Good evening. >> Okay. >> Hello. >> Good evening. Welcome everyone. >> How are you? >> Today is July 27th. We had a close session at 4 pm and now I'm calling the meeting to order. Gabby can take the roll call.
>> Yes. Good evening. Mr. Marcus Ellison >> present. >> Mr. Marcusello >> here. >> Dr. Janette McCulla. >> Janette, they called your name. >> Can you hear me? I here. >> Thank you. Mr. Bill Snedi >> here.
>> Miss Kate Lee here. >> Mr. Carlos Leva, >> present. >> Dr. Stur Green here. Thank you. We Okay, 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. The motion has has been moved and second. Gabby, will you please take the role?
>> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> nay. >> Mr. Snediki, >> yay. >> Miss Lee, >> I >> Mr. Lea, >> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I.
Motion has been approved. Motion to approve the agenda is passed by a vote of 70 to zero. >> That's not correct. >> All right. Six yays and one nay. Thank you.
>> Now it's time for recognitions and superintendent announcements. >> Good evening, Dr. Green. Good evening, uh, Mr. Lever, members of the P, members of the board, members of the public. Thank you. Um, we
have three announcements. First one is the Southbend Police Department's National Night Out against Crime is on Tuesday, August the 4th at 5:30 to 7:30 at the Southbend Police Department station.
Item number two has to do with summer school graduation and that will take place on Thursday, August the 6th at 6:00 p.m. at Adams High School. Item number three, we have the back to
school bash Saturday, August the 15th at 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Clay High School. And that is all the announcements for the evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Eid. We now have a hearing of visitors on
action items 9.01 through 9.06. At regular meetings, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding action agenda items. Visitors wishing to address the board on action items 9.01 through 9.06 must sign the registration sheet prior to the meeting and state the action agenda item
which they will address. Individuals may only speak once on the same topic. 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 in any way during open sessions of the school board. 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. If you wish to give something to the board, please give the item or items to Gabby. after the meeting. The public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding Oh, Whoops.
I skipped right past that. So, come on up if you'd like to say something. Um, yes. I would like to call Paulynastis. Sorry. See, I don't even know what I'm doing. I don't know. Paulastice. And we're talking 9.01 approval of specialized staffing solutions staffing services agreement. A
lot of staffing. Paul as 51680 Orange Road using my first amendment right. What I say should not be held against me, my family or co-workers. So I have several questions regarding this action item 9.01. First, who initiated this agreement? And why are we looking for temporary general
labor, janitorial, food service employees, team leaders, and facility maintenance personnel? Didn't we just bring these employees back in house? And what has changed? I would also ask everyone to pay close attention to the chart between section B and B2 under
their staffing model. It appears that many maintenance and custodial positions fall under the entry-level job category. And to my knowledge on the facility side for our own permanent employees, there's only one true entry-level position and that's custodial. Every other
maintenance classification is earned through experience, promotion, or requires a skilled trade such as an electrician or plumber. HBAC tech. So what exactly are we doing here? Are we replacing or restructuring our current maintenance, custodial and food service
staffing model? Have the union represent representing these employees been contacted? Are we currently understaffed in these departments? If so, are we actively recruiting our own permanent full-time employees? With the new wage
scales that were recently approved, I would have expected we should be able to attract and retain qualified applicants. I also noticed section H where the last line specifically states that these temporary employees may
operate forklift as the forklift trainer for South Bend School. OSHA requires an employer to evaluate and authorize each power industrial truck truck operator. So your certifications don't just go from one to the other. We have to train
you on this side. Okay? So even if someone was certified elsewhere, they cannot simply operate a forklift for us without being evaluated. Looking at section I >> regarding job assignment, I found it interesting that the assignment appears to be clearly defined. I wish we had the
same consistency with our own employees where job descriptions remained accurate and were not substantially changed without proper review. Finally, section L states that while these temporary employees are under our supervision, staffing company is not responsible for
property damage or personal injury. If you if your own employees did this, there would be consequences. These are important questions because this agreement has the potential to affect our employees, our bargaining unit, workplace safety, and the corporation liability.
>> I hope the board will not move forward with this. You can stay. Um, next moving on to 9.03. Approval of the resolution authorizing sale of deaths to John Glenn. Paul and
>> Paulassis 51680 Orange Road using my first amendment right. What I say should not be held against me, my family, or co-workers. So, I have a question regarding the action item 9.03, the resolution for the surplus uh sale to John Glenn. My concern with the process is this. Historically, when this
corporation has surplus property, it has often been sold through a public auction. That process keeps the corporation neutral because anyone who is interested has an opportunity to participate. It is transparent, competitive, and avoids even the appearance that one organization was
given an opportunity that others never knew existed. So, my questions are, why was John Glenn selected? Were any other local school corporations notified that these deaths were available? If another school corporation wanted to purchase surplus deaths, would they have had the
same opportunity? And what policy or procedure authorizes a direct sale to one school corporation rather than using the corporation's normal surplus disposal process? Again, my concern is making sure the process is fair, transparent, and consistent when surplus
property becomes available. I simply asked the board to explain the reasoning behind this process so the public understands how this decision was made. Stay again. >> Uh no because Kathleen and Aess is signed up also for this one. >> Okay.
Kathleen and Orange Road. I'm using my first amendment right and what I say should not be held against me or my family. I also would like to know who made this decision and why it's not been offered to everyone. The other question I have is is if these deaths are not
needed and they're good enough condition to sell to another corporation and why didn't we use these for Kquillard? Why did we spend thousands and thousands of hundreds of thousands of dollars for new equipment for kquillard when we could
have used some of these desks? Um I think that facility management needs to cut their spending and we need uh to not afford to foolishly spend money. Thank you.
>> You can stay. 9.04 4 approval of professional services agreement with Darcy Oline Oline for school psychologist services for the 202627 school year. Kathleen Anastasis >> Kathleen and asis orange I'm using my
first amendment right what I say should not be held against me or my family. So my question regarding this is this contract seems from my perspective to be for one person. Does this one
person have other people employed by her? Um, how many behavioralists and social workers do we have for the 2627 school year? How many people does this contract
provide? If it's just one, that's not enough. I feel that it is a problem and a waste. If it's just one person, I believe we need at least one per quadrant in the corporation. There are a lot of students that need help out
there. I know a lot I have run into in the last week several behavioralists and social workers from Elcart schools who have been displaced and are looking for jobs. And I have told them to inquire here. Um
but I don't know what they will do. I ask that you revisit this after you have the number number of social workers for this corporation to make a better formed decision. Thank you. Paulastus 9.06 resolution
adopting the SBCSC brand architecture and primary institutional identity. Paul asked us 51680 Orange Road using my first amendment right. What I say should not be held against me, my family, or my co-workers. So, looking at the resolution, I have some questions. First, who initiated this proposal? Uh,
was this something requested by the board, the superintendent, an administrator, communication department, or an outside consultant? I believe it's important for the public to understand how an item like this originated and what process was brought has brought it to it before the board. Second, I do not
see any financial information attached to the resolution. If there's no cost, then please explain why. If there is a cost, I believe the board and the public deserve to know what that cost will be before voting. Changing a logo often involves much more than creating new
artwork. It can include replacing building signage, vehicle graphic, letterhead, envelopes, business cards, forms, website, and the list goes on and on. So even if those changes occur over time, they still represent a financial
commitment. I looked at what similar rebranding efforts can involve. While every school corporation is different, and Southbend's actual cost could be higher or lower depending on how the implementation is handled, a conservative estimate appears to be
approximately $250 to $500,000. A more typical mid-range estimate could fall somewhere between $500,000 to $900,000, particularly when consider building signage, fleet vehicles, letterhead, and like I say, the list goes on and on. So,
if the administration has already prepared a cost estimate, imple implementation plan, I believe the board and the public should have the opportunity to review that information before voting this resolution. If money will be spent, what fund will pay for that? Will the expense come out of
education operation or some another existing fund? Will additional appropriations be required? Has a total estimated implementation cost been prepared? Finally, I would like to understand the expected return on the investment. What measurable benefit does
the administration expect this new branding to provide? Will it increase student enrollment, improve community confidence, attract additional partnership or sponsors, strengthen recruiting and and retention? So before approving a change that could affect nearly every department in the school
corporation, I believe the board and the public deserve a clear explanation of who initiated it, why it's needed, and what it will cost, where the funding will come from, and how success will ultimately be measured. So,
I guess though that it doesn't take your approval because they've already used that new logo on the Agelston log cabin. So, I guess it didn't even need you guys' approval. So, just letting you know. >> Kathleen and Nestus.
Kathleen and Nastis Orange Road. I'm using my first amendment right and what I say should not be held against me or my family. So again, I'm inquiring the same some of the same questions. Whose idea was it to change this logo and why?
Do you think it will bring more more students? Your focus should be advertising and showcasing what you are doing right and not spending approximately 250 to maybe 500,000 on the low end on a logo change. Especially
when I see letterheads still being used with Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. Within the last 34 years, we have had four logo changes and I have all the uniforms still in the closet and don't understand why we are putting money when
we should be using it to update buildings instead of logos, especially the ones that are at capacity. uh but as again we see that you've already started to use the logo in certain aspects. So I am very
disheartened with this board and administration and think you all need to start doing your jobs. Thank you. The public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding items not posted on the agenda. If you wish to give something to the board, please give the item or items to Gabby after the meeting. 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 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. Hello, my name is Kenneth Butler, 1110 South 23rd Street, South in Indiana.
Before I get to my main comments, I want to thank John Dow and the Teamsters 364 for their work. And I would like to thank Superintendent Eid and the school board for voting yes for pay raise for security and allowing security to have a voice backed by the union.
Security is watching over the ch your children. So, it's very important to have an hourly rate that attracts quality personnel, security personnel. I work at John Adams High School. We have a very good security staff there. Even at $15 an hour, which was the previous
pay rate, assistant principal Lewis was able to put together a security staff focused on student well-being and of course safety. It's ongoing. We're doing everything we can to keep your children safe from harm. Now, my
main comments are to address the opinion letter I had in the South Tribune entitled The School to Prison Pipeline. It's not the schools, it's the parenting. For that, I was called ignorant for spreading this disease of this outlook.
At least I wasn't called stupid, but I don't care. I've been at John Adams since 2008. I've been to 10 to 15 graduations and apparently it's very amazing that I've seen literally thousands of black and brown students walk across the stage and receive scholarships to all major
universities, junior colleges, apprenticeship programs, military assist enlistment, and some go straight to work. I look around the stands and I see whole families, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins celebrating. If there is a systemic effort to stop these
students, it didn't work. At Adams and the other high schools, there are black and brown principles, assistant principles, other staff, support staff. Do you really think they would tolerate any effort designed to fail our black children?
And we have a very good principal, Mr. Jim Sites, who cares about all the students futures and would never co-sign any effort to get in the way of students of any color from succeeding. As a matter of fact, our administrative staff bends over backwards to give students who struggle all the support needed to
graduate. Our security staff is black and brown, and they would speak up if they saw a student being unfairly targeted. They absolutely care not only for safety, but anything that would negatively affect students, not just black. I address parenting because I'm not a
social scientist. >> 30 seconds. >> Everything starts at home. sleeping well, eating well, attending, monitoring grades, attending attendance, checking their child's progress, power school, progress reports, open house. I don't know one teacher that wants your
child to fail. There's there's black administrators that will look the that will not look the other way and allow that to happen. I guess it's possible. I've never seen teachers teach. They want your child to succeed. Your child's failure is a reflection on their teaching ability. They're evaluated every year. They want every child to
succeed. Get a passing. three minutes up. >> Thanks, Lord. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else wish to speak? John Pachznney 18420 Crown Hill Drive. So, at the last meeting, a $15,000 grant from Notre Dame was approved to improve
the fine arts programs at Washington, Navar, and Dickinson. Going home, it made me wonder, why are these fine arts programs in these schools suffering? Student participation, qualified staff and teachers, lack of students wanting
to participate, sheer numbers. Why? Back when Clay was open, Dickinson was a fine arts middle school. Has there been any thought why that has not been moved to a middle school in the Riley district since Dickinson and Riley are like polar
opposites in the city? Do we know how many students go from Dickinson to Riley due to the magnet program? Should the magnet fine arts program be moved to Jackson? These are just food thoughts for food for thoughts. I have no real
opinion. I just think the middle school should be in the high school district. Every middle school should have a fine arts, music, band, orchestra, choir, drama in our classes. This helps build the high school programs as the children move forward. I hope that each school
has this because it is all part of a well-rounded education. Which brings me to the enrollment figures here, not just in the South Bend schools, but in the other schools that make up the northwest and west side of the city. I have prepared a handout for you which I will
give at the end. But where are the children under 18? From Olive Street west to the corporation border from the bypass to the state line. It's a huge area. The numbers just don't add up.
I am maybe I'm missing something, but there seems to be future issues with enrollment that we are going to have to address with building utilization. Plus, are you aware there is a new charter school opening, the Willow Academy? It will open in the Beacon Resource Center
on Lincoln Way, which is right across Edison from Dickinson, which will just add another school to the area. It definitely is a challenging situation with the age of naming rights and sponsorship. I thought it's a great idea
that you will be voting on the idea of securing a sponsor for the back to school bash. I'm hoping other big events like this can have a title sponsor. And one other thing, we have this stipen list. Is there any way it can be made
bigger to where you don't need a magnifying glass to read it? It almost screams no transparency. Thank you. >> Good evening. Tiana Batis Wadell, 330 Kofax Avenue, Southbend, Indiana. Two weeks ago, I stood before you and
expressed concern about this board's pattern of raising important issues without meaningful follow-through. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. I asked how the district's transportation study aligns with the federal consent decree, which requires Southpin schools
to evaluate whether transportation pos policies negatively affect desegregation efforts. To date, I have not received a response, and today's agenda gives no indication that this board intends to address it. We are now halfway through 2026. By this point, the community
should have seen a publicly communicated implementation plan addressing both the federal consent decree and recommendations of the South Bin Reparatory Justice Commission report. The commission confirmed what black families have experienced for generations. Segregated schools, we have
about five unequal resources. We don't deserve leftover desks. We deserve brand new ones. Limited academic opportunities. AP courses. Disproportionate discipline. We already know about that. At least 70% are black. Um systemic un underinvestment. You should be pumping dollars into your
segregated schools since you cannot desegregate them. It is it also acknowledges that many of those disparities continue today. Likewise, the consent decree exists to ensure educational equity. Yet disparities in discipline, advanced coursework, special education identification, attendance,
graduation, and academ academic achievement remain. By now, this board should have established measurable benchmarks, a timeline for implementation, regular public progress reports, a clear accountability for reducing these long-standing disparities. Black families deserve to
know not only that these issues are recognized, but they are being intentionally addressed. Instead, the community continues to receive reports, presentations, and discussions without a clear path to implementation. Community members raise concerns, parents raise concerns, yet too often those concerns
get silenced. Public participation to result in public accountability. The board should have a transparent process for responding to questions raised during public comment and communicating next steps to the community. As candidates prepared to seek seats on
this board, the public again deserves to hear what your plan is going to be and what your commitment will be to the consent decree and fulfilling its orders and what you're going to do about the recommendations in the commission's report. I respectfully urge this board to public publicly commit to an
implementation timeline, issue regular progress reports, provide a substantive response regarding the transportation studies compliance with the consent decree, and consider issuing a formal apology acknowledging the harms experienced by generations of black
students and families in this district. and finally pass a resolution to implement a black student achievement strategic plan that addresses the alleged documentation. We're having a meeting next Tuesday night at the library 6 p.m. Cuter Kernan Hall whatever it is 6 p.m. Come there we'll
be there. Appreciate you. Thank you. Paul asis 51680 Orange Road using my first amendment right. What I say should not be held against me and my family or co-workers. So it's now been just over a year since the facility department transitioned from SSC back to South Bin School. I believe it's time to ask one
simple question. What have we learned? If this if this first year were a report card, every board member might assign different grade. These are simply my observations after living through the transition. The true measure isn't how we evaluate ourselves. It's how others
experience the results of the decisions we make. Compensation, I'd give it a B. I appreciate the board's investment in its employees, and many people benefited from the new wage structure. I stopped short of an A because I believe the overall compensation picture could have
been examined more completely. Employees are at a different stage of their career and retirement, and those differences affect total compensation in ways that aren't always reflected by hourly wage. Communication, I think I'd give that a C minus. Good communication builds
confidence. Mixed communication creates uncertainty. My greatest concern remains job classification, career paths, and organizational structure. After 34 years of facilities of working in these facilities, I've seen employees develop
skills and advance through clearly understood classifications. One year after the transition, I only wish that were still true. Long-term direction incomplete. And unlike school report card, incomplete is not a failing
grade. It simply means the work isn't finished. This corporation is always evolving and today's decisions shape tomorrow's organization. No individual should reshape a public institution as though it belongs to them. Every
decision should respect the history of this corporation, serve the people who are here today, and strengthen it for those who come after us. Today, I believe the corporation is at a pivotal moment moment. The choices we make now will influence this corporation long
after every one of us has moved on. Someday these buildings, these contracts, these board seats, and even my own position will belong to somebody else. Our goal should be to leave this corporation stronger than the one we inherited. The corporation our community
sees tomorrow will be built on the decisions we make today. Let's make it one people are proud to work for, proud to support, and proud to pass on to the next generation. Does anyone else wish to speak? Kathleen Anastasis Orange Road. I'm
using my first amendment right and what I say should not be held against me or my family. For the last 5 years, I have stood before this board speaking on behalf of custodial and maintenance employees, taxpayers, and members of this community. Unfortunately, I have
reached a point to where I c feel I can no longer effectively advocate for anyone because it is my opinion that most of this board and administration do not listen to the concerns I bring. Example number one, May 12th.
When the director of facilities management job description was brought to the board for a vote, I spoke up and asked why we needed this position and now this person has an assistant. Why was the position necessary and how has it improved the operation of our
schools, especially when key employees are leaving? Example number two, at the April 13th meeting, I reminded board members whose seats are up for election and also the superintendent their
responsibilities do not stop until the end of their term. I also asked if they weren't going to do their jobs to please resign immediately so the corporation could move forward. This corporation has a deadline of June 30th, 2027 according
to Indiana code 2026747 which states public school corporations must report buildings operations at 60% or less of capacity is legally classified as underutilized and would force schools to offer
underutilized buildings to charters. The exception can exempt if at least 50% of the building square footage is used for combination office space storage. So with that being said, my question to this board and superintendent is, what
is your plan and when can we expect dates for public meetings to show this community what their public school will look like for the future? We need to start moving forward. Time is of the essence to the board and the administration. I feel I have done all I
can do. So what is your excuse and what do you intend to do about it? >> Does anyone else wish to speak? >> May May I ask a question? Uh I just asked Mr. Es.
Uh, I liked when Mrs. McCulla and you answered quick questions and I understand why we can't answer all the questions. You
got any kind of system that you do to answer like go back on the recordings and answer some of the people's uh questions? Uh,
I mean, they deserve an answer. They're right. They deserve an answer. But are there any Do you have a system or or can you post it on the website? Uh, I don't know if you get the secretary or someone to kind of go over the recordings and
ask answer some of these questions. >> What we do sometimes is after the meeting, I'll meet up with somebody, get their email or make an appointment, and then go over the items with them. Okay. Because you you tried and I loved
when you you and Muller both answered a couple quick questions. I I totally understand, but uh we we just need to develop a system where some of these questions could be answered because some of the questions
they ask is not just for them, it's for the whole community. >> We can do that. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. appreciate it. Um, now we move on to academic focus. Good afternoon, President Green, school
board trustees, Superintendent Eid, to our visitors and the listening audience as well as um here in person. We were asked to come and update um the attendance initiatives that we undertook
almost a year to date and some of the partnerships that we have developed to help support our students first, our family second, and then also all the other district and inbuilding employees that
we have to help improve our attendance scores or our prot or percentage rate. We all know that research has stated time and time again that if students are not present then they cannot learn. And so we began to look at on a global stage
and student student case by case of what is going on with our students who are in critical areas or at risk with their attendance and then how we as the district can help support students and families to ensure that our students are
present on a daily basis. So Mrs. Sierra Savannah under the leadership of Stephanie Stewart Bridges and our current partner at the table will help give some examples of what we've done over the past 12 months and where we are going. Mr. Stewart Bridges.
>> Good evening, President Green, Superintendent Eid, and schoolboard members. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you all of the wonderful things that we have been able to accomplish in this past year as it relates to attendance. Sierra Savannah
serves as our um director or our attendance officer and does an amazing job with meeting with every building to ensure that our students are coming to school and if they're not kind of creating an opportunity to understand what those barriers are so that we can
address them. I am going to pass the mic over to her so that she can provide you with the muchneeded update on our attendance from last year. Good evening members of the board and good evening members of the community. My name is Sierra Savannah and I am the
district attendance officer for South Bend Community Schools. I am excited to share with you today that last year our district experienced the largest attendance improvement we've seen in years. Attendance improved because of the
efforts of our attendance teams through an intensive manual process. While this process have been successful, it has not been efficient or sustainable um way forward for our people who are
responsible for the attendance. So, tonight I'd like to walk you through what changed, what it took to make it happen, why those results are difficult to sustain manually, and how school status can help us be more efficient.
Indiana state guidelines require schools to intervene when students become chronically absent or truent. Our district process includes daily attendance notifications. At the third unexcused absence, there is an email notification to parents. At the fifth
unexcused absence, we hold a parent conference within 10 school days from the fifth absence. That's a state requirement. At the eighth unexcused absence, there is another um email notification to parents. At the 10th unexcused absence, we send
an affidavit to the prosecutor. That is a state requirement. At the 15th unexcused absence, we review to determine if a referral to the Casey Center or JJC is need is needed. Before discussing our results, it is
important to understand that attendance management is not optional. Indiana law requires districts to monitor attendance, document interventions, communicate with families, hold conferences, and when necessary, submit affidavit to the
prosecutor. Because of the process we implemented this year, we saw significant improvement for students who attended 94% or more of the time. This is considered persistent in the 2024 2025 school year.
Only 34.4% of students enrolled attended persistently. This past school year, that number increased to 56.5%. In the 2024 2025 school year, the truency rate, which is the amount of students who attended school 90% or less
of the time, was at 49.4%. That was about 8,539 students of the total number enrolled that year. The percentage decreased to 28.8%
this school year. That's about 3,799 students of the total number enrolled. The overall attendance rate for 2024 2025 school year was at 82.7% and the overall attendance rate for this
school year was at 91.1%. These numbers represent thousands of additional instructional minutes for our students and we are incredibly proud of these results. So the challenge isn't just knowing what needs to happen. The challenge is having
enough time and personnel to consistently do it. Last year there were several schools that didn't have an have attendance secretaries. Attendance responsibility. Attendance responsibilities are often assigned to administrative assistants or office
secretaries who are already responsible for enrollment, phones, transportation, discipline, visitors, records, and countless of other daily responsibilities. Attendance was just one more thing competing for attention.
The number of students requiring interventions exceeded what could reasonably be managed through manual tracking alone. As a result, some required interventions were delayed or could not be completed as
consistently as needed. At this time, I would like to welcome Michelle Goff from school status to briefly talk about how their program could help with this. >> Hello, Dr. Green. Members of the board, thank you. It's my privilege to be here
on behalf of school status. Uh, please know that I only have four substantive slides and I hope to be succinct yet thorough. I am our general counsel, which might sound a little unusual. So, I'm going to take about 45 seconds to describe my background uh, and how I
have wound up before you talking about school status and presenting on this initiative. As you heard, I am a lawyer. I'm uh, I don't know if I've interacted with any of you. I'm the former general counsel of the department of education and the state board of education. It's
also the agency head general counsel and policy director at the Indiana Charter School Board where I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Virginia Calvin from here in South Bend. I later became an agency head of the South Carolina Department for Disabilities.
But relevant to why I'm here, uh, despite being a lawyer, I have a PhD in education policy and leadership from IU Bloomington. When I was down at Bloomington, I worked at KEEP, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, which at the time was led by Dr.
Jonathan Plucker, who is now at John's Hopkins. The programs on which I worked included the Office for Innovation and Improvements full service community schools program as well as an Indiana specific program on attendance officers.
In addition, 10 years ago, just over 10 years ago, I was the education co-chair for the Indianapolis mayor's Your Life Matters Task Force. That was part of President Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative. And of course, uh that work
specifically focused on student and family engagement. Because of my background in policy and program evaluation and attendance and family engagement at school status, I'm not only the general counsel, but I get to work with our product team on uh product
improvement and evaluation. So, it's in that capacity that I'm here today. What do we do? We are both a SAS, a software as a service, and we provide a service. Our product does all of the student level tracking that Sierra
mentioned that she and her team are having to do manually by pulling from your student information system and then attend automatically identifies all students who are hitting those thresholds who are at risk as well as identifying their trend patterns and
making them easily identifiable. I will show you this very shortly. We send all of the attendance communications automatically unless they've been suppressed by the attendance team. This includes the written letters, text and email
communications as well as the positive campaigns. I emphasize to you that our positive approach reflects the research regarding student engagement as well as the ESSA tier one research regarding adaptive messaging for student
attendance. We also maintain all documentation within the system that includes all communications, conferences, and tracking of other intervention notes. You can easily download and print a truency docket that provides all of this information in the event that a student must be referred
for conferences. In addition to tracking the conferences, we'll schedule them for the team and send the communications to the families. I will also show you our student needs and risk tagging feature uh that can be utilized during the conference feature.
Again, thinking about um making this easy and tracking the data. Sierra mentioned repeat data pools and tracking that her team does manually. Our product offers many standard reports, but you can also create custom reports that can easily be pulled by the
team. Our aim with this product is to decrease the administrative burden and decrease the mundane aspects of the work performed by your attendance team while also improving the quality of the data because research shows that manual work
risks errors as well as the breadth of the actionable data that you have available to address this critical area. In doing so, the product frees up your team to do the more fulfilling and impactful parts of their jobs. Interacting with families and students,
identifying student interventions beyond communications based on their needs, and evaluating success of the interventions while also keeping a pulse on the attendance trends in the student community. I will also note, as I'm sure you're familiar, that research continues to show that schools with high
absenteeism tend to have a higher risk of faculty and staff churn partially because of the additional work necessary for absenteeism. Uh that is that removes their attention from the more substantive work that motivates that motivated them to work in
education in the first place. This slide I'll be super fast with. It's essentially another visualization of what I just described. The gray boxes are what we call the basics, the things that you have to do for quality data. Uh the basic sending of communications. The
blue boxes are what we call advanced. So um we provide continual monitoring within by day 60 and at risk feature for students who are at risk of chronic absenteeism, continuing monitoring, etc.
Okay, second to last slide. Both of these slides are just showing you some um features that really improve the breadth of the data that become systematic within a school corporation and uh really improve the ability to identify interventions beyond those
text, email and letter communications. Here if you look you can see a snapshot. Obviously, these are not real students, but that red box and that red warning sign indicates that's a student who has been identified as chronically absent.
The one the yellow number one means that student has a tag. A tag means perhaps that student has an attendance intervention plan or some other tag feature. So, if you're going to interact with that student or family, you'll want to dig a little deeper and you can
quickly within a click of a button see that information and then you can see those trend lines if they have uh if they could be chronic or not chronic but be trending up, down or just maintaining their current progress.
And here the last slide of this deck and personally my favorite aspect of this product because we all know that a lot of kiddos are not in school. not because of choice but because they really have significant challenges that they are navigating or that their family is
navigating. here. You might not be able to see it, but you can. There are a handful of different tags that can be entered if you're having that conversation with a parent or that conference with the family and you find out that they have housing insecurity,
clothing insecurity, the mom has changed shifts and now the child is watching a sibling and so they're missing the bus and not coming to school. These can be tagged and for the first time you'll be able to systematically maintain all of this information about students so that
your attendance team can tailor an intervention to student needs and you can also query it corporationwide and identify what's happening within your student population. So with that I'll close and thank you for the opportunity to come up to Southbend. I'm from
Indianapolis uh and present to you about this product. Thank you. Questions? >> Thank you, Michelle. >> Um, I love the idea of the district moving towards a preventative process as opposed to a reactive one. As I
conclude, I want to acknowledge that last year's attendance improvements happened because of the dedication and persistence of our attended secretaries, some administrative assistants, office staff, administrator administrators, and the attendance
response teams in the schools. They made phone calls, scheduled conferences, followed up with families, completed documentation, and worked tirelessly to ensure students were in school. Their commitment made a measurable difference and I want to sincerely thank each and
every one of them. Their hard work has not gone unnoticed. We have listened to their feedback and we heard that while the process was effective, it was also timeconuming and difficult to sustain along with their many other responsibilities.
They have shown us what is possible with extraordinary effort. Now, it's our responsibility to provide them with the tools that not only helps prevent burnout, but helps make the success we had sustainable. We are proud of what we accomplished this past year. And my hope
is that we don't simply celebrate these results, but we also set a foundation to sustain and improve them for years to come. Thank you. So in closing, we would like to in our final comments, we would it would be um in our best interest and everyone's best
interest that we address some of the assumptions that um may have come before this proposal and this recommendation. The first being is have we maximized all of the HR talent and digital and technology
um tools that we have available to us. This was not an isolated recommendation. Dr. Bo Yan and the data and tech department and along in concert with student management came together and they assessed whether or not all the
tools that we have available have those all been maximized and the answer to that was yes. So, have we been able to do what we been able to do in the growth that we have that we have had and how do we continue to get better?
If the school is the doorhouse where students are to come to be safe and to learn to have to submit documentations to the prosecuting attorney's office with our name tagged on it is almost opposite of what we should be doing.
>> Yeah. But how do we get in front of it? That's the proactive outcome of our students not being in session. but to get in front of it earlier and tagging our um at risk students early sooner
whether it's homelessness whether it's transportation whether all the other at risk indicators that we can get in front of that and address that then we won't have to be that person or that entity that has to step back and then submit those
documents to the prosecuting attorney's office. So if we are truly concerned about the students that we serve on a daily basis, what we are saying to you is that we've done the groundwork and we've done the practice of work. We've done all those
things before we come you before you today because again we know that if our students are not in session then they cannot learn. >> Yeah. >> And ultimately that's what we stand and we agreed that we would do ethically, morally and professionally. So although
there may be people who disagree with the proposal, there has to be also the understanding that as the professionals who do this work on a daily basis that they did their due diligence >> and that is why we are here this evening. I now yield the floor back to
President Green and Vice President Lea. >> Open the floor for comments or questions. >> Couple questions. Who would have access to a program like this? Would the school secretaries like the attendant secretaries also continue to be partners in this work? Would all
the same people? >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, am I I I appreciate anything that you can automate to give them more time to actually work directly with the families and the students and the relationship piece. Um, and I think like maybe handinhand with this training for
everybody who has access to this so that they're really well equipped to make referrals for families. I know Miss Stewart Bridges does a lot of that work and your team, but there there are so many good resources that could really help families. And this kind of goes back to the parenting conversation that
came up earlier. Is there a way to have more time with the parents to really help them understand the importance of attendance and why this is key to their child getting a good education? So, anything we can do to get more children to school and engaged in the learning and also engage their families, I think
is a good thing. I think that's why I was drawn to this product because it is very um it has a lot of family engagement. So, it sends the positive attendance uh like
um materials to them. Um it has the capability for parents to send in um excuses via text. It does a lot for um the secretary. So, I think,
you know, anything that could take something off that plate would help. >> And just like there was mentioned um the making sure the data is correct by automating it like this. >> Excel is great, but there's a lot of margin for error.
>> Oh my goodness. >> Yes. And I I know my understanding is that um you know this is not before the board for any kind of voter consideration tonight, but it's the idea to present it uh just to the public so people can get a feel for what we might do and when we get to that point that it
does appear on agenda, you'll have this financial specifics of cost, what other positions may need to be added and and those kind of things. But uh can you just talk a little bit about the benefits of increased attendance? I'm assuming increasing attendance likely leads to higher scores and I read I
learn increased graduation rate and things like that um that that were tracked and benefited from for example. So for example, this year the state is requiring that students who are identified at at risk using um internal
indicators as well as state prescribed indicators that we write a plan for both ELA and in mathematics numeracy for those students and part of that data and that information is also the attendance of the child that we have to ensure
that's part of that that intervention plan. So this will help us in with the MTSS structures to ensure that we're being compliant with the IDOE as well. >> And >> and in terms of um what the research
shows that attendance correlates with, we show that students who have student attendance problems are obviously highly correlated with academic performance. They're also correlated with a lot of risk behavior. So your dropout rate as
you mentioned, low socioeotional health indicators on surveys, more likely to participate in drug behaviors, more likely to have post to have negative outcomes postgraduate. We also have seen emerging research that
demonstrates that students who school districts and corporations who have strong attendance are more likely to keep those families in school versus exercising to go to a private school or a charter school just because it's a
stronger engagement measure. >> And my my understanding of kind of the way that count day works for schools, there's what a date in the fall and a date in the spring. And if a student's there, they get counted and then we receive funding from the state for that student. And if they're not, um, then we
don't receive funding. Uh, and so another benefit of increasing attendance is you'll have more people there to be counted when it's time to be counted for funding. And so even some modest gains uh, in attendance could very well pay
for what the costs of uh, this program might be and then some. Would that be a fair statement? >> That is correct. Also, >> and um yes, >> board chair, I have my hand raised. If
Mr. Ellison is done, I'd like to make a comment or ask a question. >> Yeah, I just had one more um thing. So just uh in terms of the the benefits of of that there are financial benefits too that may justify the cost and we'll
perhaps get into more of that when it's actually uh before the board for consideration. Uh just in summary, it seems like kind of where we are now, we've shown growth, but it's still sort of very reactive to attendance issues and this would allow us to be proactive
in terms of trying to uh address things before they get to the 10 15 letter aspect and that kind of thing. And I just think that's it makes sense to be proactive about um that type of issue. And yes, then I would yield to Dr. McCulla.
>> Thank you. Um I have two questions. Um the microphone is turned down kind of low. I can barely hear hear them speak. But my question is how would this affect how would this affect our um
our current uh attendant secretaries? I have two screens on here. >> Well, right now um can you hear me? >> I can now. Thank you. Um right now, uh I wish I would have brought my what the attendance secretaries call the
attendance bible. It's pretty thick. Um so at step one, they have um quite a few documents that they have to fill out by hand. Um the parent meeting alone, that's four pages. And then there's a truency prevention plan that we must
fill out with every um student that has five unexcused absesses. Um they have to keep I well we share the letters at 3 and 8 that we send um through powers school but they have to keep record of
that and they have to um potentially send it to parents if the email bounces back um certified email I mean certified mail and then in step two there's the affidavit that they have to create and
everything has to be accurate. I have to check for accuracy. If it isn't accurate, I have to send it back. So, it's a lot of sending back and forth um because of minor errors um with the software. It will um generate that
automatically so that we don't have to make our own errors. Um it there's a lot of work and it's for each student. There's step three steps for each student. And >> so this is not this is not a new task for for our um I have a double screen. I
can't see who I'm speaking to. Um so this is not a new task for our attendance secretaries. And so it would appear to me if they had the training on the software that you are talking speaking of maybe
they can do a better uh job at whatever it is they're doing as opposed as hiring another company to step in. I also so would like to because as people already know I don't like outsourcing and so another thing too um how much would this
cost this corporation ser for the services >> I think this is ahead but I'm happy to speak to it we have been working with South Bin to draft a proposed outcomesbased contract
uh which will be the first of its kind. I've been working with Dr. Yan and uh the intention is there's a base contract price and then if certain goals are achieved that relate to student attendance uh an increase in attendance
a decrease in the number of students who are identified as chronically absent then uh we will recoup more of our standard pricing. So essentially, we are dropping below our standard pricing to do an outcomesbased product because we
believe in our product and we're confident you're going to see good outcomes. Um and I can give you if you want really specific numbers on um how we're doing the per student pricing. Do do you want me to share that in this meeting now? >> That would be great.
>> Okay. >> Yes, please. While she's pulling that up, I do want to point out that last year out of the 12,800 students enrolled, about 6,573 students required statemandated
attendance intervention. So that was a lot. Um Oh, you found it. >> So this is across the school district, right? >> Yes. So, uh, the way that we are proposing an
outcomesbased product is the base payment would be 350 per student with a cap of $44,611. and then based on the contingent outcomes. So if you see your attendance
improve, your chronic absenteeism decrease and also a qualitative survey by your attendance secretaries uh which is a small percent but shows that they are feeling some relief on that administrative burden. Then it would be
a $1.50 per student more. So, about $22,000 more. >> $19,119 more. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Add it to the $44,000. >> Yes. So, it would be 350 per student,
$44,611. Contingent outcome of 150 per student, which is $19,119. That would make if all outcomes are achieved, the price of $5 per student. and the total pricing at $63,730.
>> Okay. So, I I I get that part. So, so has anyone on the administration uh team uh thought about maybe possibly training the current attendance secretaries to make sure that they're up to to uh a
par or whatever they need to do as opposed hiring an outside company. So we have done repeated training with the um attendance secretaries annually both with Dr. Yan and with Miss Savannah um that training and the Casey Center. So
we've done that um annually. Um it's not so much of them not being aware of what to do. It's having the time in the school to actually complete those functions and they are doing everything manually per student. Thank you.
So I have a question. So one thing that we could emphasize I suppose is the fact that the data on absent truency absenteeism
has improved greatly and u you know you can't put enough of a fine point on that because I think the expectation then is that the work going into this is it's going to improve
improve the the kids learning. Uh we know when they're not in school for one reason or another, they're not getting what they need. What I wonder about is what are some of the fac key factors
that contributed to your ability to reduce uh absenteeism pretty dramatically from 49% to 28%. I understand the kinds of efficiencies that that you need to sustain
this reality of um addressing a serious serious issue, but uh I haven't heard tonight. What are the fac what's what are you doing to to diminish those numbers?
Um, this past school year, I visited every school building. I was in a school building doing the work with them. Um, holding um, student attendance conferences, filling out affidavits, filling out teacher assessment forms,
um, and my my car need a new transmission. So, I've been I've been in the buildings with the with the secretaries working hand in hand with them and it is a lot of work. >> Yes, I can imagine. And I think some of
our most successful schools, the rise up comes to mind. They have an attendance officer who goes home and emphasizes to families, this is what's necessary. It seems like this is a multi-prong
approach to address this within school with uh with the secretaries but with also the families which I think uh Miss Lee alluded to earlier. Uh but it seems to me that what you're ultimately saying
if I were to ask you know what are the key challenges uh it's do everyone have the capacity to devote the kind of time that's necessary >> right >> uh and
that's something you know that I think maybe we could explain even better I know Dr. McCulla is is adjusting I think not to describe what Dr. McCulla is saying to us but what I think I hear you know is that uh
we should have the capacity to do this work and we should have this capacity uh within the personnel that we have. You're suggesting that
if only we had enough time, >> right, >> we would we would have that capacity, >> right? Because they have >> this would be >> a useful tool. Is that does that capture what you're saying to us? >> Yeah, pretty much. Because they have other responsibilities like testing and
um setting up transportation, enrollment. There are other things that are pulling them from attendance and attendance is the last thing. Some schools only allow the attended secretaries two hours at the end of the day to do the work. Um, and it's not
it's not helping. >> Then we're playing catchup with the um interventions. >> Yeah. Yeah. So my comment is is that um I I I kind of think that we we we kind of always um
go out and try to um outsource uh uh job duties and uh the attendance secretaries give a personal attendance to our families, our parents and our students. They have that personal connection and so if they are doing attendance is their
number one job. That's their number one duty. So if they are doing extra duties then maybe those extra duties can be divided upon other staff in that school as as opposed to um um our attendance
secretaries handling all those different requirements that they are doing instead of b uh focusing on in on the job that they were actually hired to do and that's attendance >> and so training our attendance secretaries on your software that you
said was new I I think that to me in my this is my own opinion. I think that would be we our families would be better served because our tenant secretaries have that personal touch and outsourcing to a company does not have that personal touch.
>> Thank you. >> I have a question because I just want to clarify that this would primarily be like a new software system that the attendance secretaries so they don't really have an attendance software at all right now. That's why everything's done in paper and manual. >> Correct.
>> So, our tendant secretaries would still be able to have the personal touch. They're still going to be the ones doing the attendance, working with their families, we're just giving them a tool to use um to do it. So, for example, >> uh when you think of what the
secretaries in the building, rather than them having to write letters out by hand on pencil and a piece of paper, you eventually gave them typewriters. And then eventually you now have moved to where people would type things into a computer and print it out. And this is
just allowing the attendant secretaries to do the same thing with the same touch in that aspect. You're just giving them a tool which they don't have at all right now because there we don't have any type of attendant software uh in the corporation right now. And it's saying
for the value and importance of that, it's worth giving them a a software >> program to allow them to do their jobs more effectively. Would that be >> if I may? So yes, the intention of the software is essentially to automate the parts that can be automated. So the
humans can do the human parts. So they don't need to stuff envelopes and mail out letters. They don't need to send the text messages or the emails. That all gets automated and then they have time to do the phone calls, the in-person conferences, go do the building level
visits, look at the data and identify the interventions. So we're actually trying to emphasize the human element so because they're not as burdened with all of the administrative work. >> And I think one of the things to consider is the volume of students that
have to be processed um every day. It is not necessarily a handful of kids. There are lots of students who need to be address their attendance needs to be addressed. Some of our students have very special circumstances. Um, it's not
that, you know, we just want to come up with a new way to to spend money. We want to create a process that allows us to be more efficient so that that personal touch can take place. And in addition to that, there are so many
different things. You know, some of our buildings don't have attendance secretaries. Um, some of our buildings have other roles. And so it's managing all of those various different layers within a building structure to address the need that we have. And it again this
is not something that is optional. It is something that we have to make sure that we maintain um annually. >> Mr. I I'd like to begin by saying I'd like to reverse this and thank you for what
you're trying to do uh in a very very important area of attendance. Um obviously students cannot succeed in school if they're not there. they have to be there.
And it's very very important for us uh to identify students who are having problems getting there and trying to get them turned around or we're not going to have any success with them at all. Uh
teachers obviously are is very very important in this process of attendance. uh and the administrators in those buildings because they have to keep the focus
uh on students who have issues in this area so that we can correct them and make sure that they're there to get the knowledge that they need in order to be successful.
Um, have you ever met a student who went 12 years of school without missing a day? Have you ever heard of a student like that? >> Have you ever met that student? >> Have you?
They weren't anything special, were they? >> No. Well, you also met one tonight because I did that. >> Oh, wow. Uh I think my teachers regretted me showing up every day but
I enjoy I enjoyed it. School was very very essential. Uh coming from the background I came from uh it was very very important to me. Uh and uh that is the appreciation
that I wish every every student would carry with them. is that just that desire uh to be with their friends uh to be with uh people who appreciate
what they're doing. And it's very very important that we have something out there so we can make sure students are in those seats in the classroom getting the knowledge they need. So again, I thank
you for your time and interest and the information you have given us tonight. >> Thank you. >> Any more questions or comments? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Now we move on to the consent
agenda. Before we move on, anyone wish to read it? >> Yeah, >> read it. It's recommended that the board of school trustees approve the consent agenda
which includes minutes from July 13, 2026 board meeting under item 8.01 and then also accepting any attached financial reports and statements under item 8.02
and approving any bills or payroll for payment under item 8.03. Personnel report 8.0 04. >> Uh, we're going to pull. >> Yes, we we'll get all items out of 8.04.
>> Yes, we will. >> Yep. >> And then resolutions require annual adoption 8.05 and accepting gifts and fundraisers under 8.06 and approving contracts 50,000 or less
under 8.07. So I'd like to remove the personnel report for a separate vote. >> Yes, >> we are going to the personnel report and removing individuals for a separate vote.
This would be 102 and 40. So 40 and 102. Okay. Yep. 40. >> 40. Yep. We got 40. >> I don't have numbers on.
>> Yep. >> I got >> Yep. >> And 102. We moving those individuals for a severed vote under person. >> First we vote for the consent agenda without the >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. First the without the personnel and then personnel without number 40 and 102. You know, we're we'll vote on the consent agenda without the personnel report.
Need a motion and second. >> Motion to approve personnel report without reporting in 102. >> Second. >> No. Motion to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda without the personnel report.
>> Second. Gabby, >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello. >> Hi, >> Dr. McCulla. >> Is this on uh is this on uh 40? >> No, this is in general.
>> This is everything with >> Okay. All right. >> Dr. McCulla, >> you're on mute. Dr. Okay. Can't hear you. >> Sorry. Sorry, Gabby. Nay, >> Mr. Snakey.
>> Yes, >> Miss Lee. >> Hi, >> Mr. Lea. >> I >> Dr. Green. >> I great. So, we have six yays and one nay.
Motion to approve the consent agenda without the personal report 61. And now we move on to the we're going to circle back to the personal report and vote >> without 40 or
>> Yep. 40 and 102. >> Correct. >> Yep. I I assume we're voting on them separately. >> Yep. >> All right. So, motion to vote on what? 40 102. >> I I think the motion should be to
approve the personnel report with the exception of 102 and 40. >> Okay. >> Y motion to approve. >> Second. Gabby, >> Mr. Ellison, >> I >> Mr. Castello,
>> I >> Dr. McCulla, >> I'm sorry. What are we voting on right now? >> The personnel report uh except for item 40 and item 102. >> Are you taking separate votes for 40 and 102? Are you combining them?
>> There'll be separate votes after the vote on the personnel report. >> We've already voted on the personnel report. It was 6 to1. >> That's what I thought we just did. No, you voted on everything but the personnel report, >> the consent agenda. >> Yeah,
>> okay. >> Dr. McCulla, >> this is not my understanding. Let me let me go back because you only pulled out two items from the personnel report. Everything else was still intact to vote for. >> The the the way the motion was presented
initially was to approve the consent agenda except for the personnel report which was pulled for a vote a separate vote. So what happened then was where we're at now is a motion to approve the personnel
report with the exception of 102 and 40. >> Okay. So, so let's go back then because I I was not clear on what are we pulling here because uh I thought the personnel report made was made was intact except for those two items. That's that was my
thinking. So, if we go back, I'm going to change my vote for from nay for everything else to yay. >> That makes sense >> on the prior vote. >> On the prior vote, I want to go back and change my nay for everything else. says
items 801, 802, 803, 805, 806, 807. >> Okay. >> From nay to to yay because I wasn't clear on what we're voting on. I thought we pulled just the uh those two items out of the personnel report. >> So, I appreciate the clarification. We can move on.
>> So, just to clarify, the consent agenda without the personnel report passes seven to zero. Correct. >> Correct. Okay. Dr. McCulla. >> Nay.
>> Mr. Smeiggi. >> Yes. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Leva. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> Hi. >> So, the motion to approve the personal report without individuals 14102
six. Yay. One day. And now we get a motion to >> motion to >> approve number 40 of the personnel report. >> Second
>> Mr. Ellison >> I >> Mr. Cassello >> I >> Dr. Makulla. >> Hi. >> This is 40. >> This is on 40. >> Yep. >> 40 only. >> Okay. Nay. >> Miss Lee. >> Hi. >> Mr. Lea. >> Hi. >> Dr. Green.
>> Hi. >> Thank you. Six. Yay. One. Nay. Person passes. Number 40. >> Motion to approve number 102 from the
personnel report. Second >> Mr. Ellison >> I >> Mr. Cassello >> no >> Dr. McCulla >> I >> Mr. Snakei >> hi >> Miss Lee >> abstain >> Mr. Lea >> I
>> Dr. Green >> I >> I'd like I'd like like to change mine to yes I got confused I apologize >> right >> I was thinking of another addition. >> There's a lot happening here and I I I
got confused. >> I apologize. Got >> the motion to approve personal report individual 102 passes by a vote. Six yes, one abstension.
Thank you, Gabby. >> We now have approved the consent agenda. We'll move on to action items. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the specialized staffing solutions staffing services agreement. Do we have a motion and a second to approve?
>> Motion to approve. >> Second. May I ask what this Oh, that's what he's doing. But President, the board tenant, staff, and the
community. Uh, good evening. I present to you the contract for specialized staffing to provide temporary staffing and support for food service department. The food and nutrition department is
responsible for providing meals to thousands of students across our district and our ability to operate successfully depends on having adequate staffing across all schools every day.
While this corporation continues to recruit and retain dedicated employees, we inevitably experience staffing shortages due to illnesses, uh, leave absences among others.
When these shortages occur, they do not only affect preparation, but also serving times, food safety, and ultimately student education. So the proposed contract with specialized staffing will provide
um temporary food personnel only when needed. And the purpose of this agreement is not only to provide staffing. It will not replace the permanent employees that we are recruiting into our department. It's
just to provide these employees only when we need them. The contract has been reviewed by the human resource department by legal and the staffing agency will only provide employees when
we reach out to them. So I request that this contract be approved for us to be able to get these staffing when we need them >> at the school of year. If I may add
something um and this is in response to the questions you had raised earlier Mr. Anastas uh we contract with these with this company simply for uh when
kitchen personnel are absent we have to have somebody perform the the job. So they're like a substitute for only kitchen personnel, cafeteria, you know, uh even though the contract is
comprehensive and says janitorial, custodial, etc. We are not contracting with them for those purposes, we are simply contracting for uh >> food service >> like substitute for cafeteria helpers
and that's it. If that's the case, then it sounds like unless they look bad >> and I will leave that to the attorneys.
So I I would say it's okay for it to be comprehensive because I remember a day back before we had when we moved SSC, that was before I was on the board, um there was always challenges with staffing and I think having a broad
contract with the staffing agency who has access to people who could fill in if that rather than trying to get a contract put together in an emergency. I knowing that we're planning to just use the, you know, the cafeteria, that's
what it's for. But I if you're not using it, you're not paying for it. >> And also for clarity, this contract does not necessarily mean we must use them, right? >> So we just have it in place when we need them. If we go the whole school year without needing any employee from them,
then we don't have to use them. >> Yeah. And we would know if we did use them because the board would be informed and it would be on the on the all of our we'd see it on the bill pay. >> That is correct. >> I think the attorney has something to say about this. I >> I would recommend not changing the
language here and I think the concern Mr. Nassos has expressed is generally addressed in the collective bargaining agreements. It doesn't it doesn't need to be separately addressed here since it's already addressed. Thank you.
>> Comments, questions, >> Mr. Ellison. >> I >> Mr. Costello. >> I >> Dr. McCulla. >> Nay. >> Mr. Sniki. >> Hi, >> Miss Lee. >> I >> Mr. Lea. >> Hi. >> Dr. Green. Hi.
Thank you board. Thank you. Motion passes by vote six. EAS 1A. >> On to 9.02. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the job descriptions, household in income verification specialist, and
instructional intervention coach. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. Second. welcome. >> Okay, thank you. I thought that might have been a question. So, I'm going to start with the instructional
intervention coach. That's just a title change. Um it used to be literacy coach but because of the house and road act 1634 states that we must include math intervention. So I changed the title
from literacy coach to instructional intervention coach. It's just a job change adding u math um as well as literacy. >> Is this a new position?
>> It's not a new position. Just a uh the intervention coach is just a title change. >> It's only a title change. >> The the the job description has a new title. >> Is there any price difference between title? >> No. No. Those are certified teachers. No
price change. Okay, the second one is called the household income verification um specialist. Um this is because and I'll read Southbend community schools have experienced changes in the number
of schools receiving title one funding between school year 24 and 25 and 25 and 26. Marquette Montasauri Academy and Darden Elementary School were no longer included in the title one funded
schools. Now for 26 and 27, Nuner Fine Arts Academy will no longer be included. One area of concern is the district ability to accurately capture student
economic eligibility data. SBCSC currently operates as a free meal district and reduced price lunch students data is not being fully captured through the current process.
Accurate socioe socioeconomic data is critical to ensuring that SBCSC has a complete picture of the students who may be considered when determining title one eligibility and the distribution of
title one resources. To address this concern, SPCSC proposes dedicating a staff or designated personnel to the collection, verification, maintenance, and monitoring of students
eligibility data for both public and non-public schools. for South Bend schools. More complete and accurate data may one increase the amount of title one funding to our public schools and also
increase the number of schools receiving title one funds. For participating in non-public schools, accurate data collection is equally important. SBCSC must appropriately identify and account
for eligible, excuse me, students who attend non-public schools in order to calculate and provide equitable Title One services in accordance with federal requirements. Establishing a consisting a consistent
process and assigning responsibility for collecting and validating this information will strengthen SBCSC's Title One program by improving data accuracy. Supporting appropriate allocations and
ensuring public and non-public school students are properly represented. Ultimately, this work is not simply a data collection function. It is a federal funding compliance and equitable
services function that we can directly that can directly affect the amount and distribution of title one resources to serve eligible students throughout SBCSC. SBCNC used to have four of these um
officers. We are asking for title one to hire two for one quarter only. One for the public schools and one for the non-public schools. We're hoping that we can get back the schools that we have
lost by collecting this data um more accurately. Um that's Marquette, Darton, and Nuner. Any questions? Yeah, the compensation uh we have a question that is title one funded and is
using the regular PAR aid um compensation >> question. >> Yeah. Roughly how much would it cost to hire these two people for one quarter? >> About $5,000 a piece. total of 10,000 if
we need to. Um we're really trying to collect that nonpublic school data um to ensure that we're giving them their fair amount that we should be giving them and not more. >> And how much additional Title One money
do you think we'd be able to get by bringing these schools? >> Well, last year we collected, we started, they gave us 30 days and we really worked pull everybody off the job. I want to thank um Dr. Bo and um food and nutrition to try to get us to
get together. We got 400 additional students and we increased it wasn't all because of those 400 students. We went from 8 million to 10 million. So that increased the staffing which is the title one schools by one or two more
staff members. Um we're hoping that if we start we're starting late this year but it's more than 30 days that we can capture those other students those other schools back for the 20 this data is due
by October 1st and um that will give us data for the 2728 school year. We have already have captured the data for this school year. So, if it's comparable to what we did last year, we'd be spending $5,000 to
bring in 1 to2 million. >> Yes. >> Seems like a good ratio. >> Yes. >> I have a quick question. >> Yes. >> So, are these the two positions going to
be posted? Yes, the job will be posted hopefully tomorrow because the quarter has already um we've already the secretaries have already come back and we can start calling parents um as soon
as the um facts and this person is on boarded. >> Any more questions? Seeing none, let's move on to the roll call. >> Mr. Madison >> I >> Mr. Gustello >> I >> Dr. McCulla >> I
>> Mr. Snediki >> I >> Miss Lee >> I >> Mr. Lever >> Hi >> Dr. Green >> I >> thank you >> Motion passes seven yays thank you Gabby
>> 9.03 3. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the resolution authorizing sale of desks to John Glenn. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> I got some questions on this.
>> Yes. >> Welcome. >> Yeah. Um Mr. Matt Lawson can answer these questions. >> Yeah, I can I can try to. So this is just for the um the sale of looks like a 100 student desks and 10 teacher desks
to uh John Glenn. Uh this came about from discussions that uh Joe Summers, our executive director of facilities was having with John Glenn. Um I think regarding I don't know if it was about this specifically, but this had come up.
And so um this is this is where this come from, but it's for 100 student desks, 10 teacher desks. Um, $10 per student desk, $50 per teacher desk. >> Well, this isn't our normal procedure.
Are Where did these desks come from? >> Storage. >> Yeah, the the desks are are currently in storage. >> They're old ones or that not being used no more. >> Yes. Our normal procedure is
and to be fair to everybody that those are supposed to be going up for auction, not selling to one certain >> person or school or whatever. Why? Why are we doing this all of a sudden? >> Be because it's going to another school
which is specifically allowed >> that there's other schools that would be interested in them too. Why are we going to one school? >> One school that was gonna buy our our bill in, but then they decided not to. Uh
>> uh >> I think that that's where the >> where this discussion I think this discussion was born. >> It should have been up for auction. That's that's the basically the policy that and we're going to be talking about that with other stuff that's been going on being sold and other things. the the
value of the property here didn't and I would say I wasn't involved in this but the for going to an auction you would be required if we were dealing with property value in excess of $5,000 for the collection but we're not we're not
at that level so the you could >> the way it was in the past >> well >> there's any auction >> there are times when it just when it's justified doing an auction but I could see where the cost of setting up an auction would diminish whatever you're getting
from a sale level at this level. >> It's always been if there's overstock or old stuff that we put it up for an auction. There is no uh certain price range or uh when we gather enough then we we put
it all up for a auction. This is one item you're talking about and why was this pulled out of there and not with the rest of the stuff? So, are we having an auction for the rest of the stuff we got in storage? >> We had an auction for all the old
kitchen stuff that was stored at Egleston. We did have one last year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Why didn't we put that with that stuff at same auction? >> We were approached by John Glenn to purchase. >> There we go.
>> No. 10. >> Maybe someone else wanted it. >> Old desks that were in storage. These are metallic desks from 1950 and a hundred like bulky high school desks. And that's why we did not use
them for Coke Willard because Kwillard is an elementary school and we had the board approved the purchase of new furniture for Kokeillard especially made for elementary students. But you didn't you didn't answer the question. Why was
why weren't they putting into other auction? >> Well, I think uh >> Attorney Austinino answered that one. >> It's a school it's a school system. >> So that's an allowable sale. Two, it's
under 5,000 and we're we're only collecting 1,500. We put it up for auction. If this in the other >> auction we had why it would have been
over 5,000 >> because you got you're putting it with all these other items. How much did we get from the other auction? >> Uh I can get that number to you. >> It's not a it's not our procedure. It's
never has been that we just pick and choose. the procedure. >> Is he coming up to answer the question? >> I don't blame you. >> We don't pick and choose who we give uh >> I'm not aware of a procedure. I'm aware
of the state law that governs this. And you have options and an auction, but these desks weren't put in there. They >> you have an option if you want to do that. Uh but uh you can well imagine that if you do an auction you might sell
maybe 10 or 12 desks. >> Okay, not a 100 deaths. >> You know, if if we're going to do that, I rather give the desk if it's another school instead of I mean >> it's just not right the way you guys or
someone decided to do this. Who decided to do this? Who's who's in charge of this maintenance? >> So, this yeah, this was the result of discussions between uh the facilities director and John Glenn and I think it was born out of probably the discussions
relating to the purchase of the building possibly. Um but yeah, ultimately they were higher level discussions. >> Billy director, you're talking about Joe Summers, >> correct? >> He made a decision to do this. >> He's new. >> Well, it's a recommend. It's a
recommendation for the board. >> It's a recommendation for the board. >> Thank you. >> It It's no decision. If the board wants to not approve this, >> you have the power to not approve it. >> Well, I don't have no choice. >> Do we have any more questions, comments,
board members? >> Just to clarify, this is John Glenn approached Joe or whoever approached us and said, "We we see you have some deaths. We'd like to buy them." Uh, is there any evidence to suggest that any other school corporation on the face of
the earth if they approached us and also >> been proceeding for how many years? >> I'm not done answering my question yet, Bill. Thank you. Is there any evidence that would suggest if any other school corporation on the face of the earth approaches us and said, "We'd like to buy your 75year-old metal desks um that
we would not entertain their consideration." >> You're you're correct in your assessment. And then there is not to my knowledge any evidence that any other schools have approached us to purchase anything >> for all the other school corporations that may be listening. We have some
surplus desk that you can approach us about buying if you're so inclined. >> Sure. I mean absolutely because again the law allows for this for the school to school transaction to occur. >> Vote for it. >> Okay. Um any more board members questions or comments? I have a comment.
So, so if this was according to what Mr. A Mr. uh Snake is saying, if this was put up for auction, maybe you would have had other schools that might wanted to bid on them. This was not put up for auction. It's just on the agenda to be voted on.
>> In theory, that's right. >> It's the pleasure of the board. If you would like an auction to occur, then someone can make a motion and approve that. Uh, I I'm just letting you know what the law allows. The law the law allows this and there's encouragement in
the code for government bodies to work together in cooperation. Uh, and one of the ways is to allow one school to sell surplus property to another school without having to go through the normal procedures for disposing of property.
You're allowed to do this. Now, if you don't want to do this, >> I don't think it's ever been done in the history of of this corporation. Now, all of a sudden, >> we get a new director and go any more board members. >> It's it's it's not right.
>> I'm going to vote no for it. >> All right. >> It should go back up for auction >> along with the other stuff that should have been in this last auction we got. >> Thanks, Bill. Let's take a roll call then. >> Mr. Ellison, I >> Mr. Costello.
>> Hi. Dr. McCulla. >> Hi. >> Mr. Seki. >> No. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Leva. >> Nay. >> Dr. Green. >> Hi. >> All right. You want to go against the
>> motion passes? >> Five. Yay. Two nays. Thanks, Bill. >> On to 9.04. It is recommended the board of school trustees approve the professional services agreement between the Southbend Community School Corporation and Darcy Uline to provide school psychologist services for the
2627 school year effective August 3rd, 2026 for an amount not to exceed $102,960. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? Move. >> Second.
>> Second. Welcome. >> We can hear you. >> I can hear you. >> Contract for school psychologist services directly with the person who holds the license. >> You want you want to
>> you want to do it at the podium so that no for the recording. gonna do it for the recording. >> Thank you. >> No problem, Mr. Eid. Good evening. Uh my name is Joel Boehner, assistant director of exceptional learners. Um the action
item in front of you is uh school psychologist services um directly with the individual who holds the license for a very competitive rate. And I'm happy to answer any other questions from there. >> Questions, comments?
I assume the school corporation has to employ some at least one person in this role in order to meet our legal obligations. And >> yeah, we do. Um so we have employees with the district who are school
psychologists. This contract is to increase the amount of staff we have to meet our obligations to provide evaluations and services. >> Yeah. And I assume you said this rate is very competitive compared to what most people
with these qualifications doing this role would make. >> Um so we recently did an RFP process where we um basically put out for bid our special ed services and the rate you see on the contract is uh significantly
less than what you we got through many of the staffing agencies. The idea being that we're not paying the middleman in this case. for working directly with the individual. >> More questions or comments? Seeing none, Gabby, you can take the roll call. >> Mr. Ellison,
>> I >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Mr. Snediki, Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lea, >> I >> Dr. Green, >> I. >> Thank you. Motion passes.
Six votes for yay. >> 9.05. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approved the memorandum of understanding with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for sponsorship of the 2026 back to school bash. Do we have a motion and a second to approve?
>> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second. >> Good evening, school board. This is a sponsorship with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for our back to school bash. They are going to gift us with $3,000 to be
our title sponsor. And then um they're only requesting to have additional time of five minutes during the back to school bash to address our students and families. And the back to school batch is taking place at >> Clay High School on August the 15th from
10:00 a.m. to 2 pm. >> Thank you. >> Any more comments or questions? Seeing none, Gabby Roco. >> Mr. Ellison, >> I. >> Mr. Costello, >> I. >> Dr. McCulla, >> I. >> Miss Lee, >> I. >> Mr. Lea,
>> I. >> Dr. Green, >> I. >> Thank you. Motion passes by a vote. Seven Yay. >> 9.06. It is recommended that the board of school trustees approve the resolution adopting the SBCSC brand architecture and primary institutional
identity. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second. >> So I can take I can take on this one. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, the the board had previously indicated a preference for the
traditional logo that um has actually still being used in some places around the district. Um and so what we need to do now is formalize a transition and establish clear standards for how the district's various marks will be used. >> Excuse me. We're voting on 9.06.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> That's the uh uh absenteeism management services, not the one. Wait, >> what? >> That's what >> n >> What are we voting on? Because I I thought you would >> 9.06 resolution adopting SPC as brain
architecture and primary institutional identity. >> Huh. So brand architecture defines how the district's logos and visual identities relate to one another, including which marks are primary, secondary, and appropriate for particular uses. The resolution in front of you designates
the modernized legacy seal as the primary institutional identity while retaining the current blue logo as an approved secondary brand mark. To be absolutely clear, this is not a rebranding. Again, this is not a rebranding. It establishes a clear
hierarchy for the district school athletic mascot program and official marks rather than requiring one logo to serve all purposes. This is a common practice among universities and school districts including the University of Notre Dame, University of Iowa,
Valparezo Community School District among others. The structure in front of you, it preserves the district's history, strengthens the professional public presence, and reinforces that the South Bin schools of today are not the South Schools of yesterday. And so
because this again is not a rebranding, it's a transition and um essentially establishing a hierarchy implementation will be a gradual and costconscious um process with the existing materials uploaded or updated through the normal replacement cycles and future use as
guided by the district uh brand Daniels manual brand standards manual that will be developed. Um the idea here is that it'll be a transition. There's not going to be an upfront cost. We're not going through and replacing things. Um, all things electronic will be uploaded or
updated as soon as practicable. Um, and as things wear out, as new uniforms are needed, you order new uniforms with the new logo or with the with the established primary mark. Again, this is not uncommon. This is something that um, universities and companies do all over. This just establishes the hierarchy and
how the district will move forward with its identity. Any more comments or questions? >> Seeing none. Gabby. >> Mr. Ellison. >> I. >> Mr. Costello. >> I. >> Dr. McCulla.
>> I. >> Miss Lee. >> I. >> Mr. Leva. >> I. >> Dr. Green. >> I. >> Motion passes by vote of 68. Thank you. We move on 10.01
items from close session which are none. Now we move on to board comments. >> I'd like to make a comment actually a couple. So this is not a new concern as I said last
board meeting and um someone in the audience mentioned uh mentioned this this uh utilization of our schools and it's critical I said that last board meeting it's critical that I have a double screen it's critical that um we
actually get our schools where they need to be utilize our schools and so with the policies with the what the bill says is that um school districts could also keep buildings open if they demonstrate that they are being used for alternative
education, administrative offices or storage and also um uh prek. And so as I reminded you last board meeting, the westside schools were put into a
zone. They were segregated from this district for almost six and a half years. They also were uh further harmed when they tried to put a career center at at Kquiller and that fell through.
So, what we need to do and what I've been asking for a while to do is we need to uh strategically intentional intentionally start working on how are we going to get those Westside schools where they need to be to keep from being
taken over by a charter. That's the first concern. The second concern, uh, Kquiller has has had outdated furniture for years
and so the new furniture that was afforded to them was very much needed. Okay? Because like I said, those schools on West Side has been have been ignored for quite some time. One more point I want to make to uh to
this board. Um, any individual board member has the right to pull an item off of the consent agenda without needing a second or a majority vote by the board. This can be done in agenda planning. It can be done before the agenda approve is
approved. I've heard a lot of conversation about uh micromanaging. The elected board holds the legal authority to set policies while the superintendent is hired to implement those policies and manage daily
operations. The superintendent is the advisory and professional leader to the board providing information and recommendations rather than giving orders to members. The elected school board holds the legal authority to set I said that an individual board member
also cannot direct the superintendent alone but authority belongs to the full board acting collectively asking for clarification financial implications or policy alignment during a public meeting is considered proper accountability. It only becomes
micromanagement if a member attempts to rewrite operational procedures or unilaterally block routine administrative task. Individual board members possess equal rights and responsibilities, meaning they generally should not block a peer
from asking to pull a question or question an item for deeper review. Board members share collective authority and individual rights to fully examine issues before action is taken. And the reason why I said that is that
when I asked to pull an ag item off of the agenda before it was brought to the board or even established as an agenda at the agenda planning meeting, it was not done.
And so that to me leads me to believe my voice again is taken away. So we have to understand that there's not one person on this board that is in charge of another board member.
So I wanted to make that perfectly clear. This administration works for the board. It's not the other way around. Thank you, >> Mark. >> Thank you. Uh I have a couple of
comments. one, I'd like to um thank a uh South Bend Tribune sports writer by the name of Kyle Smidley who's been writing some excellent articles in the uh sporting page
uh focusing on past performances of uh black student athletes here in in the South Bend School Corporation. uh not only did he focused on their uh athletic achievement, but he also picked
up on uh their academic and also what they're doing in life. And it's a uh great uh piece of history uh that I think uh the whole South End community uh
appreciates uh reading and then talking about with their uh friends like my a lot of my uh friends are former coaches and we enjoy talking about these past performances of
these students. many of them uh were coached by the people that I talked to. So uh I thank him for doing that and uh hopefully we can uh continue on focusing on positive things for all our athletes.
And I just want one make one comment. One of the one of the athletes he mentioned was Dezy Anderson. >> And I have stated this publicly
three or four times. He should be identified and honored uh with his ret uh uniform retirement at Riley High School.
Um the measy was has led all scorers in the history of the South Bend basketball in scoring in the four years he played at Riley High School. And I think it's it would be a tribute
to him and an honor uh to him if uh we could somehow do that in the future. The other thing I want to pick up on is an article written by an Indianapolis Star person in the
Sunday's paper, Jacob Stewart, and his title is Make Indiana School Board Candidates Pick a Political Party. Recently, I went through the process
of filling out my forms and everything to run again for school board. One of the things that this year that unlike four years ago I had to do was I had the opportunity to select a
political party. I found that very disappointing. Uh I have spent my whole life in education.
It has never been a political issue to me, nor should it. Our main focus is on educating students,
not what our political agenda should be or would be. Now, I I know people might disagree with me, and that's that's fine,
but we get into this political realm sometimes of trying to do what's politically right. What we should always focus on is what we can do educationally right
in order to educate our students. So obviously I disagree with him. I have disagreed with some of the antics that went on last winter at the state
house. And the thing is from a political standpoint I have supported some of those people who are doing that. And again um I will continue to support them but
not for the reasons they give to be involved in education. Thank you. Uh I just want to offer my perspective on you know the board members being able to request things to be pulled for uh
consideration of subsequent meeting or that kind of thing if it's necessary if they need more time. I I think that super indeed does a very good job with that uh when it's come up. I was at the board agenda planning this week for this meeting and I was only aware of one
action item that was requested to be pulled uh for this meeting and it was pulled. We didn't vote on that tonight. It wasn't on the agenda that was released on Thursday to the board members or Friday publicly or that we voted on tonight. Instead, it was the subject of the academic focus so people
could get more information about it. And you know, my understanding is it'll just come back at the next meeting. So, I think he does a good job of that. There are several members that wanted different personnel people not just vote on separately but pulled and all of those were pulled as well for this meeting. Um you know whether we need to
do more to do a better job but to me that at least seems to generally happen and I think that's fine you know unless it's something that's really really pressing. don't necessarily have to vote on it on the initial meeting that the superintendent pulls, but I do think that, you know, I think at least
Superintendent D does respond to that and does pull things when people request. That was my experience at least for what happened this week with this meeting. >> I have one more comment. Uh, Mr. Lima. >> Yes. >> Um, I asked for at the agenda planning meeting, I asked for two items to be
pulled. They were not pulled at the agenda planning meeting as where it should have been pulled. It was pulled today or yesterday, but it should have been pulled when I asked for it at the agenda planning. A board member that was sitting in agenda planning decided he
wanted to say, "Leave it on and let us talk about it in executive session and then we can vote on it." Then that's not what I was asking to do. No one has the power to tell me I cannot pull something off of the agenda. And that's what happened. So, let me tell you this also.
I've mentioned this on several occasions and so it's going I don't know if it's if I'm being ignored or if it's fallen on deaf ears. I don't know what the case may be. But I would like a deadline given to this board on when this
administration a timeline on when this administration is going to put something in place to protect those Westside schools that was harmed. from being taken over by the charter. We need a timeline for that. I've said
this on several occasions and I've not heard one thing and to me as a board member, I deserve an answer. Thank you. >> Comments. All right. Um I just think again I see um Paul, Kathy, and John
here. Thanks for all your comments. Really appreciate keeping us on our toes. And then for those who saw what happened during the board meeting. So when we talk about personnel report, sometimes we pull items or because conflict of interest uh for example. So that's kind of why we do that
procedure-wise um for those who just weren't sure what was going on. And then um also we start school in a couple weeks in August. So it gives us a couple weeks for community members to ask questions. I met with a couple community
members already, teachers and doors are open if you want to come in before the school year starts. We can meet, you know, with the department heads, uh, Mr. Eid, Eric Krennan, um, Matt Lawson, and just to get any feedback you have, any questions. I know it's hard to come to
board meetings to talk, but I think the best time right now before the school year starts, come to Brown or you meet at the public library, Sugar Cafe, whatever, and get some of those questions asked. I think it's a perfect opportunity now. Um if not, you know, continue to come to the board meetings or email us and we'll be happy to share
any responses, anything you need. Thanks. That being said, um next board meeting will be August 3rd, next Monday, 5:30 p.m. here at Brown.
Now motion to join the meeting.