Yeah. Yeah. I am ready to go. I am. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the South Bend Community School Corporation's Board of Trustee um board budget work session.
We are calling this second budget work session to order. Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Hernandez, can you please call the role? Mr. Marcus Ellison,
present. Mr. Marcus, here. Miss Kate Lee. Dr. Mr. Stuart Green, Mr. Carlos Lea here, Mr. Bill Snideki, Dr. Janette McCulla
present. We have a quorum. We have two absent and we have u five people here. We have a quorum. Um there's no vote to take it anyway. So uh Mr. Anf the CFO will work through his budget work session
presentation. Thank you Dr. McCullo. That's beautiful. Done. That was the end of the budget. Thank you. really. Okay, cool. Yeah, sorry about the glitch. Uh, welcome everyone to budget
work session two. And disclaimer, this is not the public hearing for the 2026 budget. The public hearing will be held October 6th, 2025. Just a recap from budget work session one. I will uh very briefly share what
we talked about uh around a month ago in the budget work session one. So the recap is basically a recap of the 2025 budget for this ongoing calendar year. Education fund had a budget of
$121 million. Approximately 113 million of that was salary and benefits of our educators and instructional staff. Operations fund budget for 2025 was $45 million. Uh more than half was salary and
benefits. Also the operations fund sustains our transportation, IT uh business office and other uh central office operational expenditures. Referendum operations fund. We all know
that we have a operating referendum ending 2028 December. The referendum fund budget was $31.6 million. SSC took the big portion of that around $20 million. Apart from that, we have the nursing contract and other instructional
staff in uh around $7 million in salary and benefits to pay from the referendum operations fund along with the safety and security operational budget of the district. Now, I will brag about all the achievements that we have had from the
finance team in 2025. First of all, we lowered down the transfer that we usually make from education to operations fund, right? It was 9.1% in 2020 four. However, we lowered it down to
5.5% in 2025, one of the lowest in the state and also the lowest in our own history. We saved $4 million that was left in the education fund directly to be spent for the teachers and the students.
Great news. We are actually targeting to lower it down even more to 1% in the 2026 budget and there will be additional $5 million left in the education fund to be spent
more on the teachers and students and that will be the lowest in the state. actually the lowest in the state to the best of my knowledge among the districts that transfer some money from their education to operations fund and definitely a significant achievement for
a district this large of uh size. We completed negotiations with four non-certified unions uh in November 2024 and those negotiations were done in single days over a span of a week. we
could offer them highest raises in the recent history. However, even better news, we want to do even better this time with the 2026 budget. The finance team visited all schools and we are fulfilling their wish lists.
Approximately $1.5 million that we saved from our 2024 budget has been distributed as additional boost money to all the schools. They came up with great ideas and we have allocated them the money. Uh all those contracts
expenditures are regularly presented presented to the board for their approval and knowledge as well. We recently offered different stipens to bus drivers and paraprofessionals up to $3500.
That is beyond their ongoing contract. Of course, that is a boost to their performance, to their contributions, and also to their morale. It just shows the good will gesture that we hold for them and the fact that we acknowledge their
support. We have the highest cash reserve in history right now. Right now, as of August end 2025, it is $119 million. If we compare it exactly what we had last
year, August 2024, it was $102 million. A lot of people always are like, "Hey, Anov is spending too much money on employees. He's doing a lot of things. Where do we have the money?" But it is not the case. See, I mean, we are spending money on our employees, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and
everywhere where it is good to spend. We are maximizing our investment on education. Even after everything we have uh achieved the highest cash reserve in history. How did that happen? Magic. What magic? We are submitting grant
reimbursements regularly. We are not late. We are getting those money back from the state from the federal authorities. We are also being very tight in terms of budget controls. All contracts now go for board approval. So the departments are very cautious in
terms of their spending. We have cut down on contracted services and everything right. So due to increased internal control grant reimbursements being filed in time we are having the highest cash reserve in history. We have
also prepared and enforced the internal control manual the first time in the district's history. It was published and communicated in June 2025 and we update that all the time. We have also done a capital asset inventory project
district-wide. We outsourced it to a vendor that inventoried all the assets that the district owns more than $5,000 in worth. The project has been completed. The report has been shared with the public. I will also update the
report in our website. Uh in short, we approximately have assets with a market value of $1.1 billion that billion not million $1.1 billion that include all our land, buildings, and other assets
worth 5,000 or more. We have terminated the contract with SSC, saving us $3 to5 million every year. We are having regular public presentations, work sessions. I think I have done more than 10 public uh presentations since I have
taken over this role and this is just our uh uh just a goodwill gesture to show that we are committed towards transparency. Also, capital projects are being done in full swing. We are not holding back on bond money. The facilities team now has
the money to improve our building and grounds and other operations to ensure a safe and secure environment, a learning environment for our kids. We have also revamped our website uh thanks to Miss Sue Kasim who had some great ideas and
we implemented that. Our website is now a one-stop resource for for all financial information and the presentation that I am sharing today it is already uploaded in the website uh for public viewing but our biggest achievement is rebuilding community trust of course.
Now I will talk a little bit about our 2026 budget. So what's special about 2026? There are both positives and negatives. So let me talk about negatives first because the negatives are lower, fewer in number. So 2026 will be the first
year of impact from Senate Bill one which is a law now limiting our growth in property tax revenue. Now we have to be cautious here. Due to Senate Bill one, we will not experience any reduction in our revenue. However, we
will see limitation in the growth of revenue. In other words, we could have received more money from property tax if it were not for Senate Bill one student loss. Yes, I mean that is always there just like all the previous years.
However, good thing is we are anticipating the lowest estimation in recent history in terms of student loss. Previously, it has been even 1,000 students, 800, 600, 500. But this year, we are anticipating the lowest loss in our recent history thanks to the
district and uh leadership and everything else. positives. This will be the first full calendar year with in-house facilities management as we have uh terminated the contract with SSC providing us an opportunity to save $4 to5 million.
This is a new era of transparency and public trusts and you know that all contracts now go for board approval. We are following purchasing laws. We are following board policy leading to better expenditure control. As I mentioned, we
have a better and established internal controls. We strictly follow the internal and control manual. We are focusing more on internal capacity building versus reliance on contracted vendors. Again, SSC being a prime example here. We anticipate increase in
property tax and state tuition support revenue growth, modest revenue growth, and it could have been more if it were not for Senate Bill One. ers we have a very healthy cash reserve now the highest in history as I just said and also uh another big opportunity that we
have right now uh as I have shared with the public and the board before that this is a challenging time and as the CFO my goal is to attack the big ticket items to save multiple millions of dollars SSC was one and currently we are
exploring medical insurance options because we haven't shopped in the market for many years. However, not at the expense of compromising the health benefits that we offer to our employees. Uh but we are glad to share with you that we have some very good options
right now at our hand which we are carefully exploring. Mr. Eid, me, Mr. Augustinino, we are personally involved in this and we are exploring our options. If that comes into fruition, we will save approximately six to7 million which will be huge and it can be even
more if we consider the insurance premium increase that will be there if we stay with our current insurance provider and again declining rate of student loss as I shared with you. Now if we consider
both the positives and negatives, the positives outweigh the negatives here. So that means we have a lot of opportunities in 2026 that we can try to capitalize. We can empower our employees, teachers, bus drivers and other stuff, right? We have severe bus
driver shortages. We always have teacher vacancies. We can try to do something about that really. We have one of the lowest teacher retention rate. we can try to tackle that and we can try to become a top employer and also boost district enrollment and student
outcomes. So those are all the opportunities that lie ahead of us in 2026. Again talking about opportunities, this is a year of great opportunities for the first time in history to reshape the future of Southbend.
So 2026 budget if approved by the board will facilitate SBCSC to become the highest paying district in this region and that too by a clear margin and also one of the topmost in the entire state for these
following groups teachers bus drivers paraprofessionals custodians and office personnel. I am preparing the budget with those assumptions. If the board approves, I mean, we will have the resources to achieve that. Our target is
to have the best educators and workforce in the region to serve our students, to solve teacher vacancies, bus driver shortages, employee retention, and morale issues and transfer those service improvements to better student outcomes
and stop the enrollment loss. So, 2026 budget will be something very new. It will be aggressive but it will be for a better future. So key highlights from 2026 again I talked about a modest revenue growth that we are estimating in all three
general funds education operations and referendum operations but could have been much better in absence of Senate Bill one uncertaintities. I talked about the savings and cost avoidance from in-house facilities management and also potential savings
and cost avoidance from medical insurance optimization. Major unprecedented historic raises that we are plugging in for teachers, bus drivers and other non-certified support staff. That will be a huge boost.
More money on internal capacity building. As you can see, we are trying to invest more on our employees. That means we are focused on internal capacity building and to reduce our reliance on contracted services. Possibly state's lowest education to
operations fund transfer. As I mentioned, we are lowering down it even more from 5.5 to 1 one uh% this year. So in terms of a snapshot and definitely I will not share the full budget with
the group now. Uh we have October 6th scheduled to be the public hearing where I will go very deep for all the three funds but this is a snapshot as of now. This is how the draft 2026 budget looks like. So education fund there is an
increase there due to modest increase in the state tuition support and also due to the fact that we are lowering down the transfer from education to operations leaving more money in the education part operations and referendum operations. You can see that there is a slight increase that is due to the fact
that we are anticipating growth in our property tax revenue but again it could have been much better without a Senate Bill one situation there. So in total the district general fund budget was approximately $25 million in
2025 the budget that we are operating under right now and it will be approximately $211 million in 2026 and I will share with you uh all the details how we arrived at those numbers right and how we are planning to expend the
money in if different categories uh in our October 6th public hearing ing presentation there. Now in the previous uh budget work session I talked a lot you know and it was you enjoyed that I know that right
but you did not have a lot of chance to uh communicate you did but I I would like to provide more time today to the public right but before that you have to answer to me right quiz time but questions are easier this time you know I promise
how much did we transfer in 2025 from education fund to operations fund I need both the percentage and the dollar. I just talked about that, you know, you can't forget. Okay. Okay. But I'm talking about 225, you know. Yeah.
Okay. Nobody remembers. Okay. Okay. 5.5%, right? 5.5% was the percentage that we transferred and in an absolute dollar amount it was $6.7 million. So it is for 2025 the budget
that we have right now the budget that the board approved last year. Right. Okay. Now how much are we budgeting in 2026 to transfer from education to operations fund? Excellent. And dollar amount.
No. No. No, it's only $1.3 million. Yeah. So that is again historic. We are only going to transfer $1.3 million from education fund to operations fund and that is the lowest in the state among
all the districts that transfer some money from their education to operations fund. What's SBCS's total cash reserve as of August 2025? And how much was in August 2024?
Yes. Yeah. At least 8 million. Any other answers? Yes, 119 million now versus 102 million in 224. Now, I'm going to share more detail
about that in my budget hearing because the total of $119 million. I mean, we can't just use it everywhere, right? There are unrestricted portion of the cash balance and there are restricted portions of the cash balance. I'm going to share in more detail on October 6th.
But in total right now in our bank we have approximately $119 million. What's the percentage and this is a tricky but uh thoughtprovoking question. What's the percentage of payroll and benefits like total payroll expenses out
of the total general fund budget expenses? So as you can see right now I am proposing a $211 million general fund budget. Right? So what I'm asking is what is the percentage of that budget that we are going to spend on payroll
and benefits directly for our employees. Okay, most of you 80%. Any other guesses? That's true. That's true. But yeah, both of you are correct. 82.3%. $174 million out of $211 million from
the general fund will be spent on payroll and benefits. Now the percentage was much lower in 2025 because we had SSC and other contracted services, right? But now we are trying to invest more directly on our employees trying to
rebuild and build that internal capacity. So the percentage will be the highest in history 82.3%. Could I make a comment? Sure, please. That has to be one of the lowest percentages in the area because most are
hovering right around 85 to 90%. I I I believe that would be true and uh uh thank you Mr. Costello. I think we are also going to the right direction now because it was 70% before now we are in the 80s but it should be even more as
we rebuild our internal capacity more and the reason why I bring it up is because I salute you for doing that. Thank you sir. Thank you Mr. Costello. So upcoming October 6th 2026 budget public hearing and presentation and I warn you it's going to be a very long
presentation. You know, I remember last time Paul was like, "Hey, I mean, you can't just be be uh doing information overload, you know, but yeah, it's going to be information overload because budget is very serious." So, just a friendly warning. Key financial data
sources. This is something I always show external and internal. We have relaunched our SBCSC website finance page as uh I just uh thanked Miss Sukasim there. So if you go to our web page there's a tab uh other
presentations. So if you click there you're going to see today's presentation uh also the other uh the previous presentation and also all the most of the uh public presentations that I have given so far. feedback, comments, ideas, you can
always scan the QR code and share. Uh yeah, thank you everyone. Appreciate it. Thank you. Now we move to hearing of have the opportunity to hear from our visitors. At regular meetings, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes. Individuals may
only speak once. 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. The board president may interrupt, warn or terminate a person's statement if the statement becomes person directed abuse
of seeing. Anyone wishing to ask to speak, ask questions or come to the podium. Go to the podium. Can they hear you? Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. Mrs. Humble, can you identify yourself for the listening audience?
Uh yes, if if that equipment exceeds uh a value of $5,000 or more, you know, for instance, like laptops, those are not usually $5,000 or more, right? Yeah. So, there's a capital asset
threshold amount recommended by the state which is $5,000. If that is less than $5,000, I mean that is not treated as an asset. That is treated as a supply. type of desk or tiles or whatever that
we what do we do? Uh that that's a great question actually. I am aware of a possible auction in the near future. Uh so we will try to auction those things that we really don't need and try to get some salvage value.
Yeah. And the last also inventory in the corporation at once a year. We had department heads at that time but once a year um every department
list of any equipment in your area that's uh I believe we do but the capital asset inventory that we did here that was mostly for the valuable equipment. For instance, we have a lot of vehicles, right? We also have, let's say,
lawnmowers or other facilities equipment which are very much worthy in value. But previously, we did not have barcoding for all those assets, right? And we did not have a central database and to anticipate that hey, how much is the market value for all those assets and
that is very much recommended by the state. So we just did that and we have I believe uh around 3,000 assets like that you know. So we value our buildings also. Yes. Yes. So the value of our buildings also
bonding does it not? Yes it does. It does. 30 seconds. It does. Thank you. Thank you doctor. Welcome. And I will share with you the full report in our website very soon. So anyone from the public can view that. Thank you. Sure. Anyone else wish to speak?
Testing. Good evening. Um, Southbend Community School Board. Um, I guess I just have a few comments. Sounds like a lot of decisions were already made. Um, there were a couple of comments made
about their biggest achievement. your biggest achievement being community trust. I'm not sure if you're only speaking to the Clay Township people, but I talk to a lot of people every day and that's not accurate where I come from and you can actually see a lot of comments on Facebook as well because I
know you spend a lot of time there. So, I don't I don't know, you know, what data you have to support that, but I'd like to see that data. Um, there was also a comment made about getting better. Um, but I beg to differ because nothing will be better. I didn't hear
any allocations to address your core issue which is racial discrimination against the student. We're talking only about the budget. It is about the budget. I heard no allocations in this presentation that addressed the core issue of your
district, which is racial discrimination related to your consent decree. If you have $119 million just sitting somewhere, there's got to be something you can do
for black children. I'm talking to you because you tried to stop me. So, I'm making sure you're you I understand you. I can hear you perfectly. Okay. I'm just making sure. I can hear you. You tried to stop me. To make sure you're on the right subject. I am.
I would like to know what is being allocated to address the racism that persists in this district. I fought for you. People did not like that I fought for you and you ain't proven anything any better than anybody
else. And why is it that we don't have the details now? With over 80% of a nonproficiency rate in this district, we should know what every penny is going to now, not in
October. So, decisions have already been made. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak? Thank you. Seeing there are no other additional comments, do I have a motion to adjourn this budget meeting work session?
Please. Motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second. Second. It's been motioned by Mr. Ellison, second by Mr. Castello. All in favor uh by signify by saying I. I. I.
Oppose. Nay. Thank you. We will be moving into our regular scheduled schoolboard meeting at 5:30. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the South Bend Community School Corporation Board of Trustee
meeting. Today is Wednesday 9:17 and it's 5:30. There was nothing to move over from close session. This meeting is called to order. Mr. Hernandez, could you please call the role? Good afternoon. Mr. Marcus Ellison, present.
Mr. Marcusello here. Miss Kate Lee here. Dr. Sir Green. Mr. Carlos Lea here. Mr. Bill Snideki here. Dr. Janette McCulla present. Six people present, one person absent.
We have a quorum. We now move to adopt the agenda. Is recommended that the school board of trustees adopt the agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved. Second. It has been moved by Mrs. Lee, second by
Mr. Snideki. Mr. Nandez, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Castello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Lea, I. Mr. Snideki, I. Dr. McCulla. I six people present, one absent.
We have a quorum. We now move to the next item on the agenda, the superintendent recognitions and announcements. Good evening, Dr. McCulla, school board members, members of the public. Uh we have two recognitions and
superintendent announcement, but we have a very important one. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Dr. Janette McCulla, the atlarge president of the Southbend Community School Corporation for she has been elected as region 2
director on the board of directors for Indiana School Boards Association during the 2025 delegate assembly. Region 2 includes the counties of St. Joe Alcart, Marshall, Kaziasco, Leg Range, and Leaport. Congratulations.
Thank you. With that being said, we have chef appreciation week, September 7th through the 13th. It's passed, but we still appreciate you. Um, we have a series of town hall
meetings to explain plan C to the public. Now what we have to remember is this is Mr. Costello's plan and we are facilitating and taking the public's opinion
about the plan and we will come back and formulate a plan going for 25 or 26 27. That's all for the announcements. Thank you superintendent. We now have the opportunity to hear from visitors
under action items 9.0. 01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 911. 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 agenda items must sign the registration sheet prior to the meeting and state the action agenda item which they will address. 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. The board president may interrupt, warn or terminate person's statement if the statement becomes personally directed, abusive, or
obscene. Secretary Leva, do we have anyone wishing to speak? Yes. On 9.10 One zero approval of the Paramount Health Data Project contract. We have Miss Batis Wadell Testing. Good evening. Tiana Batis
Wadell, 330 Kofax Avenue, Southman, Indiana. Um I think earlier in uh work session, somebody mentioned transparency and I'm not seeing it with this contract and I've been noticing a pattern of the same thing when Todd was here, which is
skeleton contracts. There's no details. There's no timeline. Why does it cost this much? What is the purpose? What is the outcome? So, this doesn't have many details to it. Again, what's the purpose? What are the goals? What are the intended outcomes? What is the
professional learning that cost $20,000? And what data was used to decide that already? What is S? So, so at the top of the contract, I don't even know. I don't even know what S so stands for. I've looked everywhere. I don't even know. And who is Paramount? what's the tool
that they're using for the comprehensive needs assessment. So, just would like some more transparency because in my eyes, I presented a comprehensive needs assessment idea to you in May and wow, look at ones popping up on the agenda.
So, I want to see more details because that's not detailed enough for me. What who's Paramount? What's so hopefully you'll discuss that before you pass it? Mr. Can you answer a few of them questions?
S stands for scope of work. Usually the what they plan on doing. Welcome. That's it. That's it. Okay. We now have the opportunity to hear from visitors on other items.
At regular meetings, the public is invited to address the board for three minutes regarding items not posted on the agenda. Individuals may only speak once during this section of the agenda. Speakers should 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. The board president may interrupt, warn or terminate a person's statement if the statement becomes personally directive, abusive obscene. Does anyone wish to speak? If so, approach approach the podium.
State your name and your address. Anyone wish to speak? My name is Madison Lawson and I live at 55684 Philbert Road. Good evening, superintendent Eid, President Mcola, board members,
community members, and virtual guests. I'm a junior at Riley High School, and I am here to speak on behalf of Carl Columbus and Riley girls basketball and staff. The impact Coach Columbus has made on not only me, but hundreds of students and athletes at Riley is truly
incredible. The summer after my sophomore year, I started working with Carl Columbus as a speed trainer. Early mornings, late nights, it didn't matter. He was there. He didn't even care that I was not playing for his team at the time. He treated me as one of his own and did everything in his power to make me a
better player. I regained my love for the game that had been completely lost over the last two years. I decided to enroll at Riley and start playing for his team. To be completely honest, he is the reason I came to Riley and join their program as it is the case for many others as well. He never made me feel as
if he would care for me any differently if I didn't decide to join the program versus if I did. He genuinely just wanted me to become a better player and reach my goals. If that does not show that he is a perfect representation of the program, then I don't know what is. The sisterhood and relationship they all
have with Carl Columbus is something you do not ever see anymore as a coach. He meets everyone right where they are and improves them. He cares about just more than just basketball. He cares about us as people. Anytime anyone needs a ride, needs to get to the gym, needs to stay after practice, or needs to talk
to him about personal issues, he is always there, no questions asked. He made me believe in myself again and a future that I can make for myself. Hearing this will all be taken from me right before some of the most defining years of my life is devastating. There is a direct correlation between my
recent success of receiving my first offer from Marion and Sila and me and the rest of the girls success in the classroom and in life, which should be a common goal amongst everyone here. Such a small decision and moment in your staff's lives could be one of the biggest and most detrimental lives to
the lives of me and my teammates. You may not know him, but we all do. Everyone who knows Carl Columbus will stand by his side through anything because we know he deserves it and would do the same for us. The removal of Carl Columbus will do far more damage than you realize or maybe even care to realize. On behalf of all of Riley,
athletes and administration, this deserves to be looked at. We love our coach. We need our coach and we will not stop fighting for him. Another thing to mention is that this was done without nearly a time for us to get in contact with a new coach and to form a new bond with her in time for the
season. It is extremely unfair to everyone involved. I understand an argument is made that there are more pressing matters than the resigning of Carl Columbus. But what's better to help with the pressing matters of our youth than that are being looked at above the resigning of Carl Columbus and to have a good role model that impacts the lives
of hundreds of students and even adults. We are the pride of the southside and it would be a dishonor to look at the growth of Riley High School and girls are up and leave out the name of Carl Columbus. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak?
[Applause] Hi, my name is Dejane Sumaya and my address is 1 19620 Pasadena Avenue, South Bin, Indiana. I am currently a junior at Riley High School. I transferred from Purdue Polytechnic halfway through the first
semester of my freshman year. The main reason I transferred was for the opportunity to continue playing basketball. When attending my first ever workout at Riley, I was warmly welcomed by not only the team, but the coaching staff as well. They seen something in me that I didn't
even see in myself, especially Mr. Columbus. Since the f since the first day that I met him, he has become a big part of my everyday life. He has helped me grow, not only as a player, but as a person. He's taught me how to be the best
version of myself on and off the court. He has also stepped in as an extra parent at times since my dad is currently enlisted in the military. Um, can someone finish that for her please so we can hear what she's saying?
Um, he has always made sure I keep my head up and stay positive after a bad game or practice. Even after all our ups and downs, I can confidently say that Mr. Columbus is the best coach that I've ever had. And I don't think that I can become the player that I want
to be without him. And at the end of the day, he needs us just as much as we need him. I think that everyone who has known Mr. Columbus can say that he has that they have seen him grow, seen his growth, not just as a coach, but as a person. Please give us our coach back.
Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? I hope they all come up in speed. Um Diane Humphrey, 53180 Towel Lane, Southbend. Um first of all, I want to thank the
Southbend Community School Corporation for their statement and support of a teacher that's been under attack for private opinions. Um, I get strongly emotional about private opinions because these are constitutional rights, the
right to privacy and the right to free speech. As long as you're not defaming somebody, slandering, labeling, inciting violence, hurting anybody in their way, I think you have the right to have an opinion. Um, this particular
person that has been in the news recently is a truly great teacher. He is a mentor to many students inside school and outside school. He counsels. He ironically is teacher of history um
which our current administration is trying to whitewash removing from all kinds of organizations. Um, so I hope that the South Bin School Corporation continues, as they stated, to support those privacy rights. Thank
you. Thank you. My name is Marina Krysler and I live at 409 East Street. Hello, Superintendent Eid, President Mcola, board members, and community members, and virtual guests. I'm a sophomore at Riley High School and a proud Raleigh basketball player. I'm
here to ask you to reconsider your decision about our coach Columbus as basketball coach and track coach. Carl Columbus has had an amazing impact on me personally and our team. Before playing for him, I often came to practice without much desire and often thoughts
about quitting. He recognized my passion for the game. He gave me a reason to show up even when it felt impossible. His focus on accountability, hard work, and teamwork hasn't made me just a better player, but also a better person. Beyond basketball, Coach Gomez has been a mentor and source of support. He mers
sure each and every one of our voices are heard. He encourages us to push each other, go together, and find the real joy in our sport. Recently, we were told that coach Columbus wouldn't return due to a situation last year. However, he was allowed to finish the season, hold summer practices, and since then, he's
gone above and beyond running offseason practices, summer shootouts, and committing his love and time to our success. By taking him away, you're not only punishing him, but our team and community for something that has already been addressed. I truly believe Coach Columbus is an invaluable part of Riley High School. He inspires us, connects
with us, and pushes us to be better on and off the court. Coach Columbus is the heart of two sports in our southside Riley athletics family. I beg you, please don't rip our family apart and reconsider your decision about Coach Columbus. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else? Um, Abigail Rock 21140 Baneberry Trail. Good evening everyone. I'm speaking on behalf of the Riley track team. We truly believe that losing Coach Columbus would impact many of our lives, not only on the track, but in everyday life. Many of us are very close close with Coach
Columbus and look up to him very highly. With our track team having lots of success since Coach Columbus has taken over, it would be a mistake to lose him. The group of seniors who are currently on the track team have already gone through an entire coaching change and to have to go through it again would be a struggle like it already was. Not only does coach Columbus make sure that we
are getting our work done on the track but holds us very high standards in the classroom. Coach Columbus isn't going to put up with kids skipping our failing classes and we believe that is a huge impact on Riley athletics. To have a coach like that in the building isn't just improving athletic standards at Riley but overall helping academics at Riley. Therefore, we believe coach
Flemus would be a huge loss not only to Riley community but also for the corporation. Thank you. Thank you. Billy Norton, 3794 West Shore Drive, Raymond, Indiana 46506. My daughter, Emma Norton, class of 2025,
cannot be here today due to college, but she asked me to read this to you. This guy, Coach Columbus, is the reason I fell in love with basketball again. I hated it after all my surgeries and blamed the
sport for it. But he was the way. He pushed me through all the blood, sweat, and tears. With some setbacks this last season, he continued to believe in me and pushed me to my goal. To this day, he still motivates me and pushes me and
I am in another state. Yes, we had our moments like any other coach. He could yell, he can get upset, but after every bad game, he always remembered to send me and anyone else a
paragraph to mo motivate us and keep us and to tell us to keep our heads up. Last season, we had a goal to win sectionals. We may not have won, but we all won as a team mentally and
physically. We worked hard from before the season all the way through the end. We had the best season since 20 2001. He is the reason everyone who wanted to go to the next level did and I
am forever grateful for him. This guy, Mr. Columbus will forever be an impact on my sport and continue to impact others like he did for us. He made the change in Riley girls basketball season.
We love our coach. I love my coach. Save our coach Emma Norton. As a parent, I am deep deeply concerned about the decision not to res re resign coach Columbus as Riley High School
girls basketball and track coach. It is disheartening to know that this decision stems from one player and her parents' behavior during a game when a play player responded poorly to being taken out. She removed her jersey on the bench
and refused to respect her coach's authority. When asked to leave, her father escalated the matter further by confronting the coach aggressively on the court a game. This was not the first issue this family
and yet the blame is still placed on coach Columbus instead of addressing the sports sportsmanship and disrespect that occurred. Then what appeared to be favoritism was done by certain members of the school board.
the superintendent, the assistant principal of Riley High School towards the specific student who did not respect her coach or teammates at the three minutes are up. The a board member attended the student.
Excuse me. Ma'am, your time is up. Okay. Thank you. My name is CB Gavin. I'm director of athletics for South Riley. Proud graduate of Lile High School, um 514 West Jefferson Street, Miss
Walka, Indiana. Last evening, I received a phone call from a former student athlete at Riley High School, and she asked if I would share her text that she had sent to me, Coach Columbus, today. So, I'm speaking on behalf of Big Victoria Harmon.
Her message read, "Hey, Columbus, I wanted to say something and I'm going into my as I'm going into my third week of college softball. Honestly, no one prepared me better for this. We have 6:00 a.m. lifts, 7 a 7 a.m. runs. We
have to be 15. We have to be there 15 minutes early for everything. And accountability is the biggest thing. But it's like exactly what we you trained us for in basketball. For my teammates here at college feels it's overwhelming, but
to me it just feels familiar and normal. the extra reps and stupid writings that you used to do in our you asked us to do in our daily journals are the same things that we're doing here in college. So, I thank you. I thank you for pushing me because because I know how to push
myself now. Thanks for not only treating us like high school student athletes, but thank you for preparing us to be the best that we could possibly be. Even though I'm not playing basketball, which I know you wish I know in the back of your mind you're saying I wish I had,
but I have to say thank you for shaping me into being the best student athlete I can possibly be at a D1 school. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. I am Betty Herring, a resident of South Bin.
Miss Herring, can you pull the microphone down? Thank you. So they can hear you. Thank you. I am Betty, a resident of South Bend, Indiana, an employee of South Bend
school. Months ago, I went to get some supplies at another South Bend property. I was ambushed by three employees. I spoke and talked with the board and did a written complaint. The result was I
got punished. No written investigation. I asked several times for the investigation. I didn't get one. Now, nobody protected me. But now we have administrators and staff engaging in illegal activity and they are being
protected by others and their friends. I was told the day of the investigation there was a power outage. Of course, I called I am. There was no power. Then there was a glitch with the tapes. The
tapes wasn't there. But there are people here now are being protected by illegal activities. I went to get supplies. That's all I did. Went to get my
supplies and I got punished. So who's going to protect me? I'm doing my job. They're doing illegal activities. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. Tiana Batis Wadell, 330
Kfax Avenue, Southman, Indiana. The Jackson Aspire Foundation Save the Youth Michigan campaign urges Superintendent Eid and the school board to ensure that the proposed budget and plan C embeds to
address the racial disparities that continue to persist in this corporation. Still, since 1980, no school board or superintendent has ever effectively addressed the racism that persists in this corporation. You
continue to ignore the core issue. People have been calling for systemic solutions for decades. Find systemic solutions for black children and staff and the staff that serve the children. Why do you continue to blatantly ignore
the issue? Submitting reports to the feds is not the only need. Just saying, quote, "We won't tolerate racism," isn't good enough. You actually have to do the work to dismantle racism, racist values and beliefs that are persistent in this
corporation. The black children continue to be excluded from the instructional environment through the use of disciplinary practices such as suspensions and expulsions. This surely has to have an impact on how low the iLearn achievement SAT scores are for
black children the last year with only 6% passing I learn which is five times less than the white counterparts. What is the status of the code of conduct training? How are you addressing uh teachers and their decision-making when it comes to student discipline? What
investments have you made? It sounds like the mic is down. What investments have you made or planned to make into the educational programming at Kquiller, Dickinson, and Washington being that you're out of compliance with student enrollment when it comes to the consent
decree? How many certified certified black teachers are serving children in the corporation? August 4th, Carla Lee addressed the plan to implement restorative justice corporationwide. How do you plan on doing that with a person that is not trained in restorative
justice implementation? As a matter of fact, who is trained in the district? I asked in a follow-up meeting, and I'm still waiting for a response. What's the policies? What policies will you be implementing to ensure you're not anti-racist? Approximately 70% of the
third graders at the Willard didn't pass I read. Where are the intervention specialists for that? Are the certified teachers trained in science of reading? And as I end real quick, this issue that we have here in this audience wouldn't be here had Todd Cummings addressed it
appropriately. But see, you guys are still paying him that payout. And look at this chaos he still left behind. Thank you. Anyone else? I'm sorry, I forgot my 30 seconds. Um, a few weeks ago, I parked my car out there
in front of the building and my car got vandalized. Thank you. Anyone else? Great. Here. Good evening. Marilyn RNA, 18235 Burton Drive, South Bin, Indiana. I'm here tonight because in the last month, our
country has seen several incidences of gun violence. The children gunned down at mass prior to going to school. Charlie Kirk killed at a university uh event and the children shot that very same day.
All of these are tragic. All of these need to be addressed. But what we are also seeing is one segment of society has decided that unless you praise Charlie Kirk, anything else that you say
regarding his death is a celebration of his death. That cannot hold. I understand that one of our teachers is being investigated for celebrating Charlie Kirk's death. I saw his post. That is not a celebration. It is a
statement of fact. Our country is being inundated with gun violence and no one is doing anything to stop it. We need to address this appropriately and not victimize journalists and
teachers for speaking the truth. Thank you. Bob Humphrey 53180 Tohi. I would just say Mega Didda there. I would like to thank you for your statement that you put in that you're backing this young man.
I have had five grandsons go through Riley for In and Out. And this young man that people want to attack, he could be my grandson. I love him. He's a good man. Please stand by him. We cannot allow
other people to influence us. McCarthyism is dead. Please, please stand by him. He is He's like my grandson. I take him for my own. And I thank you for your statement
and catch my breath. I want to say one thing. I love seeing this youth here. God bless you. This is what democracy is. You're coming here. You're going to vocalize. I hope these people will listen to you. I've seen them in with the student body and I thank them all
for what they do. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Michael Wallace, uh 25842 Grant Road, graduate of Washington High School, Holy Cross College, and IUSB.
Um I love the Southman community. Um I presently work at a different school system. My daughter graduated from high school two years ago and finishing or starting her sophomore year in college. My daughter was lucky enough to have
Coach Columbus as the assistant coach at Adams High School. He changed my daughter's life. He took a broken girl and built her up. And we all as educators strive for excellence.
That man's the epitome of excellence. But along with excellence does have to have discipline. Coaches must be allowed to have their commands or whatever. I'm sorry,
have their game plan executed. I came to coach with Coach Columbus. I called him up. I said, "Hey, do you need a coach?" He said, "No." I said, "I'll do it for free." He said, "Come on
down." Since then, I've been with the Riley girls, and they are as much my daughters as my own. And Coach Columbus is as much of a brother as I have.
I hope you can see that this situation does absolutely need to be rectified. Our girls are behind. Our girls need to be in school. Our girls need to be practicing. Our girls need to go to study table. a study table that that man
set up and all of our players were on the honor roll last year. The entire varsity because of that man. Somebody's grades dropped study table. I just hope and pray that you guys could, you know, find it in your hearts
to I would say your hearts, your minds to let this man do his job. He is a young, talented black man that was dismissed without cause in my opinion. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else?
[Applause] Everett Mau, 52384 Holly Hawk Road. I am finishing the statement of Mrs. Norton. A certain schoolboard member attended this student's college signing event. The assistant principal also attended
and wore a shirt featuring the students picture and college name while attending her signing. They also attended the students senior prom sendoff. All of these milestones are a wonderful occasion for her and her family and it's wonderful to see school leaders supporting our students/ student
athletes. However, I cannot help but question why similar recognition and support were not extended to the other Riley High School athletes who also received athletic scholarships. Unlike this specific student who dedicated countless hours to their team, displayed
exceptional sportsmanship, and embodied the values of respect and accountability throughout their time on the basketball team or the other sports and in school. This past season was the most successful for Riley girls basketball since 2001.
Records were broken or tied and every girl who had a desire to play at the next level was supported and in pursuing that goal. None of this would be possible without Coach Columbus's dedication, leadership, and vision for the program. He has invested in these
athletes, built their confidence, and held them to a standard that has produced both growth and success. To let one's family's actions outweigh the accomplishments of an entire program is unfair and damaging. The message it sends is the disrespect and poor
behavior are tolerated. While a coach who has transformed the team and given so much to these athletes is punished. Carl Columbus did his punishment and should not have been dragged in on to into this year. Coach
Columbus deserves to be resigned. He has created the strongest program Riley has seen in over 20 years and has given these girls not only athletic opportunities but life lessons about discipline, accountability, and perseverance. Removing him now takes
away a role model who had who has made a lasting impact on our students and community. I strongly urge you to reconsider this decision. Please do not let the negative actions of one family erase success success, progress, and future potential
that coach Columbus has brought to Riley High School. Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else wish to speak? John Pachznney 420 Crown Hill Drive. Back in December, I stood at this podium
and used the words of a mama cast song, there is a new world coming. I said, "There is a new school board coming." And near the end, I mentioned things like hope, peace, joy, and transparency. People were excited. They had enough of
the previous board, the manner of doing things, the lack of transparency, and they were hoping for a change that would focus on schools, children, and the staff. Here we are nine months later and what has really changed? The public sees
a new superintendent in place. Corporation employees were given raises and our and others may be coming. Financial recordkeeping is being fixed and corrected and being made public. But what about this board? The public
perception is still that you are dysfunctional and cannot be trusted. But you have a chance to change that. And here's how. I noticed when they sent out the Facebook post about the upcoming change in school boundaries, it was put on
Facebook and I submitted it to five other Facebook pages of neighborhoods I follow. You don't know how many parents asked me, "What's this all about? Why aren't they telling us? Why aren't we getting communication? And why aren't you doing
it?" And I go, "I can't answer that." They go, "So, I'm asking you, what is the plan to communicate these meetings with each school having notification systems? Cannot it be sent out via email, the school newsletter, PTO?"
However, there are some big changes coming, especially in certain areas that are poverish, lowincome, single families, single parent families. They need to be notified. So come
August, they're not throwing their hands up in frustration because they weren't notified or told. And not everybody has Facebook. And to the board, I hope that you truly mean it when you said you will
listen to the public, not have your minds made up about this plan and these meetings, and make the meeting just a formality. The board fade to listen the last time we went through this. Are you going to follow the same pattern from
just a couple years ago? Thank you. Uh, hello. My name is Rachel Paige. Um, I live in Mishawaka. Born and raised South Bend. Went to South Bend schools my whole life. Mr. Eid, I was there at Adams when you were there. Um, I'm not going to go into everything. thing. I
sent you guys an email. You're well aware of what it said for those who read it. My comment is for our girls, for our crowd that's here. Miss Lady here stood up and said, "This is chaos." This is not chaos. This is what y'all are allowed to do. You're free to come in here and speak your minds and show
support. This is what a school board meeting is for. This is why they have on the agenda for other people to speak about different things. Don't let the comments of other people make you feel like this is not right. Please don't.
I love Carl. We had some growing pains together. And I always speak my mind when it comes to him and these girls. And they know it. And if you guys need details on something that happened, contact the ones that were there, right? I was there. All the coaches were there. The
girls were there. Not one assistant coach was approached to ask about anything. So, if y'all are trying to fight lawsuits or whatever the case it may be, we're the ones that would help y'all with the information. But again, I'm up here to address these
girls so that they know the comments of other people tell them that this is chaos. That's not it. We're peaceful. We're here to support. And I love y'all. [Applause]
Good evening. Uh my name is Jennifer Fox, 18247 West overdrive. I just wanted to take a second to come up and let you know that um let's see when did when did when did I take my boys out? Spring of 2023. Spring of 2024. Spring I think
spring of 2023. Um I've still been coming to the meetings. I've still been following. But I was following simply as a taxpayer and a concerned citizen. And I stand in front of you tonight, a proud parent of a South Bend Community School Corporation student, my son is back at
Adams, and I just wanted you to know that thanks to the work that I have seen, I know there's work to do, but the transparency and the removal of Todd Cummings, I'm not going to lie to you. Um, but the transparency and the work that I've seen in this board, I was I
felt safe bringing my son back. and I wanted you to know that. Thank you. Thank you. I have a quick question for clarification. I think some people were speaking on the um
on the town hall meetings. Those are justformational meetings. No one has made a decision. No one has voted on anything. So I want to make sure that they are clar clarification there. We have not voted on anything. And in fact, I'm going to attend the meetings, too, so I
can hear what's being said. But this is justformational meetings. It's not no one has made a decision or voted on anything. So, I just want to make sure that's clear. Yes. Okay. Just want to make sure because I thought that I was hearing that people
thought there was a decisions made already. No, no decisions have been made. This is simplyformational collecting information because they were talking about transparency and I think we try to be as transparent as we possibly can to people.
Yeah. And and most importantly is this not about a foundation or facility plan. It's about how you feel about Southbend schools and what we can do to make them
better and what are we're doing well and things that we need to be improved. That's what these meetings are for. Obviously, it's it's also to look at what we have as a facility plan right
now is not working. We're still losing students. So, what we're trying to do is to see what you can give us
as far as information that what you want us to look at. There is nothing out there that is solid. It is nothing that we have looked at and said, "Boy, this is the plan. We're
going to take it to the public." We want to hear from the public first and then hopefully this the people who make these decisions will sit down and
look at what people are saying and then start making decisions about how what the future of South Bend will look like so that we can start growing the school corporation and
get some of these students back. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to make sure we have clarity. Um we have one person at home on internet on the internet. So uh is this Mr. Nimik? Yep. Okay. So Mr. Nimik uh can address the
board. He can give us his name and and and address. And can can they hear him? Hello. Oh, hello. Go ahead, Frank. Okay. Good evening. My name is Frank Neim, uh, 1250 East Fington Circle,
Southbend, Indiana. I'm just here to, uh, encourage the board to consider future preparation for our high school students in research and development. The future economy will depend on problem solvers, uh, people who can
design, test, and improve new ideas. By giving our students early exposure to R&D through project-based learning, partnerships with local universities and businesses, and hands-on labs and maker
spaces, we can equip them not just to enter the workforce, but to lead it. When you consider what uh incubator labs at MIT and Stanford are doing, they're
actually paying for the patents on the products students create and the students in turn are giving them a nominal royalty in perpetuity for every product sold.
Uh this will undoubtedly on a global global market uh create a lot of revenue for Southbend school corporations schools and it will support not only the
students interest in furthering their entrepreneurial pursuits but also have them re-evaluate uh what they'd like to get into in the future. So, uh, it's a huge opportunity. I hope
everybody takes advantage of it. And, um, thank you so much for allowing me to recover at home and speak with you all. Um, you're all very talented and uh, I'm sure you'll I'm sure you're going to
work through everything that's happened and uh, it will be fine. Don't worry about it. I'm sure it will. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But but town hall meetings uh this this this is the first time we
did this. I hope it'll continue to have uh people in the that can make it to the meetings to they they could just like you guys come here to meeting they could voice their opinions on anything too. So, I hope it's a start of something
different. And uh but about the townhouse meetings, I asked uh Gabby and I asked you in in uh about having these town hall meetings on YouTube. Is that possible?
We we can arrange for that. It's done already. Uh we can arrange for it. All right. Thank you. We now move to academic focus 7.01 city connect. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
We've got an unusual request. Um given that we have a lot of students here tonight on an agenda item. Um and given what I've heard tonight about the coach, I'm wondering if it'd be appropriate
right now to consider removing item six from the termination list. We were going to address that with right after we did academic focus. Yeah, I was only bringing it up now in terms of allowing these students to get home and that so what we can do is we can go out of um
sequence and we can address the um academic f um I'm sorry a consent agenda. We can do the consent agenda and then come back to academic focus. Uh are is anyone opposed to that?
No. anyone posted that? Okay. So, this is what we'll do. We can now move to the consent agenda. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve the consent agenda. 8.01, 8.02, 8.03, 8.05, 8.06,
8.07. We're going to pull 8.04, which is the personnel list, from the agenda, I mean from the list, and we're going to vote on items 8.01, 8.02, 8.03, 8.05. 5,
8.06, 8.07, and 8.04 will be a separate vote. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. A second. Second. It's been moved and second. Moved by Mr. Ellison, second by Mrs. uh I'm sorry,
moved by uh Mrs. Lee, second by Mr. Ellison. Uh Mr. Hernandez, can you please call the role? Are there any questions or concerns? First of all, Mrs. Uh, Hernandez, can you please call the role for the vote on 8.01, 8.02,
3, 8.05, 8.06, 8.07? Mr. Ellison, hi. Mr. Costello, yes. Miss Lee, I Mr. Lea, yes. Mr. Snicki, yes. Dr. McCulla,
I. We have six votes uh to approve uh items 8.101, 8.01, 8.02, 3, 8.05, 8.06, 8.07. That is a quorum. Uh we now move to a uh vote on 8.04
with the removal of item number six from the termination list. So we the vote will be uh separately for 8.06. I'm sorry, item number six. So the vote will be on 8.04
as a whole and then we will vote separately on item number eight number six from the termination list. So Mr. Dernandez, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I Mr. Costello abstain. Miss Lee
I. Mr. Lea I. Mr. Snedi I. Dr. McCulla I. We have four votes to I mean sorry we have five votes to approve um the
personnel list uh one abstension. So the vote is um the vote doesn't is it's in favor it's approved. Excuse me m Madame President. Yes. I I I would ask that with respect to the remaining vote that it be tabled
uh so that we can do some further uh investigation. I'm sorry to what? I'd ask you to table the vote on item six then that's being pulled from that list so that we can do some additional investigation. That's that's the next vote. Okay. Okay. So item number six from the
termination list is being pulled. Uh, so we need to um um take him off the list. Take him off the list. Take this item off of the list. Motion to table it.
Motion to table it. Okay. Is there a motion uh to table? Yes. Motion. Yes. Is there a second? Second. Third. Okay. the motion to table item number six uh from the termination list uh by
um Mr. Ellison, second by Miss Lee. Um Mr. Nendes, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I Mr. Cassello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Lea, hi. Mr. Snicki, I. Dr. McCulla,
I. The vote to pull item number six from the termination list to table it passes unanimously. Six votes. We now move back to academic focus
7.01 city connect right there. Can I explain something to the audience on this vote we just had? Uh that that's the normal procedure and I'm glad he he tabled it because uh that
don't mean it's done. it just I don't want you guys getting back because I respect you guys coming and sticking up for what you believe but uh but any teacher any coach has has to follow the rules and so we want to give
him a chance to come to the board in executive session and explain everything but right now it's tabled so so uh it's nothing's happening tonight as far as being voted him uh out right 7.0.
You guys all understand that, right? City Connect, please. Yes. Thank you. Superintendent Eid, honorable members of the board, um, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I have with me, um, my name is Abraham Manlo. I work with Marian University, helping run
a program called City Connects that is currently at Washington High, Jackson Middle School, and Misel Elementary here in Southbend. I have with me um our assistant director um of implementation Akua Miller and April Jones, one of our
city connects coordinators at Misil. Um so with some of the recent changes that have happened both at the district level within the board and um even the administration at our buildings was asked to come and speak tonight on this important um student support practice
that we've been working with South Bend Community Schools with over the past four years. So, City Connects is a model of wraparound student support services that helps organize and deliver those in a most efficient way. Um, if we could advance
to the next one. There's a clicker on the table. Oh, right here. On the table. On the table. There we go. Okay. I knew we'd get there eventually. Okay. Um so it is holistic in that it intends
to look at the entire student. We focus on four different domains kindergarten through 8th grade academic social emotional behavioral health and physical well-being and then the family. And then at the high school level um we also focus on college and career readiness
and making sure that students are getting exposed to opportunities that allow them to thrive and be successful once they leave the K12 environment. We do this because we know that a lot of the challenges that students and teachers face when it comes to academic
success come from elements outside of the school building that that teacher has very little to no control over at all. um our colleagues at Boston College who developed this practice were actually able to quantify that at 67% so twothirds of a student's academic
achievement is dependent on factors outside of the school environment. So the type of home that they're growing in, the amount of academic achievement that their parents had, how exposed they are to literacy, early years, those kinds of things. Um and so we know that
those challenges are very difficult to address which is then where the city connects practice comes into place and it's unique in the fact that it is a review of every student in the building. Uh whereas a lot of student pra support practices are focused only on the
highest risk or students who hit a certain metric of challenge before interventions are put in place, City Connects works with the entire student body. Um and so with this graphic you can see that s begins with a process of our city connects coordinator. So in
April sitting down with the teacher and reviewing their entire roster top to bottom looking at those four domains as far as what are the unique strengths and needs that each student has in that area. We know that there are going to be certain students who require a higher
level of care and so we have a practice called the individual student review which runs alongside the the internal MTSS or RTI process that's already happening in the building. But again focusing on being able to offer interventions for some of those out of
school factors from then um the teacher and the coordinator propose a tier um and then they start working with the families and area community partners to see what's going to best benefit that student. What
are the gaps that we can work to fill? What can the school provide and what might the community need to provide for that student to be successful? And then of course partnering with the families because nothing's going to happen without their consent. Also looking at possible barriers. We don't want to sign
a student up for a counseling service or a STEM club or a sports offering that's across town that the family might not be able to provide the transportation for that student to then effectively be able to participate. And then of course like with any other practice we want to make
sure it's working. So there are regular there's regular feedback built into this so that the coordinator can circle back with the teacher, see if the student is improving or if we're continuing to see challenges, following up with the family to make sure that they are attending the
different services that we might have helped sign them up for. and then continuing to make sure that it that it's working and working with the building administration to make sure that any programs that are being brought in are being run in a way that not only represents and serves the student well but also represents the building well.
um along with that and it's not because we we think that there is a der of services in the area whether it's Southbend whether it's in Indie whether it's our schools in Gary or Fort Wayne there's lots of different services available both offered by the school and
offered within the community but as you can see from this slide a lot of times navigating those trying to figure out what you qualify for what kinds of insurance they might take how you get to them it can chaos in and of itself. There's a bureaucracy that can really be a time suck for a family who's already
experiencing challenges to try to navigate that. And so what City Connects tries to do then is to bring order from that chaos. What is available in the community and how is that organized as far as intensity level and also what is
available in the school and what does the school have the means and the personnel and the expertise to provide on their own and then organizing it in a way to look at what can be delivered in mass at for the benefit of everyone as a universal type of service. what needs
targeted intervention where we're drawing on kids who have similar needs or similar strengths to do that and deliver it in a small group format. And then what what are the needs that are present that really need that one- on-one highly resource intensive
delivery um to be most effective. And those would be things like crisis intervention, counseling services, um one-on-one tutoring or one-on-one mentoring. And so we take that chaos and we look at it and we organize it in a way that allows it to be delivered both
efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the student and of for the provider to help further those partnerships so that when someone is coming in and deciding that they want to work with any of these schools or with Southbend Community Schools, they know
that their resources are resources and their time is going to be valued in the delivery of that as well. So that there's somebody in the building where if a student for whatever reason doesn't show up one day, the coordinator can reach out and call the counseling agency that might be coming in saying like,
"Hey, don't worry about making the trip today. We know that the students not here." And that helps further that partnership and move that along as well. And so through all of that, we're looking at how can we deliver the right support to the right student at the
right time, but then also overtime as well because we know it's that continuity of care that's going to make the difference long term. And so al obviously we know that within all of these schools there are other support positions in place as well. And
so you can see from this graphic that there are areas where there is some exclusivity and some specialization within within each of those roles and also some areas of overlap where we can start looking at what is it that I feel like I'm really good at or what is it
that I'm passionate about and divide up some of those that overlap in that form as well. But ultimately the city connects position helps streamline and allow the other support positions in the building to work more efficiently because we know that the need is too
great for any one of those roles to try to address by themselves. And so we come alongside the work that's already being done to help spread that out a little more evenly and let people get back to some of the original things that we were hired to do. As a 20-year veteran of
working in schools myself, I know a lot of my time was spent in that other duties as assigned portion of my job description when I really wanted to focus in on the teaching and learning that I was hired to do. But because I knew my kids needed it, I was the one reaching out and I wish I would have had
an April to be able to hand some of those things off to to help me as I helped to work to help my students succeed as well. And so what we've seen over the past three to four years working in these three buildings, um just a a quick note,
we've seen 106 ISRs, so that's 106 students with intensive needs discussed by a robust multidisciplinary team to have some of the root causes of their challenges addressed, those out of school factors by resources being
brought in through different community partnerships. We've seen over 10,000 different services delivered to the students at these three buildings and 53 unique partnerships worked out over the course of that time as well. And that's
excluding that doesn't include all of the things that the different schools are providing. These are outside agencies and partners coming in to help deliver that as well. some of those just to highlight. Um so Dustin's Place which is a grief counseling service is now a
partner with many of our schools. Um I have a student at Washington High that the coordinator there wanted me to make sure and share the fact that after losing her mother several months ago. She's now had a chance to go through two rounds of the different counseling service grief counseling service with
Dustin's Place and has seen her behaviors drastically improve. Her grades are back on track. she's able to reach out and ask for help. And Dustin's Place is actually going to feature her in an upcoming kind of series and advertisements and storytelling about how their work is making a difference in
Southbend Community Schools. Um, at Washington High, there's also now a functioning and regularly staffed and um, care closet where students can come in and they can get a change of clothes if they spill something on them or if they get dresscoded so that they're not
having to go home in order to address that, they can quickly pick that out. There are kids that come in, graduating seniors, who are stocking up knowing that this isn't going to be a resource that my family is going to provide for me anymore. And so they're grabbing resources from that. Um toiletry items
as well that are included in that. And then other students who need um any kind of community service and volunteer hours are helping work at that and restaff it. And I got to see some of them found out today that they had never hung up their own clothes before. And so they were finding out how hangers worked for the
first time and then had to explain the difference between a pants hanger and a shirt hanger and why one doesn't really work as well with the other. So that was kind of um funny to see as well. Um April was able to get a partnership with Everwise financial institution and start
doing some financial literacy for their fifth graders and fourth graders. Third third and fourth and fifth. So just kind of giving them a lot of opportunities to start looking at a budget and what it thinks about to manage money. There's a career fair so that kids have a lot of exposure um to
both college and higher ed opportunities along with other kinds of CTE trainings and certifications in in the military and get to see their own culture represented in the the people that are brought in with that as well. And then all of our coordinators make sure that
there is a heavy community partner presence at any kind of a family engagement event that's brought in so that they have a nice warm handoff where the coordinator can introduce the community partner member, someone that they have developed a relationship and
know and trust and be able to give that warm handoff to the family and know that this is a person who's going to care for them the same way that the coordinator cares for them. and they have a chance to make those relationships and even sign up for services anytime parents are coming into the building as well. Um,
welcome to take any questions for me or um, my fellow colleagues here. I have a question, but I want to see if any of my colleagues have a question before I ask my no any questions. I just have one quick question. So, I'm looking at the social emotional behavior and
academic um, support in the student support plans. So my question is so when a student is suspended is suspended from school do you address that? Do you give them support or do you make a support plan for them? How how how do you
address those students? So typically what that would look like is if a student were to get suspended um the coordinator would we don't want the coordinator doing any kind of the discipline part of it. Save that for the dean. when the student is coming back in, having that coordinator work with
the family, figuring out, okay, what was maybe the skill deficiency that led to the behavior that caused the suspension, getting them connected to a service with that. So, the the support plan would include kind of helping them reenter um if there needs to be any kind of ongoing
counseling or um kind of like peer support if it was an issue with another student, helping kind of work that out so that hopefully the behavior doesn't happen again. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anybody has any other questions, Miss Lee?
So, I'm looking at the circles. So, how does the the site coordinator works closely then with the social worker and family liaison? What's that relationship look like? Just curious. Yep. You want to speak to that? What that look like? Okay. Um I have a really great working
relationship with our school social worker. Um my first day starting for the school corporation, I connected with her and um inquired about us collaborating because because I knew some of our uh responsibilities may overlap and so just
to be a support for her and or if there was some information that I may have had and her as well. Um I communicated with that with her in advance. So we definitely work well together. Plenty of work to be done to support our kids. So I appreciate it. Yeah. It's just one more quick quick
question slash maybe comment. So I understand I see your um I think it's on page four um um your all the things that you have listed here and it's and it's important to uh to work with parents
make sure we work with our parents and I hope that's been successful too because when kids are suspended if they are being bullied and I see that on your page four here uh you have bullying pre uh bullying uh prevention uh strategies.
I'm I'm um I'm I'm suppose um and you also have here on listed here um uh counseling and mental health services. And so that's important. So it's also important to make sure that we we work with parents if if at all
possible because I know sometimes that's hard to but if all possible. Oh, of course. Yeah. And we nothing would ever be done, you know, without the permission and the blessing of the parents in that regard. you know, they obviously still have the the parental rights and can can refuse a service at
any time. The goal would be to have, you know, if if for some reason they were leerary of counseling that we would be have some sort of an alternative service, maybe not to the same degree of effectiveness as mental health counseling, but something to connect
that student and that family to to help close that gap um in the interim. I see you're you're on page seven, too. to have family meetings, family support, and family events. And that's that's that's good. That's great, too. That's another tool to help us interact and
work with our parents as well. I appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else have any other questions or concerns? I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you. We move to 7.02 State of South Bend Schools. I don't have any fancy presentations.
It's very rudimentary, basic. Okay. Uh, this is in response to Mr. Costello's request. Um, how did the first days go? What went right? What can we tweak in the future?
So, uh, I have a short video, two minute video. Let me see the sound. Whoops. Sorry about that. in the sound.
Okay. So does uh transportation they got their badges now where they can't go on to on another bus? Uh not yet. We wait the end of the school year. We're going to wait till the end of the
school year. Uh that's a smart maybe maybe third quarter. How about our alarm budgets? Still working on them. That's already being done. Actually, if you look up, there is a new uh
spot here. So, Brown has been wired to handle that as well. So, you should be getting your badges soon. I'm sorry. The music is not there. Music is more exciting. I like film.
But it will be posted along with the music. These are the seniors at Riley. This is always fun trying Need to figure out the locker combination. Okay. I remember my parents telling me about
silent movies, but I'd never seen one before. Now you have. Now I have. I was going to say something mean, but I won't kindness.
Okay. Uh teacher staffing highlights. U we did a quick comparison. U at the beginning of the school year and we went all the way to September 18th of 2425. There were 112 vacancies.
Positions opened. um in 2526. Uh as of last Friday, we had 28 vacancies. Um and we are currently engaged in informal
uh negotiations until the board this evening gives us the blessing to move with the formal negotiations. uh non-certified. We had a hiring event on August 11th.
We hired eight bus drivers, 10 pair of professionals and many others. We also hired nine teachers that day I believed. Uh we are hosting another one for non-certified and our focus is going to be mostly on bus drivers and
paraprofessionals and it will be right here uh at Brown in the gymnasium. HR will be right there. If you get hired you will we will start the process right away.
the onboarding and transportation. Uh there were a few glitches. There still are a few glitches but we are working on it. Every day is an improvement and
hopefully all these issues will be a thing of the past. Uh, I was at a conference in Indie for superintendent and what I love about these things is you can borrow or steal ideas from other
superintendent and this one superintendent had an issue with transportation. So what he did in May before the teachers went home, he asked them, "How many of you would like a raise of $18,000
next year, if you want that, please remain after the meeting?" And he had about 40 teachers stay. And what he did was he offered them to drive a bus
$50 in the morning on their way to school, pick up students, and $50 on the way on their way back. He said, "If you want to do one route, either coming in or leaving, it will be
a $9,000 raise." So, right now, he has he had about 30 routes uncovered. Now, he has everything covered. So we are thinking about uh asking during the teacher record day. We are having a
mandatory meeting with all security staff and we are going to extend an offer to them if they want a raise and if they want to be trained, we can train them and hopefully
get over that hump. But we're still onboarding bus drivers and hopefully that will not be a necessity. I made a comment last meeting about the Paras
and I mentioned about uh your your staff. How much you going to give them to be pairs on them buses that the teachers driving? Uh the there are plans for them to get a raise, but that I will leave
that to the budget person. Uh enrollment, we are at 12941. Uh we know we're not getting paid for the prek, so that brings it down to
12508. That's about 300 less than last year. We have 333 no-shows as of Monday morning. Every school has a list of the students who did not show up who were registered for that school. The principles,
secretaries, everybody is calling to see where these students are. Um I remember from my days as a principal, many of them thought that school didn't start until after Labor Day. So we would
have them absent for a few weeks and then they would start showing up. So these phone calls right now visits home uh trying to find out where these no-show students are that will help. So
hopefully we will have as many of these no-shows as possible. again challenges the transportation staffing uh for teacher continued recruitment and retention and u I don't know if I
explained the teacher apprentice program before but this is the way it works so for example uh we were visiting a school and we were talking to a substitute teacher she had been in that position
for all of 2425 five as a substitute. She has 120 college credits, but she doesn't have a degree or a major. So, this is where the apprentice program comes in.
We asked the teacher to take those credits to a a USB and see if she wanted to become a teacher, how many credits of these would count towards that degree.
And then we have a contract with Indiana Wesleyan that where they will take all the credits, work with the teacher while she's subbing and work on her teacher credentials. So in other words,
by the end of the year, she will be a certified teacher with a degree. We have about 20, I believe. I don't know if Dr. Stevens is here. We have about 20 of the apprentice teachers.
So we are building our own and in hopes that we will retain as many as possible. Um access to opportunities all everything is open to all students. Nothing is
being kept from anyone. uh we are strengthening academics operations, community trust th those are important and then we are committed to improving continuous improvement. We we
cannot afford to stay stale. We have we must evolve. Any questions, concerns? Anyone? No. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. We now we now move to action items. It
is recommended that the school board of trustees uh approve action item 9.01 resolution authorizing engagement in CBA with NEA South Bend. Is there a motion? So moved.
Is there a second? Second. Uh, are there any questions, concerns? Miss Hernandez, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Costello, I. Miss Lee,
I. Mr. Lea, I. Mr. Snakei, I. Dr. McCulla, I. The vote passes unanimously. Six in favor. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 9.02, 102 retroactive approval to pay
train US incorporated for chiller services done at different South Bend Community School Corporation buildings. Is there a motion? So moved. There's a second. Second. It's been moved by Mrs. Lee, second by
Mr. Castello. Are there any questions? Mr. NZ, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Costello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Leva I Mr. Seniki I Dr. McCulla the votage passes unanimously six votes
it is recommended that the school corporation board of trustees approve action item 9.03 approve uh contract with DA do to provide and install basemounted tower water pumps at Lel Academy.
Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It's been motioned by Mr. Ellison, second by Miss Lee. Are there any questions? Mr. Hernandez, can you call the role, please? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Castillo,
I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Leva, I. Mr. Stki, I. Dr. McCulla. The vote passes unanimously. Six votes. It is recommended that the board of trustees approve action item 9.04, 04
approval of Gibson Lewis LLC contract for Washington Medical and Allied Health Services Magnet Project and other renovation projects at Darden Dickinson Edison 5,623 uh dollars selected through a formal
bidding process. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Are there any questions, concerns? Mr. Nendes, can you call the role, please? Are we gonna Are you Are you there to answer questions about that or something else?
Uh, yeah, if you ask. Yeah, sure. Questions. All right. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Um, I'm just like just kind of an outline of what this means and what we're what's happening next. I know it's been hard to get bids and all that kind of thing. So, yeah. Yeah. Sure. Thank you, uh, Miss Lee, for asking the question. So, as you
know, uh, we tried to bid it out before, but we did not receive satisfactory bids. So we waited for a few months and we rebid again and we rescoped the projects there but this time I mean the bids that we received were satisfactory
and through a formal bidding process uh through the evaluation of a committee I mean we have selected the vendor Gibson Lewis LLC they are very reputed in the industry and as I said I mean they have been chosen through a formal bidding process uh the overall project will be
approximately $5.6 6 million that includes the Washington medical magnet something that we have discussed for a long long time. Of course, so long. Yes. And they will uh the completion date for the Washington Medical Magnet
will be no later than March 2026. Also, uh under that $5.6 $6 million. We have some renovation work to be done at Darden, some toilet room renovations, then some security vestibule renovation at Dickinson and also some other
construction and toilet renovation at Edison. And everything will be done uh no later than March 2026. Few being done within this year. Super exciting. Yes, it is. Any other questions?
Thank you. Mr. Mr. Can you call the RO please? Mr. Ellison I. Mr. Costello I. Miss Lee I. Mr. Leva I. Mr. Snedi I. Dr. McCulla I. The vote passes unanimously. Six votes.
It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 9.05 approval of resolution for primary go bond series 225A. Is there a motion? So moved. There a second.
Second. Um there's um Mr. uh uh CFO Anf will uh he's bringing someone to the table to explain this particular action item. Yes. Uh thank you Dr. McCullo. Uh so
every year we raise some geo bonds uh to raise the necessary capital that we need for our capital projects. However, previously I do not think we have done a great job in ter in terms of presenting those capital project needs to the board and the public. But this time I will do
that. It will be a very brief presentation. Uh with me I also have representatives from Baker Tilly our municipal advisor. So they're also here to answer any questions related to tax rate or geo bond capacity or the overall process here.
Uh as you know we have a lot of older buildings that requires a lot of money to do renovation work there. Approximately that is $250 million. So in essence we need $250 million if we want a total complete district-wide
renovation for all our building and grounds. Now that is not possible. We do not have that money and we in order to raise that money we will have to raise the tax rate of our taxpayers. We cannot do that. That is why we must prioritize our needs and work on the capital
projects which are most needed to ensure the safe and secure learning environment for all students regarding of their races because if there's roofing problem in one school we do not have the luxury to take into consideration their races
or their neighborhood or anything there. We need to ensure that for all our students right now the SBCSC finance and facilities management team has done an extensive analysis to identify the most needed capital projects for the next three years 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Projects we must perform to ensure our building and grounds are functional for again all students and employees and that is regardless of any master's facilities plan. Now if we decide on plan C or any other
alternative master facilities plan I mean that plan will not impact the capital project plan that I'm presenting because this is the most prioritized list of capital projects for instance roofing and other things that we will need regardless of any master facilities
plan. So these much needed high priority capital projects will cost approximately $44 million in the time frame of the next three years 2026 2077 and 2028. Now definitely we will not raise all the money at one go. Why would we try to
incur extra interest costs right? So we are only requesting to issue the bonds so that we can raise the necessary capital for the 2026 projects. So in essence we are raising the money now in uh at the end of 2025 for the 26
projects. I will come back again similar time 2026 to raise the money for 2027 projects and then come again in 2027 to raise the money for 2028 projects if I am here at the time. Okay cool hopefully. Yeah. So, SBCSC
capital projects 2026 to 2028 by project category. So, I wanted to give you all a breakdown of those projects. I mean, what constitutes that $44 million. So, as you can see, roof replacement is on the top, right? Approximately $15 million. Safety and security, camera,
rekeying, fire panel, etc. upgrades, that will be another $7 million. Parking lot repair, $6 million. HVAC, 6.1. tennis resurfacing then again safety and security. So as you can see all of those
are much needed capital project projects there right and we have to do those regardless in order to ensure safe and secure learning environment for all our kids. Now for the 2026 projects we need approximately $16.5 million and that is
why we are requesting to issue three different series of geo bonds approximately totaling to that amount of $16.5 million. It's going to be a little higher in 2027 uh but it will be lowest in 2028 around $9 million. In total it will be $44
million. So that was by project category and again the presentation is already in board docs and also on our website. So if the public or anyone wants to view the details I mean they have the opportunity to do so. Uh I will not uh spend a lot of time now uh at this hour.
Uh the same thing, $44 million broken down by buildings, uh sorted from highest to lowest. You can see that we are going to be spending the highest amount of dollars for Washington around $4.2 million. I know that a lot of people always ask that, hey, why
don't you invest on the west side? Why not on Washington? We are actually doing that. See, we are spending the highest dollar amount on Washington. On top of that, the board just approved $5.6 $6 million for the Washington medical magnet. Right? So I want to demystify the myth
that we do not invest on the west side. We actually do and also uh Dickinson Edison Kulard those schools are also on the high priority here in this list. So just demystifying some myths
again the projects need and or needs included here are the topmost priorities in terms of building and grounds much needed to ensure safe secure learning environment for all students. This project here need to be completed regardless of the master facilities
plan. ongoing or future master facilities plan projects for instance the Washington medical magnet or a possible carrier center are not included here because that is uh planned in another different fund that we already have with us and I would like to thank
uh Mr. Bill Dremel who is here with us our director of capital projects who has done an extensive research he has gone to all the buildings has researched all our equipment and everything and he has worked with me to prepare this list of
projects uh for the next 3 years. So again we are issuing three series of geo bonds totaling $6.5 million approximately mostly for roofing safety security and other much needed capital projects. Now the question is I mean suddenly we are issuing $16.5 million of
geo bonds right I mean are we going too much into debt that is not the case again we are not raising the tax rate of the taxpayers we are doing it within our geo bond issuance capacity and without raising the tax rate of our taxpayers as you can see this is a list of the
current bonds or the debts that are outstanding and if you take a look at the last column outstanding principle on 1231 20225 you will see that there are a lot of blank or zero amounts. That means that we are going to be paying off a lot of
our debts at the end of this year. So we have timed it properly with the help of our municipal advisors so that we can utilize our freed up capacity and not increase the tax rate of our taxpayers. Uh so yep I'm done. Thank you. Any questions?
Any questions? Yes. Enough. So you know a lot of our schools have empty pools. So what do we usually do with do we just seal them off or do we convert into space or what do we do with empty pools? Uh I would like to invite the expert Mr.
Bill Raml to answer that. Good evening. Typically we cover them with a tarp and we secure them. Um I I believe insurance requires that and to go ahead and fill a pool and renovate that space is very costly.
Um right now they're mothballled, but as you mothball them to bring them back and put them into operation is very expensive. So Lasal's been down for probably 10 years. Oh. Um Jackson's been down for 10. Riley, I
mean, I'm sorry, uh, Clay was just recently, uh, put down. Uh, McKinley's down. Um, so, basically, they're just used as storage area. Storage. Okay, cool. And then we make sure we put the tarp on
the top because that we don't want anybody falling. We leave lights on in there so people can see. Yeah, it's actually a pool area. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Can we cannibalize those pull the equipment to you know service
other we already have we already have we have already uh taken I believe the filter or the fingers out of Lasal for the filter and used them at clay. So those parts at the pools right now are pretty
antiquated. Um but we do what we can um if if they match up. Thank you. Any other questions? We thank you for being transparent. Thank you so much for explaining that to our listener audience.
Okay. So, um are there any other questions? If not, we'll move to the call for the vote. Mrs. Hernandez. Mr. Ellison. I. Mr. Costello. I. Miss Lee. I. Mr. Lea. I. Mr. S. Hi. Dr. McCulla.
Thank you. I The vote passes six unanimously. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 9.06 approval of resolution for pre preliminary I can never say that word go bond series 2025B. Is there a motion to
approve action item 9.06 so move second second. It's been move motion by uh Mr. Snideki second by Mr. Costello. Are there any questions?
Mrs. Hernandez, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Costello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Leva, I. Mr. Sticki, I. Dr. McCulla, I. The vote passes six unanimously, six votes. It is recommended that the school
board of trustees approve action item 9.07, resolution, approval of resolution for preliminary go bond serious 2025 C. Is there a motion? Two moved. Is there a second?
Second. It's been motioned by Mr. Snideki, second by Mr. Castello. Are there any questions? Mr. Nendes, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Castello, I. Miss Lee, hi. Mr. Lea, I
Mr. Sniki, I. Dr. McCulla, I. The vote passes unanimously. Six votes. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 9.08, 08 approval of the go solutions contract. Is there a motion?
So moved. Did you say that? Mr. Snideki. Uh is there a second? Second. It's move. Motion by Mr. Snideki. Second by Mr. Costello. Are there any questions? Mr. M explanation like I don't know. Uh,
someone come to the table and explain the goal solutions contract. I just figured it's like a kind of a dense and you know, I'll stand here with my boss and help you out with that. Okay, Miss Lee.
Good evening, board members, President McCulla, um, guest. The go solutions is for Medicaid billing. And so what they do is assist us in billing Medicaid and we usually get about um a million
dollars in return for the billing that they do for us. Any other questions? No. I I just I think that's so just really helpful because I know how complex all this medical reimbursement is and to have that kind of support has I'm sure it's worth its weight.
Yes, it more than pays for itself. So, any other questions? Thank you. Mr. Nendes, can you call the role, please? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Costello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Leva, I. Mr. Siki, I. Dr. McCulla,
I. The vote passes unanimously, six votes. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 9.09, approval of the CDW, government invoice. Is there a motion? So moved.
Is there a second? Who did the first? Miss Lee. Okay, I'll go. Second. Uh, it's a motion by Mr. Mrs. Lee, I'm sorry, and Mr. Snag a second. Are there any questions?
Mr. Nendes, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Castello, I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Lea, I. Mr. Senki, hi. Dr. McCulla. I The vote passes unanimously. Six votes. It is recommended that the school
board of trustees approve action item 9.10, approval of the gold Parammont health data project contract. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Been a motion by Mr. Snideki, second by
Mr. Castello. Are there any questions? This is just I'd like to hear just a little bit more about this one. want to explain that. Good evening everyone. The Paramount Health Data Project is the organization that provided a scope of work for um the
proposal they submitted to the Velman family foundation, the villains foundation. This um funding was already approved by the board. And so this particular contract just outlines everything that was in that proposal. Um, it is written in a way that they're
going to send us an electronic document at a later date to be signed. Any other questions? Thank you. Mr. DZ, can you please call the role? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Costello, I. Miss Lee, I.
Mr. Leva, I. Mr. Snakei, I. Dr. McCulla, I. The vote passes unanimously six votes. It is recommended that the school board of trustees approve action item 911. Approval of the Oaklanou. Is there a motion?
So moved. Is there a second? Second. The motion is motioned by Mr. Snadiki, second by Mr. Costello. Are there any questions? Mr. DZ, can you please call the role, please? Mr. Ellison, I. Mr. Castello,
I. Miss Lee, I. Mr. Lea, I. Mr. Snicki, I. Dr. McCulla, I. The vote passes unanimously. Six votes. We now move to board of communications. Does anyone
wish to speak? Mr. Cass, I've already uh made some comments about our townhouse meetings. Um,
but I want to emphasize these. I've been looking for three years to do this. I think it's very very important for a board to be involved with the
community and have them come in and and give us a feel of what we're doing well
and what needs to be improved. Uh we take at the beginning of each board meeting statements from people uh about our our school system.
Uh tonight is one example uh where people have a right to voice their opinion. We as a board take these opinions and decide
what is what we can do or merit it and other things that we might be able to do even better than we're doing now. Um these meetings are going to be very very
very important. I know uh the framework of it involves looking at a plan that I came up with, but it just didn't come through my mind.
It threw the data that I collected back in 2023 and throughout the last two years. Um, as everybody is aware in here, I think,
uh, I was in opposition to the facility plan that we put forth in 2023. I tried to explain it would not work very well. And I gave
data and I talked to the facility people that we paid $150 to $200,000 to come in and do this work which basically was put forth
by the administration. Some people don't know that, but I'm telling you right now because the data that the facility people come up with really was light in nature.
Um, that was part of the problem that we had with it. And of course, it was always structured around closing Clay High School and building a CTE hub.
Um, which I was never against the CTE hub, but how they did it by taking those that money that was supposed to go to
assist and help repair Clay High School and tried to do it with a central CTE hub. was disgraceful. You don't tear down one facility to try
to build another one. Now, that's my opinion on the board. I had four other board members who didn't see it that way. They are not bad people.
Fact is, they're are good people. But they didn't understand, I don't think, what the administration was trying to do as far as a negativity involved with
their plan. So now we have a plan in place where teachers have now going into their second year on it. And I know the administrators and the teachers don't want to change.
And that's the problem we get we have. I know that the reason why I'm going forward with it is the parents. The parents would love to have their students
remain in their community and neighborhood for another year of schooling. That is the reason why in this plan basically 80 to 90% of it
is just adding one more grade level to our elementary schools. It sounds simple. It's not. But the cost of it is limited,
but it's up to the people to decide what you want. I'm here on this board. If somebody comes up with a different plan or different idea, man, I'm going to listen to it and see what we can do with it.
Uh, I don't have all the answers. Never have said that to anybody. Um, what I have is 50 years of experience in education
and a resident of South Bend for most of those years and a graduate, a proud graduate of South Bend Washington High School. That's what I have. I have a crazy desire
to want to help people. And that's what this plan is about is trying to help people decide to keep their students in South Bend because I think we got a great bunch of teachers out there.
Great people in those buildings who are doing the job every day as well as they possibly can. And now we have a superintendent that will listen.
Now it's up to the people to decide what you want to do. And that's what these meetings are about. We want to listen to you. Hopefully at these meetings we will at
the end of your how many minutes they're going to be are they we're going to have the three minute rule again where people come in or yes three minute rule okay I hopefully if there's some things out there that the board hears that they
have questions about hopefully we might be able even to ask questions about it. Um but again in 2023 if we would have listened to what the people were saying that plan
would have never gone through. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have a question comment? No. Miss Lee, I'm sorry. Miss Lee. So, I did vote for the plan. Everybody knows that I did it. Um, I also participated.
You're one of the good people, though. Oh, thanks. Just misdirected. I suppose my mom might agree. But I'm like, so I went to a lot of the planning meetings in advance. Even before they started having the public ones, there were other meetings and listened to the consultants. And
there's a lot of things about like the numbers of students that are are a reality we just have to deal with. And I think we're in a place where we have to decide, are we concerned about investing in buildings or our children and our educators? And it's really, really hard. This district is over a hundred years
old. We've closed lots of buildings, lots of consolidation, lots of change. Everybody's really tied to their alma modders and they have really strong feelings. But what I would really like to hear from these meetings is let's pretend that the configuration as it is
right now the grade levels all stayed the same. When you walk into this meeting, what would be the ideal scenario when your child moves to sixth grade in a middle school? How could you how could we better wrap around them to make sure the transition is smooth? They all get to know each other. they start
bonding and understanding how to support each other so that during the middle school experience which is a really tough time as we might all remember that they really gain the skills that they really need to cope with high school. So when they get there they're really ready to succeed because
with the new graduation pathways we're in a situation where if we don't do what we need to do in the early grades the kids will have limited opportunities when they get to high school. High school is where you're going to have to pick your enroll, enlist, employ, you pick your pathway, honor seals. I just
did a talk about this. Like lots of stuff and it's really complex and it's on us as board members and the community and adults to figure out how we're going to prepare kids to make those decisions that are being expected of them. Now, it might all change by the time the second graders get there. I don't know. But
this is what we need to do. And we need to make sure our educators have the tools they need to support our kids when they're doing this. So regardless of grade configurations or even buildings, I would love to see every school be a neighborhood school, but we have a consent decree. We have bus. There's lots of things we have. We have a magnet
system that's been set up. So we just have to figure out what we can do with what we have right now with the children we have right now and do our very very best for them and the educators who serve them. So anyone else seeing there are no additional comments.
The next school board meeting will be October Monday, October the 6th at 5:30 Brown Administration Building. Is there a motion to uh adjourn? So moved. Is there a second? Second.
It all in favor signify by saying I. All the post, nay. I I thank you. The meeting is now adjourned.