidents, of course, I wasn't here. And
I notice in December and January, they have zero. Those are the worst weather months. So, I'm wondering how accurate their reporting was at that time. I I can't believe they didn't have any accidents in those months. Um, and also we had 117 drivers on the books that
were driving uh contributing to possible accidents, whereas in 2425 they only had 103. So, we had more buses operating on the road. So, obviously there's more chance for accidents. And two of those accidents were first student drivers. So, we we really shouldn't count that
against us as well. So, um, but certainly we're going to make an effort to improve that. We've instituted we're going to our accident committee is going to meet, uh, every other week and we're going to refer drivers that have preventable accidents to continued
training, postac training and we certainly can bring the number down. >> Uh, we are going to end with our goals for 2627 school year. As I mentioned, uh, we have almost achieved our target of bus drivers. uh our new target is to
have 130 and consolidate inefficient routes at the same time to solve the prime root cause of transportation issues. We are also on a great path of improvement for the no or late bus issues. Uh the other things will definitely help us to bring that even
down. Our new target is to bring it under 30 in terms of average per month for the 26 27 school year. uh reduce contracted service expenditures as I mentioned definitely that will help us uh reduce the expenses even more right
now we have 66 boss para professionals we will review in our 2027 budgeting process if we can increase the number to 100 that's not a promise though but I will try uh continue enforcement of discipline training and incentive programs simultaneously to improve bus
driver attendance performance and discipline which will include accidents of course uh we will continue to reduce the average fleetage further and also improve customer service because there has been grievances. Uh we will try to potentially revamp the whole call center
operation to make it a fully professional uh customer service touch point that might require for us to make some hard choices but if that's what required we will do that. Uh I will end it here. I will put our transportation timeline on the screen but as we have
taken a little more time so we are not going to talk through that but you're welcome to ask questions if you want. Thank you. >> Thanks very much. question. Uh >> yeah, I just um
there's a couple things. I want to thank the board itself for uh after first couple months we were together, we implemented some safety features in transportation and one of them was
putting the paras in every bus. I think that was one of the smartest things we did. And it's not to break up fights or whatever. It's for the driver to keep his eyes on the road and to
detour the kids. And then we also invested our security invested in all employees got a safety button on them. So if there is a fight or something, I don't want the the Paris to
get I want them to deter the fight or whatever. I just but they press a button and it goes right to the police and the police comes in and uh so there there's several safety features and that's our
number one goal besides the money and stuff is keeping our kids safe. And I I I think if you check the records from past incidents you had on the bus and
until now, I bet you they're they uh a lot better now that the few that I heard about was there was no professional, no pair of professional on the bus and uh And
and I don't know if that's because you guys were we put the order that every bus would have a par professional on it in cases if par professional didn't show up or whatever just having that person there detours it and and and
safety of the driver and the kids and everything else. And the other question uh and that was initiated by the board this whole board and uh the other question I got have you guys heard
a year ago or so state was going to uh talking about putting one corporation in charge of the busers >> for all the schools and and surrounding counties.
Has anything been said about that in recent months or I mean it's start of the school year. I thought it was going to uh and then people were you know corporations were going to bid on it who would get it and and uh has anybody
heard anything about that or did that die? >> Uh we have heard we we heard about some rumors and some news. However, there has not been any recent developments about that. Uh so we do not have any new information unless Mr. Reed or Pete has some uh knowledge. However, if that
happens, uh I just want to make sure that >> we're planning on going into that business, right? >> Yeah. The the path we are right now at I mean we we can take care of the county if needed. >> We just want to put oursel in the best position to to be able to do that. You
were talking about the CIS cards. Uh Eric Kittinden was got these employee got that now, right? Um, we're working on getting We have a lot of bus drivers, but bus driver and paras aren't going to all have them. So, uh, we're thinking the drivers will have the button, so if
there's an issue, they can use it. It doesn't help you when you're out on the route other than if you push it seven times, then it sends out like a 911 call. >> But otherwise, it'll only help you if you're in location of a school, like a loading the bus. If a fight starts three times, they can push. Anyone within the
vicinity of that school of the school who has the card at the school can come and respond to help the driver. >> You are gonna admit that the paras is a big plus for the safety of the kids. >> Oh, certainly. Yeah. Manny drives. I drive. I mean, I'd much rather have a
pair on my bus than not. Um certainly makes your job a lot easier. >> Badges would work. >> Go to several different places. And uh >> and by all means if if we get the order to put a pair on every bus, >> we'll try our darnest to get a pair on
every bus. >> The only reason we could not do that all at once because of the financial situation because the board approved that in the middle of the year. However, as I mentioned for the 2027 budget, I will try my best to increase the allocation from 66 to 100. That will
significantly help one of them badges. >> Sorry, >> are you wearing one of them badges? Uh those centics badges. >> No, I'm pretty sure if something happens to me, people will come to save me. So I don't wear that. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Okay. Well, keep us informed about if
you hear any more about uh uh one corporation doing all the and I think that that included all the charter schools and everything, didn't it? >> It did. >> We we did start.
We did start uh talking to um career academy and Mishawaka high school. Mishawaka high school does not have any busing for the regular population but they have uh busing for special education. So we are
talking about it. Uh there are a lot of details to iron out. >> They might just buy buses from Alcart or something. uh two that are still we haven't bought them until they're approved tonight. >> Action item 9.01 >> for that tonight. >> Yes, we will come back for that.
>> I'm done. >> I I certainly want to offer our thanks transportation's thanks to the board and to the administration administrative staff for their support. We feel like we've been given everything we need and and we certainly appreciate that. also want to apologize to anyone in the public that was affected by
transportation this year and certainly we're going to continue to work better uh work to to make ourselves better so we don't experience any issues next year >> compared to years I've been on the board uh I hear very few complaints from transportation
right now >> parents and >> let's keep it that way >> employees keep it >> thank you >> thank you Maidki anybody else >> yeah Um, when you anticipate, I know you said that the new routing software won't
be all the way ready until October. So, will there be a lot of route changes then or >> we talked about that with the routers already. So, what we're going to do is as they create a route in versatrans, they're just going to try and duplicate it then. And we've already they're already putting stops, the current stops
that we have now in our new program, the maps are all built, the boundaries are all there, and we've been working on adding stops. So, um, they've been working really well together, all the routers. They've been getting together even though currently we're we're working from home because we don't have any air conditioning on the second
floor, but, um, they get together on Google Meet and discuss stops and and they've been adding stops. So, it'll be much easier and Traverse, I've worked with that program before. It's a lot easier to add students to stops. So, um, I think they're going to try and duplicate it so that way we don't have
to rebid all the routes and we don't have to send out all the information again to parents. uh when we do implement it. So, >> Mr. Gil, >> yes. I'd like to uh first thank you people uh for your the information you
gave us tonight. Uh again, it proves uh the transparency and honesty that you bring forth uh admitting to u some problems that you have, maybe still have, but you're working on them and trying to get the job done.
But I really want to thank you for this past winter. We had a terrible winter up here. one of the worst that I've been around and I've lived here many years and
working with the superintendent and making decisions about school closings. You guys did a great job. you're right on target almost every day when we had some bad weather come in
here and did not decided to cancel or you did go ahead and cancel school for the day and I I salute you for that because those are tough people don't understand those are really tough decisions to make but every one you made
was the correct decision and I want to again thank you and your employees uh for the wonderful job that you did providing services for those kids uh over the that period of time when it was
very very difficult. I got one question for you and that is has to do with afterchool programs uh and the buses that uh in the area that you provide for students uh for uh
extracurricular activities. And the question I have is because I've heard in the past only special bus drivers were allowed to go on those trips. Uh have you worked
out uh a formula or some kind of procedure where it's spread around where opportunities for these extracurricular bus routes are given to all employees that want to do that? So there's a little bit of difference between
extracurricular and trips. I think trips is what you're referring to. And there's a bidding process for that. So, uh, drivers sign a sheet and we call it out by seniority. So, it's always done by seniority. Uh, the union dictates that that that that's how we're going to assign the work. But yes, we we try to
spread that out. I know in years past they've also tracked overtime of drivers and once they get to a point where they're getting overtime trying to limit the amount of overtime that drivers have done. We didn't do that this year. We came up we updated the spreadsheet but we never got around to implementing it.
We had so many other things that we were dealing with but that's something we're going to do this year is keep an eye on overtime. We don't want to be paying out too much in overtime and that's one way of maybe spreading out the work a little more to some other drivers. But certainly, you know, it's it's we we we
want to spread the wealth. Some of those newer drivers with less seniority, they still want to do work as well and they want to get paid. So, um but there is a process. Yeah. And it's fair. >> That is that is something that gets forgotten by people. >> Yeah. >> Uh they don't think about things like
that. Uh I do when uh especially when they had middle school schedules and they had uh 8:00 or 9:00 activities during school nights for kids. Uh uh and I was always thinking about the bus drivers trying to get those kids home
and they do a wonderful job. But I do believe that uh the consistency of trying to get as many people involved in that uh should be uh undertaken that you should have. So I thank you very much
for the information. >> Transportation never sleeps. We had 10 trips last Friday. It's summertime. We had 10 trips. So uh we're already routing for next school year. There was still second session of summer school. We're doing uh the uh kickstart for
kindergarten coming up here in August. Three days. We're going to route kids, bring them into school, and take them home afterwards. So, um you know, well, we're getting plenty of work for the drivers, but yeah, we'll try to spread it out evenly. >> So, I'm curious.
We gave a first rate presentation to the board. >> Thank you. We heard about efficiency, safety, really a an underlying strategic plan that seems really pretty robust. We
we'll always we'll always be transparent and you know, I know enough's one that's that's big on on numbers and and we don't I can stand up here and promise you everything, but until we show you with numbers, it's it's just words. So,
>> well, you'll have your chance in another school year with all kinds of challenges. And uh but I wonder given who's listening, what are you saying to parents? What's what's the major message that you're trying to get across about
the changes that have occurred? And I'm thinking uh Dr. Yan has done a study of the losses we've experienced in the district. uh we don't always follow through on uh some of the families who have left. Uh what would you like
families to know about transportation since that's one of the reasons why families did leave? >> The number one message from me and first of all thank you you know because this is the final and most important question and also the summary that we should be communicating uh because whatever we do
if that does not yield us any results in enrollment that does not make sense right. So my message will be to the parents that we are fixing transportation. Bring your kids again to SBCSC. So that's my oneliner.
>> It have a better line. [laughter] >> It's it's been our goal always is to get the kids to school on time >> and safely and and that'll continue to be our driving force. Um I think we've made an improvement, but I think we we have a little ways to go, but I think
it's within reach. um you know the day that we have five subd drivers every morning. So if a bus breaks down, we've got a driver sitting in a bus ready to jump on it and take those kids to school so we don't don't have to get there 5 minutes late. Um as we're routing this year, we're we're making sure that we're
routing to arrive to school 10 minutes before the start of school, not having 7:30 the bell time as being when we arrive because when we make that our goal, >> you're always going to arrive a little later. So, we're going to push it back 10 minutes so that if we are late five
minutes, we're still five minutes early. So, um yeah, we'll we'll continue and and I want everyone to hold us hold us to the promises we make and and certain we enjoy getting feedback. It's the only way we're going to improve. >> Yeah. Positive or negative. >> That last data point is really
important, isn't it? that the on time, not only on time, but getting kids to where they're actually in class and and learning, >> getting breakfast. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Getting the breakfast. >> Sorry about that. >> We're resonating. The message that we're
trying to tell our drivers is extremely important. So, we want to resonate that message with them when uh we're focusing on our training right now. Um I think that's uh imperative and they're seeing it. So we're hoping that uh we are going
to succeed with the amount of new drivers coming in. >> Yeah. >> Also to add I mean uh the situation we are at right now was not the case uh uh last year in August, September or or even in October. You know uh people always say that it will have to get
worse [clears throat] to get better. Uh I don't believe in that but that is exactly what happened at that time. Uh a lot of bus drivers left before we had the new contract. We were receiving a lot of parent grievances and I would like to highlight and uh thank these two
guys again because both of them drove as bus drivers and also were the administrators who managed the department and we received a lot of parent complaints. So often these two guys these two gentlemen they talk directly to the parents hundreds of
parents. Now that situation is not the case anymore. As we mentioned uh we have done significantly better and again to highlight we are fixing transportation. So parents please bring your kids back to SBC.
>> Well thank you Mr. Tamid and especially Mr. Villa and Mr. Durham. I appreciate it very much. >> Thank you. >> I look forward to ringing the bell again to start the new year. >> So now we'll move on to the consent agenda.
It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the consent agenda, which includes approval of the June 29th minutes under item 8.01, accepting any attached financial reports and statements under item 8.02, [snorts] approving any attached consolidated
registers of claims and distributions of payroll for payment. Under item 8.03, approving personnel decisions listed on any attached reports under item 8.04, adopting any attached resolutions under item 8.05, 5 which are required to be
adopted annually. Accepting any gifts to the corporation and approving any fundraisers described in any attached reports under item 8.06 and approving or ratifying any contracts for $50,000 or less listed under item 8.07. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the
consent agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellis. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Lee. Appreciate it. Uh, Gabby, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello,
>> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I have a question. You didn't ask a question. I just want to make sure on the on the consent agenda number six and seven. Um, I was not sure were they were those two items bidded out and this is the lowest
bid we got. Hang on. >> Do you know >> the contracts under 50,000? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Uh not all of them were bidded out. Some of them were for services like 200. Some of them were like
>> I'm looking at specifically numbers six and seven on here on the on the uh on this ag consent agenda. >> And I did ask in the agenda planning meeting. I asked Mr. summers and they've been approved because of the work
they've done in the past was the answer I got and I indicated that it may be that we bid those those out in the future. >> In the future. Yes. >> Yes. >> We have to bid we have to we have to make sure we we we're bidding out these jobs so people can have an opportunity
to bid on them. >> Thank you uh Dr. McCull for the question for those two items uh to the same vendor for facilities management. uh as I can see uh legally we are not required to bid as those are below $50,000 but to ensure better pricing we should do that
whenever we have a chance uh I will relay the message to uh Mr. Summers for that. >> Yeah, he's aware. >> Now >> thank you. Okay. So, >> now I asked that question at the agenda meeting and and because I thought it was unfair
because they used the preferred referred state list. >> Yeah. >> And that's made up by some company down here >> and the only reason that's supposed to be used is $50,000 if it's an emergency.
Mhm. >> Otherwise, it's supposed to be bid out. >> So, >> at the agenda meeting, I talked to superintendent and and and that's being corrected. No. >> So, all contractors will have the same
opportunity. The only time that refer referred list would be used if roof caved in or something that they had to do it in an emergency. Otherwise, everything's going to be let out. That's the way it's supposed to be.
>> So, let me finish my my >> the superintendent that was going to happen. >> Thank you, Mr. >> So, let me finish what I was what I was trying to get at. >> So, the reason why I asked that question on this because uh we've been um hit before not bidding out jobs and I don't
want us to get into that situation again. So, what I'm going to ask is that uh we bid separately. I want you to pull out six and seven for a separate bid. And so I want to vote on the rest of this contract um the agenda consent agenda without
those two items in place because I think it's unfair when we don't bid out jobs and give people the opportunity to see if it's the lower bid or whatever. We can't we can't put ourselves in a situation like that. So I wish I I would like for you to pull those two out for a
separate bid and uh bid accordingly. Thank you. If you do that, >> Mr. President, I would just as a point of order, we were in the middle of a vote before we went to this and I'm not I'm fine with pulling them out, but
could be Pete like what do we need to do procedurally in order to do that? because I don't think >> you may be in the middle of a vote, but we have a right for a question >> uh discussion and there probably should have been, but I think that uh simply if
you withdraw the motion, the person that made the motion or amend your motion. I know that I know you were in a in the middle of a vote, but >> I withdraw [clears throat] I was the one that made it. I withdraw the motion then to vote on the consent agenda.
And is there concurrence on the on the board for that action? >> I'll second again. >> Okay. I I think there's concurrence on the board and I think I think we can have a new motion now in which you're moving to approve the consent agenda
with the exception of items uh six and seven under the uh contracts. >> All right. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure we needed to do whatever we needed to do. And I want to make sure that when we call for a vote, you make sure you give questions and concerns before you ask
for a vote. That way, we won't have this issue. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. McCully. You're absolutely right. So, um we'll first vote uh to approve the consent agenda without 8.07,
items six and seven, contracts for $50,000 or less. Um, we can now call for the vote on contracts less than $50,000 removing a >> item six and seven.
>> Well, I I think we need to have a motion to that effect. >> I would motion that we vote on the consent agenda items with the exception of six and seven from the uh no contract >> contracts $50,000 >> $50,000.
Now we need a second on that motion. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Now you can call the vote. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ellison. Thank you, Miss Lee. >> Miss Gabby. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Snicky,
>> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lever, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. Motion carries unanimously. Uh we'll now uh circle back to 8.07.
Items six and seven. I'm means you approve of the contracts under $50,000. Nay means you do not approve uh with the contracts under $50,000 for item six and seven.
>> Correct. >> Second. Correct. Second. Okay. Debie, you want to call the role? >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Castello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> nay. >> Mr. Sniggy, >> I. >> Miss Lee,
>> I. >> Mr. Lea, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. Uh, motion carries 6 to1 to accept the the contracts under $50,000. Item point item 8.07.
So we will now thank you uh everyone. We will now uh move on to action items 9.01. >> Yes. 9.01. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the purchase of two pre-owned school buses from the Elcart and St. Joseph County's
Head Start Consortium in the amount of $20,500. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Olson. Second. >> Thank you, Miss Lee. Welcome back, Mr.
Durm. >> This This is uh total price for two buses or one bus. >> Two buses. >> Two. >> Two. >> For the two. >> Yep. One was uh 11,000, one was 9,500.
>> We We maintain these buses for them, so we know they're in good condition. They're really low mileage for being 2015s. they serve us a great need in that there's some areas in the district where we can't really get a larger bus in and we can run these buses even like uh our uh C airport CTE program when we
were picking up like five kids districtwide and sending them to the airport running a big bus just isn't real efficient. So one of these smaller buses would do a much better job of something like that. And we had heard the mileage is quite low under 20,000 miles.
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're they're exceptional condition. >> Yeah. >> Other comments or questions about this item? If not, I'll ask to call the roll. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello. >> I
>> Dr. McCulla. >> I. >> Mr. Snicki. >> I. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Lea. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> Hi. Motion carries unanimously. 7 to zero. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, [snorts] Mr. Durham. I appreciate it. >> Item 9.02. It is recommended that the
board of school trustees approved the student athletic insurance renewal in the amount of $91,814 for the 20 26 27th school year effective August 1st, 2026. Slow down. >> Did I hear a Did you move?
>> Second. >> NKI and Mr. Leva. Um, Mr. Le is not here. Do you want to take that up? >> I can explain. Any questions? >> No question. >> I don't think so. >> No questions.
>> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Snicki, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Leva, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. Motion carries unanimously. Uh, thank you.
>> On to 9.03. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the memorandum of understanding with United Way of St. Joseph County for kindergarten camps. >> So move. >> Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Let me finish my script.
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Snideki and Mr. Leva. >> And welcome, Mrs. >> Get out of here. >> Good evening. Um this is a partnership that we are launching for school year 2627 with Harrison being our site of
choice for this year. We are however um within the district at our other title one schools also mirroring this program. Um so we will have as you heard Mr. Durham speak earlier regarding the early literacy um opportunities for our prek
students. And so this is um again the partnership with United Way with Harrison, but we also will have other sites at our other title one schools. >> Anyone like to make a comment, ask a question? If not,
>> can you call the role please? >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Castello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Snicki, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lea, >> I >> Dr. Agree. >> I motion carries unanimously. Thank you.
>> On to 9.04. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the memorandum of understanding with the University of Notre Dame Arts Initiative for the 2027 Notre Dame Arts Bianual Program. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. Ellison and Miss Lee and Mber. Oh, and Miss Ellison, the whole team is here. >> The whole team. Um, this is a grant that we received from the Notre Dame Arts
Initiative [clears throat] um as support for their inaugural arts bienial program, which will take place in from January to June of 2027. Uh they're our grant is um $15,000 to
provide support for um afterchool workshops in school assistance for three schools on the west side. The project is entitled our westside stories. We'll be um initiating combining drama and the
arts into our language arts classes and then pushing literacy into our arts classes. Thank you. Anybody like to ask? >> I do. What schools were selected? >> Um this will be Dickinson, Navar, and Washington.
Um those are three schools that have struggled with their arts programs as well as could use some additional support in their language arts. Um the culminating project in the spring will be an exhibition. Um we've just received information that we will we have the
opportunity to partner with the South Bin um I'm sorry, the St. Joe County Library with [snorts] their new westside branch will be opening in January. So, we're hoping our spring exhibition will be there. We're also looking into publishing
a um collective of our students writings and their artwork. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. >> Dr. wondering if I could also say that um in addition to what Miss Triber has already shared with the board is that when we came together in the late fall
and presented uh the curriculum instruction plan for 2627 we wanted to ensure that again that the equitable opportunity for students districtwide north south east and west that they were present and once miss was on boarded
then we noticed that that we did have a representation gap with our westside students so That's when we did pursue or she pursued the opportunity for um this grant for $15,000 to begin to close that gap. >> Excellent. Excellent.
Any questions? >> If not, Gabby. >> Mr. Ellison. >> I. >> Mr. Costello. >> I. >> Dr. McCulla. >> Hi. >> Mr. Snicki. >> Hi. >> Miss Lee. Hi. >> Mr. Lea. Hi. Dr. agree.
>> I again the motion carries unanimously. >> Item 9.05. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the student hotspot renewal. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison. >> Second.
>> Thank you, Mr. Castillo. Welcome, Mr. Mer. You've got this one and two more. >> Three more. >> Settle in. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah. So, we're uh renewing um 1,250
student hotspots through AT&T for the upcoming school year. Um AT&T has agreed to maintain the discounted price um that we were getting last school year. Uh the monthly cost will be 12,500.
Um, and these are hotspots for students who qualify for the free or reduced lunch. And this is a renewal. >> Yeah, this is a renewal. >> Okay. >> So, anyone else have a comment or question?
If not, let's call the role. Thank you. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Mr. SKI >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lever >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries
>> unanimously 70 >> 9.06 06. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the renewal for Bloxy quote. It's >> all yours. >> Okay. >> Um yeah, so Bloxy is a cloud-based
student safety and classroom management platform. Um it acts as an internet filter and monitoring system to keep students safe and focused on schoolisssued devices. Um, teachers can block sites in real
time through the Bloxy dashboard. >> Do we have a motion in a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison. Thank you, Mr. Costello. >> So, the teachers are seeing things in real time.
Yeah, they can actually block it when a student is on a site that they shouldn't be. They can block it during class. >> So even though we are pretty proactive about the sites that kids can visit, >> yeah, >> there are sites that teachers can observe that. [clears throat]
>> Oh, interesting. >> And is that do you think ideally that leads to a conversation to the with the student about that's probably not appropriate? Yes, >> something like that. >> Yes. >> Okay. I'd like to think so. So,
[laughter] uh, any other questions about Bloxy? >> Thank you. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Cassello, >> I >> Dr. McCulla. >> I, >> Mr. Sedki. >> I, >> Miss Lee. >> I,
>> Mr. Lea. >> I, >> Dr. Green, >> I. Motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you, Gabby. 9.07. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the renewal for Google Workspace for $286,000.
Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellis and Mr. Castillo. Anyone like you want to help us understand that one?
>> Uh, sure. This is a a three-year contract um for Google Workspace for Education Plus. Um the Education Plus license ads uh some advanced security and analytics
um and AI powered tools um and a premium Google Meet features. So, it goes beyond what's in the normal free workspace platform. And Google requires all active users, uh, students
and staff to have a license. >> Yeah, that's pretty pretty straightforward. Any questions or comments? If not, >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> hi. >> Mr. Mr.
Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lea >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries unanimously 6 to zero >> 9.08 it is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the magic school contract do we have a motion and a second to approve
>> motion to approve >> Mr. Castillo. This is not the magic school bus, is it? >> Correct. This is different. [laughter] >> I wish. >> Do you have it? >> So, >> yeah. Go ahead.
>> Yeah. So, this is a generative AI platform designed specifically for teachers. Um, it provides tools for creating lesson plans, instructional materials, um, rubrics, and an AI powered coaching
to support classroom instruction. Um, through the Indiana Digital Learning Grant, the district will be reimbursed uh for $50,000 towards the cost of the platform. So this is again um in real time
teachers are >> seeing what the students are doing with AI and can constructively provide support. Okay there no questions or question no questions or concerns. Miss Gabby
>> Mr. Ellis >> I >> Mr. Costello >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lea >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries unanimously 6 >> 9.09 It is recommended that the board of
school trustees approve the stepping stones contract. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you Mr. Ellison. >> Second. >> Thank you Miss Lee.
Hi, welcome. >> Hello. >> Do you do you want to comment on >> So, uh, Stepping Stones Group, uh, Blazer Works, and Tiny Eyee will be the next three action items all related to special education staffing needs. Our
district went through an RFP process for all of our vendor, all of our vendors who we anticipate spending over 150,000 with this year. And um we are able to get some competition with our quotes. These are the three that we selected um after
reviewing the proposals. Uh [snorts] they are vendors we have used in the past whose performance we have um found to be satisfactory and their prices were good. So um one thing I'll say is we do hope this year and um going forward that
we'll be decreasingly reliant on them. though we do appreciate them as we see a very steady stream of indist hires coming our way. So I do anticipate our business with them will decrease over time but we do need them for right now to make sure
we're meeting our uh special education service obligations. >> Any questions for Mr. Bay? No. >> Okay. >> Mr. Ellison >> I >> Mr. Costello >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Miss Lee >> I
>> Mr. Lever >> I >> Dr. Green >> I motion carries unanimously >> 9.10 It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the Blazer Works contract. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second
>> Mr. Ellison Mr. Castello Mr. Boehner I know you're on for this one and the next one. So >> same story with this one. So they're all a part of the these are the three that came through the RFP process. So >> very good.
Thank you. >> If there are questions, we'll go right to the vote. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello >> I. >> Dr. McCulla. >> Hi. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Leva. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> I. Motion carries six to zero
unanimously. >> 9.11. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the tiny eye contract. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ellison and Costello.
>> Same thing. >> Same thing. >> Okay. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lea, >> I. >> Dr. Green
>> I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. V. I appreciate >> Thank you. >> 9.12. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the memorandum of understanding with Teamsters Local number 364 for bilingual education specialists. Do we have a
motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. second Dr. Green. Um, >> Mr. E, >> Mr. Dowel had some family emergency that
he had to tend to, but uh, Mr. Matt Lawson is here with the actual we basically used the office personnel >> for the basic language and then we added
some specific language to the bilingual education specialists and with some adjustment to the salaries and Mr. Lawson can give you the details. >> Yeah. So the um as Superintendent Eid
said, this umou pretty much wraps the um bilingual group in with the office personnel um within that agreement, but there are a couple changes to that. Um it does add a little bit of language surrounding their vacation time, I believe. Um and then also um making the
their wages retro. So they're the wages are going to be retro to January 1st, 2026. So, um, they had already received that group had already received the raises when the, um, I think it was the administrative group received their raises. Um, so I think we're talking about a three-month period or so. Um,
that will be retroactive, but that's, uh, also part of the agreement as well. >> Unfortunately, Gabby is excluded from the definition. [laughter] >> That's it. Yep. >> Sorry, Gabby.
>> Can I just say that like always my question is is is this how's it how does this impact the overall budget? Is are we feel we feel good about this >> and the scope of things? Uh we gave these percentages to our finance
department and they said that the impact would be around 28,000 altogether. Okay, >> thank you. >> Okay, then we're ready for vote. >> Mr. Ellison,
>> I >> Mr. Castello >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> hi. >> Miss Lee, >> I >> Mr. Lea, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. Motion carries unanimously 6 to zero. Thank you again. Uh, we're now up to
items from close session, of which there are none, under 10.01 And so now we're up to board comments under 11.01. Uh would anybody like the opportunity to speak? Dr. McCulla.
>> Thank you. I have uh two two concerns um comments actually to make. The first is I didn't realize how many people did not understand our agenda the process. And since this was brought to me personally,
I wanted to address it to the public. I didn't like I said I didn't know how many people did not understand this. The agenda is planned through agenda planning and board members are scheduled to attend the agenda planning and every board member is in agenda planning. So
when you see the printed agenda that's the result of the agenda planning meeting. Um contracts are on here even though I print I'm going to speak for myself. Even though I print the contracts off and I look at them Sunday night before the board meeting, if a
question arises at the board meeting is when you're supposed to ask your questions in public, I'm going to ask a question for clarification. Not that I didn't read the agenda. I'm asking for clarification. So, when I ask the question, that's the reason why I asked
the question. So, I wanted to clear that up. board members do not sit in on um um human resources when they hire uh people. We don't sit in on on um on those meetings. We don't interview. So
when something appears on the agenda and if there's a question appear again, I will ask the question. We do not sit in on uh meetings with the with the union. We don't sit in on those meetings. So when something appears arises, we ask
the questions. And so I want to clear that up because those things were just brought to my attention just recently. Another concern that I have, and this is not a new concern, this is not a new ask. Uh I don't know if any of you remember in 2024 the there was an
attempt to close Quillard for a career center that fell through. In the process of that of that career center, students were rerouted from Quillard Dickinson and Navar.
They were never brought back when that when that plan fell through. I've asked that th that they take a look at that and reroute those kids back to those schools because what's happening here is that because that was not done or fixed
Washington's enrollment is dropping and the feeder schools which is Dickinson and Nvar their low enrollment affects Washington high school's low enrollment that needs to be fixed because that is not fair to those those westside schools and so that
was a concern for me and that's a that's a ask that we fix that. And so another concern is that we need to make sure that our students that are failing and struggling are provided with the necessary
resources. That is not a new ask and that is not a new new concern. We need to make sure that is updated and that we are helping the struggling students and a lot of the struggling most of the most of the struggles that are happening because of the things that happened with
the zone happened to the west side schools. We have to fix that. And so I asked that question. I I made those concerns again and it has those current concerns and questions are coming to me from people in the public and they have to be addressed in public.
And so I'm asking those concerns to be fixed. And so we'll wait to see how that pans out. But that's where I'm at with that. Thank you, >> Mr. Castell.
>> It was u excuse [clears throat] me, it was brought up earlier tonight uh with a just a uh light discussion on bids. Um, I'm a firm believer
uh in representing uh the public and the people in the South Bin area as a school board member here that we do things
as cheaply as possible. uh when it comes to construction work or any type of activity on a school building because we want to save as much money as we can to educate our students.
The cheapest way and I think also the ethical way and the best way is to have bids even in jobs that does not amount to thousands of dollars.
Um, now I understand there are emergency concerns sometimes that go on where we have to do some real quick decisions about getting people in to fix our buildings.
Uh, that is something we cannot stop. But putting together some activities in some of these buildings where we do have the time,
we should not just look at the total cost but the activity behind what a bid would do and that is to bring in the cheapest price that we can do it that's most
effective. Uh, I'm a firm believer in trying to get to save a buck here and there to spend it on our children.
Then talking about spending money. Now, I voted for this package under the consent area, but we spent $14,000
on rooms for 11 people. That's a that's almost $300 per person per night. There's something wrong with this picture. when we have to sp go 700 miles
to try to educate our kids with only six or seven of these people actually getting some benefit. What about our other students in this program? I think we should start
to really consider as a board, do we really want to spend send our kids, a few of our kids to these special programs. um when we might be able to get some
tremendous resource from people from outside coming into our area in order to give the students many of our students the same material that a
few students received. we start we should start to think about what we're doing with some of our expenditures. We've had too many cases over the last
few years that I've been on this board where people just take off and go anywhere they want to go on taxpayers money. that needs to be looked at
and it needs some scrutiny on our part to make sure that we're doing right for our students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Castello. Anybody else?
>> All right, Mr. Lea. >> Yeah, I had a couple comments here. First, I want to see a couple of school board candidates in the audience. Want to congratulate them on running. Um, and good luck to all of those who are running. And then, um, I see that Linda Lucy left, but um, I want to thank all
the work that Linda Lucy does with the union. One of our biggest things coming up is the cell phone policy. And we've had the good discussions, and I think we're I know we're going to be ready for that first day of school and make sure it goes smoothly. But again, always if
parents or teachers have questions, you always contact your union rep or contact administration. We'll be happy to get those policies out there. And I know there's been some comments about um SRO's in the building. You know, I just talked to Mr. Kon there. And um we think
he thinks is doing well. And if any community member has any questions, I know chief's willing to sit with them anytime or shoot them an email and we can talk about the pros and cons and get that issue. to um resolve and either support it or what can we do to improve those relationships. And then there's
been uh talks about after school programs. You know, I grew up in after school programs when I was in college. I volunteer in the schools take 10 program. I know they're very beneficial. So, uh I know Mr. Reed that talk to Mr. Reed, we are committed to after school
programs. Correct. We're committed to each kid who wants >> Okay. >> Thank you. And then we and up to parents. We'll do anything we need to support those kids. And that's it for me. >> I'd like to just
um mention the summer fly production of Guys and Dolls that I um attended and it was just absolutely fantastic. It shows uh the talents of students across the city really not just South
Bend schools but other schools as well. Uh the expertise that the production company brought the musicians and you know I think that we continue to talk about the arts and the value uh
intellectually uh but it does so much to build community. Here is a group of young people who maybe maybe didn't know each other but who spent the time rehearsing and working really hard to make this
production just first rate. And what I loved about it was that uh the entire auditorium was filled and the enthusiasm for the for the different uh performances was just really quite
uplifting. So, uh, thank you to everyone who's who is involved in Summerfly and, uh, who will be involved in just the productions this year in our arts community. So, uh, if there aren't any other
comments, I'll just simply mention that our next board meeting is, uh, on the 27th. And, uh, then the following week, we'll have board meeting on that Monday, followed by a policy meeting on that
Wednesday. So, uh, with that, I'll u adjourn this meeting. Thank